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