Friday: We had class early this morning, so we went to class and were reading the scriptures with Sister Clark and that was great. Later that day we had class with Veli Edwards and had a discussion on the Apostasy and the Restoration. I was reading through the Testimonies of the witnesses and there is no way that anyone could deny what they saw. Their testimonies are so powerful and they know the truth.
As we do every Friday night, we played volleyball!! I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but I am getting really good at it. Like really good hahahaha.
The nice thing about Friday nights is that we get the rest of the night to just study and relax and finish up things that we need to get done, which is great.
We studied together as a district and with the Sisars,( who usually study by themselves) and we had a lot of fun. So Friday was an overall good day. I seriously cant remember like half the stuff that I did this week cause It doesn't even feel like a week hahaha.
Saturday: "It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and simplify it so that a child can understand it" - President John Taylor. Today we got to teach a lesson in English, which was way weird because we always teach in Finnish. Its weird cause in Finnish you only have the phrases that you have learned, but when you teach in English you don't have the language barrier so you can say whatever you want and as much of it as you want. But that doesn't matter, like John Taylor said "simplify it so that a child can understand it" It doesn't matter if I am speaking Finnish or if I am speaking English. You got to keep it simple, if not, all you are going to do is confuse the person you are teaching and bring up stuff that doesn't need to be said till later. It has been a really long day today, it was all good except for the part where Veli Edwards told us that we had to teach a 20 minute lesson in Finnish, and we had no time to prepare at all. He had forgotten to tell us the day earlier so that was a really rough lesson, cause we had nothing prepared. But its okay, cause we are still learning and there will come a day where we have to teach without any preparation, and we will be able to do it in Finnish.
Today I was reading in 1 Nephi 17 and its where Nephi is going to build a boat. I love Nephi's attitude about building the boat, he is so positive about it and is just like "Okay you want me to build a boat... How do I do it?" Which is really admirable because I can apply that to being a missionary. "You want me to learn Finnish... How do I do it?" The Lord is going to prepare a way, he has and always will have a way for us, just like it says in 1 Nephi 3:7. No matter what is thrown at you, there is always a way. If you don't know what to do...Ask, and he will help you. I have asked a ton on how I will learn Finnish. It comes really slow and maybe slower than I would want, but it is coming so there is really no need to worry. Even though I do worry about it sometimes hahaha.
Sunday: Today was fast Sunday and the first fast Sunday of the mission. Surprisingly I managed to make it through the day till dinner to eat. Now if that isn't getting help from above, then I don't know what is hahah. So as my Sunday routine follows, I went to my district Leader meeting and got to hang out with all the other DL's and met with the branch presidency. The zone leader got released and that was sad cause he is one of the coolest guys, but his companion is amazing, so that is good. Those two missionaries are going to Trinidad speaking Dutch which is pretty cool. We had district council and we got to meet with Brother Packer who is one of my favorites, he is the nicest old man. He went around our district and personally addressed each of us and told us that he loved us and he started to cry! and that was sad, but then he went on to tell us on how his mission prepared him for the greatest events in his life like getting married, being a grandpa and he told us a bunch of stories and that was way fun. Later that day we met with Brother Svendsen and he is sooo funny! He is another one of my favorite old people here and we get along so well. Me and him joke around all the time and we get along great, so its always so fun to see him. We had mission conference today and we talked about Love. The meeting was all about me and how great I am. Just kidding! But we talked about how important it is to Love your companion, and the people you serve but most importantly to Love the Lord. Then every Sunday we watch a movie at the end of the day so we watched David A. Bednars talk on "Recognizing the Spirit". He talked about how it doesn't matter if its your own thought or the Spirit. If its good you do it. Don't worry about what the outcome is cause you may not find out till several years later, and you will be thankful that you acted upon it. So if you feel prompted to do something, do it. Don't think about if its you or the spirit cause it doesn't matter. Just do good. And we will receive blessings from it.
Monday: Today has been a really good day, we played volleyball this morning so that was a good start cause ya know, I'm just amazing at it hahahaha. My serves were on point hahahah.
We went and did some glorious language study and for the first time it actually went well hahah. I was able to memorize all the phrases that I needed to,so I was very proud of myself hahahah. Now this is where my day became the greatest. We walked to dinner, and I smelled a really familiar smell, but something that I haven't smelled for a really long time. I look up at the dinner poster on the door and it reads......."Chick-Fil-A" . I was so freaking excited! It's the best meal I have had. Now you have some good food here, but you just can't compete with Chick-Fil-A hahah. So that was just amazing, and I was able to get two sandwiches which made me so happy!! It was a wonderful dinner. After dinner we had class with Veli Allen and we discussed what we wanted our District goal to be. We decided on D&C 4:2 and put and emphasis on "Stand Blameless" meaning that we were all going to life our missionary lives with exact obedience and that we would stand blameless. And our district has done an amazing job at that, and we are all proud of ourselves.
Tuesday: Today has been another really good day. We taught another lesson today and me and my companion agreed that it was the best lesson we have taught. We remembered all that we needed to say and more. Even Sisar Clark who we were teaching, told us that we did a really good job on our lesson and she was really impressed.
Later that day we went to choir practice and we sang Praise to the Man which sounded way cool. I'm stil surprised that I am in a choir, who would have thought hahaha.
That night we had a devotional and it was about having the spirit with us when we teach and how it is not effective without the spirit. Which is so true! The spirit is the other part that helps us as missionaries testify that what we are saying is true, and that is what you want the person you are teaching to feel. We had a devotional review with Brother Svendsen and he is seriously so cool. We sang a hymn for him in Finnish and he was really impressed with that,and he told us we may or may not have become his favorite district. It's like no big deal that we are his favorite, but it's Brother Svendsen, so to us it is a big deal haha. But we talked about what we learned in the devotional and how we could always live our lives to have the spirit with us. Which kind of brings us back to our district goal of Standing Blameless. Then we went back to the dorms and we have so much fun there. All the elders in my room are way cool and we have so much fun together and we are laughing all the time. I don't think that there has ever been a single night where we have not laughed, cracked jokes and had a good time.
Wednesday: Today has been a really really fun day and a really good day. We started this wonderful Wednesday morning with our wonderful sack breakfast that consists of 2 bagels with cream cheese, some chocolate milk, and a bottle of water. Then we went to personal study and I love personal study so much. I am really able to dive into the scriptures and search them. Now its weird for me to say that cause before the mission I was literally the worst at reading the scriptures, but now I have that desire that I should have had a long time ago.
After personal study we went to exercise time and played volleyball again with our district. As today being Wednesday we get to see all the new missionaries and is so fun to talk to them and hear about where they are going and all that jazz.
We went to study the language and it is still hard, but I am starting to remember more than I thought I knew. So that makes me feel good. The class we had was alright but the best part comes later in the day. We went to dinner and had some surprisingly good chicken that was really tender like it wasn't dry like it usually is hahah. Then we went to TRC!! It was our second TRC and it was amazing. We were able to really connect with one of the guys that we taught. Even though I had no clue what he was saying and could only pick out a few words, we had a great lesson. So when you can pick out a few words you get the jist of what they are saying. FUNNY STORY! So we were in this TRC lesson with this guy and I was just about to reply with 'Yes" and then continue with what I was going to say. Well first it came out "Yes" which is English so that doesn't work, then it came out with "Si" which is Spanish and that definitely is not right, and then I finally got out "Jo" which is Yes in Finnish. We were all cracking up! Finnish is a tricky little booger but its fun,and even though you mess up, it still makes you laugh hahaha. It made me realize that you just gotta have fun with it. We will mess up a million times but if we learn and most importantly have fun with it everything, it will be okay.
After that we had class and we played some games to memorize the phrases that we were learning. Me and Veli Edwards were having a competition on who could say all the the 3 phrases the fastest and he beat me by one second hahaha. Then we finished class by reading in Alma 36. So its Alma teaching his son Helaman about how he was converted and how he repented. Alma says he was "tormented with the pains of hell... and pains of a damned soul" ( NO iIm not swearing cause it's in the scriptures and I'm quoting hahah) His sins were beating him up. He had done so much bad and was in misery. HE then prays for forgiveness. Verse 3 states " For I do know that whosever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials..." Literally all we need to do is put our trust in God. In the scriptures we are CONSTANTLY reminded that we need to trust god. If we will just trust him and as it says in Mosiah 4 and we BELIEVE in him he will ALWAYS help us. He is always there and all we need to do is talk to him. Sometimes the simplest of things are the hardest to do, but Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father love us so we shouldn;t be scared to go to them. Christ gave us the atonement for a reason. All we need to do is use it. That is just amazing.
Well today we are just emailing and I am not sure what the rest of the plans are, but we are just chillng.
Love y'all and I'll talk to ya next week!
Elder Love is out
1-2. Austen and his friend from EFY
3. A good friend from high school
4. Austen and this guy have become great friends!! He is going to Norway next week!
5-6. I wonder if I'll ever get a normal selfie while he is out!! Love him!!
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