Moi Moi

Ahh, I love e-mail time. I love you all. I love getting mail. I love reading mail. I love hearing from all of you. Love Love Love. :)

So, lets just dive into it shall we? haha . . . . .

Splits were this week. We had one with the Zone Leaders and one where we drove 2 hours to Kuopio, because my comp is the DL and . . . .yeah. They were so much fun. I learned so much from each one of those Elders. They are all amazing missionaries. I was contacting with one Elder Kääriä from Sweden and amazing at Finnish, and he had me do a lot, I was scared. On one he said your turn. I walked up to a college guy, said as much as I could, then Elder Kääriä took over. We walked away from that one and he told me we have a teach at the chapel with that man in an hour. WOW. My first official nonmember teach. It went pretty good. I could feel the Spirit and I hope something good comes out of it. We just talked about the Restoration and I talked about the Book of Mormon. During Splits with the ZL's we gave away so many pamphlets and cards and 2 or 3 Book of Mormons, and all in a matter of hours. They are soooo good. It was awesome. I hope all those people call us up soon because we couldn't get their numbers. But they have ours.

We've been working with the members and less actives more this week. We had a teach with Toni Lampinen who I told you about earlier. Being off drugs has really effected him. He seems more depressed and bored. So I think our weekly teaches with him help out. I hope he sticks it through.

Last night we were trying to visit less actives and could only get a hold of 2. Both older people but really nice and both let us in. One said he only joined the church because of his wife, and now that she has passed on he has stopped. He was really nice. I think he even has some daughters that are active that are trying to activate him but he's quite stubborn. The other man has a disease that effects his memory and health so that combined with a non member wife equals no church. They talked to us for a while but no luck yet. BUT WE HAVE FAITH and CONFIDENCE!!!! haha

A member lady in the ward who is a retired teacher has started to help us out with Finnish every Tuesday morning. She's really nice so I hope shes a good teacher. I think she taught english and teaching your native language is always hard. So we'll see.

Zone Conference is this week waaaaayyyyyy up in Oulu, a 6 hour drive away. Buses and trains are hectic and expensive, so yep, ROAD TRIP!!! hahaha, love it. We also drive to Savonlinna on Wednesday for Splits and then Zone Conference is on Friday. We have to spend the night at a church then finish the drive Friday morning. Then spend the night and drive back Saturday. whew, should be fun. :)

My talk went well. I chose to write on 'The Members' Role in the Church' because our branch is slacking in home teaching and basically everything. I was bold and told them what needed to be done in broken Finnish. Hope they caught on. I said we need to work together. They can't be part time Sunday members, but need to be Full time members just as we are full time missionaries. Glad that's over though. I was nervous, haha.

I'm kind of glad you haven't sent the package off yet because I have some requests. :)
-Macaroni and Cheese (the craft kind, not the all natural bluuuch kind) :)
-Good ol skippy Peanut Butter, none of that here
-Reeces Peanut Butter Cups
-Space Pen (Eden, sorry, I used it ALL MTC and when I got to Finland I lost it! )
-i think thats it . . . . .:) Kiitos!

Well, I'm glad you got the pictures!! I was out of time so I only sent a few. I'll try and send more. Isn't Joensuu tosi kaunis? There is a river that runs through so I took a picture from the bridge. Then from the shore I got a sunset pic. Then we have an AWESOME apartment. It's COLD here, no matter how many layers I have on it always gets through, haha. But the field is LITERALLY white all ready to harvest!

Thank you everyone! Sounds like life is busy and fun back in the good ol US of A. Glad to hear it. Can I have the Jackson's address so I can write Ben? Tell him and Matt Dobbins good luck for me, and that Matt should shoot for Provo! It's worth a shot, hey, haha, I got in, so can he.

Thanks everyone! Rakastan teitä! A new awakening is coming to Europe and this is the year of change, I can see it already and I'm sure you can too. The church is tosi totta! Moi

Oh, I attached some pics, not enough though, I know! But Dad, can you use one of these for my missionary plaque picture? I like them better. :) Cut it up or something so it fits and slide it in. Kiitos!!

-Vanhin Watson