3/8/16

Wonderful week this week! So a really cool story. At the beginning of my time here in Tikkurila, I was looking in deep in the old potentials list and came across a lady named barbara, who was found a year previous but for some reason was never contacted. I gave her a call, and we set up an appointment. This was last december. Something happened and she had to cancel the appointment, I tried setting up another a little later, and she said she looked at the Book of Mormon and was not interested anymore, and didnt want to meet, but then I asked if we could just share a message about christ, and she agreed, but then family came over during that holiday season and she couldnt meet with us. I later texted her back asking if we could reschedule, but she never texted me back. 

Over these 2 changes for some reason she has been in the back of my mind, that we should go visit her, and I kind of just kept pushing it to the back of my mind.  Finally, this past week we had some free time one afternoon after a lesson and we went over to her apartment. The door was locked and I said a prayer that someone would come out, and right as I said amen, somebody walked out of the apartment and we were able to go in.  We knocked on her door and she invited us right in, and we were able to have a lesson with her and her son. She is a wonderful lady and now she has a baptisimal date for April 16th, and she is really pushing towards it! We had an amazing lesson last night with Bishop and his wife, and it went amazing, except for the chair I was sitting on broke in the middle of the lesson and I fell flat on the ground:) Gained a few pounds since I have been out here:) Just kidding, it was just a crappy chair.  But it was a tri´lingual lesson haha. Bishops wife is a swedish finn, and Barbara is to, so the lesson was spoken in Swedish,finnish,and english. Its crazy how much one can understand swedish if they know english. But the spirit was very strong, and Barbara even thanked in her prayer for sending us and bishop to her door. It went great! Also, in sacrament meeting last sunday I had the impression to text this member that I am friends with in my last area. I texted to them a scripture and some words I felt impressed to share and I got a text back the next morning, saying that it was exactly what they needed to hear and was an answer to there prayers. So the lesson is, dont ever not follow a prompting, even if it is just an idea in your mind. That was something valuable I even learned before my mission, even leading me to volunteer at a wonderful group for african kids who i am friends with still today. So you never know where God will lead you, and whos life you can bless by following simple promptings.

We were also able to have several other lessons with a couple of our other baptismal investigators and everyone is good. We had to drop one of our baptisimal dates, Fannu, she is not sure if she needs to continue coming to church, but she had the wonderful idea to pray about it and ask god herself.  

Also, the new easter initiative is out soon, its called Halleujah. Check it out! its really great.  

how to reach true compy unity! #compbrolock

this upcoming week is tranfer week. Im thinking ill be transfered but now sure. It will be sad to go, because my companions, the Lord and me have built this area from 0 to 4 baptisimal dates. But whatever the Lord needs, Ill go.

Rakaudella, 

Elder Ford

3/1/16

Well I feel old with turning 20. It was a great birthday, my Elder Minson took me out to good ol burgerking and had a little of a freedom meal:)  Well this week we have been doing a lot of finding. We met and taught this really cool mom who came to church last sunday and we had a superrrr good lesson afterwards!!! She said she really enjoyed church, and that she believes the Book of Mormon is true and that she is excited to learn more. Her name is Tanja, and she is a religious teacher in the University.  She showed me one of the books that she teaches from in her school and it says were not christian. and I was like wo wo wo wo, yes we are, "hence the name "church of jesus Christ". and she said she knew that and thats why she brought it because she thought it was weird that it said that.  But it said in the book were not christian because we dont believe in the Trinity, so we explained to her that we actually do, and you could see she had an aha moment, and she said the restoration makes perfect sense. There will be still some work to do with her, but it was really rewarding teaching her.

There was also a zone meeting that was great last tuesday.

But today were going to the temple so I don't have a lot of time to type, so peace out.  

Hope everyone has a great week.

2/22/16

Great week, we have been very busy lately traveling back and forth between Helsinki so we have been handing out a lot of Book of Mormons on the train!  Train contacting is very interesting, especially since Finnish trains are dead quiet. The social rule here is absolutely no eye contact, and pretend your busy on your phone, and if a mormon missionary comes up to you and sits next to you stick in your head phones:)  Right now the people we have baptisimal dates with are doing great, we havent been able to meet with them since last Wednesday because one has been sick and the other has had to work for 15 days straight, but were still able to keep in contact with them.  

We also had a bachelor party for a member in our ward because he got married. aka smoothies and game night with an investigator. It was fun. Compared to America, Finnish weddings are so mellow and low cost.  But we have been tracting a lot this week and have found a lot of great potentials, so hopefully stuff will come from that.

Im emailing early today because we have Zone conference tomorrow, so Pday was moved.

A member in our ward is a message therapist and was nice enough to take us out to eat and give us free massages which was a life saver because the shoulder bags they make us wear make your shoulders and neck so tight!

Have a wonderful week,

2/16/16: The Lords Feast

Ha, so we had a funny story happen to us this week.  Me and elder mins were tracting,  and we were getting kind of hungry because it was late. We get on this floor and it smells really good. Salmon soup is in the air. So I turn to him right before the door opens and I say to him kind of joking, when this dude opens up, ask him if we can come in and eat some of his food.  We knock, and on the other side of the door a guy asks if we are Jehovah witnesses (most people in Finland DO NOT LIKE jehovah witnesses.  We say no, were mormons. He opens up, and right then then he asks "onko sinulla nakea" which basically means in a rough translation is on you a hunger, or are you hungry. When he first said that it kind of shocked me, but I was just kind of like, well yea I am!  He then says come on in!! me and my companion were speechless, and we walk in and he feeds us this delicious salmon soup!  He didnt take a book of mormon in the end, but we got his phone number so were going back.  

Put yesterday we had a super strong amazing lesson with our investigator Elina. She has a ton of cool stories, but basically she had a rare cancer only 2 people in Finlands history have had, but she overcame it through gods help. She now has a baptisimal date of March 26th. It was such a great spirit filled lesson. 

Last week I got sick for 2 days, stupid flu going around but im all better now.  

We got to have 3 Dinner appointments last week to which in finland is INSANE haha. I have never had that many in my whole life. My average is about once a month. It was soo fun! That members in this ward are amazing!!!  

This week I have been studying the apostasy quite a bit, and its really amazing if you line up historical facts that you can kind of get an idea why God chose 1820 as the restoration date. If I could I would plaster all my notes up here, but it would take to long.

But great week! Im having a blast, and the sun doesnt set until 5 o clock now! So weird when it was setting at 2:30 before!!! spring is coming!!!

Love

Elder Ford

Whenever people ask me how I feel on the mission, the art on the wall is how I respond to them.  

2/9/16: Vanhin Ford

So right now I am sitting in the library shivering because I have chills and I am developing a fever I think haha, So after this email I am going home and getting some rest, and hopefully I will be good enough to go out tonight and have a lesson we have, especially since I have never missed a day of missionary work for being sick:)

But anywho, it has been a really good week.  Vanhin Minson and I got to hand out 39 Book of Mormons, and got 15 new potentials, some of them really solid! We also have been meeting with this younger mom with a 7 year old kid who we set a baptisimal date this week with. Her name is Fannu, shes finnish, and she is really cool! She has a lot of really cool stories!!  But the date is March 12th. We also had a really great lesson with a new investigator named Elina. Lots of potential with her!  Really cool story with the man in the picture. Basically it would take forever to type out. But I met him my first week in Finland, and I have been chasing him ever since, meeting him randomly in many different cities after losing contact.  Crazy stuff.  But now were teaching him again.  

But, if you havent seen them already, watch the 12 steps to change, the addiction program the church came out with. Very powerful stuff.  

One thing I have definately learned on my mission is from the following quote.

The most fundamental of all human searches is for happiness.We each choose our own happiness. As President Harold B.Lee once said: “Happiness does not depend on what happens outside of you but on what happens inside of you. It is measured by the spirit with which you meet the problems of life.” 9  It will often be necessary for all of us to choose between having a good time and leading a good life.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/12-steps-to-change/step-12-service-eriks-story-on-drug-addiction-recovery

Rakaudella,

Elder Ford

2/2/16: Ups and Downs

Well, its been a good week with ups and downs. We were able to set up a baptisimal date with one of our investigators so that was great.  We found some great new investigators including one last night that we found and 8:58pm, right before we went inside. She was very accepting and nice, and she was way open to learn more.  Unfortunately we had some hopeful investigators drop us, but you keep moving on, keep finding and teaching. One thing that I have been pondering this week is our potential, and how we really do choose eternal life or eternal damnation.  I had a lesson this last week with a man from England. We were discussing the topic of God, and why we need him. After some discussion, he told me he wasnt convinced. It was a nice discussion, but he wasnt convinced that God was real, nor did he want to act to know if he was there. He wasnt willing to act. He just wanted God to be there. He kept asking why doesnt God just appear to us. After the lesson, we left, said thank you, and I watched as he pulled out his cigarrette and continued with life. He had told me he was miserable, he told me that he had gone through a lot, and that he didnt need god.  It was hard to watch, I watched as this good man walked away holding his cigarette. It really made me ponder how it is us who chooses where we go in life. We decide. There are external factors we cant control true, but its how we decide to react, what were going to do about it.

God has given us the choice, its out choice to decide.

 27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things aregiven them which are expedient unto man. And they are free tochoose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might bemiserable like unto himself.

Love, Elder Ford