January 23, 2017 ~ Week 67

Hello! So transfer calls came in and I am going to leave the blessed area of Lohja in the nice warm south and venture to the untamed north of Finland landing myself in Oulu. I have really loved my time here in Lohja and have met fantastic members of the church here as well as soon to be members of the church! Lohja is a blessed Place and a nice little get away from the hustle and bustle of Helsinki and Espoo!


But the with my final days in Lohja we are working extra hard and trying to teach as many people as possible! Yesterday we met with a young father and his wife who are both atheists. we did our best to try and teach the nature of God and His plan for us while testifying as we teach. I don't know if our message made much of a difference in their lives or not, I don't even know how they feel about our message, but I do know that the Spirit was there with us testifying of our message! We walked out of that lesson knowing that it was a success because the Spirit testified of what we said. We were unable to make a clear return appointment with them there in the lesson but my companion and his new companion will return later this week to teach some more.


Other than that it was a finding week, we knocked a lot of doors and climbed a lot of stairs. Just for fun I counted the number of stairs that we climbed in a 2-hour block and let's just say it was over a 1,000. we are quite in shape here in as we quite literally work hard here in Finland. I do however still prefer apartments with elevators haha.


The church is true and ever growing! I am blessed to be able to serve here in Finland!


Love,
Vanhin Robison

January 17, 2017 ~ Week 66

Another week has come and gone here in Finland! The temperatures are still hovering around freezing and we are half way through January! I am hoping that we are going to squeeze by without a real cold winter her in the south of Finland.

The week went really well though! I went on exchanges with the AP's in my district and wow they are two solid human beings, I love them! While contacting with one we basically taught two lesson in a row. WE got off the train and started to walk down the road and we met a man form Ghana waiting at a bus stop and we talked to him for a good 15 to 20 minutes and taught about baptism and then the restoration and gave him a "watered down version of the Book of Mormon" and set up a return appointment while closing it with a prayer to seal the deal. It was really cool!

We then crossed the street and walked a little further down the road and met a lady from Ethiopia and taught her as well about agency and how to find answers to prayers and also gave her a "watered down version of the Book of Mormon". It was super cool to have two of those experiences all with in 3 minutes of each other! It also makes the tracting block really short as well which is nice sometimes.

But this week we gave really been working on teaching in a contact so that the Spirit can have something to testify about. I have seen a lot of success in this as we approach someone, try to get to know them and teach from their needs so that it will be both powerful and meaningful. The Spirit has been able to guide our words as we have "treasured up in our minds" the doctrines of this gospel and then expounded them to others on the street.

We also have done a lot of traveling this week visiting members that live a ways out there and have little contact with the church. One of the richest blessings of my mission thus far is the relationships that we have made with the members in the areas where we serve! Not long ago at the temple I was reunited with a married couple that lived in my first area and it was so cool to talk to them again (this time I could understand them and they could understand me for the most part) and see how everything was going back in the city of Lahti!

I hope all is well at home! I love you!

-Vanhin Robison

January 10, 2017 ~ Week 65

Well another week has come and gone here in not so frozen land of the north! This week was a blast as we got to participate in all phases of the work! Awesome training, finding, teaching, working with members and so on!

Monday night we had a packed schedule trying to fit everything in that needed to get done and cutting P-day short to do so and because of that we had some rich blessings come our way. Due to fallen through lessons we were given extra finding time during which we found some really cool people being prepared to receive the gospel!

On Thursday we got to attend the temple and that was a blessing to be able to sit in the Lord's house and ponder his unimaginable glory and power! Not to mention the overwhelming love he has for us, his children.

However my favorite part of my mission hands down so far is seeing the gospel of Jesus Christ work in someone else's life! I know it works in my life, I try my best to live according to it, but when I get to see a child of God go through the repentance process and see the change that comes because of it and joy with naturally follows, I can't help but smile for hours on end! I still remember a few months ago when my companion and I had just finished a particularly spiritual lesson with a less active member who had been humbled to the core of his soul. We sat there after nightly planning just thinking about it and smiling to ourselves! We had another experience like that this week working with another man trying to help him back on his feet. It was awesome to feel the spirit that came as we asked inspired questions and taught him according to his needs!

I love my mission and the opportunities that i am given everyday to represent Jesus Christ! The church is true and Jesus Christ lives. I am learning the importance of making sure that i strengthen m,y testimony in Him everyday and strive to come closer to Him everyday!

Have a great week my dear friends and family!

Love,

Vanhin Robison

Finish Wool SOCKS!

 

January 2, 2017 ~ Week 64

Happy New Year everyone! Thsi one is off to great one as we had a great meeting in church yesterday! This week was full of teaching, finding, companion exchanges, testimony building, soccer playing and a lot of eating!


I accomplished my mission goal of playing a pick up game of soccer with some kids on the street this week! We were walking up to follow up with a potential investigator of ours when we see her (a 80 year old lady) and two 9 year olds in an arguement. We broke it up kind of By showing up and our potential explained it all to us that the kids were being an annoyance to her and she just had had enough of it. She told us to go and help those kids as she has been praying for God to help them not annoy her so much and to be respectable men in the future. But this potential knows us all too well, even though we have only talked a few times. As we walked up she said "hey these are the mormon boys called here to preach the word of God. one is from Michigan and the other is from Sweden, and do you feel that peace that walks with them? that's the Holy Ghost, now behave around them ya hear!" Wow, that's pretty impressive knowledge she has for us not even teaching her yet! After she left though i asjed the kids if they had a soccer ball and challeneged them to a game so that they could bother soemone else for a turn. it was a blast, and yes my companion and i beat them!


Also a quick update from mymiracel story of last week! We heard word from the elders in Helsinki that the lady we found has been contacted and that the teaching provess will begin next week! OHH too exciting!


I hope all is well! Winter has come again here in Finland with snow arriving today and freezing temperatures! Have a great week! I love you!

December 27, 2016 ~ Week 63

Wow was this a magical Christmas! I apologize to my family who has already heard this story from me on Christmas day, but it's just too good that it has to be retold! This story is one of faith and contains, at least to me, a very important lessons of going throw the motions in life or trying to apply ourselves. It takes Place on Saturday morning, Christmas Eve. The sky was dark, rain was falling and the streets... empty. Due to respect for the culture we didn't knock any doors aór make phone calls seeing that Christmas Eve is more sacred than Christmas here in Finland. But nonetheless we hit the streets at 11 o'clock trying to get the hour of proselyting in before we would make our stops at various members homes. As we are walking on the street, there is just no one, we are tired, a little trunky (because who isn't on Christmas) and having a hard time seeing why we are even outside. I just saw it as another day, something to go through the motions, get it over with and onto the more fun things. Meanwhile my companion is actively seeking, searching and applying himself too what the Lord would have us do. The hour is coming to a close and just before we go in Elder Näslund says, "let's go down to the bus station, there are usually people there". Seeing no better choice I complied and we were off. As approached we saw one person on the far end of the terminal, a young woman trying to carry multiple bags. We hurried over and offered to help her carry her bags and she complied. That was the first miracle because out of my year in the country no one has let me help carry their bags! But as we are walking we ask where is from and what brings her to Lohja, and in return she asks us what we are doing in Lohja. She opened the door right up for us to bring in our unique message to the world. As soon as we said we were from our church she was locked onto us and the spirit started to work on her. We showed her the #LighttheWorld Christmas video and tears flowed from her eyes. She told us that the night before she had been looking for someone that she could meet that would help her strengthened her faith and progress closer to God. She said the Bible just wasn't doing it and she needed more light. Wow we brimmed with joy as we unfolded the restoration to her! Unfortunately she had to leave to get to her friends home, but we exchanged phone numbers and she willingly took a Book of Mormon, we said it was a Christmas gift:)


This was a major testimony builder for me that the Lord is preparing the hearts of his children to receive his gospel! If my companion hadn't been praying and actively applying herself, we would not have been the answer to her prayers! Christ lives, he has established His church back on the earth again!


Merry Christmas and a happy New year!

December 20, 2016 ~ Week 62

Hello. Christmas is rapidly approaching and our use of the new #Lighttheworld video has intensified! Last night we went tracking and we changed the pace a little bit and decided to go too some personal homes to tract instead of condos or apartment buildings. we found a lot of success ot there! I have usually been against those, mainly because it's winter and it's cold and there is no heat out there, but my companion convinced me to go so we did and we found a lot of success. we got let in to 2 doors in the short span of 2 hours to watch the video with a family! That was a cool sight to see as we are aiming for a family to teach and bring unto Christ through baptism!

This week was also have had a lot of success in teaching our already existing investigators! We are truly blessed with some pretty awesome investigators! The people that progress the most in the gospel are those that have an open mind, they hear something and then follow the perscribed formula to know if it is true or not,and because of that they grow so much! For example, in October my last companion and I found a man, (actually he found us as we were knocking on his door when he walked up the stairs) with whom we shared our message. He was an atheist and had a lot of tricky questions to answer. Long story short, he has an open mind and will listen to anyone, we started teaching him this past month and he has progressed tremendously! He went from being atheist to now receiving and recognizing answers to prayers that he has. We committed him to pray in between lessons a while ago and now he continues to pray! Needless to say, i don't think he is an atheist anymore, and it was all because he had an open mind and then followed the formula given in James 1:5 and Moroni 10:3-5. If we walk around with a closed mind we will miss so much in our life! I have learned that form my companion who is very good at seeing things, just a little bit differently than I do, that causes me to have an open mind and because of that our work together has exploded!

The Church is true! Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and it is Him that we try to represent! Hyvää Joulua kakille!

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Robison

December 14, 2016 ~ Week 61

Hello my dear family and friends! My apologies for not writing last week! With last Tuesday  being Finland's independance day things got a little crazy emailing, meaning all the libraries were closed so we had to find another route to email, that cut time short leaving me not enough time to write a griup email. However we did have a lot of fun last Preperation day because we got to visit some members homes and exeperience the pride of these amazing Finnish saints!


This week was awesome as we got to see how the Lord works in mysterious ways! Last Monday (the 5th) we met a person on the street and set up a lesson for Wednesday (the 7th). This person lived in a town that was a bit of a drive from us so we planned carefully on how/ when to go there seeing as we wouldn't be there very often. Alas on Wednesday after district meeting ended we scampered out and ead to our lesson only to find that his address did not actually exist. But we weren't going to give up that easy so we tried all the streets that sounded like his street name thinking that I may ahve written it down wrong because my Finnish skills still aren't quite to the expert level. We looked and looked but we found it not. So much for "seek and ye shall find" right? Wrong. As we were looking we were also talking to people that passed us, although none of them actually stopped, excet for one did, and after we talked to her we felt that she was the reason we were to be out in that area today, not to teach a lesson, (although teahcing the lesson would be nice too). We met the politest, most sincere young mom that i have met on my mission thus far. It was a great contact and Elder Näslund did a great job of testifying of our Saviour and His Atonement. We traded contact info (unable for her to meet right at the moment) with the agreement to meet in the near future.


Through out my mission I have seen that we have no ruined plans, but rather when guided By the spirit our plans get shifted a bit though, and then we find some great people and miracles happen!


I know that Christ lives and that this is His church established on the earth. He is the Savios and the Light of the World!


Have a Merry Christmas and a happy time preparing for these busy hollidays!


Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Robison


Ps. #lightheworld #valoamaailmaan