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