23
Dec 2013
So this has
probably been one of the craziest weeks of my life. We had transfers and I am
training, as crazy as that sounds, I received a priesthood blessing and I feel
very at peace with this I know the Lord has great things in store and that is
through us, and especially my new companion with fire from the MTC. So on Tuesday
after finding all this news out just the Saturday before. We went down to Helsinki
to go to trainers meeting and to pick up our new greenies. A+ to the APs who
set up this wonderful transfer, because we picked Sisar Nielsen up at the Train
station (she is my twin who is also training and who was my companion when I
first got into the country), saw 5 million other missionaries that were being transferred
and then we took the train down to Helsinki, met up with a ton of other
missionary friends, and SIsar Nielsen and I got to catch up and share inspiring
missionary stories and ideas for strengthening the ward, we woke up early and
went on a run in the street of Helsinki, Finland. Man it was beautiful and felt
so good to finally be able to run, even though I was basically crawling at the
end.
Then we
headed over to the trainers meeting, and I had a printed out Finnish Christmas
hymns, so our big group of missionaries jumped on a tram and sang Christmas
songs to our fellow Finnish tram riders, they LOVED it and even gave us a round
of applause at the end. Then we went to the training meeting, and had my mind
blown by our Mission President, wow he is just an inspired amazing man. He told
us about the Temple and there is a common mis-conception that we go to the
temple as another step to go on our mission that is not the case, we go on
missions to implement what we have learned in the temple, to fulfill our
eternal mission. I encourage you all, especially those of you who have already
gone to the temple to really ponder what that means. Also another quote I love
that he said was, ‘‘we aren’t hereto be realistic, we are in the miracle
business.'' People say what we are doing is crazy or impossible, and you know
what they are right, we cant make a difference, we cant change peoples lives,
but they don’t know my Heavenly Father, who is the God of miracles, with him
ANYTHING is possible.
After the
meeting we had another meeting and met our trainee. Drum roll please.,.......
My new
companion is Sisar Pack from Logan, Utah. She is awesome; she is very much like
me and really works hard and applies counsel. We are having a blast, we go
running every morning, we get all of our studies in, we pray hard for our
people, we set goals and visions of how we can get Tampere 2 up and running,
how we can get the members to have a missionary mindset and break free from the
''norm'' of society. When we were baptized we didn’t do it with a worldly
perspective because all our friends thought it was cool, no we did it because
we had an eternal perspective, we had a strong relationship with our Heavenly
Father and wanted to serve him and to receive the millions of blessings this
gospel brings into our lives. When we preach the gospel, we CANNOT have a
worldly perspective, because the gospel has NO PLACE in this world, this peace
and happiness from this gospel is not of this world, we cannot get caught in
the trap of doing ''what’s cool'' because we will never succeed if we are
trying to live up to the worlds standards, the world has really nothing to
offer us except depression, dark thoughts, and disappointment. Who even wants
that? I sure don’t, and I want EVERYONE to know how happy they can be and
become from the gospel, the potentials they can reach by looking at themselves
with their ''celestial glasses'' on.
This
week has been really amazing. I LOVE HAVING A TRAINEE! Wow, its amazing if I
show her the way, she will do what we have practiced and she has a ton of fire
and focus. We have been reading a day in the life of a Finnish missionary
everyday and talking about what we can do to get to that point. The best part
is that my companion doesn't know what is the norm. So when we set the norm at
preach my gospel style, then she is golden for the rest of her mission. When I
have been trying to change the bad habits that other companions have left, and
I tell her our goal, when I slip up she puts us back on tract because this is
what I have been teaching her and what we have been reading from PMG.
We
have seen so many miracles happening; because this area has been put on the
back burner we have 2 investigators and no progressing investigators. So we can
start from ground up and really focusing on following all of counsel, spending
time where it matters most to have effective missionary work. I showed my new
companion talking normally and naturally role play and then also the Book of
Mormon role play, we spent time in studying it out and practicing, we left the
house and the Lord put so many prepared people in our path, by the end of the
week starting from Thursday we had 5 new investigators. Following counsel and
really investing time in the members is where we will see the miracles flow
from!
This
week we have been focusing on this member family, and actually doing the role-plays
with them and teaching them how to talk with people and lead into the gospel,
they got really excited about it at the end but then said that they normally
don't talk to anyone on the street or the bus. We brainstormed what we could do
the better help them get to this point, and we came back two days later and we
have given them a challenge to talk to people on the bus, just getting to talk
to people and showing love and happiness. Then later when they are doing this
and are comfortable just chatting with people, they will remember the role-plays
and it will slide in perfectly. I really have a testimony of doing these role-plays
with the members. If we don't teach them how to do missionary work, how will
they ever become better missionaries?
On Friday, I
received the sad news that my wonderful Grandma Hubner passed away. It broke my
heart that I wont be able to give her a hug when I go home from my mission, but
I know that she is in a better place now, that the Parkinson’s diseases has no
grasp on her now, I know that she is looking over me now and helping me share
the gospel, on the other side of the veil. I love her with all my heart and I’m
so grateful for the example that she has given me. I treasure the ring that she
gave me right before I left on my mission. She will forever be in my heart.
I love you
all and encourage you all the read the Book of Mormon, feel the inspiration and
love that comes from it, and then share it with you friend, you co-worker, that
random kid walking down the street. The Lord said, '' if you love me, feed my
sheep.'' What does that mean to you today? Please jump on this spiritual train
especially this Christmas season and love you neighbor enough to get over your
fear of the thought of rejection and share this message that is so precious to
you, and you know can and will change their world if they accept it.
As my dad
would say, ''Dare to be brave, Dare to be bold. And risk it all for our Savior
Jesus Christ.''
Rakkaudella,
Sisar Hubner
P.s. The
first picture is of our ''family'' Sisar Egan, my last companion and trainer is
sitting in the chair in the middle, she trained SIsar Nielsen, SIsar Foster,
and me. Then the other sisaret are our trainees. What a cute family we got
going on.
the second
picture is of us at our family friends' house from the ward who participated in
my surprise birthday party I threw for Sisar Egan, which included her finally
being able to play a saxophone, get a hair cut and make riisi pirakka with us!
Fun day full of surprises!
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