October 28, 2013
Perhe,
. . . . .
     This week we were in Helsinki again for meetings with President. While we were there we got to attend the temple.   . . . We have been talking with a lady who belongs to the Free Church. She invited us to an activity at her church so we went to it. It is good to see people who believe in Christ but it is definitely a different feeling than it is in our church. It's still a good feeling but you can tell something is missing. It was better than being out on the street hearing and seeing all that goes on but still, something missing. I couldn't help but compare that to the kingdoms of Heaven. the world is the telestial kingdom. Beautiful but not to its potential. Inside the church is like the terrestial kingdom. People are doing good things. They believe in Christ but still have not accepted His gospel. They are missing the authority and gift of the Holy Ghost. And then I took that and compared that with the feelings I had while we were in the temple. What a huge difference!!!! We are so blessed to have this gospel and the knowledge and blessings we receive from attending the temple.
       It's been a great week. Recognizing and responding to the spirit has been one of the biggest gifts I have obtained and continue to work on. My companion never fails to make me laugh every day and teach me something new about missionary work. She is open and accepting. Her mind is open to understand people and learn where they are coming from. Our companion unity is such a blessing! We're looking forward to another great week.
     I hope all goes well with you all! I love you, take care.

Sisar Heggie

October 21, 2013

Moi! Kerto Veli Bridge että mina sanoi terve! Ask him who he knew here, I asked Veli Karhunen if he remembers an Elder Stewart, he has lived here awhile.

   I am so blessed! The people here are so obedient and hard working and diligent! They were already great missionaries and after general conference we have seen even more member missionary work. Great things are happening.  We had a very busy week last week. The way things worked out we ended up having splits 3 times last week in our area so we had 8 different sisters in our area with us at different times. It was crazy! And we got so much work done. Slightly stressful planning that much but it was worth it. The Lord is blessing us with people and families to teach. We had change calls this week and luckily I get to stay :) I know the Lord knows what is best so I was trying to be ok with whatever happened but didn't want to leave my companion yet so I was really excited when I found out we were staying, we have a lot to do.
   This week we were out at bishop’s house doing service. His wife needed help in the yard and we were digging a hole. She handed me a pitchfork and said that should work....I don't remember the last time I dug a hole with a pitchfork but I don't imagine it went very well. Sister Kunz was laughing (shovel in hand) as we started in on the hole and about 5 minutes later bishop’s wife came back with a shovel for me. The hole got a lot bigger a lot faster after that. Ha it's amazing what service will do. Not only are we a lot closer with the bishop’s family but we had a blast and couldn't stop laughing for about an hour.
  Yesterday we were preparing for a lesson and found a story about a man who was praying to find someone for the missionaries to teach by a certain date. The day was getting closer and he still hadn't found someone so he prayed that the Lord would put someone in his path because he was so busy with church callings and work already that he didn't have time to go out and find someone. After teaching institute one night (3 days before his deadline) a girl came up to him and asked if she could receive missionary lessons in his home. We discussed the story and how the Lord makes up when we are doing all we can do. Shortly after talking about this we got on the bus and were busy planning, missed our stop and so we got off on the next stop. As we were getting off there was an older man getting off at the same time so he smiled and motioned for us to go first (smiling is a rare thing between strangers in the Finnish culture). We were going to be a bit late to our appointment at this time so we started walking when my companion dropped back and started talking with him. Turns out he has seen missionaries around and has been praying for the opportunity to talk to us. He gave us his address and asked us if we could come teach him. WOW!! So thankful for my companion following the spirit. She is such a great example to me.
   A new member just moved into our ward. She was nannying in New York for a year, met a member family and the rest is history. She got baptized about a month ago and just got back to Finland (she is from Turku). She is a lot of fun and we are way excited to have her!
. . . .We finally saw our first snow here but it didn't stick. It is starting to feel like Finland and I am beginning to believe all the things people say about how cold it gets. Not too bad for October though :) ….
   Tons of good things are happening. The Lord blesses us when we put our best foot forward. Like I said, the members are working hard, we're working hard, and the Lord is working hard. People are ready to accept the gospel. Life is wonderful. I'm so grateful am serving a mission. I äm so grateful I am in Turku working with the people here. I hope you all have a great week, love you!!!

Sisar Heggie

On the way to the Bishop's house 10/13

 

October 14

Dear Family,

  I am happy to announce that you all have seen more snow this year than I have!!! I'm just enjoying the balmy weather here in Turku. Thanks to the sea and islands right by us. Someone explained why Turku is warmer...something to do with all the water...but that makes no sense to me. Either way, Turku is definitely a blessed place. I love the people here. We just got done with the musical "Joseph and the Technicolor Dream coat". It turned out to be huge. All the members were good about inviting lots of people and we had a lot of investigators and non-members attend. It was fun to see all the talent here as well.
   This week I had another opportunity to eat fish. I am determined to learn to like it. But dad your genes are sure making that tough!! Also, how do you go about eating it without getting all the little bones in your mouth and "casually" spitting them out? It's a fun challenge. That family is so great. I wish I understood more Finnish but what I do catch they are hilarious. Such strong testimonies as well.
  Yesterday my companion and I were teaching Sunday school and the lesson was on Eternal Marriage. One brother who has a sail boat and loves sailing commented after testifying that his 40 years of marriage are the best experiences in his life that "Marriage is like sailing--some days are sunny, nice wind, and sometimes we have storms". No one gets by easy. It was a fun lesson, and even more fun to teach to investigators learning things for the first time.
   Sunday morning during our studies my companion and I found out that we were supposed to make something sweet for an activity that night. Our options were quite limited but we decided on banana bread...only problem was we didn't have any sugar. So what do you think we did? What a Mormon American would do. Borrowed from the neighbors :) It was a good excuse to talk to one of our neighbors (and learn more vocabulary). Only other problem...sugar cubes are not the same as baking sugar. Don't worry we got creative and made it work and the banana bread tasted good :)

Love Sisar Heggie

October 7, 2013

Hello Family!
    Life sounds as exciting as always! Glad you got to enjoy your traditional caramel popcorn! It's hard to find the ingredients for it over here so I didn't make any unfortunately. Fortunately, they have this wonderful candy called Susu. It's worth it to miss out on the popcorn. Funny you asked about my internet connection this week :) We usually go to the library and if not then we just use the computers at the church after we play some p-day basketball with our investigators. Today my computer has been giving me fits so hopefully you get this email!

    It has been a great week. A lot of wise counsel from the President this week and I got to see everyone from my MTC group! They are all doing so well in their new areas with their new investigators and picking up on the language. The adventure of splits continues this week as we have over a couple sisters.
     Conference was great!! It was fun to hear investigators talk about seeing the prophet for the first time. With the time change we watched Saturday morning session Saturday around 7 then Saturday afternoon session we watched Sunday at 3 then Sunday morning session followed at 7:00. So I still have one more session to watch!! It's like how mom would hide presents in the closet for Christmas and forget about them until a month after Christmas and it was Christmas all over again!
. . . .
  The weather is still good here in Turku! When we travel to other cities I am reminded of how much I love my city. Definitely need a jacket but not too bad! We do get a few dinner appointments and that is a lot of fun...last Friday we had a double DA....wow. haha the members are so good to us.
. . . . .
     Conference was so good. I loved the talk on tithing and the subtle blessings of paying it. Gratitude for what we have and living a satisfied life. It couldn't be more true.
     We are teaching a mom and trying to help her see the importance of baptism and think it is through focusing on the blessings of the gospel, especially from the temple and eternal families.  . . .
     I am loving life! So many good things to be learned in this life. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father who knows me so perfectly. Who knows how to strengthen and comfort me. I love this gospel and am so grateful for the knowledge I have of where to find truth. Thank you for your love and support, I hope you have a great week!!

Sisar Heggie

September 30, 2013

Hey Family!

Good to hear from you! Thanks for the news of the week. . . . . We were teaching a lesson at a member’s house and so I started off by talking about character (intending to discuss Christ-like character) so I asked them what came to mind when I said "character". They started giving answers like Donald Duck . . . I was way confused and my companion was trying to find some way to connect their answers with the lesson when the mom spoke up and said she didn't see where this was going ha then we figured out I used the work cartoon instead of the word character so that was pretty funny. My companion was trying to find some sort of Christ like characteristic Donald duck possesses to tie the lesson together.

. . .We got a baptism date with our investigator (I was reminded this week that I’m not supposed to use their names according to Finnish law) so we are way excited. The makeover with her was fun but it wasn't going how we planned at first. She had fun and at the end we shared a scripture and I started to talk to her about my baptism day. We kept talking with her and eventually set a baptism date. Cool miracles going into that with inspiration and listening to the Spirit. They have talked with her before about baptism but this is the first time she has opened up! We're really excited. This is going to be such a blessing in her life. . . .

Another miracle day of splits this week. My companion decided again to have me go with the junior companion. She was telling me how the whole time she had been there she hadn't been able to give out a Book of Mormon. Through guidance of the spirit we were able to contact 2 people who we gave books to that day. We role played for that morning and the teaching went a lot like the role play. That was awesome, amazing how the spirit can guide role plays when you take it seriously. What a blessing.

. . . Funny that I was in my companion' home town when I found out about the age change. Little did I know I was in my trainer’s home town!!

. . . And this week we have our 6 day training with my district form the MTC and President. We are all in Helsinki until Thursday night. It was way fun to see them all again today. President is a genius. What a wise man. I feel a bit like my apartment is a hotel room. Stop in a couple nights and leave again! But it's for good reasons. I just miss our people. We have a less active family we have been working with. Amazing how I have grown to love them more and more. They are doing awesome. Great week. Lots of training this week. I hope you are all doing well. Have a great week! 

Love Sisar Heggie