MTC: Letter #3

I am so excited that its P day i cant express it with words! yesterday Vanhin Durrant and I went the entire day speaking only Finnish! it was soo hard but i can already see how much faster i can conjugate and express feelings and such! The amount of prayer that is required from us here at the MTC is staggering! We pray minnimum 20 times a day. all in Finnish too! I love hearing from everybody back home and can not encourage you enough to keep writing! It makes my day whenever I hear from you!

We have been growing so close to the lord thes last couple weeks its insane! The big thing weve been taught (thats not finnish) is becoming converted. A testimony is not enough to get by in this life. We cannot be saved and inherit celestial glory by simply thinking that God loves us, we must DO to BECOME what the Lord has asked of us. A member of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke last night and told us if we were okay with not going to the Celestial Kingdom then we are already doing too much but we may not be doing enough to enter into the same dominion that God himself lives in. I am working on becoming who the Lord wants me to be and I know not how but I do know that if I put my trust in him and work as hard as i can he will make of me what he desires.

If i can give any advice it is to always keep The Lord and serving him in our sights. We saw an Elder go home after 3 days because he did not want to be here and I couldn't help but feel sad for him because the blessings that one recieves from missionary service will go on into eternity! Don't back down from the service of our GOD!

Well anyway, all is well here in Provo! Vanhin Durrant and I are getting along well. He is an amazing example of a leader and I am so grateful to be his companion! The Papa Finns [those missionaries getting ready to go into the field] started their consecration week [the week they dedicate all their speaking in Finnish] where they speak only Finnish until they leave. Elder Durrant and I were inspired to start now so every day but Pday and Sunday we speak only Finnish. We even made a constitution! Its difficult but no one said it wouldn't be!

We got two new "investigators" [these are volunteers that help at the MTC in role plays] this week and they are not as easy on us as the first one was! Every time we tell this one guy something he says "miksi?" which is why? and it is super annoying because it makes me laugh because hes our teacher and its just like him to do that to us! All throughout our lessons Elder Durrant and I recieve promptings left and right on what to say and its super fun! The whole teaching program is crazy efficient here! The teachers are all return missionaries from Finland who served under President Rawlings [the current Mission President in Finland]!

Something cool about our Pday [Preparation Day is the one day a week where part of the day is used for letter writing, clothes washing, etc.] is its the same day as all the new missionaries come so they make the food extra good! haha. Also there will not be a conference choir at conference this time! darn, oh well Kirko on Totta.

I want to challenge everyone who reads this to make daily scripture study a priority. The words alone have power along with the meaning they carry. If you do this I promise that it will bring a certain peace into your home that cannot be achieved any other way. As you experience the change in your own life and in the lives of those around you please share those experiences with me!

Friends preparing to go on missions: Dont drink the orange juice when you get here (ha ha) and really work hard on studying the scriptures. There is a lot expected of you when you get here and a large knowledge of the scriptures is on of those things epxected!

Thats all my time, Mina Rakastaan Tieta kaiki. Hyva onea tama vikko.

Rakastaa Vanhin Tippetts!