So. This was sent out late, because we were on the library computers, trying it out for the first time, and it turns out that you get ½hour PER DAY, not more than that. Whoops. So, we got to send stuff today too. Here is the email I started to compose, and I'll finish it off, too!
Hello, everyone! Well, today is running a little bit differently than the P-days in the past. Specifically, I am right now at the Porvoo Library typing up this email, and the email composer does NOT like that I am writing in English... It keeps auto-correcting the words I put down into Finnish, but it stopped a bit ago, probably in frustration that I was correcting all of its corrections... Also, my screen is FILLED with red lines on just about every word. Sigh. It's fun to write with color effects, but not like this. Ah, well.
So, there wasn't actually any really new events for this week. We found another investigator and are doing our best to keep up our teaching with everyone. Surprisingly, most of the people we are meeting with each day speak English with us, and they only want to speak English (I'm sure to practice the language that they've never really heard a native speak before) which makes lessons and concerns easy for us to understand, so I'm not gonna complain!
It has been fun, though, because we have been teaching more lessons in Porvoo than have been taught for quite some time. We are working hard!
I have recently been tasked with helping a member (one of the only ones in Porvoo) with his English correction of a project involving global warming and the IPCC botching of the job, according to his papers... It's difficult mental work, but he is the only member that can come with us on lessons when we try to have one with a member (which is always), so we are trying to repay him as best we can. It has been very interesting seeing what English concepts are natural and unnatural for a Finn. Commas will confuse them to death.
Well, that's just about it. One more thing: The investigator's family that we've been spending Mondays with has asked us to make them Macaroni and Cheese, since they'll buy the ingredients we ask for and then we'll come and cook it there with the boys. It'll be a ton of fun, and we have a recipe of Elder Saunders' that tastes quite good. One question for family: Could y'all send me the family recipe of Mac and Cheese, the REAL one, so that I can enjoy it here when I feel like having it? Thanks!
To the questions!
Have you learned any Swedish phrases or words?
No, but that's just because I can't remember the little Swedish that I pulled out of the book I got from Tampere's apartment. It's a Swedish-Finnish dictionary, so I might have a little trouble...
Have you eaten any Swedish dishes?
I have not. We have gotten no dinner appointments here, due to the fact that there are next to no members in Porvoo. Apparently, this area is one of the absolute slowest and hardest in the field, except for a few more areas up north. Mostly due to the fact that church is about an hour away, and Finns don't own cars, really...
Are you keeping warm?
I am, although I had some holes in my good coat. But, I am pretty handy with needle and thread, so I think I'm going to survive this winter entirely intact! Yay!
Is ice-skating a big thing in Finland? Hockey?
Yes, we've seen quite a few interesting things here related to hockey and ice-skating. The biggest thing is that they pour water over all of their soccer fields (sorry, football fields) and turn them into ice rinks. It's SO weird to see! It freezes really solidly, so that's good.
Even cooler (no pun intended) relating to ice: the lakes and rivers in Porvoo are quite solid. We watched people walk across the giant river, and quite a few of them ice-fishing in the middle of it. I was thinking, "WHY are you putting holes in the ice when it's super-deep and liable to break?!?" But Finns apparently know best, because I haven't seen any human-sized holes in the ice yet. We walked across a lake last night, but only when we knew it was absolutely safe. We didn't want to become the next human icicle.
Do you need any new shoes or clothes, yet?
I'm actually fine on all clothing, thanks! I'm keeping up good maintenance on what I've got, thanks to the sowing kits, and the only things I've had to fix are the aforementioned coat holes and a hole in one of the pairs of slacks I've got. It's right over the right pocket, I think that my camera had put it there, but it's all good. So, nope, I'm fine. Ties are always appreciated, but never needed.
How is your health?
It's all good, really. Ei haitta.
How is your companion?
Super awesome. Since he's from Georgia, we're both enjoying the Southern pride. Yee-haa! Y'all is a popular word between us.
What is something you taught this week?
We taught a bunch about the Restoration, and we have another new investigator because of it!
Sorry, we are really out of time now, so I have to just skip the rest of the questions... I think y'all are awesome, I hope that I can contact each of you more often!
Vanhin David Milligan
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Miracle Territory - January 20, 2014
Okay, the phrase "Miracle Territory" is my companion's, Elder Saunder's, favorite phrase to invoke whenever something really awesome spiritually related happens! And, we had quite a few of these random moments of awesome-ness, as well as, sadly, a few moments of not-awesome-ness. But water under the bridge.
Well, last Tuesday in the evening, we were walking around and met a Finn (surprise, surprise) that actually talked with us for ONE HOUR. Outside. We actually were walking around with him the whole time, going around in a loop through Porvoo over and over. He progressively got more and more interested in talking with us again, and once we parted, he insisted that we meet him again the next day and walk with him again! We went through a forest with him, and all of the time on both walks we were talking about the very basics of religion, and why it means so much to our lives that we would come all the way to Finland to share it. But, he was mostly interested in us talking about religion, rather than us asking about him/talking about ourselves. He wants to meet with us again this week, too, so hopefully we will sit and talk with him tomorrow!
We also have just started teaching a new investigator whose family loves us! They have decided that every Monday, we are going to come over and play a game with them (like, Monopoly, or UNO, or etc.) and share a small spiritual thought. And we hadn't even talked that much about Family Home Evening! He has 2 kids that are Finnish speaking, but learning English rather rapidly. They are in the 1st and 4th grades in Finland. I'm looking forward to talking with all of this family for some time to come!
That was about all of the "Miracle Territory" I faced, other than that, it was an okay week. We had Zone Training, but that wasn't too life-changing this time... But! To the questions!
1. What was your favorite thing about this last week?
Hmm. I think it was getting to know the one family's children! They were pretty fun to be with, one of them is adopted, and both of them are just so caring and nice. They gave each of us a 50 cent piece, and told us to get some juice with it! How cute!
2. What is a new skill you have gained since becoming a missionary?
I think that I have learned to be more aware of the needs of others. Whether it comes to the needs of investigators or the understanding of my companion's needs, I think I'm more aware of the fact that everyone, at one time or another, can be helped in some small way by me, perhaps even without knowing who I am! I think just realizing how much of an instrument I can be in God's hands has been the new skill I've most enjoyed.
3. What is something different about Porvoo?
Hmm. Perhaps it is the fact that so many people here are Swedish speaking? That is a bit of a new one on me. I'm still having to learn Finnish, so I think I'll try to sidestep learning Swedish until I'm a little more solid on what I need to learn in that...
4. What is something you love about Porvoo? (Can be the same answer as #3!)
Actually, to an extent, it IS the same answer! In Porvoo, I think I have found a lot more genuinely nice people. It is likely because every single person that I've really liked for their attitude is a foreigner of one sort or another. No, not like, from a different land, foreign, but perhaps just even being a Swedish-Finn born in Finland but with a different mother tongue. Even that means that your home is a little different than your average Finnish home. Really, just the idea of being slightly different in a country and finding others that are different as well tends to make you bond with them better, and both parties are almost always immediately comfortable in talking with a stranger if they're both strangers. Kinda weird, but it makes sense to me... I think, in general, that I have come into contact with more off-the-bat nice people here. Lots of people in Tampere were nice once you got to know them, but this is a bit different.
5. Have you met an Elder Hansen? A missionary serving in OKC is good friends with him. He thinks that Vanhin Hansen (Hanson?) served in Porvoo just before you?
Yes, I do know of him! He was also at the last Zone Training that we had, he's somewhere in Haaga District now, I think... Hammenlinna? I don't know for certain... Who's asking?
6. Have you seen the Northern Lights?
I haven't yet... You apparently need to be more up North to see it, but I'll try to look a little bit closer!
7. What is something you studied this week?
I've been studying a lot directly from Preach My Gospel, and I'm SO glad that we were challenged to read it as a ward! I have a lot more comfortable of a knowledge of it than I would otherwise. But, I've been going to the chapter endings and reading the Personal Study sections, and then studying off of those. It's been good! I liked the Chapter 4 most, I think.
8. What is something you taught this week?
I think I taught most about the Plan of Salvation this week to various people. I am grateful that it is such a comforting message for others!
Well, that's about it! I need to go now, no time left for emailing, sorry all! I'm out. Rauha. Peace.
Vanhin David Milligan
Well, last Tuesday in the evening, we were walking around and met a Finn (surprise, surprise) that actually talked with us for ONE HOUR. Outside. We actually were walking around with him the whole time, going around in a loop through Porvoo over and over. He progressively got more and more interested in talking with us again, and once we parted, he insisted that we meet him again the next day and walk with him again! We went through a forest with him, and all of the time on both walks we were talking about the very basics of religion, and why it means so much to our lives that we would come all the way to Finland to share it. But, he was mostly interested in us talking about religion, rather than us asking about him/talking about ourselves. He wants to meet with us again this week, too, so hopefully we will sit and talk with him tomorrow!
We also have just started teaching a new investigator whose family loves us! They have decided that every Monday, we are going to come over and play a game with them (like, Monopoly, or UNO, or etc.) and share a small spiritual thought. And we hadn't even talked that much about Family Home Evening! He has 2 kids that are Finnish speaking, but learning English rather rapidly. They are in the 1st and 4th grades in Finland. I'm looking forward to talking with all of this family for some time to come!
That was about all of the "Miracle Territory" I faced, other than that, it was an okay week. We had Zone Training, but that wasn't too life-changing this time... But! To the questions!
1. What was your favorite thing about this last week?
Hmm. I think it was getting to know the one family's children! They were pretty fun to be with, one of them is adopted, and both of them are just so caring and nice. They gave each of us a 50 cent piece, and told us to get some juice with it! How cute!
2. What is a new skill you have gained since becoming a missionary?
I think that I have learned to be more aware of the needs of others. Whether it comes to the needs of investigators or the understanding of my companion's needs, I think I'm more aware of the fact that everyone, at one time or another, can be helped in some small way by me, perhaps even without knowing who I am! I think just realizing how much of an instrument I can be in God's hands has been the new skill I've most enjoyed.
3. What is something different about Porvoo?
Hmm. Perhaps it is the fact that so many people here are Swedish speaking? That is a bit of a new one on me. I'm still having to learn Finnish, so I think I'll try to sidestep learning Swedish until I'm a little more solid on what I need to learn in that...
4. What is something you love about Porvoo? (Can be the same answer as #3!)
Actually, to an extent, it IS the same answer! In Porvoo, I think I have found a lot more genuinely nice people. It is likely because every single person that I've really liked for their attitude is a foreigner of one sort or another. No, not like, from a different land, foreign, but perhaps just even being a Swedish-Finn born in Finland but with a different mother tongue. Even that means that your home is a little different than your average Finnish home. Really, just the idea of being slightly different in a country and finding others that are different as well tends to make you bond with them better, and both parties are almost always immediately comfortable in talking with a stranger if they're both strangers. Kinda weird, but it makes sense to me... I think, in general, that I have come into contact with more off-the-bat nice people here. Lots of people in Tampere were nice once you got to know them, but this is a bit different.
5. Have you met an Elder Hansen? A missionary serving in OKC is good friends with him. He thinks that Vanhin Hansen (Hanson?) served in Porvoo just before you?
Yes, I do know of him! He was also at the last Zone Training that we had, he's somewhere in Haaga District now, I think... Hammenlinna? I don't know for certain... Who's asking?
6. Have you seen the Northern Lights?
I haven't yet... You apparently need to be more up North to see it, but I'll try to look a little bit closer!
7. What is something you studied this week?
I've been studying a lot directly from Preach My Gospel, and I'm SO glad that we were challenged to read it as a ward! I have a lot more comfortable of a knowledge of it than I would otherwise. But, I've been going to the chapter endings and reading the Personal Study sections, and then studying off of those. It's been good! I liked the Chapter 4 most, I think.
8. What is something you taught this week?
I think I taught most about the Plan of Salvation this week to various people. I am grateful that it is such a comforting message for others!
Well, that's about it! I need to go now, no time left for emailing, sorry all! I'm out. Rauha. Peace.
Vanhin David Milligan
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Porvoo's SNOW DAYS - January 13, 2015
This week, I have little-to-nothing to write about, but little-to-no time to do it, so it all works out! Yup, we have been surviving in Porvoo lately, and as you can guess from the Subject line, we had a LOT of SNOW and WIND and REALLY COLD WEATHER.
But, there's not anything I really want to say, beyond what I'm going to talk about when I'm answering questions, so, here we go!
Who did you meet this week?
Let me think... I got to meet 2 really cool people, one that is a Finn that speaks English to us and absolutely loves what we have to say about family, and another that is a Swedish-Finn that was going to speak in English to us until our member present hijacked the lesson into deep doctrine in Finnish. But, he still wants to meet with us, mostly to talk about the Plan of Salvation and what it is that we believe happens after death, and why it is that God allows things to happen in our lives that we don't think are good for us. Good conversations and lessons are bound to start up soon, between us and... everyone!
Are your legs getting tired from all the walking?
YES. We walked a lot this week too, as well as went through a forest to get to a set of potentials. There was an awesome sunset at 2:53pm, and we happened to go right on top of a hill during it, and I got pictures!!!
I have a lot more like this, but I think that I want to have time to upload a picture of something else too, so just one pretty sunset picture. Yes, that is the ocean on the other side. Or an inlet. Either way.
Do you have real snow?
YES! And a LOT of it. We have had a lot of fun tromping through the blizzards... And wind...
Oh, and, all of the rivers flooded over and then froze solid, so a ton of the pedestrian roads we take were frozen into part of the river! We had a lot of fun sliding around, I'll see if maybe I can send a video via email about it later? But, here's a picture about it!
Yup, walking trail on the left, frozen river further over, and giant flooded area straight ahead!
What did you study this week?
Quite a bit from General Conference, actually. I have been reading a lot about Justice and Mercy and the roles of Heavenly Father and Jesus in administering both to us. Also, I keep revisiting the talk by Pres. Utchdorf, about "spiritual instruments" (like, prayer and scripture reading) and how they help us with spiritual discernment. The whole light-of-stars analogy and the explain-technology metaphor makes it really understandable!
What did you teach someone this week?
We taught a lot about the Plan of Salvation, and why it is that our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. Specifically, because he is our Heavenly Father. I have found Matthew 7:7-11 quite good at responding to almost all concerns about this. If someone wonders how to receive aid or comfort, the first few verses. If someone doubts that God loves them or that he'll involve his aid so personally in individual lives, the last few verses!
What did you learn this week?
Mostly, I think I learned that it is good to always be acting in the role of an example of the believers. So many times as missionaries, the only contact that we get with some people is as we're walking by and they bike past in a rush. If we're goofing off, or just being loud and obnoxious, what is going to be the split-second assessment from these people? Will we seem like men who are believing that they have a responsibility to share God's message to others, or will we seem like boys on vacation in Finland? It's important to remember that people are always watching and aware of our example, seeing if our words meet our actions.
I actually have run out of time this week, we only had 50 minutes today because we are going to play VOLLEYBALL! Woo-hoo! Write y'all next week!
Vanhin David Milligan
P.S. Elder Saunders, my companion, is from Georgia, so I keep hearing familiar Southern phrases, like "y'all" and "fixin' to do" and all of these really fun ways to speak! So reminiscent of home! Ooooooklahoma!
But, there's not anything I really want to say, beyond what I'm going to talk about when I'm answering questions, so, here we go!
Who did you meet this week?
Let me think... I got to meet 2 really cool people, one that is a Finn that speaks English to us and absolutely loves what we have to say about family, and another that is a Swedish-Finn that was going to speak in English to us until our member present hijacked the lesson into deep doctrine in Finnish. But, he still wants to meet with us, mostly to talk about the Plan of Salvation and what it is that we believe happens after death, and why it is that God allows things to happen in our lives that we don't think are good for us. Good conversations and lessons are bound to start up soon, between us and... everyone!
Are your legs getting tired from all the walking?
YES. We walked a lot this week too, as well as went through a forest to get to a set of potentials. There was an awesome sunset at 2:53pm, and we happened to go right on top of a hill during it, and I got pictures!!!
I have a lot more like this, but I think that I want to have time to upload a picture of something else too, so just one pretty sunset picture. Yes, that is the ocean on the other side. Or an inlet. Either way.
Do you have real snow?
YES! And a LOT of it. We have had a lot of fun tromping through the blizzards... And wind...
Oh, and, all of the rivers flooded over and then froze solid, so a ton of the pedestrian roads we take were frozen into part of the river! We had a lot of fun sliding around, I'll see if maybe I can send a video via email about it later? But, here's a picture about it!
Yup, walking trail on the left, frozen river further over, and giant flooded area straight ahead!
What did you study this week?
Quite a bit from General Conference, actually. I have been reading a lot about Justice and Mercy and the roles of Heavenly Father and Jesus in administering both to us. Also, I keep revisiting the talk by Pres. Utchdorf, about "spiritual instruments" (like, prayer and scripture reading) and how they help us with spiritual discernment. The whole light-of-stars analogy and the explain-technology metaphor makes it really understandable!
What did you teach someone this week?
We taught a lot about the Plan of Salvation, and why it is that our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. Specifically, because he is our Heavenly Father. I have found Matthew 7:7-11 quite good at responding to almost all concerns about this. If someone wonders how to receive aid or comfort, the first few verses. If someone doubts that God loves them or that he'll involve his aid so personally in individual lives, the last few verses!
What did you learn this week?
Mostly, I think I learned that it is good to always be acting in the role of an example of the believers. So many times as missionaries, the only contact that we get with some people is as we're walking by and they bike past in a rush. If we're goofing off, or just being loud and obnoxious, what is going to be the split-second assessment from these people? Will we seem like men who are believing that they have a responsibility to share God's message to others, or will we seem like boys on vacation in Finland? It's important to remember that people are always watching and aware of our example, seeing if our words meet our actions.
I actually have run out of time this week, we only had 50 minutes today because we are going to play VOLLEYBALL! Woo-hoo! Write y'all next week!
Vanhin David Milligan
P.S. Elder Saunders, my companion, is from Georgia, so I keep hearing familiar Southern phrases, like "y'all" and "fixin' to do" and all of these really fun ways to speak! So reminiscent of home! Ooooooklahoma!
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Porvoo! Hey, I spelled that right!! - January 6, 2015
So, Porvoo has been VERY different than Tampere. For one example, it is quite brighter! I have seen the SUN this week! That was a little shocking to know it still existed and didn't burn out a while ago.
11:30 AM!!!
Well, not too much has happened this week, mostly due to the fact that what few investigators we have here in Porvoo couldn't meet with us, and that we had another Non-Proselyting Day on the 1st of the new year. Speaking of which, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I'm so excited to be able to say that I was in Finland for all of 2015, and I can't wait to help even more people here!
It was a bit strange coming here, because Tampere is about as "big city" as it gets (without living in Helsinki) and now I'm down in the small town of Porvoo. We do not have many investigators right now, so that's also different, because now I'm finding that I have to do just that even more: FIND. I like the teaching side of it all, though, and my companion is quite impressed with my Finnish. In fact, all the ward is quite impressed with my Finnish. Possibly because the last person in Porvoo with Elder Saunders was my MTC companion, Elder Wilson, and when they hear that we were companions in the MTC, they realize just how young in-country I am, and become even more shocked that I speak and comprehend like I do. They speak a lot more simply in church here than in Tampere, so it's been fun to understand almost everything!
Due to the fact that I am having a brain moment right now, I am going to start answering questions! Oh, one last thing: For some unknown reason, we are no longer allowed to "chat" with missionaries in our mission area, regardless of gender, and have banned ALL emails between missionaries in Finland (before Elders could email Elders, and Sisters could email Sisters, but now no one can). Very weird, so that means that this email onwards, no one in Finland is reading about what I am doing... But, questions!
1. What day did you arrive in your new transfer?
I arrived the Tuesday night, just in time to put up luggage and then go walking around in the dark! We decided to go contacting to see if we could find any new investigators. As a result of the VERY far distance we went, I got 3 blisters on the back of my heel that all immediately popped when I pulled off my shoe. It hurts.
2. What is Porvoo like?
Very small. Almost everyone I've tried to contact here ends up switching into Swedish to avoid talking to us, and my companion doesn't know Swedish... So, it's been a bit rough. But, it's a quaint little area, and I do like the look of it!
3. What is your new companion like?
Oh my GOODNESS, Elder Saunders knows almost EVERY reference I make, and has the same sort of likes! He has seen a lot of Whose Line, just like I have, and we are constantly coming up with obscure quotes from it to try to trip the other up! He is pretty cool, and is a really diligent worker. He likes to talk about interesting things, and also doesn't really care to discuss "deep doctrine", which I am very grateful for. In short, he's a pretty good guy that will hit his Year In Country mark at the same time I hit my ½ Year In Country (which is to say, the end of this change).
4. What is your new apartment like? Does it still have a sun lamp? And a sauna/suitcase storage?
No Happy Light, and NO Sauna! I'm a little disappointed, 'cuz now one of my suitcases is just next to my bed since there's no room... I like the apartment quite a bit, it has a separate kitchen and living room, and separate bedroom as well, so it is MUCH more spacey than Tampere's apartments. The only down side is the bathroom, which is small and cramped and hard to shower in. Plus, all of the pipes in there are either searing hot or freezing cold, so you've got to be careful what you touch!
5. Did you inherit Elder Nemelka's bike?
No. Someone threw it away, lock and all. It got totaled. Never mind that.
6. Are you riding a bike now that you are in a smaller town?
No, actually! We walk to make sure that we can contact what few people are out in the street!
7. Are you eating less Kebab now that you have left the city?
Yes, there are NO Kebab places near us, at least that I have seen yet, except for down here in Marjaniemi. We have to drive about an hour 4 times a week: Church, P-Day, District Meeting, and Ward Correlation with the Ward Mission Leader.
8. How long did it take to get to church this week?
It takes roughly an hour to get to church via car. There's no other way to get to church. Yup. Pray that we don't have car troubles!
9. Do you have a car in Porvoo?
Yup.
10. What is your favorite thing about your new area?
Probably the area of town labeled Old Porvoo. It's this cobble-stoned area with some quaint little shops, and it just looks really old and pretty. There are also a lot of bridges here, so I'm happy!
11. Who have you met this week?
Not too many people. We've met a recent convert in the area who's pretty cool, but we only have 2 investigators, only 1 of which I met and our member with us potentially dropped... gotta check out that weird Finnish case he used on him...
12. What is something you learned this week?
I honestly am forgetting exactly how it is that I really progressed in specific testimony this week. I remember that a lot of my studies were focused on remaining focused on the work, and avoiding both temptations and complacent feelings. I think that helped me to remember why exactly I made this decision to come to Finland, and helped me to focus more on finding, despite me really not being the best at it.
13. What is something you shared this week?
I have prepared 3 separate lessons on the Restoration this week, only 1 of which we taught! And that 1 was with a member that didn't want to really talk about the Restoration, and instead decided he was going to talk about doctrine that doesn't really matter. Like, Christmas isn't actually the birth of Christ, it's an old pagan festival, and tons of stuff along those lines. I asked a few really good questions that really brought the Spirit into the room, and the investigator was seriously considering answers, and then the member would bust in and break up the great feeling by continuing to talk about random junk. Needless to say, I'm a little peeved about that lesson, because I felt the Spirit and we know he did too, but each time it was driven out by our member. It was an obvious difference in the lesson when we didn't have the Spirit there.
14. What type of candy do you want sent in your birthday package? Since they speak Swedish there, do you want Swedish Fish?!
This is good to talk about after venting a bit! I don't want chocolate, there's tons of that left over in the apartment from Christmas! Swedish Fish would be AWESOME. As well as Lifesaver Mints, the Wintergreen kind! Beyond that, I can't think of anything... But, thanks for the thought!
Okay, that's all I have time for today. I think y'all are awesome, and I hope that each and every one of your lives are going well and progressing your understanding of what you are doing in life. Please, all, be safe in this upcoming year!
The 9 is an apostrophe! My family gave me these message blocks for Christmas. They are only 5/8" square. Tiny.
Vanhin David Milligan
11:30 AM!!!
Well, not too much has happened this week, mostly due to the fact that what few investigators we have here in Porvoo couldn't meet with us, and that we had another Non-Proselyting Day on the 1st of the new year. Speaking of which, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I'm so excited to be able to say that I was in Finland for all of 2015, and I can't wait to help even more people here!
It was a bit strange coming here, because Tampere is about as "big city" as it gets (without living in Helsinki) and now I'm down in the small town of Porvoo. We do not have many investigators right now, so that's also different, because now I'm finding that I have to do just that even more: FIND. I like the teaching side of it all, though, and my companion is quite impressed with my Finnish. In fact, all the ward is quite impressed with my Finnish. Possibly because the last person in Porvoo with Elder Saunders was my MTC companion, Elder Wilson, and when they hear that we were companions in the MTC, they realize just how young in-country I am, and become even more shocked that I speak and comprehend like I do. They speak a lot more simply in church here than in Tampere, so it's been fun to understand almost everything!
Due to the fact that I am having a brain moment right now, I am going to start answering questions! Oh, one last thing: For some unknown reason, we are no longer allowed to "chat" with missionaries in our mission area, regardless of gender, and have banned ALL emails between missionaries in Finland (before Elders could email Elders, and Sisters could email Sisters, but now no one can). Very weird, so that means that this email onwards, no one in Finland is reading about what I am doing... But, questions!
1. What day did you arrive in your new transfer?
I arrived the Tuesday night, just in time to put up luggage and then go walking around in the dark! We decided to go contacting to see if we could find any new investigators. As a result of the VERY far distance we went, I got 3 blisters on the back of my heel that all immediately popped when I pulled off my shoe. It hurts.
2. What is Porvoo like?
Very small. Almost everyone I've tried to contact here ends up switching into Swedish to avoid talking to us, and my companion doesn't know Swedish... So, it's been a bit rough. But, it's a quaint little area, and I do like the look of it!
3. What is your new companion like?
Oh my GOODNESS, Elder Saunders knows almost EVERY reference I make, and has the same sort of likes! He has seen a lot of Whose Line, just like I have, and we are constantly coming up with obscure quotes from it to try to trip the other up! He is pretty cool, and is a really diligent worker. He likes to talk about interesting things, and also doesn't really care to discuss "deep doctrine", which I am very grateful for. In short, he's a pretty good guy that will hit his Year In Country mark at the same time I hit my ½ Year In Country (which is to say, the end of this change).
4. What is your new apartment like? Does it still have a sun lamp? And a sauna/suitcase storage?
No Happy Light, and NO Sauna! I'm a little disappointed, 'cuz now one of my suitcases is just next to my bed since there's no room... I like the apartment quite a bit, it has a separate kitchen and living room, and separate bedroom as well, so it is MUCH more spacey than Tampere's apartments. The only down side is the bathroom, which is small and cramped and hard to shower in. Plus, all of the pipes in there are either searing hot or freezing cold, so you've got to be careful what you touch!
5. Did you inherit Elder Nemelka's bike?
No. Someone threw it away, lock and all. It got totaled. Never mind that.
6. Are you riding a bike now that you are in a smaller town?
No, actually! We walk to make sure that we can contact what few people are out in the street!
7. Are you eating less Kebab now that you have left the city?
Yes, there are NO Kebab places near us, at least that I have seen yet, except for down here in Marjaniemi. We have to drive about an hour 4 times a week: Church, P-Day, District Meeting, and Ward Correlation with the Ward Mission Leader.
8. How long did it take to get to church this week?
It takes roughly an hour to get to church via car. There's no other way to get to church. Yup. Pray that we don't have car troubles!
9. Do you have a car in Porvoo?
Yup.
10. What is your favorite thing about your new area?
Probably the area of town labeled Old Porvoo. It's this cobble-stoned area with some quaint little shops, and it just looks really old and pretty. There are also a lot of bridges here, so I'm happy!
11. Who have you met this week?
Not too many people. We've met a recent convert in the area who's pretty cool, but we only have 2 investigators, only 1 of which I met and our member with us potentially dropped... gotta check out that weird Finnish case he used on him...
12. What is something you learned this week?
I honestly am forgetting exactly how it is that I really progressed in specific testimony this week. I remember that a lot of my studies were focused on remaining focused on the work, and avoiding both temptations and complacent feelings. I think that helped me to remember why exactly I made this decision to come to Finland, and helped me to focus more on finding, despite me really not being the best at it.
13. What is something you shared this week?
I have prepared 3 separate lessons on the Restoration this week, only 1 of which we taught! And that 1 was with a member that didn't want to really talk about the Restoration, and instead decided he was going to talk about doctrine that doesn't really matter. Like, Christmas isn't actually the birth of Christ, it's an old pagan festival, and tons of stuff along those lines. I asked a few really good questions that really brought the Spirit into the room, and the investigator was seriously considering answers, and then the member would bust in and break up the great feeling by continuing to talk about random junk. Needless to say, I'm a little peeved about that lesson, because I felt the Spirit and we know he did too, but each time it was driven out by our member. It was an obvious difference in the lesson when we didn't have the Spirit there.
14. What type of candy do you want sent in your birthday package? Since they speak Swedish there, do you want Swedish Fish?!
This is good to talk about after venting a bit! I don't want chocolate, there's tons of that left over in the apartment from Christmas! Swedish Fish would be AWESOME. As well as Lifesaver Mints, the Wintergreen kind! Beyond that, I can't think of anything... But, thanks for the thought!
Okay, that's all I have time for today. I think y'all are awesome, and I hope that each and every one of your lives are going well and progressing your understanding of what you are doing in life. Please, all, be safe in this upcoming year!
The 9 is an apostrophe! My family gave me these message blocks for Christmas. They are only 5/8" square. Tiny.
Vanhin David Milligan
Monday, December 29, 2014
Well, I didn't see THIS coming... December 29, 2014
Christmas has passed, and brought in its wake some startling news... I'm getting a transfer! Yup, the noin varma feeling I had about staying in Tampere to help an Elder get used to our area got turned on its heels last Friday. We were on a bus, and apparently President called, because all of a sudden my companion gets up in the back of the bus and walks all the way to the front to hand me the phone. After the initial greeting, President told me that I will be coming down to Helsinki, the Marjarniemi District, to serve in a special little town.
Provo!!! ...Wait a second, stupid autocorrect... Porvoo!!!
There we go.
Yup, I'm serving in a Swedish-speaking area. Just my luck. Yes, we still speak Finnish, of course, but apparently speaking Swedish is also expected there. Whoopie. As if I'm not having enough fun speaking to people in Finnish. I'm just joking, I'm VERY excited to pick up a few Swedish phrases, and to be serving so close to the ocean! We don't have our own ward there, so we go to the Marjarniemi chapel for church. It's a bit of a drive, but it's all fun.
Just so you all know what the weather is like right now...
Current Temp: -9°F -23°C
Yowch. It was freezing my nosehairs and eyelashes together when we had to walk to the church. It starts to warm up a bit next week. Not that I'll be here for that. It's -18 C down there in Porvoo now, though, so... Looks like the winter gear will still be making an appearance for a while longer.
Well, there's not much that happened this week beyond just CHRISTMAS. Which is to say, I had a TON of fun. We were at members' houses all 3 days of Christmas. That's right, 3 days. Finnish tradition is that it starts on Christmas Eve, with the official declaration of Christmas at 12 (right alongside the announcement of double-penalties for crimes and fines assigned during this time) and ends on our Boxing Day, which is Tapani Päivä for them. So, we had a lot of fun. I got to Skype my family as well, which was a great reminder of all I have waiting for me at home after I have done what is important. I can't wait already to speak to them in April! (Mom: I think he means May? Unless Finland celebrates Mother's Day in April...)
Well, other than all that, there's not too much beyond just these questions, so, here we go!
What is your favorite memory from your first Finnish Christmas?
It was probably all of the time spent with members just playing games. Since the 3 day period is no proselyting, it is important to still be doing something so we aren't just cooped up in the apartment reading and studying for 12 hours. So, we build up our relationships with the members. It was a lot of fun to see how their families are just like normal families! We also got to go with one family to a graveyard. During Christmas, there is a tradition to place candles at your family graves, and a family invited us to go with them to that.
So cool.
What did you eat for your Finnish Christmas dinner?
Ham, Fish, and Potatoes. It was actually their leftovers from Finnish Christmas Lunch, but that's fine. The other dinners were VERY similar, Ham, Fish, and Potatoes. I guess that everyone follows tradition for 3 days straight.
Do you eat much fish?
Yup. I can't even remember all of the kinds I ended up eating, because they listed them all in Finnish. We almost were going to go ice fishing for some, too, apparently, but the family decided it was too risky a way to achieve dinner and instead just bought enough. My companion was a little disappointed by that, but I wasn't too much. Giant frozen lake, and purposefully breaking a part so that you can sit by it for an indeterminate amount of time? I will pass.
Have you tried reindeer, yet?
Nope. Too bad, really. I hear you get to try it more often up north, but I'm not certain about that.
What did you study this week?
I mostly studied the talks that my family sent me for the Christmas break. I really liked all of the Elder Holland talks that were sent, especially the one that talked about why we believe the nature of the Godhead to be as it is. The Trinity is something that most people are really confused by, and hearing what it is that we believe is the nature of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost makes sense to them. It's been interesting talking so much about religion, 24/7.
What did you teach someone this week?
Well, we didn't get to teach too much, but there was a rather good talk I had with someone, not an investigator or member, about just how Christmas is an important time. Since when we were going around on Saturday, we could go by bus again (the systems had all closed down for the week), so when I sat by someone, I started just to talk to her and ask about how Christmas went. She said it went fine, that it was good despite... something. I didn't understand what that "something" was at first, so after asking her again, she said despite Christ meaning nothing to her. So, I got into a pretty good conversation with her about why she has this ideal. She said she just didn't have a close relationship with God, and that she didn't feel any love from somewhere else, so therefore there is nothing for her. I then just bore simple testimony that to me, how we feel God's love is very much like how she feels love for her family. When she is far away and not thinking about them at all, it can be hard to remember that she loves them and that they love her. However, when she is making an effort to stay in contact with them, she feels happier because she is always striving to feel love from her family that is already there. In other words, of course she won't always perfectly feel a love of God and feel God's love unless she is looking for it, and I promised her that it is always there, able to be felt through our actions like prayer. Well, she got off soon after that, and she didn't want to volunteer any contact information, but I think she went away thinking about that comparison. I would like to believe that, at least.
Did you meet anyone new?
We didn't get any new investigators this week, no. But, I think that having new missionaries in this area will make them strive that much harder to find people that they can start to teach right from the very beginning, so that they can personally see and be a part of their learning.
Are you being transferred?
TO PROVO!!! Ack, PORVOO!!!
Do you know who your new companion will be?
Yes, it's an Elder Saunders, from somewhere in Georgia. He seems to be rather well respected by missionaries here, so I think I will enjoy being with him. But, I'll find out Tuesday night!
What is a fun mission memory you have so far?
I think that I really have liked just seeing people learn about the gospel. Even if it is rather like that bus ride, where I can't see anything that happens after that, the fact remains that I have been seeking outwards enough that I am making an effort to show people that striving to help them find a peace and comfort in their lives is something that I care about. I hope that I get to keep helping people understand how it is that they can feel peace and comfort always.
Well, that's it for questions! I will keep up the faith in Provo/Porvoo for the next part of my mission, but it doesn't change that I am here to do this responsibility from the Lord. I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you all a Happy New Year! (Speaking of which, pray for me again, because New Year's Eve and Day are both also Non-Proselyting days! Grr!)
Vanhin David Milligan
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
CHRISTMAS IS HERE! ~ December 22, 2014
Christmas time is here! I'm so excited about all of the things happening this week!
Christmas in Finland isn't really appearing to be that different, despite it being the birthplace of Santa, but there are quite a few things that set it apart from just any other time of year in Finland.
One: The lights are everywhere. The streets have coordinated all of the lights hanging over them, so there's always a new set on each street. I like the snowflake-themed ones the best.
Two: The Joulutori is actually pretty cool. Imagine a bunch of little stalls that have Christmas-themed items for sale inside, and then decorate them to look like little houses and place it in the center of the city. That's the Joulutori. There's all sorts of stuff, mostly food related, that just looks so cool. There's even a live blacksmith-area, where you can get stuff fashioned for you to look rather rustic. I am considering getting a ring from one...
Three: Joulupukki is getting a little hard to adjust to... I keep seeing straw-goats instead of Santa Claus, and it is just a little confusing. Goats and rams.
This last week was very much NOT spent proselyting in our area. Monday was P-Day, and that afternoon we hopped on a 3 hour bus to Rauma to do splits (my companion is the District Leader). Tuesday was there, and Wednesday we headed back to Tampere for Zone Conference (more on that to come). Thursday was TONS of service, all digging related, as well as our Weekly Planning. Friday was spent on splits with Tampere 2 Elders (again, for my companion). Saturday was a good day for missionary work, and Sunday was mostly revolved around church and trying to get people there, and then checking up on people that couldn't come, and then Call-Ins for my companion (guess what he is?) as all the Tampere District missionaries call and report about their areas this week. And now we're looking at 3 Non-Proselyting days coming up: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (which is Tapani, or Steve, Day in Finland). There's not going to be much work done before my companion leaves home. I hope he gets a good set of memories from times with members this week, though!
Well, there was a big announcement of changes at the Zone Conference on Wednesday that will start to take place on January 4th. There's quite a few, so I'm subdividing them a bit.
1st Change: We're getting a new Zone in Finland! Before we've only had 3 Zones: Helsinki, Tampere, and North. Now they are creating the Savo Zone, with 3 districts inside. We're going from 12 districts to 15, so there's bound to be smaller districts now to compensate. It's the SE area of Finland.
2nd Change: District Meetings for our Zone are mandatory to be held on Wednesday. This means that all of the District Meetings will need to planned around, rather than being a time that best accommodates everyone.
3rd Change: Weekly Planning is to be held on Friday instead of Thursday, to attempt to increase effectiveness for the weekends.
4th and potentially BIGGEST Change: P-Days are now to be held on TUESDAY. This really is just to appease the Helsinki Districts, so that they can go to museums more often if they'd be closed on Monday. However, it is bound to change the flow of the week now, and that means that I'll be sending emails out on Tuesday instead of Monday. Get ready for that, it's going to start in 2015!
That's about it, so to the Questions!
Snow?
Yes, but only ice has remained... It looks like there will not be a White Christmas... Sigh. I don't wanna talk about it.
Sunlight?
Surprisingly, the day where I actually saw the sun this last week coincided with the darkest day of the year. Yup, the Winter Solstice was on Sunday, and I saw the sun. It was a bit of a shock.
Have you tasted any interesting foods lately?
Yes! The Partanens are a Filipino family that fed us about a week ago. They gave us a Black Grass Jelly made of seaweed and coconut. It was... interesting. It was served as the drink, so it had this creamy base and then floating... chunks... popping up. My companion, due to his going home at the start of 2015, has been going and dragging me to Kebab shops repeatedly so that he can get his fill before returning to America. I'm getting even more sick of it than I used to be...
Have you been healthy?
Yup! This week I remained quite chipper.
What did you learn this week?
I started to study based around Topical Guide categories. The best subject that I feel I have studied is Problem Solving, which I started as a bit of a joke, but then came to REALLY like. I'm not going to actually describe most of what I learned: suffice it to say, I found it quite insightful. All of the words that were italicized were the words that are connected to Problem Solving were very interesting, and all connected to action. It wasn't just think about your woes and concerns, but act to resolve them with the aid of the Lord! I liked it a lot.
What did you share this week?
The Gospel. Next question.
No, I'm kidding! This last week, we got news that they FINALLY released the Finnish version of "He Is The Gift" on Youtube and Mormonit.fi for us to share with non-English-speaking Finns. It was really fun to suggest others to watch it, and I even talked about it to the ward when I was asked to bear testimony during sacrament meeting this last Sunday, which was because the Area of the 70 General Authority came up and asked me to do so... right before us all watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional in Finnish. A bit odd to be the prelude to the General Authorities.
How has your testimony grown this week?
It has been growing pikkuhilja, little-by-little, and I have just been so excited to see how much the gospel can change people's lives.
Did you meet anyone new this week?
We reconnected with our lost baptismal date! He was in Sweden for quite some time, and wants to resume coming to church and meeting with us.
Where will you be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas?
These 2 days and the day after Christmas will be spent with a number of members, and I can't wait!
When do you find out about your next transfer?!?
This Saturday, or, Dec. 27, I believe. I think I will be remaining here in Tampere.
Well, no time to write anything else, we have to go now! We're caroling to people. Bye-Bye!
Vanhin David Milligan
Christmas in Finland isn't really appearing to be that different, despite it being the birthplace of Santa, but there are quite a few things that set it apart from just any other time of year in Finland.
One: The lights are everywhere. The streets have coordinated all of the lights hanging over them, so there's always a new set on each street. I like the snowflake-themed ones the best.
Two: The Joulutori is actually pretty cool. Imagine a bunch of little stalls that have Christmas-themed items for sale inside, and then decorate them to look like little houses and place it in the center of the city. That's the Joulutori. There's all sorts of stuff, mostly food related, that just looks so cool. There's even a live blacksmith-area, where you can get stuff fashioned for you to look rather rustic. I am considering getting a ring from one...
Three: Joulupukki is getting a little hard to adjust to... I keep seeing straw-goats instead of Santa Claus, and it is just a little confusing. Goats and rams.
This last week was very much NOT spent proselyting in our area. Monday was P-Day, and that afternoon we hopped on a 3 hour bus to Rauma to do splits (my companion is the District Leader). Tuesday was there, and Wednesday we headed back to Tampere for Zone Conference (more on that to come). Thursday was TONS of service, all digging related, as well as our Weekly Planning. Friday was spent on splits with Tampere 2 Elders (again, for my companion). Saturday was a good day for missionary work, and Sunday was mostly revolved around church and trying to get people there, and then checking up on people that couldn't come, and then Call-Ins for my companion (guess what he is?) as all the Tampere District missionaries call and report about their areas this week. And now we're looking at 3 Non-Proselyting days coming up: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (which is Tapani, or Steve, Day in Finland). There's not going to be much work done before my companion leaves home. I hope he gets a good set of memories from times with members this week, though!
Well, there was a big announcement of changes at the Zone Conference on Wednesday that will start to take place on January 4th. There's quite a few, so I'm subdividing them a bit.
1st Change: We're getting a new Zone in Finland! Before we've only had 3 Zones: Helsinki, Tampere, and North. Now they are creating the Savo Zone, with 3 districts inside. We're going from 12 districts to 15, so there's bound to be smaller districts now to compensate. It's the SE area of Finland.
2nd Change: District Meetings for our Zone are mandatory to be held on Wednesday. This means that all of the District Meetings will need to planned around, rather than being a time that best accommodates everyone.
3rd Change: Weekly Planning is to be held on Friday instead of Thursday, to attempt to increase effectiveness for the weekends.
4th and potentially BIGGEST Change: P-Days are now to be held on TUESDAY. This really is just to appease the Helsinki Districts, so that they can go to museums more often if they'd be closed on Monday. However, it is bound to change the flow of the week now, and that means that I'll be sending emails out on Tuesday instead of Monday. Get ready for that, it's going to start in 2015!
That's about it, so to the Questions!
Snow?
Yes, but only ice has remained... It looks like there will not be a White Christmas... Sigh. I don't wanna talk about it.
Sunlight?
Surprisingly, the day where I actually saw the sun this last week coincided with the darkest day of the year. Yup, the Winter Solstice was on Sunday, and I saw the sun. It was a bit of a shock.
Have you tasted any interesting foods lately?
Yes! The Partanens are a Filipino family that fed us about a week ago. They gave us a Black Grass Jelly made of seaweed and coconut. It was... interesting. It was served as the drink, so it had this creamy base and then floating... chunks... popping up. My companion, due to his going home at the start of 2015, has been going and dragging me to Kebab shops repeatedly so that he can get his fill before returning to America. I'm getting even more sick of it than I used to be...
Have you been healthy?
Yup! This week I remained quite chipper.
What did you learn this week?
I started to study based around Topical Guide categories. The best subject that I feel I have studied is Problem Solving, which I started as a bit of a joke, but then came to REALLY like. I'm not going to actually describe most of what I learned: suffice it to say, I found it quite insightful. All of the words that were italicized were the words that are connected to Problem Solving were very interesting, and all connected to action. It wasn't just think about your woes and concerns, but act to resolve them with the aid of the Lord! I liked it a lot.
What did you share this week?
The Gospel. Next question.
No, I'm kidding! This last week, we got news that they FINALLY released the Finnish version of "He Is The Gift" on Youtube and Mormonit.fi for us to share with non-English-speaking Finns. It was really fun to suggest others to watch it, and I even talked about it to the ward when I was asked to bear testimony during sacrament meeting this last Sunday, which was because the Area of the 70 General Authority came up and asked me to do so... right before us all watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional in Finnish. A bit odd to be the prelude to the General Authorities.
How has your testimony grown this week?
It has been growing pikkuhilja, little-by-little, and I have just been so excited to see how much the gospel can change people's lives.
Did you meet anyone new this week?
We reconnected with our lost baptismal date! He was in Sweden for quite some time, and wants to resume coming to church and meeting with us.
Where will you be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas?
These 2 days and the day after Christmas will be spent with a number of members, and I can't wait!
When do you find out about your next transfer?!?
This Saturday, or, Dec. 27, I believe. I think I will be remaining here in Tampere.
Well, no time to write anything else, we have to go now! We're caroling to people. Bye-Bye!
Vanhin David Milligan
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Christmas Time Approaches - December 15, 2014
It is SO weird to keep noticing how close to Christmas it is getting! There is only 10 days left. 10. That's not even 2 weeks.
Not too many unique things happened this week, but we did get a few nice miracles! The Zone Leaders came out to go on splits with us on Tuesday, and we had a great time going to various areas with them and contacting with that short video "He Is The Gift", which I think is pretty good. It was a pretty successful day when it comes to lessons delivered, so I think that it was a good experience.
We had a Tampere wards Christmas party this week, and the 4 sets of missionaries in Tampere decided to put on a Finnish version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. News flash: No one here knows the story of the Grinch. Ergo, it's not in Finnish. So, 1 set of the Sisters took some time to make a funny Finnish rhyming version of it! I could understand quite a bit, and it was very funny to listen to. My companion was the Grinch and I was Max. When they all came up with this idea, immediately they thought of us 2 in those roles, so. Don't quite know if that's a good thing. Only sad part about it was that the person we asked to be a narrator was a bit harsh in his appraisal of the Sisters' ability to write Finnish poetry (which, BTW, we shouldn't be able to, really... it's pretty complex structuring and grammar skills) and decided to take it upon himself to criticize the whole piece and attempt to rewrite it... ½ hour before the performance. Hmm. It was still fun, and the members had a blast, but the Sisters get dagger-looks in their eyes whenever they see him now... Well!
They also hosted a small Christmas musical thing, in which I was invited to sing in a small part with the YSA due to my ability to keep time. You think I'm joking. All of the people that could keep time were instrumentalists in the piece, so all that was left to sing were the... not-so-musically minded people. And it was a pretty interesting arrangement of a Finnish song, so it was potentially difficult to sing unless someone could start everyone else singing in the right place. Guess who happened to be there during one of their rehearsals of this. It was a really fun experience, but it was kinda weird directing all of these Finns in singing a song that I don't even know but all of them do. It was a great song, though, I wish I could've gotten a recording of it!
Well, I now just have a few more things to talk about Language-wise that happened this week, and then it's on to the questions! Both humorous language blunders this week were made in the same lesson, the first by my companion and the second by me. In a lesson to our newly-baptized investigator / recent convert, my companion was attempting to say something along the lines of "We came from heaven", which is Me tulimme taivasta. What he said is Me tulimme taivalta, which is... a bit different. Technically, it still means "from heaven", it's just the from-the-outside case -LTA rather than the from-the-inside case -STA. However, in Finnish, Taivalta means the English equivalent of "from heaven", as in "aliens from the heavens" or "meteors from the heavens" or "Superman came down from the heavens". It was quite funny to the Finns present. The other mistake was mine, and it was from me mixing up the words Haava, or wound, and Haave, or dream. To be entirely honest, it was the Finns' fault, because when I said that the Atonement makes our wounds clean, they corrected me and said Haave was the right word, to which I then continued to talk about how everything that is a sin in life is another "dream" that we need to heal, and that the Atonement's role in purifying our "dreams" is important, after which they finally realized that I had meant what I had said. Whoops on everyone's part there!
Questions!
Did your package arrive? (My parents sent me a Christmas package!)
Yes! It actually arrived Wednesday morning! Funny thing, I was leaving the apartment with a Zone Leader (they had stayed overnight because they needed to come to the District Meeting that day, and that's where we were heading out to go) and passed by a Posti worker carrying a package to the door of our Talo (building). I said Hello to her, she smiled, and we separated. I then stood at the corner as the Zone Leader quickly ran a bag to my companion and the other Zone Leader (they were going via car, so this Zone Leader wanted to have them take his bag and leave it in the car for later) and I watched the Posti worker wait at the door for whoever-it-was to open the door for her to deliver it. There's a buzz-in system attached to all doors here. Well, no one was answering, and as I looked at the package from afar, I realized that it was quite prominently colored Red, White, and Blue. Hmm... So, as soon as the Zone Leader came back to my side, I pulled him over to the Posti worker (walking away) and quickly inquired if the package was for a David Milligan. IT WAS!!! I opened it later, and I LOVE everything inside. My possibly favorite part of it was the stocking made for me.
I also decorated that tree y'all sent me, and put it right alongside the Gingerbread house that the Young Women made for me! Very nice thought of them. I love gingerbread.
How was your health this week? Did you do that test you mentioned?
I, sadly, suffered from the Flu this Thursday. It was a bit sad, because I was just dead for the whole day, and although it didn't hurt our schedule too much (due to Thursdays being our assigned Weekly Planning day) it still made things more tight schedule-wise later on. But, good news! As my companion and one of the other Tampere Elders went out later that day to teach one of the lessons we had, they ran into the investigator that had a baptismal date that had dropped off the face of the earth! Turns out he'd gotten a new phone and been in Sweden up to that day, and quickly he gave them his number and set up a meeting. Very cool, I really like this investigator, and it still looks like he'll be getting baptized.
Oh, and the results of the stress test were... funny. When they hooked me up, they were concerned with my base heart rate (105 beats per minute at my most calm and laying down). When I started pedaling (it changed from treadmill to bike-machine in the plans, somehow) they got a bit freaked out at the top rate and how I accelerated to it. When I stopped, they were worried at the fact that when I had reached "calm" again I was still very fast-paced. However, when the data was compiled, I ¤technically¤ accelerated and decelerated within acceptable ratios, so... I'm okay? It looks like I will be sticking around for quite some time!
What is your weather doing now?
Well, it did snow this week and stuck around a whole day, but then it all melted today. Sad face. It's rather warm, in my opinion, although it is very dark...
How many layers do you have to wear to keep warm?
Right now, I'm just wearing my suit coat with my Sunday shirt. On the coldest day I've experience (-7 Celsius or so) I wore my Sunday shirt, Sweater, Suit coat, and nice coat from Halonens that I got for about 15€ or so... Not too bad. I have layers prepared, but haven't needed to use them.
How do you say "Merry Christmas" in Finnish?
"Hyvää Joulua!" Pronounced "Hew-vää (ä is like the a in Cat) You-oh-loo-ah".
Do they decorate the town/their houses like Americans do?
Sort of. There are lots of Christmas lights around, and the insides of houses do have Christmas trees. However, they emphasize candles in their decorations and straw-dolls of Joulupukki, who is Santa Claus. Or, rather, Christmas Goat. Yes, they make straw goats. He is the original, though, so really it's us who messed up the tradition by making Joulupukki a man instead.
Have you seen any beautiful moments of Christmas?
The Christmas party this last Saturday had some really good Finnish traditions displayed. They have quite a different range of Christmas music than us, so I can't really sing along in English to anything. They performed this little song-march called Holy Lucia, this girl having candles on her head or something like that. Fun fact: I got to sing in Swedish for that. Pyhä Lucia was sung in both Finnish and Swedish by us missionaries at the very beginning of the party as we marched in robes and caps that were intended to make us look like priests of some denomination, I can only guess Lutheran, and they were entirely white with stars. I did not take any pictures of it, because the robes and hats did not really look that appropriate on us...
What have you studied this week?
I have mostly been studying about the things that increase one's testimony. I have been trying to show that miracles shouldn't be the base of what causes you to believe, and that a sincere faith in Christ in what we need to have before miracles can leave any lasting impression on our faith and testimony of Him. It's been rather insightful.
What is something you learned?
In my reading of the testimony of Alma the Younger in Alma 5, I noticed something very interesting. Despite the miraculous account which he gives of the angel he saw that essentially came and said, "hey, stop being evil and trying to destroy the church", his testimony is NOT anchored on that experience. He specifically says that the Holy Ghost has given him his testimony, through Alma the Younger's prayer and fasting on the matter of Christ. Isn't that interesting, that a man who had to have an angel come to correct his ways doesn't have that as a part of the reason why he has a testimony of Christ?
Who is someone you have met that you hope to get to know better?
Hmm... I think that it would probably be a Young Single Adult that we've been running into quite a bit lately. He is pretty cool, and we are going to be Skype-ing at his parent's house on Christmas Eve. He has taught me (without meaning to) a few quotes from Disney and Dreamworks movies. For example: "Väärä Vipu!" means "Wrong Lever!" from The Emperor's New Groove, and "Se on niin pehme, mä en kestä!" means (roughly translated from spoken Finnish) "It's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!!!" from Despicable Me. I can't wait to talk to him and his family more!
How are your investigators doing?
We're expecting there to be 2 baptisms this next change, both fairly sure, and the other investigators are quite happy learning more about ways they can feel closer to Christ. Overall, I am praying that I don't have to leave Tampere!!!
When is your next transfer possibility?
Speaking of "praying that I don't have to leave Tampere"... December 31st or so. My companion will be heading home January 1st. How weird is that... He only has about 17 days left!
What is something you wish you could tell all of us?
Have a very Merry Christmas! I wish I could be with every member of my family this Christmas. I know that we need to make sure to get our priorities straight during this time of year, and although I've had troubles in the past doing so, it has been very easy in the Lord's work to remember what this time of year is about. I guess if there is anything I could say to everyone and know that it would change how they think about something, it would be that Christmas should mean a lot more than just presents. It's said a LOT, and we tend to just go "yeah, yeah, I know, I know", but really and seriously, it's very interesting to see the difference in how I've been treating Christmas on my mission versus how I've gone about it in the past.
Well, I need to get going, we are having a lesson, but I think y'all all awesome! Thanks for all of your communications, and be safe!
Vanhin David Milligan
Not too many unique things happened this week, but we did get a few nice miracles! The Zone Leaders came out to go on splits with us on Tuesday, and we had a great time going to various areas with them and contacting with that short video "He Is The Gift", which I think is pretty good. It was a pretty successful day when it comes to lessons delivered, so I think that it was a good experience.
We had a Tampere wards Christmas party this week, and the 4 sets of missionaries in Tampere decided to put on a Finnish version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. News flash: No one here knows the story of the Grinch. Ergo, it's not in Finnish. So, 1 set of the Sisters took some time to make a funny Finnish rhyming version of it! I could understand quite a bit, and it was very funny to listen to. My companion was the Grinch and I was Max. When they all came up with this idea, immediately they thought of us 2 in those roles, so. Don't quite know if that's a good thing. Only sad part about it was that the person we asked to be a narrator was a bit harsh in his appraisal of the Sisters' ability to write Finnish poetry (which, BTW, we shouldn't be able to, really... it's pretty complex structuring and grammar skills) and decided to take it upon himself to criticize the whole piece and attempt to rewrite it... ½ hour before the performance. Hmm. It was still fun, and the members had a blast, but the Sisters get dagger-looks in their eyes whenever they see him now... Well!
They also hosted a small Christmas musical thing, in which I was invited to sing in a small part with the YSA due to my ability to keep time. You think I'm joking. All of the people that could keep time were instrumentalists in the piece, so all that was left to sing were the... not-so-musically minded people. And it was a pretty interesting arrangement of a Finnish song, so it was potentially difficult to sing unless someone could start everyone else singing in the right place. Guess who happened to be there during one of their rehearsals of this. It was a really fun experience, but it was kinda weird directing all of these Finns in singing a song that I don't even know but all of them do. It was a great song, though, I wish I could've gotten a recording of it!
Well, I now just have a few more things to talk about Language-wise that happened this week, and then it's on to the questions! Both humorous language blunders this week were made in the same lesson, the first by my companion and the second by me. In a lesson to our newly-baptized investigator / recent convert, my companion was attempting to say something along the lines of "We came from heaven", which is Me tulimme taivasta. What he said is Me tulimme taivalta, which is... a bit different. Technically, it still means "from heaven", it's just the from-the-outside case -LTA rather than the from-the-inside case -STA. However, in Finnish, Taivalta means the English equivalent of "from heaven", as in "aliens from the heavens" or "meteors from the heavens" or "Superman came down from the heavens". It was quite funny to the Finns present. The other mistake was mine, and it was from me mixing up the words Haava, or wound, and Haave, or dream. To be entirely honest, it was the Finns' fault, because when I said that the Atonement makes our wounds clean, they corrected me and said Haave was the right word, to which I then continued to talk about how everything that is a sin in life is another "dream" that we need to heal, and that the Atonement's role in purifying our "dreams" is important, after which they finally realized that I had meant what I had said. Whoops on everyone's part there!
Questions!
Did your package arrive? (My parents sent me a Christmas package!)
Yes! It actually arrived Wednesday morning! Funny thing, I was leaving the apartment with a Zone Leader (they had stayed overnight because they needed to come to the District Meeting that day, and that's where we were heading out to go) and passed by a Posti worker carrying a package to the door of our Talo (building). I said Hello to her, she smiled, and we separated. I then stood at the corner as the Zone Leader quickly ran a bag to my companion and the other Zone Leader (they were going via car, so this Zone Leader wanted to have them take his bag and leave it in the car for later) and I watched the Posti worker wait at the door for whoever-it-was to open the door for her to deliver it. There's a buzz-in system attached to all doors here. Well, no one was answering, and as I looked at the package from afar, I realized that it was quite prominently colored Red, White, and Blue. Hmm... So, as soon as the Zone Leader came back to my side, I pulled him over to the Posti worker (walking away) and quickly inquired if the package was for a David Milligan. IT WAS!!! I opened it later, and I LOVE everything inside. My possibly favorite part of it was the stocking made for me.
I also decorated that tree y'all sent me, and put it right alongside the Gingerbread house that the Young Women made for me! Very nice thought of them. I love gingerbread.
How was your health this week? Did you do that test you mentioned?
I, sadly, suffered from the Flu this Thursday. It was a bit sad, because I was just dead for the whole day, and although it didn't hurt our schedule too much (due to Thursdays being our assigned Weekly Planning day) it still made things more tight schedule-wise later on. But, good news! As my companion and one of the other Tampere Elders went out later that day to teach one of the lessons we had, they ran into the investigator that had a baptismal date that had dropped off the face of the earth! Turns out he'd gotten a new phone and been in Sweden up to that day, and quickly he gave them his number and set up a meeting. Very cool, I really like this investigator, and it still looks like he'll be getting baptized.
Oh, and the results of the stress test were... funny. When they hooked me up, they were concerned with my base heart rate (105 beats per minute at my most calm and laying down). When I started pedaling (it changed from treadmill to bike-machine in the plans, somehow) they got a bit freaked out at the top rate and how I accelerated to it. When I stopped, they were worried at the fact that when I had reached "calm" again I was still very fast-paced. However, when the data was compiled, I ¤technically¤ accelerated and decelerated within acceptable ratios, so... I'm okay? It looks like I will be sticking around for quite some time!
What is your weather doing now?
Well, it did snow this week and stuck around a whole day, but then it all melted today. Sad face. It's rather warm, in my opinion, although it is very dark...
How many layers do you have to wear to keep warm?
Right now, I'm just wearing my suit coat with my Sunday shirt. On the coldest day I've experience (-7 Celsius or so) I wore my Sunday shirt, Sweater, Suit coat, and nice coat from Halonens that I got for about 15€ or so... Not too bad. I have layers prepared, but haven't needed to use them.
How do you say "Merry Christmas" in Finnish?
"Hyvää Joulua!" Pronounced "Hew-vää (ä is like the a in Cat) You-oh-loo-ah".
Do they decorate the town/their houses like Americans do?
Sort of. There are lots of Christmas lights around, and the insides of houses do have Christmas trees. However, they emphasize candles in their decorations and straw-dolls of Joulupukki, who is Santa Claus. Or, rather, Christmas Goat. Yes, they make straw goats. He is the original, though, so really it's us who messed up the tradition by making Joulupukki a man instead.
Have you seen any beautiful moments of Christmas?
The Christmas party this last Saturday had some really good Finnish traditions displayed. They have quite a different range of Christmas music than us, so I can't really sing along in English to anything. They performed this little song-march called Holy Lucia, this girl having candles on her head or something like that. Fun fact: I got to sing in Swedish for that. Pyhä Lucia was sung in both Finnish and Swedish by us missionaries at the very beginning of the party as we marched in robes and caps that were intended to make us look like priests of some denomination, I can only guess Lutheran, and they were entirely white with stars. I did not take any pictures of it, because the robes and hats did not really look that appropriate on us...
What have you studied this week?
I have mostly been studying about the things that increase one's testimony. I have been trying to show that miracles shouldn't be the base of what causes you to believe, and that a sincere faith in Christ in what we need to have before miracles can leave any lasting impression on our faith and testimony of Him. It's been rather insightful.
What is something you learned?
In my reading of the testimony of Alma the Younger in Alma 5, I noticed something very interesting. Despite the miraculous account which he gives of the angel he saw that essentially came and said, "hey, stop being evil and trying to destroy the church", his testimony is NOT anchored on that experience. He specifically says that the Holy Ghost has given him his testimony, through Alma the Younger's prayer and fasting on the matter of Christ. Isn't that interesting, that a man who had to have an angel come to correct his ways doesn't have that as a part of the reason why he has a testimony of Christ?
Who is someone you have met that you hope to get to know better?
Hmm... I think that it would probably be a Young Single Adult that we've been running into quite a bit lately. He is pretty cool, and we are going to be Skype-ing at his parent's house on Christmas Eve. He has taught me (without meaning to) a few quotes from Disney and Dreamworks movies. For example: "Väärä Vipu!" means "Wrong Lever!" from The Emperor's New Groove, and "Se on niin pehme, mä en kestä!" means (roughly translated from spoken Finnish) "It's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!!!" from Despicable Me. I can't wait to talk to him and his family more!
How are your investigators doing?
We're expecting there to be 2 baptisms this next change, both fairly sure, and the other investigators are quite happy learning more about ways they can feel closer to Christ. Overall, I am praying that I don't have to leave Tampere!!!
When is your next transfer possibility?
Speaking of "praying that I don't have to leave Tampere"... December 31st or so. My companion will be heading home January 1st. How weird is that... He only has about 17 days left!
What is something you wish you could tell all of us?
Have a very Merry Christmas! I wish I could be with every member of my family this Christmas. I know that we need to make sure to get our priorities straight during this time of year, and although I've had troubles in the past doing so, it has been very easy in the Lord's work to remember what this time of year is about. I guess if there is anything I could say to everyone and know that it would change how they think about something, it would be that Christmas should mean a lot more than just presents. It's said a LOT, and we tend to just go "yeah, yeah, I know, I know", but really and seriously, it's very interesting to see the difference in how I've been treating Christmas on my mission versus how I've gone about it in the past.
Well, I need to get going, we are having a lesson, but I think y'all all awesome! Thanks for all of your communications, and be safe!
Vanhin David Milligan
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