Week 22 in Savonlinna (Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand, Six Hundred...)

What does that number mean? Is it the number of baptismal dates we have? Ha, of course not! Is it how many times I've slipped and fallen on the ice? No(I'm pretty sure that number's bigger). You'll have to look it up and find out for yourself.

On an entirely unrelated note, 2017 is over! The new year has begun! I'm attaching my two recordings(the recorder ran out of batteries partway through the recording, so there's two), but just to show you how hilarious the Finnish language is, I'll write out the word '2018' for you:

Kaksituhatkahdeksantoistasataa.

Welcome to Finnish. We don't believe in the space bar here.

In the meantime, here's our week of pictures, recordings, and awesome experiences!

Until next week, keep on being amazing! I love you all, and have a wonderful 2018!

Sincerely,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

Update: If you haven't already heard, we just found out that President Monson, the Prophet of our Church, has passed away. I can't describe in words quite how I feel - suffice it to say that I'll redirect you to this video on Lds.org:

Week 21 in Savonlinna (Christmas Goat!)

Yup, that's right. Here in Finland, Santa Claus, or Joulupukki, is Christmas Goat. Why not?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's been an amazing Christmas! We've received more chocolate than is healthy, and more snow than is comfy! But it's awesome here - and I'll leave the rest of the week to the pictures, videos, and recordings we've taken!

Love you all, stay frosty, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-Vanhin Bolingbroke

(he sent a couple long audio files along with this short note but I'm not good at sharing the audio files so this is all you get this week)

Week 20 in Savonlinna (The Prodigal Tag)

n my recent adventures as a lähetysaarnaja, I have become well acquainted with Exhaustion. He and I are good buddies now. Listen to this recording and find out why:

It also explains the situation behind this week's title. (Listen HERE)

Anyways, let's go over this week really quickly:

-On Sunday, all of our members(about ten, remember) talked with us after church and basically set up a bunch of appointments for us over the holidays. Here in Finland, Christmas lasts 3 days! Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Tapaninpäivä - Boxing Day(not sure why it's called that. Reference to Rocky, maybe?). They were all trying to reserve us for certain days, and I felt so loved!

-On Saturday evening, we had probably 35+ kilometers of biking within a day. Which is also explained in the aforegiven recording.

(Forewarning: this one gets weird)

-On Thursday, we went to an appointment with a guy we had met a few weeks earlier, and scheduled this appointment. We had a pretty good lesson a week before, but this time(Thursday the 14th), we had an exponentially stranger experience. Prepare yourselves...

So Elder Scott and I met him through following up. He had investigated years before, and we tried him again. He said yes, and it was pretty normal stuff. We went home, and checked on his teaching record, which said(cover your ears, children) that he was a transvestite. No, I'm not joking. After much prayer and studying, Elder Scott and I decided that he was still safe to teach. Fast forward a week - transfers have happened, and Elder McOmber and I teach this guy a lesson - we thought we were gonna encounter some weird stuff, but it was a really normal first lesson. He told us to come back next Thursday, the 14th of December. That lesson was weird. We talked to him about some of our gospel principles - namely the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity, neither of which he keeps - and we pried a bit into our question, which was: is he actually a man? (I still can't believe we actually had to ask that) But he told us that yes, he was and is a man, he simply... likes.. feminine things... like dresses, long hair, makeup... and a lot of other stuff, of which I will not speak in detail. Suffice to say that I learned a few things that day that I wish I hadn't learned. I've been scarred. And you know what the best part is? We're still teaching him!

In any case, that's our week for you. Winter wonderland, indeed. Until next time, I love you all! Keep on being amazing, stay strong in the Gospel, and Hyvää Joulua!

With love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke