Hei!
We bounced back this week and things have been a lot better. All of our crises are still brewing, but so many great things are happening, or about to happen. I can't actually say what they are, because I can't even really see them yet, but they are there. I can feel it.
The Bulgarians have kind of dropped off. So, we'll see about that.
The cool story from this week, though, is that we had our semi-annual district meeting with the mission president. They're always super intense and really long (11-6 plus interview time) but it's all the new, important training and information about the mission that we really need in order to move the work forward, so we love it. We talked a lot about really earning the trust of the members so we can have their help in this work. There are a lot of eternal principles there. If someone really works hard and demonstrates commitment to something, others will believe that he or she is capable of performing that task (in our case, miracles). President really opened my eyes to little things we can do better. It's funny. They were all obvious things that no one seemed to have thought of. Definitely a humbling experience and very important to remember that sometimes you just need a second pair of eyes to see things from a different perspective.
Yesterday was a pretty slow day. Elder L developed some kind of stomach sickness over the weekend, so the missionary medical doctor in Germany put him on a straight banana, rice and potato diet (literally nothing else) for 24 hours and ordered him to stay in bed. I felt really bad for him. But he's up and running again now, and I used the time to study Swedish for about four hours, which was awesome.
Sorry for another fluff email. The blog is probably hurting for some good stories by now...I promise to start remembering the funnier stuff that happens during the week.
Jag älskar er så mycket.
Äldste Hansen
Monday, March 19, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Thanks for all your inspiring emails
March has been declared the month of gratitude in this mission, and I want to continue that by thanking you all for your wonderful emails (and to any of you who read the blog for your wonderful letters). They have a wonderful way of lifting me up. I love you all.
Hei taas!
This week was a pretty long one. I'm going to be very honest and say that it was one of those weeks where I had to simply put my nose to the grindstone and keep pressing forward. But I think it's in those situations we learn the most about ourselves. I learned so much about faith and patience this week. I've always wondered what role faith truly plays in times of trial. I've been thinking a lot recently about how I can change, how I can be better. And the things we've had to go through this week really have transformed me. Seriously, we've been biking so much I think my thighs have turned into the Hulk's. They're going to bust through my AMERICAN pants soon. haha
Here's the rundown:
Monday:
Met and taught a man whose wife is a member. He's been taught by missionaries many times before, but this time, it sounds like it might be different. He compared himself to a ship and talked about how hard the man at the helm has to turn the wheel to get the ship to turn. He said "I think I'm just a really, really big ship." So, we'll see what happens. We told him that baptism is NOT our goal for him. What? weird right? Well, yeah. The TEMPLE is our goal for him, not baptism. Baptism is just a step. That really seemed to make him think.
Tuesday:
We had a bit of a crisis. Our teach with A and T didn't really go as planned, we ended up just showing A "The Testaments." I love that movie. Dad, do you remember when we watched it on Temple Square and then ran bawling all the way to the Conference Center so we weren't late for general conference? gosh we're so weird.
Wednesday:
Had a bit of a scattered day, really hard to find people to teach. Called everyone we could think of, but it just ended up being one of those days.
Thursday:
Zone leaders came down from Oulu for splits. Had a great time and did some great work. I love working with older missionaries because I learn so much every time. This time the missionary I was working with told me, "Do what works for you. Just because other missionaries do something and it works, you shouldn't feel obligated to switch to their method." I thought that was pretty good advice, and there's probably an eternal principle in there, but I want you all to find it for yourselves, because it's supposed to be your way!
Friday:
Packed day. Got to visit a less-active, which Elder L tells me never happens here because they just don't want to be contacted, and our message went really well. Then it was a long bike ride to Larsmo for a dinner appointment. Great time there. Some members from Turku were visiting, a young family I was actually pretty close with, so it was great to see them. They were shocked when they heard me speak Swedish. yes, I felt slightly vain in that moment.
Then biked back to Pietarsaari for sählyä (floor ball) with some members, less actives, and their friends. It was a great activity, and we had a ton of fun, but we're not sure how effective it will actually be as a missionary opportunity, so we might only go one more time.
Saturday/Sunday:
See Wednesday.
In other news, one of the Bulgarian couples had a new baby this week, a boy. It meant we couldn't really meet them at all, but hey, we support families here. Hopefully we can meet the new one this week.
That's all I can think of for now. Love you all.
Elder Hansen
Hei taas!
This week was a pretty long one. I'm going to be very honest and say that it was one of those weeks where I had to simply put my nose to the grindstone and keep pressing forward. But I think it's in those situations we learn the most about ourselves. I learned so much about faith and patience this week. I've always wondered what role faith truly plays in times of trial. I've been thinking a lot recently about how I can change, how I can be better. And the things we've had to go through this week really have transformed me. Seriously, we've been biking so much I think my thighs have turned into the Hulk's. They're going to bust through my AMERICAN pants soon. haha
Here's the rundown:
Monday:
Met and taught a man whose wife is a member. He's been taught by missionaries many times before, but this time, it sounds like it might be different. He compared himself to a ship and talked about how hard the man at the helm has to turn the wheel to get the ship to turn. He said "I think I'm just a really, really big ship." So, we'll see what happens. We told him that baptism is NOT our goal for him. What? weird right? Well, yeah. The TEMPLE is our goal for him, not baptism. Baptism is just a step. That really seemed to make him think.
Tuesday:
We had a bit of a crisis. Our teach with A and T didn't really go as planned, we ended up just showing A "The Testaments." I love that movie. Dad, do you remember when we watched it on Temple Square and then ran bawling all the way to the Conference Center so we weren't late for general conference? gosh we're so weird.
Wednesday:
Had a bit of a scattered day, really hard to find people to teach. Called everyone we could think of, but it just ended up being one of those days.
Thursday:
Zone leaders came down from Oulu for splits. Had a great time and did some great work. I love working with older missionaries because I learn so much every time. This time the missionary I was working with told me, "Do what works for you. Just because other missionaries do something and it works, you shouldn't feel obligated to switch to their method." I thought that was pretty good advice, and there's probably an eternal principle in there, but I want you all to find it for yourselves, because it's supposed to be your way!
Friday:
Packed day. Got to visit a less-active, which Elder L tells me never happens here because they just don't want to be contacted, and our message went really well. Then it was a long bike ride to Larsmo for a dinner appointment. Great time there. Some members from Turku were visiting, a young family I was actually pretty close with, so it was great to see them. They were shocked when they heard me speak Swedish. yes, I felt slightly vain in that moment.
Then biked back to Pietarsaari for sählyä (floor ball) with some members, less actives, and their friends. It was a great activity, and we had a ton of fun, but we're not sure how effective it will actually be as a missionary opportunity, so we might only go one more time.
Saturday/Sunday:
See Wednesday.
In other news, one of the Bulgarian couples had a new baby this week, a boy. It meant we couldn't really meet them at all, but hey, we support families here. Hopefully we can meet the new one this week.
That's all I can think of for now. Love you all.
Elder Hansen
Monday, March 5, 2012
I can see grass!
That's right, I saw grass this week for the first time in months. Elder L and I stood there and just stared at it for a few minutes. It was that beautiful. I also just learned that the driveway to our apartment building is dirt not asphalt. Who knew?!
Hey everybody,
Yep, the weather was probably the highlight of this week. Reached above nolla [zero] for the first time since I came to Jakobstad. Elder L didn't believe me when I looked at the thermometer and told him what the temperature was outside. Unfortunately, it was back to -14 when we went out to run this morning.
The weather is really starting to make it difficult to bike. The snow has started to melt away, but it leaves behind solid, thick sheets of ice all over the road. To make matters worse, I temporarily lost my bike key and had to ride Elder L's old bike for a few days. It's...hard to explain. This is a bike he put together himself out of spare parts from old missionaries' bikes. It's frame is purple and blue, rusty, and too small. It has no hand brake. The back wheel is actually bent out of shape so the whole bike shoots out to the right everytime you pedal. That bent wheel also generates friction, so you have to continue to work even going downhill just to keep it moving. So imagine me riding that beast, going down a hill about 100 yards long on a steep grade over solid ice just clinging for dear life and you know essentially what I did all week. It was great!
So Monday we met a man from Libya, who fled during the massive civil war that started last year and is here as a refugee. Way cool guy. He has a baptismal date now! He says he's Christian, but we still had to get approval before we could teach him. Apparently that kind of thing has to go all the way to the Quorum of the Twelve. I didn't know that, but it makes sense because if we teach people and they get put in the wrong situation because of it, they could be killed. Yeah, apparently the world isn't as good of a place as we thought. The best part of his story, ironically, actually comes from when he bailed on a teach. He wasn't home when we knocked on his door, so we left. On our way out our Iraqi recent convert calls us and says, "Hey, I saw you out my window, you want to come up?" So we went to go share a short message with him. I've actually picked up a little German from all the time we've spent with him. (He speaks Arabic, Curdish, and German, and Elder L speaks some German, so our lessons with him involve a lot of pictures and charades - really fun). So that was great, but it gets even better! As we're leaving his place, we see K, the Bulgarian godfather, sitting in his car on the street. So we go talk to him and tell him we have an appointment with his daughter and son-in-law soon and invite him to come too. We had, luckily, just gotten ten Bulgarian copies of the Book of Mormon from the office, so we gave one to him and ran home to get the rest to bring to the teach. We show up, and there's three Bulgarian families there waiting for us! Then Sunday, three other families came to church! This one family, the daughter and son-in-law are kind of leading everyone into this. They love it. Unfortunately we want to teach them all at the same pace, so those two have heard the message of the restoration three different times now. I feel bad for them. We're gonna move on to the Plan of Salvation soon. But this family keeps getting bigger and bigger and they just can't wait to keep inviting more people! Our ward was shocked that we had six investigators in church on Sunday.
Probably the greatest highlight of my week though, was Saturday night. We had a teach with the man from Libya, at our Iraqi recent convert's place, so they could speak Arabic (the Libyan's English isn't as good as we would like). the Libyan bailed, so we had another opportunity to sit and visit with H (Iraqi recent convert). H left Iraq after his parents and brother were killed for being Christian. He's now here as a refugee, and this week we find out whether he gets to stay or whether they will send him back to Iraq. You would expect him to be incredibly stressed. But instead, he had made us a full Iraqi meal, with this special kind of bread and yogurt and cheese. Very, very simple and humble, but it fills you up fast. He's recently discovered Susan Boyle on YouTube, and he loves the video of her singing "I dreamed a dream" on Britain's Got Talent. Played it over and over until I basically had it memorized and he laughed his head off every time. There was just such a wonderful, indescribable spirit in that room as we sat and talked about everything except what will potentially happpen this week and raised this good man's faith and spirit. We know how much he loves this gospel. He badgered two sets of missionaries in two cities until he got a Book of Mormon in Arabic and got baptized about three weeks later. One of the most happy, humble men I've ever met.
Well there was probably more I had planned to write but I can't remember now. To all those within the sound of my voice, I love you from the bottom of my heart. I want to close with a story a very good friend wrote to me in a letter this week. Sitting in church one Sunday, a thought from a speaker stuck her. She turned to her little six year old cousin and said, "Hey, Heavenly Father loves you!" To which her little cousin replied, "I know that, I've known that since I was five!" Kids.
I know Heavenly Father loves me. And He loves all of you. I've known that since I was five.
Elder Hansen
[PS - just got a quick separate note about transfers from McKay -- he and his companion are both staying in Pietarsaari/Jakobstad, and they are both very happy about that]
Monday, February 27, 2012
They're Swedish...they don't believe in chairs
Ten bucks if you get the subject line. (Hopefully at least Maren and Reese remember).
Hei hei,
So, actually completely messing up jokes has kinda been the theme of this week. Elder L speaks great English, but sometimes I can still throw him without really thinking about it. Like this morning, I tried to say I agree by saying, "me dos" (me too, just using the wrong translation of too/two in Spanish), and yeah, it went about as well as that sentence did...At home people would understand, but some things just don't translate. Another prime example is now Elder L's favorite thing to talk about. I tried cracking a joke in my talk on Sunday, only to find out that my brand of American humor doesn't really translate as well as I thought into Finnish, and it gets even worse when they have to translate that awfulness into Swedish. Kinda killed the mood in sacrament meeting. Luckily it was at the end of my talk so I could just close and sit down without embarrassing myself, but my wonderful, supportive, loving companion was laughing his head off. Gosh dang language barriers....
I seriously doubt anyone even remembers it by now though, because the woman who spoke after me was a convert of about two years, who was moving with her husband and children to Tampere. They have such an incredible story. They moved here from Angola for work and she was trying to find a church to go to on Sundays. The first one they spotted was our little church building, but when she came to it, it ws locked. So, they decided to watch from their balcony every Sunday to see when all the cars showed up. As soon as she saw all the cars, she hurried and got dressed and ran over. Unfortunately, the first thing she noticed when she came in was that she wsa literally the only black person in sight. Our branch mission leader, who is a pretty huge man, walked over to her to greet her, but her first thought was that he was going to throw her out. At this point in her story, she started to cry. She talked about how everyone had loved her right from the start, finding someone who spoke Spanish who could translate for her (She speaks Portuguese), and inviting her to all their activities. She and her husband were baptized a few weeks later and their sons a couple months after that. Think of that! She just wanted to go to a church for Sunday and they just happen to be able to see our church from where they live. There just happens to be someone who speaks Spanish in this tiny branch so she can actually participate while speaking no Finnish or Swedish. That cannot be coincidence. Awesome story.
It becomes even more amazing when you consider the other recent converts in this branch. One, an Iraqi christian who runs up to my companion and asks for a copy of the Book of Mormon, then in the first teach asks what he has to do to be baptized, and the others brought to us and loved into the church by their neighbor. We hardly felt like we did anything for A and T, we just had to be there to teach them. Elder L and I are really starting to feel like we aren't needed here. The people seem to be finding the church just fine without us.
In other news, I'm pretty sure we are teaching all or most of the Bulgarian Mafia here in P-Town right now. No just kidding, but there are tons of them here and they're really big on family. Monday we stopped by K, the patriarch basically, but he wasn't home. We ended up talking to his daughter and her husband though, and we set up a teach with them for Tuesday. On Tuesday A (the husband) calls, and says his wife will be having a party at their place so is it ok if we have it at another place. We said fine so he came and picked us up. As we're driving, he says something like, "yeah, the others are waiting for us" Others? What others? He takes us to a gas station where five other Bulgarians are waiting at a table. They sit us down in a booth and circle us in so we can't leave. So...we teach them about the church! We got a bunch of new investigators that night and they all committed to come to church on Sunday! None of them showed up, and they're kinda hard to get a hold of so far, but we haven't really had a good chance to sit down and explain ourselves and really set the whole teaching process up yet, so we'll see. Basically, I just told that story because the whole thing felt like a scene from a movie. Our whole branch loves it. They actually started making the mafia jokes before we did.
I love you family, can't wait to hear from you next week.
Elder Hansen
Hei hei,
So, actually completely messing up jokes has kinda been the theme of this week. Elder L speaks great English, but sometimes I can still throw him without really thinking about it. Like this morning, I tried to say I agree by saying, "me dos" (me too, just using the wrong translation of too/two in Spanish), and yeah, it went about as well as that sentence did...At home people would understand, but some things just don't translate. Another prime example is now Elder L's favorite thing to talk about. I tried cracking a joke in my talk on Sunday, only to find out that my brand of American humor doesn't really translate as well as I thought into Finnish, and it gets even worse when they have to translate that awfulness into Swedish. Kinda killed the mood in sacrament meeting. Luckily it was at the end of my talk so I could just close and sit down without embarrassing myself, but my wonderful, supportive, loving companion was laughing his head off. Gosh dang language barriers....
I seriously doubt anyone even remembers it by now though, because the woman who spoke after me was a convert of about two years, who was moving with her husband and children to Tampere. They have such an incredible story. They moved here from Angola for work and she was trying to find a church to go to on Sundays. The first one they spotted was our little church building, but when she came to it, it ws locked. So, they decided to watch from their balcony every Sunday to see when all the cars showed up. As soon as she saw all the cars, she hurried and got dressed and ran over. Unfortunately, the first thing she noticed when she came in was that she wsa literally the only black person in sight. Our branch mission leader, who is a pretty huge man, walked over to her to greet her, but her first thought was that he was going to throw her out. At this point in her story, she started to cry. She talked about how everyone had loved her right from the start, finding someone who spoke Spanish who could translate for her (She speaks Portuguese), and inviting her to all their activities. She and her husband were baptized a few weeks later and their sons a couple months after that. Think of that! She just wanted to go to a church for Sunday and they just happen to be able to see our church from where they live. There just happens to be someone who speaks Spanish in this tiny branch so she can actually participate while speaking no Finnish or Swedish. That cannot be coincidence. Awesome story.
It becomes even more amazing when you consider the other recent converts in this branch. One, an Iraqi christian who runs up to my companion and asks for a copy of the Book of Mormon, then in the first teach asks what he has to do to be baptized, and the others brought to us and loved into the church by their neighbor. We hardly felt like we did anything for A and T, we just had to be there to teach them. Elder L and I are really starting to feel like we aren't needed here. The people seem to be finding the church just fine without us.
In other news, I'm pretty sure we are teaching all or most of the Bulgarian Mafia here in P-Town right now. No just kidding, but there are tons of them here and they're really big on family. Monday we stopped by K, the patriarch basically, but he wasn't home. We ended up talking to his daughter and her husband though, and we set up a teach with them for Tuesday. On Tuesday A (the husband) calls, and says his wife will be having a party at their place so is it ok if we have it at another place. We said fine so he came and picked us up. As we're driving, he says something like, "yeah, the others are waiting for us" Others? What others? He takes us to a gas station where five other Bulgarians are waiting at a table. They sit us down in a booth and circle us in so we can't leave. So...we teach them about the church! We got a bunch of new investigators that night and they all committed to come to church on Sunday! None of them showed up, and they're kinda hard to get a hold of so far, but we haven't really had a good chance to sit down and explain ourselves and really set the whole teaching process up yet, so we'll see. Basically, I just told that story because the whole thing felt like a scene from a movie. Our whole branch loves it. They actually started making the mafia jokes before we did.
I love you family, can't wait to hear from you next week.
Elder Hansen
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Bike Crash
Hei family!
How's everyone doing? Good to know everyone is still alive after mom and dad were gone for a few days.
We had a really crazy week this week - biking everywhere! Combine that with running every morning now and 400 sit ups before breakfast and I'm pretty sure I'm in the best shape of my life at the moment.
So, right now we're facing the one downside of baptizing people...you no longer get to count them as investigators. We had a really hard time finding anyone to teach this week, even after deciding to get out of Pietarsaari completely and work an afternoon in a town called Nykarleby. Really nice small town, but not all that different from any other part of Finland, to be honest. Still, we did get to have some really powerful experiences with the Spirit this week.
On Wednesday we went to visit a little girl in our branch who was sick in the hospital. We planned on going to give her a blessing because she apparently had just been feverish and completely without strength or energy for the past couple of days. Right when we walked in, though, she brightened up. She spent the next 20 minutes flirting with Elder L (she has a major crush on him) while we shared a short message with her mom, who looked super exhausted. It just felt good to make someone's day a little better. Later in the week I had the opportunity to give a blessing to the mom. I love the feeling I get when I use the priesthood. Or rather, the feeling I get when the power of the priesthood works through me, especially when giving blessings to those in need. I feel so much like a true instrument in the hands of the Lord in those moments.
I got a similar feeling when I got to bless the sacrament on Sunday. I was so rusty! It was weird to think how long it had been since I had blessed the sacrament, after doing it almost every week for like a year. Another wonderful opportunity to exercise the priesthood. I hope the youth in our ward understand what they do when they administer in the ordinance of the sacrament. Not in some cheesy, super sensitive way, but honestly, sincerely understand the power they hold and take joy in doing that work.
Well, it finally happened. I don't know that I really expected to go a whole winter without slipping on a bike, but I hoped I would make it a little longer. Elder L loves to tease me about being this "American who doesn't know how to ride a bike because we all get cars when we're 16." I always just reference Lance Armstrong and he gets quiet. What happened was we were riding and the road started to curve just as we hit a patch of ice with the wind at our backs so the wind took my back wheel out from under me on the ice and I fell. Sort of a perfect storm senario. Elder L almost fell but his bike is smaller so he just shot his foot down in time to catch himself. I, on the other hand, fell flat on my side with the bike on top of me. Really, it was more embarrassing than painful. Small wound to my pride.
Last night we had dinner with a couple in our ward that are two of the funniest people I've ever met. he's Chinese and she's Vietnamese, and since they don't speak each other's languages they speak English to each other. They both speak great English, but their accents are so fun to listen to. I'll have to tell you more the next time you can all actually hear me, because I can't really do it justice in an email. Anyway, they always make us tons of food and last night it was octopus stir-fry on fried noodles. BOMB.com They always joke about him getting fat because he eats too much. I would think it's a little rude, because he's actually getting a little bit bigger, but on the other hand his nickname for her is "Hippo" so I guess that's just how they work. So funny. Definitely the type of relationship I want to have someday. not that I think about that stuff right now.
Well family, I love you all. Say hi to everyone from me.
Rakkaudella,
Vanhin Hansen
Monday, February 13, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day
Yeah, that was another lame attempt at a creative subject line. I was trying to think of something cool or special about the upcoming week, but then I realized that Valentine's Day doesn't really count unless you're married (or you work for Hallmark), and for missionaries it's just Tuesday. jeps... [yeah]
Anyway, hyvää päivää teille, [good day to you]
We had a wonderful week this week. The weather let up a bit and just pounded us with snow, so the last few days have been really fun. I'm currently planning a proposal to include snow shoveling events in the Winter Olympics. Ideas include (but are not limited to): speed shoveling - clearing ground in the fastest time; creative shoveling - clearing ground in the most artistic designs (about as much of a sport as men in waaay too tight pants jumping around on ice skates); The snow throw - throwing a pile of snow over the greatest distance, and snow MMA. Stay tuned. All of these were invented by me and my companion while we were shoveling snow for a member the other day. We're both pretty competitive, so it was really fun. And yes, it ended after I threw a giant snowball at him, which he countered by tackling me into a snowdrift. By then, dinner was ready and I had tons of snow down my pants, so I was ready to go in. Great day. I love being a missionary.
The baptism went great on Saturday. It wasn't perfect, but imperfect baptismal services don't invalidate the ordinance, so it's all good. We had about twice as many family and friends there as branch members, which was wonderful. I'm pretty sure they were all touched. Tons of food afterwards and we got to mingle with everyone there. Just a great, uplifting atmosphere all around. Their neighbor is a professional photographer and she took a ton of nice pictures that she said she'd get to us soon. Not sure when I'll be able to get them to you, but Dad I promise not to take too long.
Mom, funny you should ask about us not having a car, we've been trying to see if we can get one for a little while. We need to find some more people to teach first! Cross your fingers and stay tuned!
We did our DA with branch mission leader/teach with A and T combo again a couple times this week. Our BML [branch mission leader] is awesome. That combo takes up basically our whole afternoon/evening, but it's way more efficient for all of us and we get great food so I'm ok with it. This week we had moose again, really good, and rooster (tastes like chicken ;) ). It tastes a little bit different, but I liked it better than any chicken I'd ever had.
Friday we had a district meeting again, and Elder L and I were asked to give a thought on a Christlike Attribute. We chose to talk about humility. We split it up into two parts:
1. Being submissive. We have to be willing to put His will before ours and do things his way in order to receive promised blessings. As we do, we find that the hard things become easier, because they become joys instead of chores, and they actually make us better in spite of what we may believe at the beginning.
We used one of my favorite quotes ever:
"We will not always understand the role of God's hand, but we know enough of his mind and his heart to be submissive. Thus when we are perplexed and stressed, explanatory help may not be immediately forthcoming, but compensatory help will be. The more our will is thus swallowed up in the will of the Father, the more our afflictions will be swallowed up in the joy of Christ." [Neal A. Maxwell] Our district has been great at following counsel, and so we've received a great many miracles (4 baptisms this year, with another two by the first week of March). Which brings me to the next point:
2. Being grateful. When we are grateful, and give credit to God for the blessings we receive, we maintain our closeness to the Spirit, remain free of pride, and thus retain the spiritual power we have been given so long as it is in accordance with God's will.
Hope that thought was uplifting. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Family, you mean everything to me. There has been nothing like teaching families (first E's and now A and T's) that has helped me understand so much how grateful I am for my family, and how much I want love to abound in my own family.
Press forward,
Elder McKay Hansen
Anyway, hyvää päivää teille, [good day to you]
We had a wonderful week this week. The weather let up a bit and just pounded us with snow, so the last few days have been really fun. I'm currently planning a proposal to include snow shoveling events in the Winter Olympics. Ideas include (but are not limited to): speed shoveling - clearing ground in the fastest time; creative shoveling - clearing ground in the most artistic designs (about as much of a sport as men in waaay too tight pants jumping around on ice skates); The snow throw - throwing a pile of snow over the greatest distance, and snow MMA. Stay tuned. All of these were invented by me and my companion while we were shoveling snow for a member the other day. We're both pretty competitive, so it was really fun. And yes, it ended after I threw a giant snowball at him, which he countered by tackling me into a snowdrift. By then, dinner was ready and I had tons of snow down my pants, so I was ready to go in. Great day. I love being a missionary.
The baptism went great on Saturday. It wasn't perfect, but imperfect baptismal services don't invalidate the ordinance, so it's all good. We had about twice as many family and friends there as branch members, which was wonderful. I'm pretty sure they were all touched. Tons of food afterwards and we got to mingle with everyone there. Just a great, uplifting atmosphere all around. Their neighbor is a professional photographer and she took a ton of nice pictures that she said she'd get to us soon. Not sure when I'll be able to get them to you, but Dad I promise not to take too long.
Mom, funny you should ask about us not having a car, we've been trying to see if we can get one for a little while. We need to find some more people to teach first! Cross your fingers and stay tuned!
We did our DA with branch mission leader/teach with A and T combo again a couple times this week. Our BML [branch mission leader] is awesome. That combo takes up basically our whole afternoon/evening, but it's way more efficient for all of us and we get great food so I'm ok with it. This week we had moose again, really good, and rooster (tastes like chicken ;) ). It tastes a little bit different, but I liked it better than any chicken I'd ever had.
Friday we had a district meeting again, and Elder L and I were asked to give a thought on a Christlike Attribute. We chose to talk about humility. We split it up into two parts:
1. Being submissive. We have to be willing to put His will before ours and do things his way in order to receive promised blessings. As we do, we find that the hard things become easier, because they become joys instead of chores, and they actually make us better in spite of what we may believe at the beginning.
We used one of my favorite quotes ever:
"We will not always understand the role of God's hand, but we know enough of his mind and his heart to be submissive. Thus when we are perplexed and stressed, explanatory help may not be immediately forthcoming, but compensatory help will be. The more our will is thus swallowed up in the will of the Father, the more our afflictions will be swallowed up in the joy of Christ." [Neal A. Maxwell] Our district has been great at following counsel, and so we've received a great many miracles (4 baptisms this year, with another two by the first week of March). Which brings me to the next point:
2. Being grateful. When we are grateful, and give credit to God for the blessings we receive, we maintain our closeness to the Spirit, remain free of pride, and thus retain the spiritual power we have been given so long as it is in accordance with God's will.
Hope that thought was uplifting. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Family, you mean everything to me. There has been nothing like teaching families (first E's and now A and T's) that has helped me understand so much how grateful I am for my family, and how much I want love to abound in my own family.
Press forward,
Elder McKay Hansen
Monday, February 6, 2012
I ate moose!!!
Hei,
We had a great week this week. Today is one of those days where i just have to sit here and wonder how I got so lucky to be here. The work is really moving forward in Pietarsaari, and in our whole district, actually. Kokkola had a baptism a few weeks ago, and now that man's wife is being baptized next week. Vaasa had a baptism last month and they have another one coming up soon, and we have two this Saturday. That couple I told you about -- "A" and "T" -- they are awesome. They announced their baptism in Sacrament meeting on Sunday and this whole branch is just thrilled. Almost everyone who bore testimony talked about how excited they were for them. Their best friend and neighbor, the one who introduced them to the missionaries, bore a really emotional and heartfelt testimony. so great. They got hugs all around after the meeting. We had to work with them to organize some things for the baptism, and they were so excited. "A" picked out the songs she wanted and they both want Elder L to baptize them. Please keep praying that everything works out. Gonna be a great day when they get baptized!
You all have been asking a lot about the area, so I should probably fill you in. Pietarsaari itself is a fairly small city, so our area is HUGE and very spread out. The only way to really cover our area is to get rides from members or to bike, so I'm going to be in great shape after a few changes here. The snow is everywhere, and the temperatures are a nice, chilly 27 degrees below zero [Celsius]. Yepp. I'm freezing. But, we're going to go finally buy me some winter boots, so hopefully I'll still have all my toes when I come home. The branch here is about fifty active members, which is smaller than Turku, but still big compared to other cities in Finland.
Also, my companion is a major stud. He says his mission has totally changed him and his entire outlook on life. He loves everything about missionary work and his attitude and energy are contagious. We have a lot of fun together while we work. He's also a serious athlete. Did I mention he used to play for Chelsea? Yes, the football club. Yeah that one in England. Crazy right? We went and played soccer last P-day and there were a couple of shots he took that I actually just let go. Didn't even try. He also makes me run in the morning, which I don't really like, but it's the only thing keeping him from going home to have knee surgery so I make the sacrifice for him. Those runs are killer when it's this cold out.
I think the greatest part of this area is the languages. This place is half Finnish and half Swedish, but a lot of people speak English too. We have an investigator who speaks French and Portuguese but nothing else, so we bring along a member who speaks Spanish so he can translate. We have a member here from Germany, who really helps out when we meet with our recent convert from Iraq who speaks German, in addition to Arabic, Curdish, and a little Finnish now. Top it off with a member from Vietnam and her boyfriend from China (they're just waiting for the right paperwork so they can get married and he can get baptized) and we have a pretty great selection. SO AWESOME. I've decided I want to learn more languages when I come home. German is really close to Swedish, I think I'll start there.
We were over at the Chinese/Vietnamese couple's place for dinner a few days ago, and he was taking a long time cooking in the kitchen. his girlfriend shouts to him, "hey, are you finished?" to which he responds, "no, I'm Chinese!" oops. haha
We had a wonderful zone conference up in Oulu this week. Really learned a lot and it's going to help our work go forward much faster.
Also, the highlight of this week: I ate moose!!! tasted way better than beef too.
Love you all very much. Thank you for all your prayers and support.
Love,
Elder Hansen
We had a great week this week. Today is one of those days where i just have to sit here and wonder how I got so lucky to be here. The work is really moving forward in Pietarsaari, and in our whole district, actually. Kokkola had a baptism a few weeks ago, and now that man's wife is being baptized next week. Vaasa had a baptism last month and they have another one coming up soon, and we have two this Saturday. That couple I told you about -- "A" and "T" -- they are awesome. They announced their baptism in Sacrament meeting on Sunday and this whole branch is just thrilled. Almost everyone who bore testimony talked about how excited they were for them. Their best friend and neighbor, the one who introduced them to the missionaries, bore a really emotional and heartfelt testimony. so great. They got hugs all around after the meeting. We had to work with them to organize some things for the baptism, and they were so excited. "A" picked out the songs she wanted and they both want Elder L to baptize them. Please keep praying that everything works out. Gonna be a great day when they get baptized!
You all have been asking a lot about the area, so I should probably fill you in. Pietarsaari itself is a fairly small city, so our area is HUGE and very spread out. The only way to really cover our area is to get rides from members or to bike, so I'm going to be in great shape after a few changes here. The snow is everywhere, and the temperatures are a nice, chilly 27 degrees below zero [Celsius]. Yepp. I'm freezing. But, we're going to go finally buy me some winter boots, so hopefully I'll still have all my toes when I come home. The branch here is about fifty active members, which is smaller than Turku, but still big compared to other cities in Finland.
Also, my companion is a major stud. He says his mission has totally changed him and his entire outlook on life. He loves everything about missionary work and his attitude and energy are contagious. We have a lot of fun together while we work. He's also a serious athlete. Did I mention he used to play for Chelsea? Yes, the football club. Yeah that one in England. Crazy right? We went and played soccer last P-day and there were a couple of shots he took that I actually just let go. Didn't even try. He also makes me run in the morning, which I don't really like, but it's the only thing keeping him from going home to have knee surgery so I make the sacrifice for him. Those runs are killer when it's this cold out.
I think the greatest part of this area is the languages. This place is half Finnish and half Swedish, but a lot of people speak English too. We have an investigator who speaks French and Portuguese but nothing else, so we bring along a member who speaks Spanish so he can translate. We have a member here from Germany, who really helps out when we meet with our recent convert from Iraq who speaks German, in addition to Arabic, Curdish, and a little Finnish now. Top it off with a member from Vietnam and her boyfriend from China (they're just waiting for the right paperwork so they can get married and he can get baptized) and we have a pretty great selection. SO AWESOME. I've decided I want to learn more languages when I come home. German is really close to Swedish, I think I'll start there.
We were over at the Chinese/Vietnamese couple's place for dinner a few days ago, and he was taking a long time cooking in the kitchen. his girlfriend shouts to him, "hey, are you finished?" to which he responds, "no, I'm Chinese!" oops. haha
We had a wonderful zone conference up in Oulu this week. Really learned a lot and it's going to help our work go forward much faster.
Also, the highlight of this week: I ate moose!!! tasted way better than beef too.
Love you all very much. Thank you for all your prayers and support.
Love,
Elder Hansen
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