September 27, 2016

What a great week! My new companion is Sisar Holbrook!!! She is from Utah and is so awesome.  We have already taught a couple lessons together and it I know it will be a great transfer. I was kind of worried that my Finnish wouldn't be good enough to help someone that is new to the country but if I've learned anything this week it's that this is the Lord's work. He helps us when we feel inadequate and He never leaves us alone. One of my favorite scriptures has been on replay in my head this week, it's the one in the book of Joshua (1:9) that says '' be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest.'' I don't know if that is an exact quote but it's still my favorite scripture and I know that it is true and that the Lord qualifies whom He calls! I am very grateful for that. I have also come to realize that I don't need to know perfect Finnish to be able to have conversations with people, I am sure that would be nice and I am definitely still working on it but I don't feel the need to stress about it any more.

We have a great group of investigators, some new and we've been busy trying to meet with them all. Every time we teach some one about the gospel of Jesus Christ I just feel my own testimony growing. I love being a missionary and I have loved this opportunity to serve in the beautiful country of Finland!

September 19, 2016

I love seeing the fruits of my labor!

This week Sisar Andersson and I got a phone call from one of our members asking us if we could teach her, her friend, and her 10 year old son English. There are a bunch of laws about teaching English in Finland and we are by no means English teachers but we are allowed to have ''English discussions''. We said that we would love to come over and do that but due to some circumstances we ended up only meeting with her friend who happens to be a non member. It was such a neat experience even though we didn't really know what we were doing. I have come to realize that English is a really hard language! Finnish has a million grammar rules but once you learn them all you're good to go! We also had the chance in our meeting to explain a little about what we believe and we are hopefully meeting with her next week. 

Transfer calls! We got our transfer calls last Friday morning and I'M TRAINING! I will be staying in Marjaniemi and be training a new missionary from the MTC. We don't have a ton of sisters in the mission at the moment so I definitely knew it was a possibility but it was still kind of surprising. I have faith though that the Lord truly directs this work and if he trusts me enough to train then I'm sure it will be great. I won't know who my new companion is until Wednesday morning when I go to the mission home. I was excited to hear that in the group of 9 sisters that's coming one sister is from Slovakia and one is from Lithuania so I might even have a chance to serve with another European companion. I really just want to help whoever it is love Finland and love this amazing missionary work that we get to do.

Although I am excited and of course a bit nervous to be training, it also means that I am saying goodbye to Sisar Andersson. She is actually at the end of her mission and will be returning home to Tampere. We both are hoping that I get to serve in her home ward at some point in my mission! It has been such an amazing transfer with her, I've learned a lot. I know that she'll continue being an amazing member missionary and continue blessing the lives of others. On Sunday after the Sunday school classes were over the whole congregation gathered together in the chapel and sang ''God be with you till we meet again.'' for Sisar Andersson and for the departing Elder from our ward. It was so sweet and you could just feel everyone's love for them and for their service. At least Sisar Andersson only lives two hours away! I'm trying to convince her to visit at some point while I'm still here. 

I love this work and I know the church is true! It has truly blessed my life and I love watching it bless the lives of others. 

We knocked on this door a couple days ago!

It says '' no religious propaganda, thanks!'' 

September 13, 2016

I cannot believe that this is the last week of the transfer! We had a fun week with our last district meeting and a Zone Training meeting. That means I was able to see Sisar Carter and Sisar Burden from my MTC group again. It was so much fun and I really learned a lot from the meeting. We talked about how to use the Book of Mormon in our teaching and went over our thoughts from the recent Mission Tour. 

We had a great lesson with our Vietnamese investigator last week and he said that he had been talking to his friends about the church. They had voiced a lot of questions to him that he didn't know the answers to and he told them, ''I'm not sure, I'll have to ask my missionaries.'' It was kind of the best feeling ever to have someone say that we were ''their missionaries'' and teaching him has been one of the coolest experiences ever. He wants to be baptized with his whole family and knows how important it is to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. The only problem is he's never in the country. He owns a bunch of businesses and he's always in a random country when we try to meet. We invited him to church and he told us that he would like to go but he'll be in Germany on that day. We can usually only meet with him once a month but every time is so special!

This Friday we get transfer calls!!!!! I am a bit nervous but if there is one thing that I've learned so far is that when we put our trust in the Lord everything works out.  

September 6, 2016

Sisar Roberts went out to find investigators...and found turtles. The search continues!

This week I learned some new Finnish words. I was trying to say ''he was sorry'' or ''Hän oli pahoilla'' but I said ''Hän oli Paholinen'' which means ''He was the evil one'' aka Satan. It's a good thing I have an amazing Finnish companion to help me out! 

We had a pretty great week and on Sunday I was asked to be a translator in church! I had attempted it once before because we have a few people here in our ward that don't speak Finnish and it did not go very well. Translating is a lot harder than I thought it would be, especially since I still don't fully understand people when they talk to me. But we had an American family here visiting and they needed a translator... in Primary. It was actually awesome, Sisar Andersson and I got to go to primary with all of the little kids and I sat next to this 10 year old girl and translated the lesson for her. The lesson was about missionary work and for the first time since I've been in Finland I understood everything that was being said. I loved being able to help out in the primary class and it was definitely the most awake I've been in a long time. In general Finns are kind of quiet people and it's a really quiet country so being in a room with a bunch of loud kids was kind of a culture shock! It was cool singing all of the primary songs that I've grown up with like ''I am a child of God'' in Finnish and really being able to see how our church is the same everywhere in the world. 

I love this church and I love being a missionary. I have a testimony of this gospel and how much of a gift it is. I feel so blessed for this opportunity to share it with others. I think that my mission has made me realize just how blessed I have been to have had this opportunity to be raised in the gospel.