Happy July 4th!

Terve!!

Hello there! Well I've now been here at the mtc for two whole weeks and the time is sure flying by! Here's how everything is going,

Finnish, I read outloud from the Book of Mormon all the time, but i have no idea what im saying and all of you would probably laugh if you heard me because it just sounds like jibberish! But finns do roll their Rs so spanish helped with that. ive got most of the pronunciation down, but sometimes i have to say words really slow (Especially when theyre 20+ letters long like the word P day, valmistautumispäivä) I have no idea what im saying half the time but its coming along great! I absolutely love my teachers. Theyre both RMs from Finland and are sooo extremely patient with a district of all girls. Im just impressed how many questions they answer from me like no big deal because theyre that nice! I also got about 15lbs of grammar and finnish material (no joke, we weighed it) and we kinda laugh at the spanish missionaries who think their preach my gospel and dictionary is spanish weigh a lot. Not sure how im fitting these all in my suitcase but ill sure need them! We had a SYL (Speak your language) day all day yesterday and it was tough, but i was surprised how many words i knew in finnish once i was forced to say them! So yeah, were doing that every wednesday now and im really excited to be progressing at this alarming fast rate! Dont get me wrong, its extremely difficult and i have to pray waaayyy more often and waaaayyy harder than usual but its gettin there!

MTC, Well the MTC is going good! The food is pretty gross actually but I got a bunch of healthy snacks from my wonderful mother that will definitely last me the remaining 7 weeks! Which is a good thing because the food here and lack of fruits and vegetables has made me pretty sick and tired but I've gotten over it now. There's no options like at the other MTC so instead of it being just cafeteria food, its now cafeteria food with one option 3 times a day or else you go hungry. so yeah, I'm not complaining though! I'm alive and well!

Oh so another cool thing is my badge! Were the only country and language that has to have Jesus Christ on 2 lines because its so long! So here's what it says,

Sisar Crandall

Myöhempien Aikojen Pyhien

Jeesuksen

Kristuksen

Kirkko

I just love putting it on everyday and wearing it around all proud! And we actually get to go off MTC campus on P day so we do actually get to be around non missionaries and then it's even cooler to be wearing this badge!

So some funny stories. A lot of Finnish words sounds alike and sometimes the literally difference is one A at the end instead of 2 As so its pretty hard to distinguish. So, a girl in my district mixed up the word for personages with the word for carrots and then the word for vision, naky, with the word for sausage, nakki. So, she proceded to tell her investigator that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were two heavenly carrots who visited Joseph Smith in The First Sausage. Yeah we laughed pretty hard about that one. Then, another girl in my district mixed up the word for God, Jumala, with the word for ice cream, Jäätelö. So one day when there was no ice cream in the cafeteria, she told the entire MTC that there was no God! Ei Jumala! So that one got us laughing too. Fortunately, I havent had any too embarrassing mix ups (That I know of)

Well this week I went to the MTC devotional and ran into all my old friends at the Main MTC! I saw Elder Hakes, Hermana Pearson, Elder Tanner Smith, Elder Willis (A bunch of wardies) and it was awesome! As much as I love them im really glad im at this MTC so I'm not distracted and can just focus on my Finnish!

Speaking of, I decided that there was a reason I was sent to finland (obviously) but i didn't think I'd figure it out this early! So what i realized is that I'm a very prideful and stubborn person who likes to rely on herself. So, the lord got my mission papers and knew that the only thing big enough to make me humble myself was the hardest language in the world! We've taught about 5 lessons in finnish and only 1 in english but I have the spirit so much more in the finnish one because I have to solely rely on it! I cant keep talking or anything to make up for it i just have to sit there and struggle to bear my testimony and i must say, its great! I've learned a lot and it makes my english lessons sooo much better because I know how to teach with the spirit now!

On another random side note, mom, rememeber that watch we bought, well this week I found out it glows in the dark. haha the little things mean a lot when youre on a mission!

So  yeah, life is good! Thanks so much for all the letters and Dear Elders! (If you don't know how to dear elder, just ask my mom. It's way easier and free and I get them daily instead of just on p day or something) I feel everyone's love and support and I'm just excited for everything that's going on! Keep me updated on life and I'd love to hear from you all!

Nahdann!

Sisar Crandall