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