So for the first couple of days here in Espoo we did lots of street contacting, metro contacting, and bus contacting. That is some of the funnest things ever! Metro Contacting is my absolute favorite! You sit on the subway and bounce around from seat to seat talking to people and moving to different cars... it's a ton of fun. Some people are so nice and they are willing to talk to you.. if you get a good one they will talk about religion and the gospel with you and those conversations are always great. Then you have other people who don't even give you the time of day or they sit by you, look at your name tag, ad then get up and leave hahah:) Those are probably the funniest:)). There are A LOT more people here than there were in Kajaani...so you can talk to so many people and it's amazing! I absolutely loved Kajaani and will dearly miss it.. but Espoo is the bomb and just a great place!! Our trio life is great and we have a ton of fun together haha. Elder Englund is from Sweden and is probably one of the funniest people that I have ever met!!. Me and him are always cracking jokes and having a great time. Then you have Elder Fitzpatrick who is from California and he is hilarious and we have a great time hanging out and are always joking around. Our trio can get cazy sometimes, but it is so much fun and we get a ton of stuff done as well, so you get the best of both worlds:). So like I said we had a ton of dinner appointments this week and literally all we have done for the past 3 days is eat, go from one DA (dinner appointment) to the other and have only travel time in between:)) We have probably gained a ton of weight these past couple of days and have enough chocolate and candy to last us until next Christmas haha.
Our first DA we went to a Finnish family in the ward and had a traditional Finnish dinner. It had potatos, salmon, chicken, salad, bread, and of course you cant forget the Pickled Herring!! I think that is how you spell it. Yeah that is correct I tried and ate that twice:)), actually not bad tasting, a little slimy but not bad so I would recommend you go try something new and eat some of that just for the experience:)). We also sang Christmas hymns and we all know how that went cause I cant hit a note to save my life haha. Our next one was to a Philipino family and we had some traditional Philipino food... and had some burritos as well and that was amazing and so good!! They also introduced me to to these mango flavored marshmallows and wow that is a whole new world right there! Let's just say I did eat a lot of those:) But we just sat around eating and talking about missions, Christmas stories, and of course listening to some good ole Christmas music:)). That was all on Christmas Eve.
Then there was Christmas day!! After our studies we opened our presents!! That was way fun!!:) We also had a DA...we had turkey sandwiches, salmon on crackers, and cheese and crackers all the way from France... and had some French food. Here it so diverse... you eat food from all over the world... it's so fun! But it was nice to get a good sandwich... cause we new we were getting more potatoes and salmon, and all the other Finnish stuff at our other appointments... so you gotta switch things up a bit:)) But we had a great time with that family and we played some card games and just had a good ole time hanging out. Then that night we went to this awesome old couples house who have the coolest dogs ever and they are way big so they are way fun:)), We had more traditional Finnish food and some ice cold Pepsi...I'm not the biggest fan of Pepsi but it was really good cause here in Europe people don't know how to use ice or keep drinks cold!:)) So it was nice to have a cold drink for once:). But then of course the best part of the whole day and the part every missionary looks forward too is skyping home!!!That was the best part!!..but it went by too fast! Of course I cried and got all teary eyed.. but they were good happy tears haha. Also if you want to earn brownie points with an old Finnish lady, just cry and you'll become her favorite:) Don't know why... but that is what happens:)). But we had a good rest of the night with them:))
Then yesterday we had some more DA and with more of the same food:))I think I can go a week without eating cause I have eaten so much!! But at this one DA turns out I met some famous guy. His dad was there and his dad was a professional body builder and trained with Arnold Schwartzenegger and those guys... and won Mr. World I hink its called in 1974 and won some other stuff and was a pretty well known guy in the body building world haha and it was fun to talk to him:)).
That is about it, today we got P day and we are just going around and doing whatever and enjoying Finland:)). Hope you all had a good week, maybe next week's email will be more interesting haha.
Love and miss yall
Love and miss yall
Elder Love out
1. His companions....the one to the left is from Sweden and the other from California
2-3. Companions
4. These Finnish words can mean seven different things!
5. Austen's breakfast
6. Some of the member gifts
7-9. The metro in Espoo
10. Espoo
11. They played ping pong while waiting for DA
12. DA appointment
13. Austen and his friends got matching ties
13. Austen and his friends got matching ties
14-17. Christmas morning
18. The body builder
19-20. Pickled Herring
No comments:
Post a Comment