The Flu

2016-02-21 Terra Letter

Hey Family! 

Well, it has been quite the week! The flu has been going around like wildfire and finally it caught sister Jones. And then it caught me. So we have been extremely exhausted these last few days! And since we missed church, the whole ward knew about it. An older member couple dropped by last night and gave us some meals that were for the "less active sisters" haha. I love the members! We have such a big family here. So ya, sickness! Haha it actually is pretty funny. I literally feel like I am on Ambien right now, it took everything in us just to walk 15 minutes to the church so we could send emails. But, all is well, we will recover soon enough.

We still had some great experiences this week! A few weeks ago we tracted into a Russian man and at first he wasn’t too interested though he took an English book of Mormon and said we could drop by another time to give him one in Russian. Well, once we acquired one in Russian, we went over and he actually gave us his phone number so that we could set up an appointment! So we met with him and his wife on Friday night and they had made us a 3-course meal (keep in mind that is was 8pm haha) and they were so cute! We taught them and they loved how our church really values the family. It was an amazing experience and a great example of how the Lord prepares people. We make friends with the coolest people as missionaries! I love it :)

Well, my brain is extremely slow so I think that is all I can think up of for this week. Church is true! I love you all, have a great week! :)

FROM NATE

Hey Teegs. I just got back to the U after another happening family dinner at the Wunderlis. My friend Riley came and Skyler and his girlfriend Paige. Trevor and Rachel were there and Maks friend along with all the usual suspects. We played the sign game after dinner and then some much more intense basketball than I had anticipated. I don't know if you know the sign game but I played it on pday a couple times in the mission and our family loves it. I went to Hawaii as dad said last week. It was so much fun to get some sunshine and play some golf and grass. We went to the beach and visited a big canyon on the last day and ate some good food along the way. Now the weather is pretty warm here all of a sudden it went from 30 to 55 and the inversion went away so everyone is pretty stoked about that. Other than that just school and more golf for me this past week. That will probably be my life until school ends. Trying to make some friends especially of the female type along the way. Tata!

From DAD

Hey Bear!

I'm back in San Francisco. Closing arguments are tomorrow in this trial. Hope for the best!  This has been a weird trial because I was originally just supposed to cover a couple days for a colleague of mine, but it turned in to me taking over a three week trial. So I didn't expect to be this busy over the last few weeks, but here I am. Fortunately, we have raised good kids who can now hold down the fort when mom and I are out of town.  That's really cool. We have an awesome family!

It was Mak's birthday today and the super bowl.  Me, Mak, Megan, Essie, and Sammie went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate. Yum. 

We are all so proud of you for what you're doing.  Hang in there!  We love you!

Love,

Dad

Great Things Are Happening :)

Happy Valentines Day 

Hey FAMILY! 

  I don’t know why that went into caps lock but okay. How is everyone?? Sounds like everyone is doing great! :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!! It was a good week here in Marjaniemi!  You are so lucky that you were able to meet Finns, they are the best.

So, great things are happening here, I will share a few stories. We were going to teach this Finnish man who we had taught before and I was getting super nervous before the lesson. For some reason some people just intimidate me and then I get super tongue-tied and forget how to speak Finnish correctly, and this man was one of those people. He is super super cool though! But anyway, before the lesson we said a fervent prayer that we would be able to teach him towards his needs and help him to feel the spirit (because he is an atheist and doesn’t know if any of this applies to him). By the time the lesson started I felt so calm and ideas and words came to my mind as I listen and talked! No, he didn’t agree to get baptized or anything but the miracle was the fact that his understanding was enlightened and I was not nervous while teaching. And then for the first time, he said a prayer at the end of the lesson. It was so powerful! I am so grateful for how Heavenly Father has helped me and continues to strengthen me. I am amazed, truly.

Another experience, we are teaching an African man and he came to church this past Sunday! That might not seem like a big deal but despite our efforts, we have not had an investigator come to church for a while. But he is really awesome and will probably get baptized after I leave this area (assuming I am leaving here in a month). It would be the 3rd African I have taught who gets baptized so that would be pretty cool haha :)

It also was Ystävänpäivä (valentines day), which they actually celebrate here. I wasn’t too sure whether it was just an American thing. But the literal meaning of ysävänpäivä is "friend´s day" so you can guess that it is a lot better here than it is in the states. Me and sister jones passed out little chocolates to everyone on Sunday and we wore matching outfits for fun. Good day!

Well, that is all for now. NOTE: due to zone conference, next email day will be on MONDAY. I love you all, thanks for everything!! Have a great week!! :) The church is true!  

Love, Terra

I Love the Members Here

Marjaniemi is a seaside residential area in eastern Helsinki.

Perhe! 

Well, we have actually been pretty busy in our area! And the weather has been super strange, but no complaints as long as it stays above -27 degrees! :) The ice is dangerous, I completely slipped and fell on my back this past week (luckily by the grace of God there was no injury, just a super wet skirt haha) and all the Finns are breaking their arms because the ice on the sidewalks is so bad. It is a common problem every year apparently. But we are extra cautious.

Sister Jones officially graduated from the "greenie program" this week which means I am no longer a trainer, just a normal senior companion. Yay for Sister Jones! We become closer and closer every week and I have learned so much about myself through her. We have both learned how to be open and really just how to work together even though our backgrounds and interests are totally different. What a learning experience! I am grateful for her, we have so much fun together :) Just shows that God really knows what help I need and what is going to help me grow.

This past week made me realize how much I truly love the members here, we have become family! It is cool having been in Vaasa for 6 months and now being here in Marjaniemi for 6 months, I love the opportunity to get to know others and do this sacred work together :) I am also learning more about the nature of Finns and how to really work with them. They are such an interesting but amazing people! I am a little obsessed with them.

I love hearing how everyone at home is doing such exciting things! Keep up the great work, i love you all!! :) till next week! :) 

Pulling Together We Can Work it Out!

Hey family!! 

I seriously do not remember much of what happened this week. I really need to write these things down haha. Mom asked about the news of all the refugees coming into Finland. That has been the big talk for the past few months. Almost every one we talk to now has something to say about it. It is definitely affecting the Finns a lot. 

ANYWAY as far as stories this week, we have been teaching more lessons and seeing the work move forward. We have this one investigator who said he was only going to meet with us once or twice but he is so interested that we now meet with him twice a week. We are also teaching a Finnish lady tomorrow who referred HERSELF to the church to have missionaries teach her. We are so excited to meet her, I am sure she is golden! People rarely want the missionaries to come over, let alone request for them haha so hopefully there will be more to update on that next week!

Sister Jones and I have been working well together, we are very open with each other and I have learned a lot about myself by being with her! I am still working on getting over weaknesses that I have that go along with being a trainer/senior companion but I know that as I work through them it is something that will benefit me for my entire life! The mission is all about learning and preparing so you can be a better missionary but also so I can be more prepared in life back home. That is one of the reasons I love being out here. I experience miracles everyday and I just love these people so much! Well, have a great week everyone!! Love you all!! :)

ps. There was an Imagine Dragons concert here is Helsinki this past week and I thought of you dad!! Wish we could have gone together. I love you! :)

pps. Happy birthday Makendy!