Week 88 in Mikkeli (Well, President Nelson said he's proud of me, so that's all I really care about)

Quote, President Russell M. Nelson, modern-day prophet: "Blake, we're thrilled with you."

In all reality, I definitely need to keep feeding my spirit. And we've done so this week! Lots of busyness, work, and inspiration with general conference, MLC, and many more things: 

-District Council was pretty awesome on wednesday. Sister Aura was in attendance, and she encouraged us to do a kneeling prayer do confirm our district goal of bringing people to general conference! After going a bit over on time, we drove the Kouvola Elders to the train station as fast as the yaris would allow... and missed their train by about .05 seconds. Ah darn. Subsequently, we had a bit of a party in our apartment while we fed half of our district lunch:

And crammed six elders into an elevator.

-We had yet another miracle! As transcripted from my letter to President Aura:Tender Mercy: A lot happened this week that would otherwise be noteworthy, but I just want to highlight one thing - we went on a road trip to one of our satellite cities for a lesson we had with a man, but as soon as we got off the highway into the city limits, he shot us a text, saying that he wouldn't make it that day, and that he was already in the hospital. We didn't want to just turn around and waste the time spent driving out here, so we decided to follow up with a 'potential' - a man who had, a few weeks ago, given us nothing but a street name that didn't even appear on the city roster when we checked at the kaupungintalo. When J wasn't able to make his lesson, we decided to go over to the street and try some tracting. Our idea was that we would just knock every door until, eventually, we would find our friend. Well, guess what - the THIRD door we knocked turned out to be a man who was not only interested, but he's a former member! He had a coming surgery, and wasn't able to meet, nor come to conference, but we've kept in contact via phone, and he's told us excitedly about his trip to the Switzerland temple at age 12, and is very excited to meet once he's healed. I guess this miracle was a few weeks in the making - maybe even longer than I imagine!

This work is definitely going forward, and we receive so many blessings. One of my personal desires recently has been to do better at noticing those blessings and miracles. 

-MLC happened. This time we're talking about the culture of becoming a technology mission. Lots was discussed, but we watched a training video about implementing technology. Elder Bednar in the video was really excited about the opportunities that this affords, and I'm catching his enthusiasm! 

We also got to attend the temple that evening, and I received much personal inspiration from my questions and searchings there. 

-We stayed in Espoo the next day after MLC for exchanges with the Assistants! They lined a ton of awesome work for us, and a ton of miracles also happened that day!

With Elder Weeks,

Elder Christensen, as well as our friend we taught(who has a man-cave with a huge stereo system and a flat-screen TV on which he watched gospel concerts),

And making dinner for four.

-General Conference! Probably the most exciting talk for me was Elder Utchdorf's about missionary work. That's a principle that I need to apply as a missionary, and that we can all apply as servants of God.

We saw a cool, broken streetlamp, so naturally we had to take pictures.

We also made a bomb lasagne for dinner.

Before cooking

After cooking

All in all, pretty awesome week. And they just keep getting better! I love this work, and I love the Gospel! It's true, find out for yourself!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 87 in Mikkeli (Good Eats)

Well, onneksi I can say we had no activities that took us out of Mikkeli this week, so that's just about the first blessing I can list off. We had a ton of those this week. We work hard, we play hard, and we work harder. Elder Jordan and I have been having an absolute blast here - and we're biking around so much that part of my bike has broken again! Alas, such is life, and I mean, who needeth shifters anyway? It means that I'm stuck in the highest gear, and that just means that 1: I get a crazy workout for my quads and glutes every time I get on the bike, and 2: the people we contact sometimes get a wee bit scared when good ol' Elder Bolingbroke comes flying in on his stuck-in-high-gear bike and tells them that he has a message about the Restoration of Christ's Gospel. Preach the gospel as the sound of a trump, they say - or was it the sound of screeching brakes?

Well, enough with the nonsense.

Here we have, well, your average in-the-elevator photo. What else must be said?

Well, here's a story: I've noticed that the typical Fast Sunday schedule unceasingly leads to this happenstance: about 2 hours before our scheduled 'dinnertime', your thoughts start to wander... no matter what you're talking about, who you're talking to, the mind always sees the kitchen... the stovetop is going, the fridge is stocked and ready to be raided. And the topic of conversation always drifts toward food. No matter how spiritual you've been that day. Kestäminen loppuun asti, man. So, we succumbed to the desire to overeat and made a cake, courtesy of Walmart. This is imported goods, man. You can't get this kind of stuff in Europe.

Aaand, we took it to the church to eat while we did some online training in preparation for our mission switching to technology(what do you mean, Nokia flip phones aren't 'technology'?).

We also had lunch out on our parveke yesterday because the weather was a balmy 10 degrees celsius(for the record, no, that's still not warm, but it's as warm as it gets sometimes. Gotta carpe diem!)

And yes, I used our ironing board as our table.

Well, story time: About 2 weeks ago, we went to our weekly meeting with our Ward Mission Leader. Now, we just got a car in the area, but we've been trying to use the car only when necessary, so that we can bike and talk to people. We decided to bike to the area. Just about a minute before we arrived at his house, we stopped a young guy on the street, had a good, quick contact, and he gave us his address, just in the adjacent subdivision. Fast forward to a week later: We're biking again to our Ward Mission Leader's house, and we had a bit of extra time, so we decided to knock this same young man's door. We knock, and he lets us right in. We taught him the restoration right there, and he agreed to have us back just a few days later(which just to happens to be today!) We told our Ward Mission Leader, and he was ecstatic! He was one of the people who really wanted us to get a car, but he always tells us that we need to use it in moderation. We definitely saw the fruits from that - if we had just used the car because it would be easier, we wouldn't have ever talked to and taught O! It really helped me realize again - gotta do everything that is in your power, just like Brother Joseph says in our mission scripture(Doctrine and Covenants 123:17). Some things aren't in our power, but whatever is in our power, it is our duty to do it.

Well, I think that's our week for you! Remember that I love this work, and that I'm always praying for and trying to find people! The Lord is with us, He guides and protects us, and I dearly hope that He laughs at the bad puns I make every so often. 

Maapähkinävoi,

Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 86 in Mikkeli (Wanderland)

It's been quite a wonderful week, in Mikkeli! We've been tearing up the streets with our bikes(sometimes literally, those studded tires can be vicious), and the people of Mikkeli are doing very well! Let's look at some pictures...

Exchanges with Savonlinna Elders - we had a great time with those goobers.

A really cool boat I found(not sure if it's seaworthy or not...)

We had french toast for dinner one night - tres bon.

Also some awesome pictures taken at the Mikkeli city center - the Lutheran cathedral here is just gorgeous.

The irony of this idyllic scene is that despite the fact that it's brilliant and sunny, it's still freezing cold. And this is a regular finnish spring!

Well, I think one of my miracles for the week was going to the District Council in Kuopio. We visited and participated with them in their council for the week, and I can say, what an amazing bunch! We discussed inviting people to make commitments, and I feel that my understanding of that has deepened. When we make commitments, we show to God our love for him. And that's what we do as missionaries - we invite people. One thing we discussed about in District Council - what are we going to do this week differently to achieve different results in our proselyting? It's a wonderful mindset. 

Thank youuu again for listening to my weekly blurb, and I love you! Stay strong, read your scriptures!

Love,

Vanhin Bolignbroke