Well...It happens sometimes.

Terve minun rakkaus perhe ja ystävä, Suomen kieli on vaikea, mutta, olen yritamassa oppia lissa joka päivä. 

Ok, enough of that, my head is starting to hurt. 

So you know how in my email last week, things were picking up with J? Well...things didn't go as well this week. After a lot of cancelling and unanswered phone calls, Sisar Owen and I were just about to call the police out of fear that J was dead. We don't usually react this crazily to all of our investigators, it's just that J is a lot different when it comes to responding and it scared us a little. 

Fortunately, J is not dead, he just has a girlfriend now. (This totally shocked us, I mean relationships with others? I had no idea those things still existed ) -- So we are trying to get him back on track with everything, it might just take a little bit longer. 

Other than that, our district has been working on finding investigators out of a more direct approach, rather than the whole awkward "The weather is so nice today, oh that is a nice scarf, hey want to talk about religion too?". It can be scary at times because we only have about 10-15 seconds to make a lasting impression upon people, and sometimes I feel like people automatically shut themselves off whenever we try and be so direct. 

But I trust that when we implement this into our finding habits we really will find those who are searching for this gospel. 

Have a great week everyone! Happy Chinese New Years, eat some Chinese food and do fun things! 

Rakkaudella 

Sisar Kwok 

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Going and Going and Going!

Another week gone by! 

So this week has been a little slow for some reason, it's really strange because almost all of our investigators can never make it to church because they say they'll be in Helsinki for the weekend...right.

But!

We are still finding elect people here, it's just sad to have to let some go.

J, however is still progressing really well! The ward is just swallowing him up!  It's amazing to see how the gospel can change someone inside and out and it's miraculous to see how it can help people really understand their purpose in life.

Valentine's day was pretty amazing too!

There was a baptism in the ward (for one of the primary children), a wedding and so many baked goods!  There is a traditional pastry here called "pulla". T
​he Finns make it for all kinds of special occasions, it's basically just dough with cardamum in it, but they make a lot of different variations from it. I guess it's traditional to make pulla for Valentine's day because all people would feed us was pulla! 

Anyway, we met a Baha'i couple who invited us back for a discussion last week, it was so...interesting. The man was very nice and kept asking us if it was ok to eat cake, or to eat crackers or drink herbal tea. The "discussion" actually just turned out to be him and his wife wanting to talk to us about their faith, but it was fun while it lasted! 

We also have been getting SO much more sun! Which is such a blessing, because I am getting way too pale! 

That's about it for this week, I hope you all had a fun Valentine weekend!

Make sure to tell people you love them :)

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Kwok 

Sunset view from our balcony. 

 

Sadly, I don't know who Mannerheim is... but he has a pretty awesome statue in the city. 

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Interim!

Hi everyone!

There are 3 things that I have come to learn from being out here in the frozen land of Finns.

1. My reflexes in catching myself (or my companion) before slipping have really heightened to mastery level. Basically like Spider-Man.
2. There is such a thing as walking to slow to get off a bus. Especially when trying to contact. (The doors closed right in front of me and I almost lost my companion, scariest moment of my life) 
3. It is never a good idea to try and bake muffins out of curdled milk.(I don't really want to explain this one, it brings back too many bad memories)

But anyway, this past week was interim! We got to spend three heavenly days at the mission home in Helsinki! It was so neat to see everyone again and learn from each other. Some things that President Watson talked about was our focus on member present lessons. The Standards of Excellence for our mission is 21 member present lessons per week, per companionship. That is crazy, considering that our ward here in Lahti is comprised of a number not very much bigger than that. It's definitely a challenge, but we trust in the Lord and know that as long as we work hard we will eventually reach our goal. Missionary life is a constant rollercoaster, and I know that even before I left for my mission, people would always say that. But it's not until you are a missionary, living obediently, working hard that you realize how true that statement is. I don't think I've ever felt such a wide range of emotions in one day than right now.But life is good. Life is always good! 

Funny quotes:

"Sometimes, I just really wish you knew how to do acupuncture" -Sis Owen to me (the "Chinese companion")

(after saying hello to someone on the street)

 "Who are you?!! Do I know you?!!"

 "No we just like saying hi!" 

"Oh, where are you from? Russia?" 

"No, America" 

"Oh! America! Bonjour!"

Haha I love the Finns, they always look so surprised whenever you say hello to them! 

Me being me, I left my camera at the mission home, so I won't be getting it back until tomorrow, but I PROMISE I will be sending out pictures next week! 

Happy Valentine's day too, here they call it Ystävän Päivä (lterally, friend's day)

I love you all deeply! Remember how much deeper Christ loves you! 

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Kwok 

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The seed is already growing!

Moi rakkat velijet ja sisaret! 

This week has been sekaisin! (crazy!!!!) 

A lot of emotions too haha, but we got through it! 

First off, one of our progressing investigators T. that we hoped would get baptized next week, just dropped a bomb by telling us that she was heading to an addictions rehabilitation center for up to 4 months in Tampere. Of course we were happy to know that she is getting help for her addictions, but it was hard to know that we won't be able to contact her at all for at least a month or more.

On the plus side, at a lesson with T. we met J. who is the perfect example of someone who felt the spirit from the first lesson but is too scared to accept it. We invited him to come to church and even found a ride for him, but 5 minutes from the time he was supposed to be picked up, he calls us saying he's not going anymore. But of course, my companion being the awesome missionary that she is, basically coaxed him into his OWN car by the time she was done talking to him on the phone. 

And then we had 5 investigators at church. WHICH IS CRAZY for Lahti! Sisar Owens and I ended up having to do emergency member splits because we needed to do a class in Finnish and English. 

Anyway, later in the night, J. sends us a text us saying:

 J: I appreciate your efforts and for the love that I have felt at church today, but I know that I can't be baptized into your church.

Us: How did you feel at church today J?

J:Very good, but I don't understand why faith is so important.

Us:What do you think faith can help us with?

J: I know that if we have faith in God we can overcome hard things, and he can give me strength.

After that we just ended up calling him and having an amazing lesson over the phone!

We focused on Alma 34 and how faith is like a seed, the best part was that while he was reading the section about good seeds growing to us on the phone, he just paused and whispered, "It's already starting to grow."

I am so excited for J!!! 

Anyway that is about it for this week, tomorrow I head to interim training with the rest of the missionaries that went through the MTC with me! So excited! Can you believe that I am already halfway through my first transfer?? 

Hope you are all doing well!

Rakkaudella 

Sisar Kwok 

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Free gum and Reindeer!!

Hi everyone! 

​

Pictures are finally working again! Yay! 

A lot of fun things happening here in Lahti, for instance, I went on splits with the STLs on Saturday, 2 investigators came to church, and most importantly, we helped a dear invesigator clean her house (it was much needed, imagine an episode of "Hoarders") while we were trying to help her vacuum, we noticed that there was no suction going on and so we had to take the vacuum apart and clean it out. In the vacuum tube thingy we found:

A bottle cap.

A playing card.

Lots of cigarrettes. 

and many other things that I probably don't need to mention.

That floor was so clean when we were done! 

Anyway, I got to try reindeer yesterday (in Finnish it is Porro)! It was so cool, it tasted really similar to lamb and beef. Also, my trainer has an obsession with gum. This is really sad because we aren't allowed to eat gum in public. So while we are studying in our apartment she will eat up to 5 pieces of gum at a time. She ran out yesterday and was super antsy but then guess what? While we were cleaning our beloved investigators house, we found a box that was full of gum, almost to the top! When we asked her where she got it, she said

Her:"Oh, that gum? They were throwing it away at the Saksala store down the street." 

Us: "Oh...why?" 

Her: "I think there was some sort of default or something, but they ended up just giving it to me"

Us: ".....so..."

Her:"Take some!"

Us: "OK!!"

There is no shame in missionary work people! When people give you free things you say thank you and take it gratefully! Sisar Owen was so happy! 

That's about it this week, thanks for your prayers and for your kindness! I hope you don't follow our examples and take shady gum from others! Be nice to people! 

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Kwok 

Sisar Kwok's Original "Third Week of Finland" (limited edition)

Just to shake things up, I've decided to compose this email to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas. It's not Christmas, but there is still snow on the ground, so this song is still valid.

 Feel free to sing along :)  

On my third week in Finland Sisar Owen and I saw:

ONE new Burger King (This Burger King is 1 out of 3 in the whole country. People are pretty excited) 

TWO NEW BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!

THREE lost bus cards :(

FOUR awesome new investigators

FIVE harmless drunk meeennnnn!! (there are many more than five here, but i didn't know where else to put this so...) 

SIX dogs a barking

SEVEN pigeons a flying (there is house behind our apartment that seems to just house pigeons, there are literally whole swarms of them that just fly around and distract me during personal study)

EIGHT old women telling us to wear hats

NINE knitted articles of clothing (knitting is a BIG DEAL here)

TEN fingers and toes (still intact) 

ELEVEN degrees below...

and.....

 

142 Nordic walking sticks!!! (the people here use Nordic walking sticks religiously, it makes a lot of sense because there is so much ice here, but it also makes it look like the whole town is skiing in the city)

Have a great week everyone! I hope the new year is going well! Keep up your goals! 

Don't forget to pray! Read the scriptures!

Sisar Kwok 

Amputating appendages, but we are still doing great!

Hi everyone!

It's been a great week, a lot of Finnish, a lot of slipping and sliding, but still doing well!

Things really picked up! As a companionship we've found 6 new investigators within this week which is really great! One of them is a girl named R, she approached us on the bus and we were able to discuss a lot of really great things, I am so excited to teach her!

Other than a lot of finding, President Watson stopped by on Sunday to interview us! It was so great, I love President, they always say that your mission president will be like a second dad to you and I agree!

A couple of days ago we hit a solid -18 degrees. It was awesome. Sisar Owens and I were at a bus stop waiting for a bus and she turned to me and said, "I am legitimately afraid that we will have to amputate our toes off tonight."  But don't worry! It was really not as bad as it sounds!  

Interesting story of the week:

Seeing as I can't speak Finnish very well yet, we decided to try walking into a chinese restaurant in the city to see if anyone spoke Cantonese. We ended up teaching the woman working there in three languages, Finnish, Mandarin, and Cantonese. The woman was actually from mainland China and did not speak any Cantonese. I just thought she said she did, so here I am spouting off in Cantonese, and she's just looking at me like "Who is this girl?"

Let's just say that it was really really awkward, because no one had a clue who was speaking what or what was being said. BUT at least she knows now that she is a daughter of God and that He loves her! 

I love you all!

Email me, I'd love to hear from you!

Sisar Kwok 

(also this computer doesn't have an SD card reader, so maybe pictures next week?)