Johan Koskela and Victor Mäki. In 1947, the former still had 4 preachers, the latter group 7.

The supporters of Olli Matoniemi in America have been active in publishing and disseminating the pastoral letters of the Lapland elders : for example, the New Homilies and other writings of Laestadius have been published in English, having been translated by Arthur Niska of Minneapolis. The sect has attracted relatively many American followers, in spite of the fact that, in many respects, it scorns worldliness, apparent in such things as dress : men do not wear neckties, women do not wear hats. In the home, windows must not be completely curtained off, photographs may not be hung on walls, Christmas trees are forbidden. To have a life insurance policy is a sign of lack of faith. There are no ordained ministers. In 1947 this sect had 25 lay preachers, and of these, 7 had English as their native language.

The new pietists have also been a separate group. Among their preachers have been Lars Levi Aaltonen and Leonard Estola.

When the Laestadius followers left the Scandinavian church, a few Finns were left to it, and they began to build a joint church in 1876. With additional support, they began to look for a minister of their own and found him in the person of Alfred Eliesser Backman, upon his arrival from Finland to the United States. Although this first Evangelical-Lutheran clergyman's center was Michigan's copper country, he frequently visited Minnesota and held services there, before his return to Finland in 1883. That same year there was ordained as the first Finnish minister in the United States, Jaakoppi Juhonpoika Hoikka, at the Norwegian Hauge Synod in Red Wing, Minnesota. In 1890 there followed the ordaining of Heikki Sarvela, who found his pioneer territory in the northern Minnesota mining areas.

The Suomi Synod: It was in Minneapolis, in 1886, in connection with a meeting of the Augustana Synod, that the Finns first discussed the necessity of joint action among Finnish congregations. This discussion took place at the home of H. Bergstad, and in the presence of three ministers, J. J. Hoikka, J. K. Nikander and W. Williamson. Indeed, the first of these three is said to have had ready even the name for such an organization - Suomi Synod - although Ilmonen suggests the name was first suggested by Gustaf Wilson (Henni), Russian Vice-Consul in Portland. The idea, in any event, began to attract much attention, and much was written about it, particularly by Hoikka, who pointed

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