Countdown to Christmas

Perhe!

Happy December!! Countdown to Christmas starts now! Ok, lets be honest, I started listening to Christmas music a month ago and we decorated the apartment last week, but now it is official!

Glad to hear everyone had a good Thanksgiving, mine was pretty eventful as well! We wanted a good Thanksgiving meal but turkeys are hard to find here... So we ate chicken and mashed potatoes with some veggies and glögi :) not too bad.

We also witnessed a miracle this week for which we are so grateful. Background: The bishop in our ward has been helplessly trying to find an apartment for members in our ward. After weeks they couldn’t find anything! Well, there is a women from the Congo who we taught last week and she has been looking for the right church for a long time. She barely has anything besides a completely empty apartment. She only speaks French and broken Finnish so there is a language barrier but we get by. Anyway, we wanted her to come to church so we arranged for the bishops wife to pick her up and take her home. Because members here are amazing, the bishops wife was more than willing even though it was a bit inconvenient. Well, upon learning of this lady´s poor condition, the bishop invited her over for dinner at their house and discovered that she has an apartment. So, he just put the 2 problems together and the member who needed an apartment is now living with our investigator and helping her get money for food! It has been a miracle for the bishop, the members, and our investigator. And an even bigger miracle, that act of service opened our investigators heart so much that she was so willing to learn and is now getting baptized in 3 weeks!! :) We have been so busy helping her to be prepared for that day and she is so happy every time we come over. She is so grateful and recognizes that she just gained a very large family! And it is fun because we teach her in Finnish, French (yes, we are learning French gospel vocab haha) and some English (the member is teaching her English). A few nights ago we went over to her house and she said "good morning! is that right time?" haha, she is great! We love her. So, the Lord provides and under His guidance, everything works out.

I am still learning so much about myself every day and about turning outward. I truly love all the people here! It started getting a little rough this week with the darkness. It is REALLY dark.... But it is not too cold yet and I am trying not to think about it :) it is a bit harder on Sister Jones though because she is so new! That would be so difficult. Being her trainer is still going well, we are learning together and staying positive in the darkness :) The postal strike is going to end tonight, and I am going to send y’all a Christmas package! So be stoked! Also, with Skype: I forgot my Skype account name so can you set one up for me or something? I still don’t know details so stay tuned :) well, i think that is all I got! The blog looks great and thanks for the update on money. Love you all!! :)