Fantastic Finland

Sisar Hillebrant's neighborhood

Rakas ystäviä!

So traveling here was pretty much terrible.  I hate sleeping on planes, but I usually dislike being awake anymore because I feel queasy if I'm not doing anything.  We were in transit, I think, for about 40 hours and within that time I think I maybe got about 6-8 hours of very poor quality sleep.  We got into Helsinki at 11:30-ish PM. President and Sister Rawlings, who are probably two of the nicest people I've ever met, were there with some elders to pick us up and take us to the mission home, where we had warm food and interviews, a short e-mail time, and then bedtime.  I took a shower that night so I got to sleep at about 2:20 AM.  We were woken up around 8:40 in the morning and were fed a Finnish breakfast.  There was this awesome whipped lingonberry pudding and Finnish bread and some multi-grain and berry hot cereal. Some of the people from the office came and gave us a mission orientation, then we packed up and went to the Mistrati (I don't think that's spelled right) to register in the country, then to the mission office where we had lunch and a meeting with the president and the trainers.  We were assigned to our trainers, and I am with Sister Howell, and she is great!  We were driven to the train station and Sister Howell and I, as well as Sister Owen and Sister Shellenberg, were on the train to Turku, my first area!  We got in around 7:30 PM and took my things to the apartment, did a little late night grocery shopping, then went home, unpacked some and went to bed. Suffice it to say that it was a VERY long 3 days.

Sisar Hillebrant with President and Sister Rawlings.

Turku is actually the warmest city in the country. It isn't really much colder here that is was in Provo, so my coat is actually perfect right now!  It has snowed a few times since I got here, but not too heavily, and it doesn't stick around, so there isn't too much snow really anywhere.  Most of the streets are dry about half the time.  It was a blessing, I think, that I didn't buy a heavy coat in the States. And as a matter of fact, there is actually a spare coat in the apartment that was worn by Sister Howell's last companion, and before her by Sister Christofferson (one of the Finnish teachers in the MTC right now, who taught the other district)!  And, it fits perfectly! So I am going to adopt it and when next winter is over, I will leave it behind for another sister.

The first couple days in the field really haven't been horrible or scary at all, except that I have been completely exhausted all the time.  I've had to take a nap almost ever day that I've been here.  Sister Howell is so good and accommodating and understanding.  She's really been easing me into mission life.  She helps me SYL a little, but isn't forcing it either. She is going to start gradually giving me more responsibility, like being on phone duty and helping with the map and things like that, as I get more adjusted.  Talking to people freaks me out a little because the Finns just talk so fast (and the language in Turku is even harder to understand than "regular" Finnish, apparently) that it's so hard to catch what anyone says.  But, not understanding isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Right now, when we go street contacting, I can initiate conversations, mostly just saying "HI" and asking what's up, and whatnot, then mostly just standing back and observing the conversation between the person and Sisar Howell so I can work on my understanding.  I'm trying now to start getting more involved in conversations so I can start practicing, and I was asked to bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting yesterday.  I've hear from pretty much everybody that my pronunciation is incredible and that most people I talk to can't believe I've been in the country for less than a week, so that's encouraging.  Right now my biggest focus needs to be expanding my vocabulary so that, even if my grammar isn't perfect, at least I can talk about and recognize more everyday things.

Turku Cathedral

We have met with a couple investigators and one less active member.  Our schedule has, unfortunately, been rather lax the last couple days.  I met an unmarried couple with the most adorable little boy.  The woman didn't really talk to us to much, but the man is so funny and actually pretty much just speaks English to us. We didn't really teach them, but just did some dishes and helped him sand down some bumps in the wall. We also met with a less active woman who is British and married to a Finn with two children.  She has a lot of hard feelings toward the church because of some pretty awful things that happened in her past, so it's really difficult to teach her.  But, we came over and did some service and just talked with her.  I am really surprised by the number of people we speak English to, but mostly it's because there are a ton of students here from all over the world, and English is often more comfortable for them than Finnish, so it has been a kinder transition that I thought it would be. We have met a lot of really cool people, and hopefully have some good potential investigators that we can get in touch with.  I am excited to see what happens when I start getting more involved with the people here.  It's really an amazing time to be in Finland.  The Lord is hastening His work here, and you can definitely see that He is preparing His children here.

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Hillebrant

Finnishing What We've Started

Rakas ystäviä!

Consecration week has ended and we have 4 full days left! That doesn't include the rest of today (Wednesday). My mom also wanted me to tell you a little about how we learn the language here, so that will probably be the mass of this email. Not too much is different when you've been in the MTC for 8 weeks.

So the secret for learning Finnish is that you pray really hard. That's pretty much it. In all reality, we learn all the grammar principles one at a time in class, then are pretty much responsible for learning vocabulary on our own. Our teachers were good about baby-ing us a little more at the beginning, then made sure that we speak more and more Finnish as time went by. The process here pretty much just involves SYL: speak your language as much as possible, even if you suck at it. We started teaching lessons in Finnish on our third day in the MTC, and have been teaching almost exclusively in Finnish since we got here, so that gives us a lot of SYL experience in the gospel lessons.  Now I can talk a lot about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the Plan of Salvation etc etc etc, and really that's the important stuff. Everything else will come with time. There is a fun little detail that will shake things up a little, though. There are basically two versions of Finnish: spoken and written. We are learning written Finnish, and spoken Finnish is pretty much a shortened version of written Finnish. So how in the world I'm going to know what people are saying is beyond me. I am hoping beyond hope for an experienced trainer. And thank heavens the Finns are so nice. Then to cap it all off, we had Consecration Week, which among other things meant we were supposed to speak only Finnish as much as possible for the entire week. I tried really hard for the first few days, but I admit I started falling through starting Sunday. I don't think we spoke a lick of Finnish on Sunday...

As for this week, not much has happened other than Consecration Week. Sisar Owen, Feil Nover and I had prepared a musical number, Consider the Lilies, and auditioned to perform in a devotional [pretty much in front of all the missionaries in the MTC]. We auditioned in front of Sister Nally, the MTC President's wife/MTC Relief Society President and her counselor Sister Roach, both of whom are two of the nicest people I've ever met. We made it onto the "yes" list, but we won't get to perform because there is a special devotional this Sunday and we leave the day after. We did get to sing in Sacrament Meeting, though, so that was cool. Speaking of the special devotional, President Holland from UVU (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's son) is coming to speak to us about Joseph Smith and it's going to be super rad. There have also been rumors floating that Elder Holland himself is going to be there because it's Sister Holland's birthday and she might come to listen to her son speak....So long story short, we are very lucky to be here on Sunday.

That's about it for now. The rest of my week will be packing and getting ready to go to Finlaaaaannddd!!! I'm so excited to get out into the real world and to serve real people in God's really true church! I love you all and I love the Lord. He is so good!

Rakaudella, 

Sisar Hillebrant

Consecration Week

Rakas ystäviä! (I think that means "friends" but there are so many ways to pluralize words so I'm not positive)

I have 12 days left in the MTC, and Consecration Week is here! That means that for the next week, we are supposed to speak nothing but Finnish to prep us for the field, and let me tell you, it ain't no picnic. Thank goodness we are all in the same boat, or it would be torture. The worst part is that we are in a zone with the Hungarians and new Albanians, so we need to translate a lot. We've been teaching some pretty good lessons, and have finally had a chance to practice teaching about the Word of Wisdom. Today we'll be teaching the Law of Chastity for the first time, so thank heavens for practice.

My mom pointed out that I am not being exceptionally detailed about life at the MTC, and she kindly provided me with a list of things to talk about, so I'm pretty much just going to answer her questions today.

Cafeteria food: There is one cafeteria, and it is huge. Meal times are staggered depending on what zone you are in, so the lines usually aren't too long. We have usually about 5 options every meal, and it's normal stuff like pasta, chicken, salad, wraps, burgers, etc.  They are really good about giving us variety, and considering how many people they feed, it's decent quality stuff and it tastes pretty good. The only problem with it is that it messes up your digestive system big time. I won't go into detail about that, but I definitely can't wait for a real home-cooked meal that doesn't make me feel bloated. We pretty much just sit together as a zone for meals. I usually try to sit with the other Finns so we can practice Finnish when we eat, and that's going to be especially important this week since we can't speak English unless absolutely necessary.

We wake up every day at 6:30. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, we have class starting at 7:45, where we learn grammar, Preach My Gospel, and teach lessons. Throughout the day, we have personal and language study, a bunch of additional study to prepare for lessons and work on whatever we want, gym, lunch, dinner, more class, and so on. On Tuesday nights, we have devotionals and a service project, where we take down chairs and the podium in the gym that we use for devotionals. Wednesday is our P-day. We go to the temple, e-mail, do laundry, and write letters, and in the evening we have class again. Friday, class starts later and we have study time in the morning.

My district in front of the temple.

Sunday is the best day of the week. We have study time, Music and the Spoken Word, Relief Society, Sacrament meeting, the Sunday walk to the temple, District meetings, a Devotional and service. Since Sisar Owen, Feil Nover, and I are Sister Training Leaders, we have Branch presidency in the morning and a leadership training meeting after Relief Society. We also have a training meeting on Tuesdays before service. At night, we are done with the day at 9:30 (usually). We are supposed to have personal devotional time at 10:15, where we do anything that brings us closer to the Lord. We are supposed to be in bed with lights out at 10:30, which honestly almost never happens just because there is so much to do before the day is over. But I am definitely way better than I was when I first got here. Probably because Feil Nover came and we had to be examples :)

Sisar Owen, Feil Nover (Sister Feil), and Me

When we hosted new missionaries last week and the week before, we met the new missionaries at the curb when they pulled up and made sure their

goodbyes didn't take too long. We helped them with their luggage and escorted them around to check in, took them to their room, then to get their study materials at the bookstore, then to the classroom. It was so much fun to see their excitement and remember what it was like for me to come. The MTC is like a whole different world! Some people jokingly call it Spirit Prison: you feel the spirit all the time, but you can't leave!

Well, I'm pretty much out of email time. This week wasn't too exciting, so I'm glad Mom gave me some things to talk about. Next week I will try to remember to talk about how they teach us the language.

I love you all and am so grateful for you prayers. Heaven knows I need as much help as I can get. The Lord is so good and so ready to bless us if we just ask Him. That's what I'll need to remember as I go into Consecration Week!

Rakaudella, 

Sisar Hillebrant

Together with some of the other sisters in our branch.

It is not all hard work.

Short emails are the best emails

Yet another small email, my friends. This week has been as uneventful as the last, if that's even possible. Nothing but class and devotionals and more class and scripture study and class and language. Two of my "investigators" have committed to baptism, so now we're just making sure they have solid testimonies. My language is progressing slowly but surely. The grammar mostly makes sense, but I've come to realize that my vocabulary is pretty much limited to talking about the Preach My Gospel lessons. At least I know what to work on. BUT I did memorize Joseph Smith's account of the first vision yesterday, so that's something. Plus, I learned like 15 new words from it, so that's something else. Sisar Owen, Feil Nover, and I are preparing a musical number and we want to audition to perform in a devotional next week.

I had a short mental breakdown yesterday when I realized that in 3 weeks I will be in Finland!! I feel so unprepared, but just prepared enough at the same time. Is that a thing? I feel like I lack language ability, but I am excited to just immerse myself all the way and learn first-hand and meet the people. And, I know that if I try my hardest the Lord makes up what I can't do, and that's a comfort.

Anyway, that's about it. Our district was asked to host again today, so that's another P-day where we had to get up before 6 to go to the temple, but it's OK

because we get to serve! That's what a mission is all about. I hope you are all doing well. May the Lord bless you and help you to see His hand in your life, because it's there! Be grateful for the little blessings, and you will constantly find more things to be grateful for. Have a wonderful week!

Rakaudella,

Sisar Hillebrant

We study so hard that our vision gets blurry.

Some of what we are learning. 

Visual aid to help us learn word suffixes.