Week 104 in Mikkeli (What Goes Around Comes Around)

Gooooood morning! At least it feels like morning. I don't know what the weather's been like in other places, but this week it was baking in Mikkeli. They call these days hellepäivät - basically, the extremely warm days. It's not false... but it is relative. Having lived in quite the eternal winter during my time here, relazive warm feels scorching. Ah well, such life is. And it's a great life, too, with a lot of good missionary work to be done! 

We had exchanges with the Savonlinna Elders this week! Lots of good work was done, and lots of fun was had. The only picture we got, though, was during our morning exercise - a bout of disc golf. The other missionaries are becoming quite the disc-throwers, whereas I seem to be striving towards the title of 'lumberjack using a plastic disc'. The spirit guardians of the forest must hate me. 

Elder Skinner conveniently took the picture about 0.3 seconds before I unleashed one of my infamously convulsive sneezes. That sneeze was just a precursor to the rest of the week, unfortunately. I found myself down with a little bit of a cold(ironically on the hottest day of finnish summer), and out of commission for a few days. Aaand, Elder Skinner was victim to quarantined me, and his proximity to me got him sick too. BUT. Let it not be said that sickness caused a halt to the work of the Lord! We got much inside work done(even rearranged the apartment between our sick-naps), and our technological wonders allow us to contact people, call them and send them uplifting scriptures from the comfort of our beds and pajamas. Wonderful. Although it took a few days to recover, we still had a multitude of lessons this week. In one, we invited our friend to be baptized! After seeing the video of Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist(wonderful video, by the way), he said that there's much to think about. We boldly promised blessings of baptism into Christ's church by the proper authority. We've been living those blessings since eight years old!

On Sunday, we had a true treat - a surprise visit by two of my favorite people in Lahti, my previous proselyting area(actually, probably two of my favorite people in the world), Anna-Leena Hartiala(basically my surrogate finnish grandmother), and Toni(the champ who I had the privilege to baptize)! I love those two. We had a glorious lunch, and a grand time. 

In other news, my dear Elder Skinner decided to cut his hair, and this was the result:

It's really fuzzy and is fun to rub my hand through.

All in all, we've had a pretty good time this week. Lots of good people 'round these parts, and lots of testimony borne. In my studies, I've been focusing on the idea of commitment - as missionaries, we ask people, a lot, to commit to doing things; participating in church, studying the Book of Mormon, listening to the words of the Prophet, etc... and I think that my focus on giving others Christ-centered commitments really helps me to commit more to Christ in my own life. There are always ways that I can improve, and I'm constantly grateful for the gift of Christ's atonement and repentance, which allows me to commit more fully to the Savior!

I've had a great week - and I intend to continue to make it a good one. Hope that you will too! I love the missionary life and work - it's my favorite job. Stay strong! Read your scriptures! And remember, what goes around comes around!

Love,

Vanhin Bolingbroke