What a week! By far the fastest and tiringest of my mission thus far but I love it! We had packed days onTuesday and Wednesday because Thursday we went to JYVÄSKYLÄ! So good to be back in my old stomping ground. It's the first time I had been back since I left in February and man I missed that place so much! All the wonderful memories came back and I was able to follow up with some recent converts and less actives and they're all doing well! But anyway, back to Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tuesday we helped a lady in our ward clean her windows, contacted a referral, and headed out to the Relief Society activity! We made voileipäkakku (sandwich cake) and learned all about the resources available on the church website (especially the ones available in Finnish) So a sandwich cake sounds gross I know but it's actually delicious. It's basically just bread layered 4 times with a filling mixture of pickles and leeks and mayonnaise and stuff like that and then you "frost" it with some more filling and decorate it and eat it like a cake! It's apparently a super finnish thing to do and all the finns were astounded that we don't do this in America so I guess I'll have to show you all it someday!
Wednesday was full of appointments! A cute older member couple has wanted to have us over to eat, but she didn't jaksaa to make us food so she offered to take us out! Of course we said they didn't have to, but they insisted! So we headed to a cute cafeteria type restaurant with them and then went and taught our Chinese investigator L. A member (who I actually knew from Jyväskylä and then moved to Tampere) came with us and the lesson went so well! She prayed at the end and she's reading and praying everyday about the BofM! good stuff!
We've also been struggling to meet with some of the member families who are fully active because they're just so busy! But we FINALLY got an appointment with a member of the bishopric and his family. They live a bit away, so we borrowed the car from the Elders and drove on down there! I think I forgot to tell you all that we have a car here in tampere. WE only have it about once a week and Sisar Jones doesn't like driving so that means I get to! Yikes! Last month was the first time I had driven since last June so that took some getting used to but don't worry, I'm a lot better driver now that I'm a missionary... Anyway, we met with them and taught a cute lesson and had rice krispie treats with them (The dad is American) and they loved them! And then we hopped on a train to good ol' JKL!
Thursday was splits in Jyväsklyä! I was with Sisar Seegmiller who just got to the country about 3 weeks ago. It was so much fun! We did some service for some members and met with some less actives and contacted a lot and ended with a member DA! It really was awesome to get to see old people and places again. I thought I'd never be back in JKL until I came back to Finland some day to visit. And it was even better to be there with Sisar Seegmiller and know that all the dear friends I have there are in good hands. We talked a lot about our goals for our missions and our lives and she's way ahead of where I was at 3 weeks in the country and her Finnish is amazing and I guess the more I go on exchanges the more I realize how better all these new missionaries are prepared and how much faster the work is going to move forward here!
Friday was packed to make up from being out of our area on Thursday. So we have this new investigator L who I mentioned last week as a referral from a member. So this member is in a wheelchair and has an assistant to come help her every day I think so whenever it's L's turn to come, we go teach her! It works out pretty well because she's willing to listen and everything because we're able to teach her while she's at "work". This week we watched the Restoration movie and committed her to pray about the Book of Mormon. She's super interested to learn more and is about a 22 year old girl so we're super excited for her! Today we also had a last minute lunch appointment with a member and her non-member husband and were able to teach them all about prophets and conference. and then 2 appointments with less actives and one of them is helping us plan our upcoming music and the spoken word activity here so things are going well with them!
Saturday! We helped decorate for a part member's son's birthday party and they speak spanish so I got to practice some of that as well! I basically just understand and can translate into english or finnish fine, but I can't talk back in Spanish. It's kinda pathetic but the understanding is still there! Then we had an appointment with our investigator V. He's super interested in meeting and learning more, but doesn't really want to do anything about it. He's very specific in word choice and what we mean when we say words like "saved" "Heaven" and "grace" so our lessons are a lot of defining terms (all in Finnish btw) but he's getting there. We're not 100% sure what he needs, but we're praying to find out. And then, GENERAL CONFERENCE! The 2 wards here in Tampere organized a sisters' luncheon before the sisters' meeting which was shown here at 17.
Then the Saturday morning session was at 19. We got to watch them all in English since there are so many foreigners here. So they just set up 2 screens and have one room be in Finnish and one in English and it works out pretty well! The sessions on Sunday were at 15 and 19 so we got home pretty late, but it was worth it!
Sisar Jones and I have been talking about it a lot and we realize that this session (to us at least) was a lot about going back to the basics. Going back to strengthening our families and homes and keeping our covenants and getting to the temple. We're very excited to implement it all and to follow up with all of our members and investigators as well. WE LOVE CONFERENCE!!
And this week we have exchanges in Turku tomorrow and we come back Wednesday and then zone meeting on Friday and we're teaching! So I'll letcha all know how that goes!
Well I love you all so much! Thanks for all the love and support and wonderful insights about conference! I hope we can all apply the things we learned! Have a great week!
Rakkaudella,
Sisar Crandall
All the pretty trees changing colors :)
Us and our companionship rock :) long story...
Homemade pizza!
SO GOOD
Back home! Jyväskylä!
Fall is here!
Contacting some potentials :
Voileipäkakku (sandwich cake)
Cruising down to good ol' Kangasala
Us eating Delicious Minetti Ice Cream on P-day
Ice Cream!
Home made taco bowls!
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