Week 37 in Helsinki (Experimenting in the kitchen)

This week's gone by ridiculously fast - we had a ton of work, a ton of walking, and a ton of rain! Yes! Rain, instead of snow!

Let's go through our week:

-Tuesday, I got a haircut from an place in Malmi called "Bagdad style." The Arab guy there gave me an awesome haircut - and it was only 10€! That may sound usual, but here in Finland, haircuts usually cost 30€ - yeesh.

-Thursday we had district meeting - and got to meet our new district! I dunno if our pictures are gonna be as awesome as last time around, but we've got a good group!

-Sunday we taught a double lesson during the 2nd hour of church - right before our lesson with one of our investigators, a member came up to us and said, "hey, I've got a friend here who's really interested in the church, can we join?" And so we taught to two people at once! It was pretty awesome.

-Monday evening, we were walking around Arabianranta(an awesome, classy part of Helsinki), and we ran into this guy, we tried to talk to him, and he asked us to walk with him - it led to an hour-and-a-half beachside walk, and we talked about a ton of gospel stuff! He was so religious himself, and we learned a ton from him.

-Just an hour ago, the Elders in Helsinki got together again to play Sähly! It was great(especially cuz I wasn't barefoot this time)!

-All week, I've been trying to experiment with food. I've made some pretty solid dinners(pasta salad, club sammiches, crepes, you know, the good stuff), but I kinda.. accidentally overspent last week... like 60€. Oops. Needless to say, I'm eating thrifty this week.

Let's hit you with the 2 videos/pictures I took this week, both in the kitchen:​

​Ah, the kitchen. It's a wonderful place. I'm learning how to make food, it's so fun!

Anyways, I hope everything's going well at home! Love you all! Keep warm, and stay strong!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 36 in Helsinki (Elder Bolingbroke found a selfie stick; Dear every other missionary: Your distr

Case in point (see following pictures):​

We're cooler than you.

Well well well... it's the end of another transfer! Guess where I'm going! Surprise surprise, I'm staying here in Helsinki(thank goodness)! However, we had to say goodbye to some of our district(thus the group photos) - especially our Fearless Leader, Elder Crump! Love that man...

In all reality, it's been a rough week. I can't remember if I mentioned it last week, but we had a baptismal date set for Saturday the 7th - we were there, prepping everything, and our man cancelled on us just before. We got him to come to the church and had an impromptu heart-to-heart, but I guess he's just not ready yet. I'll admit, I took a blow that day.

Nevertheless, it's been a good, busy week! Let's go through, with pictures!

-Awesome photoshoot taken in the hills(yep, we're still in Helsinki, in the middle of a forest)​

-We visited a guy named Ahmed, and his friend Mohanned. They loved the fact that we're Americans, and they were geeking out for probably half an hour about Elder Jordan's American passport. We decided that they are the Arab version of Rhett and Link. Here's why:​

-In the process of cleaning the apartment, I discovered a selfie stick!​

-Helsinki's gorgeous, man.​

Aaaand, that's a pretty good summary of our week! I get anther 2 months in this awesome city, and we'll be seeing what happens therein! I love you all! Stay happy! Enjoy the sunshine! I am!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 35 in Helsinki (All of the Easter puns are killing me...)

Dear everyone,

This week's been a crazy, fast, running-around-sprinting-to-catch-every-bus one. We had conference, with all the crazy changes there, and a ton of missionary work! Let's update with some news: -Watched conference at the chapel, quite awesome. Took good notes, and talked to good people. -A popular(not so much 'popular' as 'traditional') Easter food in Finland is called mämmi. It's basically liquefied rye and molasses, a sort of pudding. Quite... interesting.

-Zone conferences! -My dad told me of this amazing bakery in Helsinki downtown called Ekberg(pronounced Ek-berry), and we went there and tried it! it was glorious, those were some beautiful pastries. -We might be visiting Suomenlinna today! It's one of Helsinki's biggest tourist spots, so hopefully some awesome pictures!

-Transfer calls are this Friday. Already????

Most of this week has honestly been us sprinting from teaching appointment to teaching appointment, and I'm glad for that. My emotions are all over the place with our zone conference, general conference, and a ton of events going on. not much else to update on today!

Well, I believe that's all for this week! I hope everyone enjoyed conference, and that y'all will continue to study the talks! I love you all, stay strong, stay faithful, and enjoy spring!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke