Okay, nothing really exploded, nor are there any negative results. Everything just got really complicated overall.
Well, to start off this e-mail, I have to report that Elder Frey is no longer my companion. I knew this the last time that I e-mailed, but nothing had been finalized when it came to who will come or what my fate is in all of this. Elder Frey has been told to go home and focus on recovery - which I believe was a very good idea, considering the pain he's had to go through but powered through anyways. He really helped the mission out in his capacity here. Now it's my job to try to make his positive influence last a little longer. Ever got the feeling of being like Atlas trying to hold up the world? Yeah, that's the responsibility. Hopefully, things will go well...
The rest of the crazy, I shall put as answers to questions below. Orderly chaos. How quaint.
TO THE Q'S!
What did you teach this week?
Unfortunately, we have been unable to teach anyone thus far this week, mostly due to the busy schedule that we had. On Monday and Tuesday, we worked on specifics in projects that Elder Frey has the format of in his head. Made it great that we can have similar looks to things all across projects. He also made certain that I knew what I was doing once he left. That one is still up for debate, but I'm surviving. Wednesday, we had final prep and a dinner for him at the Mission Home, at which point I received my new companion. I'll talk about who he is later, he deserves a paragraph. After that, on Thursday, we put together a TON of Apartment Needs for a route to Seinäjoki. The Elders there needed beds. They didn't have any. So we went up through Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Tampere, then to Seinäjoki, then a bit further to Vaasa to drop off supplies for the Elders and Sisters there, as well as Kokkola and Pietarsaari, since there was quite a bit, then down to Pori, and straight home, since it was getting to be late. Because we got a late start. Because I lost my wallet for the first time in my life. I searched everywhere for it. Turned out that it was in my Sunday-Shirt pocket. I put it in there instead of the little notebooks that I normally do. Sigh. But, a lot of the mission has stuff that it needs now, since we did all of that on Friday. And now it is Saturday. And here I am.
What did you share this week?
I'm taking the easy out on this one - I shared a WHOLE lot of Apartment needs for the mission. I also shared my meager food supplies with my new companion, since we didn't really ever have time to go shopping for food until today.
Oh, now I can say this, too - we are making great plans on sharing. That is to say, we will finally be able to share the gospel more, and proselyte in the evenings fully from 6-9! Woo-hoo! Wow, there are so many people that Elder Frey has been in contact with, but that have had odd schedules or apartments with stairs, and we haven't been able to spend as much time as we want trying to meet with them. We get to start having the full west side of Vantaa. That also means that the Rogers are in my area again. Let's see if I can get some Oklahoma cooking shared with me this week. :)
What did you learn this week?
I continued going through my Preach My Gospel scripture underlining and study-activity-completing. This week, I have gotten through all of Chapter 2 and started on Chapter 3, lesson 1. Wow, there are a lot of scriptures, and WOW, are there a lot of recommendations for Personal and Companionship study! I won't be able to finish it all in my mini-scriptures and mini-study journal, but you can bet that I'm gonna try my hardest! It can only help me teach more effectively!
Are you teaching any refugees? Are there refugees arriving in Finland?
Not at the moment, no. I have talked with a few before, but I haven't met any here in the Myyrmäki area. I'm not sure that there is a refugee camp in our area at all. Yes, though, there are quite a number of refugees that come to Finland, or get moved here. Must be hard, with the giant language barrier.
Are you training Elders to be Office Elders?
I am now training Elder Hoggard to be an Office Elder. Elder Hoggard was in my Zone when I first became a Zone Leader in Mikkeli, so I already slightly know him, but not fantastically well. This will be a good opportunity - I had been thinking last transfer that I never really got to know the Kuopio members of the Zone during that first transfer in Mikkeli. It's been fun already - not too many common interests so far, but that's actually a pro in this - there's a lot for me to learn again about stuff that I don't know! It's really interesting, I think that I have learned a lot on a mission about getting acquainted with strangers. I think that I'm a lot more accepting of 'he is different than I am' than I was at the beginning of my mission. I hope that means that I've matured a little bit.
Oh, and, he won't really get to experience most of the Office work until Monday. Due to the fact that we were running around all of Thursday, and then driving around all of Friday. It'll be fine - I hope. Still need to even introduce the concept behind a lot of our projects.
Here's a picture of us together! It's on my lower-quality camera, since his got left behind by accident in Pori, after we spent time taking a lot of stuff out of their storage to take back home with us. Mostly broken junk that they had no way to dispose of.
What is the generic brand that you see most often? (like Walmart has Great Value) (Nathan's Q)
Rainbow. That's the S-Market / Prisma brand. Lots of the baking ingredients that I have come from that, as well as almost all of the cleaning supplies that I buy. Other than that, though, I can't really think of brands that I see a lot. Except for the Santa Maria brand of spices. I love their grill powder, it goes perfectly in everything! It might be 125% salt, but I don't mind. :)
Well, that's all. Just been dealing with a lot of chaos. I've gotten to know my new companion pretty well, though. I'd hope so, after about 13 hours of travel together. Saw so much of the country. Finland is just as beautiful as ever! :) Oh, and it looks like I will continue to have fun story-telling - Elder Hoggard has already experienced a bit of my ramblings, and he at least pretends to like hearing me story-tell. I'll keep it up until I hear otherwise.
Thank you all, for all that you do! Be safe, learn something new about where you live, and do your best to help one more person this week! Don't stop there if you can help it, either! :)
Vanhin David Milligan
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