Great Week!

Sounds like Spencer is busier than ever.  I just love to hear the adventures he has to go through. Enjoy!

Dear Family & Friends,

My week was fun! On Tuesday I took a night train to Helsinki from Oulu that left at 11:39 PM. The night train has a bed and you sleep all the way to Helsinki. I got here and we went right to work. We had one Elder going home and another who got sick so also had to go home. We got them all ready and taught a few lessons. At night, we had the "last supper" with the departing missionaries. It was crazy to listen to this elder going home tell stories about his mission. He was a stud. And Sister Rawlings makes great food! 

The next morning we went to the airport at 5am to send the departers off. We stand there with President and Sister Rawlings and watch them go through security and when they are through they look back and we all wave goodbye to them. It was an strange feeling watching them leave. 

We have a great teaching pool and have two baptisms for next month. One of our investigators, who is getting married before his baptism, was at church yesterday. While in church, he fell asleep during a hymn and dropped his hymn book on the floor. Elder Kiuttu and I couldnt hold back from laughing. The bishop looked at us and started laughing as well. (the chapel has hard floors so it made a big boom) 

The ward here is nuts. There are former stake presidents and sons and daughters of former stake presidents. That guy Nillo Kervinen who was in the Ensign from Finland is in our ward. Tons of studs in this ward. 

My companions are seriously my best friends, besides Elder Hendryx of course. We have tons of fun. 

We are writing email a little early because we spent the night at the office putting in the key indicators numbers for the mission. After all the numbers come up the chain we put them into an excel spread sheet so President can have a lay out of what happened. We were up until 12:30 doing them. 

Pretty cool thing is I have my own phone! Normaly each companionship has just 1. but we all have our own. So, its fun to have people calling me to ask questions! 

Well, I am trying to write in my journal to keep a record of everything to fill in the blanks of my letters. I did get the package off it will arrive as One box because I taped the two boxes together and  shipped it as one. Way cheaper! 

Summer is in full swing here. 25 degrees everywhere! 

Oh in other news, another Elder is going home this week mid-transfer so since we are the only threesome in the mission, my companions will be taking turns being his companion until the next transfer. It will be crazy because we have a zone conference in Pietarsaari, Tampere and Helsinki coming up that we need to be at. Then we have week long training with the new group that just came in and Mission leadership council or MLC. 

Oh and I also went on exchanges in Tampere this week! That was fun. 

Well, great week and thanks for all the prayers! 

Love,

Vanhin Tippetts

Mother's Day Skype

Hello from Oulu

It was a wonderful Mother's Day getting to Skype with Spencer.  He was happy and seemed to be doing really well.  He sounds very busy but that is definitely a good thing! Enjoy!

Dear Family & Friends,

Well, we just got back from ordering train tickets. I will be on a train for 18 hours this week! I will also be visiting every city in the Kuopio district in 2 days! I will sleep over in kuopio tonight. Do splits in Joensuu and then do a distict meeting in Savonlinna on Wednesday! Crazy! 

Skype yesterday was sweet! Its never long enough! We were talking about how we always feel bad after because we didnt say all the things that we should have. 

My birthday was... well? It was a red day yesterday so we couldnt do any work. We called the sisters and asked if they had the stuff to make a cake and they asked if we would just want a slice of cake. We said sure and then they asked us why we needed the cake.  We said that it was because it was the only fun thing we could do on my birthday.  So, I did get some cake!!  Haha it wouldnt be official without it! 

We are going to go get chinese food after this so that will be a good celebration. Then because we dont have time today, next week we will go to a viking resturaunt! When you all come we will eat there for sure! They have ox sausage... awesome! Last time I went I had Reindeer and Reindeer heart! 

I am loving my mission. I remember towards the beggining leadership was something that really interested me. Obviously it still does because I enjoy it but since I have become a leader my view has changed. Every young missionary aspires to be AP and if that was ever true it was true for me. But as leaders our number 1 priority is our proselyting area. Thats because there literally is nothing more important than the work we do. Sure its cool to be in charge and have extra privileges and what not but the real priviledge is to be a missionary and to bring people into the restored gospel.  There is no greater call than this. There isn't anything better one could do with there life than spread this knowledge. This however is not limited to just those who wear name tags.  All members of the church have been called. 

Want to set a goal? Lets all rescue 1 this week. Lets find 1 person each, whether they are innactive or non member, and bring them with us to church. Pray every day not for me or the missionaries to succeed but pray that we can all find at least 1 who will sit next to us in church. I'll be doing the same! Let me know how it goes in next weeks letter! (BTW this isnt just for my family, this is for anybody who reads this!) 

I love you all! 

Vanhin Tippetts 

 A few Pictures from our Mother's Day Skype.  It was his birthday so we held up a banner when he first came on.

Then we had a cake with candles and had him blow them out.

The family portrait.

The goodbye with a smile!

Unbelievable Experience

This was quite the email.  I think I am still in shock!  We are excited to share this incredible experience that Spencer had today!  Enjoy!

Dear Family & Friends,

Let me tell you about how my mind was blown today. 

President came to district meeting today and sat in on it. We then had our regular interviews with him.  So, I go in and sit down and I say the opening prayer. He looks up and asks me some questions. Then he gets quiet and says "How do you feel about your new transfer?"  I was in shock because I was getting a change call face to face with President. He says, "You will be going to Espoo (where the temple is) to be a Zone Leader over the Helsinki zone.  I almost cried... Then I shake it off and we continue our interview. It was hard to shake it off because I love Oulu and have only been here a month.  Well I asked president for some life advice because this was our last interview together.  We had a great conversation and I learned a ton! Then I told him how much I appreciate him and what he's done for the church worldwide. We were both crying telling each other how much we loved each other. Then he asks if we can have a closing prayer.  I say yes and he gives the most incredible prayer in Finnish.  Pretty intense. Then he looks up after the prayer and rather than standing up and hugging me like he always does, he sits back in his chair looks at me in the soul piercing kind of way.  Then after a long silence he says, "Okay, I am changing your assingment, I am calling you as my new assistant."  Then I thought I was gonna die.  So basically he decided that I would be one of the AP's for when President Watson gets here right in front of me... 

So my new companions will be Elder Kiuttu who is one of my best friends in the world and Elder Heaney who is also a super good friend.  We are a threesome so that one of us can be with the new mission president at all times. 

I am super scared and cant really eat right now.  But hey the church is true right? 

This is all I can write right now. I leave for Helsinki tomorrow so I need to pack. I will be in the Marjaniemi ward. 

Love,  

Elder Tippetts

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