Week of Referrals

So this week again has been pretty crazy. So starting off the week after General Conference, and having Zone Conference and listening to our Mission President we were sooo pumped to do work! But then it seemed like our two golden investigators have been dodging us for a while and this week we finally realized that we might not be meeting with them again, or at least not soon. SO that was kind of sad, because we have come to love these people with our whole hearts and they have come so close to accepting this gospel (both of these women had committed to baptism but we had not set the date with them) and then for one reason or another they turn away and it breaks my heart and at times I want to retreat a little and put up those walls in my heart so I don’t love them as fully so that it doesn’t hurt as bad when they reject it; but we can’t because our message is of love and hope and if we don’t have that in our hearts, our message is not going to get across or be affective. So even though these times are hard, I know the Lord won’t give up on them if they don’t accept this gospel now but they will eventually and we have to hold onto that hope and faith that one day they will be able to join this gospel and receive all the blessings the Lord wants to give to them. 

So on Tuesday we had an appointment set up with our investigator who is 16 with her friend that is the bishop’s daughter, and they made us dinner and they are soooo cute I love them to death. And so I was trying to tell them that this meal is delicious ''tämä ateria on herkulista'' but I accidently said, ''tämä ahteri on herkulista'' which ateria is meal and little did I know ahteri means butt. So I told them very proudly that ‘‘this butt tastes delicious'' and they are such polite people but even they could not hold back their laughter when I told them this! When I finally figured out what I said wrong my companions and I died laughing. It took a while to bring it back to a normal conversation, but we ended up having a great first lesson with her and she even said this beautiful closing prayer! And we set up a return appointment and she said she would come to church with M. (the bishop’s daughter).

Also that day we received a referral from a member in the ward that wanted us to visit her friend and help her clean, she has been sick lately, so we set it up, took about an hour to get out to that area but we got there and helped her clean and she was SO ready for the gospel and we invited her to be baptized and she said yes, and then came to church! It was so amazing, we haven’t set a date yet but we are coming back to her place next week!

Then also at church our investigator T. who is 17 came and us missionaries sang in church and I told the other Young Women in the ward to talk to her and make her feel welcome while we practice our song. When I came back, T. was sitting down and was surrounded by all the young women in the ward and they were all talking to her, and she had the biggest smile I have ever seen! Also then later, after T. left we were talking to the Young Women and I thanked them for all the love they gave to our investigator and they all were so excited and I was talking to the bishop’s daughter (M.) about when we are meeting with her friend again, and all the young women got so excited that we are meeting with M's friend, and then this one young women who was in this group we were talking to walked over to me and said that she actually has a friend who went to church with her a lot when we was younger but hasn’t come in a while and she thinks that it would be good if we could met with her. We of course told her yes and that we would love to, and then as we were about to walk away, she also said that she has another friend that came to Super Saturday with her and she wants to meet with us as well! It was so awesome, and she texted us right after church saying she talked to her friend and we have an appointment set up this Wednesday! The youth is how we are going to get the members more involved, once they see other people their age coming to church they realize that they can bring their friends too. This is how missionary work is going to start moving to the next level is by the youth stepping up. Also other young women came up to us and asked if they could do splits with us this upcoming week. We LOVE the youth!

Also B. who was just baptized last month came to church with her 3 cute children and brought her Filipino friend that she had just met 2 days ago at the store and they became best friend and she invited her to come church with her! Wow how awesome is that, and we talked to her friend and taught her about this gospel, and she said she wants to come every Sunday, and wanted to come to the Relief Society activity next week, and invited us over to her house to teach her more! 

So we had 3 investigators at church, 6 new investigators this week and 6 referrals!

The Book of Alma opened next to "Alma" delivery. 
Who knew that the Nephites were in Finland!

Even though this week had some hard times, the Lord listened to our prayer and put members and people in our path who are ready for this gospel and who also want to share this with others. It was such an amazing week, and we had transfers next Tuesday, so we will see what’s going to happen if we leave Tampere or stay, it’s all a mystery for now. 

 

Matching Winter Boots

I love being a missionary and I love this gospel with all my heart, I get to see miracles happen everyday and lives being changed from this knowledge of their Savior and of this gospel.

I love you all and hope kaiki mene hyvin (all is going well)

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Hubner