Week 64 in Lahti (How many cities?)

Wow, transfer week! It's been a crazy one - let's look at what went down!

Like I added to last week, we got to teach my last lesson with Niina! So wonderful, love her. Hope all the best for her and Sampo in the future!

We also went 'shroom hunting with Bishop Vesterinen. What else would you do on your last p-day in Rauma?

Don't eat the red ones, they're poisonous.

That evening, we visited a few of our friends, and took some commemorative compie photos!

yes, it's getting dark at like 7.00 pm. Welcome to Finland!

Then the fateful day came, and I went out to Lahti! I met my new companion, Elder Owens - he's a great guy, and we're gonna do some awesome work this transfer.

We've looked at some of the sights in Lahti, like

the ski jumps,

the harbor,

tiny companion,

this awesome graffiti,

this sailboat that I fell in love with and had to take a photo, etc. etc!

We have some awesome work lined up here - I've decided that I'm going to pull out all of the stops and be a better missionary than I've ever been. I'm very, very excited for the work this transfer.

We also went to - wait - Hämeenlinna?

yup. There aren't missionaries currently in Hämeenlinna, and so we've been given jurisdiction over some of their investigators until they come back next transfer. We visited yesterday, taught a lesson, and took some crazy travel back. Lahti's an awesome city!

Well, I'm going pretty short today, but I hope you all know how much I love you! I hope you also know how much I love this work! This winter won't even be cold, because we're going to be lighting it up in Lahti.

Love you all! Stay strong! Read your scriptures!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 63 in Rauma (No hei, minä lähden lahteen!)

Let's get the big news going - I'm being transferred to Lahti!

How creative can a name be? Lahti means 'bay' in finnish, so there. Because there's no articles(a, an, the) in finnish, there's no difference between "I'm leaving to the bay" and "I'm leaving to Lahti", minä lähden lahteen.

I'll be there with Elder Owens, who's been in country a transfer longer than Elder Hale. Otherwise, I know nothing about him, but I'm excited! Change is always exciting, and packing is always stressful.

Anyways, let's look at our week!

Makin' more bread with General Conference talks in the background. Sums up our P-day last week!

Took some pictures at the Aurajoki - the huge river in Turku. Probably the last time I'll see Turku for a while... Darn! That's a beautiful city, especially in the fall!

Now... for all the goodbye photos... yesterday was sad at church. Rauma's been beloved to me. I got to bear my testimony again, and I remember saying that "osa sydämestäni jää varmasti Raumalle," or "surely a part of my heart will stay here in Rauma."

Sami Hilakari! Return missionary, nearly blind, lives in our same apartment building, spiritual guru! Love this man!

Jukka + Anna-Liisa Laine! Jukka has been one of our best men on lessons, and he also happens to be the father of Sampo, to whom our friend Niina(who will be baptized this Saturday) is engaged! I'm telling you, the family tree never ends.

Keijo Mäkinen! One of my best friends in the ward - we have a very similar sense of humor - he's also the one who gave me that old-translation Bible + Book of Mormon + Pearl of Great Price + Doctrine/Covenants a while back, remember that one?

Well, that's all I've got on pictures for the week. Too many goodbyes, but I do feel that it's time. Lahti calls, and I'll miss Rauma, and the adventure continues!

A few other thoughts: I'm not going to be district leader this time around, so you know what that means? I'm actually gonna get time to do personal studies! I'm really looking forward to it - don't get me wrong, I've loved being a district leader over the Turku/Rauma district, but I also feel that Lahti is the place where I can really focus on deepening my personal conversion to the Lord, and on improving my own work as a missionary. I'm really excited for that.

Well, I'll see you all next week! You'll be hearing from me from Lahti, and we'll see what the adventure brings there!

Love you all! I'd encourage you to keep listening to and studying conference - I've been doing that, and I'm learning more every time!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 62 in Rauma (Never a dull moment!)

Man, the adventures never end! We literally just taught a Plan of Salvation/What in the World is the Book of Mormon to two guys who Bishop Vesterinen brought into church! He saw them on the street, invited them in, and the missionaries happen to be there! Funny how that happens... ihmeitä, ehkä?

But this week, we had myriad of new revelations and changes from General Conference, Exchanges in Turku, and a thousand-year-old pile of rocks!

Let's see...

Pile of rocks first. Yeah, that sounds good.

Last P-day, we went to a spot called Sammanlahdenmäki(yeah, that's one word)! It's, as it says, a 'bronze age burial site,' where ancient Finns... buried people. It's a pretty ancient thing, and it was pretty cool!

Look at this pile of rocks!

neat

LOOK AT THEM

LOOK AT ME STANDING NEXT TO THE PILE OF ANCIENT ROCKS

NOW LOOK AT ME GESTURING TO THE HUGE OLD PILE OF ROCKS

LOOK AT ELDER HALE STANDING ON A ROCK WITH MOSSSSSSSS

All sarcasm aside, it was super cool. We were the only ones there, and the forest echoed whenever we yelled, so naturally I yelled at the forest for about five minutes.

Elder Hale just corrected me, apparently I yelled at the forest for about ten minutes.

Next, we had district council! It's almost our last time, so we took pictures.

Don't mind the sisters, they're weird.

I don't think we have a single normal missionary in our district.

What next? Exchanges, of course! We stayed in Turku after District Council to work with Elders Viitanen and Tracy. Love these guys. We had a ton of stuff to do, but I managed to snag a few pictures with Elder Tracy and a pig!

No no, not a real pig, don't be silly

Look at your missionary.

Now look at me.

Look back at him.

Now... at me.

See your missionary? He's not me.

BAM. I'm on a pig.

(Don't worry if you don't understand. It's just a joke. Elder Sahleen had better understand, though.)

Then, some assorted pics - Rauma has a water tower! We took pictures by it!

Uusikaupunki(Look it up on the map - that's still in our proselyting area) at about 20.00, after sunset. So purty!

We've also been assigned as the palvelutyöveljet(or ministering brothers) for Paavo and Pirkko Huhtala! You may remember Paavo as our previously-featured genius accordion player! We've helped them with a bunch of projects at their home, such as:

-helping them clean up and winterize their mökki(summer cottage)

-changing lightbulbs in their house

-helping them install(properly) their new TV

-teaching them how to use said TV(You want a language challenge? Try teaching someone who speaks no english how to use a TV in Finnish... said TV is programmed in english...)

-When I say 'teach them how to use a TV', I mean "Paavo, this button is the PLAY button. It makes the movie go. This button is PAUSE. It makes the movie stop. This button is POWER. It kills the movie."

-Sharing a spiritual thought for Family Home Evening

-Eating all their "extra" munkkis and desserts

We also gave Paavo a blessing - he's been pretty sick lately, and is going into the hospital for a knee surgery soon. Love them! Here's a picture with us and Paavo!

Didn't take any pictures from Conference - we just took tons of notes. Personally, one of my favorite parts was the music! The Choir's renditions of His Voice As The Sound, and It Is Well With My Soul were heart-rendingly beautiful!

Also, I got a haircut just about 2 hours ago, but I don't have any pics yet. Darn.

Now that I've gone through every facet of our week, I'll have you know - I've loved Rauma! The people - both members and nonmembers(but more especially the members), the work, my companions, everything's been wonderful. I write my Rauma eulogy because transfer calls come this week, and we heavily suspect that I'm gonna leave. Be that as it may, I love being a missionary. It's such a wonderful opportunity! Hope you all love your lives, and that you seek to be missionaries wherever you can be!

-love,

Vanhin Bolinbroke