Goodbye Kemi

Well this week went by super fast and was actually pretty sad too. I am going to be transferred to Vaasa this week and I am pretty sad to say good bye to Kemi. I love this place and I am going to be really sad to say goodbye. We had a lot to do this past week so everything went by super fast. We said goodbye to a lot of people and that wasn't too much fun, but as one of the members told me Life moves on. This week we also had exchanges so that was also a lot of fun. We got a lot of work done here in Kemi and we saw so many tiny miracles come from it. I have a very strong testimony that when we do our best to do our part of the work the Lord will take care of the rest. I have seen that so many times and I am grateful for the lessons it has taught me. Well that is about all I have for this week, next week should be interesting because both me and my companion will be new to the area. We'll see how it goes 

Love

Elder Lewis

Summer!

Well summer is finally here. Well almost here. Everything is looking a lot more green and things are starting to warm up. This week was really amazing and was pretty jam packed. We had a zone conference in Oulu and that was fun as always. We also went to Tornio yesterday which is the city that is on the Finland Sweden border. It was fun although I wanted to find some Swedish speakers but we weren't able to. My Swedish amounts to me introducing the church so that has got to be worth something. While in Tornio we met with a former investigator who is a very kind older Gentleman. He took us out to a Chinese Restaurant and we had a good chat with him. He called us after we left and asked if he could come to church so we are very excited about that.  

This week we were knocking doors and this younger man answered as we were talking to him, his friend came up the stairs and walked into the apartment and shut the door behind him. So we were pretty bummed but then the guy opened the door back up and invited us to come in. I'm pretty sure it was out of pity but hey whatever works. Anyways we talked to him and shared a message with him. He wasn't too religious himself but he seemed interested and wanted to find more peace in life. We also were let into another man's house this week who has seen the missionaries a countless number of times. He was very kind and invited us in. We got him to agree to start reading the Book of Mormon. It showed me how Heavenly Father really does prepare people for us to teach all we need to do is find them, by whatever means necessary. I have definitely gained a stronger testimony of that this week as we have seen many miracles come from looking for those that God has prepared for us. On Sunday we had Ward Conference and it was super fun. The amount of people we had in Sacrament meeting was about double. It was super fun and I learned so much. I feel like I am always learning which is probably good because it shows me that I still have a long ways to go. Well have a great week. 

Elder Lewis

Äitien Päivä

Hello to all, This week was composed of seven days, in which I served as a missionary. Not too much happened this week because Elder Johnson had to take it easy this week because he is still recovering from his Pneumonia. I can now correctly spell and pronounce pneumonia which is a pretty cool accomplishment. Anyways biking when you have an infection in your lungs probably isn't the best thing to do, so we walked everywhere. We met some pretty cool people, which we probably wouldn't have met if we were biking. We were not able to teach too many people this week and we had some lessons fall through but it was ok. For some reason like so many seagulls have been flying into the city. I have no clue where they came from but I guess it is nice to have some more friends here. This week was special because of Mother's day. Mothers have  pretty much the most important calling in life so, shout out to my own mother for doing what she does and putting up with me. 

This week I read something in 3rd Nephi 19 that really stuck out to me, in verse 9 it says "And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them." I believe that when we really come to understand the role that the Holy Ghost can play in our lives it will become the thing which we most desire. The Holy Ghost has many roles and has helped me tremendously in my life.

This is probably all that I have this week. Well actually this week we were at a member's house and they fed us some moose and it was pretty amazing so I guess that was my culinary highlight for the week. Summer is on its way and I couldn't be more excited. 

Elder Lewis

Hospital trip part 2

So this week was a pretty interesting week to say the least. We had our run in with the hospital last week so we thought this week was going to go pretty smoothly. Well we were sorely mistaken to say the least. Elder Johnson started feeling sick this week and so on Thursday night we decided that it was bad enough that we were going to take him into the hospital. So after several hours in the ER they told us that Elder Johnson had pneumonia and that it was pretty bad. Bad enough so that they were going to admit him to the ward for a couple of days. So I had to find another member, with which I could stay the night. The problem was it was like 3 in the morning, but we found a faithful member and things worked out. For the next couple days other Elders had to come so that I would have someone with me during the non visiting time in the hospital. Elder Johnson was probably the only person under 50 in the whole wing who was sick so that was pretty funny. His room mate was a funny old man who coughed for basically the whole time we were there. They kept him in the hospital until Monday. He was pretty excited to leave and see something else other than the ceiling of the hospital room. I guess other than that things are going pretty good. The hospital time took up a fairly decent chunk of the week so I don't have much else to say this week. But I will say that the power of priesthood blessings is something I have strengthened my testimony in quiet a bit this week. To be able to participate in God's work among his children is a serious blessing to me and it is something that I am very grateful for. We are going to have to take it easy this week because Elder Johnson is still recovering but we are going to try our best to stay out of the hospital. I think we can do it, it is just going to take some serious concentration. Well thanks for listening.  

Elder Lewis

Vappu

Well well well this week was super exciting and pretty crazy to be completely honest. So this week we had baptism for one of our investigators. We were really excited and it was a really nice service, but wait it gets better. So on Friday the day before the baptism Elder Johnson and I had a little mishap in the kitchen and we cut my finger open. I say we because I believe that it was a joint effort. Anyways I had to go to the Hospital and they super glued it back together. So we were pretty excited that it wasn't anything too serious but the problem was that I wasn't supposed to get it wet. Well we had already filled out the baptism forms and we didn't have another one so we decided I was going to have to tape this rubber glove on while I baptized our investigator. I'll be completely honest I looked like a pretty huge idiot, and I couldn't really bend the finger that I cut so that just added to the whole scene. I don't necessarily take pride in getting myself into these situations that make me look like a fool but somehow I do a pretty good job at it. Anyways the baptism was great and we were mostly just so excited for our Investigator. She was super happy and is so excited to start her journey in the church. This week was also Vappu which is a semi big holiday here. We had dinner with a family and they cooked us a giant slab of Salmon. It was a lot of fun and we got to visit with several of the ward members for a little bit.  

This week I thought a lot about how sometimes we have to take a step back and look at the big picture when we live the Gospel. There are times where we can often lose hope or lose our desire to continue, but when we look at life with an eternal perspective things often change. Trials that seem to be never ending can seem to be simply a growing experience when we look at it with the right set of eyes. I am definitely not perfect at this but it has helped me a lot recently frame how I handle trials or really anything in my life. Thats all she wrote

Elder Lewis