Week 10 - Savonlinna (So a Russian, two Finns, and two American preachers walk into a coffee shop...

Goooood morning, America! It's a gorgeous day here in Finland, with rain, clouds, and not much else! This is your host, Elder J.B. Bolingbröök, and I'm in love with this country! I haven't seen the sun for five days, on account of the grey blanket that we call 'clouds.' But who needs sun when you have Vitamin D pills?

It's good to talk to everyone - I've been away for so long! Let's start by picking up right where I left off - at the MTC!

At 6.50 in the morning, our bus left to... drop us off at the trax station in Provo. From there we were on our own to get our big, bulky luggage to the airport. I'll keep the flying story short, as I don't remember a lot of it, being sleep-deprived and all. I'll share my favorite part of the flight: Getting off the plane! Finland is full of rain and clouds and trees, and it's beautiful! At the Helsinki airport, we met President and Sister Aura, as well as some of the other missionaries - we spent the night at the mission home, and next morning became legal in the country(boring paperwork and all), and then got our companions and our assignments!

I know you all have been losing so much sleep over not knowing where I'm currently at(I'm looking at you, Mom), but never fear, all will now be revealed! I've been assigned to... drumroll please... Savonlinna! And no, I'd never heard of it either! My companion is the goober with the fluffy dark hair in the first picture - we're awesome. Elder Scott and Elder Bolingbrääk.

Now, Savonlinna is a little Finnish town in somewhat Southeastern Finland. It's a gorgeous, quiet place, and we live about 100 meters from the church! It's just like being in Utah again! (I didn't take too many pictures, but I'll get more next time around!)

Now, I've given an overview of my first week on both video and recording, but I'll share some of my favorite happenings:

(Disclaimer: because of super-strict Finnish privacy laws, we're actually not allowed to mention/take pictures of native Finns without their written permission, so I'm required to keep some people anonymous for the time being. Super secret spy stuff. It's classified info.)

We have two investigators with baptismal dates! It's quite a miracle, because the missionaries have been working on them for months before me, but they both committed last weekend to be baptized! One's a 17-year-old Russian girl, and the other a 38-year-old Finnish guy. They're both already great friends, and very sincere. They both have a ton of questions, which we answer frequently(Elder Scott answers, I try to understand what they say) I'm extremely excited for them!

We also host at the church building two different events, aside from regular church services. We have English Hour and Sport Night, on Thursday and Friday respectively. Foreigners love being able to practice their English on actual Americans, and so we invite anyone in the area to practice English with us! Sport Night is similarly done, with games and activities for the evening. They're way fun!

Church was great - I got to meet the majority(eleven) of our members! They're very strong in their testimonies, and they're so humble and dedicated! Although they have one shortcoming: None of them can pronounce my name right. I figured this out, that the oo sound - think book, look, etc. - doesn't exist in Finnish. So you know what they call me instead? Vanhin Boli-boli. Hey, if it works!

Now, regarding the subject line: The first Mondays of the month, there's this thing called Kieli Kahvelä - language cafe! The lady who runs the operations has tables for all local languages - from Finnish to English to Italian and everything in between! She loves that we, native English speakers, sit down and talk to people! It's a win for her, and for us! We had a great time last night, talking to a Russian lady, and two other Finns.

I've not a lot of time, so I'll close up for now - the drive is still open with pictures and videos! I love you all, and I'm thinking of you! Stay strong!

-Vanhin Bolingbrachk​

P.S. - I've just realized that the WiFi at this church building is pretty abysmal, so some of the videos may be uploaded this week. I'll figure out a way to do things more efficiently!

P.P.S. - I just realized that I've taken next to no pictures/videos of us and Savonlinna. I apologize, I hope you all can forgive me until next week!

Week 9 - Finland (Safe & Suomi)

Hey, I'm writing to let you know that I am here safe and sound! All of our luggage came through without any problems, and we just finished a fantastic dinner at the mission home! I think you've seen via Facebook that President Aura picked us up from the Helsinki Vantaa airport - tomorrow we have meetings and legal stuff, then we find out our companions, as well as where we're assigned to! This country is amazing, these people are fantastic, and the weather is rainy! I love it. This is a short email, and I hate to leave you at a cliffhanger, but I'll send another email ASAP to let you know about my first week's activities!

Rakas aina, Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 8 @ The MTC (5,000 Miles)

Fun fact of the day: Salt Lake City and Helsinki are almost exactly five thousand miles apart! It gives me an odd urge to sing a certain song...

First things first: exciting news! We got our flight plans 6 days ago! Our route goes as such: SLC to Dallas/Fort Worth Texas, and a short layover there until we depart for a nice, long, overnight flight to London, Heathrow! We'll then go from London to Finland, Helsinki! It's a nice trip - a day and a half of being propelled through the air at 600 mph in big metal tubes with wings, hurtling over the Atlantic with all of my belongings condensed into three suitcases, to stay in a wintry wonderland for the next 22 months! I've got to admit, that's a scary thought. But hey, the Lord's with us, and he'll get us there safely.

And as of today, we're only four short days away from leaving! And two of those four days are special, indeed! Does anybody know why? You'd better know: it's General Conference this weekend! I've got to say, I'm really excited for this one. In two days from today, Prophets, Seers, and Revelators for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - God's special witnesses on earth - will give us a series of messages for our benefit. And I can tell you - having heard five of said apostles in my time here at the MTC, I can tell all of you with especial conviction that if you have a question, it will be answered through General Conference. I ask you now to do this: Think of a question you have about the Gospel, about the Church, anything. Keep that question in your mind. Pray about it. Ask God about your question. Ask Him to answer your question at Conference. Then, when the Conference sessions begin, sit down in your living room, or at your computer, and have some snacks, as well as a notebook and pencil, by your side. Listen intently to the speakers - that means don't fall asleep - and you'll find an answer to your question. Look, this is what we missionaries do. Every time we share a message, we ask for a commitment. I'm not just saying this, I expect you, if you've read this, to keep this commitment I'm giving you. Capiche?

Now, for quotes of the week!

"You ever have one of those days when all your food is orange?"

-Vanhin Bolingbroke, with tomato soup, a salad wrap with an orange tomato tortilla, orange onion rings, and fry sauce. Hey, don't judge. After eight weeks of the same food, you learn to experiment with the given dietary choices.

"What would Yoda sound like in Finnish?"

-Vanhin Olsen, while studying the odd grammatical structure of our amazing language

"It's been nine weeks and we're still learning partitive. My testimony is shaken."

-Vanhin Olsen, sarcastically

"My teeth are incredible."

-Vanhin Manner, said with no context whatsoever

"What do we do with the 'little stop guy' in the middle of the word?"

-Sisar Brinton, referring to the 'little stop guy,' or the glottlestop, in our Finnish words[think of how we Utahns say mountain. We pronounce it mou-enn, not mountain. That's a glottlestop].

Well, I believe that's all for this week! It's been an incredible first chapter of this journey, and I've loved being able to transcribe it for everyone! Now, we've been told that our P-days are on Tuesdays, and seeing as we get to Helsinki Tuesdayevening, I likely won't be able to send out an email until next Tuesday. Until then, Godspeed to you all! The next time you hear from me will be from somewhere in Finland, and I can't wait to tell you all about what it's like there!

I love you all, remember to stay amazing, remember who you are and what you stand for, and enjoy life!

Rakas aina,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

P.S. - Concerning the pictures of me jumping in front of a map... well, Finland's pretty high on the map, and I'm pretty short. It's a struggle!