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.

August 30, 2016

Mission tour with some familiar faces!!!

Mission Tour! We had our mission tour last Friday and we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Johnson and Elder Sabin from the Europe Area Seventy Presidency and their amazing wives. I got to see half of the mission as well and everyone from my MTC group but Sisar Margetts. It was amazing seeing them all again and to see how much we've all grown while we've been here. During conference we were reminded about the importance of members in missionary work as well as how to strengthen our wards and our investigators. We talked a lot about faith and how we need to be continually nourishing our faith daily in order to make sure that it continues to grow. I don't know if that was something I was doing very well before my mission but I have such a strong testimony now of daily scripture study and looking for and praying for those missionary moments. I loved mission tour and I know I'll never forget the wonderful spirit that was there and the things that were discussed. Also, I found out that at this moment we only have 80 missionaries in Finland! There aren't a lot of missionaries here right now but that just means that we'll be working that much harder! I know that there are people here in Finland ready to accept the gospel if we can just find them. Also, Sisar Andersson and I went to the zoo and it was pretty awesome. My only disappointment was that there were no penguins... But I've already moved past it. It was a really fun p-day and an awesome week. 

August 23, 2016

Happy 21st Birthday - Batman Style!!!

Last week was definitely eventful! Last Thursday we were in Espoo for exchanges with our amazing Sister Training leaders and we got to see the temple! Our STL's are amazing and it was such an amazing experience. One of the sisters served in Vaasa right before me so we had a lot to talk about and it was like having a little piece of home. The other sister trained Sister Margetts from my MTC group and it was so cool hearing so many of their funny stories together. 

 

I have to say, I have the best family ever. For my birthday yesterday I celebrated a batman themed birthday thanks to my amazing mother. Sister Andersson and I took so many pictures with our epic batman masks! I have to say, European food is almost always better than American food in my opinion BUT American pizza is way better than European Pizza! We ordered pizza yesterday and ate at the church and then we had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators. This past week two of our investigators said that they want to be baptized, the people here are amazing and it's always so cool to see the conversion process and how people change. We have some fun things planned for our p-day so I don't have too much time to write but I love being a missionary and I really did have the best birthday ever as I got to spend it serving the Lord and telling people about the gospel. I feel like the time on my mission so far has gone so fast!

August 16, 2016

This last week Sisar Andersson and I had a bit of an adventure. We were heading to our weekly district meeting and we got on the wrong bus.... we were on the bus for an hour. We saw a lot of Helsinki that day! Luckily we had tried to be at our meeting early so we were only a few minutes late but it was still an interesting experience. It's always a great thing to hear your companion say,'' I have no idea where we are or where we are going, but I'm sure we will get there somehow.'' But it's so true that everything works out and now we know for sure what bus not to get on!

It has been one of my favorite things so far on my mission to hear my investigators pray. Last week we were teaching one of our Vietnamese investigators and she prayed with us for the first time. She prayed in Vietnamese so I didn't understand what she was saying but the spirit was so strong and she told us afterwards that she thanked God that she had friends that were teaching her about Jesus Christ. It was another reminder of why I love being out here.

Also, apparently summer is over. It was so short! It rains all the time now and the sun is actually going down at night so it's getting cold again. Last Sunday a return missionary that had served in Marjaniemi came back for a visit with her family. It was so cool to see her and see how much she loved her mission and all of the people here. She bore her testimony about how much her mission had changed her life for the better and how much she loves the people of Finland. Her mom pulled me aside and gave me a big hug ''from my mom'' and told me that she was sending a picture home to her. Mission Moms are the best and I was so glad that she asked because I had been taught by my mother to take every opportunity that I can to talk to her!

It was a really good week and even though I have my language fails and we have interesting traveling experiences I know that I am here for a reason and that I will learn the language. I have been blessed with so many things on my mission so far and I know that I'll continue to learn and grow. I am excited to see what Heavenly Father has in store for me and I know that He loves me. I love sharing the gospel with all of the people that I can.