Jens-Höklund, Coiffeur at the Farthest Point North
In Lapland, Our Northernmost Mission
By J. C. Raft
BY J. C. RAFT
THE picture accompanying this article presents to our readers our young missionary in Lapland, Brother Jens Hokland, on a journey among the Lapps. He has now been among this people a little over one and one half years. When traveling in that land of the far North, he cannot get into a nice, comfortable compartment, in an up-to-date railway car, and speed through the country. Nor can he use horses and sleigh; for, first, there is not the slightest trace of a road to be found; and, next, the horses would sink almost out of sight in the deep snow which, in winter, covers the ground several feet deep, and stretches out as far as the eye can see, in every direction. He must either go on skis, or travel by pulka and reindeer.
Nor is it always pleasant to sojourn among the Laplanders, their habits and modes of living are so widely different from ours. They dwell in tents, and their food consists largely of meat and dishes prepared from the blood of the animals they kill.
Brother Hokland has been well received by the Laplanders. Already several families, also young people, are showing an interest in the gospel of Christ. He has just been out on a journey (the picture was taken on this trip), and he writes that the Lapps he visited were very kind and hospitable. He lived with them in their tents, and of this experience he says, among other things: “Although the fire in the tent burned lively, and I sat so close to it that I almost burned my feet and hands and face, still my back was very cold, in spite of the fact that I had on my overcoat.”
The lot of the Laplanders is hard, but his soul is just as precious in the sight of God as ours. Christ came to the world to save all who will receive His salvation, the Lapps not excepted.
Copenhagen.
Workers at Vuasu Mission Station, German East Africa
