Change and continuity

Ritva Nauha

Aila Kotilainen:
I hold memories of summer services from my entire life. Going to summer services was important already in my childhood home, and it remained just as important in my own family. There were only a few summers when I stayed at home with young children.

As a little girl, my earliest memories are from the Ylivieska summer services in 1950, but my clearest memories are from the Kuopio summer services in 1957. I remember how my mother had sewn a tent out of bedsheets, which was then tied to trees with ropes. We slept directly on the ground, and it was cold, and since there was no plastic, getting wet was unavoidable. Each one of us children was given one blanket to take along, which we used throughout the services, and we wore the same clothes outfit for the entire services trip. Mother and Father took basic food from home, things that would keep as long as possible: bread, butter, buttermilk, and a fish pie the size of a baking sheet. We could not justify eating at the restaurant area. In my childhood, all summer services areas were compact. There was nothing too far to walk to, even children did not need to fear getting lost.

I remember the Ylivieska summer services in 1963 being especially meaningful, as I attended them together with my husband Antti. We had celebrated our wedding only a couple of weeks earlier, on June 15. At that time, this newly married couple spent the night in a school hallway, sleeping on corrugated cardboard. We did not have any special equipment with us, only a single bedsheet. Cold, in fact, was often a familiar companion during our summer services accommodations.

At the Pudasjärvi summer services in 1972, I recall being there with my family in a camper van near the water. During those services, a young soldier drowned, yet because of the heat, people still felt drawn to go into the water to cool off. Often people grew tired and headed home earlier than planned.

Once, my husband Antti was too tired to drive the whole way home in one stretch and started to fall asleep. One of the children vomited, and even though I myself was exhausted, I decided to continue the journey with everyone else sleeping. I remember how I had to pull myself together every time a car came up behind us and let it pass. On the Hännilänsalmi bridge, I wondered whether I should fall asleep myself too, but I kept going, and happily we made it over the Kämäri hill as well. When we finally reached our yard at home, everyone began to wake up, and I sighed to them that they had never been in as dangerous a ride as they had just been. Even now, it still feels as though there must have been a great deal of protection watching over us.

During our busiest years in the 1970s and 80s, our family’s trips to summer services were most often made in a work truck that was normally used for the store. Antti and the boys converted it into sleeping quarters, with bunks for sleeping, and we loaded in at least one crib and a dresser where we packed in our dishes and food. I recall that before every trip the “camper truck” had to be inspected and approved by the local licensing official so that people would be allowed to ride in the cargo compartment, but permission was always granted. The truck could accommodate all the necessary equipment we used on our trips. Often a summer services trip lasted from Friday evening to Sunday, as it was difficult to take longer time off from the store. Even so, the trip was always eagerly anticipated and well worth the preparations.

Our summer vacation was always planned around summer services. We rarely took any other trips. I remember that on a few occasions, very rarely, another holiday destination was combined with our summer services trip. This happened during the Turku summer services in 1975, when we visited the Turku Castle. At that time, our tenth child had been born in May.

Nowadays, to me it feels like people camp at summer services almost as comfortably as in their own homes. The facilities have improved year after year. For example, there is no longer any need to use gauze cloths as diapers for children, as we once did, soaking them in buckets, washing them at the hand washing stations, and hung to dry on branches and elsewhere.

Nowadays, I willingly listen to the services broadcast at home. I take joy in the fact that I can listen continuously and that even the programs during the breaks are so pleasant. I also like to do my household chores so that they don’t overlap with the sermons. Since my spouse’s death, I have attended the summer services in person once, in Kauhava in 2023, staying in my son’s family’s camper. As for the coming summer services, I cannot yet say, but right now it feels that being at home for summer services is the right place to be.

LIn closing, I reflect that although many practical matters have changed, the services themselves, the singing, the fellowship of believers, and the summer services’ “sense of a foretaste of Heaven” have remained unchanged.

Published in the Päivämies 20.1.2026

Towards the Kauhava Summer Services Preparations for the Summer Services 2026 are underway in Kauhava. As spring progresses and summer approaches, the arrangements will become increasingly active. Through this blog series produced by the Communications Committee, you can follow the preparations for the Summer Services and thoughts related to them.