The Start of Transfer #2

Hei family,

So, sorry to start off with bad news, but our baptism didn't happen this week. It is, however, turning into a very powerful lesson of faith and patience and trusting in the Lord.
 

We were setting up our baptismal service - all that was left was the interview. We knew how powerful her testimony was and that she had not had any problems with any of the commandments, so we weren't worried about the interview at all. However, to our shock, after the interview it was suggested that the baptism be postponed for a couple of weeks. We had no idea why and the elder who had conducted the interview couldn't explain why he had suggested we wait, except that that was the impression he had received. I was more than a little disappointed, and so was our investigator, but we had no other choice, so we prayerfully began to plan new topics to teach her that would help her prepare to be faithful to the baptismal commitment the rest of her life. The next morning, she called us and said "Well, I know why it got moved." Her family would have been unable to attend the service had the baptism taken place on the original date, and although they have not been supportive of her at all in this decision, they still had a desire to be there for this important event. Now that it has been moved, it seems they will be able to attend. Our investigator's mother actually came to church with her yesterday and will hopefully be at our lesson with her tonight. I admire this woman's faith so much. She saw the answer before we did. She sees the answer in everything. This may have been the only reason it got moved, or there may in fact still be more work to be done to prepare her, or maybe my companion and I just needed a lesson in patience and humility, (or perhaps some combination of all of the above) but whatever the case I know that the Lord's hand is at work and it is miraculous to see.

Also, our Finnish companion got transferred already, so it's back to just the two of us here. It's too bad, I had a lot of fun being his companion, and it really did feel like we were going to be successful together.

So there's this one member that has us over for a ruoka sopimus [dinner appointment] every single week. It's great, and he usually takes us out for pizza, which is fun. He's one of the most eccentric people I've ever met so it's always so much fun to be with him. Anyways, while we were talking he was coaching me on pronunciation, he would pick all these really strange words and make me say them over and over until I got it right (thankfully I didn't take too long on every word). Found out something funny. In the sentence "May we come tomorrow and meet your family?" there are two very critical a's. If those two letters are left out (one in the word for "may we" and the other in the word for "to meet") the sentence becomes: a frog will come tomorrow and kill your family. I love this language. While we were leaving, I thanked him for helping me with my pronunciation because I really want to be clear when I speak. He chuckled a little at that, and then explained that the word for "clear" also often means "sober." Yes, it would also help if I stayed sober as a missionary.

One another night, we had an appointment fall through, so we decided to try to contact a few potentials in the area. While tracting their buildings, we found very little success, and decided we needed to pray before continuing in this area. We went outside and prayed, and both received the answer to continue in the next building. While in there we found three potentials, one of which gave us an appointment for the next day and she is now one of our new investigators!

I love you all, thank you for all your support and prayers.

Rakkaudella,

Vanhin Hansen

Ed note: From Google translate, here is the translation for "May we come tomorrow and meet your family" - Sammakko tulee huomenna ja tappaa perheesi

And here is the translation for "A frog will come tomorrow and kill your family" - Saammeko tulla huomenna tapaamaan perhettäsi

Glad it's him.