Mission Tour! Valaistava kokemus meille Kaikille

Dear Friends and Family,

I can’t remember if I wrote this, it’s a pretty big piece of news. 

Mom remember that one time that a car pinned you against the wall and you had hercules strength and moved the whole car with just your two hands. Or also that time when we needed to leave the parking lot and you went to open the car door and ripped off the metal handle bar? We called you Herculia....hahaha well you will be proud to know, like mother like daughter, some of those astounding strengths have been passed on to me. While biking home the other week, we were trying to go fast it was about -15 degrees and I'm trying to bike up this hill as fast as I can, its going pretty good and NAPPSS......

I totally snapped off the stainless steel pedal.......call me Sisar Herculia. Hahaha but actually it was so ridicules and we had all this stuff to do and less then an hour to get home eat dinner and be in the center for a teach. So what do I do? One pedal it back to the house. What once was a 10-minute bike ride turned into 20 when you only got one leg doing the work. Hahahaha ill show you the picture one day! Good news is we have great neighbor members that let me borrow their bike for the night. So now I am onto bike number 3......voi että

Kuitenkin, AMAZING WEEK!! So our friends C. and H. are preparing to be baptized and the whole ward has really been a part of their conversion story! It’s been so amazing. A member had us and C. and H. with all their friends over and we watched the Restoration movie about the prophet. There was such an amazing spirit there and then afterwards I got this feeling that I should ask C. and H.'s friends that hadn’t been very interested in the past their thoughts on the movie and both were really touched by it and felt like God was by their side. They both are coming to the next meeting we have with C. and H.I love the spirit. 

Also we had a school presentation in high school last week and it was actually pretty fun except that everyone was so shy and it took a while for them to warm up! But it was a great opportunity to teach them a little bit more about the gospel, and it was cool because they were open to listen. Then we had a dinner appointment and the member is a cook from the island of man (way cool look it up) and he made homemade lasagna and home made noodles!!! I ate sooooooooo much at the end when we got on the bike I thought I might break it because I had gained so much weight. Haha wouldn't be the first time. Hahaha oh well you only serve a mission once, gotta eat all the yummies that you can! Then we went to this less active member who is trying to teach us how to knit socks so we can give them to an investigator or friend with a gospel message. Well she doesn’t have the patience for us, so she lets us do one line and then she does the rest haha voi ei, I'll never learn! But then she made for us Pannukakku (its German pancakes like the ones you make, but here is the thing I never had those in Germany, its pretty much a Scandinavian thing. Maybe we should change the name (=) but anyways we were so full Sis. Woods and I thought we were going to barf eating even more. The bike ride home needless to say was not the most comfortable. We took the stairs to our apartment on the 5th floor instead to work some of that out. 

President Texeria came for mission tour! He is the President for the Europe Area 70, and he is from Portugal, speaks 4 languages fluently. Such an incredible man. His wife was such a great teacher! Before the meeting we had a pre-meeting with him. He just expounded on the scriptures like no other. It was amazing, he taught us that the parable of the Talents in Matthew can be used for talent or what not, but in actuality it is a parable about leadership and our responsibility in building His kingdom. He has asked that we change the culture here. People always say Finland is a hard place to be a missionary, but actually its hard anywhere. If we let excuses hold us back then it restrains the Lord. I love how straight forward he was with everything! He told us of inspiring stories of his mission days and missionaries that helped shape him. I was so impressed and moved by those stories I want to be like those. He showed us this video and kept referring back to it, asking are you living your mission like this man, are you living the gospel like this man? This gospel already has the full course meal and fun stuff paid for, are we going to open our eyes and start accepting the blessing that the Lord, the Savior Himself already paid for? http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2081541444001

It was just amazing, and I got this super strong impression that we should invite J. our friend to met President T. so turns out President has time at 3pm and so does J. President T. just fills the room so strongly with the Spirit and calls J. out and says he already knows the Book of Mormon is true and tells him to be baptized in 2 weeks. And Jani said YES! Oh my goodness and he is seriously about this!!! Wow, he said he is just going to take huge painkillers to get over drinking coffee (so turns out it really is that easy!) 

It's that easy, if you know the Book of Mormon is true, everything else falls in place. You don’t have to keep asking on every doctrine okay, well is this true or not? Once you know that God the Father called a prophet who translated that Holy Scripture, the rest is history. Then it is up to us if we will have the guts to live it, love it, stand up for it. So read it and ask. It makes the rest of life so much more full and exciting each day. 

I love you all! Keep calm and preach on (=

Love, Sisar Hubner

P.s. We made snow angles!!! Love the snow when it’s not slushy. Also the other picture is Sisar Pace and I after mission tour love that girl!

P.P.S. Sisar Woods bike has something wrong with it and it literally sounds like she is taking off an airplane when she rides it. Hahaha I get a kick out of it every time! Not to sure if she appreciates that but hey you gotta appreciate the small things in life!

Do You Follow the Prophet?

Before I tell of my super exciting week I wanted to give a shout out to the greatest Dad that ever lived. MARK EDWARD HÜBNER, if you haven’t met him yet then you are missing out. Talk about one humble guy. Yesterday was Isän Päivä, in other words father's day in Finland. That morning I read while eating my yummy muesli breakfast in General Conference 2011 talk- "Love Her Mother." 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/love-her-mother?lang=eng

READ IT! Then READ IT AGAIN! Then give your dad a big hug. I realized while reading it, that explained my father completely. At a young age I always wanted to be like him, most kids played house, or school. I played hospital, I was the surgeon, my sisters were my patients. I wanted to be just like Dad. I remember how excited I was to see him coming home in his military uniform, those fancy blues. He was my big hero, he still is. I remember he got me so excited to learn, I felt like the most brilliant one around him. When dad worked out, I tried to work out too haha. He always had the best ideas, and really random vacation ideas- for example going to the Swiss Alps and finding a pig museum to go to....hahaha only him. I remember as a kid he would take me with him to visit the lonely, the widows, and the sick. I thought those were the best daddy-daughter-dates. I love you dad, and I’m so grateful for the selfless priesthood holder you have been all throughout my life. You da best (=

So this week was another spectacular one. So just two little experiences I would like to share. So last week we got in contact with someone that formerly investigated the church, he is from Italy and his wife is a Finn. The wife wasn’t too happy about it all, but we had a return appointment set up for the next week and their adorable son just loved us and was super bummed when we had to leave and couldn’t play a game with him. So we prepared a good lesson focusing more on the son. So we show up and no one answers. So we wait a little bit and then the son runs up the apartment stairs. We were expecting a super big hi and a lot of excitement......but NO. 

Man I have never gotten more shut down in my entire life, he was like why are you here again? I’ve had enough of you. Menkää vaan! (which means go away). Then the dad walked up, also not looking very happy. We politely said we'll come back some other time. 

Just to get on my soapbox for a second. I think it is ridiculous that we even have to explain to people how amazing this gospel is, that we go person by person, letting them know the GREATEST; most PEACEFUL, most LOVING news that is on the face of this planet, and people are so rude to us, and man say WHAT??? This is the one thing that will mend broken hearts, lift up depressed hands, and make you feel like a million and 10 dollars! And yet......anyway enough of that you get the point. 

Anyways we left feeling pretty sad, it was about -15 c outside, our little fingers and toes are freezing, heads down, trying not to just let the tears fall. Rejection is one thing that happens jatkuvasti (continuously) and the worst part about it is that you can’t ice yourself off or else the message will choke in our mouths because this is THE MESSAGE of REDEEMING LOVE. I know it was just a shut down from a 5 year old, but still it stung us pretty bad. But we recognized that we were going to continue to punch Satan in the face and not let that knock us out of the game. So we decided to hit up this potential that hadn't answered the door last week. So after a long freezing bike ride- we make it to A's house. And He warmly invites us in and is so excited to see us (he is from OHIO!!!! hahah and his girl friend in Finnish) they have 5 kids all together. And they were sooooooo open to the message. We taught the restoration-and they were just so down to pray and ask God if this message of joy could possibly be true.!!!! They are so great!!!!!!!! We left their house literally just dancing. Hearts so full, gratitude so high, that they Lord stabled our little wobbly knees in a time we needed it the most and then blessed us for continuing on. 

People, THE CHURCH IS TRUE! THE GOSPEL IS THE GOOD NEWS! Seriously if you don't believe it just get yourself a Book of Mormon, read it and pray about it!!!!!! So much joy we can’t contain ourselves.

Though rejection really hurts sometimes, what is worse is not even sharing the light. 

Another amazing thing that happened this week is C. and H. they changed their baptismal date earlier to the Nov 22. They are so excited and literally can’t wait! AHH I just love them. On Saturday we had a teach with them and only C. came and told us that H. was feeling so tired that day. So we sent her a get better text and started talking about the plan of salvation and the lessons they had learned from the scripture. Then after 15 minutes into the lesson we hear the church door open and we popped our heads out and see H. victoriously coming in!!!!!! She explained that she was so sorry to be late, that she wasn’t going to come but, then she was like, ''I’m not giving up that easily!'' Seriously one of the best moments in my mission. We go on to having a great lesson about the plan of salvation focusing on the fall and the need for a Savior. Also at the end of the lesson we asked if they have a chance to look up the living prophet- Thomas S. Monson and read more about what the prophet is saying in our day. 

H. gets so excited and said,'' I FOLLOW THE PROPHET......on FACEBOOK AND TWITTER''

hahahhahahahhhhaa FOLKS there you have it, thanks to technology you can even literally follow the Prophet. So my question is this, do you follow the Prophet? Are you just as excited as H. and C. are to receive living revelation from the messenger of God? Do you know what the Prophet is saying in our days? I invite all that is reading this to learn more about a living prophet and the message of Hope and abiding love that he shares. 

#doyoufollowtheprophet

hahhaha love it, and I love you all!! Catch you all on the flip side!

Sis. Hübner!

P.s. if you haven’t become addicted to this sight yet, then check it out again!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/

Happy Halloween (The Latter day saint Style (; )

Well, just when you think life can’t get better you get hit with something even more AMAZING!!!! Amazinger.......that should be a word if its not already!

So I have this amazing companion! Her name is Sisar Woods. It was super sad to see my old comp Sisar Lund go. We literally had 2 minutes to run her to the train before it left, but we have been doing that this whole transfer so I guess we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sisar Woods is from Oklahoma, she is a little bit taller than me, sings like an angel and is basically amazing in every way and pretty quirky!! I love it!! Its crazy how well we work together, we kinda just do our own thing, but it works out, great together in planning, working, teaching. It’s pretty nice!

So on Tuesday we picked Sis. Woods up from the train station in the morning. She had been on the night train. Poor girl we had a tons of appointments and a TON of biking, and she isn’t really used to biking and she was sleep deprived. She’s a trooper! We didn’t even have time to sit down and eat dinner. We literally ran to Prisma(food store) and shoved caesar wraps into our mouths right before jumping on our bikes and death sprinting on a digesting tummy to our next appointment.

You know what they say, working hard or hardly working… right?!?

Surprisingly this week has been hyvin mukava weather (pretty nice). Not too cold, by no means summer but hey… its Finland.

Great week of working! Our Vietnamese friends C. and H. are AMAZING!!! Literally they have become my best friends and they just have this spiritual clarity, they are willing to give up anything and everything to feel the joy of the spirit. They basically taught us the word of wisdom and committed themselves to live it and to get rid of any other things in their lives that are distracting them from feeling the spirit. H. said she used to spend too much time on Facebook and wanted to stop, so she replaced her Facebook time with reading the Book of Mormon and feels this light that she has never felt before and its helping her focus in on the important things! AHHH I wish you all could meet them, they are just, well probably 2 of the most amazing people I have ever met!

On Thursday night we jumped on a plane down to Helsinki and there we had Missionary Leadership Training. But that night before it was super fun, we all stay in Espoo and there we had a sleepover with the Sisters, Sisar Nielsen my twinner, Sisar Bitner, Crandall, and Dixon. I was in the same MTC district as Sisar Crandall and Nielsen and MAN!!! So much fun! They are really just the greatest people in the world! I also don’t think I have laughed that hard in a while! Also we were all in bed about to go to sleep when Sisar Nielsen shouts, ''WE FORGOT TO PRAY TOGETHER!!!!'' So we all get out of our beds, and kneel around the one bed and together say nightly prayers. So amazing, the spirit, the power, the love. Moments like that I wish I could just freeze and enjoy them a bit longer.

The next day we had the meeting. Wow, great things are coming to Finland, mission tour, more organization so that all the zones can be in the same page and training to become better teachers! And then just a powerful lesson at the end on the Atonement. President Watson, explained and expounded on the scriptures after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit just how much of a completely hopeless state we are all in, and yet our Father carefully planned for it all, and through the Love and charity of our big brother, Jesus Christ, we can be saved. We can start over and over again. There is no ending with Him. So amazing and also he expounded on Jacob 4:14--------READ IT!!!! How often do we look beyond the mark, when what we really need is simplicity.

Then we all together went to the Temple, Halloween night, when all the world is doing all sorts of crazy, who knows what things. We all stepped out of the world for a few hours. It was amazing. We had a little extra time in the beginning before the session started, and with Sisar Watson, all us sisters went into the most amazing Bride Room. The spirit in there was so amazing, we all just hugged and cried. We didn’t want that moment to end. Man, one day I am getting married in the temple for time and all eternity. I would sacrifice anything in the world to feel that spirit and to make that promise with my Father and my future husband. (but this convo is for a latter date.... ahhaaha)

Then the next day, well we took a night train to get back to Oulu......gotta love those... and A. our friend from Sudan who was imprisoned for a long time and finally bribed his way out just for being a Christian, finally got baptized. IT WAS INCREDIBLE so many people came and man, he was just GLOWING afterwards. When he bore his testimony, wow, words can’t describe. He has been searching for this truth for 36 years and now he found it and couldn't be happier. 

C and H. also just loved it and after wards, President and Sisar Watson came to the lesson with them and man, just incredible is the only word to describe. They are so excited to learn and grasp more light. I love them soooooo much!

I love you all,

Sisar Hübner

P.S. So it snowed super hard when we got back and we have been biking on slush which is supper hard to do. Luckily I haven’t biffed it yet! katsotaan!

Pic of all the sisters and I in front of the temple afterwards. WE LOVE THE TEMPLE!