heeiiiiii . . .

Well, I'm sitting at a computer with only a 15 minute limit, because all the others are taken . . .katsotaan . . . hopefully no one comes and kicks me off . . . .

WOW . . .it was soo good to talk to all of you a couple days ago. We went WAY over the limit missionaries have to talk to their families, haha. . . . . time flies when your having fun. It really did just fly by though. I had to put more money on my phone card in order to make that call even possible . . .but without the new VISA . . (yet) . . .I had to use my card that the church gives us for groceries and stuff . . .so I'll have to make that up to the church here in the next few weeks. . . if you notice any action on the card and it's all in finnish and its a grocery store. . . now you know why. :)

Umm . . . .I really don't know what else to say . . .we kinda talked about everything over the phone. We didn't talk too much about Christmas though . . .so I'll give you a short run through of what I did. .

Christmas Eve was spent with a family, the Suurinkeroiset. We helped them decorate their house and clean and get ready, then we were able to make pastries and cookies and have fun. Then we ate the first course, Riisipuro, like rice pudding with cinnamon and raisons and stuff. Then we set up for dinner and were stuffed with a Christmas Ham and cassoroles etc etc etc. All quite good. After that Santa showed up . . .a member . . .and he was wearing a head light because he had some car light troubles and he couldn't see anything . . . or I guess Rudalphs nose was out of gas or something . . .anyways, it was all pretty funny and we all sang some Christmas songs to him and he left us with a HUGE bag of presents that we passed out. They ended up giving us a few funny things in the process, like shower gel and chocolate and a BIG box of crackers from the local bread factory.

On the ride home they took us by the local cemetery where, as tradition goes, every tombstone had some candles set up. It was way pretty.

Christmas Day, we went and sang to a member who is pretty old and thankful, then we spent the rest of the day with an older couple and an extra older lady who all just love missionaries. We feasted till we were nauseous then struggled to the couch where we talked and even sang a couple songs. They then drove us home in time to talk to YOU!

Yesterday was Boxing Day, TapaninPäivä. Church was only an hour long, and an 8 year old who was just baptized gave a talk and sang in sacrament meeting . . . the youngest speaker I've ever heard. Very cool though. After church we went to Kotka where a member family let us come and spend the day with them. Since we can't watch movies or play games, we ended up spending 7 hours of eating candy, delicious cheeses, and doing a 13,200 piece puzzle of the Last Supper . . .no joke. It was HARD. We must've connected only 50 pieces in all that time, hahaha.

What about all of your Christmas Days???? I didn't hear about what you all got or what you did?! haha, Next Week. :)

Package Requests:

-Deoderant (ask Dad, he knows the kind I like :)

-Toothpaste . . . the Finnish stuff ain't cuttin it

-Stain-Remover for laundry

-I'm sorry I said no Food to all of you over the phone! Really, I like all of it and I appreciate all of it, so don't stop completely, seriously. Kiitos!!

HYVÄÄ VUOSIMERKKI Spencer and Eden!!!!! (Happy Anniversary!!)

That's all I got, enjoy the pictures: from frosty eyelashes to graveyard candles, to my mountain of candy and chocolate.

Love you all so much and I thank my Father in Heaven for giving me such a wonderful family. Best Wishes and a Happy New Year. Moi.

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

Hyvää Joulua!!!

No Niin!!!! Hyvää Joulua kaikille (Merry Christmas)!! Christmas is definitely in the air here in Finland . . .the reason why I know is because you'd think that in the holiday season, there would be a lot of traffic and people out . . . . . . .nope. Everything is deserted. There is a thing here called 'Koti Rauha' or 'Home Peace' basically. It basically makes it impossible for us to tract and contact, because everyone is gone, or everyone doesn't want to talk until after New Years because they have guests. haha . . . so missionary work has really slowed down. We ended up taking buses and visiting members and less actives this past week, and that's probably how it will run this week too. We just want to spread the Christmas cheer! So far, all have been grateful for our visits and for our message on the true meaning of Christmas.

We ended up traveling to Kotka and Loviisa, two beautiful cities in our area. The members and less actives we visited have all been awesome . . .they just have transportation problems or health issues and they live so far away. We were fed Glögi, an awesome holiday drink here that they heat up and put almonds and raisins in. I think people have given it to us at least 6 times this week. They serve it usually with these little gingerbread cookies . . . yumm . ..

. . . . .I probably won't say much this time since I will TALK to all of you here in a few days!!!!!!!! My companion and I have been thinking about it and we might make a confirmation call sometime tonight or tomorrow to make sure everything works and set up the time. I remember a few of my sistas doing that back in the day. :) The call should last only a few seconds because it's VERY expensive. I have to go renew my phone card today and put more money on it . . . it had over 80 euros on it last time and the Mother's Day call drained all of it . . . .daaaaaang. . . . . .hopefully I get that new VISA card soon, or I'll have to use the church's card they give us, which is no prob, I'll just have to pay it back somehow.

SHANNON and LAYNE: we just this week taught a guy from Italy!!! I told him all about you two, haha. He lives here now with a family and everything . . .vespa included of course. He's not too interested, but he will accept a copy of the book of mormon. He speaks finnish, english, and italian . . .but he agreed to get a copy in Italian. So, what I was thinking, while the mission office gets that to us, can you two write in your e-mails next week a little entry\testimony I can print and cut out and put in the cover and give to this man? . . . .in Italian of course!!!! . . . only if you want. Kiiiiiiitosssssss! . . . I mean . . .Grazie!

We had splits with the District Leader this week. Elder Karlsson, from Sweden, is my District Leader, and Elder Balls, from Utah, is his companion. We had a fun time serving together for a day. All four of us at the end of the day were invited to a little Christmas social slash Glögi party, which we attended . . .good missionary work opportunity. The italian guy ended up being there too, haha. It was put on by a former investigator who just loves the missionaries. Around 15 people were there. I can tell you about it later.

Earlier that day, Elder Karlsson and I contacted into Santa Claus!! He was just walking down the main street where we contact and we decided to stop him . . .he told us to talk to someone who has time, haha. Santa Suit and all, haha.

In church yesterday 3 couples that serve as missionaries in the temple came to visit. Good ol Americans. In Sacrament Mtg. Veli Mikkola in the stake presidency spoke. He gave an awesome talk about Christmas of course, but instead of talking about the birth of Christ and everything, his talk was focused on everything that happened BEFORE that all happened, it was way cool. He talked about Mary and Elizabeth, and how they were the only 2 people on the planet for a time that knew who and where the Son of Man was to be born.

This Christmas we will be spending it with an older AWESOME couple, the Hyväriset. But here in Europe, like some of you know, Christmas Eve is bigger, so we will be spending it with the Suurinkeroiset family, another AWESOME family here.

On that note, I better go, but I leave you all with my testimony, especially at this time of year, that Jesus is the Living Christ, the Master, the Savior, the Only Begotten, and my perfect older brother. He is my light. He is my joy. He is the One who I call others to go to in this magnificent work, where His hands are stretch out still. Rakastan teitä. Kiitos kaikesta ja kuulemiin joskus pian!!!!!!!!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

no heeiiiiiiii

No terrrrrrve Family!

Wow, it's Monday already and here I am . . .taas (here again). Christmas is in the air and it's even tangible through all your e-mails. I can't wait to talk to all of you soon!

So . . . sorry . . .the list thing is all I usually have time for because I still have to send out my weekly letter to President Brown in the same hour I am allotted per week. soooo . . .

-Monday was ItsenäisyysPäiva . . .Independence Day . . . here in Finland. Pretty sweet. I've been told it's the only time you'll see a grown Finnish man cry. Very patriotic here.

-Tuesday was spent in Helsinki!!!! There, we had a Specialized Training Meeting for our Zone. In it, President Brown shared a Christmas Message that he, and some of the world's top Mormons in the Church Office Building, put together. It was completely centered on Christ. For a few touch ups, we watched a few music clips of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing their Christmas cheer. IT.WAS.AMAZING!!! I usually never cry for movies or anything like that, but I got pretty close there. The Spirit was strong and undeniable, testifying of the divinity of the Living Christ, Our Savior. We also watched a Mormon Message titled, Lifting Burdens . . . .WOW. Check it out.

-The snow was DUMPING down in Helsinki. We've been hearing that there is more snow in Helsinki than in Lapland . . .Arctic Circle area, right now at least.

-We have two pretty solid progressing investigators here, O and S. One has an anti husband who won't let her get baptized. Then O just won't get baptized yet. But we were able to teach them and a few other people this week with a few less active visits along the way.

- My bike is pretty much fixed now. There's another story for ya for when we are a talkin' later, but after a few hours of trying to fix it, I just took it to a shop and the guy fixed it in less time and for only 10 euros. . . .yeeeeah. :) Next step, new seat that isn't a sponge.

-Friday was the Branch Christmas Party here. We were assigned to have a little time to perform something in it. We decided to ask a bunch of fun trivia questions to the whole group about a bunch of random subjects, Religion, Candy, Sports, America, etc etc. It went really well and everyone, young and old, got involved. At the party, there was some confusion for a little bit because 2 Santa Clauses showed up, haha. Whoops.

-On Saturday we spent half the day with a now dropped investigator. She lives so far away, so we take a bus to get there, then she picked us up at the bus stop and took us to her house, where first we did some snow service, then she fed us, then we taught her. By the time to came out again to leave, there was already a good 3 inches more over the freshly shoveled yard. That same day, we hoped on a train that took us a half hour away and we taught a potential investigator. 45 minutes after he let us in, we were running to the train station to catch our train home, haha.

-Looks like a few of us had something in common on Sunday . . . yup, I gave a talk to in church! It went pretty well. I decided to talk about a recent quote from Pres. Monson that goes something along the lines of, "Why do we keep the commandments? . . . . So we can have the Spirit." Yeah, so I talked about ways to feel the Spirit and stuff.

-Eden, I wore that Christmas tie you sent me last year and it was a big hit here, haha.

-After church, we hopped on a bus to Elimäki, where some SWEET members live. The dad was the bishop here for 23 years!!! Watch out Dad, haha. Now he's in the high council and the whole family is awesome. They fed us . . .salmon . . .yes, I ate it, haha. Pretty good. :) The branch here is awesome. I love it. They even gave us a HUGE box of food after church yesterday.

- When I was in Helsinki I got that package that Sister Stoehner sent me!!! WOW. Tell her thanks. I sent her a thank you card too.

-Update on Christmas Call . . . it looks like my companion will try and call his family around 7 pm my time . . . .So that means I'll call some time around 8:30 pm my time. Next week we should know for sure, but that's what I know for now.

Well, time has already flown by, gotta go. Thanks again for all your love and support. Thanks for the updates and the testimonies. Love you all. Moi.

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

P.S. Pics attached: Volswagen for Vanhin Watson, Audi for . . . .yeeeah. :) That's me, and Niina.

Moi

Hey Fam,

Well, today just so happens to be Independence Day in Finland, Itsenäisyyspäivä, so everything is closed and shut down. So we are e-mailing at the church this time. Just a note for future reference, my e-mails might come an hour earlier some p-days now . . . .just a new schedule in a new city . . . so if you've been up to the wire to get an e-mail to me . . . .watch out. :)

So, where to start . . . ummm . . . . .I'm in Kouvola! My new address is:

Kauppalankatu 10 A 9

45100 KOUVOLA

SUOMI

So packages go there until further notice. :)

Kouvola is quite a different city in almost every way . . .at least from Joensuu. The branch here is pretty strong and actually has people under the age of 50. haha The investigators are new. The city is unfamiliar. The cell phone and apartment are ANCIENT. And . . . .I have a visiting city: Kotka . . . .a city that did have a branch 6 years ago but it crumbled and now they have to travel to Kouvola for church, about a 40 minute drive. The adjustment though has been nice. I am excited to be here and serve in a new environment and with new people.

This week was pretty slow action wise, being a transition week and all, but I do have a few stories to tell.

-We stopped a lady and she gave us her phone number . . . .her business card . . . .turns out she's a belly-dancer . . .with a work name, haha. We had a good laugh about that.

-There is a man here who thinks that he literally is the King of Finland . . . . yeeeah.

-We've had 2 DA's already, which is strange for me because in Joensuu we got only 1 a week.

-A member had a graduation party after church yesterday, more like a little luncheon slash social and everyone was invited. So basically the whole branch was there and also a ton of non-members that we got to talk to. Great opportunity. A missionary here who completed his mission last spring was also there. Elder Kääria. he's from Sweden, but he's getting married to a member in this branch. Anyways, I've been on splits with him and everything so it was way cool to see him again.

-We visited our visiting city, Kotka for a day. The whole city smells like bread because there is a huge bread factory there. We were able to visit a couple less actives and members who live there. After running after our bus and helping a drunk man get out of the middle of the road we finally left, haha.

-My new companion, Elder Cassity is from the Draper area in Utah. He's around 6'3" This is his greenie city and he's been here since around June or July. The transition is going smoothly and he's a hard worker and knows the area well so he's been showing me around and catching me up.

-The church here is actually located on the lower level of an apartment complex . . .new experience for me.

-The drama slash chaos of how I got here will have to wait to be told till I talk to you all in a couple weeks. :) Speaking of which . . . . we have to work that out still huh!? umm . . . . . Christmas is on a Saturday, I'll probably have to call the conference number, and it'll be around night time for me, but with a time difference it'll be morning-noon for most of ya. As for a specific time . . . uhhh. . . i really don't know yet. But hopefully it'll work like last time, and my call drama won't happen again. I can't remember right now how I got it to work last time . . . .haha, I should get on that huh.

Time is running low again and I'll try and send pictures again. It was good to hear from you all this week. Changes keep happening and the challenges, old or new, will always come. But the gospel remains constant and His hands are stretched out still. I love all of you and wish you all a holly jolly season of cheer and gratitude. Moikka.

Raukkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

Changes

Well, lots of big news but not enough time to share . . .as always. Well, it's Tuesday, and I am now writing you from Kouvola . . .YES, I got changed!!! It all happened so fast and it was so chaotic, but I am here, in a new place, with a new companion, with new responsibilities (I'm Sr comp . . . .AHHHHHHH!!!), and new adventures lay ahead. But lets not rush ourselves shall we . . . .the Joensuu Finale is yet to be told . . . :

-We hopped off a train from Oulu where we had another amazing Zone Conference, and an hour later, we had a baptism. Niina Myller is the newest member of the church and she went in style, haha. 37 people showed up to her baptism!! That's more than that come to church! 15 of them weren't even members and we've been hearing recently that it might be a Finland record. Everything went smoothly and with some nice refreshments afterwards, it was already done. We ended up talking to EVERYONE of course and got some good conversations in, a phone number, a request to make us pie, and a teach set up with 3 of them. WOW. With that now past, and with her confirmation sealed on Sunday, 6 months of efort have now payed off. I was able to confirm her and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday, and it was a powerful experience and testimony to me. I really said nothing special, but the power that was felt was undeiable and unforgettable. It felt exactly the same way when I got my patriarchal blessing, and when I layed my hands on her head. Amazing.

-With Niina now taken care of, I guess my work in Joensuu came to a close, because the same night, change calls came. I am now in Kouvola, south, bigger, and already love it. With 11 months and all my time in Joensuu, packing was an ancient forgotten practive for me, but through it all, it all fit. I might just have to finish that story in 25 days when I can talk to you in person, because through all the chaos and business, it was a miracle I made it to my train. True miracle. Talk about close, haha. Make sure to remind me, because it's quite the story!

-My new companion is Elder Cassity, from Utah. This is his greenie city, and he's been here in Finland for about 4 changes. I have been made Sr companion, and boy am I humbled. I don't know why, but I am now a senior companion and I'm scared out of my mind, haha. Talk about pressure slash responsibility. Vanhin Cassity is pretty cool though and I'm excited to begin this new chapter. My old companion will now be training in Joensuu.

-Quick story . . . . so back in Joensuu on Sunday night we were out tracting. We come to a door, it's my turn, so the man answers and I say we have a message about God's Plan. He looks at me, walks a bit closer, and punched me right in the right eye, yes, the man decked me in the face. This never happens in Finland and I cannot tell you how many times I have received apologies from the Finns (who heard about it) ever since. Both me and my companion didn't even flinch, we just looked at the man as he swore and swore and told us to leave, and tried escorting us out of the complex, pushing and shoving me against the stairwell. I finally had enough and stood my ground and looked him in the eye. . (don't worry, I wasn't about to fight back, haha). .which made him even more mad, and he tried kicking me, so we apologized for any inconvenience and told him have a nice day, said we were leaving, and left. I'm fine, I was kind of in shock for a while once we left the building and I couldn't talk for a good 10 minutes, until I suggested we leave to a whole different complex, which was nice, because when we left the premises, I felt a whole lot better . . . . something wrong with that place. Oh well, I'm fine now, no soreness or anything. Interesting experience.

Well, all I have time for. I try sending a few pics now, then I got to go. I DID get the Thanksgiving Book and am very grateful for it and for all of you. Up in Oulu for Zone Conference we did get a Thanksgiving meal. Thank you all so much. Hei hei.

Rakkaudella, Vanhin living in a dream Watson

p.s. hmmmm . . . pics won't work right now, sorry! toivottavasti next time

Kiitos Päivä!!!

When I was in Helsinki, one of the Elders I was staying with is from Great Britain . . . .Elder Gorringe (the one I went down with) forgettfully asked this Elder if they celebrate Thanksgiving in England . . . . after a blank stare and a couple laughs . . . Elder Gorringe threw in, What about the 4th of July? as a joke this time. hahaha

Well, unfortunately they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, BUT, Zone Conference is this week up in Oulu, and the whole Zone will be there Thursday Night, where hopefully a nice feast will be waiting for us. :)

It was quite the week again. We had a lot of teaches cancel on us, or just not show up, but we have some new stories and experiences to share kuitenkin.

-We got let inside at least 3 times this past week. One turned out to be crazy. Another one shut up like a clam when he found out we were Mormons, and denied us being Christian, and the last one, the finale, was AWESOME. Just last night a young couple let us in. They said they don't want to change or anything, but they are pretty interested in learning more. It was cool because they actually treated us like human beings and were honest with us and everything. The Spirit was there and we left with thankful hearts. Katsotaan . .

-we've received 2 referrals recently . . .first ones in months. One of them we set up a teach with today, and the other one we biked 7 kilometers in 5 inches of snow to contact . . . but the address was a fake . . .just 2 numbers off . . .yay. On the trek home we stopped and talked with a guy by the same name of our referral, haha . . . .he gave us his number. God works in mysterious ways. :)

-It gets dark here at around 3 nowadays, a bit worse than Alaska from my rememberence. It's dark and cold and toe freezing fun . . . . .anyone have suggestions on how to keep toes warm . . . .I try everything . . .NO, toe warmers do NOT work, haha. (I knew you'd say that) :P

-We had a District meeting in Kuopio which went well. My district has been the same, without any changes, for 3 changes now . . . .with Change Calls coming this Saturday . . . katsotaan

-Last night was a huge Christmas Lighting Ceremony here in Joensuu. it was HUGE: Santa, Frosty, Bunny and Wolf (don't ask me where they came from cause I have no idea), fireworks, makara, a childrens choir singing christmas carols, and thousands of people!! I've never seen so many people here. I got a picture of Frosty watching the fireworks, pretty priceless . . . and random. haha

-We visited a potential yesterday who was in the middle of making dinner and changing diapers and stuff. I've never seen a happier baby. :)

-NIINA gets baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vanhin Ranzenberger will baptize her and I will confirm her. WHOOOOO!!!!!!

- Well, that's all I have time for today. I'm especially grateful for my family in this season of thanks. I thankful for my Savior. I'm thankful for weekly e-mails. I'm thankful for you. best wishes and love from Finland . .

Raukkaudella,

Vanhin Watson

Helsinki

Hei Family!! It was a humbling experience to read your e-mails just now. A lot of things are going on from the looks of it. These are trying times, but I'm grateful for the family that I have and the unshaken faith I see in them.

So, I actually spent this past week in Helsinki. I was able to go down with Elder Gorringe, my District Leader and MTC friend (awesome Elder). For the whole week, 30 of us (about half the mission) from 9 to 5 we received the wonderful opportunity to sit and be taught and trained by President Brown: How to become better teachers, better missionaries, better people, and the importance of the role of the Spirit in our lives. I learned a lot and unfortunately I don't have enough time to share all the things I learned, but it was fun and we all were edified and rejoiced together, haha. Each day, after the meetings, we split up and went out back to work to apply what we learned. Elder Gorringe and I stayed with the zone leaders that live in Espoo (where the temple is), so we were able to do work with them. There are a lot of stories to tell about that, but only the journal will know for now I guess (dinner appointments, chocolate milk, let-ins, car in a ditch, metro, music recitals etc etc etc) haha. Lets just say I was in culture shock because Helsinki is a whole other world . . . . .BIG.

Meanwhile, back in Joensuu news, we are down to 2 baptismal dates, one with N on the 27th (still going strong) and with J on Dec 11th (kinda iffy). We were supposed to have a baptism on Saturday, but he didn't make it to church last week or this week, AND his parents won't give permission yet (he's 16). So, there's some drama going on here too, haha. It snowed a bunch while I was gone so biking has become pretty difficult, especially without snow tires and a tired racing bike. Each day is a new adventure. :)

Yesterday was actually Father's Day here in the Scandanavian countries, so we made cookies for all the dad's at church, then gave the leftovers to people during the rest of the day. Since you already had your day this year Dad, I decided to dedicate it to my Heavenly Father instead, no offense, haha. Still thought of ya though. :)

Not much else to report on today. I love you all and I know that with unshaken faith and a firm trust in the Lord, the blessings and miracles will come to each of us. Thank you. Love you.

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Watson