Kuopio on niin mahtava!

9/1/13

Well howdy y´all! Great report on the week. sounds like everything is going great back home!

 

To answer some questions: I have not seen the northern lights yet. It just got dark here for the first time about two weeks ago. For about a month the sun didnt go down.

 

The members are great! They all love missioanries. There is one retired couple that lived in Mikkeli who moved away while I was there. It was a sad goodbye but when I got here I remembered that they moved to Kuopio! So, they had us over for dinner last night! super fun!

 

We are doing quite well as far as missionary work goes. We found 5 new investigators last week which were all crazy miracles. Right now we have 14 total investigators and 5 of them are actively preparing for baptism.

 

The Kuopio apartment is a little rough around the edges due to neglect from previous missionaries. The materess that I was supposed to use had bed bugs and caused the last elder to get scabbies. So, I put a call in and a few days later I had a brand new materess! Its super nice. The bed is actually just a stack of box springs and what not so there isnt actually a frame or anything. For that reason I call it my alter because I feel like I am being offered up as a sacrifice when I lay on it! We are making improvments slowly!

 

No new jacket yet, I havent had time!

 

I got a call that my package arrived but the sisters left the office right before it got there! So, I found someone who could bring it to Zone conference in Oulu in two weeks! Which is a crazy journey, 5 hours! That is one reason we dont do mission conference with the whole mission. Its too expensive and takes forever!

 

This week I introduced my companion to a store called Lidl. It is the closest thing to Costco they have here. Its cheap and in bulk! So, we have been eating quite well. Also sad to report I have gained a little weight since I got here. Having a car doesnt help in the slightest!

 

We had District meeting in Joensuu this week. We have to drive there because the sisters dont have anywhere to stay the night so we do the trip in one day! It is about a 2 hour drive with speed cameras the whole way! Talk about stressful! We also have a senior couple in our district and they are super great to have with us!

 

We are trying to start a branch in a city called Iisalmi that is an hour and a half train ride north of Kuopio so we go out there a lot. We had it all scheduled to go out there with train tickets and all. That morning however, my companion came to me and said he didnt feel good about it. so we cancelled it and realized we had nothing to do. So, we went out and started working. We said a prayer that we could find someone. Well, we went to talk to two men who said to come back later. We taught them and both became investigators!

 

On saturday, we went to do the same kind of thing but we were not having as much success. So, we found a spot and said another prayer and asked where we should be. After the prayer I looked up and said that we need to be in this area. Then Elder Durrant said well theres this one guy I remember that said he wasnt interested but we could go check anyway! So, we went and knocked on his door. The man opened the door and started talking to us when... his friend comes around the corner!!! Then the friend starts to talk to us when we get invited in! Inside is the original man and his wife and one son and then the other guys friend! All three of them became investigators! That brought us to a total of 5 new people this week!

 

I would love to tell you there names of course but it is illegal...

 

Yesterday in Elders quorum the 1st counselor in the branch presidency asked if we had any ruoka sopimuksia or dinner appointments. I said no and then explained how members receive blessings based on how much they feed us. Everyone laughed and then we schedule two dinner appointments for this week on the spot. Boo yaa!

 

Pretty great week overall. I learned that it is possible to leave a mission as a chuckle head. It is also possible to leave as an absolute stud. The difference is a choice that a missionary must make early on to allow the mission to change him. I hope and pray that I wont just go through my mission but that it will go through me and change me! I got a looong way to go!

 

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Tippetts