July 25, 2013 ~ Week 5

Moi Perhe ja Ystava,

Can't  believe that I have been here 5 weeks! That's so crazy, but some days it feels like I have been here for a life time! So much has happened this week and I hope I will be able to tell all of it. It has been such an amazing week this week. Well every week has been amazing but this one yrityisesti (especially) this week. First off, I would like to thank the Poyfair cousins and Morgan for sending me that amazing box of donuts! My district also thanks you, that was such a wonderful surprise. Today is P-day obviously and I went to main campus to eat lunch, because it is basically amazing and I saw Dallin and Christina, so of course I insisted in talking a picture with both my amazing cousins! It was way cool to think that if the missionary age change didn't happen none of us would be here!  

So we are now teaching 2 lessons a day to our investigators, and one's name is Emily and she is acting her friend who is actually a non-member, anyways I was teaching on Alma 36 and teaching her about the amazing message of the atonement and how it can clean us from our sins and that he died specifically for her and she can be free of guilt because of the atonement, and I just felt the spirit so strongly and she told me that in her religion after she dies she either goes to Heaven or Hell, and that she has made alot of mistakes and doesn't know if she can could make it to heaven. And honestly my heart almost broke, it was so sad to think that so many people believe that. That because they have already made so many mistakes there is no turning back, it was like a kick into reality that this is the reason why I am on a mission, to tell them that they can change, they can repent, they have a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that He sent his only son to earth knowing that his own people would reject him, and kill him, because he loves us so much Christ did that for us, so that we can repent, and be baptized and follow him. I have met so many convert missionaries here and their story is so inspiring  that their whole life they thought that money and friends and alcohol would make them happy, but after living that life they realized how empty it was and how amazing their life has been every since they have been baptized, and there are no lie, so many missionary here like that. Its inspiring, and makes me want to work as hard as I possibly can to be that missionary that brings these people to the gospel, finds the people who are searching and want this.

This past Sunday we watch a movie as a huge group about the gospel or a talk given by a prophet or something along those lines. This Sunday I watched the  devotion by David Bednar, "The Character of Christ" and I dare say watching that devotional, has completely changed my life. If anyone of you reading this haven't watched this, or its been a while, watch it again. So amazing, lately I have wanted to focus on becoming more Christ-like, I ask myself when I get frustrated and want to call people out right then and there, well if Christ was here, would I do this? It has been so hard to remember and live this but I really have felt the spirit in my life more. Also back to the Character of Christ when Elder Bednar says, "This isn't about you, stop whining or getting discouraged, and get out of standing in your own way, you are on the Lord's time, so don't waste it. The whole character of Christ is about forgetting about yourself and whole heartedly serving your Lord and Savior and the people around you. IF you live this way, you will not regret a moment of your mission." So inspiring, and definitely easier said then done, but this is my goal for my whole mission, to keep reminding myself of this, to stop getting irritated when I don't understand  the Finnish language as well as I would like, because honestly its not about me, its about serving the Lord and as long as I'm trying and putting off the natural man, and becoming as a disciple of Christ then I'm doing it.

Also this week I have made some very hard goals, but they are important to me and I have my heart set on it. The first one is no singing non-church related songs. SOOOO hard, if you know me, you know I am constantly singing a song, and I have to keep stopping myself mid song and then switch to a "better song", I have told some of the missionaries about my goal and some have joined me, and others asked why? And it honestly reminds me every time that I start singing another song and have to switch, the reason why I am here, why I am on a mission and it is to serve the Lord. I have given up 18 months of my life not to mess around with the other missionaries, but to serve the Lord 100 percent. I made that goal before I came on a mission and it is not the time to start forgetting that. The next goal is no movie references. This one is way hard and I'm still working on it, but it reminds me again of my purpose.

I just want to leave all of you with 2 last thoughts.  This last devotional, all my district sang in the choir and we sang the song Praise to the Man, with all 2000 other missionaries and I just felt the spirit so strongly, if you haven't ever heard the story of that song about the guy who wrote it, you should look it up. Such a great example of how forgiving the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. was! Also the choir instructor shared this message with us.

"If the whole Marriott center was filled along with the Lavell Edwards stadium, every seat was filled, equaling up to 100,000 people in total ( and this all represents the pre-earth life) and a angel came down to decide who would be sent down to earth at this time to be here at such an amazing/hard time in all of history. The angel would have to have ran up to bleacher and individually picked me out. That is how chosen we are, the work we are doing is that important and that specific that only a few were picked. 1/100,000. So what is happening to the other 999,999 people? Those were the people that came before us and paved the way, they are now watching us. How well are we living up to our pre-ordination?" I don't know about you but that really made me think, and I want them to be proud of the work that I am doing. This is such a special time in history and I definitely do not want to disappoint. They knew We could do it, and I want to show them we can! They are cheering us on, on the other side, and willing us to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

One last thing, at church someone sang this song, and this lately has been one of my favorites but the lyrics just hit me so strongly this time:

Savior Redeemer of my soul.

Whose mightily hands hath made me whole.

Whose wondrous power hath raised me up.

And filled with sweet my bitter cup!

What tongue my gratitude can tell,

O gracious God of Israel.

Never can I repay thee Lord,

But I can love thee, they pure word.

Hath it not been my one delight,

My joy by day my dream by night?

Then let my lips proclaim it still,

and all my life reflect thy will.

Over rule mine acts to serve thine end.

Change frowning foes to smiling friends.

Chasten my soul till I shall be

In perfect Harmony with thee,

Make me more worthy of they love,

and fit me for the life above.

The lines "O gracious God of Israel" just how much he loves us and what he has already done for us and what he wants us to be able to become. "Never can I repay thee Lord, But I can love thee." I can't even imagine what pains he went through in the Garden of Gethsemane, and I could never repay him, but I can love him and follow him and share his gospel to those who don't know about it. And the last line " Make me more worthy of thy love" how imperfect I am, but he gives us the chance to pray to become better to become more worthy of his love.

I love what this gospel has done to my life, how it has helped me feel the emotions stronger, to see the pains of others more and be able to help them out. I am so indebted to the Lord, but I can love him and serve this mission for Him.

Well I'm out of time, but I love all of you sooooooo very much and hope this message finds you all well.

Mina toivon etta teitä jatkaa ollemaan voima ja ikuinen rakastatte sinun vapahtaja ja lunastaja.

(I hope that you all continue to be strong and always love your Savior and Redeemer)

Paljon Rakkauden,

Sisar Hubner

With My Fantastic Cousins - 

Just wanted to show how many missionaries there are!

Me and My Companion with Other Missionaries

 

                                 

Terve!

So I've made it to a whole month at the MTC. For alot of people that is a life time here! Most people only stay here for 15 days, and we are only half way through! I'm not complaining though because I have so much more to learn about for the language, any extra time is definently needed. The days are all starting to mesh together so its hard for me to remember what has happened this week, so Ill try to recap as much as possible.

First off thanks to all those who have written me, means alot of hear back from home. Also thanks Dad for all the advice on how to be the best missionary and companion that I can be. I hope the military medical academy that you spoke at was a good experience especially for Arianna to be there and listen to that! Its pretty awesome when you can brag to your missionary friends that you dad is a hero! Mom, I hope girl camp went great and was a good experience for you and all the other young womans! Also to Aunt Karly its was great to hear about whats going on with dallin, I actually keep running into him at random places!

So at Devotional this tuesday, Richard Hinckley, Emeritus General Authority, talked and it was really great to hear what he had to say. I was in the choir and we sang Nearer my God to thee and our friend is way good at singing alto, so we all tried (easier said then done) but it was really fun and while I was singing it I got the goose bumps and felt the spirit so strongly, thinking about how close the Lord is here for us especially as missionaries, the key to being a good missionary is to have his spirit with us always, and it seems like we are constantly praying for that. We were also a part of the new MTC picture which is pretty cool because that hasnt been updated in a while, and we made the cutoff, its so insane how many missionaries are here at the MTC now! Its the most it has ever been in all history and I think that its about 4,000!!! So powerful seeing all of us and especially seeing all those 18-22 year old guys singing about their Lord and Savior and knowing that everyone of them sacrificed so much to be worthy to go on a mission and hold the priesthood.

So funny story of the week, we are now teaching 2 lessons a day to investigators in Finnish, and its kind of stressful because we already have no extra time to put these lessons together but I just keep praying really hard to be able to focus hard for shorter periods of time to be able to get these lessons ready. Anyway I was being the investigator after I had taught one of the Sisaret (sisters) and so she accidently messed up her words and instead of saying "Sometimes life is hard" which is "Joskus elämä on väikeä" she said "joskus a LLAMA on väikeä" hahah and I lost it because she said A LLAMA, like the animal, and anyways I was trying so hard to compose myself, and finally when I get myself under control my teacher who was observing starting cracking up, and I lose it again! Hahaha it was so funny and it took a while to get back to being seriously because 1. I was really tired 2.  I kept replaying it in my head.

During gym time which is always at the hottest time of day we play knock out with the elders, and some of our favorite Elders just left to go into the mission field. Its crazy how people come and go in our lives, and all the things that we can learn from people! Anyways it was kind of sad because every week now, more and more of our friends leave and I know we will make more, but its sad because Im probably not going to see any of these people again.

Because we have been here for a month now we are going to step up our SYL days, (that means Speak Your Language) so we technically can only speak Finnish the whole day, until 9:30pm. So we are going to start having SYL days everyother day, and then the week before we leave it is called Mahtava Viikko which means amazing week, we only speak Finnish the whole week. I love this language, and even though I am picking it up pretty good it is still kicking my butt, somedays it feels really discouraging but I know Im on the Lord's work so he has and will keep helping me and that one of these days I will speak Finnish fluently. Also did you know that the other scandinavian countries like sweden and norway have the easiest languages in the world to learn for English speakers? What happened to Finnish? Haha, guess it doesnt matter I truly do love the language and think it is so beautiful.  So my big accomplishment of the week is that I memorized the 1st vision in Finnish, which is impressive because 1. its like 3 times longer in Finnish then English and 2. I dont even know it in English!

Well Im starting to run out of time, but I want to send out a commitment to whoever is reading this to read Mosiah 4. Best scripture chapter of all times, basically is my life long goal of who I want to become and what I need to remember everyday of my life. On wednesday we gave a lesson to our Tutkija (investigator) about this and testified about baptism and asked him to commit and I felt the spirit so strongly when I testified, espeically about Mosiah 4:20, where we will have joy so great from the knowledge of the gospel that we wont have words to say about it, and I know that is true with all my heart I have felt that so many times, where I feel so happy, that I cant even explain how or why. And our investigator said that he wants to but he wants to make sure that he is sure about it, and that he will prepare to be baptized in a month! Which was very exciting for us, and he commited to living the word of wisdom and came to church!

Also another amazing chapter that I love about missionary work is D&C 100, and just inserting my name everytime some one else's name came up made it feel so much more powerful.

Well I love you all and hope this letter finds you well and happy!

Minä rakastan teidän!!

Sisar Hübner

Sisar Hübner with Elder leaving for Baltimore

Elder Poyfair and Sisar Hübner meet again!

a big ´line of sister missionaries on our way back from main campus on P-day

our district with the big world map at the main campus 

3rd Week at MTC

Terve Perhe ja Ystävä,

So I have survived 3 weeks at the MTC just barely! Someone said the Days here feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.  If you have ever been to the MTC you will understand what I'm talking about! So last Thursday (last p-day) was Fourth of July. We had a special 4th of July devotional and sang patriotic songs and watched "17 Miracles", which is such a good movie if any of you were wondering. Then we were given magnum chocolate ice cream bars and watched the fire works and it was so much fun! We are friends with some of the Chilean elders and they are very funny and making jokes all night, which was a nice distraction because it was sometimes sad to think that we had missed all our families celebrations. It was a really fun night though.

Thank you to all who have written me, whether it is on dearelder or mail it seriously makes my day reading whats going on in ya'lls life! To grandma Snyder, I hope you and Grandpa Bernie had fun fishing, to Gretchen you made me laugh so hard with the Ice Age movie quotes esp. "Uncle Fungus?" "they do this to me every year." To Aunt Karly, it was great hearing Dallin's side at the Main campus, I saw him again at devotional on Tuesday, his companion seems chill along with the rest of the elders in his group, they seem like nice guys. To Aria, Saige, and Emma: Your letters were so thoughtful and cute! How did you seal it with wax? Also I showed everyone the pictures you added and they all loved seeing pictures of my family. To Neco I love you so much and thank you for the package, those socks are life savers, I was on the verge of pulling a Grandpa Hubner and wearing my socks inside out! Mom: thanks so much for the package of Japanese candy! I loved it so much and shared with my district and zone and they all said "Kiitos Mama Hubner!" The candy definently tastes better when you share with others.

So last Sunday was fast Sunday and I again bore my testimony in church and it seems like every fast Sunday I am destined to bear my testimony, and might as well take advantage of it as long as I can with it being in English. We fasted for a girl in our district who was not feeling well and she started doing better the next day! Fasting and prayer really does work. We had district meeting and my DL (district leader) asked me to talk for 3-5 minutes on the Atonement. So I started sharing what I had prepared and I felt prompted to share the story about Uncle Clayton, when we found out about the accident, and how even though it was a hard time for us all, that night when we gathered in our Rochester, New York house we could feel the peace that he was needed on the other side, and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that was made possible, that he will live again, and that we will all be able to be reunited especially his family, and that we all felt he was doing a greater work on the other side. I felt the spirit so strongly when I shared that part, and after I sat down and reflected on what had just happened, I felt this overwhelming feeling through the spirit from Uncle Clayton that he was proud of me, that he was proud of Christina, for both of us and what we stand for and what we are doing and that I was able to teach about the atonement using him as an example. It was such an amazing event, that has never happened to me before and I am hoping that all the Hubner family will be able to feel his spirit while reading that message. Also I ran into Christina at devotional on Tuesday! So awesome that we are both missionaries at the same time! Love that girl to the ends of this earth! She will do great things in Japan!

Also on the lines of tender mercies of the Lord, I was having some hard times this week, and I was very frustrated and randomly this Sister missionary came into the room and said, "This is kind of weird but I just have this overwhelming feeling that I need to tell you that the Lord loves you." And I just started crying because that was exactly what I needed to hear at that exact moment. The Lord really is here with us in all things and I especially think at the MTC.  I love being a missionary.

So a thought that hit me this week was, I need to continue to stay focused especially in the language because even though it is such a hard language, I have no idea how I could ever learn this without the Lord. The good news is I don't have to do without the Lord, He will help me as long as I am worthy, and I already feel it, I am doing so much better in this language already then I could have ever done on my own. Also, I am learning this language for my investigators.  If I don't learn it well now, my lack of knowledge and ability to speak the language will directly effected how much my investigators understand.  If i can't communicate well with them, they won't be able to hear the lessons and receive this amazing gospel that give so much joy, hope, courage, direction, knowledge that there is life after this life, and that we can be with our families for eternity! I have no idea how I would cope with my life if I didn't know that there was hope after this life. I love my family so much, it already is so hard being away from them for 18 months, but honestly 18 months of my life is not too much time for some one's forever.

During personal study this week I have been focusing my search on the Holy Ghost and I turned to "Earnest" in the Bible dictionary, and its explanation was something I have never thought of before and then I looked up "Holy Ghost" in the bible dictionary, and I challenge you all to look it up. It made me think of things differently. It talks about the Holy Ghost being a foretaste or promise, a little taste, of what eternal life will be like. Todella Mahtava (so awesome). I love feeling the spirit, I feel so happy like my heart is going to burst from all this joy when I feel the spirit strongly I can't image what eternal life will be like!!

Anyways I am running out of time, but I love all of you so much. I hope this message finds you well. Don't be scared to show the world that your happiness comes from this gospel. Also to all future missionaries, start studying Preach My Gospel,  because once you get to the MTC they base most stuff on thinking that you already have read it, and it take time to closely study it. So if you want to be prepared, don't wait, because you will not be prepared when you get here. I'm so glad I read it thoroughly before I came.

Here is my new favorite scripture for the moment.

D&C 6:34

"Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail."

Wow, that is so profound!! Love this gospel!

Minä tiedän etta kirkko on tota (I know that this church is true)

Minä todistan etta Jesus Kristus on meidän Vapataja ja Lunastaja (I testify that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer)

Minä tiedän etta proffeeta Thomas S. Monson se on todellinen proffeeta tänään. ( I know that Thomas S. Monson is the real prophet today)

Minä todistan etta Jessu Kristus karsi meidän syntien puolesta ja sovitus kautta meidän voimme palausta. ( I know that Christ suffered for our sins and through the atonement we can be saved.)

Minä rakkastan minun perhetta. (I love my family)

Sisar Hübner

 Sister Alayna Hübner with Nathan Johnson (brother to Eric Johnson - Alayna's brother-in-law)

Sister Christina Hubner's name tag next to Sisar Alayna Hubner's name tag

Two Sister Hubners!

2nd Week at MTC

Terve Minun Perhe!

Mina rakkastan teidät!

So I don't have much time to type, but I want to say I miss you all and a little recap of my week! First of Dear Elder (www.dearelder.com) is amazing!! I get to read your letters every day they come in, which is really nice to hear from you after a really long day of Finnish and gospel.


So me and my companion were having a rough patch  'til last Friday and she like wasn't comunicating what-so-ever with me.  I was so frustrated and tried to talk to her about it, and that didn't work, and I tried to ignore it, that didn't work. So finally I was like this has to change, so I said, "after I drop my lunch in the trash we need to talk."  The Sister Training Leaders of our zone came out and  brought us into a room to talk it out, (which was the best thing they could have done). They started with a prayer and it was private, we talked it out, and she was finally communicating and I was finally able to communicate like normal and we ended with all of us bearing our testimony and we all felt the spirit so strongly and there was such a peace. Seriously things have gotten x100 better, and we are working better together, communicating, she is letting me push her in learning the language, we pray together, and sing children hymns in Finnish at night, and our lessons to our tutkijoitas (investigators) have gotten more spiritual and focused! Its seriously the best thing that could have happened. I am glad it has happened earlier rather then later!


So this week/2 weeks have been soooooo hot (100+ degrees) we have AC in our rooms but we are constantly moving from place to place, we normally have to work out in the heat of the day, which is killer, and we eat outside, so we are getting the full effect of the Utah summer. I literally take a shower at least 2 times a day, and everyone in my apartment uses my shower clock!! Haahaha 5 minutes showers for everyone which is awesome! So to all future missionaries, invest in a shower clock/timer, it will save your butt!


I saw Sister Hubner (Christina my cousin) on Tuesday before devotional at the Marriot Center and I was soooooooooo excited!! Bad news is both of us forgot our cameras, good news is we plan to meet up with eachother next tuesday with cameras in hand. She is adorable as always and her companion seems way cool!


 Also to Uncle Pat and Aunt Karly, I loved reading you DearElder letters, seriously seeing Dallin (Elder Poyfair) was divine intervention from God, because I don't live at the campus, I'm at the west campus so that was the first time (my P-Day) on Thursday that I had ever been to main campus and what do you know, out of all people I just so happen to run into my cousin who had just been dropped off the day before! The Lord is seriously there even in the tiny details. He seems to be doing great and just to let you know, I'm not sure if you have talked to him yet, but we don't get a P-day the first week so thats why it takes extra long to here back and we are sooooo busy everyday. Uncle Pat I also loved your story about talking to my mom for the first time when you were on your mission! What an awesome story, I'm glad you two are such close friends and that we are close to all your kids!


This week we started to teach our new investigator, Antti, in Finnish and its so stressful figuring out what the spirit wants you to tell him when you don't even understand what Antti is saying, and coming up with something just for him in Finninsh so we have been stressing out about it all week.  I just got to the point that I was so nervous that I honestly couldn't focus on anything else except for our lesson, and I just got this feeling that I should ask the Hungarian Elders (our zone leaders) to give me a blessing. I was really nervous because I have never gotten a blessing from anyone but my Dad like that and especially from guys that are so young and close to my age! But Depallens Elder gave me a blessing and it was honestly so amazing, his hands were even shaking afterwards and he was like "wow I did not expect to say all of that" and it said that the Lord is proud of how hard I am working (which I started crying at, because I'm always wondering if I'm doing enough, if Im focused enough) so that was such a relief and it talked about me being able to speak the language well and blessed me with the gift of tongues (also another relief) language study is so stressful esp. when you have to turn around and teach it the next hour! I was blessed with patience that I will be able to work in the Lord's time and not get frustrated that I can't learn all things at once, and it was just such an amazing experience and gave me the strength to keep pushing forward. I am so grateful for worthy priesthood holder that can give blessings and say the words from God that are directed straight towards me. At the end I think all of us were teary-eyed the spirit was so strong.


Then in our lesson yesterday I literally felt the spirit tell me what to say in personal study the day before but in English and I had to translate all these finnish words and memorize it, and the lesson we gave was WHY, ( miksi) why does any of this matter (Miksi mitaan tästä on tärkeä), why should he care (miksi sinun petaisi välittät), why did we give 18 months of our life to go to a freezing country to learn one of the hardest languages in the world, and that is to teach the truths of this amazing gospel. That I literally don't think I would be around today if I did not have the gospel, I would be so alone, bored, and frustrated at everyone and everything. Without the gospel my familiy would not be strong, and my dad would not have been protected when he was deployed to Afganistan, and that I would not have the happiness that I have looked for so long and hard in all the wrong places, the feeling of peace I get from this gospel, to know that I can repent from my mistakes and not feel weighed down by the guilt, and mostly the fact that I know that I don't rot in the ground when I die but I will be able to return to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and be able to be with my family for eternity because of the blessings of the temple sealing us together.


I translated that as much as I could in Finnish and told our investigator this along with the story of the restoration and why should anyone care about a 14 year old boy who saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and who restored Christ's gospel back on earth. Miksi? Koska (because) it is proof that God still talks to us today and that if we ask anyone who sincerely wants to know, can recieve personal revelations and answers from God. The Spirit was so strong in the room, and afterwards my toverini (companion) who never cries started crying because she felt the spirit so strong and it was such a tender moment, she said, "Sisar Hubner you brought that spirit into the room so strong and I hope our tutkija felt that too, I am going to be so sad when we no longer are wearing the name of Christ on our name tag everyday. How are people going to know that we love this gospel from the first time they see us? How are people going to know that we want to share the gospel with them? I love this name tag and I wished we never had to take it off." I said, "well lets make the most of it for the next 18 months that people know right from the get- go that we are missionaries of Jesus Christ, and sharing the gospel, and we want them to be able to feel this joy and peace that we feel daily from it."


Another thing, I was reading the first page of PMG (Preach My Gospel) yesterday for personal study and it says "we are authorized representatives of Chirst" And I just started crying because our Father and Brother, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, trusts me, Sisar Alayna Hubner who is 19 years old and barely knows anything, to represent him, I don't know everything in this world but I do know that this IS the true gospel, and that is enough for him. So I won't let him down.


I love you all so much, I miss you but just know I really am doing the lords work along with 70,000 soon to be 100,000 missionaries world wide please pray for us to find those who are searching for this.


I have to quick funny stories to tell you then I have to go do a service project!


So the easy translation of "piece of cake" in Finnish is "Helpo naki" which means "easy sausage!" Hahaha I died laughing when I found that out. My companion was studying her note cards and the words sausage "naki" and vision "naku" are very similar and we were like dont mess it up, and tell the people about the restoration, "and this historical event with Joseph Smith is called the first sausage" hahaha that would be sooo funny, and confusing for them at the same time!


Last quick story, I had a dream that I was in Finland and my companion was drowning so I yelled to her in Finnish to grab my hand and I would help pull her up (FYI. I sleep on the top bunk) anyways I guess I was really into this dream and thought she was about to die, and I woke myself up by screaming in Finnish at her, and I woke up half way out of my bed reaching out to her on the bottom bunk holding her hand, and she was very confused (she was awake) and thought I was falling off my best and she was catching me. Hahahaa once I realized what was going on, I was like " Ohh sorry, ummm that's embarrassing" I turned around and went back to bed. Hahah the next morning she thought it was so funny and had to tell everyone and their dog about it, so people sometimes still tease me about that one! hahaaaa, we have some good times at the MTC! Well I love you all and hopefully mom will attach some of the pictures I sent her earlier!

Minä Rakkastan Teidät!

~ Sisar Hubner

 This is our six week schedule.  We have something planned every hour of every day!

 Finnish elders in our district

 We went to Santa Monica, CA to the Finnish Consulate to get our visas