Itsenäisyyspäivä!!!

Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivä!!! (Happy Finnish Independence day) We weren’t allowed too contact people on the streets because many were drunk, so we ended up caroling in the center that night, it was a very.... interesting night for us all. But it was interesting that when we sang the Spirit of God, we had the most people stop and listen, in comparison to the other Christmas songs.

 

Our makeshift Christmas Tree

Wow what a crazy, hard, awesome, snowy, busy, cold, inspiring week. Might sound crazy but it was all the above. Being on a mission is like being on a rollercoaster with your eyes closed; you never know what’s coming next! First off I want to say I love my mother with all my heart. ! She is a saint, if you don’t know Mama Hubner, then you probably should get to know her because you are missing out. She sent me a camera charger that came a week later with bonus smirf sticker..... Nothing better then smirf stickers!

This week was overall, inspiring. I have been doing some deep thinking on how to become the missionary that the Lord intends me to become. How do we get the members on board doing missionary work, and how can I show my love for the Finnish people better?

This week had a rough start but things have really been looking up. There is no witness until after the trial of our faith and I really felt that this week. We don't give up when we are getting no results, we keep pushing on and showing the Lord that we are ready when He is and that we are all in, 110%.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to become better at this language and how to speak it often. Its easy to get into the rut of speaking English with the companion and then others, but I have been trying to figure out how to break that habit, because if I don’t speak and work on it all the time, then I wont be ready to help my investigators progress. Also after our Piiri kokous (district meeting), I have been trying to do more SYL for the past month and after we had a really inspiring meeting our zone leader was talking about how we need to work harder on this language and put our hearts into the work so that we aren’t saying empty same words, but that it is coming from our heart, that when we testify the spirit is with us and testifies that we know this is true and that they can know for themselves if this is true. And I realized that I want to be fluent in this language so that I can speak from my heart in this language that the Holy ghost wont be restrained because I don’t know the words, to let my personality come through because I specifically was called to Finland because of the person I am and the person the Lord can help me become. I made a goal to be speaking almost 100% Finnish by the New Year. After church on Sunday during call-ins we talked with the Zone leaders and they had the same idea except starting today 100% Finnish. We prayed about it and as Tampere missionaries we are doing a Finnish full immersion. We are showing the Lord that we are ready to work hard, and bring people into this life-changing gospel. We are called to Finland, to speak Finnish to these people so that they can hear the gospel in their own language. It will be hard at the beginning but so worth it for the sake of our investigators and friends here. 

So basically no English here on out for the next year of my life (= other then when we absolutely need English or are teaching to an English speaker. 

We have been really working with the members on helping our investigators come to church events. We had a Joulu konserti this weekend and spent a decent amount of time organizing rides and ways to get our friends to the church. We ended up be late, to the concert, were stuck in a broken car, but the members took over and really looked after our investigators. 3 investigators ended up coming to church, and for the ones that had not seen the church before we were able to take them on a tour of the church with the members that had brought them to church. It was really a great experience for everyone and we really felt the spirit. 

One of our members that we have been working with, never was involved in missionary work until we came into the area. We started by just talking to her at church, then she invited us over for lunch and we got her thinking about missionary work and what she can do. We role-played how to talk normally and naturally about the gospel. Then took her out with us the next week and once she got the flow of things, she was talking to people on the bus like a champ and with really conviction in her heart, making the Finns listen more coming from a Finn. Then just last week she invited us over and also invited her neighbor. We talked about the Book of Mormon and have scheduled to come back this next week and talk about what she has read and how is applies to this Christmas season. Way sweet, I realized we need to be spending a lot more time with the members and telling them the vision we have for Finland, if we don’t teach them how to do missionary work, they really won't ever learn. Miracles are happening all over Finland it’s an amazing experience to be here at this time!

I feel like my mind has been opened up so much from this past weekend reflecting on how to get the members involved and get Tampere to the next level. It is obviously through following counsel, it never ceases to amaze me how I come up with a really great idea and then I realize that this is what our Mission president and PMG have been saying from the beginning..... We have to start role playing with the members, then bring them out for an hour or two, talking to people on the street helping them catch the vision of how missionary work is not scary, and then soon enough they have invited us over and invited a friend to come along. We can start small with the people who are excited to do missionary work and then when the other members see the results then they will hop on board to, this is going to be the key to getting this area onto the next level of missionary work. President Rawlings prophesied to us that by this time next year when we are getting Ipads, if we have done our part in getting this place and people ready by doing the basics of Preach my gospel, then Finland will be the most effective mission in the world and thousands of people will be brought into the gospel. But if we don’t do our part now, the mission will actually decline from what has been happening and will start going down hill. WOW, I am going to make sure that I do 100% all in my power to be the missionary the Lord wants me to be so that we can get Finland to become a place of miracles. 

I love you all. 

The pictures the first one is of our zone from turkey bowl a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately our team lost but I did make two touchdowns. woot woot

Also the last picture is of Anna who has really become one of our closest friends out here in Finland, I am so inspired by how caring and giving she is and notices the little things that people do for her and is always looking for ways to help and uplift others. I hope I can become the type of person that she is, she has taught be a lot through her example.