March 27, 2017

Transfer calls! I am staying here in Tampere 1 ward as a Sister Training Leader AND AND AND my new companion is Sisar Carter!!!!! She was my companion in the MTC and she is amazing! I am so excited to serve with her again. It will be a cool experience to see how far we have both come. But sadly that also means that I will be saying goodbye to Sister Adams tomorrow (transfer day). I have LOVED serving with Sister Adams and I will really miss her. 

We just had our last Zone Conference of the transfer this past week as well and we are preparing now for the new Easter initiative that is coming out soon. We were given a challenge from our mission President to spiritually prepare for Easter by leaning more about the Savior. I have been using some of my personal study time lately to read from the Bible about the end of Christ's life and I am always amazed at how selfless He is. I am excited to prepare for Easter and for this coming General Conference.

March 20, 2017

This week Sister Adams and I participated in our ward party. It was the celebration for the 175th year of the Relief Society! Tampere has two wards that share the same building and it was a combined event. We sang a song in the program with the Tampere 2 sisters and it was so fun. Finns are so crafty and the decorations were amazing. 

We also had a dinner appointment with these amazing Filipino families in our ward. I think that there was around 30 people there when we showed up and also it was one of the kids birthday party. There was so much Filipino food. They have these deep fryers on their porch and they just kept making more and more egg rolls. And the dessert was this cool sticky rice thing that I can't really describe but we were given a bunch of it to take home. I love Filipinos. They are some of the nicest and funniest people! They make you feel like family and they make you eat at least 10 egg rolls before you leave. 

The Elders in our ward had a baptism this past week that we got to go to. It was this young married couple and they were so excited. In church yesterday they were given the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmed members of the church. The couple also has a 3 year old daughter and I am excited for her to be able to grow up in the church. It was a great week.

This week is the last full week of the transfer and it blows my mind with how fast it has gone. I feel like my whole mission has gone by pretty fast and that it has continued to speed up every transfer. We get our transfer calls this Friday, Sister Adams already knows her call ( she is going home!) and I am about 90% sure that I will be staying here in Tampere but I guess we will see! I will be really sad to say goodbye to Sister Adams, she and I have become so close and I will miss her a lot. Also it will mean that I  am in my second to last transfer and I don't know if I am ready for that! But I know that God has a plan and that His timing is perfect and that whatever happens will be a great learning experience for me. 

March 14, 2017

Exchanges in Turku!

Three times this transfer people have just walked into our church building because they felt like they were looking for something more in their lives. This past Sunday when we got to church some of the members told us to go to the chapel to talk to this man who had just randomly decided to come and so we did. He told us that he was walking past the church and he just felt like he had to come in. He said that he loved the peace that he could feel in our church and that he had had a lot of hardships in his life recently. Sister Adams and I testified to him that our Savior Jesus Christ truly loves and knows each of us personally and that through him we can find peace and joy in this life. We are teaching him tomorrow and it was just a really cool experience to be able to see that other people really are searching for happiness in this life. 

We also had exchanges in the beautiful city of Turku! When I come back to Finland one day I will definitely be visiting Turku. It was gorgeous and it was so much fun to spend the day working with the sisters and their investigators. It was also our last exchange so we'll be staying in Tampere for the rest of the transfer! As much as I love traveling, it is kind of a relief to be able to just work in our own area these last couple weeks together. 

Sister Adams and I have for some reason been teaching the commandments and about repentance in a lot of our lessons recently and it has really helped me to see that God's commandments are given to us because he loves us. God knows exactly what will keep us safe and happy and just like a loving parent He has told us exactly what we need to do in order to come back home one day. My view of repentance has changed a lot on my mission. I have such a testimony of daily repentance. In the world we live in today there is just so much temptation and people telling us that our actions right now don't really matter. God wants to bless us and help us become more like Him but we prevent Him from blessing us when we sin. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and His atonement and that He knows exactly what we go through every day. Repentance is such a gift and we can't utilize the power of the atonement without it. I know that life is hard sometimes but we never have to be alone. I love this church and I know that it is God's true, restored church. I am thankful for the chance that I have to be a missionary and to share the wonderful news.

March 7, 2017

Exchanges with the Turku 1 sisters!

I am sorry but I don't have time for a group email this week. I love you all and it was a great week!

February 28, 2017

The reflectors are going crazy but it keeps us safe!

We had exchanges again! The Jyväskylä sisters came to us here in Tampere for exchanges and it was such a great day. I love getting to know the sisters in the mission and I always like to ask them why they decided to serve missions. It is has been a cool experience for me to hear others people life experience and what led them to this point in their lives. We also had another trip down to Espoo this past week for another Missionary Leadership Council. I love meeting together with the Watsons and brainstorming the best ways we can help the mission right now. We also got to go to the temple again! 

In my personal study of the Book of Mormon I came across my favorite verse which is in the book of Ether, chapter 12, verse 27- '' And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.''  

This is Christ speaking and I didn't used to understand why He would give us weaknesses if He loves us so much. I now know that It is through our weaknesses that we learn to rely on the atonement of our Savior. His grace is sufficient for us when all else fails, when we have tried our best and our best isn't good enough. I know that Christ lives and loves us. I am grateful for my weaknesses because like the scripture says, they help us to become humble.