Wow this past week I hit my 6 month mark, i cant believe it! That mean I have been in the beautiful land of Finland for 4 months! Nuts! Also transfer calls came! I am staying here in Lahti to complete my first 6 months in the country all in Lahti, the best place in Finland! And my companion who has been here for 6 months is getting the boot and going to Rauma, a beautiful city on the coast!
Sunday, October 23, 2016
March 14, 2016 ~ Week 26
March 8, 2016 ~ Week 25
Wow can you believe it? My 6 month mark is tomorrow! I can not believe that I have been on my mission for 6 months now! Its crazy time is flying!
With that experiences and blessings are multiplying, just like two snowflakes are not a like, the same goes for a mission. two days are not the same, except for the MTC where everyday is the same. But still, here we get to see and hear and experience new things! What a great blessing that is! March 1, 2016 ~ Week 24
Wow oh wow my 6 month mark is only like 2 weeks away! I can not believe all that is happening here! It feels like yesterday I was being kicked to the curb at the MTC! Time is a weird concept on missions! If you want time to go fast, you don't think and just work, and if you want it to speed up, you think about it haha! Its weird!
The power of the spirit is real! It can change us! I have seen people hear change like I never ever thought possible because of the spirit! It can often hearts, change desires, promote us to do good and to follow Jesus Christ better!
February 22, 2016 ~ Week 24
Hey family and friends! Let me begin the repentance process by asking forgiveness from you all for my lack of communication to you all. A lot has happened in these past weeks, probably the most of my entire mission haha. Well to start off I am sure you are wondering what happened to our investigators with baptismal dates, and Im sad to say that a few weeks ago they call texted us and said that they did not wish to be baptized anymore and dropped us like a rock. we have not been able to meet with them since which is not a good thing. We aren't sure what happened, but they said that they do not feel like Joseph Smith was a prophet and did not believe in the Book of Mormon. That was incredibly sad, but I want it clearly known that I KNOW that Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it truly contains the fulness of the gospel. I KNOW that it was translated by Joseph Smith through the power of God. I KNOW that Myöhempien Aikojen Pyhien Jeesuksen Kristuksen Kirrko is the only true church on the earth today!
Sunset in Finland |
February 16, 2016 ~ Week 23
Kyle has been sending Audio emails since he is short on time. We will get his audio's typed up ASAP and send the written version out. Until then - know that he is doing well and had 4 investigators at church on Sunday. He and his companion got to go to the Helsinki Temple and do baptisms with their newest convert and a family in the ward. He said it was amazing and wonderful. They realized however that they forgot to tell the new convert that singing in a regular voice, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Let it Go" is really not OK inside the Temple. I guess he sings when he is feeling the spirit :) All in all he said he was a great day!
January 26, 2016 ~ Week 20
My last week of training! YEAH! Man staying inside till 1300 hrs almost every morning is rough but this is the last week I have to do it!:) This week has been great full of a lot of tracting and finding and teaching and training and so one, but the best moment was SEEING THE NORTHERN LIGHTS! Thats right i saw them! Man they are a spectacular sight! Although they werent bright enough to take a picture! But we also had a world wide missionary broadcast which was really good! We receive training from Elders Anderson, Bednar, Oaks and Waddle as well as President Clayton of the 70.
We got a referral from the sisters, they contacted a girl on a bus and set up a lesson with her but see is in our area and she is one solid person! We taught her on Sunday and she is so cool and really prepared!
We also found thisone guy on the street he seemed pretty cool so we got his address and stopped by his house yesterday but he is a total nut haha! He sang for us, drew a portrait of Elder Smith, applied for healthcare, lifted weights all during our lesson with him. I offered the closing prayer and he corrected my Finnish for me, even though it want wrong it was just another way of saying it. It was one really interesting lesson. we only got like 10 words out. But when we were leaving he asked if we baptized people by water and we said yeah and then he asked us the baptism him, so who knows maybe we will, if we could ever get through a lesson with him. Just the weirdest experience of my life haha!
And the weather has gotten really wierd, on friday it was -32 and then Saturday was -9 and today it rained. Mother nature is really confused right now. But ti should be fun to see whats instore this week! Thats all for this week I love you all so much!
Sunday, January 24, 2016
January 19, 2016 ~ Week 19
Hey all! Well I better just sum up this week because Im low on time! First of all, there was am American who moved into our ward her in Lahti and guess where she is from, MANTI! Of all the places in the world and all the people to sun into, I run into to someone from Manti who is here studying! That was pretty cool! Also yesterday we have a Zone Training in Tampere so that was a fun long day of traveling. And on the way back our train was delayed because of snow and because of that we missed our connecting train to Lahti from Riihimäki, so we got a nice hour wait and talked to a Finnish guy who refused to speak Finnish to us, but he was very nice. Elder Smith says that that same guy offered to buy him a drink at a bar across the street when he was here on splits for a day a year ago. I don't know how he remembers that but he did!
Sunset on the lake |
Stuck at the Train Station |
January 12, 2016 ~ Week 18
Wow I feel like I have been out here way longer than 18 weeks. I probably have, my counting has never been good haha! But this week was a nice cold Finnish week:) With temperatures plummeting to a solid -30 celsius, but don't worry because I discovered the art of hand warmer in mittens, thermals, and heaters in apartments buildings. This week while tracting and being pretty cold, we took a break from knocking doors to warm our feet and shoes on the heater in the apartment buildings and made some phone calls. It was a good day:) Also there was a baptism this week, it wasn't any of our investigators I was involved. Also I get to stay in Lahti for the next 9 weeks with Elder Smith! Prayers really are answered!
January 5, 2016 ~ Week 17
Hello:) Well winter has found us in Finalnd, I knew it would sometime! The temperature have dropped quite a bit down to -20 celsius. Its cold haha! But snow also came! I love the snow!:) And before I forget, this week is transfer week and If I get transferred my P-day will be on Monday, If I stay my P-day will be on Tuesday, so play it safe and email on Sunday night if you so desire.
I love you all!
Peace
December 29, 2015 ~ Week 16
Hello family and friends and Merry Christmas! I hope all of you had a splended time celebrating and remembering the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this past week! And of course i have to start out with wishing the best father a son could hope for a happy birthday this week! I love you dad and everything that you've done for me!
Lahti |
Making SNOW in Finland |
Selfie on top if the Mini Jump |
December 22, 2015 ~ Week 15
Hello all! Wow what a week! Im pretty sure i start every email off like that, my bad. But it was quite a week! On Monday we went down to Helsinki for our interim training and it was 3 straight days of training for like 12 hours a day. They were some long days full of self pondering, making corrections and learning. But I feel I came out better and more determined than when I went in! We talked a lot about Charity, Faith, Hope, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, planning and everything single things was related to obedience. So it was kind of like a chastisement all week because I realize I can be doing so much better! But good thing we have the atonement of Jesus Christ! I also think that I got called out because I hadn't cut my hair since I left the MTC, and it was shaggy, and President was talking about our appearance, and he says, Elders some of you need a haircut in here. Then he scanned that room and tried so hard not to make eye contact, but I did, and realized that yeah that was to me, whoops. So dont worry I cut my hair, actually Elder Smith cut my hair! I have a lot of trust in him because I love my hair a lot and for me to let him touch took a big step, but he did well!
I come to Finland of all places! Haha! Its been in the 40s and rainy all week. Im kind of bummed out about that. They say its Lahti's warmest summer EVER! Im living in the history book, in the present! Life is moving right along! Remember the Savior this Christmas season! I know that he lives! He loves us and wants to help us! Let us accept his gift to us!
December 15, 2015 ~ Week 14
Hello friends and family! This was such a busy week! Busy weeks are the best! On Thursday the Helsinki and Tampere Zones went down to Helsinki for a Mission Tour Zone Conference with Elder Dyches of the area presidency and he is one cool guy! He spoke to us a lot about working with memebers and becoming master teachers and teaching like the savior! He made it real simple for me which I liked! he said to 1. Simplify 2. Clarify 3. Verify and 4. Testify. It was as really good and rewarding conference! Then to make that day better we got to play sählu! That is a super fun game! We played with the bishop, a few other members, a less active and his friend! Such a fun time! My companion is killer at it!
Then the next day (Friday) we had a few lessons which are always fun and we made Joulu Tarttu (some really good Finnish pastry around Christmas time) for the ward party on saturday! We made over 200 so that was a fun, long night haha! Then the crowning event of the weekend was the mission wide know famous Lahti wrad Christmas party! I was told it was the best and now I beleive it! They had all these cool skits and songs from children and the young mens and the bishopric! The bishopric was so funny! They stole the show! Finally found a statue with clothes on! |
The Sisters in Lahti who feel like family. |
December 8, 2015 ~ Week 13
Hello all of my awesome friends and family! Boy did Finland have a treat for us yesterday that continued on today:) So yesterday we were making lunch and I was cutting the onions. I thought that I was man enough to not cry but no such luck! Onions are mean suckers! But I noticed the room to get brighter and brighter, I though it was the onions playing a joke on me and my eyes were "going to the light" (like they were dying). But then I looked up out the window and the sky was blue! I thought that i would try my luck and I walked out onto the balcony and turned to my left (the south) and low and behold... I SAW THE SUN!!!!!!! Wow that just lifts your spirits right up after studying for 4 straight hours! But just to make my sight of the sun in about month, I did what any mature servant of God would have done, which is stare right into it, and of course take a selfie with it! Man I love the sun! And its out again today! Whoop Whoop! I love the sun!
Finally found some people to teach! |
Dressed and Ready for my first baptism! |
December 1, 2015 ~ Week 12
Hello all! It sure is great to be able to write to you every week and see how it is all going! This week was great and Im sure as many of you know there is no Thanksgiving here in Finland, but luckily for us there are a few Americans in Lahti. We were invited by a member to multicultural Thanksgiving meal! It was so awesome! About half were Americans that had married a Finn so it was super cool to beable to visit with them! We had turkey and mashed potatos with gravy, greenbean cassarole, rolls, corn bread, if you have it in America for Thanksgiving, then we had it here! it reminded me so much of home! Not because of the fantastic food and the fact that i ate to much, but also the fact that everyone was talking over eachother haha! I never realized how loud Americans are until I have been with Finns for the past almost month, and then ate with Americans. Lets just say the Finns are pretty quiet!
Can you believe you have to pay to use the public restrooms??? |
Awesome Vesijärvi |
My companion is the Chef! |
The Olympics??? In Finland?? |
Better than Casserole! |
November 24, 2015 ~ Week 11
Whered the time go? I feel like I was just sitting here emailing! But before I begin I have to apologize for making last weeks email so short. I had poor time management and when I began the group email I only had 7 minutes left. But boy oh boy where to start! The more and more I am here the more and more I love the people and this country, even if I still havent seen the sun and its rained or snowed everyday since Ive been here. Thats right I said snow, Finland had its first snow this week and it really brings in the Christmas spirit! In the Tori (a big market place in the center of the city) they put the biggest tree I have ever seen in my life! And it is the most perfect Christmas tree I have ever see! Its truly a remarkable sight! I had a member ask me how people here were treating me. Haha. The members here are the best people in the world and so willing to help us with anything! (Including feeding us) And then there are the people we pass on the street! If you ask them a question about Finland or the language they are super nice and want to help, but if you mention Jesus Christ of the Book of Mormon, they want nothing to do with you! My favorite response is when someone is walking towards you and you start talking to them but they keep walking like they dont even hear you. Or you get the hand, like you have some kind of disease that they dont want to get. Which I guess is true, we have a disease of happiness, hope, eternal life, becoming a god, family history, forgiveness of sins, strength, the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I guess people dont want that. But contacting and tracting is very fun, I get the coolest excuses like I cant talk I just came from the store, I have warm food waiting for me at home, my dog needs me. You know the average sayings you use to avoid talking to people.
Our investigators are awesome! We have a baptism scheduled for December 5th and 4 more that we are close with setting a baptismal date!
Last week I mentioned funny food because of the scarceness of it in the apartment so I will elaborate on that. My trainer didnt make it to the store before I came so to start we were low on food. So we had a lot of Pea soup and mustard, two things I dont like. And then we were really desperate but had a lot of leftovers, but not enough of them to make a good meal. So what better then to just combine them all? We made a casserole with noodles, tuna, potatoes, eggs and then a lot of ketchup to flavor it! It didnt taste as bad as youd think but it look disgusting! But no need to worry we went to the store and have been eating like kings ever since! It really helps that my companion likes to cook, because if it were up to me wed probably have bread and cheese, whcih is my breakfast every morning!
It hasnt been to cold yet on -2 Celsius which is 28-30 ish Fahrenheit? But the sidewalks are supper slick which makes biking so fun/exciting! Weve both gone done once trying to stop on ice, I guess that turquoise/ green bike of mine has no real magical powers!:( But all is well, we just continued to slide on the ice. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I had to speak in sacrament my first week, that was fun and awfully short haha! Till next week! I love you all!
-Vanhin Robison
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