Perhe!

Well, what a great week! Good luck with the Spartan haha glad I am not there to be forced into that! My body is pretty beat up from being a missionary already so maybe I will have to do that when I get back...

I cannot believe that the wedding is coming up and that Nate is coming home! Whaaaaat??? Totally ridiculous.. kuintenkin, a bunch of good stuff happened this week! So I will explain a few.

First off, I think one of the most special parts of being a missionary is seeing people change. To be honest, I haven’t seen it that much so far because we do I lot of finding and filing in and out of people. But a couple weeks ago we taught this man who we met on the street and at first he was asking a lot of political and factual questions like how we choose prophets and how many members we have and what not. After teaching the restoration he seemed more interested but still on a fact based level. Last week we met with him again and while we were talking about the Plan of Salvation we could not believe the change! He sincerely liked it and had really good questions and concerns. He said he first thought Mormons were a cult, and then he thought we were just a weird religion, but after our lesson he said he actually really likes what we believe and noticed how forgiving of a church this is! He said learning about it has almost made him want to believe in something again. Wow, we were so amazed! It was such a blessing to be able to see that. He is going to be out of town for a bit (like most people over the summer... they all have little summer houses or a möki that they go to haha) but hopefully we stay in contact.

It was Juhhannes Päivä (mid-summer) on Saturday, which is a HUGE holiday in Finland because it is bright all night long. That also means that it is a red day for missionaries so we cant talk to or call any people because a bunch of people get drunk. But a member family invited us to their summerhouse for dinner at their family reunion and let me just tell you, I absolutely love these people! I felt like I could have been at our own family reunion. Everyone is so nice and since half of the ward here is a part of the same family, they were all there hanging out. And it was BEAUTIFUL. I was almost brought to tears though by how much I love these members and how grateful I am for them.

Another miracle happened at church when 4 people that we had invited came! I love when people come to church! Being a missionary is the coolest. I am finally starting to be myself around people that we meet and using my personality as a strength. It makes talking to people that much better! Well, keep working hard, I am gonna send a lot of pictures so you can all be jealous that I get to serve in the most beautiful place on earth :) love yall!! :)

Perhe!

Sounds like everyone is doing well and shaping the world! Good to hear that a lot of good stuff is going on back home :)

First things first, items of business. I think you got an email about this but the office is moving so there is a NEW ADDRESS: Upseerinkatu 3 C, 02600 Espoo. Make sure to tell that to the ward and the family, especially Gma Sylvia because she writes me a lot. At some point when you send a package, can you send me the blue Finnish grammar book? I sent it home from the MTC just to realize that it is super helpful ha-ha, it is written by Fred Karlson. Finnish grammar is quite the math problem! Anyway, it was a good week this week, a lot of traveling! We had zone conference again and then we had stake conference (well, district conference because it is not big enough to be a stake) so we had to travel there by bus. The best part was we had to stay in a hotel! Ha-ha and it was complete with a good Finnish continental breakfast! I will send some pictures because obviously me and my companions were pretty excited about that. And on the bus the song "walk the Line" was playing so it made me think of Dad :) District conference was really amazing though. There was a lot on the importance of inviting and giving people a chance to hear the gospel. I also was very proud of my Vaasa branch because a bunch of them were there! I really love these people, they are the greatest!!

Despite the fact that we were gone from our area for a few days, we were blessed to have a good amount of lessons and were able to get right back on track. The weather is really nice now and i have officially decided that Finland is the most beautiful place ever. There are so many shades of green in the summer it doesn’t even look real! It is like a painting! Oh, also, my official release date is July 21st, 2016 so ya´ll can mark that on your calendars I guess haha. Well, it was a good week, church is true! Love you all, thanks for the emails!

Perhe!

I am glad to hear everyone is doing well! I can never remember what happens during the week but I will try to think of some random stories for ya´ll... 

We are on a roll as far as teaching foreign men goes haha, we got one of our investigators to came to church after he told us multiple times that he never ever goes to church! It was awesome because Elder Holland was speaking in a special satellite broadcast to northern Europe for stake conference. It was amazing. All the speakers were really good and Elder Holland bore powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. Our investigator (a student from Nigeria) said that Elder Holland really sounded like an apostle! No kidding!! haha so that was a cool experience. 

We are also finding more creative ways to serve the members here which is great because Finns do NOT ask for or accept help very well. They are not a fan of the word "help". Something to do with how Russia was taking over. But we decided to embrace the sister missionary and bake a TON of cookies to give out ha-ha, everybody loves cookies! The Lord has blessed us a lot and continues to provide support! I also got Rachel and Mom´s letters this week so thanks! It was really nice to hear from both of you :) and good to hear that cardboard Terra is holding up nicely, you have to make sure she looks good for the wedding! I have to look my best in those pictures. People say it has been quite a cold summer so far for Finland so i am hoping the weather warms up soon! Though a nice 65 degrees is never bad and I don’t know what to expect out of summer here. It is always beautiful though! Well, that’s all I got, the church is true! :)

Keep up the hard work, I love you all!!! :)

Hey Perhe!!

Wow, first off, I can not believe you just started your last transfer Nate!! That is insane! I am sure the house is just exploding from excitement haha. And I am excited to get all your letters, and thanks for thinking about me dad! ;) guess what, my friend who was in my Finnish class at BYU just got her mission call to Finland! She will be coming here around October so it will be exciting to see her. Well, it was a good week this week! Not too much happened but it was still good. We taught a Finnish women and her husband and they were super cool, I love teaching lessons in Finnish! It is good practice and usually forces me to be a lot more clear and precise. She was super nice and was impressed by how well we speak and by our devotion to the work! We talked to a lot of fun people this week. We are getting back on a stage of teaching African men which usually means a lot of confusion about the bible and the book of Mormon... Fun stuff!

Following the spirit is so essential, we were teaching a lesson and me and my companions all had the same feeling that we should teach something not according to our plans but we didn’t do it! So dumb haha, but we talked about it afterword’s and learned to always listen to what the Spirit says and that reminder really helped our next lesson go a lot better. Besides that, we are still a big finding stage which is actually kind of exciting! I am thinking of new ideas and ways we can work with the ward members and everything so it takes a lot of patience but it is worth it. Just taking things day by day! Whenever we are walking or tracting, I love carrying a book of Mormon in my hands because it really reminds me why I am doing this. There are so many people who have no idea about the strength that Christ can give them and the fact that we have actual truth! So sad. But I am glad I get to be hear and share it with them! Well, that is all I can think of really.. can you believe it has been 5 months?? So weird.. Have a great week family!! Love you all!!!

Terra