Wow! Another crazy week

Another crazy week for Spencer.  Sounds like he is working overtime for sure.  As a mom I was not excited about the bike accident.  I just pray he is really ok!  Enjoy!

Dear Family & Friends,

Absolutely insane week on my side of the world. I have done everything from getting a surgery to flying on an airplane! 

On tuesday I had an accident... I fell off my bike! It ripped my pants and some skin off of the palm of my hand. It was not fun! I called Sister Rawlings and asked her what to do and she said I need to scrub it out because its almost guranteed to get infected. So, Elder Christiansen was the head chef and performed the operation. First he cut the excese skin off and then, under warm water, scrubbed my hand like a mad man! I was screaming it hurt soo bad! Then we put alcohol on it just to make sure! It was not very pleasent... I have pictures! 

When I was in Kuopio, I bought winter tires for my bike so I wouldnt slip on the ice. Well, I figured I would just leave my normal tires in the storage unit in Kuopio. Well, I was then transfered to a city with excellent public transportation for the entire winter and didnt even ride my bike. So, I wasted 50 euros on those tires and I still needed to buy new ones. Well, then I got called as a zone leader and got to go on splits in Kuopio!!!! So, while I was there I got my old tires back and we put them on my bike right before the fall. The After Shock (my bike) is looking good! The gears and the brakes have, since its purchase, broken... but she still rides like a dream! 

This week was hard because the local hockey team won the national championships. That obviously means for everyone to get drunk! Then we had another Finnish holiday called Vappu. This also means for everyone to get drunk. Its so bad that we arent allowed to be outside unless we have an appointment. So, basically all of Finland except members of the church was drunk this week so it was hard to find new people to teach. Well on the evening of thursday we went to the airport and flew to Helsinki. 

When we walked in, Elder Christiansen says, "wow, its really busy today." I looked around and counted 4 people in the airport! haha its a tiny airport but nice anyway. The flight lasts about 50 minutes which is nice and way better then the 9 hour train ride to Helsinki. We got to Helsinki and ran into the Russian national hockey team who had just been beaten by Finland! 

We spent the night at the APs apartment. The next morning we all got in the car and went to Espoo where the Temple is. We did a 10 oclock session, all in Finnish! It was super fun! I actually understood most of it. I asked about the new couple and they didnt come in until after we left. Then Sister Rawlings prepared a huge lunch for us and then we had the mission leadership council in the mission home. It was nuts! There were tears and everything.We could all tell that it was hitting President Rawlings that he was leaving in 2 months! We got tons of new stuff to talk about. 

I also know something that effects the whole church that hasnt been announced yet!!! We will tell everyone about it in our zone meeting this week. which we also have to plan today...

We got back to our area on saturday morning and got right back to work. We still managed to teach 20 lessons! It was awesome! We have a busy week this week with three days of splits, a language test and a zone service project that I will give the details about next week! 

All is well and the church is true! 

Love, 

Vanhin Tippetts

ps the area covers all the way to Rovaniemi which is in the arctic circle. we have a district meeting there this month!

The Lammintaus family

>
> The Lammintaus family. I also have a welcome back from them.

The Silvenoinens

My Vacation is Almost Over!

Always my favorite day of the week. Enjoy! This should be dated April 7, 2014.


Dear Family & Friends,

Sounds like everybody had a great week!

I have been calling this week my vacation week. I really, really dont like vacations... We left sunday night and didnt come back until thursday night. Friday day we had district meeting and weekly planning. Saturday we were on splits with the ZL´s and had General Conference. Sunday we spent all day watching recorded sessions and one live session of Gen Conf. Today is Pday and we leave tonight for splits in Rauma then we have a Zone Conference on wednesday. Its ridiculous! But fun and very educational all at the same time!

We had three days with President Rawlings. He shared many inspiring stories and advice. Thursday while my companion was at kielikoulu, or language school, I, with all the other trainers was supposed to go to the temple but, it was closed for cleaning! So, I got to go on splits in a city called Porvoo. It was just opened up for missionaries 6 weeks ago and no one in that city has seen missionaries for over 30 years! Porvoo is an hour outside of Helsinki and is a cool tourist location. It was beautiful!

While in Porvoo, we were reviewing some of the things President had taught us in the meeting. He mentioned the use of giving flowers to inactive members. So, we thought we could deliver a fresh bouquet of really cheap flowers to someone! We went to a local flower shop and waltzed on in. Two men shopping for flowers must have been a pitiful sight as demonstrated by the following approach of a store clerk. The store clerk asked if we needed help, as if the expression on our faces didnt answer her question. We explained the situation and asked her, "if you received these flowers, how would you feel?" She responded, "Great, because I never get flowers!" At precicely the same moment the idea came into both of our minds to remember that bit of information. After a little bit of chatting, we instinctively mentioned that God loves all his children and knows how to make them happy. Then started a 10 minute discussion about the Gospel. We made our purchase and in the final words we asked about her family and learned about her husband and that their anniversary is in May. Once the store door closed behind us we began making plans about how we could follow up with her and buy her flowers on her anniversary! Nothing miraculous really but I can see very easily that the Lord put us there to plant a seed. But, as every good farmer knows, frequent follow up is required in order to tend to the growth properly. That lady was touched and it was cool to be a part of it!

General conference was great fun! We learned so much. It is pretty cool to think about the fact that a living prophet speaks today!

Anyway, President shared great insight from the new testament. It was the story about the rich young man. He spoke to Christ and explained that he had done everything and that what more could he do to obey the commandments. The Savior replied that he must sell his riches to the poor and follow him. President said that this was likely a call to the Quorum of the Twelve. I had never realized that this little conversation was so important. Well, we know that the young man turns the invitation down. President taught that we must consecrate all we have even our worldly possessions to the Lord. Once we are totally sanctified, we can work miracles on his behalf!

The church is true and the work is moving forward!

Have a great week!

Vanhin Tippetts

I am now going to be a zone leader in Oulu!

This was a quick email we received from Spencer this morning.  He is moving way up in the north in Finland to Oulu.  Look at a map and see how far north Oulu is located.  I am so glad he is going into the summer months. It is a big city right on the Gulf of Bothnia.  His zone is huge so he will be traveling a ton.  It is so wonderful to see him growing in all the different capacities he has been in so far.  This one will definitely push him outside his comfort zone and will force him to greater heights.  Can't wait to see it!

Dear Family & Friends,

Well, the call came. It came a day early actually! It was super stressful. My companion is leaving to Pietarsaari where they speak Swedish. I will also be leaving to go to Oulu to be a zone leader. I am super sad to leave, I just said good bye to everyone at church. I will be leaving tomorrow at 12 so I had to write today. I will have two companions in Oulu. Elder Speirs who was in the MTC at the same time as me but one group ahead and then Elder Christiansen who is the language coordinator in the North Zone. Both are older than me!!! Im so excited to be a junior companion! I have been either training or a co senior companion for 8 months! 

I will meet up with Elder Speirs tomorrow here in Tampere at 1150 and him and I will ride a train all the way to Oulu. (6 hours!) Because I am a Zone Leader I go to the Missionary Leadership Council every month. Because Oulu is so far away from Helsinki we fly down every month! I also get to go to the temple every time I am there! I am soo excited to be in a threesome. I have always wanted to be in one because you only need one member to have 2 companionships! It will be super fun!

The Oulu zone covers everything north of Jyväskylä. Its huge! I will also get a chance to go back to Kuopio because the district leader is there. 

There will be tons of new tasks added but I am so excited to finally get trained again! 

Sorry I cant write more but I may write tomorrow when I get there but probably not. Have a great week! 

Vanhin Tippetts 

Here is a map to see how far north he will be going.  Right now he is in Tamperedown towards the bottom left.  Oulu is up closer to the Artic Circle.  It is almost the farthest city his mission goes.  I think there is only one other city farther. The mission does not go past the Arctic circle.   He will be doing lots of traveling for sure.

Hello! Change call week! Or rather Elder Tippetts is really stressed week!

Well. Good to hear from everybody!

Being a missionary and working so close with ward leaders has opened my eyes as to what those callings are. Every calling in the church has the same rights in their stewardship as the prophet has in his! The church truly is lead by inspired men and women.

Answers to questions.

I did get the package and it was the best one yet! I made some of the Mac and Cheese and mixed in some Finnish makkara or basically sausage. It was great!

No, more nose bleeds or any bleeding for that matter!

Peppermint beads were awesome! I carry them with me!

I saw the Reijonens and got the pictures! Thank you! Also the Reijonens have been telling everyone in the ward that I play piano and swam. We have another meeting with them this week. We are sharing easter messages with everyone we can this week.

Also, the "Because of Him" Video online is AWESOME! Everyone must watch it!

I did see the world report. We got tons of air time this year at General Conference.

I have no specific requests for birthday packages. Im at the point where I have almost stopped caring about all the things I used to think were important. So, 3 Musketeers bars and Root Beer... You know me!

Any more questions??? :)

This week was "ihan ok" or "quite okay" haha

We went on splits with the Elders in Rauma and it was fun. Nothing much to report on there!

We taught our member from the Philippines and her friend this week. It was a great lesson and you could really feel God speaking through the Holy Ghost.

Okay so the crazy story for the week. When Elder Chapman and I got here 6 months ago we met this man, with a certain ethnic background that I cant mention to maintain his privacy, while on a bus. We told him who we are and tried talking to him about the gospel. He wasnt super interested. Well, we ran into the guy at least once a week from then on. We always talked to him and sat next to him on buses. But I had not seen him since Elder Parker got here. So, this week I see him on a bus and go to sit next to him. We chat for a little bit in Finnish and then in perfect English he says "you have been here a long time. Are transfers coming soon?" I replied by saying yes and then realized that no one knows about transfers other than people who are really close to missionaries. I asked a few questions like if he has ever met with missionaries and been to church. He said, "yes! And much more! I was a missionary myself!" Well turns out this man is a high priest and a translator for the church from a certain country that cant be named! He explained that he is in-active and really has sour feelings towards the church. Well, I try to ask for his name because I have forgotten it and he tells me that he wont give it to me so I wont try to track him down and "Re-activate him" Then, he jumps of the bus. That night I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father if there was anything He wanted me to do to help that man. I figured that the Lord would let me know if there was something I needed to do immediately. So, I told Heavenly Father that this man was in His hands now but that I wanted to find out when the man comes back to the church. Now, flash forward two days. I see him on the bus again! I talk to him and got some more information while I was talking to him the thought came to mind to give him one of my cards with my personal email address and ask him to write me or something. I didnt have any with me so, I said another prayer that night and asked Heavenly Father to get our paths to cross again so I can give him one of my cards. It was kind of interesting because I feel like the Lord is really trying hard to get us to meet up and I know that man will come back to the church one day. Ill need some extra prayers this week for sure so I can meet him again.

The things I have been learning recently are helping me realize how serious God is in getting His children back. All kinds of things are happening around us that give us opportunities to help people. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "He will lead you to them or He will lead them to you".

Dad, remember the homeless man outside of the Mexican restaurant in Snowflake? You taught me a great lesson right after that experience. It was when we went to the temple and we put his name on the temple role. I was about to write his name on the paper but then I said to you, "we dont know his name! What do we write?" You replied, "Just write ´man from the street` Heavenly Father knows who he is." I will always remember that even though you may not. God knows us all individually and you taught me a great lesson. So, when you are in the temple this week, feel free to do the same with the man I met!

Thanks for the letters everyone!

Love,

Vanhin Tippetts

Ps. This week is change calls so bring on the crazy amounts of stress and acne! I have been here for 6 months and it is likely I get transferred! Send me guesses!

PPS also I will have been in Finland for one year on thursday! WEIRD!

Short Week 2

Dear Family & Friends,

We are going to Helsinki to do our 6 week language school and training. While my companion is in the language school I would have been going to the temple but, it is closed this week... I am a little sad about that.

This week has been good. We have found three new investigators in just 5 days. The Lord really lined us up for these ones too! One of them just walked up to us and started talking about it with us. We also found a potential investigator who at first said that he thought Joseph Smiths story was a scam. Then after we told him about the Book of Mormon and how if he read it he would know that Joseph Smith didnt write it, he gave us his info right there! Then the sisters literally just called and said they ran into him again today and he is super stoked to get a Book of Mormon!

Pretty sweet stuff. I also got to drink Root Beer this week! Its not as good as it used to be... I need to start my diet again!

Its really interesting how I didnt want to be here after the first few months but I have absolutely fallen in love with this city and ward!

The church is true. Have a great week!

Sorry this email is soo short, we dont have enough time! We havent even had time to eat today!!!

Love,

Vanhin Tippetts