So.... to start off my email this week.... I am sharing a realization that I had. Concerning this whole Corona Virus and the circumstances that the world is in... and me myself as a missionary. I have been having a pretty bad attitude about it. Just because the work has changed, doesn't mean that I should get upset cause there is a new way I have to learn how to do it. Whether I'm out knocking doors and talking to people on the street, the work is the exact same... even if we call people on the phone or do video lessons. Do I like getting out and talking to people face to face more? Absolutely!.. I think anyone does. But what I finally realized is that my love for this work is greater than anything. Even though I am in an apartment most of my days and doing the work by a different manner, I am still as happy as can be and still so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary. The fact that I do get to stay here in Finland and continue the work. After conference I received the revelation of "Elder Love... You just gotta trust me. I am with you every step of the way." I honestly feel like I've been trying my whole mission to really put my trust in him. Is it easy? Heck no. But that's not the point. The point is that I just put forth my best effort every day and make sure I take those steps with him every day. Do I still struggle with this? Yep! But that's okay. I'll get there. But I still wake up every morning very tired and squinty eyed...but no matter how tired I am... there is no place I would rather be.... and there is nothing else in this world that I would rather do.
As for the week here is kinda how it all went down:
Wednesday we had district council as usual which was way fun. I really enjoy district councils cause of the time that we get to spend with the other elders and as well as the conversations that we have. But we had a pretty good discussion about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Enabling Power of the Atonement. And it was really good. I still am trying to figure out fully what the enabling power is and how to fully access that. But I will figure it out. We also had some Facebook finding and we started looking through all these profiles which brought a few good laughs as to what people set as their profile pictures and cover photos Haha. And also a lot of time spent on google maps looking up all these tiny towns to see if they are in our area.
Thursday I had an EMLC meeting in the morning which was about 2 hours. Talking about facebook finding, splits, and zone conference. So that took a bit of the morning. Then we had some studies. Had a lesson with Elder Kuntz's grandma and his cousin. His cousin is a missionary in Germany so he and her teach their Grandma together cause I and his cousins companions don't speak any danish at all Haha. But from what he tells me about the lesson after everything has been going great. From all the people in his family that are accepting lessons are all doing really good. I never thought I'd hear so much danish in my life but Danish is a pretty common language now Haha.
Friday we had some studies with one of the missionaries in quarantine that will be joining our mission in a few weeks. We studied some Finnish with him and it's always great to get Finnish help from the Fin himself Haha. We also had a good weekly planning session and got things planned for the next week and tried to organize virtual splits as well so we will see how that goes. Other than that the rest of the day was some more Facebook finding and calls.
Saturday we had some finding and studies in the morning. We attempted to call some people and then in the afternoon we had a lesson with Elder Kuntz's aunt. Luckily she spoke English...so for the parts of the lesson that were in English.....they were great... but for the part that was in Danish...I can't tell you about it cause I didn't understand it Haha. I don't even know how danish is a language, there is no way you could ever understand that Haha. We had some more studies later that day and did some work on looking to answer a friends questions regarding anti... and that honestly for me is quite enjoyable. It cracks me up cause the scripture references that people give to try to say that our books of scripture don't agree with each other is really funny. None of it makes sense. So I get a good kick out of that Haha. But that was kinda what we did for the rest of that night.
Sunday was a pretty good day. For church we tuned into the meeting in Helsinki and this time around it was the members from the Espoo 2 ward to give the talks. They were members from an old area that I served in and it was way fun to see some people that I knew really well give their talks. And after church we had a come follow me lesson with the district and we talked about Easter, and had a good chat about the atonement. That was really enjoyable and lots of fun. After church was filled with some studies, facebook finding, and teaching Elder Kurtz's family which is pretty much just him cause I don't speak danish:). But it's all good... they are all doing really well. And to end off the night it was call ins and we chatted with the district and also got to talk to one of my old companions elder Andersen and that was way fun talking with him. But Easter Sunday was a pretty good day. A big accomplishment as well for that day was we finally finished all the chili off. Elder Kuntz made a big pot of chili... well it lasted a lot longer than we were thinking... but 3 days later we finally finished haha. It was way good though so I didn't mind eating it for 3 days in a row. But I also don't think we will be having chili for a while Haha.
Monday we had our first "virtual splits" with the Kokkola Elders. So we started out the morning planning what we were gonna do that day.... the Kokkola elders had a meeting that morning so while there were doing that.... we reviewed some more of our friends anti questions and that was pretty interesting. The one question we were reviewing is his thing that says that the Bible and the Book of Mormon and Peal of Great price don't agree with each other and teach different things about the creation and so on. But after lots of scripture reading and even digging deep down to the Greek and Hebrew meaning of words.... we learned some cool stuff so that was really interesting. From what we found is in the Greek or Hebrew Bible I can't remember which one now... when it talks about the creation they use the word "ehlohheem" I think that's how you spell it. This is what is written in place of "God" and this is actually written in the plural form meaning that it was saying like "And The Gods said, let us make man in our image..." so that was interesting to learn about and matches with what it says in the Book of Abraham about when it says "The Gods" so that's pretty cool. We did studies with the Kokkola elders and did some Facebook finding with screen share so we learned some tech stuff. We also went for a way fun walk in the neighborhoods and the woods. It was really fun. But chatting with the Kokkola elders a lot was really fun. Then that night we did "Family Home Evening" with a mission wide call. After the lesson... President talked about the work. I have really been working hard to trust in the Lord this past week and making the best of the situations we have. And then during this family home evening I got some water and swallowed a fat Humility and pride pill. Cause he said "When did the Lord ever say doing his work would be easy..." and I was like ooooofffff. But it's so true and it's something I had forgotten when the isolation and everything came. Then he talked more about the Savior in the garden and it was like oooooofffff. And it reminded me of a peom that I shared at my farewell "He's been there before" and it was a good reminder for me. But overall this week has been a lot better cause I have been putting my trust in the Lord and I have recieved some good reminders of things that maybe COVID-19 blinded me for a bit. But at least we have the opportunities to learn these lessons, remember, and then keep going. That's what's great about the gospel... it's not just if we mess up your eternally hosed. But get up, rub some dirt on it, and you keep going. And no matter how many times we fall and we rub dirt on ourselves...we will always have the chance to clean the dirt off and heal the scrapes.
So this week has been really good and it's been lots of fun! But I've also been able to learn some valuable lessons and be reminded some of good things to help me keep going. But like I said earlier I am absolutely loving every single day and wouldn't want to be anywhere else doing anything else.
Have a good week!
Elder Love out
1) Freshly baked bread from the bakery
2-17) Pictures from their long walk...they tried to get out to an island, but there was no access to it. Elder Kuntz got stuck in the trees on their way home
18) Selfie Sunday
19) Chili and flatbread
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