January 17, 2017

This past week we found out about our New Mission President and his wife! It will be Brother and Sister Aura from Finland! It is the first time the Helsinki, Finland mission will have a Finnish mission President! I will only have the chance to serve with them for a couple of weeks but it is still so exciting! This past week I also hit my 1 year mark as a missionary. The time has gone so fast. My companions made me a little ''Happy One Year'' banner and I literally cried. I was just feeling so many mixed emotions and I started panicking a little bit that I don't have any time left. I feel like it was just yesterday when I was thinking that 18 months way sooooo long and now, it's going so fast and the thought of ever leaving is tear inducing!

This past week we had a Zone Training meeting in Haaga and it was great seeing so many of my friends in the mission there as well as having a chance to learn more from our amazing mission leaders. We mostly talked about the doctrine of repentance and how we can better teach it in our lessons.

One of the highlights of the week was eating out at an actual restaurant. I don't know if it's because I haven't really had a burger since I got here...so over a year, or the fact that it was a really nice restaurant but I had the best bacon cheese burger of my life the other day and I can't get over it. I also forgot how much I loved burgers and this one had bacon mayonnaise as well as onion rings, french fries, and a side salad. I have never felt so spiritually uplifted by food before in my life. I also had three scoops of gelato and it was my first time ever having gelato and I literally felt like I was walking on air and could do missionary work without sleep for the next 4 days. That's how good it was and I would describe it in more detail if I had the time.

On a more spiritual note I read an amazing talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf this morning in my personal study called '' Grateful in any circumstances'' and I would definitely suggest reading it. One of my favorite lines from the talk were when he said '' How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is the rain?'' I really loved that and it made me think about how much God truly loves us and how everything we experience is for our good. I loved the way he described this life and how we can always have an attitude of gratitude! I love being a missionary in Finland and I am actually writing this from the temple guest house! I am going later today and am so grateful for the blessings of the temple.