Viisi

Wow, each week just keeps getting better and better with all of your e-mails . . .I LOVE IT!!

Since I'm always in a hurry time wise I figure I should get to the beans, soooo . . . .:

-Change calls were on Saturday . . . . . . . . . . . . ... .. .. .. . ..........I am staying in Joensuu, my greenie city, for my 8th change. I've heard that the record for being in the same city, at least here, was 7. Yay for record breaking. Better yet, I am still with my same companion, Vanhin Ranzenberger, for our 5th change together . . .also a mission record. We joke that our pictures must have fallen off the change board in presidents office, haha. There you have it . . . .Still here. No surprise this time though. We kind of expected it. We're excited too because we have a baptism coming up, and, better yet, N has been thinking about baptism too!!!!!!!! She didn't know that Change Calls were coming, and yesterday she was telling us in church that she was thinking over the weekend about baptism a lot and setting a date and stuff, and how she came to realize how much she really wants us to be there for it. . . .(we've been teaching her for about 6 months now). BAM! God answered her prayers and here we are, still here. We meet with her tomorrow and we'll see if we can get this train rolling.

-I have a new planner of me right now, so I can't remember everything that happened last week, haha . . . .umm . . .

-It has been a while since we've received some success in tracting, but that all came to an end when we were let in 3 times last week. All said we can come back, and one is already an investigator. The other was an older man that reminded me of Grandpa Johnson. And the last let in was a family! Not too interested, but quite nice and a good, spiritual teach.

-We had District Meeting in Kuopio on Friday. That means we sat 3 hours on a bus there, and 3 hours back. Man, I think I could drive that bus route by now, haha. The muumos always sit in the front, then the farther back you go, the younger it gets.

-On Saturday we did some service for a member at their Mökki (cabin). It had snowed pretty good all morning so that made it fun. We moved and chopped wood and wheel-barrowed dirt around the place. We are pretty sore, but it was nice to chop wood again . . . .reminded me of Alaska, during that fall where we cleared up the yard and burned it and stuff. Afterward, the kids (10 and 12), who aren't members because of the anti-father, but a member mother, got in a snowball fight with us. They are usually pretty quiet and shy and don't talk much, but they were laughing and speaking and really opened up to us. The mom says they like us a lot and so that adds them to the list of people here who probably pray that we never leave Joensuu, haha.

-I translated in church yesterday!!!!!!!! Daaaang, it was tough, but our investigator with a date can't speak finnish, and my comp was on the stand for the sacrament, so I had to translate.

-No new bike crashes to report on. But the other day when we came out of a teach we realized that someone had let all the air out of our tires. We only realized about 20 meters into the ride, and after all the little parts in the bike valve flew everywhere . . . . into the snow and grass and everything. We were 5 kilometers away from home, and curfew was in an hour and a half, so we had no time to walk, so we searched for an hour in the dark, in the snow and grass for these tiny parts. Luckily we found them, and luckily we had a pump. Close call. We know who did it too, and we wanted to put a note on his door that would say, 'God Always Wins' but just a few seconds later we lost the parts again in the snow, so we laughed, apologized to God, and then found them again. haha

-Sorry, that's all I can remember for now, and all I got time for.

Of all the things I've noticed while I've been on my mission, the greatest would be that my family is so blessed. You're all in my prayers, especially you Lindsey!!

Until next time, Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

Water Shut Down

Terrrrrrrrrrve Fämily!! Wow, always the best way to start the week by hearing from you. I'll get right to it since I don't have as much time today. A member couple is going to feed us at a food shelter type of place, haha, then right after this we are going to the hospital to give a blessing to a member here from Helsinki. So . . . . :

We've had a couple water shut downs this past week. I guess they are working on something. So that means we get to pop out the buckets and live off of reserves. :) They shut it off again this morning right as we were doing our dishes.

Winter has struck . . . on my year mark too! Songs from White Christmas were popping into my head all day. The temps have dropped and the wind chill is back. . . . .meaning the winter coats are out. N even gave some mittens and a scarf to the both of us which was way nice of her. We were freezing our tails off one night while tracting and all of a sudden we heard the Ice Cream Man's little jinggle, haha . . . .Welcome to Finland. The change in weather has taken a toll on us because we ride bikes. I've already crashed twice . . . not too bad though. :) My comp said that he saw one of them and asked me afterward if I knew what I just did. I said no, then he told me that out of reflexes when I started to go down, I apparently put a foot up on one handle-bar, and the other foot up on the seat and surfed my bike to the ground with a roll to finish it off. haha, bike surfing . . . . gotta love it. My back brakes have snapped, my tires are thin, and my seat has a tear in it that turns it into a sponge which, in turn, turns my butt wet whenever I sit down. haha, yay for bikes!!

We had splits this week with our beloved Elders from Kuopio, Elders Gorringe and Pond. We set up 4 teaches, 2 for each pair, but mine were the only ones that actually worked in the end. They went pretty well, and the member who was at the second one really liked my Finnish and the way I taught and lead it all. Splits are always fun and give us chances to show what we got and put us in all kinds of situations.

We have a new investigator who we met on the street and gave a church tour too. Turns out that he is 18 . . .and already speaks 7 LANGUAGES. He even teaches Finnish through some of these languages at the university to the foreigners who are trying to learn it.

3 couples serving in the Temple came up to Joensuu yesterday for church. The 3 men\elders all gave talks . . . all had previously served in Finland as missionaries way back in the day. It was nice to have their added spirit in the meetings, and we were able to speak with them afterward and get pictures because they were invited to the same DA as us.

We taught J, our 24 year old investigator from Pakistan who has a baptismal date for November 6, during church with another member who is from Tanzania in Africa . . .here studying. It's still his date!! Katsotaan.

So many stories, so little time. Sorry for the shortness. Love you all. In my prayers. Moikka!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

Koli

There has never been a normal week for me while in this work. What is normal? haha. It all started on Monday . . . .the true start of the Finnish week, not Sunday . . .even on calendars and everything. . . .

MONDAY: One word, four syllables . . . .DOMINATION. Monday was our P-Day, but as it turns out, we accompanied 2 home-teachers to their appointment an hour away and didn't return until 7:30 at night . . . . yeah. Awesome member though, she seriously has one of those Cinderella story's . . . just waiting for the ending still valitettavasti

TUESDAY: Normal day, getting ready to go in for lunch, then our branch president and his wife called us up and said they'll be picking us up and take us an hour away to one of the most beautiful spots in Finland . . . see pictures. Turns out it was probably the last good day of weather of the year, with all the leaves still on the trees as well. So we got ''kidnapped'' for that, and made it back to the city just in time for our scheduled teaches. Also, that day we had a stretch of 10 minutes of contacting where we got 2 phone numbers and a church tour set up with a 3rd.

WEDNESDAY: 4 teaches planned . . . only 1 survived . . . tis life

THURSDAY: We went to Kuopio for a District Meeting, this time President and Sister Brown were there too, only happens 4 times a year now. We each got our individual interviews with President, which went well. Afterward, we ran across the city and arrived at the train station just in time to see our train riding into the sunset . . .ouch. We caught another one a few hours later and got home at 11.

FRIDAY: New investigator . . . . we just found out that he is only 16 years old, but hey, he's still interested and pretty cool. Also, we ALMOST set a baptismal date with one of our progressing investigators . . .he got scared though and ended it.

SATURDAY: Branch activity 20 minutes away at a members Mökki . . .Summer Cottage slash Cabin . . . pretty sweet. Complete with Makara, cucumbers and bread. ALSO, we FINALLY got a BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!! from a new investigator too!! He's in his mid 20's, from Pakistan, raised Christian, fluent in English, here studying. . . . and we were just teaching the 1st lesson too. He knows the Bible very well and wants everyone to be Christian, and he just wants to follow Jesus! Set for Nov 6 . . . katsotaan.

SUNDAY: Our 2 new investigators came to church and it seemed like they had a good time. although the one with a date doesn't know a lick of Finnish, but wouldn't accept a translator. It's ok though, the Spirit is the only language he needs to know. :P

Well, Lindz HYVÄÄ SYNTYMÄPÄIVÄÄ!!!! I sent you a lil sommin sommin, hope you got it or get it soon!! To all, thanks taas for your e-mails, pictures, thoughts, encouragement. Always nice to start the week with a booster from the family.

Not enough time, got to go. Rakastan teitä. . . .WAY WAY more than cold, dark night bike rides home, and e-mails from YOU.

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

Yleiskonferenssi!!!!!

Wow, General Conference was AMAZING!! I practically wrote a novel of notes and for most of the speakers, they said so many good stuff in so little time that I couldn't write everything down and just had to write, ''See Liahona, Conference Issue.'' haha I only have a little time today. I know I say I'm always in a hurry, but this time I really really am. We have an appointment with a member who lives an hour away coming up, and we still have to write our e-mails and do our shopping for the week.

We were in Kuopio for the whole weekend, where they have the satellite broadcast capabilities. We saw the first session at 7 at night live, went to bed, saw the Priesthood session Sunday at 12 as a rebroadcast, saw the Sat. Afternoon session at 3 on Sunday as a rebroadcast, then saw the Sunday Morning Session live at 7, then we just had to miss the Sunday Evening Session valitettavasti. It all just flew by way to fast. Things I liked:

-the simplicity, the love, the feeling of gratitude and hope.

-In each talk I was able to see a person in my life, either in the mission or back home, to whom that talk applied. Truly amazing. Hope they were listening. :P

-I honestly can't tell you a favorite yet because it's impossible, all were just too good. The ones you all mentioned in your e-mails I simply was going, ''Yup, true, yup, ok''

-The simplicity still gets me. Over and over again, they spoke slow, they spoke about the basics, the fundamentals . . . .just as it should be!! Elder Uchtdorf taught it well. Trees and planes, and pencils in space, haha.

- ''Integrity is not naivite, what is naive is to think we're not accountable to God.'' Elder Christofferson

- Elder Nelsons story in Priesthood Session about telling his friends to TAKE IT BACK (BoM) and READ IT this time!! was really comparable to this work. There is no way ANYONE can say it's nothing special, or not true, UNTIL they read it. We see that a lot here.

-''We find healing and relief only when we come to the feet of the Physician himself.'' Elder Kearon

-''Discover humility not by thinking less of ourselves, but by thinking less about ourselves.'' Elder Uchtdorf

-about the BoM . . .''Written by the mariners who too sailed the seas that we too must cross.'' Pres. Monson

-''We become what we want to be simply by being what we want to become.'' Elder Scott

-Elder Eyrings emotion and powerful testimony was amazing

-Elder Packers kitten story was hilarious. . . .CAN'T and WON'T change, even by battle or ballot!! haha

-Elder Oaks 2 lines was really good too, ''Those who reject Organized Religion reject the Master'' . . .I'll have to say that to a few people here, haha

-Finally before I go, Pres. Monson's talk on Gratitude was a good finale . . .for us in Finland is was the last one we saw. The humor, the love, the Optimism, and the power.

-No one, NO ONE could deny the words spoken in that conference. The church is so TRUE!!

We got robbed. Yeah, it's true. Sorry I switched subjects, haha. We were in a teach in the church, sitting in the chapel testifying about Joseph Smith and closing it up when a random young lady walked into the building. We could see her through the windows in the back of the chapel. We were pretty excited because she started looking at the freee give-a-way things by the entrance and started looking through a Book of Mormon, Well, our investigator left her purse by that table while we had the teach. My comp and I saw this lady kneel down, get up, and leave the building and it all clicked to us. I ran down the isle and out the chapel doors to see that our investigators bag was gone! I ran outside, saw the lady walking away, went back inside to tell them, then my comp and I went out and caught up and stopped her. The investigator caught up, snatched her bag away and we stood there in silence while she checked to see if everything was still in her back. My comp and I offered help to the robber, spiritual help, haha, all we could do in the silence. Eventually the investigator let her go. She was a narcodic, homeless, and looking for money. Now, she has our number. :)

While waiting Sunday morning for Conference to start, we 6 Elders went to a Lutheran Church Service. . . . .my first time in another church. Quite the interesting experience.

All I got for today folks. Anteeks. General Conference only put my testimony in concrete that this church is absolutely true. I know it. I know that whoever watched those servants of God speak know it. Love you. Moikka.

-Vanhin Watson