August 11, 2015 "It takes 100+ to find the one!"

Kaikille:

Hey everyone!  Another day in the life...  what a week! 

So on Wednesday, we accidentally took the wrong bus and ended up all the way in Tikkakoski and we didn't have time to stay out there, because the bus only goes back to the center every so often, so we had to catch the next bus back.  It's frustrating when that happens because then 2 hours of your day is wasted sitting on a bus with hardly any people, but it happens and it makes for some funny adventures and we get to practice all of our vocab! :)  Later that evening, we had a dinner appointment at an American member's apartment.  She is going to school here and we really love her!  After we left her house, we went tracting for a while before we were going to go home.  The area we were in was near her apartment, and about a half hour away from our's.  Forgetful me, accidentally left my planner at the member's apartment and Sarah texted us while we were tracting to tell us.  Well little miss me who always seems to have to go to the bathroom, thought I was going to pee my pants, because lucky us... Finland doesn't know what "public bathrooms" are.  Thank goodness for us, she (American) lives so close to where we were at, and we had to go back there for my planner, I was able to use her bathroom... thank goodness!!  

AHH.... it's starting to get darker here every night.  I go out on the Parveke (enclosed balcony) every night to say my prayers and so I've been able to see how much darker and darker it's getting at night.  It's making me sad that the summer is getting closer to being over and that just means that Winter is getting near.  I can't say that I'm super excited for that.  I just really love the summer here... nothing beats it!  

Well there's some really great news for this week:  We have our investigator back.  We decided to text him and just see if he would meet us to have a member share his conversion story with him, and he said that he has thought and prayed and knows that this is something he needs to continue learning about and studying.  We had a lesson with him last night and it went fairly well too!  He's quite the talker, which is unusual for Finns, and that is sometimes hard because he will go off on stories of his life and we have a hard time bringing it back because we don't understand exactly all that he is saying.  Slowly me and Sister Allen are trying to figure out this crazy language and understand what people are saying, but we just aren't quite that great at it yet!  It's coming though.  Our investigator is really patient with us though and we're really grateful for that.  I'm just so glad that it has worked out and he is willing to continue meeting!  

BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK:

We have done some serious tracting here and not a lot of results have come from it.  There have most definitely been quite a few moments that I just think to myself, "Is it because I stink at Finnish?  Is it because our approaches are just awful and don't make sense?  Do I smell?  Do I look weird?"  Honestly, I have just thought what is wrong here?  We have tried to figure out what exactly we are doing wrong and it just has seemed like we just really stink at this.  Well the other night we went out to an area to contact a potential, who wasn't home, so we decided that we would tract in that area.  The same as I have thought a lot lately, I just thought, well here we go again... about to look dumb and no one will listen, but yes Heavenly Father I will do this and could you please just let something amazing happen.  Well this time he really did!  We tracted into a family who listened to everything we had to say.  We got their number and name, set up a return appointment, gave them a book of Mormon, and asked them to read before we came.  Our appointment is tonight!!! AHH!!!   It was just such a great feeling inside to know that all our efforts finally paid off.  It literally probably took us about 500 to find this one, but it was worth how great I felt about it when we walked away from their door that night!   I am so deeply grateful that Heavenly Father has heard all of my prayers and is listening.  He loves us and when we do our best and trust in his promises and his timing and his ways, we are blessed.  I have a quote from the talk "Come What May & Love It" by Joseph B. Wirthlin that I really like that goes along with this experience.  It says: 

"The Simple Secret it this: Put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him." 

I know that that's what I am trying to do.  Put my trust in the Lord, do my best, and leave whatever happens up to him.  

I want you all to know that I truly know that we have a loving Heavenly Father watching over us every day.  He loves us and does want us to succeed in this life.  He is waiting to bless us and uplift us.  He hears our prayers and he answers them in his own way and time.  Believe that he is there.  Believe that he is listening.  Believe that he will bless you.  

I love you all! Make yourselves a fabulous week! 

Rakkaudellani,
Sisar Jordan

We didn't realize we had Ice cream mustaches :}

Lakes, Lakes and more lakes!

8/4/15 Pictures from Finland

Sometimes it gets really HOT!!!!!

I like to wear my rainboots !!

"We're singing in the rain ....just singin in the rain!"

FINLAND....I want to go in a hot air ballon here

We like to be silly !!!

8/4/15 "Another Day in the Life........"

Kaikille:

Mä Rakastan Teitä!!  Oikeasti... I am so very grateful for all of you and for the love and prayers and support I feel!! You are all so wonderful!  This week was both happy and disappointing.  So last preparation day in the evening, we took a bus out to a farther area to have a lesson with a potential investigator who hadn't been there for the last one that we had scheduled.  When we got there, she said that it was their sauna time, and to come back another evening.  That was frustrating.  So then we had to go to the Prisma (a huge store like walmart all over Finland)  because there isn't one in the center and the stores in the center didn't have what we were looking for.  We thought there were plenty of buses that left from there and we'd be able to catch one back home, but when we got out of Prisma, and started checking the bus schedules and trying to figure out which bus stop we needed, we realized that there were not any buses going back to the center for at least a half hour or more.  So... we had to walk.  It was about 4 or 5 miles that we walked and we didn't get home until about 9:35pm.  We definitely got our fair share of walking in for the evening.  

So then Torstaina we had prepared our lesson for this investigator (I can't say his name because of privacy laws in Finland otherwise I would-- but yes he has a name) we have right now and then... he cancelled on us.  That was really frustrating, but we got to go and do some good ole tracting for quite a while and had some really funny experiences doing that.  Unfortunately, no one wanted to listen to us, but for the most part, a lot of people weren't home.  

Saturday was one of the best days of my mission thus far.  So.. Äänekoski is one of the farthest areas for us to travel to within our own big area.  It takes about an hour on one of the bigger buses to get there.  So sister Allen hadn't been out there before and of course I hadn't yet either.  We had made some plans with a member family out there to share a spiritual message and do some service for them.  Unfortunately, the buses only come like every few hours so we were going to have to spend the majority of the day out there.  Well the family we went to go visit was SO great!  They had us cut up like this huge box of strawberries, and then later we all ate them with ice cream! It's strawberry season right now and the strawberries seriously taste like candy they are so good!  They must not get missionaries out there very often because then they started calling the other member family that lives in an area just right close by to see if we could go and visit them as well. Then they even went so far as to take us all the way out there.  Well this was an older couple who seriously live like in the middle of the Forrest.  It's like a fairytale land where they live... oikeasti... it's so beautiful.  Wild flowers everywhere and just trees trees trees everywhere you look.  They were SSOO excited to have us out there and it was just so fun to get to know more of the members in our ward.  It was just such a great day!!  

One of the coolest things right now, is that you can just be walking down a path to get somewhere and just along the side of it are all these wild strawberries that you can just pick and eat.  It's the best thing!  I can't describe to you all just how beautiful Finland is!  AHH!!! 

So the biggest disappointment of this week was that yesterday, we had a huge lesson planned with this investigator and we were seriously so excited and ready for it.  We had planned it all out with the member too, and talked about our lesson plans with them and what would be best, and then about a half hour before the lesson, he texted and said that he has read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and he does like it and knows it has answers for him.  He has a lot of questions that he wants answers to, but wants to search for them alone.  He says that he knows he needs us, and that when he is ready, he will call us.  It was the most disappointing thing ever.  I just saw so much potential and I had just had such high hopes for him.  In about two weeks we are going to follow up with him and see where he is at.  It's pretty disappointing, but we'll see what happens from here.  

Well that's about it for this week! It was a great week full of lots of tracting and potential lessons, but valitettavasti didn't go exactly as we had planned.  That's alright though... hopeful this week something really exciting happens!!!  :)  I love you all and I'm so grateful for you all! Make yourselves a great week!  

Rakkaudellani,
Sisar jordan

7/28/15 "Come What May And Love IT!"

Kaikille:

WE HAVE A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!... and he's a Finn.  (No english)  Ahh.. the week is looking hopeful!  After about 4 lessons falling through this week, we finally had a lesson at the church with a man who is about 60.  We had role played and really talked about this lesson for quite a few days and the first two attempts to have the lesson fell through because he cancelled on the first two.  The lesson went well and the member that came was so awesome.  We were able to give him a church tour after the lesson and it was just such a great feeling afterwards.  While we were in the lesson, we asked him about whether he had been a part of other churches or whether religion had ever played a big part in his life.  He said that he hasn't really ever been involved with a church before, but has talked with Jehovah Witnesses, and people from a Helantai church before.  He said he Never really felt like it was right or that he should keep learning more, but that during our lesson and also the first time when the Sister's who referred him to us contacted him on the street and had talked to him, he just kept having a warm feeling in his heart.  It was so good to hear.  The church is true and the spirit is real.  That lesson was yesterday and we have another return appointment with him on thursday.  We are so excited.  The only downside to all of this is that I couldn't understand a lot of what he said in the lesson and because Sister Allen is two months behind me, she understood even less than that.  It was just really great that we had prepared a lesson and gone over it a lot, and also that we had a member who spoke enough English to be able to explain some things to us after the lesson.  We are definitely going to need the help of the members, but I know that with their help and with the help of the Lord, we will be able to teach him.  I just feel really good inside about this investigator and I am just grateful that we finally have someone interested enough to keep learning more and having us teach them. 

FUNNY STORY FOR THE WEEK:

We had scheduled a return appointment with a potential investigator last week and this week we were going for our lesson, but when we showed up, no one was home... or so we thought.  We rang the doorbell twice and I swore I saw some shadow move in the house, but I just figured maybe I was imagining things.  So we decided to leave a pass along card with a note on it that we had come and to call us, in her mail slot.  I was standing By the side of the house using the side of the house to write on the little card while sister Allen just kept looking through the big Window of the house haha.  Well then all the sudden she just kind of laughs and says, oh haha I just made eye contact with someone... awkward.  So then I'm like really?  And she says yep, some kid in the house just peeked around the corner and I made eye contact with him.  So then we run out of the yard fast and then finish the note and die of laughter.  I guess it was her 16 year old son who had answered the door a few weeks ago.  It was rather funny and slightly frustrating too though that he wouldn't answer the door, but that's alright.  We got a good laugh out of it. 

The other frustrating story of this week is that we decided to contact a former and his wife and when we knocked on the door and asked if we could come share a small message about families with them, he just said, "We've already heard your message and we're not interested."  So then I just said "alright well can we leave this pamphlet of the Family Proclamation with your family?  It just tells more about how we can strengthen our homes through Christ."  His response was this, "We're not interested in strengthening our family through Christ."  He wouldn't even take the pamphlet and it just was sad to hear him say that.  Then we saw them in the grocery story today and I just thought, gosh I sure hope he changes his mind and feels bad about what he said and how he acted.  One day he will be ready!

Well that's about it for this week!!  I am just so grateful for all the Lord is blessing us with! This week was really great and I am excited for this coming week!  I love the Lord and I know that he is with us always.  He cares about us and loves us.  God has a plan for all things and all people and we just have to be obedient, be patient, love him, and let his plan fold out as it should.  I love you all and I am so grateful for everyone! Make yourself a great week!!! 

Rakkaudellani,

Sisar Jordan

Our faces really aren't red like this!!!!

And another week down !!!!!

  

7/21/15 PICTURES OF BEAUTIFUL FINLAND !!!!!!

Oh you know......just a typical backyard and walk in the park......like everywhere looks like this !

A ride on the bus - like every day we see this kind of stuff.....Its wonderful !!

Elder Lee used to visit beaver because they have a cabin up in our mountains I think.  Anyways... he is going home at the end of this transfer and we saw each other at Zone Conference.  Figured the Rileys, Smiths, or Harris's would know who he was.  Small world..   (So here is a funny.....Schyler probably never put two and two together, but Elder Lee's Mom, Anita is a huge fan of the clinic and drives all the way from Vegas to Beaver just for Veterinary Services.  She adores Pam and Evan!!!!!  We take care of all their critters.

Sisar Allan and I and yes...everyone.....my hair has turned pumpkin :) !!!!

Panoramic View of a typical neighborhood we walk through all the time.  How would that be?  

Tues. July 21, 2015

Kaikille:

Jyväskylä is so gorgeous!!  It's seriously unbelievable!  I am definitely blessed to be able to serve in Finland for two summers and only one winter... speaking of which, I am not exactly looking forward to winter a whole lot right now.  It's just the perfect temperature-- not to cold, and not really hot.  We have days where it rains and that's always really fun, and we have days of lots of sunshine.  The wind doesn't ever blow crazy like it does in Beaver.  There are lakes and trees everywhere you look and I just can't believe how beautiful it is.  I feel like I'm walking through the forest everywhere I go.  "I Stand All Amazed" at the hand of God and all he has created here.

This week was a little rough.  We pretty much tracted and contacted the whole week.  We don't have any investigators at the moment, so we've really been trying to find some.  We get quite a few doors shut rather hard on us, and people just really not interested or really annoyed that we bothered them. It can definitely be rather frustrating, but we are just trying to find more effective ways to get people to listen.  We walk rather a lot, and my shoes are definitely getting a lot more worn out than my last 4 months.  The mosquitos are bad right now too, so I have about 10 bug bites and counting as of right now.  They get huge here too... haha it's annoying.

We had Zone Conference this last week, and it was in Tampere.  So we had to wake up at about 5am to get ready and be at the Train station by 6.  Then we rode the train for about an hour and a half to Tampere and then walked about 25 minutes to the church there.  We have Zone Conference until about 4:30 and then we went and ate somewhere and then rode the train all the way back.  Just for 6 of us missionaries to travel there and back, it was about 184 euros... that's only once a month.  It's crazy how much the church spends on our mission here.  We are definitely blessed. 

We did the sharing time in primary this last week.  Sister Allen played the piano and I did all the talking and leading the music and playing the games.  It was much easier to try and speak Finnish in front of a bunch of little kids than it is to teach and talk to adults.  It was really fun. 

Well this week is looking so much more hopeful! We have been going through our area book... because it's rather a mess, and trying to organize it and sort it out.  We have looked up a lot of the addresses of the potential investigators and sorted them into areas as well as the formers.  We've been picking areas to go to and taking all of those potential's addresses and trying to contact them.  We have had success!! We have two return appointments for this week! It's so great! I am really excited!!!  We also received a referral about 2 weeks ago and we have a lesson with him tonight.  I have felt really weird about it for the last couple days and I'm really hoping it goes well! I have a lot of high hopes for it, and me and Sister Allen have really been trying to prepare our Finnish for it.  I hope that we can understand for the most part and be able to share all that we have planned.  We are working hard together being so young to try and learn this language and talk to people.  It's definitely not always easy, but we are learning. 

Well that's about it for this week for now.  I hope you all enjoy the pictures.  They definitely don't even come close to the real beauty of Finland.  It's honestly ridiculous, and I hope that you all can one day visit this sacred and beautiful land.  I know the Lord is blessing me in so many ways and helping me to do much more than I ever could on my own.  He truly is "supporting me from one moment to the next" and helping me to find those who are ready to hear about the gospel.  Thank you for all the love and support! I love you all! Make yourself a great week!

Rakkaudellani,

Sisar Jordan   

July 14, 2015 A New Start!!!!

Kaikille:

It's been quite the week-- lots of goodbyes as well as new faces and schenery.  It's all just really great! Jyväskylä is pretty different from Helsinki where I was serving earlier.  It's much more green and more like I had pictured Finland to be.  It's not nearly as big and populated as Helsinki was and just lots more peaceful.  It's definitely colder here and it rains more.  The people speak much more proper Finnish which is SUPER nice considering I already have a hard time understanding.  We walk quite a bit more and when we're not walking, sometimes we get lucky and we can catch a bus.  My legs and feet have defnintely been lots more sore this past week.  BUT it's really great to be in a new area and just kind of start over fresh.  That's really what it feels like because we don't have any investigators here or really anyone to teach at the moment.  I pretty much came in on a completely fresh slate.  Sister Allen has been in Finland for 2 months and me now 4, so we're both pretty new.  I am finishing her training and together we're just trying to figure out this crazy hard language, understand people, and find new people to share the gospel with.  It's an adventure for sure!

On tuesday I was able to say bye to both my first companion Sister Seegmiller, and Sister Forrest.  They both helped get me on the train and then I hugged them both goodbye.  We were all in tears and I know that with both I have shared really special companionships.  I love them both so much and I really miss them A LOT already!!!  So I had to ride a train all by myself to Tampere which was about an hour and half.  I cried almost the whole way and it was weird to be all alone.  It was so sad to leave that area and my companions and I was honestly and still am pretty scared about being a senior companion and being in a new area and finishing someone's training.  It's a lot of responsibility and I didn't feel ready for it AT ALL!  But I met up with Sister Allen in Tampere and we rode the rest of the way to Jyväskylä together.  

Sister Allen is really great!  She works hard and is really obedient.  We are learning so much together and it's just such an awesome learning experience for both of us.  So becuase we don't have any investigators, we have tracted A LOT this week.  More than I ever have as a total my whole mission.  Can I just say.. I HATE tracting with a passion.  I feel stupid and I never feel like I really know what to say because everything just sounds weird, people shut their doors in your face all the time and no one really ever wants to listen.  We had an old man who asked us, "Why do you let them do this to you?"  I mean do they really think that we are like tortured into doing this... it was pretty funny actually and I am learning to just laugh at all of the rude or inconsiderate things that people say to us and try not to take it too personally.  I have a really cool story about tracting though.  So we were going to try and take cookies and introduce ourselves to a less active, but she wasn't home, so we decided to knock on all the doors in the apartment building.  So we tried the first door and they didn't want anything to do with us, and then we tried the next one.  It was an older lady who didn't really want to discuss anything with us about the Book of Mormong or anything, but she invited us inside.  That was weird!! Finns never do that.  So we went inside and we ended up eating with her and talking about her family.  Long story short, we ended up giving her our number so she could call us if she ever needed help.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to church.  Ironically enough she asked what our favorite American treats are and we had the chocolate chip cookies that we had brought to give to the less active who wasn't home with us still.  So we were able to give her those as well and it really made her happy.  She said she has her own religion and we definitely tried to talk about it as much as we could, but hopefully with time she will open up her heart to something new and see how this is different and it is the true church.  The part about this whole story that I wanted to share with you all and just in general of this week is that miracles have happened.  A week ago I know that I had no idea that I could understand and say as much as I have this week.  That lady didn't speak ANY English and we were there for about an hour and I was mostly the one talking the whole time because Sister Allen wasn't sure even what she was saying (no negativity towards her, she is just 2 months is).  I did it! I talked with someone and held a full on conversation with a true blue only Finnish speaking Finn.  I definitely didn't understand all that got said, but I was able to communicate with her and understand enough to get through it all.  It's happened so many times.  I have been amazed literally how my mouth has "been filled" at all the times that I have needed it this week.  I know the Lord is blessing me with much more than I could ever do on my own and I am so grateful!  

Well there was lots more that happened this week, but just not enough time to tell you every detail of it all.  I am so grateful for this gospel.  I'm grateful for the peace that I feel each day and for all that I have been blessed with.  I love my Savior, Redeemer, Brother, and best friend Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful for his example, for his inifnite sacrifice, and for the love he has for me.  I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who is always listening and waiting to bless us.  All we have to do is ask.  I am grateful for where I am and for the people of Finland.  I love you all and I pray that you will all have happiness and peace in your life! I love you lots! 

Rakkaudellani,

Sisar Jordan