August 2, 2016

This week I have been trying to get to know the area and the ward better. We had dinner with one of the families here the other day and they asked me if I had been berry picking in Finland yet. I didn't know what they were talking about so they asked me in English and then I said that no, not yet. They said that berry picking season was almost over and that I had to try it so after dinner we went into the forest which was of course a two minute walk from their home (Finland!) and then we picked wild blueberries. I felt ihan suomalainen ( legit Finnish) after that experience. Suomi! 

We were contacting one day and we ran into this woman and she had some negative things to say about the church and I asked her if she would have time to talk next week and she was like ''I have time to talk now!'' So we went to a park and we talked to her for about 2 hours and got to know each other a lot better. She's from Singapore and she told us all about her family and about what she believed and then we told her about us and about what we believe and we gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to church the next day. Then she came! It was really a cool experience and it showed me that sometimes listening to what other people have to say is more important than trying to prove a point. It was really cool to hear about her life and then tell her about how the gospel of Jesus Christ could help her through all of the things that she's going through.  

Also, we have a mini missionary! There's a program here that allows the youth to spend a week with the missionaries and so we have our own mini missionary now! She's a 16 year old Finnish girl and she's awesome! So now I have two Finnish companions! My brain hurts because I haven't had to speak this much Finish ever in my life but it is way good practice. It's also a lot of me asking questions over and over but it's been way fun to have another companion with us. We went to Espoo yesterday and she'll be with us until the following Monday. We planned really hard for this week to try and give her the best experience we possibly can. She's so cool for already wanting to serve at 16. When I was 16 I never even thought about serving a mission and now I can't even imagine my life without it. It really has been the best experience of my life in so many different ways. I know this church is true and I love sharing this message of hope and joy to others.