A journey towards faith, community and service to humanity

Julia Olenius formally enrolled as a Baha’i almost six years ago. It was the last day of Ridvan – the most holy festival for Baha’is and the time when the founder of the Faith, Baha’u’llah, publicly declared His unifying mission to His followers. 

“Right before declaring I didn’t know how many wonderful things this decision would bring into my life,” Julia says. “But after … I knew that I was exactly where I needed to be.” 

Julia’s journey with the Baha’i Faith began when she was 16 years old and about to start high school in her homeland of Finland. Working as a group leader at a youth Christian summer camp, she had always been longing for spirituality. But the concept of the church didn’t sit quite right with her. “One day after the last camp, a new school year started and I went to study in a different city. On the very first day at my new school I met someone who was different than anyone I had ever met before. He radiated light and love, something that is definitely not typical in an introverted, shy culture like Finland.” 

Julia says she “needed to know where that positive energy was coming from”. Soon, she discovered he was a Baha’i, and started reading more about the Faith. “I remember thinking that it seemed very reasonable and I agreed with everything that I read but I still let it be for the time being.”

Things changed when Julia moved to Australia to do a high school exchange year. “I knew that this was my chance to be a new, better version of myself since I was going to be in a new place with people that didn’t know me.” Settling in rural Geraldton in Western Australia, she connected with the Baha’i community and attended a special event celebrating the 200^th anniversary of the birth of the forerunner of the Faith – the Bab. 

“I remember standing at the door before knocking and thinking that this evening would change my life. I didn’t know yet how much in fact,” Julia recalls. 

Everyone at the celebration was so wonderful and full of love, just like my friend and his family back home in Finland. I thought that ‘wow there are more people like this!”’” 

Julia went on to connect with several young people in the Baha’i community who she says were integral to her journey towards becoming a Baha’i. She says studying the material in the Ruhi courses – designed to effect a spiritual transformation within the individual and inspire everyone to find a path of service to humanity – also helped. “I think from the very first (Ruhi) Book 1 session I knew that I was a Baha’i in my heart.” 

“Everything that I learned from then on just added to that feeling.”

About half a year later, one of the Geraldton friends asked Julia if she had thought about formally declaring as a Baha’i. “The answer was clear,” she says. “The time was now.” 

Julia says one of the biggest things she realised upon moving back to Finland was the Faith’s equal emphasis on both worship and service. “Until then I had no idea that the Faith also had all these activities to strive to make a positive change in the world. I had always been attracted to the fact that Baha’is were not just saying nice things but also really making an effort to bring those ideas into practice and acting on them. They were not just empty words but deeds always followed. That was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to strive to be a Baha’i as well.” 

After completing her schooling in Finland, Julia dedicated time serving in Hofheim, Germany. She also visited Brampton, Canada prior to her service to learn more about community-building initiatives. “I learned so much more about the history and the society building power of the Faith,” she says. “I also got to go on Pilgrimage during that year which made the experience of full-time service even more special and spiritual.” 

“I was supposed to serve in Germany for a whole year but after spending six months there and having learned so much, I felt that I needed to take everything that I had learned back to Finland and try to establish something similar there.”

Since then, Julia has continued to serve at the neighbourhod level in Finland. “It’s been wonderful living in an area where lots of people serve together on a daily basis and are building this vibrant community. I don’t even want to imagine how my life would be now without the Faith.” 

Julia says being a Baha’i has “taught me so much and guided me through everything in life”.  

“I want to thank all the people and the communities around the world who helped me to go forward, who taught me and guided me. I hope I can do that to many others as well in the future.” 

Over the past few months, Julia returned to Australia to visit her family and friends and also visited Baha’is in Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and Fiji to learn from their activities. “Each community welcomed me so warmly,” she says.  

“The people of this faith will receive you with open arms wherever you go in the world and that is a gift I will cherish my whole life.”