Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Lots of snooowww

Huomenta, Se on siis kiva kylmä tällä

Great week. There was a mission broadcast for everyone, which was really good.  We got to meet with a new investigator this week. Her name is salam, she has 2 cute twin daughters who are 8, and they are sooo funny. But she is from ethiopia, but lived in the states for a while, and she is really nice.  We have been working really hard setting up a new tracting area were working in. Havent had much success there but of course we keep on trying. I mean thats the same with life isnt it. The difference between a successful euntrapeanur and a given up one is one has a passion for what he does, and he gets up from his failures. The same is with Life, the ones who succeed never gave up.  But Elder Minson and I continue to work hard and we have been able to hand out a lot of book of mormons recently including with a lot of potentials.  

Listening to Elder Hollands talk, he talks a lot about how often times throughout life, we may seem at the top of life, and then suddenly the gapes of hell open us it seems. It happened to Moses. He was shown the heavens and the earth, and then Satan appeared to him and demanded him to worship him..  It wasnt until he called upon the power of god to help deliver him that he was delivered. But he needed to go through that experience. Joseph Smith had to go through that experience. Jesus Christ had to go through that experience. And we to have to go through that experience to our own varying degrees.. But it allows us to grow and to strengthen ourselves. Because isnt that what life is all about?


Found my Boi andy mccoy again in the paper. looking happy as ever haha.  

and we got a ton of snow this week!

Love

Elder Ford

Hullu

Wow this week has been crazy!!!  So Elder Minson is a boss and we have been working really hard this week. Training is pretty fun to say the least. But he works really hard and is a great Elder. From Wednesday to Saturday we got to hand out 26 book of Mormons so that was definately a blessing and we met a ton of cool new potentials. We also started teaching this family who has 6 kids, and already lives the Word of Wisdom and we got to have an awesome family home evening with them yesterday!! Super great!  I made oatmeal cookies for it and I lured all the kids in the living room to play a game and it was super fun!  Also, since learning to do the rubix cube out here I did an object lesson with everybody with it, where I solve the rubix cube for everyone and from there explain how it can represent how crazy out lives get sometimes, but with (mormon 5:23)  we are in the hands of god and he will help us get back to being solved.  But they loved it..

We also had the chance to go to the hospital and give this man named Veli San Miguel a blessing. Needless to say his apendix burst so we went with a member in our ward to give him a blessing. He was in Really bad shape, but tommorrow he is returning home and he said the blessing really helped him so that was definately great to see.  

We also had the chance to set a baptisimal date with this man named Korsa. He is a former Muslim, but he has been reading the Bible everyday. Its for the Feb 20th, so hopefully all goes well with that.  

hahaha. and this is what basically all finnish babies look like here because its so cold. So cute..


Hope everyone has a great week!!!


Also, in my personal study in John 15:1 where it talks about how Jesus Christ is the tree and we are the vine, I was thinking about how if we are not getting daily nutriment from the tree and roots the vine dies. It doesnt die instantly but it becomes weaker and dies. The same is with us, god and Jesus Christ is always there, it is we who turn away from god and become comfortable with sin. Probably my favorite word in Finnish is Tehdä Parranus, where it literally means to do improvement. (its the finnish word for repentance) repentance isnt mean to defeat us because we did something wrong, its only there so we can do improvement. I dont see who wouldnt want to improve in life, for improvement is happiness. Thats what makes the plan of happiness so, its improvement, eternal progression. Daily scripture study, daily prayer, church attendance, temple, and service. The formula isnt hard, just like gods word is easy. Its we who complicate our own success formulas. Food for thought

Have a mahtava week.

Transfers, Training



Hey, sorry I dont have a lot of time to write again, because this week is transfers week, and I am rerouting missionaries through the trainstations. I am going to be training, his name is Elder Minson, I am staying here in Tikkurila, which is good cause I really love the ward here.. Going to be a lot of fun!  We also have a new area opened to us to work in, and there are a TON of open apartments down there so thats exciting.  Also fun fact, its been getting so cold lately, I was walking home the other night and one of my eyelids froze shut when I went to blink. Sooooo yea. Been pretty cold. Anyway hope everyone has an amazing week!



Rakaudella,

Elder Ford

Finnish Tounge Twister of the week:

Kokko, kokkoo kokkoo koko kokko! - Koko kokkoko? - Koko kokko. Kokkookko? 
Kokko (a surname), gather up the whole bonfire! - The entire bonfire? - The entire bonfire. Now will you gather it up?

Fun fact, this was in the movie UP!

The pictures include 

Playing floor hockey with my man Juha Koponen, a true finnish sauna house, and eating out to chinese with my favorite senior couple in the world aka my adopted grandparents the Brazers.



Hyvä uutta vuotta Happy New Year's!

Sorry Dont have a lot of time to meet this week since with transfers coming up and President is interviewing everyone. But really great week, we have been working hard finding but with the holidays everyone has been so busy so know one has had time to be meet. But good news is President just appoved a new area for us to work in which is a really awesome area so a lot of good things should be happening there!  Weird passing my year mark, time goes by fassssssstttttt, but hope everyone is doing great with the new year. One note I might add that I was learning from my personal studies is that I have been studying apostasy periods and if you look over history everytime that the priesthood is here on the earth innovation, and human advancement explode. All the way back even during Jeesuksen time here on the earth.  Then of course when it was brought back to the earth during the time of Joseph Smith, technology and human advancement has just EXPLODED. Coincidence? I think not...

But last Saturday, also went on splits with Elder Edwards, he is in my MTC group so we celebrated together. Went and ate some chinese food, good stuff, all you could eat Deep fried sushi.

But with the start of the new year we have been able to meet call back people and set up lessons so hopefully everything goes well.  Happy new years.

Elder Ford

Also, it has gotten really cold here recently, -20 c, and dropping!  

Hyvä Joulu ja Onnellista uutta vuotta, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Merry Christmas to everyone, it was definately a great one for sure.  On Wednesday we met a lot of cool people tracting and met this really cool girl from india sitting on a park bench and night and showed her the Christmas video and she said that was exactly what she needed.  We have a return appointment with her set up today so hopefully all goes well. As far as christmas we got LOADS of chocolate from the ward, I am now officially sick of Chocolate. For christmas eve we spent it at the Kalaava Family which was soooo fun. They fed us really good food and they all gave us chocolate and flashlights with our name engraved into it. It was sooo nice of them, and there little kids are sooo funny. We reenacted the Wise man and nativity scene with them, and I have to say its the first time I have ever been attacked by an angel.  I also got to speak in sacrament this week which went really good. I used a flash light analogy for my talk, but I forgot the word for flashlight in Finnish, so I just used the word light pillar haha.  But it worked.  Other then that it was great to see the fam, all looking mighty old (hint,hint dad).

Happy New year to everyone!!!

Elder Ford 


Merry Christmas!

Awesome week,

Went on splits with the zone leaders and two others in our district. Found a lot of great people and showed a lot of people the Christmas initiative.  Also, my investigator that was baptized last change came and visited me in my new ward so it was great to see him!  

We found this really cool guy from russia, that went to estonia for christmas but we will be able to teach him next week

Sorry I dont have a lot of time to email this week. But have a merry christmas everyone!!

Picture 1: Splits with my Zone Leader. He's 6'8"!
Picture 2: The picture is of me taking tracting to the next level.. Santa tracting! 


Rakaudella,

Elder Ford

Hyvä Joulu, Vapahtajasyntynyt Elder Ford

Hyvää Joulua to everyone back at home.

Well this week we got a little snow.. then it all melted. There concerned in Finland that it wont be a white christmas this year..  Guess well see.

So very busy week indeed.  We had a mission conference with Elder Dikes, hes the second counselor in the European area presidency, which was really great. He taught us how to do oragami missionary shirts to give to members. It was wonderful seeing everyone there.

We also had the ward christmas party this week. Funny story with that, about a month ago we met this old lady on the street and we asked if she liked doing family history work. We explained more about it and gave her a book of mormon. After that it has been 10 calls trying to get appointments set up with her but they never happen. I then called her to invite her to the ward christmas party and apparently she came and talked to us, but it had been so long since we had seen her, and she talked to us so briefly we didnt even know it was her. So later when I called her back she said she had been at the christmas party and finally connecting the dots we realized that was her. But all is good and we have an appointment with her this saturday to teach her how to do more family history work.  

Last week we also got to go to the temple. Wow, the Helsinki Temple is just the best. oh, and yesterday I got to finally see John Louis yesterday!! He is the person me and my old companion found and got baptized 2 weeks ago, it was soooo great to see him. He is a changed man, you can literally see the light of christ just beeming from him. It was so great to finally see him again.  


Merry Christmas to all, and remember in those quiet moments of a little babe in a manger.

Picture 1: Outside the Temple!
Picture 2: How to photobomb sister pictures like a boss!

Rakaudella,
Elder Ford


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Hyvä Joulu, Vapahtajasyntynyt Elder Ford

Hey everyone!

So we have had a pretty slow week but it popped up in the end. My companion keeps getting sick so its been kind of a half finding, half recovering process.  But we found some cool people this week, which was sweet.  First we found this old guy named Riisto. He is like some 75 year old guy. So apparently the building people have failed to give him a room key to his apartment for over a year now, because a year ago the buildings locked were replaced. And somebody stole his phone. So basically what he has to do, is he props his door open very slightly, runs to the store as fast as his old man legs can carry him, runs back and hopes his door isnt shut on him haha. Basically right now some construction guys are redoing his bathroom and accidently cut his power, so he just sits in his room in the dark. No family, to tv, nothing. He has a Book of Mormon now though. So we had a lesson yesterday with him and it went good, it was in the dark, but all good, he said he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

We also found this real cool dude with some of the sweetest dreads locks I have seen inviting us back. He asked "oletteko mormoneita", which means are you mormons, and then we said yea we are. And he said "olette jo tervetuloa"! Which means you are always welcome! So hopefully that goes well.

Also, my investigator that me and my old companion found in my last area got baptized! So happy for him, he has changed so much over the course of us teaching him. I left the area right before he got baptized. he wanted me to baptize him, but since I was to far away I couldnt. But so glad for him.  

Anyway Im going to the temple for pday today so I dont have a lot of time!

PS: the Post office is off strike now so letters and packages are a GO.  
PSS: sorry I have kept forgetting to take pictures recently.

Thanks everyone for all the love!


Rakaudella

Elder Ford