Fwd: tervs

Moi Moi howdy ho hey! How is every one doin! This is Vanhin Tippetts reporting live from Mikkeli Finland. Cloudy skies and a high of 31 degrees celcius! Another week here in the blessed city of Mikkeli has taken place with miracles at every turn! 

First the question was asked about if im expecting to leave Mikkeli soon. Change calls are in two weeks so we will find out then but I hope I dont have to leave because Mikkeli is the best! Also we received some new missionaries about two months ago 4 elders and 8 sisters! The next group comes in two weeks. suppossed to be 11 sisters! They are really flooding this country with sister missionaries! With opening new areas im way to low on the totem pole to know about that stuff but with sisters they will usually try to put them in a ward that has elders. We are hoping Mikkeli gets a sister companionship soon!

So, I received a package with the listerine things. Those are great! People love them here! I also love them because what we would call a travel size bottle of listerine is almost 10 € here! So I dont buy it.

A story I forgot to tell last weeks is the story of cleaning our investigators house. Its more of a horror story really. He has several addictions including my personal diagnosses of trash hording! We took out 7 black bags of trash and cleaned on our hands and knees for three hours when we finally gave up! I have never seen a house soo dirty in my life! Ever since this experience I have not only kept my apartment spotless but sanitized as well! ugh (shivers!) It was awful! But this investigator has semi dropped of the face of the planet and told us he doesnt want to quit using drugs because he likes it too much. People and their agency these days!

Nestori is doing great. He has really been gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon! We have been focusing on Joseph Smith lately and He knew he was a prophet and everything but when our member told him that Joseph only had a third grade education he was stunned! He asked how he can learn more about him so we gave him the Joseph Smith History and the member family offered to show him the restoration video! It was soo sweet! This is the same family we skyped at. We call them our rock star family.

Other news from the week, I learned how to make corn bread this week. A super high calorie option to substitute for lower calorie options!

So, there is this thing here called kotirauha which means home peace and that we cant knock on doors after 8. so when we dont have any appointments after 8 we do a power hour! This usually consists of us walking around town and stopping people. well one person who had quite a bit to drink that night stopped us! He asked quite a few great questions. My favorite question he asked was do you guys wear sacred underwear. obviously not really knowing how to answer that question i said "yeah" He then left that question alone. later that night another drunk man stopped us and asked us how many moms we have. I said "1!" he then asked how many wives we have I said "none! Im 19!" Haha It was a really funny night!

But this weeks spirtual message comes from a random not drunk man we met on the street. He said "Christ chose to die for our sins so we too must choose." Im not sure what he meant but I took from it that follow Christ is a choice. Its a choice that can only lead to blessings. Keep following Christ everybody!

Vanhin Tippetts signing off...

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Fwd: another week in Mikkeli

Well it was soo good to hear from everyone this week. Hope everyone is okay and healthy.

This week was hard to say the least. We did quite a bit of tracting and we all know how that goes!

We had a mini missionary from a city call Kajaani this week. His name is Vanhin Komulainen. He is a stud and helped us a ton!

Last pday we were at the grocery store and the guy at the check out line stoped us and asked where we were from. He then said that he did an exchange program in Idaho and stayed with a member family. Then we said goodbye and went on our way. Well last night we literally had no where to go and I said lets just go check up on this person we know that moved away. Pointless right, well we got there and no one had moved in yet but we decided to knock on a few doors around that one and the first one we knocked on a guy answered the door and said wow! what are you guys doing here? we had forgotten who he was and then he explained and we were like, "wow..." Well he invited us in and we taught him a little and he showed us his book of mormon and said he has read it! We are very excited to continue meeting with him.

The last month has been challenging to say the least. I have been stripped down to nothing but my testimony of this gospel. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is exactly what I tell people it is everyday. It is Another Testemant of Jesus Christ. It is the proof that this church is Gods church. If that book is not true then we have all wasted a lot of time. Its okay though because that is impossible. If you have not read that book in a while, read it, If going to church has become a second priority lately, Go, If you have never visited church or read the Book of Mormon, Do it and do it quick because there are blessings waiting for you!

I love all of you and wish you the best!

Vanhin Tippetts

This was his dinner the other night.  Smashed pea soup.

This was Spencer choosing his word of the day in his dictionary.  Notice the gloves.  Must be getting cold!

Elder Tippetts District

A "sweet" picture of Elder Tippetts, his companion and a mini missionary they were training last week.

Miracles are just pouring in!

First off, I received some extremely comforting letters from tons of friends. Thank you so much! Also I think I might tell everybody that my weeks are really hard in order to receive that much mail! Haha. I love all of you guys!

I want to apologize for any spelling errors. I have a very hard time spelling now. Hopefully dad is fixing any mistakes!

Much much better week! It started out with Zone Conference where i got to sleep over at the Zone leaders apartment with my old companion Vanhin Jefferies! That guy is such a stud! We learned tons of stuff. Jefferies asked me to tell the white underwear story, which is very dear to me. If I haven’t told that please let me know, it changed my life! Well, while I was telling the story I cried. That was the 2nd time I have cried on my mission. Really embarrassing...

The third time I cried happened this week also. More about that in a moment!

I was asked about what we eat. A typical day starts out with a very traditional Finnish food called Ruisleipa. It this really thin bread that’s basically rye bread. Butter usually does the trick but cheese and any other fresh toppings can be added! Then we eat a lunch that has a good amount of vegetables for regularity and then some Riisipiraka, which is like a rice cake thing. Another food that is popular here is called Kebab. It is lamb meet that is illegal in the states! They role it up and eat it like a burrito. Its good, but your self-esteem is pretty low after eating it! Then we finish the day with some pasta or something. We really try to get dinner appointments or DA´s. We have a mini missionary coming from Kajaani this week so we asked our branch missionary leader to get us a ton of DA´s. He thought it would be a good idea to ask just the Elders quorum... We have two... Remember, for things of this kind of importance, never trust the Elders quorum with it! Always go to the relief society! At DA´s we usually eat really nice comfort food! Two weeks ago we had Reindeer soup!

Now, the miracles were just pouring out upon us this week. I don’t know why because I don’t deserve them! This week we got back into regular contact with Nestori. You met him on Skype. He has re set his baptismal date for the 17th of next month! We also went up to this guys house on the opposite edge of our city and he wasn’t home. So on the way back we saw a guy drinking on the sidewalk. We stopped him and my companion asked him straight up, "why do you drink?" Ha ha and then he became an investigator and now he will be baptized on the 10th of next month.

So, the hard thing with these investigators is that they are totally willing to set a date but not to come to church! Its 9:58 and church starts in 2 minutes. No investigators. The young men asked me if i would bless the Sacrament and we really trying to get me to go sit on the stand so they could start the meeting. Finally, giving up most of my hope, I went and sat up on the stand. Right before the Branch President got up to start the meeting, both of our friends came into the church wearing these beautiful button-up shirts! I looked around at all the members and they were looking at the investigators with complete shock! Our investigators were both Finns! There is this super bad stereotype that only foreigners get baptized in Finland. One member looks at the investigators and then to me with an absolutely stunned look on her face! Then, as I am beaming on the stand, Veli Sivalingan (our Sri Lankan member), looks at me and just like a proud father or friend would, he gives me a smile and a thumbs-up! I then put my head down and could not contain the emotions! Thus the third time I have cried. It was truly an amazing experience!

Then after church we had lunch over at the Sohkonens and then we had dinner at the Sivalingans. He received the Melchezidek Priesthood and thought in order to celebrate he should make us some food! It was quite spicy to say the least!

We have been inviting everyone to join us in a prayer. Every missionary in Finland prays at 7:50 in the morning and at 9:50 at night together for the work here in Finland. Currently, we are asking all the members here in Finland to do the same thing. I wanted to ask you guys back home to join us in this prayer. The time zones are different but the time can be adjusted to fit the regular schedule. When we join together in prayer the miracles will pour down.

This God we serve truly is a God of miracles. They happen all around us and we just need to open our eyes to see them! Gods love is so real and just like how my mom always has told me I will never be able to understand how much she loves me, God is the same way but on such a huge level! We will never be able to understand it! I am so grateful for all of you back home praying for me. I could definitely feel your prayers get me through the rough patches!

I am so grateful for all of you and love you all so much!

Love,

Vanhin Spencer Tippetts

It's all about cofidence

Oh boy! Its sounds like you guys are having tons of fun! I’m so jealous!

I really love hearing about all the adventures you guys have! We are probably the coolest family I’ve ever been in! Haha but really.

Not going to lie, this week has been rough. Our investigators have been dropping left and right. Yesterday morning we had 0. We found 2 new people on the street that were both drunk. that could be good because we have been studying the 12 week addiction recovery program! I noticed a few comments about how our ward was mostly gone this last week. That’s how we feel here! Like i said last week, Finns leave on like 2-month long vacations during the summer. It has been impossible to get members to come with us to lessons this week because they are all gone. It’s okay though, it helps us focus on finding!

My Finnish has been improving soo much lately. my companion isn’t as experienced as Jefferies is so I have been talking much more. I was setting up an appointment with a lady when she asked how long I had lived in Finland I said 3 months and she said "USKOMATONTA!" Which is basically "Unbelievable"! It was sweet, but I guess I’m just really good at faking it! Its all about confidence. If you look like you know what you are doing then people believe it! haha

We have been planning a Grilliuhla this week that will be happening on thursday! Its just an outdoor BBQ that should be super fun! Ill take pictures!

We are leaving tonight for Helsinki to go to Zone Conference. We will be spending the night with Elder Jefferies and the other zone leader Werefelt. I’m stoked!

I am not gonna lie I haven’t been having tons of fun lately. I’ve been down and just depressed many times this last month. It’s kind of lame actually but the miracle is that I actually still want to be here! Every time I begin to feel depressed before I go to bed I pull out the whole reason we are all out here, The Book of Mormon. Every time it reminds me that this IS true. It’s true enough for millions of people to have changed their lives for it. That book is the proof of the truthfulness of what we are doing. Always remember it, do what ever you can to share it!

Aina muista että Jumala rakasta teitä!

Minä tiedän tämä kirkon olevan totta. Se on Jumalan kirkko maanpäällä. Mormonin Kirja on hänen sana meille ja kun me luemme ja rukoilemme sitä, me voimme tuntea että se on totta.

Keep it real everybody!

Vanhin Tippetts

We got on the wrong train!

What’s up everybody! How is everybody? It’s sad to hear about the fire and plane crash. I actually saw someone reading a newspaper with a picture of it on the front and asked him what happened! Sounds like everyone had a fun week in Utah! Totes jelly over here!

Don’t worry about not getting the letter to me before I checked my email, I only cried for an hour! Speaking of crying, whenever I hear a baby crying in church I think to myself, "I know exactly how you feel!" I’ve been there! But this week was pretty good!

So, we were out in an area where we used to have 2 members but now have 4! ;) There is a nearby forest that we walked through and guess what we stumbled upon?! A field of wild blueberries! It was sweet, literally! I plucked up a few and had a little mid-day snack right there in the middle of the forest!

It has been a little cooler this week, we have actually had to start wearing suit coats again :( its okay we look good! We are trying to build up our investigator pool again and it is proving harder than we though because everybody is going on vacation for months at a time! Fins take long vacations; everybody takes huge month or two month vacations right in the middle of summer! They just leave somewhere! It’s crazy. Very interesting people we are dealing with over here!

We just returned this morning from a District meeting with President Rawlings! He came and had a 6-hour meeting with us! I also got to have an interview with him while everybody was setting stuff up. I asked him some really important questions and I learned some pretty sweet things! I found out he was a big lawyer in California and has only lost 2 cases in his career! We also talked about how unless members are finding for us we are not going to be very successful. During my interview, I have never felt someone care about me as much as President does. It was a very spiritual experience!

After that we went to catch our train back to Mikkeli which is about an hour long. My companion, (who is not very familiar with the area) says the train is on track 7. I respond and say sweet! We go to the train on track 7 and sat down. It starts to move and the intercom comes on and says first stop Lappenranta. We both just sunk... We realized that we had gotten on the wrong train! Its really my fault, I should have checked which track it was on too. So, we rode it out and arrived in LPR or Lappenranta and realized that was the last train for the day. Luckily we have friends all over the country! We stayed with the missionaries there who happen to be our district leader! Then we boarded a bus and arrived back home this morning! You should go and see how far apart these three cities are. Kouvola, Lappenranta and Mikkeli. That is our district. The only time we see other missionaries is at District meetings. It’s pretty intense!

Great week this week and I’m lovin it!

Love,

Vanhin Tippetts!

Hot in Finland?

Another crazy week over here in Finland! We were pretty packed towards the beginning of the week with teaching our baptizee. This Saturday he was baptized and the next day confirmed. After the baptism we asked ourselves what we should do now? We looked at our investigator list and said, "what happened to everybody?" the answer to that was "they are all baptized!" It was a semi-ok thing to happen but, now we need to work on finding people to teach.

I was given an assignment to speak in church about two weeks ago and so we knew that we had to deliver a riveting speech to rally the ward together for the purpose of missionary work. So, after writing every single word i knew, scripting and planning voice inflections and hand gestures we had a talk. I was very nervous but I could really feel the spirit carrying my words. After that we had a joined meeting with the men and women where our bishop taught and asked how the ward could be doing better at doing missionary work. it was sweet! After that meeting ward members started inviting us over to their house for dinner and such where we plan on asking them how we can help their friends hear the gospel. Then we received word that the World wide leadership conference translations were complete! Next month our ward will be watching it in Finnish! They are all super excited right now to figure out how they can do missionary work!

Fun fact about our ward; we had a guy here just get his mission call to Columbus, Ohio! That will bring the total missionary count of our ward of 40, to 5! That’s a pretty intense amount of missionaries for a branch this small!

This week has been pretty hot. We asked someone who was in the car what the temperature was outside and he said 33C which is about 98F! That’s insane! Sweat has become a normal thing here and oddly we are looking forward to the winter! Hopefully I don’t regret saying that!

Other than that not much has happened this week but as I type this, my companion is practicing Finnish by reading out loud. It’s quite funny.

I hope everybody is doing well back there in the states. Make sure to celebrate the Fourth of July for me! Sorry for not getting birthday letters to you all yet things have been crazy!

Love you guys and hope you are all doing well.

Love,

Vanhin Tippetts

Pictures