July 28, 2014

It has been really warm this week!! Everyone is enjoying the summer and sunshine. This morning we went to Porkkala Niemi, a really pretty place about 45 minutes from home. We went with the bishop’s wife. It was fun to drive out past all the fields and barns and trees. We enjoyed ourselves:) 

This week I had the chance to go on splits with some of the sisters. On our way to an address we saw a couple teenagers bouncing a basketball. I told them how one of my dreams was to challenge some kids to a basketball game in a skirt and get them to come to church. After we visited our address we went to find the basketball court and the boys were still there. I told my companions that if they were still there I would challenge them to a game. In a skirt. We walked over and started talking to them and agreed to a game to 5, and if I beat them they would come to church. We talked about who God is as we played.  5 to 0 :) we gave them our number on a pass along card before we left and one of the guys noticed that it said he could get a free book of Mormon so he asked if we had one on us. We just happened to have one :) unfortunately they weren't in church yesterday but we'll see where it goes! My dream hasn't quite been fulfilled. It's a good start though.

We went to do some yard work last week and invited one of our members to come with us. He invited his friend so we were able to meet him and talk about the Book of Mormon. He is coming to FHE with us tonight. 

Crazy that Emily is home already! I was just thinking this morning how Brighton is 5 months already.   Have fun in Kansas, tell Brian and Annie and Anbri hello.

Love you! Sisar Heggie

July 21, 2014

walk from the temple, Sisar Nielsen front, Cribbs middle

this is a fun game called mölkky. we played it with a family the other day, it was a lot of fun!

Thanks for your email last week I actually had a chance to read it really quick before we had to leave but didn't have a chance to reply. It's fun to hear about all your summer adventures :) 

Funny to hear the Kerrie was in Helsinki last week! We got a call from some of our sisters that ran in to some Russian missionaries at the train station, didn't even think about Kerrie possibly being one of them! There were 2 Russian missionaries that were at the temple that we ran into a few times. 

Saturday there were two baptisms. One girl was nervous to tell her parents, but invited them and they came and had nothing but good things to say. Everyone was so happy. Yesterday we asked the guy how he felt. He just put his arms in the air and with a big grin he said "YES!". So great. 

Yesterday we had a dinner appointment with a family who had relatives visiting. We had a cool discussion on missionary work and it's so awesome to see the members make plans on how they can incorporate missionary work into their lives. The families were a lot of fun and we had American bbq, it reminded me of spending time with family in Alberta. After that appointment we dropped by another family to share a thought and sing a song. We started the song (which sounded really good by the way ;) )and in the second verse I forgot the tune so I stopped singing which caught Sisar Nielson off guard that she was singing soprano alone while Sisar Cribbs was singing parts. So we all kind of stopped singing and weren't sure what happened. We started laughing. We couldn't stop laughing and the whole family was laughing. Eventually we got it together and finished the song. Sometimes we think we have too much fun. We have a lot of moments where we laugh uncontrollably, but try to control it in front of the members ;) they have to think we are somewhat normal. 

We have a neighbor who is our age. She has come to activities with us but we haven't started teaching her about the gospel. Saturday we found out she had a rough day and were thinking how we could brighten her day. We all marked our favorite scripture and wrote her a note and gave her a book of Mormon. She has started reading it now and hopefully keeps reading!

One of our friends gave us facials the other day, that was a lot of fun! It's fun to meet people from all over who have all different talents. We have some friends that have offered to teach us how to break dance. That might be difficult in a skirt :) 

We had a lesson the other day about the plan of Salvation. Our friend started drawing the plan out on the chalk board and the more we taught the more he added or erased from his picture. You could see him making connections and just lighting up! It's so fun to teach about the gospel, something so simple and familiar, yet so many people just haven't had the chance to hear about it!

Mom congratulations again on the calling. I'm excited for you. This is going to be fun! I love you and hope you have an enjoyable time at camp success!  Dad I'm jealous of the camping trip you had! We were working on Mt Moriah and hiked *almost* to the table. We ran out of water part way up and didn't make it all the way to the table, 10 more minutes would have got us there. But it was still a pretty view from where we were :) as I recall, our bath was REALLY cold. But refreshing after hot days and no showers. Sounds like a fun trip you had with the young men. I remember one of my professors at school talking about the importance of these spiritual experiences while they are young. he talked about a group on young men he worked with and the 2 that made time out of their summer work schedules had experiences that the other boys missed, because of placing priorities differently, were active and served missions while the others had nice cars but not these experiences. You could guess who ended up more happy and successful. It just shows how important these testimony building experiences are now. 

I have been reading and pondering about what it means to be perfect. I see too often the way Satan makes us get down on ourselves for feeling inadequate because we aren't "perfect". It is important to know our weaknesses as well as our strengths! Christ has given us the gift of His atonement so that we may become more like Him. It takes effort and patience on our part but what better time than in this life to develop patience :) He loves us. He knows us. He lives. He will help us help others. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Rakaudella, Sisar Heggie

July 14, 2014

we're changing up our pday schedule for a bit so i might be writing around 8:00 in the morning here. i'm not sure what time that makes it for you. i'll be here for an hour so write if you can :) love you!

(I think we missed her)

July 7, 2014

dad i had to laugh after seeing you had "signed off" mid-sentence. My companions got a good laugh when i explained your skill of being able to fall asleep anywhere...including the driver seat! But good to hear you had a relaxing day. You don't get many either so I'm glad you enjoyed it. The 4th of July is great! Fun that you had all those friends over for a bbq! Have fun at camp Helaman. are they letting you take a horse with you?

. . . . .. I bet Mo didn't know what to do with herself this summer without planning out girls camp! What a blessing she has been to so many of us.

 

Tras good to hear that your phone answering skills are just sky rocketing! aren't you glad we gave you all that opportunity when you were younger to answer the home phone? It's paying off:) You must be enjoying going to work and getting off and not having any homework! You said awhile ago that you signed your housing contract. do you know your roommates? ha i bet smith will get a good laugh when she gets back. funny how you STILL haven't sent me any pictures!! remember how you graduated? and how you have a sister who loves you very very much and would love to see pictures of that very monumental day? oh yeah, i remember :) I'll be accepting emails starting today! love you:)

 

it's been a good week. lots of laughing. we had a guy on the tram comment how it isn't fair for a church to send out beautiful young women to teach people and went on to tell us how we are weapons of mass destruction. my companions and I got a good laugh out of that. 

 

We met a family from georgia who is here for the summer while we were on our way home one night. they were in a hurry to the train station but told us to stop by their house whenever and told us which house is theirs (then we really knew they were american). we went by last night and they are a lot of fun. we're excited to see where this will go! we found our her grandma is a member as well. so

 

funny how amercan and finnish cultures are so different!

the other day we were on  a train to a meeting and i was talking to a guy who wasn't interested in learning about the gospel (yet). We had a nice conversation but as i was getting off for my stop a lady who was sitting across the row stopped me and asked if that was a Book of Mormon that I had in my hand. She asked if we could exchange information and we got each others numbers before i got off. I found out later that she knew a member family in Norway and they are really nice people and have an "ideal family". because of their example she wants to learn about the Book of Mormon. People notice us. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord blesses us when we live according to His word. He loves us. He has given us the Book of Mormon as a guide and testimony. He blesses us. I love my Heavenly Father. I am grateful to be a missionary. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Remember the examples you are to those around you!

June 30, 2014

You all have had a very exciting week!!! Lot's of news all in one email! Mom congratulations on the calling! you are going to be a great seminary teacher for those kids. How grateful I am for my seminary teachers who always put up with us. I don't rememeber each individual lesson they taught but as a whole I look back and see how valuable my learning was in that key time of my life. Plus it was always a bonus to have a surprise treat here and there, remember that part ;)

 

We got to go the temple this week, which is really exciting because it has been awhile. I think it makes me appreciate it more. 

 

The new area is great. It has been a very crazy week but i love it. we had an extra companion with us most of the week until saturday which made it 4 people staying in our apartment. That was a lot of fun and i learned a lot from the sister that was with us for a bit. we still have laughing fits when we quote her. I am excited to get to know a new set of people. and it's always fun to see and area grow and help get things going. 

 

A couple of my friends from Turku surpirsed me by showing up in our ward here in Espoo this week. I haven't seen them since february so that was really exciting.  We were going to get ice cream on my year mark but it was rainy so all the street vendors were closed :( that's alright, i'm sure we'll find another one ;)

 

Trasie hahahaha your story was hilarious. I really hope everyone got a kick out of that hahahaha your life sounds pretty exciting. glad you're getting a good laugh.  Good job on your young women's medallion!  and speaking in your singles ward! that is still weird for me. 

 

let me just say again how much i love doing missionary work.  I love missionary work so much! it is so awesome to see how the spirit changes people. it is a physical change. I am so grateful for this gospel. I am so grateful for a loving, living Heavenly Father who blesses us daily and communicates with us daily when we let him. Thank you all so much for your love and support. Have a great week!!

rakkaudella, sisar heggie

lovely licence plate :)

 one of the sculptures from the sand castle in Lappeenranta

 

"sand castle" morning runs   (now my new apartment is within a 10 minute run from the temple)

June 23, 2014

Thank you for the pictures!!! It is good to see you all. reminds me of the pictures we took out by aunt lisa's a few years back. and stacey's yard looks really good! nice weather looks like.

longest day of the year was fun. i don't know how many hours of sunlight we are getting now haha the sun is up when we go to bed and up when we get up!

 

We planned a party and when we got to the church realized that the buses didn't run at all so people couldn't make it haha so we post-poned it until next week. but friday night we went out to a camp with the ward and one of our investigators came with us. we roasted hot dogs and made pancakes over the fire. it was  a lot of fun and our clothes almost don't smell like smoke anymore. reminded me of home to be around a campfire, it was fun and our investigator tried smores for the first time! 

 

sounds like a good trip you are having, drive safe. good thing trasie stayed home to hold down the fort. Happy Birthday this week Trasie!!! 18!! Hope you have a fun day :) 

 

We had a lesson last night with one of our investigators. he said he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day and isn't sure he has an answer yet, but every time he reads he "feels peace, so maybe that's an answer". ah there is no better feeling than seeing our friends progress and find truth. I love the gospel. We have transfers this week and I am going to Espoo. It was a short 2 months but i got to see a lot of cool things and make a lot of lasting friendships. Always sad to leave but grateful for the new experiences to come. 

 

I love you all, hope you have a great week!

 

rakkaudella, sisar heggie

June 16

 

Good to hear from you:) looks like you had a late night! it's been a great week. We have seen a lot of success. My faith is continually strengthened. Prayer works. This week we were out of our area for 2 days and still were able to find more investigators this week than we have in the recent past. the members are great. always willing to do missionary work.

Happy (late?) Fathers day!! it's in december here, i think it's the 3rd sunday in June? weird that i gave my farewell talk a year ago. Hope you had a great day:) Thanks for being such a support to me and our family. love you:)

Happy birthday mom! also weird that that is coming up soon. When are you all planning on leaving for Alberta?

can't think of a lot to say. Sisar Hansen and I are still enjoying Lappeenranta. I love the people here.

I hope you have a great week. Good luck with the rest of haying!

rakkaudella, sisar heggie