I can't complain too much, though. I'm really happy that I was able to be present to all of the progression of our investigator-turned-recent-convert. He's so cool, he's been asking if he can attend sort of "Mini Mission", where he could just be with us 24/7 for a week or so. He's awesome, we're trying to coordinate it with President Watson right now!
Here's a picture of him before the baptism, since I asked if it works to send to family and friends!
(Pictures have been removed, as they started to show up as the top results in the Google Search under the member's first name... awkward.)
1. How did the baptism go?
It went absolutely perfect! I was not the one to baptize him, that was a member in Porvoo who did that (not the one in the picture, I'll try to send one with them together later), but it was great of course! I'm so excited to have been a part of it. I hope that I get to stay in good contact with him.
2. How did you celebrate Pi day? (Besides with a baptism!)
Oops. This might shock you. The "perfect Pi Day" of 3-14-15 went totally out of my mind. But, I did have pie! We got a ton of members to bring food to his baptism! Woohoo! Pie was among the deserts. Glad that I accidentally still celebrated it!
3. What is something beautiful you saw or experienced this week?
I got to see some pretty fantastic sunsets! I got some good pics of those, too... I'll try to send them out as well.
4. What did you learn this week?
True to Father's request, I studied a lot about the various aspects of light in the scriptures. I basically have been studying about being a good example and becoming involved in helping others find the same light that you have, which in most cases is the love of Christ. Pretty insightful studying that I've been led to. Thanks, Father! I have a whole list of things now that are scriptures related to light.
5. What did you share this week?
At a random door that we felt impressed to knock upon (despite the fact that it is so often treated as an invasion of privacy by Finns) we actually started to talk with someone! That was a surprise in and of itself, but the person actually had known about the Church from living in a different part of Finland. She said multiple times in the beginning that she would love to talk to us, but couldn't promise that the discussions would be spiritually centered, since she's not too interested in religion right now. We basically said that it would be great to talk with her, and we'd be happy to hear what she wants to say, but then I came in and (uncharacteristically boldly for my grasp of the Finnish language right now) said that I believe that we are here as God's representatives, and that our purpose in meeting with her would be to teach and invite her to come to know the things we do. She was a bit surprised by that, but invited us to return in the near future. I think that it helps to not let people have a misconception about why we are here. We surely love Finland, but we're not here for the culture or the food. (Although people are more than allowed to give us food. Please. Do so.) We are here because we have something in our lives that has helped us, and we want to share it! It's great to let others immediately know your purpose and what expectations you have for meetings. It keeps things much more centered on the Gospel than on the tourism.
6. What is something you did that was different this week?
Hmm. I can't think of anything specifically different that we did. Other than we got a dinner appointment with a great family! That's kind of a once-in-a-blue-moon thing. I actually accidentally set it up about a month ago, when I started to introduce myself to a family that just had a son return from a mission. I didn't realize that me trying to introduce myself equated to trying to invite myself over for food. But it all was cool!
Yeah, that's all, really. No new events on the board yet, but we have faith that something will come along! We just need to be ready to receive it.
Be safe, everyone!
Vanhin David Milligan
P.S. I never send pics anymore, due to the slowness of computers, but perhaps I can multitask some stuff and try to upload this in the meantime!
Fantastic sunset from last night! Sky gets so beautiful out here. It's
too bad that my camera can't really register starlight, because that
also is awesome out here!
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