Week 77 in Lahti (NHL, Here we come!)

On the odd occasion, family members or friends take the chance to ask me, via email or letter, "What kind of cultural events do you get to participate in in Finland?", to which I am now able to respond, "ICE HOCKEY WITH THE WARD."

That's right! It was probably the funnest(if not the scariest) part of our week! But we'll get to that in a moment. You see, we have a bunch of other stuff that's happened this week, as well! Mostly involving snow.

First, Elder Vawdrey made bread! It looks pretty nice, too!

We also had exchanges in Kouvola! We got to do work with some pretty awesome Elders, and I got to reunite with my old city!

It's funny, because I was in Kouvola exactly this time last year...

But after those, on to the highlight of the week - JÄÄKIEKKOA! I didn't believe it when we were actually allowed to go, but President Aura gave permission! And what a cultural experience it was - a scary one. We borrowed some good skates, and I tried to skate, and then I remembered that I'm really inexperienced at skating... Maybe I'll just let the pictures and videos speak for themselves.

But it was pretty dang awesome. And I actually hit the puck into the goal a few times, so I'd say I'm not too shabby! Of course, the 12-year-old kids skate and hockey better than I ever will, but for a 20-year-old american who has never done this before, I'm pretty impressed with myself!

It's also been pretty snowy and cold these past few days(a balmy -23 degrees celsius yesterday, for anyone who's curious), and the snow's been a-blowin', so we've taken the opportunity to snag some snowy photoshoots:

Ain't we cute?

Aaaand, here's a fun text we received from one of our members, the day before a nice dinner appointment:

Now that's something everyone loves to hear.

But in non-picture news, the work's been going ridiculously well this week, despite the cold! We've been getting many referrals to check up on, and we've also been doing everything we can with the ward to further the work! People often think that cold and snow means less missionary work, because people aren't out as much, and they don't want to talk when it's so cold, but that doesn't bother us - we do the best we can with what we have, and God's giving us success. Prayer has helped a ton - I feel like my mission is teaching me to - among other things - pray specifically and powerfully. I'd encourage you, dear reader, to do the same.

Love you! Have a great, snowy week!

-Vanhin Bolingbroke