Juhannus!

Well let's get started already I've got a lot to talk about today. So as you can probably tell this week we celebrated the Juhannus holiday. The  weekend of the Summer Solstice is called Juhannus and basically it is just a nice big party for everyone in Finland. Most people go to their Mukkis or cabins and spend the whole weekend there, so we aren't able to do to much work. And besides that everyone who stays in the city usually drinks way more than they should. So on Friday we were able to go with one of the families in the ward to their Mukki. It was super fun we grilled some sausages over the fire and visited with everyone. The mosquitoes were pretty much everywhere but it was worth it. Because it is one of the longest days of the year, you think it is like sometime in the after noon but no its like 8 o'clock and you're not even tired. So that was pretty cool.  

This week we also went to Oulu for exchanges and that was a lot of fun. I forgot what it was like to ride in a car and so that was pretty cool. I tried to climb a giant stack of logs but I stopped because I didn't want to cause some collapse and kill myself. Anyways we had a good time.
This week we were also asked to water some of the plants for our neighbors because they are going out of town for the summer so that made me feel pretty cool. To think someone trusts me with that gave me a pretty big boast of confidence. Although I think we might have already messed it up... Anyways it is raining again today so that is pretty fun. It is probably going to ruin our plans for playing basketball with a member later but that's ok because we are going to go grill some burgers if we get rained out, so win win I guess. This week in church we talked about home teaching. One member shared how important his home teacher was in his life. He talked about how he had some hard times and his home teacher was always there to support him and to simply be his friend. I guess I don't really do home teaching now but it really made me want to always be someone who people can talk to and look to for support during rough times. Well that's all she wrote.

Elder Lewis

Stellar week

Well well well here we are again. This week was pretty stellar if I do say so myself. We had a zone conference in Oulu so we spent some time traveling there and that was fun. Zone Conference was a lot of fun, it is always nice to get to catch up with people but also to actually learn something that you can apply to your work. This week we also had a soccer night with some investigators and members and that was a lot of fun. My dribbling game is pretty poor but that didn't stop me from giving it my all. I hate coming to that realization that I am terribly out of shape, and playing soccer definitely helped me do that. Anyways we made some really cool friends through that.  

This week we found two new investigators. They are both super cool. We were meeting with one of them and he was telling us about the history of Vaasa. We talked about the Catholic church here that was converted into a Lutheran church. When he found out we had not visited it yet, he got up and told us we were going right then to visit it. We had another lesson so we didn't have time but I really got to respect someone who is ready to just jump up like that and get going. Hopefully that same attitude is there as we continue to teach him. Anyways he is really cool and we are excited to meet with him again. The other new investigator we found is super solid. He is from Nigeria and is going to school here. He has the sweetest little family. We taught him as his little boy slept on the couch and then once he woke up he was running around like crazy and yelling something about superman. It was pretty fun. It rained some more this week so that was fun too. There are mosquitoes everywhere here so bug spray is coming in handy. But I love it and it reminds me of some of the joys so summer so that is good. Thanks!

Elder Lewis

Sorry this is the only picture I can find for this week

Tack

Well this week was a super fast week and really just filled with a bunch of weird random experiences that I really enjoyed. This last week we did some service for the district President. He is a super great guy so I felt genuinely blessed that I had the opportunity to sweep his patio for him. We cleaned up a lot of his yard and I swept his driveway. There was so much dust I'm fairly certain that I still have some of it in my lungs, but that is the type of sacrifice that I am willing to make for others. 

This week we also had an experience where we had a lesson planned with someone but it feel through so we ended up knocking some doors in the area. We met this man who we had met before and he was having a pretty rough day so we sat down on a bench with him and we talked about life. He was struggling to understand why everyone can't just believe in God because everything would be a lot better that way. We talked about how we can only control what we do and if we take care of ourselves then we are in the position to help others. He was a super genuine man and we are going to go back and teach him later this week. He was pretty confused why we wanted to teach him and not go searching for girlfriends, but he is still excited to meet. 

This week the World Market fair came to Vaasa. We met a guy who runs this Italian booth and he had had many encounters with missionaries before. He called out to us, and when that happens it either means that they are heavily intoxicated or they have some relation to the church. Usually it is the first so we were pretty surprised that he wanted to talk with us and then he gave us some pasta. We agreed to help him take down his booth at the end of the week. It was a lot of fun and now I have an Italian friend so win win. 

The work here is going pretty well. We have an investigator right now who has been taught for awhile but is between jobs and is moving around to different cities for work. He is from Cuba and really wants to be baptized so we are trying to figure his schedule. He is super cool and came to church last Sunday. We are really excited to get to know him better over the next several weeks. This week it also rained a lot. We walked around and got pretty soaked. It reminded me of the General conference talk this last session where the mission President told his missionaries to look up not around. and even when its raining look up, and drink it. I took this pretty literally and tried some water from various rain spouts but I was told it was unsanitary so I had to stop. Anyways I like the message in this because when we look up to Christ then it doesn't matter what is going on around us because we are focused on Christ and nothing else.  I know that looking up to Christ is what we need to do to be happy in this life. That's my week.

Elder Lewis

Tervetuloa Vaasaan!

Well well this week was a pretty hectic week. I am now safe and sound in the city of Vaasa. Getting here was pretty strange. We are both new here so we have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what is going on and how to get places, and where to buy food, and where people live, and a whole bunch of other things. We are getting a pretty good handle on it now though. We set off the church alarm one morning because no one bothered to tell us that we had to put some code into the security panel before we walked in. So that was pretty fun. The cops weren't called but everyone outside thought we were trying to rob our own church. The city is really cool and is pretty good sized. There was a graduation party for one of the members this last Saturday so it was super nice to be able to meet the whole branch before Sunday at church. One night we were talking to one man and trying to figure out the bus schedule with him and as he was helping us his bus drove by. We felt really bad and apologized to him. We kept talking and he turned into a really solid potential for us. It taught me how there are people who are prepared for us where ever we go, we just need to be willing to look for them and talk to them. Anyways my new companion is Elder McOmber and he is from Orem Utah. We are both really excited to get to work in Vaasa and to get to know all the cool members here. Summer is going to fly by super quick. We have a couple investigators here who we are in the process of contacting. One lives in Vaasa only a couple days a week and is super busy all the time so we still trying to get to meet him. Things are going well and as always I love the opportunity to be a missionary.  

Elder Lewis