But that was not true of Raimo and Veera Kuokkanen, who arrived from Finland at the end of January 1962. It was not difficult to recognize them when they got off the plane. Having left Finland in the cold of winter, they were wearing fur hats and other heavy, warm clothes. Changes would certainly be needed in this tropical heat. Raimo spoke English but not French. Veera spoke neither. Irene Carbonneau used English to teach them French, so Raimo had to translate everything from English into Finnish for his wife. However, as Veera had had all her schooling in Swedish, grammatical points had to be explained in Swedish. Happily, Raimo knew some Swedish too. Sound complicated? It was. But after about two months, the light began to dawn. They began to recognize some words in French. Even after they mastered French, however, they had to learn Malagasy.

A few years later, when his language instructor was no longer available, Brother Kuokkanen found himself interpreting into French for Malcolm Vigo, a visiting zone overseer. Brother Kuokkanen still remembers that when Luke 9:62 was quoted, he did not know the French word for “plow.” When he tried to describe it, the audience opened their eyes wide in amazement because his description did not fit the way plowing is done in Madagascar, where zebu bulls are used. On another occasion when endeavoring to state in French that the brothers in Malawi were holding meetings under a mango tree, he put the whole congregation on the tree. He had to learn to laugh with those who simply could not help laughing.

[Picture on page 233]

Raimo and Veera Kuokkanen