January 21, 2016

Moi! So I'm finally starting to understand the MTC saying that "a day is a week and a week is a day." Every day here is SO long but at the end of the week it feels like i haven't even been here very long at all. Going to the Embassy on Tuesday was a really fun day. We woke up at 2:30 am to be at the travel office at 3:30 am and then our flight was at like 7:30. When we got to L.A. the embassy was about half an hour away and we had an interview and we had our fingerprints taken. Then we took a taxi shuttle back to the airport but we stopped at In-and-Out Burger on the way and it was sooooo yummy! We had a cool Russian driver who tried to pass along his wisdom of the best ways to cure a hangover and the best vodkas, so of course the whole way to the airport Sister Margetts tried to convert him. We ended up giving him pass along card =) 

Something i experienced being out in the real world is the staring, and it was so surreal to be the center of attention because everyone recognizes the name tag. We had several members and RM's come up to us throughout the day to talk to us and we even ran into an elder going home from the end of his mission. It was so cool and we talked with him for like an hour. Later I ran into one of the Tanavasa's relatives at the airport! The world is so small, he said he lives in Hawaii and served in Samoa and had only been off of his mission for like 2 months...I don't remember his name but it was a crazy coincidence. 

I don't have a lot of time to write so i might have to go soon but this week has been amazing, I'm doing great and i know I'm supposed to be here. We keep teaching our fake investigator every day which is mostly just a really frustrating experience because I can understand about half of what she says but i can never answer her questions because of my very limited vocabulary. However, yesterday i made sure to relax and Sisar Carter and I wrote out very simple testimonies in Finnish. When i bore my testimony in Finnish during the lesson I got hit with the spirit and I started to cry. It made me understand what the gift of tongues is all about, I still had to read off of my notes but for the first time I wasn't worried about the pronunciation. I knew that even in my very simple testimony everything I was saying was absolutely true. I testified of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I told Anna (our investigator) about the Holy Ghost confirming the truth of the gospel and how prayer can give us the answers we seek. I closed in the name of Jesus Christ and I just received a very simple confirmation that I can do this and I am supposed to be here and that I will be able to speak Finnish even if the task is pretty daunting right now. I love this church so much. The spirit has been so strong I cannot even begin to describe it. I love you guys!

Love, 

Sisar Roberts