Another Great Week!

Wow wow wow! I don't even know where to start! 

Well this week was sure one of ups and downs (as I'm sure most weeks are as a missionary) It started off normal with P-day and a visit to the Panda Factory (pictures to come). Then, on Wednesday we traveled to Tampere for zone conference and miraculously took the correct train both there and back by ourselves. I know you're probably all thinking that's easy, but this is the first time it's happened in a while so we were grateful for that!

Then, the rest of the week we got pretty busy! Here are the main stories of what happened:

So we have this film producer of a neighbor who is extremely busy, but super willing to meet. He has a cute little family with two sons and is seriously just so golden. So after struggling for weeks to set up an appointment with him and stopping by and talking to his wife and texting and everything, we were kinda discouraged. I mean, come one, no one's too busy for the gospel. So, we decided we'd do something unheard of for a Finn. We decided to make them dinner. So we went to the store and got some random ingredients and ended up making a lasagna and garlic bread and some hot chocolate and bringing it over to them. We just left it on their doorstep with a note that said "We know you're busy, so we saved you some time, and we'd like to reserve it for ourselves. Call us." (Something along those lines, idk it was in Finnish) So then we rang the door bell and ran away. It's weird how much of missionary work is taking cookies to people or bread  or heart attacking or just things like that (we did all of those things this week), So then we got a very long text about 10 minutes later and it was awesome! He was so apologetic for being so busy and wanted to know when he could come return our pan and it was awesome. So, the next day, we ran into him and he gave us our pan back and he invited us over for dinner and to meet the whole family! So, although it isn't the traditional way of tracting, it worked! We knew we had to do something drastic to show this family that they really do need this gospel, no matter how busy they are. So it was a great reminder to us that no matter how busy you may seem, things really work out when you put the Lord first. 

Okay, second story: 

On Saturdays we still go over and do service and I tutor in trigonometry. It's coming along pretty well, but everytime I go over there I realize how many English words (especially math words) I've forgotten because I haven't had to use them in months! I was trying to describe the Quadratic Equation to him in English (he speaks really good english) and couldn't think of any of the words! we finally had to google it, so I could remember what it was. So yeah, my everyday english is still fine, but anything beyond that is debateable. We also had the experience with that family of not being able to remember the word Excuvator. And the family only knew the work in German so that didn't help at all... But once again we just googled it and everyone had a big laugh about it. Well anyway, that wasn't the main part of the story. The cool part was after this service, we got to sit down and have lunch with the entire family (including the husband who we had barely met before) and had a nice discussion and invited them to come to young mens activities and meet the elders and it was awesome. So, slowly, but surely, the Lord is softening the hearts of those we come in contact with.

K, last story.
Saturday night we had an appointment with our investigator who used to be a former investigator and recently just started meeting with the missionaries again. She's an awesome lady with a really cute 5 year old son we all love. Well anyway, On Saturday night we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted! She has such incredible faith and is just super busy working on here doctrate. So, once again we testified of how if she puts the Lord first, we know she'll receive an answer to the truthfulness of this message. So she's preparing to be baptized next month!

So overall, I'm doing great :) Lots of ups and downs this week with some discouraging cancelled appointments and missed buses, but I always just remember this quote given to me by a good friend from Gordon B Hinckly "The best cure for worry is work..." So I just put my mittens and headband and hat and scarf and tights and socks and leggings and socks again and boots and skirt and cardigan and jacket and coat on and get back out there! (not necessarily in that order, but you get the idea) P.s. I was told "winter" was coming this week. Not sure what that means, but I'll let you know! 

Oh and p.s. an Elder here in our ward in Jyväskylä just came home from his mission in Mesa! It was great hearing his homecoming talk and being reminded of home!

Thank you so much for the wonderful letters and tons of emails I got this week! I'll write back to you all (my siblings) today don't worry! (Oh I'm also going to Turku tomorrow for exchanges so lots of writing time on my train rides!) Stay safe and know I'm praying for you all! I love you!

Sisar Crandall

 (Love the Sunset!)

Jyväskylä is way better than Helsinki...

Terve!

Hope all is going well at home!  I was so extremely happy to hear of Hyrum's birth! I loved all of the pictures so much! And I get home right in time to become the favorite aunt again! perfect :)

Well this past week, Sunday through Friday, I was in Helsinki for Interim training and Language School. President Rawlings met with us and we talked a lot about how to improve our area and where we're going as a mission. It was very inspiring. I learned a lot from role playing inviting investigators to be baptized and I'm excited to go implement it all this week! Zone conference about a week and a half ago was great and I have another one this week in Tampere, so lots of traveling! We've only taken the wrong bus 50 times and the wrong train 2 so yeah, we're slowly figuring it out... But we've met some amazing people on those trains/buses so I guess it's all in the Lord's timing! 

Other than that, not a ton is new, I know I say that often, but it's hard to have a bunch of new stories when you're out of your area all week. There's still this family that we go and do service for every Saturday and I'm still tutoring their son in Trigonometry. It's going fairly well and he has a huge test coming up (Much like an AP test) So hopefully he won't fail! haha He'll do great. 

Well we had the opportunity to watch Conference this weekend! Best weekend ever! It started off by going to the mall and getting Conference Candy (mission tradition) and watching the Relief Society sessions and then Sat morning. Then,on Sunday, we watched Sat afternoon and sun morning. I haven't had the chance to watch Sun afternoon yet because it's already Monday here so hopefully I can read/watch it soon! I love Elder Uchtdorf's talk as well as Elder Dube and Elder Nielsen! Wow Missionary work is sure going forth and I love it! People back home ask me all the time what I need or what they can do to help. Really, the most help anyone could be to me, is to support your own missionaries back home. Call them up and let them know you're available to hold lessons or give a ride to church or anything! It makes such an incredible difference when we know we can count on a member. So get in contact with them ASAP! It's the least you can do.

So. all is well here in good old Finland. It's already snowed a couple times so of course we went out and bought some ice cream so there are some pictures of that. I wear tights/leggings everyday and usually a hat too so sorry if I look goofy in some of the pictures, it's the only way to stay warm! I'm also going to the Panda Factory today and I'm very excited! Panda is a huge chocolate manufacturing company so we've been making Willy Wonka jokes all day and the Elders in our district are sick of it, but I love it!

Oh! And I almost forgot! I got a package this week! Thanks Dad!! The best part by far was the Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. Wow I did not realize how much I missed those. Of course I'm fine without them, but for some reason it's the little things that help :) So thanks everyone for sending your love and support! I got letters from Camille and Mom so I'll be writing home again today! And congrats again to Melissa and Joseph! I love you too!

Love,
Sisar Crandall

A Week of Travels

Well hello there!!

This week was another awesome one! 

 

To start off, I got a package! From dad! It was awesome. My favorite part by far was the peanut butter. They have it here, but it's never the same.

 

The main thing that happened was that we had Zone Conference in Tampere this week! It was really cool to get out of Jyväskylä and see some more of Finland. Man this country is beautiful. So we woke up at 530 to catch a 635 bus and a 720 train to Tampere. Then the conference started and President spoke to us until about 5pm. It was long, but very spiritually uplifting and motivated our zone a lot. We also have to take a language test whenever we're at zone conference to see where we're coming with the language. Yeah let's just say I need to keep studying... 

 

The work this week has been great. We met with a former investigator Saturday night and she prayed and agreed to come to General Conference and is really coming along great. No idea why she stopped investigating because she has a testimony so I'm excited to see her progress very quickly!

 

Also, yesterday I started my work as a Finnish Math Tutor. Oh boy. It went surprisingly well, but it still was in Finnish and I had to translate quite a few words. It almost made me feel like I didn't know Finnish at all, but then I realized that these are words that no missionary would ever learn. Like radius, angle, radian, circumference and everything else so yep, lots of new vocab!

 

I'm in Helsinki right now and literally have 20 minutes to email so sorry this is so short, I'll make up for it next week. Just want to say I love you all and I'm doing great! And I'll be sure to have lots of stories next week! I'm praying for Melissa and Hyrum and I'm excited to log on next week and see him! Be safe! K love you all!

Sisar Crandall

Miracles in Jyväskylä! (or how I became a Finnish math tutor)

Moi!!

Well this week has just been crazy I don't even know where to start! 

Well, this email is a little later today because we decided to go for a run this morning! Around all of Jyväsjarvi! It's about 13km and we woke up at 5 so we wouldn't use up too much P day time and it was so good! Yep, definitely the furthest I've ran and you all would've laughed at me running in the pitch dark with thermals and pants and a jacket and everything but it was way fun! I'm getting used to the cold whether I like it or not! I wear leggings/tights everyday and boots of course and a cardigan and a jacket and a cardigan! It definitely takes me longer to get ready now, but I finally get to break out my winter clothes! Also, it's rained every day this week and I haven't seen the sun for a while, so yeah, Vitamin D is definitely a must. It's hard to go contacting on the streets as well now because no one is out! Oh well, I guess we'll just have to get more investigators to let us in!

So sooo many miracles happened this week it's amazing. First off, I said the opening prayer in church. Extremely nerve wracking, but as far as I can tell my conjugations were okay so I felt good about it :) Well, on Thursday we went on Exchanges! I went with Sisar Heggie and my trainer Sisar Ballif. Sisar Heggie was with me in the MTC so it was awesome seeing her again and hearing about how all the other sisters are doing. We went to a recent convert's house and taught her how she can get a temple recommend to go do baptisms. We also taught a little about family history and how all of her family, even those who have passed on, will get the chance to hear the gospel. As soon as she realized this, she just started crying and the spirit was so strong even though I really didn't understand much she was saying. I've sure come to realize the language isn't as nearly as important as you think.

Then on Friday we (the 5 sister missionaries in our ward) were in charge of a Young Women activity. We taught about missionary work and did role plays with them and it was awesome! The members here are crazy good about doing missionary work and inviting their friends to everything! It was really cool to see.

And then on Saturday the biggest miracle happened. We were given a referral from a member and went to visit them a couple times and they said we could come back and do service for them since they're building their own house and need lots of help. So we've gone over every Saturday for 3 weeks now, but somehow felt that we should wait to share the gospel with her, which is a super weird feeling for a missionary to feel. Then, this last Saturday, we decided we wanted to tell her more about what we do and how we help others find out for themselves that this is true. So, we practiced it all out and felt comfortable sharing it with her before we went over. Then, while we were helping her clean her house, she straight up asks us the exact question we had prepared for! So cool! We knew exactly how to answer it and we were all on the same page and it was way cool. And then, she just started telling us about her religious background and everything went even better than planned. 

But wait, there's more! So then, we talked about how God created everything and therefore, everything testifies of him. Sisar Dayton had the idea to tell her the lyrics to that song "Whenever I hear the song of a bird" and then we look over at her and she's crying! I know that's not usually a good thing, but it is to a missionary! Eventually Sisar dayton asked her if she was okay and she said "yeah I don't know, maybe I'm just stressed or maybe I'm just missing something in my life, I wish I had a religion to hold to like you guys do" So cool! It was just awesome and 100% by the spirit. So yeah, I definitely gained a testimony of role playing. 

Well, after this experience, we were eating a snack she had given us and she mentioned how she loves how we're so willing to help and everything and then she turns to her 18 year old son and says "Why don't you become mormon and go on a mission, it'd be good for you" haha how right she is! So we all just died laughing at that later. Well in the midst of all of this she told us that her son was struggling in math and my companions felt the need to mention that I was a math major and could totally help. So, I agreed and sat down to look at his math book to see if I could even help and he was doing Trigonometry. No big deal right? Yeah, well it was in Finnish. So I kinda thought it was a big deal. So after I finally understood even what the question was asking, I was able to figure out a question or two. So as soon as she realized I understood the problem, she asked if I could tutor him whenever we come over to do service and set up a return appointment right then and there for us! So that's the story of how I became a Finnish math tutor. I'll letcha know how it works out!

So on Thursday I get to go to Tampere for zone conference and then on Sunday-Friday I'm in Helsinki for Interim training and language school! And I get to go to the temple! I'm really excited to do a session in Finnish! But that means I miss a p day so I have no idea if I can email so sorry if you don't hear from me for a bit. Just know I'm alive and i'll email if I can.

Well, I received lots of letters and love this week :) You guys are awesome. I hope all is well and I just loved seeing all the pictures and hearing how everyone's week went! Keep it up!

Til next week,

Sisar Crandall

Things They Don't Teach You in the MTC - One Month Reflections

Moi!

Well I've been in Finland for almost a month now and boy oh boy have I learned a lot! I've also learned that there are a lot of things they don't teach you in the MTC. Here's just a short list of what I've come up with:

How to use a toilet in Finland

How to read a map in Finnish

How to use a bus card in Finland

How to weigh and sticker your fruit at the grocery store

How to check-out in Finnish

How to react when people open the door wearing no pants (apparently this is a very common thing)

How to react when a drunk person throws up on the bus near you

How to cover for your companion when she's throwing up at a Dinner Appointment

How to open doors (this one still gets me every time)

How to work with Elders in your district
How to deal with not getting mail on Saturday

How to order food at restaurants

How to read Swedish

That when you order Pepperoni Pizza, it is actually a Pepperoni and Tuna Fish Pizza.

Well all of these life lessons have very interesting stories behind them and they're things I now know. haha But after being out in the field a month there are some lesson that I've really learned. 

The first one is the Lord's timing. I can't even explain it sometimes but it's so cool! Like there was this Less-Active in our ward we've been trying to work with and get a hold of and we couldn't reach her but then we got off the bus and there she was just sitting right there! Way cool! We were able to teach her and invite her to a YW activity and it was just great! Especially considering that we don't usually take that bus. And another time we were going to visit a potential investigator and on the way we ran into our referral (like literally, she almost hit us on her bike) and we were able to talk to her and set up a return appointment and it was awesome. And we were both way far away from where we live so we didn't expect to see her but the Lord led us right to where we need to be!

I've also learned that the gift of tongues is real. I know all foreign missionaries say that but come on, this is Finnish here, so it must be true. Like last week a Young Adult in our ward brought her friend to church. We didn't know she was coming so we were a little unprepared but somehow I ended up sitting with her in sacrament meeting which was awesome. I told her to let me know if she had any questions and she asked something and the only word I understood was "white" And I though Oh shoot, I have no idea what she's talking about! But then somehow I got the idea oh, she's probably talking about the while sheet at the front of the chapel. So I just assumed that was the question and explained all about the sacrament. It was pretty cool for me to see that I can understand the sentence by not understanding every word in it. Not sure if I'm just a good guesser, but I've definitely spoken and understood way beyond my normal capability with the Lord's help.

I've also learned that it sure helps to be happy! The days are pretty cold and very foggy here already and it's so funny how simply saying Hello to someone brightens their day! And mine! So I'm grateful that it's become easier to be happy and then I have companion that support me.

So overall, life is great :) Nothing to complain about here! We're teaching more and more, little by little, each week and the work continues to move forward no matter how much the Finns try to resist it haha. 

I got a letter from Mom and Dad and Camille this week so thanks for all the love and support! And huge shout out to CAMILLE! Holy cow you're gorgeous! Where'd you get that dress!? I just loved seeing all the pictures so thank you so much!! You're awesome :)

Well anyway, I hope all is well at home. Life sounds crazy, but I'm praying for you all! Especially Melissa! I love you all so so much! 

Till next week,

Kirkko on totta!

Sisar Crandall

The main bridge all lit up at night

A cute little sauna - they are everywhere

These little mushrooms are all over, too.

Sisar Baliff and Kathryn on the Bus

Another Week in Jyväskylä!!

September 9, 2013

 

Well, this week was sure an interesting one! One full of miracles as well as awkward funny stories so I'll see how much I can fit in today!

 

Well to start off, we went to contact a referral (which went pretty well btw) and then we decided to knock some doors on either side. So we went to knock on our first door and decided to say a quick little prayer before we knocked. So we're standing on the door step praying and sure enough, the door flings open and the lady says (In Finnish) "You know I can see you right?" So my companion tried to quickly explain why we were hanging out on here door step and we ended up just apologizing and leaving haha. She was surprisingly nice about it though.  We all had a good laugh about it.

 

The next day we were walking to the church for District Meeting and we try to always make an effort to say hi to everyone we pass. Sometimes we can't stop and talk to them because they're on bikes usually. So anyway, I went to say "Huomenta" which means "Morning" and instead I said "Huomenna" which means "tomorrow." So yeah I got a pretty weird look from that one but my companions couldn't stop laughing. Then, the next night my companion Sis Dayton said Huomenta to a man at about 8:30 at night so that one made me laugh too. Yeah we have lots of fun together. We like to play a game called "Who can get the weirdest look from a person by just saying hello to them" We've got some great looks. People here are just so surprised that a stranger would say hello and they almost always do a double take and then a delayed "Moi!" and keep on riding. It's pretty fun. 

 

Well this week we've really been focusing on finding. We prayed to be able to find "the one" that day and were really trying to talk to everyone in order to do it. So, as we were walking to visit a part member family, we passed a young woman and stopped and talked to her and she was so nice! And she spoke English! That was awesome. We invited her to come to a church tour and everything and then went on our way. We ended up somehow getting her wrong number as well (I know what you all are thinking, no she didn't purposely give us the wrong one) So we went back to try to find her but we had met her on the street and only had a general idea of which apartment complex she lived in. We narrowed it down to the right complex and there were 25 or more apartments there so we were prepared to knock all the doors until we found her. We said a prayer and then walked into the complex and there she was! Just sitting outside her house! She was the only person in the whole complex outside and we found her in literally 10 seconds! That was awesome and definitely a miracle this week.

 

Well, more about Jyväskylä. There's only one ward here but the land area it covers is massive. It's split into three areas which are covered but the three companionships here (2 sister companionships and 1 elders) So we had the goal this week to reach out and visit all the less active and active members in our area. There were only about 15 names so it wasn't too difficult and I really think we're starting to build better relationships with the members which is awesome. They really are very excited about missionary work here. 

Finland also has tons of immigrants and refugees and almost every person here speaks English which is good and bad. Good because I can talk to them and understand but bad because I'm not being as immersed as I want to be. But the language is definitely coming! Slow and steady! 

 

Also, last P day we visited Kebab house and ate some Finland famous Kebabs. That's what the picture is of.

 

I also got a letter from Camille and Melissa and some friends this week so thanks so much! I can really feel the love and support! Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! You've got a present coming your way!

Rhett: Thanks for your Finnish letters! I still have to look up a couple words in the dictionary so you're definitely learning way fast!

Brianne: Great to hear from you and your fun friends you've made! Thanks for the quote again! You're awesome!

Ashley: I head about your homecoming assembly! You're so sweet! Let me know how it goes! There's something in the mail for you too!

Mom: Thanks for the talks! We've added them to our General Conference countdown which we're all so excited for! And I'm super jealous of the Motab concert! We have our own little music and the spoken word each Sunday and I just love the peace the music brings all the time! 

 

I'll write everyone else back in the family letter. Keep up the indexing! It's almost the 19th! 

Mail seems to still be pretty reliable so that's good! 

 

Well, that's all for now! I love you all so much! Thanks for all the love and support and I'm excited to see how the spirit of missionary work is catching on in all of your lives! 

 

Sisar Crandall

Sisar Ballif and I in the gorgeous woods

The Kebab House

Hanging Out at Church

Week 2 From Jyväskylä!!!

Moi!

Well, my second full week here is over and I've got lots to tell so here goes!

Finland is great. It's the most beautiful place on earth! I'm in a very big city and it reminds me a lot of New York. We ride buses everywhere and everyone rides bikes (except us). That sometimes makes it hard to contact because they're on a bike, but that's okay! Finland has no public restrooms or drinking fountains anywhere which I thought was really weird. But although Jyväskylä is a big city, there is nature and forests everywhere. We run across the bridge or around the lake each morning for workout. (The lake is called Jyväsjärvi go look it up) and it's so beautiful! It's definitely started getting pretty cold already. Cardigans are a must everyday and I've broken out my medium sized coat a couple times. I've also been caught out in the rain a couple times and showed up to Dinner Appointments completely drenched so I'm definitely learning!

So Since they added another companionship of sisters in Jyväskylä this transfer, our area is pretty new. There aren't a lot of members and our ward boundaries are HUGE! So it takes a long time to ride the bus out to visit them all and that sucks up a lot of our day, but that's okay, it's worth it. The members who are active though are wonderful. They want to help us and give us rides or stuff like that whenever they can so that helps a lot.

So my trainer is Sisar Ballif. She's from California and this is her last transfer so her Finnish is way good. We're learning a lot from her. We study a ton everyday. 2 hours of companionship study, one hour of personal, one hour of language, and anything else we need to get done that day. And it still doesn't feel like enough!

Oh And I don't know if I ever mentioned that transfers have been changed to every NINE weeks. I haven't heard of another mission doing that yet so that's pretty new/weird. So I'm basically guaranteed to be here in Jyväkylä through Thanksgiving and probably until Christmas so I can finnish up my training.

Well one cool thing our companionship does is we have a conference countdown in our apartment. We are so excited for conference! We take a chain off each day and read a previous conference talk each day and it's just awesome. We recently read The Tongue of Angels by Holland. Highly recommend.

Well the family sounds like they're doing well! Cart Racing and swimming and everything sounds awesome! I've gotten the letters that were sent way before I got to Finland on like the first day I got here and then I got Mom's card/pictures and Melissa's Dear Elder on Saturday so thank you so much! It takes about a week, but the mail is pretty reliable. Especially if you send it directly to my apartment address. However, if it's close to the end of a transfer or something, just send it to the mission office and I'll get it just as fast.

I was glad to hear about everyone's fun time in Wyoming! And about the storytelling festival! It sounds like something I'd enjoy. Kinda reminded me of the Melodramas in Blanding and how no matter how cheesey, they make me laugh every time.

Courtney! I didn't know you were putting your papers in! Congrats! Let me know if you have any questions!

Brianne-Congrats on getting some braces soon! I better see some pictures! And stop accidentally getting hurt okay??
Oh and I'm glad all the indexing is coming along well! You'll be done way before Sept 19th at this rate!

Mom-So the house is basically all put together now? Do I get to see a picture anytime soon! I'm probably imagining it totally wrong...  And no, mom, we don't get to use the sauna :( We just end up using it as a storage closet for our suitcases and stuff. 

Rhett- Your finnish is sounding great! I'm so impressed every week with what you come up with! Keep up the great work!

Savanna-glad to hear school is going well!

Allyson-School sounds great! And that's so fun you ran into an old friend! Small world!

Dad-Take care of those missionaries! What goes around comes around!

Camille-Can't wait for your letters! And I wanna hear about DYW!

Melissa-Well I pray for you and Joseph and Lydia and Hyrum all the time! Stay healthy!

Well, I'm out of time for today! I love you all so much! Thanks for all the love and support I feel everyday! Whenever I try to contact someone on the street I always bring up families (everyone loves talking about their families) and then I whip out a picture of you all and it's just so awesome! The church is true and I'm excited to keep up this work! p.s. if any of you feel up to the challenge, go translate this:

 

Onneksi Olkoon! Sina voit lukea Sumoea! Ja Oikeasti, Ajatellen että minä voisin kirjoittaa kaikkin tämän kirjen Suomeksi, mutta sitten sina et voi ymartta.

Minä rakastan ja kaipaan teitä!!

Sisar Crandall

Pictures:

Waiting for the Mail

Picking Apples for Service with Sister Dayton and Sister Ballif