April 20, 2014

Hello family! I'm sending an early message this week because we are having transfers tomorrow. I am leaving Oulu and moving to Lappeenranta. (South eastish, close to the Russian border). Cool thing is my companion will be studying Russian! Wow. I was surprised to leave Oulu already, it feels like I just got here. I'm excited for another new adventure! 

I gave a talk in church today talking about the Savior's resurrection and what it means for us today. He overcame physical death for us all. We will all receive a perfect body someday and have the opportunity to stand before God to be judged by our works (Alma 11:44). Christ not only overcame physical but spiritual death, or sin, as well. He asks of us to use this gift of the atonement by exercising faith in him, repenting, going to baptism, and keeping our covenants. Too many feel that everything has already been done and there is nothing required of us. True, Christ paid the price in full. But now He sets the conditions and asks that we follow His example. No matter what stage we are at in life we can benefit by looking to the Savior and following His example. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! I'll add a few pictures from my last few days here in Oulu!

Love you!

Sisar Heggie

I will leave for Helsinki tomorrow (by train) and get there in the evening then stay the night and hop on another train Tuesday morning to Leppeenranta (LPR). Sisters haven't been there so we'll be "white washing" the area. Smaller city, i guess 30ish people every Sunday in church. I’m excited. I've heard it's really pretty.

April 14, 2014

Thank you for the birthday wishes!!! The office called letting me know I got a package from my family so I will get it next week when the Zone Leaders come back from Helsinki :) Thank you!  This morning during work out time there was a knock at the door and the other sisters in our district were outside with a frying pan and banana pancake batter! so they came in and made me breakfast for my birthday :) that was fun.

Congratulations to the softball team, sounds like they are doing well. Trasie you are beautiful! You look old. Not old old, just grown up. Stop it. Sounds like you had a lot of fun! Jackson is a great kid and it sounds like he had a lot of fun too. You're dancing must have got a little crazy but luckily you had a pit crew ready for the job.

Dad our new contacts are doing great. One was in church again yesterday with awesome questions. Hopefully he is at FHE tonight! Another one we set a baptism date with. I'm excited to see the changes that will take place as he applies the atonement; we have a lot of work to do :) We organized a girls’ night for this week. Hopefully we have a good turnout. We have awesome people in our ward! Our branch president and his wife just blessed their baby and had a ton of their non member friends at church for it and we got to meet a few of them. Way powerful meeting.

21 years ago you were waiting for your bundle of "joy". Good thing the joy part finally kicked in! Ha it's fun to tell people my middle name.  Obviously joy is a different work in Finnish but the grandmas especially love it. I like your answer to what I do as a missionary. Love people. That is really all there is to it. That is missionary work. You love people. And as you do that you naturally want to share the best part of your life. You try to understand where they are coming from and what will make them happy. The gospel of Jesus Christ will make them happy. The sure knowledge that they are a child of God, a loving Father in Heaven, and that He gives us the blessing and trials He sees fit for us that will make us grown and progress and then we can come to understand His plan for us.

I'm excited for Easter weekend. I am speaking in church which is super intimidating but also another reason to get people to sacrament meeting on Sunday! Madi sent me a couple pictures of her with Kambrie. She does love her grandma, hopefully you share when I get back!

Thank you for the email, love you!

Sisar Heggie

April 7, 2014

What a great conference!!! What a blessing we have to be lead by men called of God, to teach us what the Lord would have us know TODAY. We had an amazing week. For the past 12 weeks we have been doing a mission fast (don't worry, we took turns;) ) The blessing we saw have strengthened my faith in the power of fasting. The Lord is truly on our right hand and on our left, going before our face.

Friday we were on our way to an appointment and we were a bit early so we decided to call a former and see if we could meet with him. After meeting with him we walked by a man and HE called US over, we started talking. He decided that there has to be some superior power and that science can't explain everything by itself, so he has started reading up on religion. We invited him to conference and he came and enjoyed it. We now have another appointment for next week. HE contacted US! What a blessing that we were early and felt prompted to meet with our former which led us in the end to that man. We played volleyball with one of our investigators and his friends this week.  We invited them all to come to conference but didn't get all of their numbers. We were at conference Saturday night when one of them showed up! We prayed that he would have a desire to come but didn't have any contact information. He came in response to an invitation and is now very curious about the gospel and really enjoyed conference. We have an appointment with him this week.

Another fasting miracle. We dropped by one of our investigators with some cookies because she said she had had a busy weekend. We weren't sure if she would be able to come to conference but we invited her anyway and 4 hours later we went with a member to pick her up and we all went to conference together. She had a great experience and met new friends and felt the Spirit.

Tras congrats on the scholarship! . . . . . Tell Kathy hello! good to hear she is still helping with softball.

Turns out dad that I think I did hear President Uchtdorf's story!...depending on which one you are talking about :) I still haven't seen the Sunday afternoon session. we watched the Saturday morning session live on Saturday night at 19.00 then Saturday afternoon session on Sunday afternoon then Sunday morning session again live at 19.00 Sunday night. Great conference! I thought of you a few times in Elder Bednar's talk about the pickup. and then getting stuck and needing a load to get traction. then again with Elder W Graig Zwick's talk about communication, he had some really good things! good that the sister missionaries were able to have some people at the church for conference! sounds like you had a good...meal :) hopefully you ate some popcorn for me, I wasn't able to find all the ingredients to make it :) tell Ty and Jaymie hello from me! have you been practicing roping together? The language is still coming along. I wouldn't consider myself fluent but I can talk to people and teach. I've learned that the spirit is very important. He makes up for what I can't say. But the language is fun. It's a process.  

Mom sounds like you are loving New Orleans? Maybe get a retirement home there? Luckily I think Finland is a lot more of a peaceful place :) but like you said, a lot of missionary work to be done! the amazing thing about that is it's like a room that is completely black. When a candle is lit, even though it's small, it is very recognizable and illuminates the whole room. we just need people willing to light the candle :) glad you are enjoying the conference but always nice to be home.

Thanks for the letters. I love you and can't wait to hear what you are learning from reading Preach My Gospel :) Have a great week!

Rakkaudella, sisar Heggie

March 31, 2014

It's too bad April fools wasn't just one day earlier! But it looks like you will be spared the April fools jokes for now :) Can you believe it is almost April?!?! We have had another great week. I don't have a ton of time so I’m going to paste my email to president.

We had an exciting week with 6 new investigators! They all came from following counsel. Asking for referrals, talking with everyone, and going through the area book prayerfully. A few weeks ago we found a friend and invited him to play sähly who then came to a church tour and invited us to play volleyball with his friends whom we talked with and the conversation lead naturally to the gospel. We got one new investigator through that and 3 very curious potentials! We're excited where that will lead to this next week. One cool experience we were walking out of a building where we just had a lesson and I said hi to the lady cleaning the floors as we were walking out. My companion, praying always and following counsel, asked how her day was which lead to a conversation where we found out her husband died 7 months ago and she has been wondering/hoping for a life after this where she will see him again. After that we were able to go to her house and talk about the Book of Mormon. She now has a solid commitment to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and we will follow up this week. It has been amazing to see blessings being poured out in front of us as we trust the Lord and his promises.

It really had been an exciting week. It's always good to hear from you! Today is Madi Frame's birthday, make sure to tell her happy Birthday :) She's officially old.

Bertha is still in the closet. Sometimes I forget that it's actually cold. It looks nice out through the window so sometimes I ditch the gloves and scarf and soon realize I have made better decisions. And yet I survive. It's been really nice weather.  . . . . . . .  Thanks for the conference recipe :) I’ll see if I can find the right ingredients. I’m glad that you clarified it must be a few less spoonfuls of condensed milk than what we start out with ;) Hey good to hear that Harley and Haidn got to come home for the weekend. How is Haidn?  . . . . .  Still crazy to see that Har is a mom. Cute picture :) They both look great! Tras I’m glad you had a calmer week!  . . . . . . . I got the chance to read your talk. Super good, very well put together. You are one wise girl. Thank you for sending it to me!

Love you all, have a great week!

Rakkaudella, Sisar Heggie

March 24, 2014

Another great week sounds like! I just got Anbri's birthday invitation in the mail! What a CUTE happy little girl! That was fun to see pictures of her :) Annie is a good mom glad the party went well! 10 steps already wow! Ha so Kambrie the new calf whisperer? Does it work better to crouch down to their eye level? Ha too cute. 10 missionaries! Wow! Ha wow! Good to hear that they are staying busy.  . . . . We sleep with the heat mostly off and the window open every night. I don't know if I have told you that the bedding is slightly different. everyone just uses duvet(sp) covers and no top sheet so there is nothing constraining your feet...The duvet covers were still wet after washing one night so I tried using just a top sheet again and was so claustrophobic! I have also been converted to wood floors. It's funny the little things I forget about.
 . .
 . . .  Graduation is right around the corner; that is weird to think about. Good luck finding a Prom dress! Ha I had to laugh that you gave up at 7 and went for a frosty. That's good :) I was laughing telling my companion stories of cutting your hair and trimming your eyebrows after cutting my own hair for the first time today. In Finnish I call you my koekaniinini ;) You are so loving and patient and kind. You are so open to learning, keep it up. Keep your mind open. I am printing your talk I just got the chance to glance through it. Sounds like a good talk from what I could see! And you didn't even pass out! Good for you! It really is an honor to be in a position to speak to such a large group of people. You are an amazing example to me and to everyone around you.
. . .
This week we met one of our friends and played volleyball. Later we invited him for a church tour. The time of the tour changed last minute and we weren't able to find a member to come with us on the tour. we weren't sure what to do but we did what we could and decided to meet him at the church and hope for a miracle that a member would be there that could come with and what do you know right inside the doors was a girl we have wanted to come with us on a teach but hasn't been sopiiva and she did so awesome! Sometimes I have to laugh at myself when I forget how much Heavenly Father is aware of his work. It's fun to see little miracles. I love studying the scriptures! I've been reading the New Testament and there is never enough time in the day to study! We have met some really fun people. We're excited to see where it goes. Thank you for your love and support! Have a great week!

Rakkaudella,
 

Sisar Heggie

March 17, 2014

Who would guess? I found a bobcat in Finland! Bobcat at heart :)

 

 

How many miles does that make for a total this week?! You all are very busy! Be safe! Tras how did volleyball go? That is so exciting that they invited you to come practice with them! fun that you plan on going to prom with Jackson, hopefully that weekend works out! It should be a lot of fun! Did you find a dress? Pictures! Mom hopefully you survived another prom dress shopping trip... :D i know they are your favorite! I still have to laugh when i think of when we found mine senior year, pulling up to the address of the old lady who didn't actually sell dresses anymore. That was only after about 7 hours of shopping :) Thanks for being so patient!

 . . .. I just read President Monson's talk in priesthood session about home teaching and being a sincere friend. Fun to see how it really works! Sincere friendship and persistence. It did get cold again (what happened!) but you know what they say about opposition in all things! Makes me appreciate the warm days a little more! haha but NO I still haven't resorted to Bertha ;) Glad you are enjoying warm weather:) hopefully you get some rain!

Thank you for your love and prayers. It has been another great week. We had a Zone Meeting, probably one of the best ones I have had this far. Learned a lot about desire and working with members and the Atonement. The gospel lifts burdens and brightens lives. What a blessing it is to have a prophet who leads and guides us through specific trials of the world today and that he holds the keys of the priesthood ordinances that allow us to gain eternal life and be sealed as families together forever! Have a great week, I love you all :)

Sisar Heggie

 

 

March 17, 2014

Me and my companion, Sisar Nyman! Love her! and the Gourley's. I'm sad they are leaving so soon after I just got here but luckily they live in Utah :)

 

March 10, 2014

 

Of course I remember the Lazy E arena! but was that before or after  . . . ?? haha fun trip. Funny I just told a family about that trip last night (they lived in Houston for a few months).  . . . I know it's still a little early regardless of how good the weather is (unless you're Ruben Perez) but are you planning on planting at the ranch this year? 

  . . . keep contact whether it's about the book of Mormon or not, it's nice to know someone cares. Build trust :) Way to be a missionary! We have been playing a word game with families where you get a random word and somehow have to tie it back to the gospel (food, shoe, music, baby). Then it becomes an ongoing game and everyone gets a point whenever they mention the gospel in a conversation. they keep track and get to decide what the winner gets! Pretty fun. Missionary work isn't so scary :) when we show love we don't have to fear. 

  . . .

  . . . I was showing my companion some pictures of my family the other night, telling the story of matching outfits and couldn't stop laughing for awhile. I miss ya:) sounds like an exciting weekend in Vegas.

 Love Sisar Heggie

I sang a duet in church yesterday with one of the other sisters serving in our ward (we have 2 sets of sisters and a tripanionship of Elders). I didn't know what I got myself into until it was too late but it went well. A few people even complemented us after the meeting that was nice. I love the hymns in Finnish.

I hope you all have a great week! feel free to play the word game:) ready, set, tie every conversation to the gospel!! Love you

 

Sisar Heggie