The gift of tongues (this time, it's the real one!)

Hyvä Päivä kaikille!

It's crazy the amount of things that can happen within a week, a month, or half a year. Half the time, I forget that what I do everyday is not "normal", it's amazing to see that missionary life is my life now. I go to bed at 10:30 and then wake up at 6:30 and then the rest of the time is the Lord's time. People can find that very difficult, I found it to be difficult for a while but I testify that there is a peace that comes into our lives when we realize that all we do is for a greater purpose.

But....I GOT MY TRAINEE!!!!

Her name is Sister Hyde and she is from

...

.....

......(Drum roll)...

PROVO, UTAH!

That's right everybody, the big leagues!

It's super funny that everything turned out the way it did, because the night before transfers I was freaking out about what language she would speak or where she would come from.  Poor Sister Powell had to console me for like half an hour telling me that my trainee was probably going to be from Utah. Haha, no surprise there.

I am super excited to be working with her, it was funny because we knew each other even before she came into the country. She had found my blog online and emailed me about some questions she had about clothes and culture. I had only been in the country for 3 weeks at the time, so I couldn't answer very well but I remember reading from her email how funny it would be if I ended up training her.

And I am!

SPIRIT OF PROPHECY!!!!!

Life is crazy people.

The work is going along, but pretty slowly, we haven't been able to find too many new investigators, so hopefully we will be able to pick that up and build up our teaching pool again.

We're trying to come up with some new contact approaches, sometimes saying the exact same phrases over and over again just doesn't cut it.

Nevertheless, It's been very humbling to see how far I've come in this language, especially in situations where I know that I wouldn't have been able to understand anything without the influence of the Holy Ghost.

esimerkiksi: 

Yesterday we had a lesson with an investigator who has a slight lisp. He talks very low and fast and most of the time our member can't even tell what he is saying. I was sort of anxious about the lesson because I knew that Sisar Hyde probably wouldn't be able to really follow anything and that I would have to most of the teaching. But right when we entered the lesson I felt peace, and I was actually able to understand so much more than I had ever before!

Granted...most of the stuff I understand was from when he was talking about his out of body experience with demonic angels while he was on hardcore drugs, but still!

I am so grateful for the blessing of the gift of tongues and for the opportunity to spread the gospel in the Finnish language!

Picture (Sisar Hyde (the older one, not my trainee) and sisar Herrmann) (we all finished training with Sisar Dowd, that's why we decided to take this "family picture")

 

Love you all,

Sisar Kwok ​

SURPRISE!!!

Hey everyone! 

Transfer calls came this week, and because the Lord always strives to keep us on our toes, we had a couple surprises! 

are you all ready??

...

.....

.......

...........

I'M TRAINING!!!!!!! WOOHOOOO!!!

I'll be staying in Lappeenranta for another two months with my new trainee! She gets off the plane tonight and I'll be heading to Helsinki to pick her up tomorrow, it's super surreal. I honestly feel like I JUST got here, that I JUST passed training and that I JUST BARELY know enough to keep the work moving along. Please pray for me! 

With that being said, Sisar Powell is heading out to Kuopio (the "bellybutton" of Finland) ( Don't ask. I don't know who comes up with these sayings) We shed a couple tears together when we got the call, I knew we wouldn't be staying together, but it was a huge shock that I was going to be staying in LPR for another change and that she was going.

We've had a lot of good moments together, I've never met anyone so willing to be obedient and to endure to the end. I'm going to miss her a lot...

But, kuitenkin, she is going to rock Kuopio! 

Other than that...I have no idea what happened this week, it really was just a blur. 

It's hard to imagine that within this next month I'll be turning 20 and be hitting my halfway mark. It's been almost a year to the day when I got my call letter stating that I would be serving this mission. 

Looking back on it now, I had no idea what serving a mission meant or what it would entail, I had no idea about the blessings that would come from it or about the trials I would have to overcome. There are still so many things that I have yet to learn, it's a scary thought, but it's also a comforting one. I know that whoever I will be in the end will be someone that the Lord would want me to be.   

Sisar Watson, minä, ja Sisar Powell. We were all matching! 

I was super sad to hear the passing of Elder Packer, I have always looked up to him as an apostle of the Lord. Here is a quote from him:

"There is no end to His power to bless and direct the lives of those who seek truth and righteousness."

-The Reason for Our Hope

I know that it is true, we never need to feel alone or abandoned when the Lord is on our side. The Spirit of the Lord can overcome all things, and can heal all wounds as long as we strive to obey his commandments and live worthily of his blessings. 

I know that all the hardships we face are for our benefit and for our growth.

Rakkaudellani,

Sisar Kwok 

"DON'T WORRY, the Zone Leaders are actually really excited about it."

Terve Kaikille!

It's been a good week! 

Highlights from district meeting:

• Played modal verb Jeopardy. Elder McMaster and Hastings won, Mikkeli Elders got close second. Good game Elders, good game. 
• Learned that Elder Hastings can actually play piano, sly dog has been holding out on us for 5 months.

Quotes from Sister Powell

"We are NOT talking about this right now!.."

"DARN DARN DARN DARNEDY DARN!!!"

"You know that lactose intolerant heavy whipping cream I bought last week? Yeah, it's not cutting it."

Also...

This week... WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!! That's right! N&K got baptized this past weekend! Everything went pretty smoothly until...we got a call from our Elder McMaster asking about how many Baptismal Records we had. Turns out that we had totally forgot to order any from the office. I've made mistakes before, but I really did feel bad about this one.

Usually in a regular missionary scenario, the district leader would be like, "Oh, that's ok sisters, we'll just bring some to you when we we roll into LPR tomorrow." 

But of course there is no such thing, and because we are so spread out in this area of the country it actually ended up being a lot worse.

This is how it went:

DL: "Oh, wait, you don't have any baptismal records?? Huh...that's not too good. Because we don't either..."

Us:"WHAT??? Wait, but what are we going to do then?" 

DL: "Well...hmmm...I don't know I've never been in this situation before...you know what, just hold on, let me call President"

....

DL:"Oh-kay, here's whats going to happen! The zone leaders are going to catch a 1 am bus to give US the baptismal records, and THEN we are going to catch a train to get to you sisters, but don't worry because they're actually super excited to do it!"

So we ended up being saved by our poor Zone Leaders, we owe them big time, they pulled an all nighter for us right before a baptism of their own. I felt so bad about that.

But all in all, things went really well!  

 

our favorite job!

You guys, I am so happy for this family, I am just so happy for all of the amazing things that will happen in their lives after they enter the temple. Already, they are such perfect examples of faith and dedication to me.

And guess what, I will be released by the time they can go into the temple, that means I GET TO COME BACK AND GO WITH THEM!!!! Families really can be together forever! 

this is a picture of a member's cat. The thing had death eyes, I had to take a picture of it.

​

All in all it was a really good week! 

I hope you are all having a fantastic summer and 4th of July! Eat lots of s'mores for me!

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Kwok 

new mission office address!!!

After 50 years of being at the Neitsytpolku address, our mission office is moving! 

So if any of you want to send me letters, essays, comments, or concerns please send them to this address starting June 22!

Sisar Emily Kwok 

Finland Helsinki Mission

Upseerinkatu 3 C, 02600 Espoo, Finland

"I knew it from a dream..."

First of all, congrats to the best beef Kaylee for GETTING MARRIED!!! That is absolutely insane, I am so happy for you, you look gorgeous!

Also, WOW. PEOPLE.

This week has been a week of complete and utter miracles!

Do you remember that family that we were teaching last week? Well...we got to meet her husband this past Sunday and they BOTH HAVE BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!! There are no words to express my joy that I felt at that moment when we asked him if he would prepare himself for baptism. Usually people are very "Maybe..." "I think so..." "I don't know, if it feels right..."

BUT NO.

THIS BELOVED MAN SAID "KYLLÄ."  

HE SAID YES.

Another cool experience with this family was when we met with the mother yesterday. We were talking about how God has a hand in our lives and that our purpose on this earth was to progress. By the end of the lesson she is telling us about when she was young, the missionaries had tracted her neighborhood. She had sent them away convinced that she would never listen to their message. But she then tells us that the morning of the day we met her she had woken up with a distinct impression that she needed to listen to the missionaries. MIRACLES!!!!

This is such a relief for this area, for the longest time the adversary has just been pounding our investigators to pieces. And they weren't just getting hit with tomatoes people, there have been some pretty serious rocks that have hit our members and our investigators.

There were days when I felt like every single time something good happened, I would have to brace myself for bad news about a members' family, another dropped investigator or another anti-Mormon relative.

This area is hard. Very, very hard. I would never have admitted that to myself, but throughout these past couple of weeks I've had to come to grips that the work that we've been doing isn't bad work. We just need to endure it the best we can and work against all that we've been facing.

Please pray for this family everyone, please pray that this area will be able to progress and that our members will receive the help that they deserve.

I love you all! I hope you are finding the Lord's hand in all that you do! He loves us, He loves to see our growth.

Have a great week!

Sisar Kwok

Lost bikes.

Hello everyone!

First off, Happy Mother's Day! It was so cool to see everyone again and to hear their voices. For some reason, I always thought skyping home from a mission would be a traumatic thing but it turns out that it was just the opposite! I love you all and thanks for the kind words and support!

Second off, it's been a good, good week. Hard, but good. You know you're killing it as a senior companion when your junior companion's bike gets stolen on their first day. It wasn't our proudest moment but HEY, we ended up getting in contact with this investigator that hadn't been meeting with us for a while because she was selling a bike, and guess what! She's investigating again!

MIRACLES PEOPLE!!!!

On Thursday we met a cool Russian guy named I. Pretty neat. 

It's also been a good week because we are teaching FAMILIES. If you told me two weeks ago that we would have appointments with families I would have laughed so hard. But guess what people... it's true! We have found two amazing families to teach that are so prepared for this message! It's incredible to see the hand of the Lord in the lives of these people! 

Kuitenkin...the computers at the church are kind of broken so this is just going to be a short update 

But here are some pictures for your visual enjoyment!!

Ice cream made out of oatmeal...in Swedish 

#classy

​This truck was just parked in the middle of nowhere, of course we had to take a picture with it! 

'MERICA!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Change calls! What a treat!

Hyvää päivä kaikille! 

This week was another beautiful week in Lappeenranta, and guess what?? Change calls came... and I'll be staying in LPR peeps!! With...(drum roll)....SISAR POWELL! 

That's right everyone, the best buds from the MTC are going to be companions now! It's super exciting but also a little bit nerve wracking. Being in the same MTC group also means that we've been out the same time, or in other words, both of us probably still don't know what people are saying 95% of the time. But we'll power through, what else can we do right? (just keep praying for us) 

Other than change calls, this week has been pretty ordinary. We've been meeting this investigator named J, who is...still interesting. Most of our lessons just end up with Sister Kwok crying in the bathroom because he'll dodge every single question we ask with answers about physics and relativity. And then he gets super frustrated when he sees that we don't understand him. But hey, he wants to get baptized and he comes to church so that's that.

I'm going to miss Sisar Dowd, not only because she quotes Disney movies like a boss and she's always smiling. But I'm going to miss her because she's taught me a lot about learning to love the work despite the highs and lows. 

I've only been a missionary for six months, and I have so much more to learn but I sincerely love it here. Sometimes it's difficult to keep my head up, most of the time I just feel like I'm that one sower who is casting all of the seeds onto the stony and barren ground. But I know that success isn't defined by numbers. 

As Ammon said in Alma 26:

  27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

 28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings,and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.

...

 30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

 31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.

 

Many times, we will not see the fruits of our labors, but I bear my testimony that they will come. We may not see them now, nor later in life. We may not even see them until we are brought to the judgement bar, but eventually we will look back on our lives and recognize that as long as we served the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength, good fruits will come forth. 

I know that God lives, that He loves us. I know that His only begotten Son came to earth to atone for our sins, and that because of Him we all have the chance to inherit eternal happiness. I sincerely know that the Book of Mormon is true, I have read it, I have studied it, and I have received that answer for myself.

 I love you all! Have a great week!

Nepalese food with the Zone Leaders, so good! 

​Jäätelötötterö!!! (that word is for you dad!) 

Rakkaudella! 

Sisar Kwok 

 

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.