July 18, 2016

This is the ruins from one of the old churches here. 

I am officially a jazz fan!!The BYU Synthesis was amazing. They had four performances here in Vaasa and we were able to go to all of them. It was a great opportunity for missionary work and also a great time to listen to some amazing music! We had some time to talk to the band members after the performances and it was so nice to talk to Americans after so long! We are finally having some summer weather in Vaasa so tons of people were outside and there were tons of activities. Also, TONS of food. I have never felt so cultural before in my life. I also had another one of my awesome language fails. Sister Hayter and I were asked to pass out programs to people and advertise for the performances so we were going around handing out these programs to people. In Finnish the word for program is ''ohjelma'' and the word I kept saying was '' ongelma'' which means problem. So I kept saying '' Voinko antaa tämä ongelma sinulle?'' Can I give this problem to you? instead of ''Voinko antaa tämä ohjelma sinulle'' Can I give this program to you..... Poor Sister Hayter had to keep rescuing me from myself but it was pretty funny. The members definitely thought so. If you can't laugh at yourself while learning a language it's just depressing! 

GUESS WHO IS LEAVING VAASA??????? We got transfer calls last Friday. I am officially leaving my dear city of Vaasa and going to..... Marjaniemi!!!! That means I'll be in the Helsinki area and in the Helsinki Zone. ( I was in North Zone) I am excited because it also means I can go to the Helsinki temple again. And my new companion is ...... I don't have her permission to write her name yet because we are transferring tomorrow. But I actually met her last transfer because she was serving in Oulu at the time and she is super sweet. AND SHE IS A FIN!!!!! She's the only Finnish missionary we have in the mission right now and I feel so blessed to be able to serve with her. I never thought I would have a Finnish companion! 

They were having this culture food stand thing in the tori and there was a bunch of french food for some reason. We had real macaroons! So good! And this was the french sausage (it had beef and lamb). 

I had a ''Best two years'' moment!!!!!! I ate these fish.... I forget what they are called in Finnish but they have the eyes, bones, and EVERYTHING. I just couldn't think about it very much... The taste was fine but the texture... I ate like ten of them though! I wanted to get my 8 euros worth!

Sisar Hayter will be staying in Vaasa and she'll be training a new missionary fresh from the MTC. She's pretty excited and I know she'll do great. I have been having to say goodbye to all of the members and my investigators the past few days which has been so hard. Sisar Hayter secretly texted a bunch of people in the ward that I was leaving so on my last Sunday our Bishop called me out in the middle of sacrament meeting and asked me to bear my testimony.... just like my first week here in Vaasa. Except this time I could actually say what I wanted to say which was such a blessing. I know that my Finnish was not by any means perfect but I was able to express my gratitude and my love for them and bear my testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Of course I was such a goober and started crying but the people here have been like family to me. Saying bye to people was really hard but I guess it's a part of missionary life. I hope that I'll love Marjaniemi just as much.