Week 95 in Mikkeli (Fear no Man)

The ride continues, and another week goes by at such a speed that I don't even recognize where I am. It's slightly concerning/entertaining that I have to look back on my planner, day by day, to remember what I've done the past week. Nonetheless, we've cataloged our escapades and goings-on to the T, so I can read 'em off pretty well. 

Let's get the highlight reel going: Let's start with some missed pictures from zone conference - look at this bunch! I'll reiterate in saying that the conference was awesome, and I'm well on my way to applying more fully the principles discussed there - such as being more me in my contacts and discussions with people...

In smaller, more planty news: Two of our pea plants have rakastuneet toisiin. We put in some supports for their vines to grow on, and viola:

Look at them, they're holding hands! One of the bigger events of the week was our exchanges with the Kuopio Elders. They have a way cool city in their hands, and we have some way cool Elders we're working with. I got to reunite with my beloved Elder Viitanen again for some lessons in the afternoon, and Elder Hall and I got to talk to some amazing finns in the evening. Some highlights:

Pasta dinners are the best

Beautiful guitar songs are also the beest We also went fishing for our "morning run"...

Caught some decent ahven...

And guess who caught the big one(lahna) of the day - that is correct, ladies and gentlemen, yours truly! So, naturally, we fried it up for dinner!

I love those two elders, though - I was able to learn a lot from them. Plenty of discussions taught, plenty of people met on the bus, plenty of Kuopio.  In other news:

We found a pretty cool sign. SELFIE TIME.  Frisbee-golf Friday! I lowered my score by 2 points - that puts me to a whopping +4! I'm ready for the big leagues - or the next Tron movie. Whichever comes first.

Now THIS, my friends, is a rarity - for some reason, the doors here in Finland don't regularly feature handles. I'm not sure why, but every time we go knocking on doors, I feel like Jesus in the picture where he's knocking on the knobless door. Knock and it shall be opened unto ye, o ye inhabitants of Finland.

Our bulk-shopping goal is still successful, still fun, and still fresh. A bunch of my food went bad last weekend, due to me not preserving it as well as I should - but the Lord provided via some members who graciously fed us(Okay I'm slightly exaggerating, just my bread went bad).

But onto the subject line: Fear no man. I've been reading a document recently that tells about a missionary whose 'catchphrase' was "I fear no man!" Many of the stories in this document were very inspiring - and I've decided to start using that. Fear and Faith are opposites, just as Dark and Light are. Accordingly, they cannot exist in the same space at the same time. And accordingly, darkness is banished by the presence of light. I'm trying, very hard, to change my perspective even more to, rather than fearing man, having faith in him. And rather than fearing what God has sent me to do, I have better faith in Him, and myself. Am I a missionary who cowers at every contact in terror? No - but I'm not perfectly faithful in that sense. I've felt a sort of inner clarion call to improve my own boldness - and we have a story to back it up, too. When talking to people, it's far too easy to say, "can we come by sometime later to share a message?", but very hard to say, "can we come in right now to share this message?". We were knocking doors, and I simply decided to be as bold as possible, and as loving as possible. We shared a five-minute restoration, and we're going back tonight to share more! That's been the subject of my studyings and ponderings this week. 

I hope that you as well will be able to be bold, loving, and faithful in God and His power in our own lives!

Love always,

Vanhin Bolingbroke