Old and Bald, what is the world coming to these days?

This week I.....

• Attended a Lutheran mass with an investigator, it was such a good experience, I love being able to get to know other religions and see how they worship. They were celebrating Loppiainen, which is a celebration of the 12 days after Christmas, they spoke on where the tradition of the Christmas tree originated from (apparently from Martin Luther??) and appointed new priests in the church. It was so cool! 

• Gave ANOTHER TALK in sacrament meeting, this is lucky number 5 people! You would think that for being in the area for only a week, and having already heard from me during fast and testimony meeting, they probably would have thought it would be better to hear from my companion, right?? NO!!! 

My awkward phone conversation with the second counselor:

Him: Hey, so...we wanted to invite you to give a talk this Sunday.

Me: You mean, this Sunday, as in...tomorrow. (it was 8 at night) 

Him:...Yes. 

Me: And when you say "you", do you mean my companion? 

Him:...No.

Me: Ooohhhhh, okay. But I just barely spoke last week, are you sure you don't want to ask my companion, the one who has been here for like 4 months already?? 

Him: You'll do great! 

- end of conversation -

  GOOD THING I AM A MISSIONARY AND STUDY GOSPEL THINGS EVERY SINGLE DAY RIGHT?

 right, just in case I have to whip out a 10 minute talk in Finnish in less than like an hour.  NO PROBLEM. 

• Ate awesome PHO!!!! We have several Vietnamese investigators that invited us over for dinner one night, and holy cow, it was so good. I want to eat pho for the rest of my life!

Story of the week:

Yesterday, we were at a family night activity with one of our investigators. We ended up watching some parts of the worldwide devotional that was in BYU-Hawaii just a few days ago. Our investigator ends up spending most of their time on the phone, so I scoot over to tell him a little bit more about the devotional. I point to the screen and say, "That man is the head Apostle, which means he represents Jesus Christ and is one of His disciples, pretty cool huh?" Our investigator looks up from the phone and stares at the screen for several minutes and then whispers really loudly, "HE'S REALLY OLD." and after a couple more seconds, "HE'S BALDING TOO." then looks back at the phone. 

I wanted to do a face palm so bad. 

Moments like these, remind me of the love that the Savior has for all of us, and for how wonderful missionary work really is. We are all unique and He loves us for being unique! 

Thank you for always praying for the missionaries and for supporting the work, I know it's true and that it is always worth it!

I have you all have a great week! 

Sisar Kwok 

​Our windows have started to freeze over, so I decided to take a picture of how pretty the crystals look, aren't they beautiful? 

Okay, not a really good picture, but our eyelashes have been freezing over the whole week, so we thought we would try our best to capture the moment! Stay warm my friends! ​

A ride on the Polar Express!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone! 

A LOT HAS HAPPENED since my last email, but missions are kind of funny like that huh?

Last Tuesday, Sister Carter and I went to the temple in Espoo, I was so happy to be able to be there and see ward members that I had left behind in Lappeenranta. One of them had actually received his mission call while I had been gone, it was a huge blessing to be able to ponder the promise of an eternal relationship with those that I have met on my mission. I know that I will remember Finland and the people here until the day I die, and probably for the rest of the eternities! 

After our temple trip, we rush home just in time to buy our groceries, eat a sandwich and head out to do the work...and then it happens. As we are planning for our next day, we receive a call from President Watson, telling me that I was going to be transferred early to a new city- Vaasa-to be with Sister Cardon, who just barely got out of training. By Saturday, we celebrated New Years, I packed my bags, found my wallet at the police station, said goodbye to Sister Carter, and jumped on train to the North! (Or in other words, THE POLAR EXPRESS) 

So here I am, in a new city, with a new companion on the opposite side of the country, and it's only been 5 days since New Years. 

Reminds me of my last New Years in the country haha. 

That being said, I said farwell (temporarily) to Riikki Jr. (the bike), we weren't able to get him on the train in time, so we ended up chaining him to a random tram stop. Hopefully Sister Carter finds him...otherwise he'll be spending the rest of the Finnish winter outside. 

Speaking of WINTER. HOLY SNAPINSCHTEINERS  IT IS COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. 

Vaasa is on the north west coast, and which means that I went from -5 in Helsinki to -16 degrees celsius. Not only that, but the car that the sisters USED to use here was totaled, so we are now a complete walking area. No car heating for Sister Kwok and Cardon! Hahah we are so excited for this next transfer, it's going to be so fun! 

I love the people here already, they are completely darling and friendly, EVERYONE tells me that I was heading to the "Land of Dreams" because the ward here is so incredible and the work here is phenomenal, (so many asian investigators...) I LOVE VAASA!!!!!!!!!

Rough translation. "Believe Me" -Jesus

​We were walking through the park in Vaasa, and we saw all these ducks! I don't know how they aren't frozen already!