LAST SUNDAY IN VAASA

Hei Familia!

The week was super fast and super slow. Super slow because I was sick for 3 days and couldn’t do anything besides sleep and sleep and sleep haha, probably was just a side effect of the physically and emotionally exhausting week I had the week prior. BUT all is well and it still was a great week!

As expected I am leaving Vaasa!! I have been here for 6 months, it is crazy to think of  leaving the place I have learned to love so much... It was a super hard goodbye, I love the ward members here and our investigators right now are pure miracles! Definitely a different place than when I first came here, the work is going to explode in Vaasa super soon. I wont be able to see it be it has definitely set me off to work hard for the rest of my mission! I am so grateful I had the opportunity to serve here and for the opportunity it has been to be with Sister Harris. After 6 months together we were practically becoming the same person so maybe it was time to separate us haha. 

Tomorrow I head to serve right in Helsinki!! My new companion has been in the field for 2 months so I will be finishing her training and getting to know the bigger area there. It will be different but I am excited for a change, I have been here a LONG time haha. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!!! The wedding sounds like it was a blast, just like it always is with the Wunderli fam! I expect pictures next week.... Like, even just one... I want to see my beautiful sister!! It is weird that school has started too, I am lucky I get to serve in paradise while everyone else has to take tests and do homework :) Not like this is easy or anything but missionary work is just awesome!

My testimony has truly solidified just in the past few weeks and I always feel more and more prepared to do exactly what the Lord would have me do. The gospel changes lives, I have seen it! So many of my prayers have been directly (some indirectly) answered that I have no doubt in the reality of our loving Heavenly Father. With all the problems in the world it is nice to know that the solutions are all found in one place. The challenge is finding and helping other people to be able to realize that haha.

I have sent some pictures of my last Sunday in Vaasa. One picture is of us with our amazing investigator, DONT POST THAT ONE ONLINE. It is illegal in Finland. It was super hard to say goodbye!!

Well, since i cant think of much else, I love you all!!! Talk to you next week!! :)

BUSY WEEK

Hello Family!!

 

Well, it was a crazy long week but I survived it! We travelled again

to Oulu and back (total of 10 hours on a train) and my brain about melted haha. Those train rides are always rough... But I learned a lot about endurance this week and we saw a lot a miracles!

We have such a busy week this week it is awesome. This place is exploding! Transfers are next week and I do think I am going to leave Vaasa (though you can never be too sure...) which is kind of sad because we have some amazing investigators and the work is going so well. But whatever happens, it will be fine and it will be good to say that I left this place better than when i found it! That’s always a good feeling.

Now I will answer some of your questions…. We saw the sunset this week which was crazy! I haven’t seen a sunset in month’s haha! Me and sister Harris talk about it being a time bomb for the terrifying winter ahead.

We eat pretty well here due to the fact that all the food is so fresh. Our meals are usually salads, chicken, spaghetti, tacos, Asian lettuce raps, riisipirakka (Finnish sandwich of sorts...), stir fry, grilled cheese with turkey and avocado and anything else we feel like making. So my stomach has been pretty good :)

Popular sports in Finland include soccer and sähly (floorball) and hockey and I am not so familiar with the pop culture haha.

My mission president is AWESOME, depending on the time we usually see him once or twice a month. He just came to Vaasa to give a fireside that we had set up, he is such a spiritual giant! And super funny too. He has completely switched the mission around, apparently this used to be a pretty apostate mission but he put it into shape. His wife is awesome too, so soft spoken and sweet haha she always needs a microphone to talk. They have been here a little over a year so they wont be going home until a year after I leave.

As far as clothes... It might be nice to get a few more shirt and skirt combos... I would really appreciate that haha... It is crazy that the wedding is this week, I cant believe my sister is getting married!! what??? I hope cardboard Terra looks up to par for the event. oh also, shout out to Nate because a guy gave a talk about the parallels of golf in church on Sunday haha definitely made me think of you. Also, I will probably be emailing on MONDAY next week so keep that in mind :) Don’t forget to send me pictures from the wedding!!! Alright, love you all!! have a great week!! :)

ps. thanks for the email Essie!! :)

pps. Get meegs to freaking email me, I think I sent her a random email like eons ago but I have received no reply..

ppps. tell grandma that I am still getting her letters! she was worried they were not making it to me

Love yall!!

CH CH CH CHANGES

It is a lot harder to think of things to write than I thought it would be so if you ever want to know something or have questions, feel free to ask! I am sure home is super busy with the wedding coming up so soon!  

I am sending you a little present Rach so get excited! I probably wont have time to send it until Friday so you might not get it till after the honeymoon but it is coming. 

Nate, do you feel like a movie star being a return missionary or what?? I am sure speaking Korean at any opportunity has been great, I am sad to know that I will have no one to really speak Finnish with when I get back... Us Finnish missionaries comprise of a pretty small circle haha...Finnish is a hard language and Istill a struggle but I love speaking it! I am now pretty much able to have a normal conversation with anyone and able to understand enough to get by.

As far as this week goes, lets see if I can remember anything... It hit about 26 degrees (about 80 degrees Fahrenheit) here for a few days, I was dying of heat! It is so beautiful though.

Change calls are next Friday and I have a feeling I am going to leave Vaasa, because I have been here so long. Oh and btw, change calls mean transfers. I realized that normally in other missions when it comes to the end of the transfer all the missionaries get together and are assigned there new companion or something but since this mission is the whole country of Finland,. getting all the missionaries together in one place would be quite the challenge. So on change call day, the mission president just calls each companionship and tells them where they are going. It’s a moment of anxiety every time, waiting for the phone to ring!

I am so grateful for this gospel I cant even explain it.  Everything that God does it is because He loves us, truly and deeply and without condition. He knows what’s best for each of us and I have learned to trust in that! And what comfort that brings. I love you all! Have a great week, thanks for the emails! :) moi moi!

I DON'T WANT THIS AMAZING SUMMER TO END

FINLAND SUMMER- So beautiful!!

Family!!

Crazy stuff happening at home, I cant believe you are even able to do

it all. It is still weird thinking of things going on while i am here because i feel like my life has been put on hold haha.

Well, this week

was a great week! We are still teaching the super cute Finnish girl and she came to church again! I need to work on this language more but i am amazed at how much I am able to understand and communicate when we talk with her! It is getting to a point where I don’t even know what to say if we stop someone on the street and they speak English.

Speaking of that, we ran into an American the other day! So weird, she actually talked to us and was really rather loud haha,  I think I am getting used to the reserved nature of the Finns... I am as American as they get but I love the Finns and feel awkward sometimes when it comes to making the American "small talk". Finns just like to get straight to the point.

That reminds me! I have been depriving ya´ll of some of the Finnish culture so here is a list of random Finnish things:

-Having to go to the backyard to get to the front door. I can’t count the number of "back doors" I have knocked on!

-Yogurt, fruit, chocolate and pretty much all the food is so fresh and soooo good!

-Doors that open outward (and they only ever open it enough to see one of us)

-Dogs, EVERYONE in Finland has a deep love for their dogs!

-Daily/nightly walks and walking sticks. Every Finn goes for a walk (leinki) and apparently it is 30% more efficient to walk with ski poles...

-Socialist government, so there are no homeless people probably due to the fact that people would literally die in the winter if they were homeless!

-Crocs, every Finn owns a pair of crocs that they keep right outside their front door.

-Möki (summer home) where Finns spend the month of July.

-Having dinner appointments at 3 in the afternoon... is that lunch or dinner???

-People mistaking us for Jehovah’s Witnesses (that probably happens everywhere)

-Curb parking/using the sidewalk as a parking spot.

-Searching to find people with problems because most everyone we talk to is content with life.

-Foreigners asking what we think about that Finns because they are such a distinct people

-Cute young Finnish families! They are very family centered

-Wooden houses

-Saunas and a lot of half naked people opening doors

...and a lot more, i will make sure to keep the list updated as time goes on :) I don’t want anyone to miss out on anything.

I really am enjoying this transfer and I love the feeling of working hard! I am so amazed by how God has truly lifted me and as I am willing, He is able to make me into something so much more than I could of ever imagined. I was touched this week by how grateful I am for the Holy Ghost. I might have mentioned the 2 blind boys that are in our branch here and their mom gave a beautiful testimony this last week. She talked about how loving God is for allowing us to know the truth through our feelings (and not

by sight) because no matter who you are or where you are, EVERYONE is able to feel the influence of the Holy Ghost.

I have felt the Spirit so strongly here and it helps me to get through the times that are a little harder.

I love you all so much!! have a great week!! :)