Monday, October 13, 2014

Miracles upon Miracles

Terve! 

Ok so much to tell you all this week so this letter will be all over the place but here goes!

On Tuesday we had exchanges in Turku. It was my first time I had been back there since last October so it was great to see it again! It's an older city that really is just beautiful. I got to work with Sisar  Hillebrant who's been in the country about 7 months and she's awesome. And guess what?! We rode bikes! It's the first time I've even touched a bike on my mission! We just haven't used them in the cities I've been in, but in Turku they ride all the time! So yeah, those bike riding muscles were pretty sore the next day but it was so fun! 
We met with our investigator V this week too. He's been investigating for a while, but not really progressing anywhere, just kinda "learning" about our church. But we reset expectations and the lesson went great! So now we're all studying what we're going to teach the next time ahead of time and hopefully we can all progress and learn together. He was the one we were praying about how to help him so I think this was our answer. 
We met 3 NEW INVESTIGATORS this week! 

One is E who is an older gentleman who is a former investigator. He didn't learn much the first time he investigated so we gave him a Book of Mormon and talked a lot about Moroni's promise and at the end of the lesson he prayed! So we're excited for him!

Then we met A. He's a man from Bangledash we talked to on the bus on Saturday and he came to church on Sunday! So cool! We ended up going to both wards of church yesterday because that was the one he could come to and the 2nd ward doesn't have a translator so I translated all of sacrament meeting for him and for another member from Holland. Kinda makes my brain hurt but luckily a missionary spoke and another man who used a lot of scriptures so it wasn't bad. We're working on getting him a Book of Mormon in his mother tongue, but he's already Christian so that helps a lot!

And last but not least! L! She's an AMAZING woman from Columbia. About 25 years old and married to a Finn. Seriously the most prepared person I've probably met in my whole life. We met her on Thursdayand met with her twice last week and have 2 appointments set up for this week. She was ECSTATIC to get a Book of Mormon and has such a strong testimony already! Her spirit is just such a contrast from the Finns we usually teach because she is so connected with God. I love it! So I'll definitely keep you all updated on her.

Our other investigators are doing pretty well.WE're teaching M who is an older Finnish man. He has a testimony, but won't come to church because he's too "busy" so we might give him a break and come back in the winter. 
We met with B who is an amazing woman from Czech. She's reading the Book of Mormon everyday and meeting multiple times a week with us and praying about Joseph Smith right now and just waiting for her answer. The faith that these people have is just amazing. 

We also met with a bunch of less actives but one close to my heart right now is a woman from Peru. She doesn't speak a lot of Finnish even though she's married to a Finn so I get to use my Spanish and we just have a lot of fun together. And she always makes us Peruvian food so it all works :) 

Zone meeting was also this week! Sisar Jones and I and the Zone Leaders were in charge of teaching it. We had met with the Stake President who gave us the vision for this zone: 20-30 baptisms by the end of the year. That's a pretty high goal! But with the Lord it's all possible! And with the rate we're going with our investigators, it's super possible! So we'll keep relying on the Lord and doing our part and keep seeing the miracles all around us.
This week was a great one and I think a huge part of it is that the ward is having a monthly fast for missionary work and everyday we call whatever member fasted and tell them about a miracle that happened that day and thank them for helping us out. It's really built up the member missionary relationships just this past week and it'll continue the rest of the month so I'm excited to see where we can all go together!

We also got asked to help out at a Single Adult Activity (30 and older) and got to see a TON of members from Jyväskylä and they were all happy to see me and i was just kind of a tender mercy because I seriously never thought I'd see any of them again. 

Well I've got lots of goals I've been working on and trying to apply lots of things from General Conference so I hope you all are too! I love you all so much! Keep up the great week and keep seeing the Lord's hand in your life! This church is true and the gospel truly is good news :)

Rakkaudella,
Sisar Crandall

Bikes in Skirts are ridiculous...
The leaves now totally cover all the sidewalks. You can't even see them!
Waiting at our favorite bus stop
haha gotta love bike helmets with Sisar Hillebrant









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