Week 82 in Mikkeli (Switching to high gear)

Well how about that - I just got off of a skype call with my family, now that that's a thing! (After a year and a half, they're still weird)

But hey - we're going through a ton of changes right now. Let me just list them all out!

-New Area: Mikkeli! Like I said, I've been here before in the district, but now I live here! Our apartment is smack in the middle of the city, and we've got a ton of stuff going on here.

-New Companion: Elder Jordan!

He's awesome. We're both awesome. We're gonna tear this city apart(spiritually speaking, of course). 

-We got a car: actually, we got a car yesterday. Another good ol' toyota yaris, and I'm the driver again! 

-We also bike a ton around here, which is awesome. 

-Zone Conference yesterday. We were way busy, so I didn't get to take any pictures of that. President did though, and I'm sure we'll see his pictures next week!

-We've also been running around a ton, talking to a ton of people, and basically wearing ourselves out with this work! This is a picture from a bus we took back from Ristiina to Mikkeli.

Crazy duo we are!

Not much else to report - but here's a fun one for the week:

We come in from our morning exercise, and we hear a sound akin to a chainsaw in our stairwell. So we walk up the stairs, and behold:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0ByjiZg4NA

What a sight. 

Well, I think that's really all for this week! Last thing: We've been talking in Zone Conference about faith, and expecting miracles. President's really been focusing on that one, so I just want to encourage you all that miracles do happen. I don't often talk about them - maybe not enough - but they do happen for me, every day here. You just need to put forth the effort, and God will answer. Promise that! 

Love you all!

-Vanhin Bolingbroke

Week 81 in Lahti (We're coming full circle!)

Well, look at what we've got - the last week in Lahti has already passed. Tomorrow I leave for a new city, and wow, I'm sad to go. Lahti's been a huge growing place for me - not physically, of course, I'm still the same height and width as ever - and I hate to see the time pass by already. 

But let's start with what's happened over the week! 

Here's the pictures from last week's temple trip!

Candid

Some of these are adorable...

Okay, this one's a pretty good gem.

I think I recall talking about the temple last time around... but that was still awesome. The rest of the week was had with tons of busyness, work, lessons, and our last District Council! We, naturally, took a few funny photos.

We look like an awkward family...

Why are these here??

Didn't take many other pictures of stuff, we've been running around way too much... But muun muassa, we got some pretty interesting news!

Elder Vawdrey will be staying here, his new companion is a swede!

And I'll be leaving up to Mikkeli! I'll be serving with Elder Jordan(a different one), and I'll be going back to the same zone and district that I started my mission in! And that's pretty funny. I'm very excited to see that area again, and it's gonna be a great adventure! 

Well, I don't have much else to say, but I've gotta get packing. The Lord's work is moving forward! Stay strong, and keep pushing the work along!

Love,

Vanhin Bolinbroke

Week 80 in Lahti (Don't Slow Down)

Good afternoon, my friends! Don't have a ton of time on this one - on account that we went to the Temple today! We got up at 6.00 in the morning, did some lightning-quick shopping, and booked it down by train to Espoo! We were able to visit the Temple and make it back just in time to do some emailing before the (P-)day's out!

Ah, look at her. We love the temple! 

But what about the rest of our week, you may ask? Well, let's see:

Last P-day: Ski museum! Lahti's pretty famous for this one, so we took a look. Aside from a ski jump simulator(no, there's not an actual ski jump involved), a biathlon simulator(not including any real guns), we took a look at some awesome ski history(Who knew?)!

Aside from that, we had a second set of exchanges with the Kouvola elders! We did a lot of awesome work - Elder Olsen and I were able to go to a 'creative cafe' that someone in the area had set up and talk with some people there(and I got to testify a ton about missionary work to them!), and the others started the Lahti ward's first official Perheilta! It went wonderfully - so they said - and I'm excited to continue the tradition!

Gotta get the classic elevator picture, you know?

Ooh buddy, this next one's a fun one! Annually, Lahti hosts the international ski games, and we happened to be contacting in the area just as they were going! We climbed onto a snow pile to get a better view, and talked to a super fun fellow about skiing, olympics, america, and - of course - the gospel. Super awesome!

Well, I think that that covers some of the pictures. As for other spectacularities:

-It's been plenty cold, but more dangerously, it's been slippery. I can't tell you how bruised my butt is from falling all the time. Nobody else seems to slip at all, so apparently I don't know how to walk. Ah well. 

We got to give a blessing to one of our friends who we taught this week! He requested that we come a few hours earlier to the scheduled lesson, and he told us that he had hurt his ankle pretty badly playing football the day before. during the course of the lesson(in which he also fried us up some mushroom-pepper-zucchini mix) we both felt really strongly to give him a blessing for his leg, and he accepted the offer. Wonderful opportunity. 

Who knew you could contact while in a restaurant? We know a good pizza place in Hollola, and so we went there for a light lunch, and the man who gave us our food sat down as soon as he delivered our meals, and just chatted with us! He's from syria, and speaks wonderful finnish, and we might be able to teach him soon!

Long story short, wonderful things are happening. I've noticed recently that every night for the past two weeks, my nightly journal entry has invariably begun with 'so you'll never guess what miracle happened today.' And I'm not just talking about little things like 'my breakfast tasted really good' or 'I got a letter from my family' or whatnot - real blessings are happening here. Things like knowing what to say at just the right time, or contacting just one more person and having a long conversation with them about the restoration, things like that. It seems that just when things get too hard, that's when the Lord wants me to push just a little bit farther. It's worked wonders. 

Well, next week I'll be writing on monday, because this is the last week of the transfer! We'll see what news the new vaihto brings, and what blessings we can receive! Love you all!

-Vanhin Bolingbroke