Awesome Emails

Well, I'm starting a bit late today due to the AWESOME e-mails I got from you all, THANK YOU!!!! Wow, you all did a really good job of filling me in and comforting me while being out here in the work. I can tell you that I think of you all all the time and I am in constant awe by the blessing I have to have you in my life. LOVE YA!

Well, well, well, best get to the details:

-On Tuesday we had a Speacialized Training Meeting as a Zone. Pres. Brown was able to instruct us on the 'doctrine of the kingdom' and, of course, it was amazing. He taught about being a more consecrated missionary. The theme was 'Consecration Determines Elevation.' The question was presented, 'What things are within our power to change?' Very, powerful question that we can all ask ourselves everyday, anytime, in any situation. He then presented our Mission Effectiveness Report, eli, how well we've been doing in the past year. We found out that last May, it took, on average, 91 investigators to be found, before our mission could pump out ONE baptism . . . ouch. It was way worse than that the further back you go. But, NOWADAYS, it is only taking us around 19 new investigators to be found to pump out ONE baptism. That is incredible improvement. ''A new awakening is coming to Europe.'' (Elder Rasband) I know that statement is true. I am a WITNESS to it.

-We are still finding and finding more and more new potential investigators and trying to contact them. We've been getting phone numbers and comebacks, and, haha, we even said a prayer with a lady in the middle of the street. . . . yeeah . . .she might have been a little whoozy or high or something, but, she asked us to pray for her right then and there, so, I said one, haha. At least people know where the help lies!

-We had an interesting conversation with a man the other day. He basically threw out the usual excuses why we aren't true and stuff, but after we had a chance to talk with him, I felt impressed to ask him, ''So, have we said anything wrong in these past few minutes?'' He said no. Then a good spirit came in and we testified and invited him to learn more and pray about it. He let his pride get in the way, and he got away, but he felt something, and at least now, he has a different view of us.

-We were in a stairwell the other day, and a man came into the building and walked past us to get to his apartment door, when he asked if we were the Mormons, we replied yes, then he said, I'm Pentacostal, but you are free to stop by and we can chat sometime, but not right now, I'm busy.

-Another story, we miraculously tracted into a chinese girl who we had helped on a bus a few days earlier. She let us in because of our kindness, but immediately her other chinese friends kicked us out saying they don't believe in God.

-You can see in all these stories, that we were being guided and helped along either when we found, or talked to these people . . .and there is still more.

-We tracted into a young college girl who told us that she and her friends were thinking about visiting another church, and we got a phone number from another the next day.

I'm telling ya, the Lord KNOWS and GUIDES those who will but consecrate themselves to His will.

-Daylight Savings finally struck Finland . . . it feels like I lost an hour of sleep.

-We had a scheduled trip to Kotka to help out some members with some service, but they canceled last minute, leaving us with 2 tickets to Kotka. We ended up going anyway, and were able to visit 2 less\in-active members who really enjoyed our visit.

-Our Italian investigator is doing quite well. After some shoots and misses in trying to contact her, we finally got her last night. She's a perfect investigator and we're excited. It's cool to see what kind of people my sistas were teaching. :) Katsotaan . . .

Well, this next week is very busy for us. We have a District Meeting tomorrow, Language School for Elder Balls in Helsinki (while usually I'd be going to the temple while he is there, turns out the mission is getting a ton of investigators and success and they need our help, so I'll be doing work in Helsinki then), then we have another School Presentation on Friday, another trip to Kotka same day, then a trip to Lahti, the closest place where General Conference is being broadcasted. ALSO, Change Calls are this Saturday . . . .don't know what to say . . . Thy will be done . . . katsotaan.

I best be off. I love you all so much and appreciate your prayers and upliftment. As His representative I tell you that Jesus is the Christ. He is real. He is there. He is our Savior. His servants will be speaking to us this weekend. May He bless you in this week ahead is my prayer.

Love ya more than the SNOW that has been falling all week. Spring? uhhh . . nope. General Conference will be AWESOME. I can't wait!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

Devils

I just got out of probably one of the most emotional teaches of my life. I can't believe it. We had an appointment with a lady we met on the street. We went there and it turns out she has a VERY nice house. Also, it turns out that her daughter is a Mormon as of 15 years ago and, at least then, she was quite against it. Now, 15 years later, we meet her on the street and she agrees to meet with us. This had the makings of quite the story with a happy ending . . . . NOT. We get there, we start, and then her husband shows up. To make the story short, he did all the talking, and basically wouldn't let us teach, but would teach us instead, trying to pin us on how young we are, how organized religion isn't needed, and how we're brainwashed because we grew up in this so of course we think it's right. It finally got to the point where I just told him that I didn't want to offend anyone, but that WE came to THEM to teach THEM about OUR special message to the world . . .if HE wants to teach US, we'll arrange another time. I then proceeded to testify about our message and what we do and it got quiet and the spirit of the room changed. I was pretty overwhelmed and couldn't really talk for a while before gaining my strength to speak and finished. It went a lot quieter and a strong Spirit was present, I know they felt it. But, pride is a deadly thing and he still wouldn't budge or accept it. It was disappointing, but I felt like I did everything I could do in the situation. We all have our agency . . . . . dang it, haha. I almost wanted to be like the prophets of old and shake the dust from off my feet as we were leaving.

Well, here I am again, another week gone. I have new toothpaste that turns my mouth blue while brushing, always an interesting experience. I cut my hair. A man standing next to me in the store dropped a milk carton, which exploded and sent cow extract all over my dress pants. I pinched my companion on St. Patty's because he wasn't wearing a green tie . . . yet. :P A bunch of 14 year old girls, wearing cheap perfume, are surrounding me right now, looking at my tag, because their school just got out on some break and they are taking all the computers around me to do who knows what . . . .girl stuff. And, I found out Daylight Savings has NOT happened in Finland yet . . .thanks for the confusion everyone, haha.

Well, I better get to telling you about my week:

-We had Splitz!! Vanhin Ranzenberger, my companion of 7 months in Joensuu, is now my District Leader. It was good being back with him, he's a good elder. With 2 extra elders in Kouvola for a little bit, we were able to get some good work done here. It was a good upliftment for us as things are starting to pick up here.

-Vanhin Larson and I, on splits talked with a guy at a door who was from New Zealand. His name is Robin White, look him up, because he is a toy maker and world traveler and everything. A member of the Quorum of the 70 gave him a Book of Mormon a long time ago. We talked with him and his Finnish wife at the door for quite a while. Cool guy, very appreciative of our work, just not interested.

-Our Italian investigator is doing well. She's kind of one of those people who doesn't really believe in organized religion, just trying to do her best. But she is a good investigator and listens and asks questions. She goes back to Italy in May, but she definitely has potential of being baptized by then.

-Olavi, our other investigator is doing well. He is still ever so close to setting a date, but won't budge yet. We taught him on splits and VR and I got really close, but right at the climax of the teach, we ran out of time and he had to go. AH!

-The members here continue to take good care of us. We have a lunch appointment in an hour. We'll probably have 2-3 more this week, and we get food from them almost every Sunday because of a basket they put out near the foyer that says Missionaries on it.

-There really isn't much else to say other than we keep getting more and more potential investigators. On Wednesday we have a teach with a lady who told us at the door that she just separated from the Lutheran church, just because it felt like it was the right thing to do, and is now searching for something new.

Another week is ahead. Tomorrow we'll be in Helsinki for a Zone Meeting. General Conference is coming up. The elect are out there, and we are poised to find 'em. Thank you everyone for your prayers and e-mails. I still don't know what happened to Dr. Mills . . .everyone said something happened to him and that Dad will tell me more . . . . . ummmm nope. Layne, THANK YOU for the pictures. Lindsey, awesome work. Eden & Co, have fun in the sun . . . it's still snowing here. :( Alaska & Co, LOVE YA, as I love you all!! I really gotta go nyt. Kiitos ja heip-pa!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

lettuja

Moi moikka moi!

I can't believe another week has gone by already! I swear life didn't go by this fast back home, haha. Well, I better get typing while I still have time. . .

Things were going slow there for the last few weeks, but we were able to get things going again this past week. We were able to get a few teaches in and even find a new investigator and a few new potentials. My Italian Sistas will be proud to know that our new investigator here is an Italian. She is here studying at the local university and is due to go back to Italy after this Spring . . . . so that should be enough time to find the restored gospel and get baptized, right? . .hope so. She is really nice and is now, hopefully, reading the Book of Mormon. Maybe Layne could look her up this summer. :P

There's a lesson I want to teach you all right now, at least to those of you who give the missionaries food . .aka DA's . . . . . KEEP IT TO AN HOUR!!!!!!!!!! We had 4 DA's this week and that did quite the domination to our schedule: traveling, eating, spiritual message, traveling again, etc. We are supposed to be only one hour! So have the food prepared before they get there!! haha . . . .AND . . .don't look at them with your puppy-dog eyes telling them to eat more . . . . we can only take so much, plus, we don't have the luxury of taking naps, haha, life continues for us after those things. If you have any questions, contact your local missionaries. :)

We had an unfortunate experience when one of our pretty promising investigators decided to drop us the other day. We were there standing at her door, ready to teach her, and she just flat out told us that she doesn't jaksaa 'feel like it' anymore, that she's too tired because of he busy work schedule and doesn't have time. She left it open for us to drop by in the future, but still, we were kind of bummed. But, when the Lord closes a door, He opens a window, and we were blessed with a new investigator the next day.

We had another teach with Olavi, our prime, main investigator at the moment. He's been investigating for about a year now and he still isn't ready to get baptized, at least in his opinion. We gave him Elder Anderson's 2007 Conf talk 'It's true Isn't It? What Else Matters?' . . . and even after all that, although he confesses that he knows God wants him to be baptized, he still won't set a date. Some progress WAS made though, when he told us he plans to be baptized within the year. Ok, well, better than nothing I guess! :) The man is ready, the water is warm, the angels are calling, but he just won't jump in yet!

In one of our DA's this week, we gave a spiritual message based of the scripture found in 1 Cor. 4:20 . . it goes something along the lines of, The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. I'd say, although the distractions and confusions of all the conversations and chaos all around us, it was probably one of the most spiritual messages I've ever given, at least to me personally. They were taking the subject we chose too hard and decided to talk about it in so many different directions, that it kind of lost it's touch, but in closing, I just bore my testimony of the power found in this the true church of God. I was overwhelmed with the warmth and feelings of the Spirit, and it was a powerful witness to me of the work I am about doing in this country. I was probably the only one who noticed it or felt it, but it meant a lot to me and I'll never forget it. The power of testimony is so strong. It can resolve anything and really bring the Spirit into most any situation. I've been trying to take that to heart and do it more often.

People were randomly giving away free pancakes (more like crepes) here the other day in the center! I think it was a political thing, but hey, free food and we're there! haha Hot Dogs were the next booth over, but we didn't have time. :(

Well, I better get going. But in closing, lately I've been reading in the Book of Mormon in 3rd Nephi . . . .wow. I like how when it talks about prayer, or fasting, or good works, the scriptures say to do it 'secretly. For the Lord God knoweth all our secrets, and will reward us openly.' Amazing advice and truth, found right in the scriptures. I love you all. I love the gospel. I love my mission. till next week,

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

Hei taas

Wow, I can't believe I am sitting here again. The weeks keep going by faster and faster. The good thing though, which I have come to appreciate, can be expressed through a scripture found in Ecclesiastes 11:7 -

''Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.''

haha, yes, signs of spring are finally showing in Finland. The sun is getting higher, and now, instead of it being a big ball of light, it's also a big ball that radiates warmth too. :)

I'll make this e-mail quick this week in an attempt to write you all back personally, so here it goes:

-There is an old blind couple that lives here and they have known the missionaries for a while. We stopped by and got to know them a little and it turned out to be quite the interesting experience. They just LOVED the fact that I came from Alaska, and they couldn't stop asking random questions about it. Talking about Glaciers, Bears, skiing, etc isn't exactly in my Finnish vocabulary, haha.

- We continue to find some pretty promising potential investigators. For example, it happened twice this past week that we walked up to a building to tract, and the door was opened . . . .the only thing is, is that it was a type of building that is always locked and you have to buzz someone to get let in. We didn't realize it, but took advantage of the situation. Both times this happened, we found at least one promising come-back. Truly the Lord was making sure the door(s) were open at that time just for us, because both times, on our way out, the doors were locked again.

-One of the potentials we found was a lady that recently separated from the Lutheran Church, which makes up like 88% of Finland. She didn't know why, she just did it because she felt it wasn't right. Well, two Mormon missionaries appear at her door and find out she is now looking for the truth and now we are invited back in a week. The Lord prepares!

-We had a District meeting here in Kouvola on Thursday. Our new District Leader is Elder Ranzenberger, my previous companion of 7 months in Joensuu . . sweet.

- O is progressing very well, we had another teach with him just before our District Meeting started and we decided to read together Elder Eyrings 2007 Conf. talk, 'This Day.' Wow, the whole talk just fit him perfectly and there was a really good spirit there. He is soo close to baptism and I feel he will set a date soon.

- A member here turned 60 recently and invited everyone to a celebration party held in his honor. Of course, the members took us along. We ended up helping out in the party by taking coats and talking to people. It all went really well, seeing how there were a lot of non-members there. But, the star of the show was . . . .a giant . . . wild . . . pig. Yes. We ate wild pig. (see picture) haha . . . quite chewy.

-We went out contacting one morning and there they were, people serving FREE soup! I took pictures . . . . .Socialism in action. haha

-It's a new change here in Finland, and with new changes come new goals . . .and that is why I recently found this quote by Elder Wirthlin:

''Create inspiring, noble, and righteous goals that fire your imagination and create excitement in your heart. And then keep your eye on them. Work consistently towards achieving them.''

Wow, just reading that just excites me even more for the upcoming General Conference!!

Companionship: with another change (6 weeks) ahead of us to be together, the excitement of being 'new' has past, and the task of working together and staying consistent is on. We get along pretty well. Kuitenkin, I think we are both happy that we get to serve together a little longer.

Well, that's about all I have time for today. It was taas a great joy to me to read your e-mails this week. You are all amazing and I am soo appreciative for all you do!

Rakaudella,

Vanhin Watson