Week 103 in Mikkeli (Arrogance is a Spice of Life)

It's been a bright, sunshiney week, folks. I'm so glad to be doing this missionary work, and we've had some funny happenstances since last week.  Let's get the worldly one out of the way first: Saw a gorgeous Mark 1 Mustang:

Love those things.

We had district council on Wednesday, with a contacting activity in the center afterward! As we were walking towards the center, I was just strolling along as usual, when I accidentally left the other three on the other side of the street.

Elder Lakatos and I had a brilliant conversation with a bright young man for about two hours. We shared a lot of testimony and experience between the three of us. He said at the end of the conversation that he thought that we would stop him - he said that I, particularly, looked the most arrogant(his english was pretty good, so I'm worried that that's the word that he chose) of the four missionaries there. Funny experience. We also had a few people tell us that our picture of Jesus on the roll-up was too white. Ah well. Elder Skinner and I have also been cranking it out on the bikes to find our people - and don't worry, mom, my brakes and gears work this time. Booked it through a pretty cool bridge. 

And, in the same evening, we found Mikkeli's pieni pinkki penkki exhibit:

Why? I'm not sure. But it's fun.

Friday was filled with a service project in Mäntyharju! We went to the Wrangell's and did woodwork for a few hours. Jiri and Wili cooked us up some hard work, and their parents cooked us up some nice lunch.

Four awesome missionaries, right here. Jiri's the one who's about to leave on his mission to Sweden, his brother Wili, sitting next to me, recently returned from his mission, in Switzerland!

Saturday was filled with a bunch of awesome missionary work, and a summer grill at our Branch President's house! We showed up for a bit of food and games, of which there were plenty.

The best pictures had were of us trying to walk with stilts:

That very night, we found a new friend to teach! I've been a bit discouraged personally, as we haven't found anybody in a while, despite our work, but our new friend loves Jesus, thinks that "Jeesus on paras jätkä", and is over the moon to hear about the message of the Restoration of Christ's gospel!

I love the Gospel of Christ. I love our prophets! I love that some people call me arrogant - I'm really just overexcited to share this wonderful message with them! I've been thinking somewhat this week about 'bringing to pass much righteousness of their own free will', as the Lord says in Doctrine and Covenants. I've been striving to be a good servant, and sometimes I need to remind myself that that means being an agent unto myself, and not just relying on others to order me around. 

Anyway, hope you have a great week! Stay strong, study your scriptures!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 102 in Mikkeli (The Proof of your Love)

What a week, folks! I'm so happy to be a missionary in good ol' Finland. This place is still gorgeous, by the way, and I'll prove my claim to you with some photos and stories from the week! 

We started off with some wisdom and counseling at district council! We had a lot of inspiration and training about some of our new mission policies.

Thereafter, the Joensuu Elders stayed with us for exchanges! We had a great time doing work, and talking to some amazing people here. While blasting through town on the bikes, Elder Wawdrey and had a little surprise:

Yep, that's a little birdie. On my finger. I told you I'm an adorable princess.

Had a great time though. There's also a huge carnival going on in the park right next to our flat, so we look off of our balcony, and we see candy, clowns, and larger mechanical machines that hurtle children into the air. They say it's fun. Their screams say they're terrified. I, being a missionary, know nought of the festivities of the gentiles, so apparently this is how people.. ahem.. have fun.

Just kidding, we went to the carnival and bought some candy for dinner:

Among the multitude of amazing people we were able to talk to this week was this fellow, named Mohammed! We had a good discussion for a while about the Qu'ran, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and life in general. And he asked for a photo with us! I'm honored. 

Our work also took us to the edge of this beautiful lake, and there was a lady sitting at a bench there, so I started a conversation by walking up to her and saying, "how about all these mosquitos?" and she was going off for five minutes before we got talking about anything else. Don't ask me how I related mosquitos to the gospel. (For the record, I personally am of the opinion that mosquitos are lucifer's servants sent to torment us. Take that for what you will.)

We also were invited to Family Home Evening with one of the families in the branch yesterday, and it was pretty awesome. We had a spiritual thought based on a board game that's in the Friend magazine, it focuses a lot on love, and how we show love to others. I made a goal to especially pray for all the people that I meet in any given day, to show God that I love them. That's the secret of missionary work - love for everyone that you meet! I know through my experiences here that if we love God and mankind with our whole heart, might, mind, and strength, then He will work through us to bring miracles to mankind. I rejoice in that! I hope that you'll be able to bring to pass those miracles as well. 

With love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

...Aaaaand... dramATIC PHOTO here...

Week 101 in Mikkeli (From Sea to Shining Sea)

I hope that I won't be a bore to the people who read missionary emails, seeing as I, similarly to the others, intend to focus the spiritual side of my email on our glorious country, the United States of America. I love my country, and I consider her to be a land of promise, near and dear to my heart. But before I give a deluge of patriotic prose, let's talk about what happened in our week, hey? Tuesday was filled with much Spirit and revelation. It was also our last run with our good old Yaris, as we turned her over to the Assistants to be reassigned. She served Mikkeli well, and we had a gorgeous drive through Kouvola and Porvoo towards Helsinki. 

Goodness, Finland is amazing.  At Zone Conference itself, we discussed the role of the Spirit in conversion, and the implications on our work that the introduction of technology continues to bring to us! Long story short - the Lord does hasten His work. That's not just a funny phrase we throw around, either. 

Our 4th of July was spent in my old stomping grounds, Savonlinna! 

We taught a few lessons, talked to many people(including one man, who, despite being Finnish, knew that it was the fourth!), and had a poor missionary's grill. Pretty fun stuff. Elder Robbins and I, while doing some work in the evening, found some pull-up bars. Naturally, we had to show our prowess. I may or may not have lost some muscle in the past few years... 

In other news, the people we're teaching have been tough to get in contact with, but that just means that we get even more time to talk to those on the street and at their doors, proclaiming the good news!  A member from Lahti (where Elder Skinner and I have both served) also was in town, and took us out for dinner at the local Chinese buffet!

Aaaaand, today was fairly rainy - but that didn't stop us one bit from enjoying a pretty intense bout of Frisbee golf!  All in all, it was a great week. I love this job more than you can imagine. And I love my country! Rant about America: What a place! I haven't seen her for a long time, but I've grown a larger love for that land in the time I've been in foresty Finland. The principles of liberty are available in America like in no other land. God Himself has decreed it as a holy land, which will always be a land of freedom, so long as there be a people to possess it who fear God. There's a novel I could write about my country, and my feelings toward my country, but it may suffice for the time being if I could invite you, dear reader, to study the Book of Mormon regarding the prophesies of this land. There are many, and they awaken us to a sense of our duty as American citizens. I'll call that good for now. I love you! Have a great week, study the scriptures, and stay strong.  Love, 

Vanhin Bolingbroke