Lahti-Da

Greetings, from Lahti! It's definitely a different environment from the quiet, northern community that is Oulu. There's more traffic, and we walk or take public transport almost all of the time. We have a full ward here, and our bishop isn't more than a few years older than myself! There's a younger, busier energy here, and well, the people seem to be a bit quirkier. I think I shall quite like it.

I got to take the night train from Oulu to Helsinki, then I missed my original train to Lahti, so I had to hop on the next one, but I arrived in one piece, and we live close to the train station, so that made getting all of my things  hauled over to the apartment really easy. It's surreal being in yet another new place and with new people all over again, but I know this is where I need to be right now, and I'm glad to be able to see some different parts of Suomi throughout my mission, for as much as I love Oulu.

My new companion, Sisar Dayton, has only been in Finland a couple months longer than myself, and it's her first time as a senior companion, and only second transfer in Lahti, so we're learning together a lot. Her Finnish is great (plus, she knows the local dialect really well) so I learn a lot as we talk to people on the street. This area is in need of organization, so we're working on getting paperwork in its place, and being extra focused in our lessons with investigators. It feels really good.

So far some of my many adventures here have been: An investigator giving us a random gift basked with napkins, apples, and coasters. Deciding that forest path looks like a lovely detour, only to ralize that it's all up/down hill over ice. Getting lost a lot because neither of us has much of an internal compass. Going to check on a potential investigator, and talking to his brother-in-law instead about God's plan for him. Our investigator thinking my name is "Carol" and my attempts to correct her completely failing, so Carol it is. Meeting with a district of only 6 missionaries, instead of 16, and having some fantastic discussions about baptism invitations. Lahti hasn't had a bapstism in something like 2 years. I'm here to see that change.

Sisar Dayton loves to run, and so we've made a deal that we can do different types of exercise in the morning, and run every 2-3 days. So I've now been running with her twice, around a 15-minute loop, and to my amazement, I'm able to do it! I get pretty tired by the end, but it's really not as horrible as I thought, although I'm still far from actually enjoying it. I think about it a lot, because my favorite thing on my mission so far has probably been seeing how Heavenly Father makes impossible things possible. I CAN ride my bike in the snow. I CAN learn this crazy grammar principle. I CAN go running in the mornings a few times a week. This investigator CAN gain a testimony of the restored gospel and be baptized. This mission is hands-down the most difficult thing I've ever done, but with the Lord's help, I CAN make this time a success.

It's often through ordinary means that the Lord shows us His love and His power. My challenge to all of you is to think of the little things in your lives that are really big victories in their own way. How are you proving yourself beyond what you thought possible? How does the Lord give you the strength you need to be the kind of person you need/want to be? How does He make the impossible possible through you?

Library time is short, and so must this blog be.

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hansen