June 13, 2017

Things are going great here in Espoo. The ward here is amazing and people keep giving us so much food! We basically have our own food storage in the apartment with just so much chocolate. We don't have a lot of people to teach at the moment so it has been a lot of contacting people and we have tried to meet with a couple members each week to get to know the ward better. 

Recently I have been reading through the New Testament again and I was reading in Acts chapter 20 about Paul. He knew that he was at the end of his mission and had to say goodbye to the people he had been serving. 

24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.

I love that he talks about finishing the course with joy. He knows that he won't see the people that he cares about again but he knew the purpose that he came was to testify of God. Although, I won't be able to see a lot of my dear friends again I am grateful for the opportunity that I have had to learn from them and serve them here in Finland. I am so grateful to be a missionary. 

June 6, 2017

It as been a crazy week! When Sister West and I got to the train station we had the following instructions to find our way home: Go down the ramp, go under the two bridges away from the orange buildings, and it should be one of the first buildings on your right. So with that and all of our luggage we were off! We found the apartment! We then had to figure out buses, how to get to our lessons, how to find the church and where the grocery store and library were and all I can say is that we were led by the spirit! We have these really old bus maps and bus schedules that we use to get around that have the bus schedules for last year. Everything is online now so they recently stopped making updated paper maps. Sister West is really good with directions so we haven't gotten terribly lost yet. It has been really fun to figure out the area together. 

The people in the Espoo ward are so sweet and there were even some members visiting from Tampere that I got see so it was so nice. There was also a member visiting from Vaasa that I got to see and I haven't seen anyone from Vaasa in over a year! I can't believe that she still remembered me. It was a really great Sunday. 

There are so many people here in Espoo from all over the world. In just the past couple days I have talked to people from Pakistan, Romania, a ton of people from the Philippines, Russians, Estonians and of course Finns. It has been so weird to contact in English this past week. We are currently teaching people from Cameroon, Ghana, and the Congo. 

I know that God truly does answer prayers and I have prayed so much this past week for direction on what to do and quite literally for help with directions. I know that the Lord also fully expects that we put in our best efforts as well. I know that with His help I will never get permanently lost.

May 29, 2017

I got my last transfer call Friday and.... I am moving to Espoo! I will be serving there in the second ward with a great sister that I already know really well so I am excited. Also, Espoo is pronounced like Es-Poe not Es-poo.

I will be close to the temple so I will have the opportunity to go on one of my preparation days! I cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone. I have seen so many miracles and have made so many great friends here. Every time I have to leave a ward I always feel like I am saying goodbye to my family all over again. I said goodbye to Sisar Andersson this past Sunday and so many other amazing members who have made me feel so loved. I think saying goodbye to people is one of the hardest parts of missionary work. The people here in Tampere are amazing. 

So my bags are packed and I am headed to Espoo tomorrow! My new companion and I will be completely new to the area as well. Usually there is someone that stays in the area and people are just swapped out but sometimes President will put a whole new companionship in the area. So we will have the task of first, finding our apartment and then figuring out everything else! The sisters in Espoo are preparing some write ups of the area like where to go for groceries and how to find the church and what buses to take to teach their investigators. As a very directionally confused individual I know that I will be praying a lot this transfer. I am excited for the challenge and I am grateful for the experience to continue to grow. I have heard nothing but good things about that ward as well. 

This past week Sister Carter and I went down to the mission home in Espoo for the day for ''My Plan''. It is a course that the church has come up with for missionaries preparing to go home. We received a lot of good advice on how to stay focused on the work our last transfer but how to also be realistic and plan for life after the mission. We got a packet that we are supposed to work on twice a week 30 minutes each on our specific plans. We were allowed to ask a bunch of questions and discuss schooling, career, dating, etc.... It was really a much needed course and I am excited that I will be able to feel prepared for what comes next and focus this next transfer. 

It has been another crazy week but I know that there are exciting things ahead and I am excited to see what happens this next transfer in Espoo! 

May 23, 2017

This picture was taken at  8:45 PM,

is shows how much sun we still have at night. 

Us after the baptism!

Last week was probably one of the best weeks of my life. Our amazing investigator got baptized!!! The day of his baptism was so special and I couldn't help but think of Doctrine and Covenants chapter 18 that talks about how great the worth of souls are in the sight of God. And about how great our joy shall be if we can bring but one soul unto Christ. Our mission president always talks about finding ''the one''. He likes to reference the Book of Mormon in the book of Mosiah chapter 17:2 that says "But there was one'' referring to Alma and how he was the only one that listened to the words of the prophet Abinadi. We as missionaries have been encouraged to find that one person everyday and to uplift them and bring them closer to Christ. Sometimes we know the impact of our words on others and a lot of the time we will never know. I know that our investigator was definitely one of the many reasons why I needed to serve in Finland and I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be doing the best kind of work there is. There is nothing else that I would rather be doing with my time than helping others come unto Christ.

During our investigators baptismal service I just couldn't stop smiling and I am glad that on my mission I have come to find out what true joy is. I  have loved teaching people from all different backgrounds on my mission as well. We just got a new investigator the other day who is an 85 year old Finnish woman and she is just the cutest person. She has hearing aids and we had to keep repeating ourselves and talk really loud and slow. She kept telling us that we had weird accents.....I guess that would be our American accents! But we are meeting with her again next week! I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and that if people can't understand us perfectly they can at least feel the spirit as we testify of Christ.  

May 15, 2017

Hyvää Äitienpäivää! I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day =) I had the chance on Mother's Day to Skype with my amazing family. Being on my mission has definitely made me appreciate them more. I am very grateful for the members that let us come over to their house for Skyping as well. 

This week we had our last exchange of the transfer with the Lahti Sisters! They are both so great and exchanges always make the week go by so fast. This transfer has been the fastest yet and it just keeps speeding up! Our investigator is getting baptized this Saturday and we are so excited for him. He's so converted and I hope to send some pictures next P-day. 

May 9, 2017

           We both have bikes! We are both out of shape!
We went bike contacting the other day and it was a good work out.
We will be doing it more often =) 

Terve! It's still snowing and it is MAY! I love Finland however, growing up in Florida did not prepare me for this. We had another eventful week with two exchanges. We had the Turku 2 sisters come to our area for the day last Thursday and on Saturday we went to the Tampere 2 sisters area. 

I really stink at these group emails! I would talk about my investigators but...Finnish privacy laws. We do have some really cool people that we are teaching right now though and one of them is getting baptized soon! This week we are having our last exchange of the transfer so it'll be another good week =) 

April 25, 2017

Terve! This morning it snowed and now it's raining. I thought it was time for spring but I guess I was wrong! This week Sister Carter and I went on exchanges with the Turku 1 Sisters. We got to go to Turku which is seriously on of the most beautiful cities and it was great to do work with them there. 

Last Friday was our stake conference. Elder Charles from the Europe Area 70 and his wife came and we were able to meet talk with them! They were so sweet and it was great and also really weird to have some of the talks in church be in English! We had the 2 sets of sisters staying with us overnight for the conference. Our apartment is pretty tiny so it was a full house! It was so much fun and the spirit was so strong at the conferences. The Saturday night one was at our church building because it is the stake center. The Sunday conference was in the Tampere Talo and it was really cool to see so many members. Everyone from Turku, Tampere, Jyväsklylä, and Lahti and a couple more cities came to participate.

We have been really focusing on contacting people that have already been taught by the missionaries before and seeing if they are interested to learn again. Last night we stopped by a former investigators home and we were invited in! The woman's boyfriend was over as well so both of them became investigators. It was a great night and it helped me to see that the Lord's timing is perfect!