The Siegels Visit Sweden, Estonia, Russia, and Finland in June, 2011

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Meeting with Swedish Readers

Mo Siegel, Karmo Kalda, Peep Sõber

Meeting with Amrita-Rus

Gathering with Russian Readers

Meeting with Vitaly Kondratjev

Gathering with Finnish Readers

Joel R, Mo Siegel

Kalevi Eklof, Mo Siegel

By Mo Siegel, President, Urantia Foundation, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Spain

My wife, Jennifer, and I visited with Mike MacIsaac and three other Swedish readers of The Urantia Book. Mike has been annually attending a new age book fair to promote the book. Since the publication of Urantiaboken, the book is available in Sweden, Swedish-speaking bookstores in Finland, and at least a dozen online retail outlets.

There are about 25 readers of The Urantia Book that have made contact with the social group. Only eight of the twenty five are Swedish. There is one study group that meets twice a month.

Estonia

We met with Peep Sõber and Karmo Kalda, President of the Estonian Association of Urantia Association International. Since the publication of Urantia Raamat, 309 books have been sold. Although the number one way to find the book is via the internet, half of the bookstores within the four largest cities have the book on the shelf.

There are two active study groups in Estonia that meet regularly. One meets monthly with ten to twenty attendees, and the other meets weekly with five to ten attendees.

Russia

We met with Vyacheslav Mokhovikov, President of Amrita-Rus, the current distributor of the Russian translation, which is in its fourth printing. Vyacheslav has read the book in its entirety and understands its importance.

Sales of the Russian translation have dramatically declined in the past few years. The economy of Russia went into a steep decline in 2008. Vyacheslav reports that now is a difficult time to sell big and expensive books. He does recommend that the Russian translation be printed with the new cover.

A social gathering with readers of The Urantia Book was planned by Vitaly Kondratjev. The location of the meeting was something out of the movies. The room was located off a dark and remote courtyard which took 15 minutes to find once we arrived at the address. While Russia has dramatically advanced since the breakup of the former Soviet Union, it remains a somewhat Byzantine empire compared to the West.

It is difficult to express in words my feelings about meeting with the Russian readers. To see the joy in their faces because they know about Havona, that they dream of a better life, that they read stories of Michael of Nebadon and know the Father first hand is amazing. It makes all of our work and financial expenditures worthwhile. Just imagine how our unseen supervisors watch over the Urantia Revelation's progress in Russia. We are not alone in this mission, and in many ways, efforts to build a spiritual foundation for a safer world require a permanent transformation of religious freedom in Russia.

Finland

We met with Kalevi Eklof, the office manager of Urantia Foundation's Finnish Office, and his wife. They took us to a café for a social gathering with Finnish readers including Joel R, the translator of the Swedish Urantia Book, Urantiaboken. It was a lovely time, but the group expressed some concerns about the future. The community of readers is old, and very few young people read the book or associate with other readers.

Approximately 7000 Urantia Books have been sold in Finland. Sales are at a fraction of their former numbers, and the book design needs adjustments to remain viable in this market.

The book is stocked in about 15-20 book stores throughout the country, and the price varies from 25 euros to 40 euros.