Week 61 in Rauma (Lil' bit o' chills - eli kylmähkö)

Well well! What have we here?

Tons of pictures, that's what I have. Do you think I take too many?

Nah.

First things first - Last P-day, we went to a scenic spot in Rauma - right by the Baltic sea! (Jokes - the whole city is 'right by' the Baltic sea) Took a ton of pictures, and I had to resist the strange urge to jump in(my swimmer's instincts almost took over)

There's also a little rock that's been graffiti'd with this lovely little message! Awesome stuff.

Then, we had Zone Conference in Tampere!

We stopped at a grillikioski on the way back, had some nice makkaraperuna.

Hmm... other things for the week - we've continued teaching our wonderful Niina - she has a baptismal date coming up soon! I'll probably leave Rauma before she gets baptized, unfortunately, but one of our members talked to her about the church, and she's diving headfirst into Jesus Christ's Gospel! It's been a joy teaching her, and her testimony is, in part, holding mine up - she's such a strength to us!

It's already V-book time in the transfer! Elder Viitanen and I have been talking about a lot of doctrines of the Gospel, so I wrote this little gem in his V-book.

I also bought a 70% cocoa dark chocolate bar, and I've fallen in love with dark chocolate.

I saw this really purty tree the other day.

Aaand, a few pictures from last week, as well!

EMLC at the Temple!

The Tampere Zone Leadership!

The Tampere Zone Leadership after realizing that I'm - again - the hobbit of the group.

Quote: "Did you put Elder Bolingbroke in front because he's the shortest?"

Me: "Excuse me?"

Here's a funny one - this is Jari Vesterinen - our ward mission leader(years ago).

Thousand-mile stare.

Also I learned to make bread.

Welp, that's our week for ya! I love the work here, and being able to give to my God this time, and serve Him and His children. Stay strong! Stay warm! Love you!

-Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 60 in Rauma (It's always sunny in Rauma!)

Hyvää huomentaa iltaa iltapäivää, everyone! Iiit's been a wonderful little week here in Rauma(it really doesn't feel like it's been a whole week), and I've got some stories for you!

For P-day last week, we went to Marela - it's a museum in Vanha Rauma, it's a home that used to belong to Rauman rikkain merimies. It's got a ton of awesome little relics of old Finland in it, and we had a ball!

Like this sssssslithery little sssnakety ssssnake... hissssss...

And this *slightly* creepy mannequin that had headphones where you could listen to this Finnish lady talking about the sisäsota(civil war) in Rauma.

And this *almost* realistic-looking Jack Sparrow (from the kids' area... it's literally just a shopping mall mannequin with bad mustache, a pirate hat and a sword)

Come to think of it, there were a ton of cooler things in that museum than what I've just shown you... but I didn't take pictures of those. Take my word for it, the old frigate ship models, ancient typewriters and travel items, and war-era muskets were worth the trip.

Then, we had District Council in Turku! President and Sister Aura were there...

but we didn't take pictures of that either... jeez. I'm slacking this week. We had our interviews with President, and that same day, we traveled to Pori, because I had...

EMLC! (Extended Mission Leadership Council, for the uneducated) Traveled down to Helsinki, my old stomping grounds, and to the Haaga chapel for meetings about the management of the mission! Super fun stuff. I got to reunite with some old friends, too!

We went to the temple that evening! Now, we haven't gotten President Aura's weekly email yet, so I don't have those pictures. You can probably find them on the interwebs, though.

Last night, we went over to the Vesterinens for dinner again! They fed us a delectable chicken red curry, and I ate way too much because I love that stuff.

Also their dog, Pixie Lou, loves me.

Aw, she's a cutie.

She also peed on me the first time we were at the Vesterinen's place, so I'm pretty sure she actually thinks I'm her territory. Which I'm actually fine with. I love dogs.

In other news! I told you a while back about some Italian friends we had, who we helped out during an international market. We just got the photo!

Love these guys. You will meet the coolest people on your mission!

Welp, I think that's about it for this week! Love you all, and I hope you have a great week! Stay strong, stay warm!

Love, Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 59 in Rauma (Return and Report!)

You want pictures? Good, I'm about to give you a thousand of them.

What a week! We had District Council on P-day, and since Elder Hale and I stayed in Turku that evening, we had a District Dinner! The smoothies were a bit of a disaster, but it was otherwise awesome!

The next morning... ugh. Our train left at 7.05. Our plan was to send Elder Hale and Tracy via bus to the station while elder Viitanen and I rode bikes(they only have two bus passes). Well, they left, and we figured out that one of the bike lock keys was missing.

So we started running.

Look this up on your map: the distance between the LDS chapel(it's pretty close to the Elders' apartment) in Turku and the Turku train station.

Have you looked it up?

We ran that distance in 10 minutes.(On the way, we called the Assistants, because we didn't think that we would make it. You know what they told us? "Keep running, and call us if you miss it.")

10 minutes.

My legs still hurt.

We got to the station, and the train had been delayed, 15 minutes. We made it just in time.

Coincidence? Nope.

Aaaand, we spent the next few days at the mission home, at Return and Report! I got to see a ton of my old missionary friends, and we took a boatload of pictures. Let's go through them:

One of our dinners, with a bunch of snacks(to introduce the new missionaries to the candy culture of Finland, of course!)

I have way too much fun with this camera...

The Temple! We assumed that we wouldn't be able to go, because the Temple was closed for maintenance, but President Aura talked to the Temple johtakunta, and we were able to get a personal tour of the Temple! It was wonderful!

We went running one morning with President Aura, that was awesome!

On the way back, I also got to pick up my birthday package! We opened on the evening we got back, and here's some of the spoils!

When all's said and done, we did a ton of awesome work this week! We're having an absolute blast here, and the work is going so well! (We also just might have a baptism coming up in three weeks!)

I can't think of anything else at the moment... but I love you all! Keep in contact, and stay strong! This Gospel is not only true, but it's awesome as well!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke