The Big 2-5 ("I want to bring you a fish!")‏

It's hard to even start. SO MUCH has happened this week! It's insane! First of all, somebody decided that my birthday was the perfect day for transfers in this mission, so I spent my big 2-5 heading out to my new area, and trying to get adjusted to a new place, new companion, and new responsibilities. On the train, Sisar Heggie gave me a stack of "V-Book" (a lot of missionaries here keep a vieras kirja, aka guest book, and have members/investigators/missionaries write memories inside) pages from Oulu (put together by Sisar Nyman, who is still up there for at least another transfer!) I looked at them, smiled, and said, "Wow, it's almost like it's my bir....AH! Wow, it's ACTUALLY my birthday!" The mission has a way of making you forget things, especially if your birthday is change day.

The first thing I'd like to say about Lappeenranta is that it is GORGEOUS. How spoiled am I to be here during the springtime? Incredibly spoiled. There's an enormous lake with shoreline just a few minutes from our apartment, which my new companion, Sisar Heggie, and I were fortunate enough to ride past as the sun was setting the other night. Finland has a very modern feel to it, for the most part, but Lappeenranta feels very old-time European, which I love. It's a fairly small city, and we travel around easily on bikes. The weather has been nice and warm, and it somehow feels like home to me, even though it's only been a few days.

I made a few realizations over the past week:

1) There haven't been sisters here in DECADES. Our branch members are psyched out of their minds to see sisters here. A lot of them have given us food already, or at least offered. (Story: On our way to a lesson, we got a phone call from a member of our ward. It was one of those cases where I thought I didn't understand what he was saying, but it just turns out, I didn't expect to hear those words come out of his mouth at that time! I ended the call, and said to my companion, "A member of our bishopric called and asked us to speak on Sunday. Uh, and I also think he wants to bring us a fish!" Sure enough, he brought us two freshly-caught fish in a bag. I asked Sisar Heggie, "How much do you like fish?" the response, "I hate fish!" GAH! Me too! We gratefully cooked and ate part of it anyway, and used the rest of it as a gift to one of our investigators.)

2) "It would be nice if you could learn some Russian, you know, no big deal", which is what I understood from my change call, apparently translates into, "Sisar Hansen has been specifically assigned to learn basic Russian for contacting purposes, and everybody in the entire mission seems to know about it/think that's absolutely fascinating." An elder who served here a while back made a packet of basic information, and we have pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon for me to study as well. I've just about got the alphabet down by now (I probably try my poor companion's patience, reading out loud every single Russian sign we pass by), and I can say, "Hi, how are you?" "Excuse me" and "Thank you". I realize more and more every day how much I LOVE languages, and this is just an excuse for me to master Russian basics as best I can however long I'm here, and then to keep going with it after I get home. I've always wanted to learn Russian, and really wanted to get my mission call Russian-speaking, so this is pretty much a dream come true.

3) Elders are teenage boys. We inherited an elders' apartment, of course, which came with its own set of.....quirks. The cupboard is stocked with more pasta than we may be able to feasably consume all transfer, and we put into storage the fake floral arrangements that belong to the apartment, but are less funny and more distracting when you're a 20-something sister, than a 19-year old elder. To their credit, they did a commendable job of stocking up on fruits and vegetables for us before we arrived, and they created an elaborate eater egg hunt with clues left all over our apartment, leading us to find hidden chocolate in our bedroom closet! (I bet they loved eating all the Kinder eggs required for the amount of little treat capsules they left all over the apartment for us!) A list of odd things we found in our apartment: An innapropriate t-shirt, old stinky towels, a pair of boxers, fleece pants, a discman, bookmarks shaped like kabuki actors, lots of fake potted plants, beer logo coasters, a creepy penguin-shaped jar filled with rice, and empty envelopes adressed to elders who haven't served here since before I came on my mission, to name just a few items.

On another chocolate note, I joked once that I got so much chocolate for Christmas, I'd still be eating it on my birthday. Turns out, it wasn't much of a joke, as I STILL have qutie a bit of the stuff left, and I've been eating at an accelerated pace lately, just so I can get it out of the way and not feel embarrassed about it anymore.

Anyhoo, that's the tip of this week's iceburg. We'll see how things go this week, now that we know the area a bit better, and are getting to know the members more. I feel incredibly blessed to be here, and I'm amazed that I've been trusted to be one of the first two sisters in this area in so long, working with such a dedicated and gifted companion. As I've turned a quarter of a century old, I'm pretty glad at the way my life has turned out, and I'm grateful to have spent my milestone day starting work in Lappeenranta.

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hansen


PS- I read in PMG about God as our Heavenly Father this week. It's a doctrine that's very near and dear to my heart, and one of the most important things we as missionaries help others to understand. Seriously, what did you read this week?

"What do sisters like to eat?"

First of all, things are looking up here in Lahti. We've had a couple of wonderful lessons with Hank this week, one of which he practically taught himself as we asked him questions about faith and baptism, and he discussed with us what he learned from his topical guide research. Oh, and there's also the fact that HE PRAYED!!!!! After weeks and weeks of trying, he finally prayed out loud with us to close our lesson, and it was beautiful! He prayed and said, "Thank you for sending the sisters to open my eyes to spiritual things." I LOVE HANK SO MUCH!!! He's been one of my dearest friends on my mission, and perhaps the investigator who has had the biggest impact on me. He's a wonderful person, and it's exciting to see him progress over time. Our friend who showed up to church all those weeks ago in a rainbow hoodie also continues to show progress. He looks happier every week at church, and his black corset was particularly becoming yesterday. Our investigator from Estonia, Ellen, is one of the most tender-hearted and sincere people I've ever met. She told us that, "Maybe this is silly, but sometimes I wonder if I came to Finland so I could read the Book of Mormon and learn about the church from the missionaries." Not silly at all! Yesterday she had a very profound spiritual experience at church, and the next step is getting her a date to be baptized so she can claim the blessings of the gospel! It's been a privilege to be a part of seeing the work take off here. I've been able to look back on the past two months and really see how we've found the elect, and how things have really shaped up quite nicely over a relatively short period of time.

Thursday morning we were doing our weekly planning, wondering how we would work around so much uncertainty in the next week's schedule, when the phone rang. It was President Rawlings, giving us our change call a day or two earlier than expected. No more uncertainty here, as tomorrow morning I'm getting on a train and heading out east to Lappeenranta! "But wait!" you protest, "There are no sisters serving in Lappeenranta! That's an elders' area!" It WAS an elders' area, but now Sisar Heggie (coming straight from Oulu, after serving with my dear Sisar Nyman!) and I are replacing the elders, and completely starting over fresh. In mission slang, we're "shotgunning" the area, which is something from my list of things about change calls that make me nervous. We'll arrive by train tomorrow morning, the elders will show us our apartment, help us get settled, and then they'll head out themselves, and it'll be just the two of us working a previously-unfamiliar area! We will be the first sisaret in the Kouvola District, which is the south-eastern part of the country. And the part about my change call that made me squeal? Lappeenranta's area includes the Russian border. As some of you may know, I had a secret wish to get my mission call Russian-speaking. With us being so close, President Rawlings suggested that it may be wise to start picking up Russian! Aaaahhhh!! 

The Lappeenranta elders have, no doubt, been working hard to prepare the area for us sisters. I remember when Sisar Vath and I left Oulu, we had a larger-than-average list of things to do and write down for the incoming sisters taking our places. The day after we got our call, they called us, and the first thing I hear is, "What do sisters like to eat? We're going to go grocery shopping for you, and we need to know." Perhaps more than taking over an area, I should be concerned about inheriting an apartment from elders......

Sisar Dayton will stay in Lahti for her third change (Lahti will be her Finnish hometown), Vanhin Keddington will stay and train, and Vanhin Stimpson had his dream come true, and he will spend the spring up in Rovaniemi. He said he screamed when President Rawlings gave him the news. I'm a little bit sad to leave this place, but mission life is all about change, and I'd rather be the missionary that leaves every change, than the one who stays put half of their mission. I'm proud of the work I've done in Lahti, and this place and these people have helped me grow immensely. I think it's your second area, not your first, that has the greatest impact on growth.

This week in Preach My Gospel I learned that planning out missionary work and setting goals is an act of love, as it shows faith in Heavenly Father and a willingness to do His will, and love for others, as we take seriously our responsibility to share the blessings of the gospel with them. What did YOU learn?

Thanks for all of the love and support! It's wonderful to know that no matter what happens out here, I am not alone.

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hansen 

This Is Me, Following Up

[note from Karlan's mom:  Tuesday, April 22nd is Kar's 25th birthday.   If you would like to send birthday greetings, her email address is karlan.hansen@ldsmail.net]

A rough week it has been in Lahti. Finns tend to be shy people, but the past few days they've been particularly reluctant to talk to us about much of anything, let alone the gospel. I do have to say, however, that despite some of our investigators dropping off the radar a bit (and Reggie unfortunately dropping us as quickly as he was found!) we got THREE new investigators this week! Two of them were referrals from the elders, who we've finally got return appointments with. One of them only speaks English, and in a pinch, his LDS neighbors came with us on our teach, despite having very limited English skills. They quietly sat by as we taught, and we were thankful that, thanks to their presence, we were able to teach in the first place.

Conference candy.  I won't tell you how much I got, or
how sick my stomach was after I'd eaten it all!

This week will be a biggie. Change calls (again!) are this weekend, which will determine what I will be doing on my TWENTY-FIFTH birthday, aka, change day. Easter is this weekend, and Finns celebrate it on three different days, so we'll have to plan extra carefully to have appointments set up on "red" days, where we're limited as to what we can do. We'll likely have our last district meeting as the same six people, which apparently calls for a juice-and-pulla "tea party". We've got more going on than I can possibly keep track of (thankfully, this is why we have planners!)

It's hard serving in a mission, where, despite best effort, there aren't a lot of visible results. It means that we all have to have extra faith that God has a plan and a purpose for the people here. It means that we rejoice over numbers that missionaries in other part of the world would consider failure. It means that we have to work extra hard to build relationships with members, so that they'll trust us to help them bring the gospel to their friends, which is the best way we'll find people to teach and to be baptized, and eventually, go to the temple. It's hard. It's really hard. But I'm doing what the Lord, for whatever reason, wants me to do at this time and in this place. This is not a mission for wimps, and remembering that, and seeing all the excellent missionaries that surround me, I am humbled and strengthened all at the same time.

District P-Day at Hameenlinna's
famous linna ("castle")

As I promised, this week I'm following up on the Preach My Gospel challenge I gave out a week ago, which we also extened to our Relief Society sisters. What did you learn this week? I've been reading a lot from chapter 10, which talks about teaching skills. People grow the most when they have the skills and motivation to learn on their own time. The questions we ask can be particularly important in helping others ponder about the things they've learned on their own time. Our pal Hank has trouble reading, so he asked if he could listen to the Book of Mormon, and while we couldn't find a CD for him, and there's nothing online in Finnish, we did find an old set of cassettes in the church that he took home with him! He listened to the entire book of 1 Nephi in one night! Hopefully we're helping him to seek out his own answers when we're not around. It's something we can work on for sure, but we're seeing progress, which is very gratifying.

Another note- Sometimes Finns are embarrassingly nice. In the past week, a certain sister from our ward has fed us, come to the aforementioned English-language lesson, made pulla with us as an early birthday treat, and insisted that I take home TWO pairs of the socks she'd hand-knitted, and had just sitting in a box, waiting for somebody to claim them. Shy? Sure. But Finns are warm-hearted and loving people. I'm so glad to serve here. :)

This week's goals include working more with members, finding even more investigators, establishing the intent of our current investigators, and wearing only ONE pair of tights outside! Spring is coming, and I look forward to my one warm season in the field!

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hansen

       

Making pulla.  My apron appropriately says
"The Diet Starts Tomorrow!"

My Finnish is still improving-for a party
we put together for our investigators, the
chip dip instructions said to use
"kerma viili," and I got some regular
viili from the shelf, thinking, "Hey,
what's the difference?"  Viili is a very
sticky, slimy dairy product that was never
meant for making dip.  Apparently a big
difference!  (It tasted quite good, for
the record.)

It's That Time Again!

First of all, before I get into the more spiritual things, I'll share a silly story from this week. We were teaching an investigator, Jerry (name of course changed from the original, as I do with all Finns mentioned here. President Rawlings got after those who use real names in their blogs, so it's a good time to clarify this point, so nobody can accuse me of using unauthorized personal information.) and I had a nasty case of the hiccups that would not go away! He asked me to say the opening prayer, and I hic-ed my way through the entire thing, making it hard for anyone to keep much of a straight face afterwards. I stayed pretty quiet for a while during the lesson, only speaking when I felt like it was really important, because I didn't want to be a distraction, but that itself turned out a bit distracting, and so he eventually gave a glass of water (our member present cheered me on- juo! juo! juo! drink! drink! drink!) and that was that.

Also, the one day we didn't go out and run in the morning, we ended up barely making, or barely missing, all of our buses, so we ran all day anyway! Sheesh!

Anyhoo, GENERAL CONFERENCE HAS COME ONCE AGAIN!!!

Sisar Dayton and I have been extatic the past week, telling everybody about it. All in all, we had THREE investigators come, which is the most we've ever had at church meetings in one weekend! Jerry came, which was a miracle, since he's never been to church in Finland (the sisters from another country originally taught him and went to church with him, and he splits his time between here and there, so they teach him via skype in between our meetings with him in anticipation of his return to their neck of the woods- complicated, huh?) He seemed a bit overwhelmed, but he has a good member friend to help him understand things better, and we'll of course talk about it next time. Hank came, and we felt like all of the talks given during the session he watched were absolutely perfect for him. He said he came with a question- "Is this religion the right one?" but wasn't sure he felt an answer. He likes to take things slow, and thinks things through a lot, so hopefully we can help him understand how much God really did answer his questions and concerns last night. He really loved the choir-they sang some very powerful numbers. 

Also, our BRAND NEW investigator, Reggie, came! Funny thing is, he's our new investigator BECAUSE he came to conference! As it turns out, the elders stopped him on the street, invited him to come watch, and he came. To Every. Single. Session. He told the elders that it was amazing, how it was almost as if the speakers were speaking just to him! (The way conference should be!) They took the time to teach him about the Restoration of the church between sessions, and he's apparently watched the "Restoration" DVD TWICE already! He's either been specially prepared, or he's got a few screws loose, but we talked for a bit, and he just seems to be a bit shy and twitchy, that's all. Since he lives in our area, he's been put in the hands of us sisters, and we have an appointment with him today where we'll review conference with him, and invite him to be baptized!

There were a lot of really strong themes this conference. Love. Standing up for your beliefs, even if you stand alone. Making and keeping covenants. Using the power of the Atonement to change for the better. The inevitability of adversity versus the power of agency. We are all united. I wrote down 7 questions in different colors, and then went back over my notes after conference, and color-coded them to see how many times I'd received answers to each question. The results were amazing! I got multiple answers to every single question except one very specific one, and since the time difference makes watching conference a bit awkward, we still have one more session left to view sometime this week, so I'm sure question #7 has an answer there!

A lot of our church leaders spoke very boldly this conference, which I loved. We need to decide where we stand in this life. Are we on the side of the Lord, or are we with the world? This is one of the biggest things I've pondered over and over about throughout my missionary service so far. How often do we claim to follow Christ, while holding onto things of no value, or worse, things that ultimately drag us down and prevent us from reaching our full potential? How easily we forget the Savior in all of our everyday business! I was struck with the realization that, even as a missionary, I don't keep Him in my thoughts nearly as much as I should! I wonder if one of my purposes on this mission is to learn the habit of always remembering Him- mission life is hard, and yet I still sometimes forget how weak I am, and what the true source of my strength is. Definitely something to repent of! Luckily, I have reminders almost daily of ways I can improve and come closer to Christ, and maybe one day I'll finally get the hang of this being-a-converted-disciple-of-the-Lord thing!

I'd really love to hear what you all learned from conference, and what you favorite themes were! Write some comments! Send me an email (or better yet, a letter!) Even better, of course I'm going to ask you what you all learned from Preach My Gospel this past week, and then follow up next week, and let you know what I've learned! I love the emphasis on member missionary work that lets those who never served, or who served long ago, feel the joy of serving the Lord through spreading the gospel. I hope you're all excited about it, too, although I know it can be even scarier without the name tag than it already is while wearing one!

This is an exciting time. Lahti has a lot of potential to become a city rich in the gospel. There hasn't been a convert baptism here in years, and we are so close to changing that, as we pray and work and seek inspiration to find "the one" every day. I'm learning to love others in a way I never thought my imperfect self could, and I know that this truly is the place the Lord needs me to be, even though all of the purposes aren't entirely clear from my limited view.

Kiitos from all of the support and prayers- I'm trying to not let any of you down because I can feel how much love is often sent my way!

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hansen

Like a Bad Joke

So, two sisar missionaries walk into a bar (bu-dun-dun-ch!).....Okay, I'll explain. At the end of a rather unusual week that included two school presentations, exchanges in Jyväskylä, and cranky responses from some less-active members, Saturday came with no confirmed appointments, despite our efforts to schedule in some time with our investigators. Well, we realized that this gave us some time to go check out a less-active member who lives quite a far distance out, who the bishop has asked us to find. Nobody really knows anything about her, so we put a plate of cookies together and headed out. The thing about missionary work in Lahti is, it's a very spread-out region. A lot of our church members, and even investigators, live a bus or train ride away. Such is the case with the nearby town of Hollola. We got on the bus with our bikes (it's no extra charge in Lahti- how cool is that??) because this woman lives so far out in the country, there's no way to get close with just the bus. We got off at the most advantageous stop, and started pedaling. By Sisar Dayton's estimation, we went about 10km before we reached the farm house we were looking for. (This was all the day before fast Sunday, so we had no snacks handy, but I was getting really tired and a bit cranky from lack of sustinance, so Sisar Dayton made me sacrifice our extra plate of cookies for the good of my body and my mood.) The woman wasn't home, and her husband said that they're not interested, but at least we followed counsel from our leaders and got some more information about the situation. As we rode back out the driveway, my companion noted that it would actually be a shorter ride to Herrala, where we could take the train back home (yes, it was that far out that it would be closer to go to a commutable-by-train destination than straight back the way we came!) So off we went to Herrala, which turned out to be roughly another 7km of difficult, muddy roads and nobody to talk to. But hey- the scenery was beautiful, as it always is here in Suomi, and the weather was just cool enough for optimum comfort.

"Two missionaries walk into a bar...."

Glad to arrive in Herrala, finally!

And that is just the first part of this rather unusual tale! We arrived in Herrala, only to realize that we were low on cash, and our American debit cards wouldn't work on the train. So we called a local member to ask where to find the nearest ATM. Unfortunately, she told us that there is none (Not too surprising, considering that Herrala is hardly even a town at all), but fortunately and selflessly, she came to our rescue and brought us 10 euros so that when the train came (almost an hour later- we missed the first one!) we could get home alright. We both needed something to eat, so we found the only place within convenient distance, which would of course be, a karaoke bar!! Desperate times call for desperate measures, so we went inside and asked about their food. The first response- We don't serve food here, but there's a little convenience shop attached to the side of the building that we could check out. Turns out, convenience means chocolate, soda, and chips, which was not quite what we had in mind. Then the lady at the bar told us she could warm up some spinach pie for us, which sounded perfect, so we sat down at a table to eat. (for the record, it was delicious.) While we ate, one of the men sitting around at the bar handed us a karaoke song list and challenged us to sing something. He then got up and sang some 1980s Finnish pop song, while we stared at the list, wondering what would be the best response. He went out and took a smoke break, which left us off the hook for a bit. UNTIL, that is, we went to pay for our pie, and the lady informed us that this bar, like the train station, would not accept our American debit cards, and we'd have to pay 5 euros in cash. So, math time. 2 train tickets at 2.60 euros each, equals 5.20 euros. 10 euros minus 5 euros for pie, means we are in 20 cents of trouble. Luckily, the entirety of the contents of my wallet came to 20 cents, and we miraculously had enough to pay for our food and buy train tickets back to Lahti. PHEW! UNFORTUNATELY, we didn't take our bikes into account, as they are not free on the trains. In the end, though, the ticket man on the train was very merciful when he saw how frazzled and tired we were, and let us pay with our exact change for two regular tickets, just this once. We got back to Lahti and raced on over to our meeting with a less-active friend, hours after our big adventure had begun. (Suffice it to say, it was one of the sleepiest fast Sundays I've ever had, the next day.)

Eating salted black licorice on the train back to Lahti

Anyhoo, last week overall was a bit of a downer. Lots of people dropped our appointments, a less-active woman did NOT take kindly to our "heart attack" efforts, and we struggled to find people who were willing to talk to us. We DID, however, give two quite successful school presentations (one teacher wants to recommend us to the high school in her town), and I got to spend some time with Sisar Cribbs in Jyväskylä for a day, which was a fun change of scenery.

We're also getting excited for Conference this weekend- I can never believe that it's actually that time again when it comes around, but I have developed a strong love for General Conference, and I know that there will be something there that's meant just for me, and for each of our investigators. We're praying that we can get all of our friends to come watch with us, and share some of our stock of conference candy. It's an odd feeling as well because last conference time, I was in the MTC, as in I've been a missionary long enough to see TWO conferences now! It's crazy how time flies past! I remember the time when I had no idea what Finnish even sounded like, and now I use it and understand it every day, as I serve in a town I didn't know existed just months ago. Life is pretty amazing, isn't it?

I challenge all of you, of course, to check out General Conference and to see what you can gain from counsel given to us by a modern-day prophet. It's proof to me every time that God is a loving Heavenly Father, and that He knows and loves His children perfectly. I will of course report on my highlights in next week's post. I hope you're all as excited as I am for Conference weekend!!

Be good, carry some extra cash, and be thankful for little miracles!

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hansen

Outside-The-Box Miracles

After we got back from emailing and grocery shopping last Monday, I felt like a total zombie. I had a nasty cold, which completely drained me. Sisar Dayton said I should take a nap when we got home, and I slept for about 8 hours, which shows that I must've really needed it! I'm now back in tip-top shape, and once again ready to take on Lahti.

Our week had a bit of a disastrous start, for sure. I was sick, and then it was hard to muster up enough jaksaminen (no good English equivalent- It means something like the gusto to do something, like a very strong version of "to feel like it") some days. People didn't want to talk to us, and then (and this is a very complicated story, so I'll try to keep it simple) We ran to get bouillon so we could make a meal for a sick family in our ward, and since it was just a quick distance to the store, we didn't bring any pass-along cards, or planners. We met some guys on the street, and didn't have a way to get their contact info, so we raced back inside and grabbed some things, and unfortuntately, never found them again (lesson learned, #1.) When we went back, I had no key, and no phone! They all got left inside! So we rang pretty much all the people in our apartment building, and finally got somebody to come and offer us use of his phone, but I hadn't updated the phone numbers in my planner, so no use! We ended up going to the mall in the center, asking the guys at the lotion kiosk (who know us and the elders fairly well) if we could call the elders, and then we went over to their apartment to use THEIR phone to call our ward mission leader, who has a spare key. Lots of waiting and calling later, and we were back home! (And yes, this was the short version of that story!) We were a little bit cranky about it, since it took THREE hours to sort out, and next time something stinky happens, I need to repent and do a better job of using the time as a finding opportunity (lesson learned #2.)

We've had some struggles with investigators. Some of them are hard to even meet with, others want to always meet at inconvenient places, and some don't want to keep their commitments. We've been praying for help to know what we can do to meet with them and help them receive the blessings of keeping their commitments, and we found some slightly different ways of extending invitations that really worked. We teach two Vietnames students (a lot of people come from Vietnam to study in Finland!), a young man (Casey) and a young woman (Uma). Casey is not often available, and so instead of asking him to come chat with us, we invited him out to lunch, which of course he had time for! We ended up teaching him a very spiritual Restoration lesson, and extended a baptismal invitation! I guess it's true, that the way to a man is through his stomach! Uma (the one who prayed about books!) is so wonderful and sweet! She lights up the room. Instead of meeting at the mall, like usual, we wanted to give her a tour of our church, so we said we'd catch the bus with her from the center, and show her where the church is. (Unfortunately, there was a mix-up and we didn't make it to the center on time, then she missed the bus, plus language barrier issues, but it all got sorted out, and we made it to the chapel eventually.) We had a tour, explained how our church works, and then had another fantastic Restoration lesson, and another baptismal invite. She prayed again in the chapel, and said she prayed for help with a summer job. We taught her how to listen for answers, and commited her to pray about the Book of Mormon. She's making plans to come to church with us, as well! She said she really liked the chapel, because it was so peaceful. I'm glad it worked out, and that she was able to have such a good experience.

And then there's Hank. We love Hank to death. He is so soft-spoken and sincere. He has deep questions and really seeks for answers. He knows that baptism is a good step, but is afraid of making the commitment. We've invited him to church for weeks, and he can never muster up the jaksaminen to come. So this time, we told him how much we love him, and how much we learn from our meetings together. We said he would be a great help in our sunday school class which we teach, and could he come and give us a hand on Sunday? He said he'd think about it. Maybe. When we walked out of the chapel after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, it was a wonderful surprise to see HANK sitting in the foyer, waiting for us to come start our class! He had wonderful comments, of course, and really seemed to enjoy the class. Afterwards the elders invited him to Priesthood meeting, and he said, "Miksei?" "Why not?" and went with them with no sign of a fuss! It was probably my favorite miracle of the week, and hopefully he can come for all 3 meetings next week!

Other miracles this week: We had a school presentation at a high school where we spoke fluently, understood everything, and even ended up doing most of a Restoration lesson! Our member also did a great job of responding to questions simply and clearly, and we left feeling like we did a great job. Heavenly Father really answered our prayers about that one.

An African woman at the bus stop asked us if we were Jehova's Witnesses, and we said no, we're from the LDS church. She revealed that she's from a Francophone country, so I got to speak French with her, which made her day! She took our phone number, and made sure we had hers. My French has unfortunately completely rusted over, but I understood everything, and was able to make some good conversation. (Every time I want to speak French, Finnish words creep their way in, which is a blessing and a curse, if you think about it.)

We reached our weekly lesson goal, even though I was sick for an entire day, and we got an otherwise slow start.

We FINALLY were able to visit the Fazer bakery in one of our areas, which is a plan that has always fell through until now. (Fazer is a famous Finnish candy company whose chocolate is unreasonably delicious. Turns out, their donuts are just as good!) Maybe not such a great miracle, but it was a nice stamina boost.

A member came up to us at church and asked us what we'd like for our dinner appointment with his family this week. I think a lot on my mission about the type of member missionary I want to be, and I think I'll be very mindful of these things post-mission. Sometimes I feel like we're fed an uncomfortable amount, and I've had to eat fish stew more than I'd like (eating it at all is more than I'd like, due to my strong dislike of fish). I felt like he really cared about giving us a good experience, which is great.

I'm running faster and faster in the mornings, and for longer distances. My improvement is miraculous to me, since I'm getting better so quickly, and building up lots of stamina, which is helping in all other aspects of my missionary life. I feel healthier, have more energy, and I reluctantly admitted to my toveri this morning while we were out, that I kind of enjoyed it. (But only a little bit. Don't get any ideas about me suddenly being a big-time runner. I have a reputation for disliking this kind of thing, and I have to uphold it.) I even suggested that today's run be mid-length, and that we run around the park. It was lovely, despite being a bit dead from winter. :)

There's a less active lady who doesn't let us in, and she lives in a locked building. We wanted to do a "heart attack" for her, but didn't know how we'd get inside. Fortunately, we convinced her to let us use her bathroom when we talked to her through the speaker phone-thing outside her building- no idea what it's called in English! When we left her apartment, we were able to tape all the hearts on her door before making our escape! (this is the one time I've ever considered the lack of public restrooms in Europe as being a perk) 

WHEW! I feel like I can never write everything that I want to about my mission experiences, but I'm trying my best with the limited time and resources at my disposal. I'm learning the importance of prayer, and relying on answers, as we do our best to meet peoples' needs.

 We see results as we are inspired to think outside of the box, and to show people that we love them, and are considerate of their individual needs and situations. This is what missionary work is really all about, and the joy I feel in serving the Lord and others in this way is something that I'm not sure I could adequately describe in English, French, or (perhaps especially) Finnish. True joy comes from doing things the Lord would do, if He were here right now, doing what we're doing. As I align myself more and more with His will, I feel more joy, and a stronger assurance that I'm doing what I need to be doing, at the right time, and in the right place.

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hansen

....Jos Maistuu

This week was the Lahti district's week to be the focus of our mission-wide "fast", so of course, it was one of the slowest weeks I've had in the field. Finding was rough, appointments were constantly being cancelled/switched around, and I got sick with a nasty could that kept us inside for a day-and-a-half. (On the bright side, we got some much-needed time to work on organization of our records, which are a bit scattered at the moment.) BUT we asked people to pray for us to develop specific qualities that would help us in the work, and I feel like Sisar Dayton and I really tried our best to do that. We've really stepped up on talking to everyone. Sometimes I can't think of what I want to say, so I hesitate, and then that person gets off the bus before our conversation can go anywhere, so I've been working specifically on not hesitating. I don't see myself as the most socially graceful person, especially when it comes to talking with strangers, and sometimes the conversation really does take a turn for the awkward, but I'm getting much better at talking to people about the things that matter most to them, and finding ways to introduce the gospel becomes much, much easier with practice. I'm working on feeling increased love for everyone around me, which helps me speak to them "normally and naturally", as our mission president would say.

We also had a zone conference in Tampere on Tuesday. It's a bit of a switch from Oulu, where I basically stayed put all the time. It was fun to see some of the people I was in the MTC with, and we got extra time together because after our meetings we had our 6-month (!) language school. One of the big focuses of our meeting was using family history to connect with people and to help them see how the gospel can bring them closer to their families. It's not something I've ever put much thought into before, so I haven't been using it much in finding/teaching. Hopefully this week I can use it more, and see how it can help me be a more effective missionary.

One thing I have been slow to learn is proper "dinner appointment" technique. In Finland, the people here can eat a surprising amount of food! There's always more than enough at our appointments, and there's no taking just one serving. Perhaps one of the most dreaded situations in a Finland Helsinki missionary's service is to have loaded up on food the first time around, only to hear the host/hostess utter the dreaded words, "Otakaa lisää...jos maistuu." "Take more...if it tastes good." Sister Dayton has it down. She takes a small amount for her first serving, and eats slowly. She makes sure that by the time she's finished her portion, everyone else has taken enough food that there's not too much left for herself, and she can get away with eating an only slightly uncofortable amount. Meanwhile, I plug away at serving number one, thinking that I'm so hungry and it's all okay, and then the aforementioned phrase is spoken, and I'm faced with another full plate of food, an even fuller stomach, and dessert hasn't even been served. I've heard it said that there are many skills to be learned while on the mission, but eating was not one that I ever anticipated.

Well, this one might be a bit short this week. I'm still not feeling my best, but I hate to sit inside again, especially when my poor companion has to stay cooped up all day if I'm not doing well. (Today when I got some extra sleep, she cleaned the entire apartment! But I'm hanging in there, and I was doing well enough to teach a lesson to a man on the bus, so hopefully I'll be able to fully participate in the work tomorrow, no naps needed.

I hope you all have a fantastic week, and that you are able to think about those things that you can do to be more effective at whatever it is that you do! The point of this life really comes down to constant improvement and change, and hopefully you can find ways to make changes for the better every day, and feel the joy that comes from doing so.

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hansen