Missionary Work = Very Rewarding! 10-27-14

Well, this was a very weird week for me and my companion. The first thing I have to say is that my companion and I have been sick for the last half of this last week, with different symptoms that make it really fun to to be together... But, amazingly, the amount of mission work completed was quite astounding!

We have SO many cool investigators right now! They are all very eager to learn the gospel and have it better their lives. 4 have accepted baptismal invitations. 4. And 3 of them are definitely going to be baptized. I'm very excited! We are working hard with all of them, but they are making the choices all by themselves, and we are just kind of along for the ride, it seems! The 3 that have baptismal dates that I am certain are going to be baptized all searched out the church by themselves, and came to love everything that they are hearing. All of the baptisms will probably happen late November, early December.

Well, there are a few things I want to say, but I hope that you all understand if it's a bit scatter-brained. I'm still sick/recovering. I'm avoiding all greasy food, which means no kebab or pizza...

Charity and Love in Finnish

Interesting fact! (More for the people back home than those on a mission in Finland, 'cuz you should already know this...) The word (yes, singular, word) for both Charity and Love is Rakkaus. Isn't that interesting, that they mean exactly the same thing here? In the scriptures, it differentiates them sometimes by saying something like, "the Rakkaus which inspires action", or, "the Rakkaus which inspires feelings", but not always. You just have to read context, but they make very little difference.

My name isn't just hard to pronounce in the MTC...

So, in the MTC, it was very hard for some people (not going to name names, but all of the MTC missionaries know people I'm talking about) to say the word "Milligan". It is the same here in the field. Missionaries and investigators alike do not know how it is that my name is pronounced, or if they do, they can't EVER remember it.They say Mulligan, McMilligan, McGilligan, or just throw the name into the wind and see what happens. Among most of Tampere missionaries, I am known as McGiggles, and among our investigators, they all heard when I was telling my "real" name to someone, and now all refer to me as "David" when they can't see my nametag in front of them... Not too appropriate, but I figure they'll learn eventually!

One investigator's story

So, there is an investigator which I talked about in a letter to my parents. (Should come about 10 days or so from Thursday, when the people took it out of the mailbox.) Long story short, she referred herself after hearing about our church, met with us, and started having a dream repeatedly that was her in the baptismal font with us and a member that she met too. She had that dream 4 times and, after coming to church 2 Sundays ago, she sent us a text that I only knew how to read because it was saying stuff that I've always wanted to hear: "Uskon että Mormonin Kirja on totta."  She also sent a bunch of other stuff, saying that she wants to be baptized and that she wants to meet with us again! She has gone to church twice now, has a baptismal date which she is set on, and is very excited right along with us.

More of a funny story than an inspiring one

Another person that has a baptismal date, but isn't too sure if he wants to be baptized, has met with us a few times. He brought a Jehovah's Witness person the first lesson (just to see how we would react to them) and I extended the invitation to be baptized in front of all of them. It was kind of a fun reaction from all parties. Well, he's met with us since, and has even committed to coming to church, but it's very interesting to talk to him. He speaks Finnish, but tries to learn English from us, and uses little words and phrases in English in the midst of all of his Finnish, which throws me off sometimes. Especially because he has the Finnish accent which destroys most consonant sounds in the English language. For example, he was talking about how me need to try to be good in life, and not be Bad Men, Bad Women, or Bad People. He kept on referring to Bad Men/Women throughout the lesson, saying just those words in English amidst all of these Finnish sentences. I was trying to not burst out laughing during the whole lesson, because his accent turned Bad Men/Women into Batman and Batwoman. Very funny! 

Question time!

1. How goes the language? (#1 asked question from all my followers)

The language goes well! I can speak to people and be understood, and even have been complimented on my grasp of the language after only 2 months in the country. The really sticky part about the language is hearing the people speak when it's not about gospel things! If they say where they are going when I ask them, I cannot understand, which means almost every bus contacting situation either turns into asking about if I know this or that part of the language, and wow, you know that much after only this long, or it becomes stare-out-the-window time instead. ¤Sigh¤

2. How are you doing? (Second most asked question from my followers)

Other than being sick, I'm doing well! I'm not stressing out about anything in the field, and I've been eating healthily. I also am learning a lot from this culture and set-aside study time that I have!

3. How's the weather? (Mom: I am hoping for the SNOW answer!!)

Cold. Dark. No snow. Frowny Face.  :-(

4. How much daylight do you have now? (Mom: I'm going to keep asking this every week until I have to start asking the question, "Did you have ANY daylight today?!)

Interesting fact: They have daylight savings time in Finland. Kinda weird to see that elsewhere too. But, we have about 5-6 hours of sunshine right now, meaning 7-8 hours of actual light, and it's getting less every day. I'll make a note of these things from now on, I keep forgetting!

5. What is your main mode of transportation? (walking, bus, car... sled?!)

Bus. Sometimes car, if we're going out to Valkeakoski, which is a 40 minute trip and no buses go out there. I pray that we will bring out the dog sled soon. ;-)

6. What kind of sauce is on kebab?

Kebab sauce... It's a lot of tomato sauce, I really have no idea what else is in it! I'll ask a Finn that knows English.

7. What is something that challenged you this week?

Being really sick. But, we did a lot of work and still got some rest (under the direction of Sisar Watson), so I think I'll be justified in that challenge.

8. What is one way your testimony grew this week?

The Lord works without the direct influence of missionaries. That increased my testimony because although I've heard it before that the Spirit is the teacher, not us, I actually have seen it start working in our investigators, where they are learning on their own and making choices and improving their testimonies without our urging or committing.

9. Did you survive Transfers, or are you on your way to somewhere new?!!!!

I am still in Tampere 1! I still get to be with these wonderful people.

10. Did your companion survive Transfers?

Yes, he's still with me. Every other companionship besides Pori's in our district changed. Also, we are going to be getting a fresh MTC trainee in Rauma, so I'll get to see someone in our district that I saw for a week in the MTC! They'll have also seen all the Huns, Albanians, and Estonians leave, so I need to get that from him.

One more interesting thing about transfers. My companion's father has apparently been petitioning President Watson to let him go home early, not for school, but because his grandparents are ailing and this may be their last Christmas time. If that happens, I don't know what'll happen to me! Maybe I'll just be with Tampere 2 Elders for a bit.

Supposing that nothing goes weird, I will likely be staying in Tampere 1 for quite some time, a minimum of 18 weeks from today. (9 weeks in this transfer, 9 weeks in the next to get someone else used to the area.) I will be looking even harder for people that I can help, because I can stay in close contact with them! Not too much more that needs to be said here, I'm gonna send some pictures to everyone! 

You're all awesome, stay strong!

Vanhin David Milligan

Pictures!

Mom: Sorry, you don't get any creative captions today. He remembered to fill us in!

This is my district, before we get all broken up Tuesday...

 So, sometime this week was a Flag Day of some kind. So, all the flags were out and there were fireworks that night! It was a lot of fun to see, kind of made it hard to go contacting though...

 And this is apparently now the tallest building in Finland! It's in Tampere, recently (?) built, and looks... Not that tall... Maybe that's my American side coming out a bit, but still.

These are the texts we received from the investigator that referred herself! I think she's awesome.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Well, there's not much time this week, and there's nothing really that I can think of about this last week, so I'm going to hop straight to the few things I've jotted down!

Sloans, and Bro. Basset

There's a great family here, the Sloans, who are just AMAZING. The wife is a Finn whose mother and father converted, although they came from a long line of Lutheran priests and it was a scandal when they converted. They are both super intelligent, love books, and are super strong in the gospel. They even gave permission for me to talk about them!

While we were there, I mentioned that I know a person who went to Finland a while ago. Sister Sloan then proceeded to pull out a book that potentially had Brother Basset in it. IT DID! He had a page with his information and testimony on it. (Mom: Bro. Bassett, I will send you a picture of the page he sent me!)

General Conference, and Nefi=Nephi

So, I have all of my notes and questions ready for the Family Home Evening Jeopardy that my Family has put together, and when I send all of my notes and questions, I feel like I need to clarify a few things. General Conference was Awesome, and I needed to write everything really fast, which means that I needed to write the shortest words and abbreviations as I could. That lended to all of my scripture cross-referencing on the side being either in Finnish or English, so places in 1st or 2nd Nephi became 1 Nef. or 2 Nef. for the sake of writing. I'm not misspelling things, just rushing them. Okay, glad we all know that now. (Mom: I'm not posting his notes or questions...if you want to see them, let me know!)

1. What is the weather like? Snow finally?!

Yes and no, again. We had a lot of snow, even though it wouldn't show in pictures, but NOTHING stuck. It was basically rain.

2. When does the sun rise and set, now?

Sun rises around 11, although it is light a bit earlier. It's at its peak at about 1:30, which is at about a 25 or 30 degree angle to the horizon. Don't ever notice when it's down, but at 4 it's not there anymore, soo, I guess that's that.

3. Any new foods that were interesting?

Nothing as of yet. Mostly just been surviving on the cooking given, which is normally pasta, fish, or chicken, and salad.

3A. Are the members feeding you?

Yes, about 1 appointment a week, and they are always very friendly.

4. Did you find anyone new to teach this week?

We found 2 new people! I am writing about them in a letter home, so I think that a small synopsis will do here. People notice us here, and we got asked to teach some people from them seeing a TV show about interesting mothers, one of which was a Mormon.

5. How are your current investigators doing?

They are doing well, we finally got to meet with the person that is closest to baptism, and we all agreed that we need to move it back a bit more. In his words, he doesn't want to feel like he's "cheating God" and not going to church. His life has been stressful lately, so this is so the rest of his life can be more in order before trying to take on a huge commitment.

6. What is something you learned this week?

I learned about the need to be spiritually open to the Spirit when you are giving a blessing. I have given 2 blessings in Finnish this week, which as you can imagine, is difficult. But, while talking as I could, I felt prompted to say things a certain way that I've never heard before (that I know of). After doing so, I found out that I specifically promised something that they had been concerned about health-wise. Really interesting!

7. When is the next transfer? How long are transfers? When do you find out if you are being transferred? Have you heard how long people usually stay in an area before being transferred? Basically, tell us anything you know about transfers!

Next transfer is not tomorrow, but next Tuesday. We find out if we get moved on Saturday, so fingers crossed that I get to stay in Tampere with all of our awesome investigators!

8. How are you doing? Mentally, Spiritually, Physically?

Pretty good on all accounts, except maybe physically... Not like, exhaustion, but elevated heart stuff and seizure like shaking occasionally, which I have informed my mission president about and has told me to send a more detailed list. So, that'll be taken care of soon! Especially since he's informed on health matters. (Mom: Ok, that freaks me out a bit. Everyone please remember him in your prayers!!)

I wish I could write more, but I feel this will satisfy what it is I need to say for now. Love y'all, be safe, enjoy your life!

Vanhin David Milligan

Pictures!

By The Way...No captions were sent...again...So, you get the creative musings of Mom...again!

The Weekly Selfie!

The Pizza From Last Week

In Greater Detail...

 I cannot believe they ate all that! 

This reminds me of Oklahoma...Wonder if it did for him as well?

 It is a curious thing that all Milligans, at some point in their life, will take a picture of someone else taking a picture...

The Daily Planner!

The Grocery List...

He got the Candy! Hope he got the healthy stuff as well!

 Does anyone know what this is? I'm getting a science fiction vibe, myself...

A side view of their chapel/ward building. MUCH bigger than ours!

 Introducing we Americans to the Kinder Surprise (I think!)

It is a chocolate egg, with a toy inside.

 This is what is inside the Chocolate Egg...Looks like a Minion! (You know you were thinking that, too!)

This was inside the Minion!

Photos of Fall in Finland

Soaking up the last bit of sun!

Looks happy, and content! And WARM! Makes Mom feel better!

Week #whoknows...NO, That's NOT a Hashtag!! It's a number sign! - October 13, 2014

Well, another week, another e-mail for everyone! It is weird being able to have so many people emailing me now, I like it a lot! It also means I have more questions, so bear with me a bit here...

Paper is a different size here. Not much more to say about that. It's longer and skinnier, probably because they use some kind of metric system measurement and we Americans have to be "different"...

We had Interim last week! More on that in the questions, because a lot were oriented around that.

I found the Finnish Dollar Tree. It's not really, because it's not even remotely the same in any way except prices. It's Tiger, and they have lots of cool little arts-and-crafts things as well as just little fun trinkets. They are really cheap and almost all recycled. I have a few ideas for things I'm going to get as light, enjoyable presents for my family. Light, because it costs an arm and a leg to send packages from here...

I got to eat an 80 cm pizza with another companionship. It was HUGE. I plan to actually attach pictures to these emails, so hopefully that happens...

By the way, family and missionaries, did you know that Finnish apartments come with portable DVD players inside? They play all the music we have, they let us watch the District videos required for training on them, and they're just very efficient.

So, the companionship in Rauma had to stay with us Friday night. Why is that? Because an Elder that is in Pori decided that it would be a funny trick to play if he took Rauma's cellphone and put it in another companionship's pockets. AND NO ONE FOUND OUT. So, when leaving, Rauma discovered the lack of communication, and we had to coordinate the receiving of the phone with Elders that were coming back down south, for some reason... It was a lot of hectic craziness that ended with me being with one of the Rauma Elders studying my Kieli stuff (language stuff) as my companion and the other Rauma Elder rushed off to the train station at untold speeds... I say untold, because the trip was supposed to take about 30 minutes, but the train was stopping only for a brief bit 15 minutes from then, and they still made it "with time to spare", in their own words... I'm not questioning it! Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil... Wait, write no evil isn't there. Guess I'm in the clear, then.

To the questions!

Did you enjoy being in Helsinki for a few days with your MTC district?

No, I despise them. Next Q. Just kidding, I had a TON of fun exchanging fun stories and experiences with them, and reminiscing about the days when we thought that the Finnish language could actually be understood if a Finn said it!!! 

Did you have a zone conference/meeting type with them? What was something you talked about?

So, for Tuesday and Wednesday, it was a very meeting-type structure. We learned about different things that we should prioritize, we did some role-plays, and we even had a part when we focused on the language and difficulties that were included with it. I was lucky, and got in a group with a native Finn that was at Interim because he was waiting for his visa to Ukraine. I wish him the best of luck...

Do you have investigators that you are teaching regularly? I liked hearing that you had one almost ready for baptism, but were making sure they were truly ready before going ahead with the baptism. What an important lesson you taught them!

Yes, we have a number that we are meeting every week. I believe right now we have the 1 with the baptismal date, 2 that we are confident will accept a baptismal date once we extend it to them, and 3 more that we have tried to extend baptismal dates, but want to be certain before making a commitment like that. I want you to know, though, that when I thought of these people I didn't divide them into the categories that I just did. I just couldn't think of another way to describe them! We meet with them all about the same amount, 1-2 a week, and they are almost all having progression. I'm so happy to learn from these peoples' testimonies!

Have you tried any new Finnish foods?

I cannot say yes to that, really, because most of the food that I've had lately has been the Finnish twist on other foods. Finnish pizza is interesting, it's a really thin crust all the way around the pizza, so you have to eat it with fork and knife!

Some of the pictures you included were beautiful churches. Are those in Tampere?

Yes, they are all in Tampere. I think the architecture of churches is fascinating, and sometimes you get a Finnish twist in the original style of building!

How cold is it usually, now?

The lows hover above and below the 0`mark, and the highs around 7, but soon to be around 4. It's pretty cold, but no snow has stuck. More on that later.

How much daylight do you have most days?

That's tricky. Technically speaking, there is light in the sky finally around 7:30 am, and there is no more light around 6:30. However, the sun has still not made an appearance today, and it is 11 am. I haven't looked for its disappearance lately, so I'll make a note of that to remember!

Is there snow?

That's the question that's easy to answer and hard to hear, for me included. Yes, there has been a bit of snow. No, it's not thick, it comes with the misty rain and you have to look hard for the snowflakes. What's making me frustrated is that this week, places further south than us have Snow forecasts, but we are "sunny" (if you can still call a lack of sun sunny) all week. GRR. Places up north have had snow, people in Interim were talking about it, but it also hasn't stuck there.

Are you staying warm?!!?

Yup! No frostbite here.

Have you had a snowball fight, yet?

...No... But it's high on my to-do list once the snow comes!

Wow, that was really quick to answer! I still have a lot of time left, so I think I'll be trying to write some personal emails out. I've already written a handful today, but this is good enough for now, I believe. Hope everyone is safe and doing alright, talk to you all next week!

Vanhin Milligan

October 6, 2014

Not too much to report on this week either! Our investigators are progressing well, and we have moved the baptismal date of one to accommodate both his and our needs in continuing to prepare. It was quite interesting how the Spirit confirmed the same thing to all of us, and I think it was powerful to that investigator to see that before we take upon us the covenant of Baptism, we must truly know and desire to follow all that it entails. The importance of conversion rather than just knowledge is essential.

Elder Nemelka and I have been getting along alright, in my opinion. There are times when we get frustrated with each other (specifically when our opinions on the importance of things disagrees, or when we are in something, like a game, that has the potential to be competitive) but it does not interfere with the work that the Lord has assigned us to. It is rather interesting to hear his experiences out in the field, and although those experiences do not aid the learning of language principles or strengthen  my testimony in any way, it is good for building what companionship unity we can, and strive to always know the needs of our companion that we may address with them the needs of others.

I feel prompted to add in a little bit of what we learned in this last General Conference. The Saturday Morning session was quite inspiring to me, and it may have been my favorite. I especially appreciated the talk given by Chi Chong (Sam) Wong in his native tongue of Cantonese. The fact that it was in another language for the first time in Conference history is rather amazing, but the content spoke to me and my questions personally. I have been wondering how there might be a good way to get the members involved in this great work, and inspire them to take upon themselves the role of member missionaries. This talk addressed the importance of the Ward finding and preparing those that may be inaccessible to the missionaries, for if the missionary is on the thatch roof trying to receive the man of palsy, he may not be able to reach out alone. He needs the aid of members, Bishops, Relief Society Presidents, and Youth leaders to bring those unto them. This, though, does not lessen the need for us to try to find others. We must always seek for the ones that we can prepare, and perhaps even ready them to be received by the members. General Conference was quite good, and I'm happy for the opportunity to have had it add to my testimony in new ways.

There's not too much more that I can think of about this week, but all of that was sent to President that is above, so let me open up my planner and see if any really funny things happened this week! 

All of the pics that have the date and time on them have been off by 9 hours, all the way up until the 30th of September. Whoops! So, since a couple of the pictures show things as how dark it is at each time, please understand that the time needs to be corrected.

I got a really nice vest that should have cost 50€, but instead was 5€, since the store manager was really nice to me. It was really small, an XS size, that no one was buying. It fits me only because of the strap that tightens it even further in the back, but I finally have a vest now! And it looks good! You can only wear vests with suits out here, so I've broken out the black suit again to complement the dark grey vest.

I also now have a few snow coats, all given FREE to me by the Elders that are about to die off. That's, of course, to say, about to go home. One of the snow coats is a bit big on me, but when I saw the same coat at a generic store (so not even as expensive as the brand name stores) it was in the 190€ range, so I'm really excited to wear it! From the few times I've put it on to brave the oncoming cold (it's been 0 degrees quite a few mornings, but that is Celsius) it is REALLY warm and comfy! So happy for the generosity of missionaries, and hope that I can be like them when I'm about to go away!

By the way, President required all of us to find out our Release Dates, saying that much like your call date, it is prayed over and determined from the promptings of the Spirit. My release date is June 21st, 2016, although the email back technically said June 21 2106. I don't think he really means that, though... right? 90 years out here is a bit long...

A little bit of road sign humor for you! My camera was not on hand when I saw this on a bus, so I missed the opportunity there, but there was a sign in English outside of a restaurant. I can only assume it was something like a Steakhouse from the sign outside:

"Vegetarian" is an old Finnish word for "Bad Hunter".

I cracked up when I saw that, hope that the little bit of humor there brightened your day!

That's all. My brain cannot think of more to say than I am SO glad that we got to listen to Conference. We watched the Live Satellite broadcasts of the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions, but had to watch the Priesthood and Sat. Afternoon sessions the following Sunday, and we had to also come to the church early this morning to go and listen to the Sunday Afternoon on our own P-Day time. It was worth it, though, and I'm so happy that it was in English! (They had the chapel in Finnish and the Young Adult room in English.)

Moro Poro, all,

Vanhin Milligan

 The Selfie

 Dates & Times for General Conference

 

The Church building they meet in

Kebab = French Fries, Meat, Cheese

1.MONTH.IN.FINLAND! 9-29-14

My goodness, this is the 1 month anniversary of getting on a plane to go to Finland! Tuesday will mark the month of arrival, and Wednesday will be the time of 1 month in Tampere! WOW. Doesn't feel like I've been here that long at ALL. Really crazy.

You know, sometimes, there is absolutely NOTHING to talk about? This is one of those weeks. We had a lot of appointments, they almost all fell through, and the contacting we did was mostly with people that were only interested in our American accents. Anyone that talked to us for long periods of time were often sharing their philosophies on religion, and although that's really fun to hear, they would reject us wanting to come talk with them more. Makes sense, 2 foreigners asking to come into your house and talk about one of the things you just don't talk about in Finland (religion) would freak out most Finns.

We've been getting a surprising amount of progress with our investigators that are more foreign. I think that the one I like most is from Zimbabwe, and has had some way awesome experiences. One that he just told us about was when we complimented him on all of the charity he shows to others. He then started to tell a story about when an act of charity from him started going south. So, to condense a really long story into a few sentences, his friend asked for him to temporarily house some friends of his from England and Africa. These 2 friends were supposed to be there for 2 days, but as 2 days turned into 2 weeks, he got very frustrated. Mostly because these 2 people kept on having TONS of people in his fairly small apartment, like 15 or so people crammed in, all speaking in a tongue he doesn't know or understand. He found out that the 2 people were dealing with drugs (taking advantage of the fact that another "friend" that showed up looked like a medicine man, so apparently the airlines didn't mess with him? Weird) and the whole operation was starting to go south for them, which ended causing a 15-person fight in our investigator's apartment. Well, apparently our investigator had some police training, so after futilely trying to get the 2 men's bags out the door (they kept bringing them right back in while fighting), he gave up, went to his kitchen, and got a wickedly sharp knife out, took one of the 15 in a headlock, and shouted that he didn't care what they did right now, but no matter what, this man (in the headlock) was going to die. Everyone started to get calm, they all filed out after he sternly said that the matter could be dealt with outside, and then he kicked out the bags and the men at the same time. I'm very happy that I've never had to deal with that!

I got to go on another split this week to Rauma and go contacting with another Elder. It's really fun to take part in the progression of another area, and then see how I can better help my own. So glad that my companion is the District Leader, but I don't want that role myself!

That's about all I can think of, so now I have a few questions to answer!

How do you say, "Nathan is my favorite brother"?

Well. Guess who asked that one. My ONLY brother. The Finnish for this is pretty easy to make and say, so I shouldn't complain. If ever someone wants to know how to say something in Finnish, probably don't break out Google Translate. It doesn't take into account that Finnish doesn't have a future tense and that a single verb normally means very different things then a strictly literal English equivalent.

"Nathan is my favorite brother" becomes "Nathan on minun lempiveljeni". Lempi- is how you make something a "favorite".

Has there been any snow yet in Finland?

It started to snow when it was raining one day, but it was really like a light fog-snow, and quickly was replaced by the continuing rain. :( We've been told, though, that since we had a hot summer (up in the 70¤ F, oh so hot) it'll be a very cold winter. I'm a little concerned about that, but I have the proper gear now! Except gloves/mittens. Kinda need those if I want my fingers too.

How was your week?

Relatively good, relatively uneventful. OH! Just remembered something! The Tampere Wards are putting together a bit of a Restoration musical event, like the Cantata back home, but a little less large-scale. It's being created by the Sisters in my ward. They're doing it because we are having a Ward Fasting month during October for the missionary work. How interesting is that? People pick a day they want to fast, and then do so for the missionary work here. I'm hoping that we can hear about some interesting experiences from this. The idea of the pageant-esque event came from the desire for each member to consider a friend to hear our message, and to be with us for the first teach and hopefully more thereafter. The musical event would be a good way to specifically invite people, the Sisters think. It sounds fun, I'm game, a few of the Brethren have asked me to join them in a musical number or two, so I'm hoping that I don't get transferred away from Tampere before November!

What did you learn this week? 

That's a very broad question! One thing that I liked in my studies this week was how closely linked the attributes of Patience and Humility are. Kinda weird sounding at first, but let me break it down a bit. Humility means accepting that all is made possible through God's efforts, not so much your own. It means not taking credit for the work of the Holy Ghost, either, when our investigators progress. The humility that we feel leads us to act upon the words of Christ to a greater degree, either because we accept that he will and wants to offer us aid, or because we know that he has commanded it, and if that is so, then it is for our own good. So, to sum up, Humility leads us to actions of faith, because we trust that the Lord can see the end from the beginning, and we need to just act upon it with a knowledge that it will help. That leads to 2 ways patience is involved. It means having the patience to endure whatever struggle you are going through during your actions made with humility, or it means being patient for the consequences (blessings) to make themselves either apparent or great enough that we can start to see His hand in all things. With that confirmation of the Lord's help and His answer to our concerns, we gain even greater humility and patience, because we have seen His works and we know that they will come, and that we can endure whatever we need to if we desire to have the blessings. That was interesting to me, because I never connected them like that before.

What did you share?

Hmm. We shared cookies in Rauma! :) Lesson-wise, we shared about the upcoming General Conference, and how it is we can better prepare for it. I brought up the fact that Mother has been sending me a spiritual thought in E-mails every day, and when I get to read them all, I feel edified by what it is that she thinks can help me in my mission, and help me in my life afterwards. The involvement of our families in our spiritual progression can act as a catalyst in bringing that conversion that we desire, not of our investigators, but of our own testimonies.

Well, it's time to wrap up from here. No more pictures again, drat... The amount of time it takes to upload anything is quite ridiculous... But, I love you all, and want you to eventually see what it is that I am seeing! Maybe next email, I'll just combine a bunch of pictures from this next week and tell the events based off of those? I'll try to get more specific pictures this week, then! 

Write y'all later,

Vanhin David Milligan

P.S: The mark of a true Oklahoman can be found in their writing of the word "y'all".

September 22, 2014 ~ Week 3 in Finland

I have decided that I should probably change the formatting of my letters: Talk about what I want to, and then answer questions. But, the number of questions you sent were less this time, so that's good too!

Idioms here are beautiful.

So, my companion has an Idiom dictionary. It has been the subject of much controversy as we attempt to translate why the idioms are what they are. The cool thing is, the idioms it gives aren't just a straight translation. It actually gives a Finnish-known parallel, which normally is similar to our English idioms. Like, it might just give a spoken equivalent of something, or it might just give a whole different idiom that makes sense to Finnish people, but not to us if you translate it back to English. For example! "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." Good little turn of phrase for all the germaphobes in America. HOWEVER. Finnish. The English, literal translation is "Cleanliness is half food". Hmm. Not the same to me at all. I got pictures of some really good ones, like "In Death's Beard" instead of "At death's door"!

We jogged to Provo! Wait, what?

There is a Beauty Lounge in Tampere named Provo, so we jogged there with the Zone Leaders for exercise when we were on splits and got some pictures. Way cool, but I don't have any of them! I need to get them from the Zone Leaders...

Artificial Sun: The basic necessity for all Finnish apartments.

There is a little light in our apartment that actually is quite a VERY BRIGHT LIGHT. It hurts to look at. It provides many of the same things as our sun, gives the same vitamin-producing rays and stuff to help prevent things like deficiencies and depression. It's gonna come in handy, it is way dark here already...

Elder Bednar came to Finland!!!

So, this is something that I have kept meaning to write about, but Elder Bednar came to Helsinki and spoke at a Mission Conference for us. He came on Friday the 12th, and it was really insightful. The things I want to share to everyone are 2 things specifically. First, he gave us reading material ahead of time, and asked that we all come to the Mission Conference prepared, having read all of what he gave to us. As you can imagine, we ate it up and loved the talks. The important thing is that when he came, he made a point to say that he felt we were prepared, and thanked us for doing so, because then he could talk about everything that he wanted to. That is what I want to mention, that I feel that we should strive to be prepared for every meeting, every General Conference, as best as we can, so that we can be as fully enlightened as possible. The second thing that I want to share is that he had a specific teaching style that day that he told us to try to use in our teaching. It was 3 parts, specifically.

1) He asked for us to bear testimony on what we read, and then asked little questions, not trying to force a specific answer out of us, but out of an honest desire to hear what we learned. That's important, because sometimes we play the "guess what's in my head" game with people. We keep asking and asking until we wrangle a very specific answer out of them, when the testimony they have about something might actually be very good and insightful.

2) He then opened up a questioning time, asking for us to abandon pre-prepared questions and follow what the Spirit told us to ask. He then turned the time over to various others, like the Mission President or Stake President to answer, following up with his own comments and testimony on what was said.

3) He then linked all of the testimonies we bore and the questions we asked together, pointing out that the Spirit was always involved in our discussion. We were either allowing the Spirit to help us answer his small questions, or letting the Spirit guide us to questions to ask. That taught me to get out of the way of the Spirit! Don't stick to one specific thing you want to talk about if you have the impression to go another way on the new needs of the investigator.

In short, this was a great experience, and I learned a TON. My notes are in my journal, so I will hopefully never forget my thoughts and impressions.

Now, I have some time to compile questions!

How many missionaries serve in Finland?

I don't quite know, for sure... let me ask...

Are there any native Finnish missionaries?

Yes! I know one, and also a Swedish missionary here. The Finnish one I know has family all over Finland, and he is currently serving in Pori. I got to go on splits with him last week, and it was fun to contact in either really good Finnish or really good English, depending on what they answered us with!

Did you have any opportunities to teach this week?

So weird, we have come into contact with SO many Jehovah's Witnesses this week... There were some when we were on splits in Pori that knocked on the apartment complex and rang us up specifically, because the last names listed were American and they wanted to add to their English speaking congregation. And then, that same day with the Finnish Elder, we ran into who apparently was a pretty big leader while we were Tracting our 10 doors when a potential doesn't answer. She was really nice and fun to talk to, even if it was in Finnish... And then, we found some here in Tampere the other day, just while walking! So crazy.

Any interesting foods added to your diet?

There are quite a few good foods here in Finland. I have especially liked the Kebab here. The kind I have had is all kinds of meat over French Fries with a cool sauce. Today, to celebrate my companions Birthday on Saturday, we ate a Kebab BUFFET. There was Pizza, Chicken, and Kebob, and I am SO content right now.

There's nothing else that I can think of to say, so I guess I'm done!

Vanhin Milligan

 This is the British Airways airport in Chicago. That was Gate MI-6, I believe... :)

​Well, despite the British Airways flight being an overnight one, I didn't sleep more than an hour. I was super-awake. But, I think that it was good for eliminating practically all forms of jet lag as soon as I fell asleep the first time in Finland!

I wondered at first why a map was on the ticket. 

It's a small enough airport, right? 

Then I realized: It's so you don't vanish into... Finnair. .................

​I love the Finland Temple! Even though I haven't been inside yet, 'cuz we can't go if we're in Tampere... Missionary trips to the temple need to be able to happen in under 6 hours, travel time included. We take 7. Arghh... But, it's still beautiful!

 When I was on splits in Pori, due to my companion being the District Leader, I saw an Angry Birds themed-playground! Did you know that the Angry Birds app was created by a Finnish developer? I learned that my 2nd week at the MTC during the visa trip, but forgot all about it until now! I couldn't get a better pic, 'cuz we were contacting at the time, but this is pretty good.

​This is in memory of you, Mother... The Adventures of Piggley Winks! Correct the name for me, I know that the Vekarat! part is an exclamation, like Jenkies!, but I forget what the actual TV show was called! I have seen this here surprisingly quite a few times... I looked in the window of a bar and saw it on one of the TVs, and then saw this in a store we visited. Had to take a picture to remind you, Mother!

 Mom: Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. I just find this show adorable and couldn't get enough of it when it was new!