Manna from Heaven.

The most interesting things happen to people on missions. I wish that before I received my mission call, there would've been a disclaimer on the envelope saying something like...

"Caution: Use of this invitation might result in miraculous miracles, meeting interesting people with strange notions about how to dispose old rice and bread in an environmentally friendly way, and occasional slipping on streets made entirely out of ice." 

If I had read that before I left, I would have probably been a lot more prepared for what happened yesterday.

To start off though...President and Sister Watson came to Vaasa on Sunday! yayyy!!!! There is nothing better than seeing your mission president and his wife pull up to meet you, and then give you all the dining room chairs and drying racks that are needed in your apartment. 

After sacrament meeting, usually both us, the elders and our recent converts attend a gospel principles class that is taught by a member of the ward. This time Sister Watson joined us, and we were glad to see that our recent convert had brought his friend to church that day. We had a good discussion about the pre-mortal life and mentioned the Book of Mormon to him as another book of holy scripture. He seemed interested in the discussion and we all just assumed that he was being nice and listening to what we had to say. 

But. Miracle of miracles people. 

After we say the closing prayer, and we start packing our bags. Our recent convert's friend raises his hand and says loudly, "I know this sounds weird and I don't even know if you all do this, but do you think that there are some people from your church that could come visit me at my home during my free time to help me learn more about that book that the man over there is holding?" He points to Elder Parsons. "I don't know what it is, but you say that it is another book of scripture, I am willing to read it and apply it into my life."

We were so shocked, we just looked at him until Sister Watson laughed and says, "Of course! That's why we're all here!" 

Haha it was so cool! He lives in our area, so we'll be teaching him this week!

Funny story of the week: Sister Cardon and I were walking around yesterday trying to find a non-existent address. We had been walking in the cold for more than three hours, our socks were soaking wet from the puddles and ice. We were trying to navigate our way around a building that was built on an incline, to get to a road that would lead us back to where we wanted to go. The WHOLE HILL was just completely covered with layer of wet ice. I ended up having to slide down the hill on my butt because it would've been faster than trying to walk down it. NOT ONLY THAT, but when get to the bottom, we realize there is fence that separates the hill from the road, so we decide to walk through this mini forest to go around the building. We are walking in the forest, when we realize that all around us are patches of rice, and slices of moldy bread just EVERYWHERE. Literally, Manna from Heaven.

I'll send you some pictures of the moldy bread next week, I forgot my camera today :(  

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week! 

Don't eat moldy bread! 

Sisar Kwok 

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!

 

CHEESE???

Niin, minun rakaat perhe ja ystävät...

This week has been quite the week. 

Both good and bad.

Let's start off with last P-day. Everything was going well, we finished emailing on time and even had a little extra time to get something to eat before we caught a tram to head to our next destination. And that is when it happened. 

I lost my wallet. 

The only sad thing was that I didn't realize this until an hour later when I was trying to buy an antique metal goblet that was carved into the shape of an elephant doing a handstand from a Finnish thrift store. Sadly, I didn't get the goblet, and I wasn't able to find my wallet either when we went back to the restaurant to look for it. 

Let's hope I find it soon! 

BUT, there are always good things that happen! 

Things such as...

• We were able to meet with a referral from the Elders who is absolutely golden. Can't say much more than that, but it was awesome! 
• We were able to give out 10 Book of Mormons in ONE day, when we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. 
• One of the investigators we've been working with for 3 months was finally able to come to church!! 

Also, these are more for fun:

• I sat next to a lady on the tram the other day and asked her how her day was going. She just looked at me with the most astonished expression, I wish I could've taken a picture of it. We held eye contact for a considerable amount of time, so I ended up saying, "Puhutko Suomea??" (do you speak Finnish?) and instantly she looks out and window and whispers, "I don't want to talk." Finns.

We decided to ask if the man selling burgers inside a street kioski would like to learn more about the Book of Mormon. He was asian and didn't speak a whole lot of English. It went like this.

"Hello! We are here from our church tell--"

"CHEESE!"

"No, no, from our CHURC--"

"You want cheeseburger?"

"No thank you. We are sharing a message about this book--"

"No, no,no, if you don't want cheese, I sell cheeseburger."

He then shut his little window on us and that was the end of our contact. 

Church. Not cheese. 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas season! I am grateful for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He truly is Wonderful, the Prince of Peace, Counselor, the Mighty God.

I know He lives and that He knows us. 

Merry Christmas,

SIsar Kwok 

 

Things Finns say...

Terveisiä Kaikkille!

I thought I'd put more thought into my weekly email this week, since I've been such a stinker from the past couple of emails. I sincerely apologize, if it wasn't for my daily planner, I probably wouldn't have even made it to the library today, so we'll see how this goes! 

Ensiksi:

Weather update: It's getting cold. WINDY. No snow yet, but it's been pouring rain now for a solid couple of days so I am starting to really wish for snow now. The sun sets around 4-5 now, which is a big change from just 3 months ago when we had to sleep with black out drapes over our windows but hey! no complaints, it helps us go to sleep faster haha! 

Other than that, Sister Hayter and I said our goodbyes last wednesday, we spent Tuesday with Sister Reynolds who had to stay with us because her companion was moving to Vaasa, so we basically were a tripanionshiop for a day! Woo hoo! It was such a strange thing, we felt like a mob when we tried to contact people on the streets, I'm so glad I haven't had to serve in a tripe yet. 

We picked up Sister Carter right after and we've been going nonstop! Sister Carter is from Nephi, Utah, 23 yrs old and is studying graphic design at UVU, or in other words, she is very artistic! I love it because we get to talk about sketching and color matching, I really missed that haha. 

Anyway more about the subject line in this email, we met a lady on the tram the other day who taught us a Finnish tongue twister. 

Try saying this baby 10 times:

Kokoo kokko. Koko Kokkoko? Koko Kokko. 

Translation:

Gather a bonfire. An entire bonfire? An entire bonfire. 

Doesn't really make sense, but it's fun to say. 

There's also the word: Jättelötötterön which sounds like: yeah-te-lur-tur-te-rurn 

It means ice cream cone. 

Anyway, I love you all! I know the church is true! I know that God loves us! 

Have a good week! 

Sisar Kwok

Pictures: 

1. Our shower drain, don't look at it if you can't take it!  

2. Sister Carter and I 

​

ummm...?

Who loves busy p-days??? I DO!!!!!

Not really. 

Well, I do, because it means work is being done...

Anyway! 

Here are some highlights! 

We got transfer calls this week, I will be staying in Neitsytpolku for Christmas 😁 and my new companion is sister carter!!!! Sister Hayter is movjng to Espoo 2, which makes me so sad because I love sister Hayter!!! 

Besides that..ahhhhggghhh. 

We have a cool Vietnamese investigator, who brought ANOTHER cool Vietnamese friend to a lesson this week #referralsrock. 

This email really stinks, but it's OK, there is always next week!!!

Love you all,

Sister kwok

Hyvää Pyhäin Päivä!

Hey fwends!

I'm going to the temple this p-day, hence the short email, but this week I thought I would like to share a few quotes from our awesome investigator S 

who is from Cameroon. 

When making a joke about him running to church:

"WHAT??!! WHO DO YA THINK I AM?? I'M NOT JAMAICAN... I'M NOT KENYAN EITHER!"

When committing him to read the Book of Mormon:

"I know, I know, but y'all can't force me to do anything... But I'll do it."

He also speaks French fluently, so half the time he'll speak in English and the other half he will speak in French. He's funny.

For Halloween, we just did missionary work like normal, instead of Halloween they celebrate "Pyhäin Päivä" which is sort of like memorial day. They set up candles in the graveyards for the dead and spend time with family. 😍

I love you all! I hope you have a good week!

Sisar Kwok 

Here are some pictures!

Our unsuccessful Halloween jello

​Elder Broadhead with a knife. Happy Halloween.