Learn to Love Unconditionally

I have learned so much from this mission, I wish I had to time to tell you all the stories, all the awkward things that happen and all the miracles that go on everyday here in Tampere 1 and 2. I know the work is hastening and I am just so excited to be a little piece in this masterpiece that our Father in Heaven has made for us.

So this week I have two answers to prayers stories:

So this one day we were tracting, some drunk people wanted us to talk to them, we were getting a paha olo (bad feeling) about it so we kept walking, it was raining and we weren’t having too much luck. We got on the topic of cake and how good that sounded, so I was like: quick someone pray for Cake and Ill pray for Chinese food. Well we didn’t get Chinese food that day but the next person we visited who was a less active was super sweet and let us come in and give her a spiritual thought and had a great discussion and she said she would come to church the next day and had a referral for us on Sunday, we were EXTREMELY excited and on the way out she was like, wait let me grab you something. She came back out with juice, chips, and a bag of chocolate muffin cake mix! We baked it like and cake and were so grateful that the Lord even listens and sometimes answers our funny prayers!

On a more spiritual note, last Sunday we had just finished our meeting with the ward mission leader and we were street contacting with no luck, and it was very disappointing and so I made my companions stop to say a prayer and we asked that the Lord just give us one more interested person! The next person we see is this lady walking towards us and we stop her and start talking and she said she knows us, that we visited our church last Sunday and that she was talking about the Book of Mormon musical with her son that morning and was wondering what the Mormons views were on that, and we got into this really great conversation about the church and she invited us over and we told her our personal conversion stories and how the gospel has literally saved all our lives, and she just went through a really hard divorce, just moved into the city, and her sons are all grown up and out of the house. She was soo interested in our church and listened so intently and lived in America for many years and insisted in us speaking English, so that was very nice. She told us that for some reason she has a craving for Rye bread and decided to walk a different way home and that she normally never walks that way home, but we ran into her. And we told her our prayer story and how much this gospel and help her life.

She invited us back, and so this week Sisar Nielsen and I went to her house and taught her about the restoration and prophets and she opened up and told us about some great trials that have happened in her life and Sisar Nielsen and I just felt so strongly to tell her how much her Savior loves her and about the atonement and that he was always there with her in hard times, and we all ended up tearing up because we felt the spirit so strongly and I felt this overwhelming love for this lady that I had just barely met! We asked her that when she knows these things are true would she be baptized? And she said of course and that she does believe what we had said is true! She also is so excited to come to General Conference with us. She is such a golden investigator and we love her so much, the Lord is preparing his people and we just have to talk to everyone to find out where they are, and to actively pray to be lead to those people. The Lord has answered my prayers so many times, and I’m so grateful he talks the time to listen to us!

Also another lesson we learned is that if we are going to be late coming home to turn our phone off silent so the DL and ZL don’t think we were attacked or something, they were all very worried about us and were on their way over to our apartment to beat up some people, I think they were a little bit disappointed when they found out that we were safe and that they had to reason to punch someone. Lesson learned, keep the phone off silent at night! So glad though that they were worried and ready to defend us.

Also on Monday we were walking back home and were at this bus stop talking to this girl, and like most Finns she was very closed off and had these snakebite lip rings and was just an overall hard looking girl. But we continued to tell her about the gospel and then this REALLY drunk man came by us and was basically harassing us and wouldn’t leave, he even like trips and ran into Sisar Nielsen and accidently had her pinned up against the bus wall, almost burned Sisar Egan with his cigarette, and our new friend at the bus stop V, totally told him off. He didn’t listen and so we decided it was time to leave, and V came with us and told us that she felt like she need to defend the Sisaret! We then missed our bus and walked for a long time back to the center and really bonded with this girl, she was really scared too when this drunk men kept harassing us. We rode the same bus home and talked to her, and she really opened up and I told her that she has been so kind to us and the best present I could ever give her is this Book of Mormon and like the way she has helped us, this book can help her and change her life, and she was so touched my it and started to read it while we were getting off the bus, we got her contact info and hopefully will be able to set up a meeting with her later. It really helped to see this transition from a really hard punk girl, to a scared girl, to realize how much worth her soul is and how she needs this gospel and this love and that she is a daughter of God.

I have so much more to say but I am out of time. I will write more in the next email about this Sunday. But one thing I have learned especially in this ward we are in is that these Finns have a really have life, and there are so many part member families and how hard that would be, but the more we visit them and love them, the more they open up and seriously shower us with love. I love these Finns so much and even though we get rejected a lot, good work is happening and we are still finding people and to love unconditionally means it might hurt when we don’t receive that love back, but to keep loving them and they will/ do feel the love we have for them is from their Father in Heaven and their savior!

I love being a missionary and seeing lives changing daily

Stay safe, and keep spreading the good word my friends!

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hubner