Rakas ystäviä!
You get a real letter this week! Whoohoo!
Well, this week was possibly one of the fastest weeks of my
entire life. Monday started out normal, but quickly changed in the evening when
I got sick, threw up, and had to go home about 2 hours earlier than normal. I
felt so bad for causing a lot of extra stress for Sisar Howell, because we were
supposed to go to a high school in the morning to do a presentation about the
Church. Luckily (or by the grace of the Lord) Sisaret Cribbs and Dixon, the
Sister Training Leader and her companion, were in town to do splits with the
sister companionships here in Turku. So, while I slept in on Tuesday morning,
Sisar Howell and one of the other sisters did the presentation while Sisar
Cribbs stayed with me. I think me getting sick was bad karma because when I
first got into the country, I said I wouldn't mind getting sick if it meant
getting more sleep. Well, I got my wish and wasn't one bit happy about it. I
was well enough in the afternoon to go to some of our appointments, but came
home early in the evening with Sisar Dixon while Sisar Howell and Cribbs went
to our last appointment.
Our splits officially started Wednesday morning, but Sisaret
Cribbs and Dixon spent the night with us, and I was with Sisar Cribbs for our
studies in the morning. I spent the day with her and we did some good
contacting and visiting. Sisar Cribbs gave me a lot of good tips and hints to
be more effective and outgoing, and I actually struck up my very own
conversation with a sweet older Lutheran lady (most of the people here are Lutheran) on the bus by telling her I was American and asking if I could practice my
Finnish with her. I told her why I was in Finland and talked to her for a
while, taught her about the Restoration of the church and about the Book of
Mormon, all in Finnish, all by myself! I gave her a Book of Mormon and our
phone number too. I don't know if she'll read it, but I was so excited that I
actually talked to someone without help and I really hope that I helped her
change from this experience.
Thursday was back to normal with me and Sisar Howell. We had
a dinner appointment in the evening with an awesome family in the ward and we
brought along one of our investigators, a really sweet lady from Tanzania. We
had delicious garlic chicken and taught about the Plan of Salvation.
On Friday, we taught one of our investigators with a
baptismal date. He's a young college student who was actually a former
investigator, and finding him was a really cool miracle. We're doing this thing
in the mission called the 12 Week Fast. There are 12 missionary districts in
Finland, and each week, it's one district's turn to fast. Each companionship
fasts for one day that week, and the entire mission prays for specific goals
for that district. My first week in the country was our district's fasting week,
and one of the things we asked everyone to pray for was that we would find one
new investigator who would accept a baptismal date in the first lesson. Last
minute Sunday night, we contacted a former investigator the elders in our ward
had given us, and it was this young college guy. We set up an appointment, and
in the first lesson, he accepted a baptismal date! Talk about the power of
prayer and fasting! So far he is a really solid investigator, and is still
actively searching for answers. We feel really good about him!
Saturday was a day of miracles too. We had some awkward
blocks of time, so we had planned to contact some "formers" in the Varissuo area.
Once we got there, though, we realized we didn't have the list of people and
their addresses. But, we knew that God had a plan in this, so we said a prayer
and asked Him to help us find the people He had prepared, then we went on our way.
We felt like we should tract a couple floors in an apartment building, and lo
and behold we found two people who wanted to learn more. One was a really sweet
girl from England, and the other was a way cool guy from India, who actually
came to church on Sunday. It really was a miracle that we found these people. I
know the Lord is preparing people here for us to find, and he is preparing us
to find them, even if it means leaving my planner at home on accident.
Sunday was good. I'm preparing a little musical number with
a less active member in the ward who is an incredible guitar player. It's for the
going-away party for Vanhin and Sisar Mortensen, the incredible senior couple
here in Turku, who are going home next month. If angels really do walk the
earth, it's the Mortensens. We spent a little time before church practicing
that. We had both the college guy and the Indian guy in church, then in the
evening we had a dinner appointment with the bishop and his family, and the
college guy came with us. In case anyone is wondering what fantastic Finnish
cuisine is like, we had tacos. Totally exotic.
We topped off the week by visiting Tuomiokirkko, the huge
cathedral across the river from our apartment. It's over 700 years old and is
the "mother" Lutheran church in Finland.
So that was my week, and probably the most exciting email
I've written so far. Hope you all are doing well and thanks for your thoughts
and prayers.
Hyvän vikon jatkoa!
Rakkauf,
Sisar Hillebrant
Sisar Hillebrant
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| Tuomiokirkko - Turku Cathedral |
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| Inside Turku Cathedral |
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| Sisar Cribbs and me. |
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