Yes we love Sunday evenings. Best time of the whole week. Sounds like Spencer is feeling stressed but still seems to be managing to make everything work. He has an amazing companion so the two of them work quite well together. I am always amazed with what they accomplish together each week. It is so fun to hear their preparations for Elder Bednar. What an amazing experience it will be. Enjoy!
Dear Family & Friends,
What happened?! August just blew by! But boy did we have a week last week!
Last night was for sure a highlight of it. President Watson called us before church and asked us if we could pick him, sister Watson and Elder Kearon (first quorum of the seventy) up from the airport! So, We did. As he was walking up to the car, he saw me and shouted, "Elder Tippetts!" I mentioned how we met last year more than 18 months ago at the begining of my mission. He said that he remembered me! He remembered Elder Kiuttu as well. So, Either President refreshed his memery or he actually remembered our names!
Well, we took the exact route we would take with Elder Bednar to the Haaga chapel. We got in and Elder Kearon was crackin all kinds of jokes, so naturally I was firing back! I had em all goin! We arrived at the chapel and went over every detail for the mission conference. I mean every detail... Elder Kearon pointed out a burnt out light bulb and said that needs to be replaced before Elder Bednar gets here. He gave us a ton of stuff to be working on. So all pretty crazy.
In the car over I explained about the work in our area and mentioned that we have had 30 baptisms in the last 3 years. He interupted and asked how many of them are active. I said 3. He got very quite and said, "That cannot be. Will you visit the 27 before Elder Bednar and I come and bring them back?" The spirit burned within us as we accepted the commitment and we knew it came from a servant of the Lord.
Small joke Elder Kearon made, Our key got stuck in the door of the chapel and we couldnt get it out so Elder Kearon saw and came to help. He said as he struggled with the lock mechanism, "My days as a safe cracker are long gone but Im sure there is a talk in here somewhere!" It was great! Literally everything the man said was gold!
We are all very excited for the mission conference.
Answers to questions. We have 111 missionaries in the mission after the new group gets here. Yes sending our sisters from the MTC home was quite weird. I did get some contacts. We discussed getting pictures with Elder Bednar as a mission and We might or might now depends on time. We will pick them up take them to the chapel and as soon as amen is said at the end we get back in the car and head back.
This week was change call week so Elder Kiuttu and I spent some time organizing the whole thing. I have to send you a picture of the diagram we make. Its crazy because no one can be alone throughout the whole process. It takes basically an entire day. But its finishes so now we just need to wait until the first emergency happens and then we can let the going crazy begin!
We had an airplane stress attack that just wasnt fun at all. The office bought tickets and told us the were for wednesday and we could just pick them up from the airport. Well we got there and long long story short the flight left the day before so we tried to get new tickets blah blah blah I almost had a heart attack because Im wasting the Lords money. It was awful. So we drove to Tampere instead to replace some cars there. Elder Kearon asked us multiple times if we were happy and finally I asked how can I do all the crazy things I do and still feel like a representative of Jesus Christ. He then gave an incredibly simple answer he told me to "attack morning workout and attack breakfast and attack my show, get clean, shave, attack getting clothes on. Then hold the pages of the scriptures gently and with intent, read and study the scriptures". The way he said it spoke right to my soul! It was great!
Our investigator Piret is doing great. She has tons of questions so we asked her to write them all down and give them to us. She gave us the list and we realized almost all her questions had something to do with the Law of Chastity. So, we asked her if we could answer all of those in the next lesson and she was super excited. She is progressing really well. Now, we just need to get her to church.
This week our bishop rallied the ward to not just shake hands with people but seek out and become someones friend. It was epic!
This week however was quite officy. Which I rather enjoy. So does my companion though. So, I love it as long as we work on two different things. When that happens We get tons of stuff done! One thing I did was re organized the mission materials room! I could feel the label making gene I inherited from my father vibrating as I placed Swahili Books of Mormon on the shelf! I was in the zone there. It likes better now. This is only temporary until our new senior team arrives. Which might be a while.
We started the WOW diet! It is only healthy things. We switched to almond milk which is way better than normal milk. We had salads and soy stuff and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. It was great! And we saved money!
Although my mission gives me the most ridiculous tasks that are really stressful and hard and I want to cry almost every other day, I really do love it. I catch myself thinking sometimes, "I hope the rest of my life isnt this hard..." Whether it is or it isnt I am becoming really good at being alive. This months "Message from the Assistants" was about how some would die for Christ, but it is more noble to live for Christ. So I will live for Christ until the glorious day when I will meet him in person.
Love,
--
Elder Spencer Tippetts
Finland Helsinki Mission
