June 16, 2015 - Slow again...

So. It's slow again. Yes, we still have investigators, but most of them got sick this last week. There was a bug going around all of Lohja, even a lot of the members got sick. So, there wasn't too much success this week. Just lots of texts from people apologizing about sickness. Sigh.

We got to meet some interesting people, though. Finland likes to celebrate local community traditions, so you get a lot of interesting mini-Holidays. Kinda weird to walk outside and realize that everyone is partying on a normal day of the week. For example, we were contacting outside, and then realized that everyone out there was on a bike. We realized that when we had a +200 single-file line of bikes force us off of the sidewalk. That was a loooong wait.

Another one was an official Youth Drinking Day. There was some other name for it, but it essentially equaled out to all of the young adults in Finland walking around drunk in large hordes. We didn't even figure it out, until a few of them asked why we were wearing suits on a party-day. We did find some sober people, though, that were surprised we could be smart enough "at our age" to not go around drinking. Hope that something comes out of talking to them!

Yeah, that's about it for this week. I do have an interesting thing to mention, though - Hintasaarnajat. There is a set of commercials going on right now that a member showed us. They are for a cell-phone-service-providing company, and they star 2 Missionaries from Finland, talking to Americans about the "miracle of Saunalahti". It was quite hilarious, and all in English, so totally understandable to Americans! They can be found on YouTube as the Elisa Saunalahti Hintasaarnajat, but the best place to go is the website itself, with all of the videos there. It is http://elisa.fi/erikoiskokeet/hintasaarnaajat/ from what I wrote down. No promises that it will work, but there should be a search bar for typing Hintasaarnajat on the elisa.fi page, if nothing else.

To the Q's!

How are you sleeping?

It is going alright. I'm always really tired when I go to bed, so the excessive amount of brightness doesn't wake me up. We accidentally had an alarm go off at midnight, and when I got up to turn it off, it was so bright I thought it might actually be day-time still! Crazy.

How is your health?

It is fine! I'm eating well, and the members care a lot. I felt a bit under the weather this week due to the bug, but it passed. I'm alive!

Have you continued to have lots of people to teach?

In a sense. We don't get many new investigators, but the ones that we have are progressing well. Minus church attendance. That is always a big step for the people we teach. But they are trying to come, at least! It should be fun to continue teaching them, and hopefully we will find more people.

What have you been teaching?

We have been doing a lot of "How to Begin Teaching". That's the name of the process where we kinda establish where we are now, what they expect from us when we meet, and what they should do if they want to achieve their goals. It's a great little exercise, and we find out a lot of things that help us all to grow.

What did you learn this week?

In District Meeting, we covered a section in Preach My Gospel titled "Asking Inspired Questions". There was a lot of good discussion there, and we basically agreed that an 'inspired question' doesn't always have to reveal more information to us - in fact, almost always, it should be the investigator finding out something about their own testimony and belief. That's so cool that the Spirit can teach us as we try to teach!

Did you have any interesting foods recently?
Hmm. There was a Ward Potluck just last Sunday that was REALLY good! We had all sorts of pasta-salads that had interesting combinations of ingredients, but they were all fantastic. I found out that one had just about as close to raw fish as you can buy in Finland - guess which one was accidentally my favorite?! Just a little grossed out by that one...

Is there a chocolate shop in your new town?

No... I'm so sad... But! Because Porvoo is still in my Zone, and because Elder Saunders is still there, I have employed him many-a-time to secure chocolate to bring to Zone Conferences! Yay! (I'm going to have to contact Elder Saunders... ~Mom)

How many Districts are in each Zone?

Oooh, hmm... That's a good question. I'd guess between 4-5 in Tampere and Helsinki Zones, and 3-4 in the North and East Zones. Each, of course - not shared.

Have you given any talks in church? Or taught any Sunday School classes?

I haven't had to give one in church, beyond the standard "I'm new here, thanks for being nice to me" that you give your first Sunday. I have had to teach Gospel Principles more than once when I served in Porvoo, and I got to teach the Primary twice - once here, once in Tampere. It's always fun to try to teach to members, because you have a manual in front of you! That helps with the grammar and vocab remembering a LOT.

Well, that's all, folks! I can't think of anything else, so we'll quit while I'm ahead. Thanks for everyone that is out there, trying to keep up with everything I'm experiencing in the big, wide world! I love you all - stay safe!

Vanhin David Milligan

Pictures sent by his mission president to all the parents:

I have included 3 pictures from Finland.  As we travel, each week, we see the incredible beauty of Finland.  Each of these pictures are typical of Finland, with its forests, farms and lakes.  The lake picture is just about ¼ mile from the mission home where Sister Watson and I live.  The farm picture is a bit west of Helsinki as we drove to a city called Pietarsaari on the west coast.  The temple picture is the temple and sky at 11:00 pm this past week. (Notice he says the picture of the temple is PM! So light so late! ~Mom)

 

June 9, 2015 - Wow, We Actually Are Teaching?

Yeah, we actually had one of the most successful weeks that this area has ever seen. It was crazy, and we would have actually gotten more had we not planned on attending a baptism on Saturday that we ended up not going to. We canceled lessons to do it, and then the people we were going with couldn't come, so we decided it was best not to attend alone!

Well, other than the fact that we have been teaching a lot, especially to families and couples, there's not much else to say! We are having great interactions with them all, and hope that they will be accepting baptismal invitations soon. They all want to learn a lot before making that big of a committing step, even though we explain it is like a goal that shows you want to know for certain and get His help in finding the truth. They all agree - but want to know more first. So, we'll see what this week brings!

New Mission Home Address for sending letters and packages is listed in the blog title area! It goes into effect on June 22, 2015.

To the questions!

How many missionaries are in your mission?

104. I just checked and double-checked the numbers. There are a LOT - 36 in the Helsinki Zone alone!

How many missionaries serve in the ward you are in? Is that typical?

In the ward I'm in, we've got the 2-soon-to-be-3 AP's (long story short, one left after a week to temporarily train, but is coming back this Thursday) and the 2 Sister-Training-Leaders plus their 1 trainee. So, there are 7-almost-8 in my ward alone. No, that's not typical. I'd spitball at saying that most areas have 2 sets of missionaries in their ward, so around 4. We've got twice that, with only 3 companionships! Weird.

Are all the mission areas as big as yours? (same long distance to church)

Short answer? Not in Helsinki. Long answer? In the North areas, they sometimes extend even further, and are still only a branch, but the area where the missionaries are stationed is where the branch is. So, no one really has to commit investigators to driving long distances, unless they find an investigator in the flung-out areas of their area.

What mission Zone are you in? There are 5, right?

There were 3 when I first got here - the Tampere, Helsinki, and North Zones. With the switch of P-days that came out, there was a simultaneous creation of another Zone going on - the East Zone, called the Savo Zone then. So, when I moved down to Porvoo, they got Zone Leaders officially called for that Zone. So, there are 4 Zones, and I'm in the Helsinki one, although we are almost in the Turku one. It is actually faster for some of our area parts to travel to Turku for church than Helsinki. Weird. (I just got totally confused. Is Turku a Zone? Mom)

What mission Zones have you been in?

I have served in Tampere Zone and Helsinki Zone only. Don't think I'm gonna get banished to the North, but who knows?

What have you taught this week?

One of the biggest things that we have been teaching this week is the Restoration. Since we have so many first-time investigators and a few gone-through-almost-everything ones too, this has been a common starting point for many of our lessons this week. I love how the lesson of the Restoration starts with very simple, yet key teachings: God is our loving Heavenly Father, and He has given us families to help us learn and grow. That simple phrase establishes so much of what our church believes in, and gives us the central reasoning behind why things happen in this life. Why did Jesus need to come and die? Because God loves us, and wants us and our families to return to Him so we can all be families forever. Why do I go through trials? Because God loves you, and wants you to grow to understand his love more profoundly, and to be able to endure all things with His help. Everything goes into perspective. Prayer is easier - it's not to an unknown God that will smite us should we not pay lip-service once a day - it is a natural, loving conversation with our Heavenly Father, where sometimes we feel the answers, and sometimes we read them in the scriptures. It just all makes sense to people!

What have you learned this week?

Well, I have been going through the scriptures and selecting my favorite ones that strike me - there are a lot - and then putting them all on little Post-It notes, but written in Finnish. It helps with Language Study by giving me interesting ways to phrase familiar things, and it also inspires me to remember why I have liked certain scriptures. It's a good review and lesson rolled into one.

What is something you are grateful for this week?

I'm grateful for a family in which the Gospel has been a central part. Immediately, I was able to start learning from my parents about God's love, not so much by what they told me to believe in, but by the fact that they lived in such a way, always showing love, that gave me the ability to look at a concept and say, "Well, if God has even greater love than my parents do for me, he must really care, huh?" That knowledge has given such hope in times of trials and despair, because I know that there are always at least 2 groups rooting and pulling for me - my earthly family, and my Heavenly Father. It's a great comfort!

That's all, folks. Thanks for all of the support you give - I got a lot of emails from people this week asking about things! It was great to see that people care enough to write to someone halfway-across-the-world (although to one person, right next door - what are you doing in Europe, Landon Hester?!). I love you all - I hope that your weeks go well!

Vanhin David Milligan

June 2, 2015 - I Love Splits Days!

I'm not writing that because I don't like to be with my current companion! It's just that every single time that I'm on splits, we get miracles. Take this last Thursday, for example. My companion tracted into a family that is SUPER-prepared and eager to learn! We have met them together, and are going to meet them again tomorrow, and who knows how many times after that! It is really cool to talk to them. I hope that we can get missionary work here moving!

Other than that, nothing that I can immediately think of. So, to questions!

Anything exciting happen to you this week? No dog attacks on your side of the world, right?

Other than meeting the family, no, nothing really outlandish happened. Dogs are constantly outside, but always leashed. The weirdest thing is that some people here have actually trained WOLVES. And walk them around like it's nothing. I've seen it at least 3 times on my mission so far, and it always kinda freaks me out...

Oh, oh! I just remembered something funny! My companion and I were walking and talking, mostly over the fact that he knows next-to-nothing about American Superheroes. Except Batman. Because of the movies. And I started to do a Batman impression, which he was very impressed by. But, that's not the funny part. I was going to use the impression to tell him a joke. The "Knock-knock - Who's there - Beak - Beak who - BECAUSE I'M BATMAN" one. I must have repeated "Knock-Knock" at least 6 times, with him just laughing, before I realized my companion doesn't know what a Knock-Knock joke is!!! So, I threw him an explanation, but now I need more knock-knock jokes to throw at him. My arsenal is depleted, since they are so cheap...

Oh, and he's been talking about how movies get interestingly-dubbed in Spain. For instance, the Toy Story 3 movie? When Buzz starts speaking Spanish? They got a deep-south Spaniard dialect to do that part. Half-understandable, half-gibberish to the un-informed Spanish speaker. Lots of fun!

What is happening in your new area?

Well, we have recently re-discovered a few investigators that have been lost by previous missionaries. As in, when they all left, they wrote NOTHING about these people other than that they exist. No phone number, no address, nothing. Oh, well. We managed to re-find them with the help of members. So nice to have people that are really invested in missionary work! I always have loved having members with us in each of my areas.

Are you enjoying your new area?

I am loving Lohja! It is just beautiful, and with the lessons that we are now able to teach to people, it makes it so the missionary work FEELS like missionary work. That's a lot of fun to not just have a pretty area, but a prepared one!

Are you enjoying being fed?

It is GREAT. We don't even ask to come over at all - sometimes, we go over to Less-Active members houses, and the first thing they say is, "Oh, the new Elders! When can you come over to eat?" Crazy. We've got a lunch appointment tomorrow with a LA, a lunch appointment on Thursday with a LA, and a dinner appointment on Thursday with a member family. And more is coming. CRAZY. It's fun!

Brother Bassett wants to know how you could like mammi (sp?), (the rye stuff you told us about) Or, as he put it, "this nasty solid rye that they boil down and then turn into some strange nasty pudding?" I think I got that right...

Oh, yeah, Mämmi! The Easter-food. I talked about that. Yeah, he got the description pretty down-pat. I don't know why I liked it, everyone else thought it was disgusting. Probably the same way I liked Salmiakki all of a sudden, and why when the Kool-Aid equivalent is served here, I water it down like the Finns do. I'm becoming Finnish - watch out!

What is your favorite thing about the sun coming back?

Okay, short answer? I don't like it that the sun has come back. It's too bright all of the time. However, I LOVE how it makes the clouds pop! The sun is good for that, but it is always in my eyes when driving, and it makes the streets VERY bright, and it's just overall-aggravating. Bring back the darkness... Wow, that sounded really morbid. I'm the Morbid Mormon!

Have you learned any hymns on the instrument you have?
Yes, it is quite easy to play hymns on the mandolin. Mostly because everything is a four-chord song. I kid you not. But, it is really fun to tinker around on that, and my companion likes it when I do! He likes the sound of it.

Are you going to be able to get a violin? I forget...

Theoretically? Yes. In reality? Only if I can find one that is suitably cheap enough, and that I don't mind leaving behind when I go off to America again. So, fingers crossed! I would really like to try to keep that skill up. I also found a harmonica here with 3 octaves, it just takes far too much air to play!


Well, that's all. I guess I'll talk to y'all sometime later! Thanks for your prayers. Be safe!

Vanhin David Milligan

May 26, 2015 - Following the Spirit Pays Off!

Lots of little things this week to talk about! I actually made a list, here we go...

Salmiakki Cheesecake - A Daring Run-In

This is a simple little story. We were doing service for a family, and they brought out Cheesecake that they had made. They started to laugh as they did so, and when I saw it, I knew why - the thing was FILLED with Salmiakki. It had a Salmiakki base, salmiakki running in veins through it - it looked like it could kill. But I tried some anyways, with all of them grinning at me, as if it was going to come shooting back out of my mouth, which I half expected. But then. I found that I REALLY liked the taste. O.o  I can't believe it. Is Finland growing on me?!? I actually helped FINNISH off the cake in the end. I'm pretending like none of you saw that coming... (Salmiakki is a very salty black licorice. Anyone who wants to try it is welcome to a piece. David sent it to us with the message that we should offer it to people and get videos of their reactions. Thank you to those of you who were our unsuspecting victims! ~Mom)

Canadian Geese Vacation to Finland

So, we were walking along a lake-side. Most of our area is lake-side. And we were looking at the ducks. I like ducks. And then, a miraculous, unexpected piece of America showed up. Around a bend in the forest (the other ½ of our area, sometimes occuring alongside the lake-side), I saw 2 Canadian Geese just standing around, looking at the lake. Sort of with this, "Honey, where are we? I told you we should have asked for directions" look to them. And I started to laugh a little. My companion hadn't seen them yet, but when he did, he exclaimed, "What ARE those things?!" I looked at him, and then realized that Canadian Geese probably don't really visit Spain... So I told him about Canadian Geese. I've had to do weirder to get our cultures to make sense to each other. I haven't even started on the Virginian Vultures... (Turkey Vultures. A large flock of them roosted on the roof of David's school in Virginia. He was 8 when we moved and he still talks about the creepy things! ~Mom)
 
Following the Spirit Pays Off

 This was quite a surprise to me when this happened. Two Sundays ago, I was talking to President Watson after the Stake Conference we had. He gave me some direction on a good family to follow up with and start teaching and visiting. They seemed really nice from his description, but I had already tried to contact the family earlier, in my "call-every-member" quest during the first week being there. I said we'd renew our efforts to get in contact.

This last week, we were returning from being in a new area, and I felt really impressed to turn down a street. I knew there was no way it was going to bring us back home, and it was getting to that time, so I questioned it at first, but made the turn the next second. My companion doesn't really know how to orient himself in this new area (he's exactly like how I normally am, just following and praying we get to where we need to go), so he didn't question it. As I kept walking, I only managed to get a couple feet or so down the road before I felt, STOP. So I did. And I was really confused, because there were no people or houses in our immediate vicinity. My companion stopped, and asked where we were. Before I could answer, "Hold up, I don't really know why we're supposed to be here", a car pulled up from around a corner and slowed down right by us. The windows rolled down, and the driver called out, "Veljet!" Which is what the Church Finns call us. I looked at him, and asked in Finnish, "Sorry - Who are you again?" Because I hadn't ever met the guy. To which he answered that he was a Brother So-and-so: The same So-and-so that we had been trying to get in contact with. We actually were just a little bit further away from his house, and he too had made a wrong turn, and was going to turn around EXACTLY where we were standing - the only reason he slowed down and stopped to see us. Crazy!

We talked to him, then set up times to meet, and now we have set up Badmitton-playing with a less-active, had a dinner appointment at his house, taught with him an investigator of ours that he knows, and are going to go play Tennis with him soon. Wow - all out of following the Spirit in turning down what I knew was the wrong road. Cool.

Well, now to the Questions!


How's the weather in Finland? (this had to be asked since we are having crazy weather!)

Super Sunny! I have a lot of REALLY nice pictures of Lake and Forest scenes. They will come when I am not in a library that tends to delete SD card information when you plug in things. Just got warned by some people who were just here. Both of their things got deleted from these computers. Yikes.

What do you most want to have happen in the next week or month?

I want to find an investigator! Only 2 times have I ever "found" someone out here in Finland, and in both of those, it was just that I felt I needed to talk to them about a certain thing, and we exchange info right there and they want to talk with us later and it's just a great feeling. All of the other people that I have taught have self-referred themselves in one way or another - showing up at church, getting members to get us to them, or actually submitting info to the referral page as a self-referral. So I want to FIND. But I'll take referrals, too!

What is something you learned this week?

I studied a lot from the Finding People section of Preach My Gospel in an effort to achieve my goal. It has been interesting to note that almost every point it brings up is made possible through the joint efforts of Members being there that want to help - and guess what Lohja has a surplus of? Yay!

What is something you taught this week?

We got to teach an investigator this week - we went with the Brother So-and-so from earlier - about the expectations that both sides of us have. We really stressed that the things that we teach remain only that - things taught and perhaps retained - until he decides to act on them. It really spoke to him that we weren't trying to force him to see our way on things, that this wasn't a debate - this was a time for him to be taught by the Spirit and by seeing his actions achieve things beyond himself. We are now going to be meeting with him and his girlfriend regularly - fingers crossed that all sides feel the Spirit!

What is something strange that happened this week?

Meeting Brother So-and-so out of nowhere falls under this category, nothing else really crazy happened...

We found out that there will be some people in Espoo giving us Dinner Appointments, that was pretty fun! I think the Espoo missionaries are getting jealous that we are getting fed even more than the Sisters...

What is something funny that happened this week?

Seeing Canadian Geese. Also, we have been recording our Language Studies when we read the Book of Mormon in Finnish, and there was a verse where the English is roughly "Woe, woe, woe unto these people", and in Finnish, it is quite hilarious, since "Woe" roughly equal "Voi", which means a TON of things besides woe. One of which is Butter. Also, Voi Voi is a way to go "oh well". So it was funny to see Voi, voi, voi.

Since you are still in a Swedish speaking area, are you feeling inspired to learn any Swedish?

I'm considering it, now... But, I really want to get my Finnish Grammar stuff down before I venture into the wild world of Swedish. So, ei vielä. Not yet.

How is your health? Are you still feeling run-down?

Well, I am always tired, but I am assured this is standard procedure as a missionary. But, I am staying healthy, yes! No worries on that, the members are doing well at fattening me up.

What is your companion like?

My companion is pretty fun, I'd say. The fastest bonding that I've had with a companion happened with him, (sorry, Elder Saunders!) so we're on a good start. He is fairly nerdy, although he hasn't gone overboard with it like some have, so that's good. He is interested in writing stories, so I am also getting re-interested in that again. It's been fun to talk about stories we know to each other - that one thing hasn't changed from these last 2 companions! All in all, he's a really fun guy, and we're probably going to stick in touch after the mission.

Are there any Finnish holidays that we need to celebrate here?

Hmm, other than starting to celebrate Christmas, Easter, and Labor Day for multiple days and get work off for them all... I can't think of anything! There is a day called Juhannus or the like coming up that will be a Hard-Red, don't-go-outside day, but I don't really know what it celebrates. I'll get back to y'all!


Well, that's it! Thanks for everything y'all are doing to give me support. It means a lot when I hear someone has liked a certain part of my blog, or, even better, when someone emails me personally! Thanks for the support, again.

Be safe, everyone!

Vanhin David Milligan

May 19, 2015 - A Slow Week In Lohja

Well, there wasn't much work done this week. Mostly because we were traveling to Helsinki a lot. We had to go at the beginning of the week to get the mission office people some stuff and pick up a new phone (exactly like the old one), in the middle of the week for a Zone Training meeting, and in the end of the week for the Helsinki Stake Conference. Lots of time not in area. The time spent here was spent trying to fix up an unkept Area Book and find actual potentials within it (5 years of not being touched, grr...), as well as trying to physically locate where those potentials are now. Not too much teaching to anyone but members.

The Conference was great, though! We got to attend the Saturday Session as well, this time around, in addition to the Sunday Session. I think I got more out of the Saturday, so I'm glad we were invited. A few funny things happened there. I got to meet all of the people I just left from Porvoo - including our recent convert! - and had a lot of fun with that. When we came in to sit down, my companion and I noticed that the back of the room was all filled up, and that the first 3 rows were entirely unused. So, I said we should sit in the 3rd row, and that way we will be close when other people continue to come in and fill up those spots. But no one ever came. Which meant that despite 2 rows of chairs in front of us, we were in the front row of people. We WERE the front row of people. A bit crazy, since Pres. Watson was sitting in the front with his wife, and the member of the Area 70 was there. President actually started to make funny faces at me and my companion when we were sitting down, and when I pointed at him to let him know I saw that, he started to laugh! I think Pres. Watson has a great sense of humor, and despite his rules being really strict, it's fun to interact with him.

Another cool thing: The member of the Area 70 that was there was a member in my ward in Tampere. He is the only one in Finland, so he is invited to many of the Stake Conferences. He was also on several lessons with me and Elder Nemelka when we were teaching our investigator-now-recent-convert in Tampere, and I learned a lot from his lessons. He is that recent convert's home teacher, so she is in good hands! After the meeting, I told my companion that I wanted to go try to talk to him at some point before we left, to see if he happened to remember me. To my great surprise, once he stepped off of the podium, he made a beeline to where I was sitting and shook my hand, saying, "Hello, my dear friend, Elder Milligan!" He didn't even need to look at my badge! He then proceeded to tell me everything happening with our recent convert, and saying how much she missed me being able to talk with her and read scriptures to her. He gave me a lot of comfort on how she is doing. I was the first one he talked to after the meeting, and one of the only ones, as he very quickly escaped off to another meeting. That was really cool to see that I could have made an impression on someone!

Well, that's it for amazingly-interesting things that I can think of... To the questions!


How is your health?

I am still at the same weight, but it may go up soon as we continue to have members inviting us over to feed us! I have been a bit tired lately, but that's to be expected when you are a missionary. You don't really have free time to relax.

Are you enjoying your new area?

Oh. My. Goodness. The area? Is HUGE. I finally counted up the kilometers our area stretches. If you happen to have a Google Maps thing handy, go look for Nummela, Finland. That's almost at the top of our area, further up than that requires letters that aren't on your keyboard. Now, look for Hanko, Finland. Not the one in main Helsinki - the one that is to the southwest of Nummela, Lohja, and Ekenäs/Tammisaari. Yeah, it's on the coast. And it is also my area. The whole connecting line of Nummela/Vihti, Lohja, another town, Tammisaari, and Hanko is my area. It ranges about 150 kilometers. I have no idea how we are supposed to get anyone to church!

From Lohja alone, it takes between 45-50 minutes to arrive at the church building, and our area stretches +90 kilometers past even that. We can't really invite them to only 1 hour of church - anyone that takes them there will want to stay for the whole 3. We have to ask investigators for a minimum 5-hour-commitment to coming to church, and even more if they live further away than Lohja. Most of our potentials live in Tammisaari, or Ekenäs. That basically doubles the travel time. We haven't even been able to visit there, yet, due to the time it takes and the travel involved, not to mention the fact that the place is primarily Swedish-speaking!

Oh, well. I bet everything will work out in the end.

Are your shoes surviving all the walking?

Those shoes I got? Super sturdy. I haven't even needed to break out the second pair, and these are doing great. They might even last my whole mission, warranty aside!

Do you go back to your apartment for lunch, carry snack food to munch on, or eat out?

We go out at 11 and come back at 12 for food, generally, with going out again at 1. It is pretty nice to contact at 11 - there are actually occasionally people outside! We don't really ever eat out, although both me and Elder Greciano Raiskila want to at least try some of the places around us. Even the ones that are rumored to be absolutely horrible from other missionaries, like Hesburger. Pray for our health...

Are people feeding you well?

Yes. To make it short. We have had quite a few dinner appointments, and will likely continue to have more as the weeks go on!

What is something you learned this week?

Well, I have learned that in really hard situations that can lead you to question, "what is the most effective thing that I can do right now?", one of the best things that can guide your actions is a small prayer. Whether or not you are religious, you have to admit that taking a moment away to calm yourself and seeking for a way to be open to inspiration can be quite beneficial in getting action to be more precisely oriented. I have constantly been wondering, "How can I best help an area that I am not even aware of what is going on?" The most helpful thing has been to just seek for that which can help, and then prayerfully bring it before the Lord and ask if it is right. More often than not, the action that I want to do feels right, but it still gives me more confidence to know that it is a good action, rather than just half-heartedly doing it, wondering if I'm in the wrong place at the right time.

What is something you studied this week?

I have been going through all of the Missionary Purpose that is on page 1 of the Preach My Gospel manual. I am going through it right now on the basis of "how can I give investigators that which is my purpose", and plan to later go through it with the emphasis of members. I think it has gone well! It is almost like studying the Gospel of Christ, but there are a few different things emphasized in this.

Have you had any funny language mishaps lately?

Hmm. I can't think of anything, actually... With Elder Greciano Raiskila, we have been talking about mistakes that we hear a lot, but there's not too much that we ourselves mess up on. So how about 2 funny idioms that I've learned?

If something falls through, like a plan, then you can say that it "palaa poroksi". This roughly translates into English as, "burns into a deer". I don't understand it, but Finns do, and they laugh when an American knows the phrase.

If something begins to nose-dive (that's the rough English-equivalent of this idiom) and fail, it will "loppua kuin kanan lento", or, "end like a chicken's flight". This one makes me laugh more than the Finns that hear it!

Did you learn any Swedish in Porvoo?

No, no no no no. I only learned how to say "Do you speak Swedish?" and "I speak a little Swedish", because when you say those things, people tend to switch back to Finnish. They will speak Swedish to avoid speaking to you, and then they will try to speak Finnish to throw you off a second time, so it is great! I actually got a Swedish missionary nametag from being in Porvoo - Åldster Milligan! Woo-hoo! Now I have a similar situation with Ekenäs in my area - everyone there speaks Swedish primarily. Snap...

Which is your favorite tie?

That skinnier blue-with-silver-stripes ties, with the two lines always really close together. I normally wear it with my vest, 'cuz I think it looks nice together! But, any black- or blue-themed ties are my favorites in general.


Well, that's it! I'm done! I don't have anything left to say! The rest of this email if I tried to continue would "loppuu kuin kanan lento", so I'll just sign off. Be safe, everyone, and thanks for emailing me about everything going on in your lives!


Vanhin David Milligan

May 12, 2015 - Lohja - The Lahja of Suomi

The Finnish word "Lahja" means gift. I think there is a reason the name of this place so closely matches it!

I have had a CRAZY time here already. In this first week, I have had more area-member-interaction than all of my first change in Porvoo. The members love to have the missionaries be a part of their lives. They are in the middle of doing a 90-day-reading of the Book of Mormon, specifically for missionary work here. How cool is that?! The missionaries didn't even initiate it, it was the members. They are great. I have been talking a lot with them about how we can help them achieve those things which they desire - our work to succeed! They have given a lot of ways for us to be involved in this area, including they are in the midst of setting up a set of classes to teach English for free to anyone that shows up, and then have a spiritual thought afterwards. They have already invited a lot of their friends, and it appears that if it works out, we will have a very full, very eager class. I'm excited!

I wish I could talk about everything that has happened, but there has just been SO MUCH. Getting used to a new area is difficult, even with a companion that knows it leading you. But the blind is to lead the blind here - let's just hope it doesn't end like it does in the Bible! (They are both brand new to this area. That's what he means about the blind leading the blind! ~Mom)

I actually have been very surprised by how getting used to Porvoo has helped me out here. I used to be very geographically-challenged. I couldn't lead you to my school without quite a few wrong turns. However, I am confidently remembering where we've been, who lives where, and how we can travel along roads I haven't been down yet! It's crazy to just know that I am going the right way, I always have sort-of surprised myself when I show up where I want to.

Well, I think most of the rest of what I want to address is in the questions, so! Here we go!


How was your first Sunday in your new ward?

The first Sunday was great! One of the things that we did was meet with the bishop. We called and asked for his aid in finding out how we can help the members here, and he was very shocked, yet eager to help. He actually used to live in this area some time ago, so his aid was invaluable! The members are so nice - From the number of them that greeted us and said they live in Lohja, I'm pretty sure over ½ of the ward lives in our area... WOW.
 
Have the dinners with ward members included any new recipes we should try?

Hmm, yes. Last Sunday was Mother's Day (it was great to talk with you, Mom!), and we did it at a family's house here in Lohja. I didn't know what was for dinner until after I finished talking with y'all, but when I stepped out and asked, they responded that it was a kind of noodle-and-BACON dinner. I felt really bad that Mother couldn't have any! I'll ask for how they made it, it was VERY filling, and VERY bacon-y.

Do you already have a favorite cook?

No, no... I am waiting until the end of this week and I try to get all of the members' names straight before I pick favorites. Plus, since Lohja Family Night was last night (everyone in Lohja gets together for games, a spiritual thought, and dinner), I have tried most everyone's food, but don't know who cooked what! I need to sort them out... give me at least a week, maybe two!

How is your new companion?

My new companion, Elder Greciano Raiskila, is a great Elder! He is probably the companion that I've bonded the quickest with, since we are both facing the same shot-gunning trials as one another, and we have very similar interests! I hope that this companionship will grow to be as good as my last - I'm not certain it can be better, but we'll give it a run for its money!

What is your new apartment like?

My first thought when stepping in was "big", now it has kinda evolved into "narrow". The areas are pretty spacious for missionary apartments, but the rooms are sort-of all combined with walls that make it so that almost every room can interact easily with the next, at the sacrifice of kitchen-space. It's a bit tight after the Porvoo apartment, I think I like that one a lot more. The good news is, I haven't really spread out with my junk a ton, so it will be easy to pack up and move out, whenever that happens!

What is the view from your door? or window? (Whichever one is more interesting!)

Yeah, that's kind of a disappointing one... The door leads into a building hallway, so that's no fun, and the window looks over... the parking lot and the backs of buildings. Sigh. The balcony is REALLY spacious, though! You can play Sähly in there!

What is something you learned this week?

It is important, almost no matter what the situation, to follow the rules as they stand. While there are understandable exceptions that may come up as you go, you must remember that each decision should not lead to you compromising the biggest rules out there. A simple "only this once" creates a habit - one that can be hard to get rid of. I don't want to talk about everything that made me learn how important this really is! Suffice it to say, this wasn't a learn-by-doing experience, so don't worry about my obedience levels here.

What is something you taught this week?

We actually got to teach someone at the FHE night yesterday. It was someone that we had actually walked into and tried talking to earlier, so after we got over that awkward bit, we got to get to know him. He's an Estonian man, so English was really the only shared language there, even if they can mostly understand Finnish and we can mostly understand Estonian... weird language commonalities. We taught mostly about Agency with him and about our loving Heavenly Father. I think in the end, he thought very differently about us than his intitial thoughts. Hopefully, we will continue to see him in the future!

What is something you hope to accomplish in the next month?

Hmm. I have been talking about this with Elder Greciano Raiskila, and I am honestly seeing this area as, although having the reputation of one of the hardest areas (minus the members), one of the most potentially untapped areas. I think that this area is already expressing many of the things that we seek for as missionaries, and it is up to our actual working to start to see the blessings! Imagine that.
 
What is something you want to share with us?

Wow, this is a hard question. I think I just want to kind of talk about family a little. Since we just have had Mother's Day, forgive me for addressing this a little late. Family is a great blessing that we have in life - we are able to learn and grow within it, we can experience some of the most important lessons we'll ever learn within it, and we should feel the love the God has for each of us within it as well. If there is one thing I miss most about being out here in the mission field, it's not the video games (I know, shocking), it isn't being able to understand 100% of a conversation (although that runs a close 2nd), it is being seperated so far from my family. I just wish that I could do the things that I normally took for granted - discussing books with my sisters and bantering with them about school-related trials, playing with my brother all sorts of interesting games and tricks, talking with my father about the different ways that we can think about something to learn an infinite amount of things (and by that, I mean an unquantified amount, since my father is so math-oriented), and being able to look at how my mother acts to not only tell, but show, a love for me and all of my family. Thanks for all of the examples and time you gave to me! I can't wait to treasure them all the more as I work towards coming home!


Well, that's about it. I'm going to try to attatch a pic of me and Elder Greciano Raiskila together, but these library computers are really slow, so let's cross fingers here...

Vanhin David Milligan

May 5, 2014 - Wait, WHAT? O_o

So. I got really shocked this week by a lot of things. First off, to vent a little at Finnish Dentistry stuff, they needlessly cut my companion Elder Saunders open where he'd just been trying to heal, so I spent this last week mostly indoors, AGAIN. I'm so excited to start getting outside and working!

The other crazy thing that happened is actually in the questions, sooo... Here we go!

Did you get transferred?

YES. Against almost all of my theories. I thought for certain I was sticking around in Porvoo,since I've only been here 4 months and Elder Saunders has been here for 6. But, no.

I will be moving to Lohja. It is another close-ish-to-Helsinki area, about 40 minutes north of Espoo. So, I'm going to be experiencing roughly the same amounts of weather and sunshine that I would in Porvoo. I will be the Senior Companion in this transfer, also something I didn't expect. I am "shot-gunning" or "white-washing" the area, meaning that I am coming into the area with my new companion, the first time for both of us. It should be crazy, trying to orient around a completely unknown area!

As for the reputation of Lohja. It is a lot like Porvoo - not too much activity normally in the way of investigators - but there is one HUGE difference - the number of members. Apparently, there are a TON of members that absolutely LOVE the missionaries, and it reflects in the amount of Dinner Appointments received. The last set of Elders there were talking about how recently, they've been getting 3 A DAY. That is VERY different from Porvoo, where in the first 2 months, I had gotten 2 DA's. It's expected for me to gain quite a bit of weight there. Woah. Lots of capital-letter exclamations there.

That also means that I am leaving a lot of good people behind. I am going to miss a lot of the people I've come into contact with out here! I got a lot of emails from people, so I will be staying in touch. That'll be fun!

The little red dot is Lohja

You can see Porvoo and Tampere, his previous areas, on this one. 

He is definitely staying in Southern Finland!

Did your companion get transferred?

No. That was another spurt of craziness. He is staying in Porvoo. By the end of this next change, he will have been in Porvoo for 8 months. That's long. He will be serving with a newer missionary, Elder Hyer, who has been in Finland since January. Best of luck to him... It's mostly due to his teeth operations, President said.

Who is your new companion?

This is another crazy moment. When I was in the MTC, I had that weird 1-week extension that made it so I got to see my "baby Finns", or the people in the next group. One Elder came a day earlier than the rest, due to him not being from America, and I got to talk to him for quite a bit. Guess why I am talking about him?!

I will be companions with Elder Greciano, from Spain. He is actually ½ Spanish, ½ Finnish. His mother is Finnish, which makes the second part of his surname (I've just forgotten what it is exactly, it is close to Raskilla, or something like that...) since Spaniards have 2 last names, he said. Wow! This will be fun! I hope he's better at the language than I am, or this might get a little rough...

Do you need to buy a bike, yet?

Nope. It is... another Car area. WOW. 3/3 on that area count. And, since Elder Greciano doesn't have a driver's license, guess who's driving it? Yup. Minä. Me. I think this is a bit crazy, too. There's not that many car areas here... And after 1 year in a biking mission, I will have spent 0% of it with a bike...

What did you learn this week?

I spent quite a bit of time on the study of Fasting and Prayer. Basically, I have been finding all of the different ways that it is able to confirm, strengthen, and resolve the testimonies that we have or will soon have. It has been pretty cool to see all of the prophets that talk about the importance of it. I think there's a good lesson to be learned from the consecration of effort and time to receiving a witness of the truth. It doesn't just come passively! The Gospel is full of action. Faith in its fullness inspires so much. It isn't so much actions are what matter, in the end, but rather that the conversion that we should have inspires us to do things the Lord desires us to do, for our own benefit. I think that's an interesting concept on Grace that our church is rather unique in having: that yes, we are completely, fully, thankfully saved by Grace, like most others believe, but that we also should be changed by Grace, not just passively letting God's help to us be and not taking it on yourself! There was a reason that the Atonement was performed - to help us repent and return to Him. Acknowledging He exists isn't enough - you still need to actually take the steps that He has asked of us!

For a good talk that kinda defines Grace as our church believes it, look for a Brad Wilcox talk at the BYU Devotionals website. It is called "His Grace is Sufficient", and I've liked to listen to it!

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/brad-wilcox_his-grace-is-sufficient/
(You can watch, listen, or read it at this link ~Mom)
 
What did you teach this week?

Not really much of anything... We got to talk about the importance of the Book of Mormon to a less-active member, and I think it really meant a lot to her that we cared enough to talk about it. She is confined to her house because of age, but she has been getting the sacrament each week from us. It is sad to be leaving so many people!

What is something strange that has happened to you in Finland?

Hmm. There's been a lot of strange stuff... Probably the strangest things that happen also coincide with meeting drunk people walking around. Finns love to drink. Oh, I've figured out the strangest thing! Being offered alcohol by a member. In keeping with Finnish culture, even some of the members drink. Crazy, right? There's a traditional, Finnish, "non-alcoholic" drink that you have to add yeast to and let it sit for a couple weeks. Mmm-hmm... Not alcoholic... They claim the % is virtually 0, so... Thankfully, a lot of the members are willing to actually follow the Word of Wisdom, but there are one or two exceptions.

Yeah, that's the end of the questions! I am looking forward to going to Lohja, but I'll be sad to leave Elder Saunders and all of Porvoo. Hope that I can visit again! And Lohja seems like it will be a lot of fun, so, there's that, too! Be safe, everyone.

Vanhin David Milligan