Terve!

Things are going great! Even though I was moving apartments this week we still were able to do a lot of missionary work. This new area into which I’ve moved is great. The ward members reach out to their friends a lot. They invite them ot church events or to have dinner with the missionaries. It is really cool to see. There are at least five or six families who at this moment have a person and date set to meet with the missionaries. So I’m coming into a great ward. Also we have a baptism on Saturday! Vahur Sander has been investigating for 7 months and now he’s decided to get baptized. He is ready. My first night here we taught him. We are super excited for the baptisimal service because we have over 10 non-members coming to it. It can be a great opportunity to find our next baptisimal candidate.

O.K. My new companion is Elder Nikiforov. He is from Viipuri Russia and is 22 years old. He is a very humble missionary who is hear out of love for the Lord and the finish people. He is tall, blonde, and wise. I have many things to learn from him and from the Lord over the next few weeks.

As far as responsibilities goes my biggest ‘addition’ is being the language coordinator. I teach two language courses a transfer, or one every three weeks. The first one is to all the missionaries who have been in the country for six weeks and the second one is for those who have been in the country for six months. My first one is on Thursday. Then on top of that I administer and grade the language tests which happens two or three times a year. The next one is in three weeks.  As a part of that I hold interviews with each missionary in finish. I’m really looking to the new challenges. I have wondered at times why I was chosen for this job, because there are plenty of others in the mission who speak better than me. I am by no means the best at the lang. But that doesn’t matter. I have faith that the Lord qualifies whom he calls. I have been called into this job and the Lord will help me to do all that is needed.

If I could sum up all my feelings right now, I would say that I feel like I’m the size of a strawberry seed.  Lots and Lots of new. But that’s ok, because seeds grow.

Before I end this I want to share a quick story. In my last area, just before I left we found a Latvian man who was interested in the gospel. We began teaching him, even though it was very difficult and we couldn’t see where it would end up in the long run. Only three people in our ward spoke a lang. that he knew so it was tough to arrange teaches, but we still did it. This man has a great desire to know of God and wants to meet more (we’ve had four teaches with him). He is leaving home to Latvia today for a few weeks and is excited to see his family. So excited that he is bringing two extra Book’s of Mormon along with him.  This is a great story, and it gets even better. I’m sure that the Lord had a hand in when we met him. Because Vanhin Lapeshkin, an elder from our mission, is from Latvia and he went home this week! He and Janis are going to meet and go to church in Latvia. It is such a miracle. I’m grateful for the many testimonies that the Lords hand is in all.

Please continue to pray for the finns and the missionaries.

Sincerely,