Not FINNISHed Yet: Springtime is Coming!

Transfers here are every 9 weeks. I will be here for at least 2 transfers because the training program is 12 weeks long. So the soonest I could be transferred is right around the end of June, if my math is good.

Weather-wise, it has been absolutely stunning the last couple days. My first week and a half, we had a little snow on and off. But the last couple days, it has been bright and sunny! Spring is already coming in Turku and it is beautiful!

As far as food is concerned, we do eat with members occasionally, at least once a week so far. Last week, we had three meals at members' homes. The food isn't too different so far. I'm trying to get that lingonberry pudding recipe for you, and there's another dessert that is kind of like a giant pancake that they eat with jam and ice cream that was pretty good. I try to eat pretty well at home. I have pasta and bread and meat, some frozen vegetable because they are easier, and lots of fruit. The Finns have this thing called Rahka (I think) which is like a much thicker yogurt, and they love to mix it with fruit and sometimes whipped cream. It's actually not legal in the US because it's not, like, pasteurized or something, but it is so good.

We did see the young couple with the boy again, a couple times actually. We're trying to actually teach them, but it's hard because they've been busy moving and they're child is a crazy, but adorable little monkey and we're not sure yet how to really interest them. He had said he would come to church this Sunday but wasn't there, so I'm thinking that next week we actually need to go get him or something (on the bus, of course) because we think he really wants to come. But we've gotten to do some good service for them and they like having us around, so we're taking that as a good sign.

We visited the less-active woman again. She really like shaving us over and she likes talking to us, but just not so much usually about the church. She did let us share a spiritual thought with her out of the Book of Mormon. She is religious and she loves the Bible, but is bitter towards anything related specifically to the church, if I understand right. So we were a little concerned that she might be upset about us using the Book of Mormon, but it was fine and we had a good discussion about looking for little blessings in everyday life. She also let her daughter come to church with a friend a couple weeks ago. That was pretty out of the blue, and we hope it will become a common occurrence. We are going back in a couple weeks to help her clean after they move, so we hope we can just keep serving and loving her back into the church.

We have so many good investigators and I have already seen so many miracles this last week. One cool experience actually happened as a bit of a chain of events. Last week, we met a young man from Nigeria and started teaching him. This past Sunday, on our way to church, we met another young man also from Nigeria and he came to church with us. We had a very good lesson with him and his roommate on Tuesday, and on the bus afterwards, we met yet another young man from Nigeria who actually knew the guy we just taught and had been invited to join in the lesson but was unable to. He became a new investigator as well. All three of these young Nigerian men live in Varrisuo, and all are at least familiar with each other. I know the Lord is preparing people to meet us and sometimes these people are even helping to prepare each other, whether or not they know it!

~I have been told on multiple occasions that my pronunciation is phenomenal, and one of the YSA girls that has come with us on lessons told me that I have some of the best pronunciation she has ever heard from a foreigner. So that's pretty encouraging.