Moi!                                                                                                                               6/16/16

Another week has gone by and we are now half way through our stay here at the MTC. Time goes by so quickly here because we are literally on the Lord's time. It only gets better as we are here longer and learn more about the Gospel, and Finnish and practice listening to the Spirit and developing Christlike attributes. The MTC is such a wonderful place to be, and it'll be sad when I have to leave such a spiritual environment where you can feel the Spirit everywhere you are on campus.

     Yesterday we had the opportunity to host. Hosting means to greet the incoming missionaries and help them carry their luggage, get their badge, books and everything, and help them get around the grounds and everything the need on their first day because it can be so overwhelming and stressful. I got to help two different sisters, one going to Hungary and the other to Canada. As we were being briefed on how to host, they asked us to think of what did/would have helped us on our first day, or any bits of advice, etc. I thought back to our devotional the night before where Ulisses Soares (Presidency of the Seventy) spoke to us. He told us he found that the missionaries that were obedient to the commandments and mission rules, were the the happiest missionaries. I thought about that and noticed how it has affected my missionary life as well. Even the slightest little decision, for example, to take a nap instead of exercising. I've noticed I am even more tired than I was before the nap, because I wasn't following the schedule that has been divinely inspired for us missionaries. So much of our success depends on our obedience to the guidelines and attitude towards everything we do. I decided this was the one thing I would share with these brand new sisters, because we had such a short time to take them to where they needed and drop them off at their classroom to start learning the language. It was a very good experience.

     After I got my call to Finland, I began using google translate, and put sticky notes on random things in my room. I'd translate the word for water, which was vessi, right it on the sticky note and put it behind the sink faucet, the word for dresser, mirror, etc. It helped a little bit as I would wash my hands and repeat the words for water, cold, warm, etc. but it never really payed off. 

At least so I thought. This last week as we were teaching one of our new investigators about the priesthood. We had her read from the pamphlet, and as you can tell, I'm sure, Finnish words sound nothing like English, so it's a little hard to follow exactly what she was reading, even though we had studied that section of the pamphlet beforehand. She asked us a question about pappeus avaimet. My companion and I haven't had the need to learn or come across the word avaimet, but we knew the word pappeus, which means priesthood. But because I put the sticky notes up in my room, I remembered the word for keys: avaimet. In my broken Finnish, I asked her how keys help us, or what do they do. She answered that they open or unlock things so we can open or get into them. Correct! I then explained that "Jeesus Kristus annoi Hänen apostoli avaimet Hänen pappeus, niin että he voivat ohjataa Jeesuksen Kristuksen Kirkkon Hänen ylösnousemous jalkeen. Pappeus avaimet antaa he kyky käytyä Hänen voimalla, ja ohjata Hänen kirkko, Jeesuksen Kristuksen nimessa." (Jesus Christ gave his apostles the keys to His priesthood so that they could guide Jesus Christ's church after His resurrection. Priesthood keys give them the ability to use His power, and authority to guide His church in Jesus' Christ's name). The Spirit was so strong, and as I spoke, I knew I was being helped by the Holy Ghost, and I could see the gift of tongues working. I usually try to watch our investigators (in a non creepy way) body language. After I explained, I watched her relax and sit back in her chair as she contemplated this new information. I could tell this was a turning point for her. She had also asked us about prophets, I didn't understand everything she said, but she also mentioned her pastor preached as a job and asking us about our prophets.  I felt that I should turn to the articles of faith page, and share the 5th article,  saying that we believe man must be called of God... After her reading it, I asked her if that was an answer to her question. She said it was, and smiled a little. 

     I love being here and teaching and learning so much. I love being able to spend so much time studying and learning more about the gospel, and reading the scriptures. I've started my own personal topical guide. Any time I find a scripture that I really like or that would answer or explain questions or concepts for investigators, I write it down with a 2-3 word summary of the passage. This has come in handy many times. If you have any scriptures you really like, I'd love to add them to the list.

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     Another thing (among many) we learned from our last devotional was from Sister Soares. She told us if we want to know the Lord, serve him. If we want to know the Lord better, serve him better. 

My companion and I taught relief society this last Sunday on Learning to Recognize the Spirit. We made these cute little cards to give to companionships to research and study. We had a really good discussion. 

The next few pictures are a couple pages from our grammar book. One of the Sisters going to Norway decided to look through it and she came to me with a concerned look on her face, and she asked me why I brought an algebra text book(she knew it was my grammar book). It was pretty funny.

Every word can change depending on the context. The house shows what's called the Locative case. Meaning you could say talo (which means house). But if you wanted to say we are going to the house you would say taloon, because we would be going into the house. If you were inside the house you would use talossa. Anyway, there's some random finnish grammar for you to contemplate. There are about 27 cases, and the locative case is just one of them. Sometimes cases can be used in many different ways.

The stick figure named Pekka demonstrates the locative case.

This is an explanation (picture below↓) of a different way to use the Adessive case. We thought their example was hilarious, cuz the things you end up finding hilarious as a missionary are a lot different than what you would have before.

Anyway, it's been a great week! Talk to you in a week!​