Getting Old

26 May 2014

So as most of you know, I am finally 20 years old. No longer a teenager. I was thinking back to what I did for my 19th birthday and realized that I was on a mission almost the whole year of being 19. Feels good, wouldn't want to spend it any other way then serving my Savior.

First off shout out to my family for the awesome package! Super cute dress, and I loved all the random notes, ranch dressing, bugs, candy, and Harry Potter jelly beans (yikes, haha they taste so real). 

Started my 20th birthday off right, with Sisar Thayne making me pancakes. At church so many people came up and sang to me, I received a ton of chocolate, and a cute necklace from one of the ward members. It was a really great birthday to remember! The one and only birthday I will have in Finland. What’s even more, our investigator Family came to church! Best birthday present ever!

So here is the story of miracles about this Family. It is the M. Family. My companion Sisar Thayne felt like we needed to go to Area 5 that day which was slightly strange because we had just decided that we were going to give that area a break for a while. We tried to contact a few potentials, and did some doors (one door these two guys answered and when they saw our name tags they literally ran out of the house..... it was super awkward because we had to close the door after them.....hahah love being a missionary, we literally scared them out of their house) and nothing was happening. I remember that we had seen this African family from their window and for some reason it caught my attention. They didn't look Somalian (the only country that is 100 percent Muslim, and we can’t teach them because it is too dangerous for them) so we had decided to try contacting this family. We went but the door was locked outside the building to get in. So we jump on our bikes and were about ready to leave, and I get the feeling that we should try one more time. So we go back, and what do you know, these two Russian Moms are holding the door open. So we run inside, and knock on the door that we think is the African family's. The door opens up and we are immediately invited in.

I have never met so many happy people. The family is sitting there eating bread and yogurt with smile that could last for days. They invite us to sit down, and we start talking to them and get to know them. They are from DRC, the Congo (funny story we kept thinking they were saying “Darcy,” and no one had no idea where that was) but for the last 11 years they have been living in Malawi. And they have been in Finland for 6 days!! The Lord knows His children very well. They were so open to the gospel and listening to our message. Before we started with a prayer, they told us to wait so they could put more appropriate clothes on! It was the cutest and they come back with polo shirts on! I love this family so much. They have gone through so much pain, and hardship and now they are in Finland, the safest country in the world. They have 4 children ages 15, 13, 10, and 8. We have been working closely with them, and having them meet other members in the area. They speak Swahili and some English (they were super excited when we knew Hakunamatata!). It was such a miracle because we just so happened to have all the pamphlets and a Book of Mormon in Swahili, at the church! They were able to come to church and Sisar Thayne and I were praying so hard that they would be able to feel the spirit.

We got a phone call which basically changed my life, from a recent convert from Nigeria, helping us understand how to love this family better, and gain their trust after being in such a hostel environment in a refugee camp. To love them, more than just talking about the church to listen to them with love. To let them share their story, that means so much to them, and let them know that we care. It might take time for them to understand that they really can trust us, but they will. This phone call opened up my eyes to re-assessing how I am doing in general with loving the people we teach. Where is our motive? Are we so busy with everything else that we forget to ask about them, to convey to them that we truly care and love them? I feel like sometimes this can get forgotten all to easily with all the thousands of other things we have to do. But this is the most important. This is the biggest lesson we could ever teach. This is what Christ would do, if He were here personally ministering among men at this time. Charity never faileth.

I love this gospel. I am so grateful for the many hard, but rewarding lessons I have learned on this Mission in Finland, Tampere. I know that our Father, personally knows each and everyone of His children, He cannot forgot them, and He will never forsake them.

So many lessons learned this week. I feel so humbled to be a part of this.

I love you all. Stay fresh

Sisar Hubner

P.S, This is my excitement of receiving Ranch dressing. I have been craving it for a year.

The other picture is my birthday dress Mamacita sent, and my adorable Finnish Parents. Our ward mission leader and his wife!

Waiting for the Creme Brulee to be done

STILL waiting!!!  :)

Non-stop sunshine and short sleeves, say WHAT?

Man if you have never been to Finland in the summer time you gotta come. Literally, over night summer came, all of a sudden everything is green, the sun never sets, we are coming back at 9pm and it feels like its 12 in the afternoon. I thought summer would never come, it felt like the winter would stay for ever, and just like a light switch its here. The Finns are insanely excited. As my companion Sisar Thayne sings to the tune of a wise man build his house upon a rock --- the sun comes out and the clothes come off. Hahahaaa she’s a hoot, but seriously its crazy, no clothes, when the sun is up! 

So P. is doing good, he wasn’t able to receive the Priesthood this week because for some reason he was in Helsinki again, but hopefully he will be in Tampere next week to receive the Aaronic Priesthood, and be able to baptize his girlfriend's soon to be 8 year old son. So exciting.

As most of you know missionary work is like a roller coaster, blinded folded, you never know what will happen next, the best thing is to enjoy ALL of it. Definitely easier said than done. Most of our investigators have dropped off, or we had to drop them, so we are starting from ground zero......again. It kind of happens a lot. mutta ei se mitään. 

My huge focus this week has been continuing to be grateful for everything that comes our way. No matter what to start thinking more positively. It has been helping a lot. Because we haven't had a lot of people to teach before hand, we have really been trying hard to listen to the Spirit and be lead to those who the Lord has been preparing. It has been amazing to see the Lord's hand in this work. Two cool stories from this week, was that we tried to contact a new investigator but they were at home and we had a lot of extra time, so we decided to head over to our next lesson, and on the way over for some reason this one building just really popped out to me. I thought to my self, hmmm we should go back there some time. Then this idea, that wasn't my own, pops up saying, ''or you could go now.'' I tell Sisar Thayne, and then get this huge realization that this could be the spirit, so we do a 180 and bike over there fast, not really knowing what’s going on, but feeling that there is some one who is ready. We pull up to this neighborhood and start walking and I see this mom and daughter about to walk into their house, so we casually/awkwardly run up to them and start talking. They don’t have too much time to talk but when we start talking about the church and how it strengthens families, she said to come back on Saturday and wanted to talk more. It was way cool to see that, even though I was a little slow on the prompting, the Lord let us still catch them before they walked into the house. 

Yesterday, we were headed to pick our new investigator up for church. He said that he was busy going to another church service, and that he couldn't come. So then I start praying in my heart, we are on a bus and trying to figure out where the Lord needs us to be. I ask Him, and get this strong feeling to get off the bus. So we jump off the bus and start walking back to this place that I was feeling we needed to go. On the way over we were able to stop and teach this lady about the Love her Father in Heaven has for her. Then we kept walking after the teach, and for some reason this woman who is walking down to her apartment, catches my eye. I start to second-guess it, and then realize what I’m doing and tell Sisar Thayne we gotta go follow this lady. We are pretty behind at this point, but we pick up the pace, and then all of a sudden she turns down a corner and is out of sight. So now we ask ourselves the question of what do we need to do while we are here. We see this mom and two kids playing in the sand box, so we go over and ask for directions and start talking to them, so the 8 year old son is soooooo smart, he is talking about how he loves to ponder about things, and started talking about nuclear energy, and we started to talk about the church and he is really interested, and we give the Mom a book of Mormon and she is very touched by it, but doesn’t want to set anything up before she reads and thinks about it. Her son is really into it, and we hope that he too reads the Book of Mormon. While we were walking away, both Sisar Thayne and I get the strongest feeling that, that little 8year old boy is going to serve a mission when he is older. 

It’s so humbling to be a little part of this huge work. We have been trying every day to find ''the one'' for the day. The one we can help, the one we can lift, the one who is prepared, and it has been awesome to look back and point out each day the one that we were sent to serve and help. Though God must be pretty busy with the billions of people in the world. He is your Father. He loves you. He is also their Father. He has sent us, and called each one of us to find ''the one'' of the day. You can be an answer to some one's prayer today. How can you do it? Through prayer, and acting on the spirit, YOU can be and make the difference in someone’s day TODAY! You can help them feel loved, and remember their purpose. You will never regret it. Pray for courage, and then DO IT! Don’t think too much about it, just do it. It’s worth it.(=

Love you all, hope you are enjoying the summer just as much as we are!

(This quote Alayna included in one of her personal letters home:  

“There is no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone.” I think about this a lot!) 

Rakkaudellani,

Sisar Hubner

P: S. I was sitting on the couch during lunchtime waiting for my food, to warm up and Sisar Thayne tried to be funny and pretends to pour yogurt on my face. The only issue is that she tipped it too far and it actually landed all over my face and hair!!! Haha couldn’t get too mad because I would probably have accidently done the same thing. Sometimes our companionship is like Dumb and dumber, love this life!

P.P.S. These pictures are fresh from today! We decided to go to the Särkäniemi Tower, it was amazing! Love P-days!

A Week To Remember!

First off it was amazing to see my family yesterday! I love you guys so much, and Mom I hope you had a great mother's day!

So this weekend P. got baptized on Saturday and it was so amazing, He was so prepared, and had all these questions of what happens after baptism and when can he receive the Priesthood. It was amazing, it has been so great seeing him growing and learn, and test out this gospel, and listen to him talking to his Father in Heaven. It has been so humbling to really see the Lord's hand in all of this and for Him being gracious enough to let us play a little part in it. We sang as a group of missionaries Kasten Jälkeen, When I am baptized (I think that’s the name, the I love to look for rainbows one). The spirit was so strong and as we sang I saw P. with his girlfriend member holding hands, getting teary eyed. I was able to see a little bit of the future for them, and understand how a little better how this faith, repentance, and baptism, then onto the temple changing this life, and eternity forever. On Sunday he received the gift of the Holy Ghost and it was so great to hear the blessing of how much His Father loves him and has been mindful of P. his entire life. He was received into the ward with open arms and was so great to see him connect with the members better. 

I am kind of at a loss for words of how to explain how much joy that is in my heart right now. I have learned so much on this mission, and have been so humbled by every single experience, big or small that has happened. 

While talking to my dad right before we ended Skype he said when I asked for last works of advice. ''Don’t give up. When you get on that plane ride on the way back home, you figuratively hand over your mission to the Lord and say this is my sacrifice, and want to say, I did as best as I could.''

That is one thing I have promised to the Lord, no matter how hard, how discouraged, how sad, I get. I will never give up, I will keep falling, but I will keep getting back up, with the help of my Savior. Brightening my eyes and heart to having full hope and faith, and moving forward with more game plans. 

Speaking of Game plans, this next one we are working on getting the youth involved and excited it will be called ''Youth Explosion'' gotta get a wave, coming in, and brightening up this beautiful country! If you have any ideas, about it, or something cool your missionaries did in your area, or what you have done, send me a message and let me know. This is going to be EPIC.

I love you all, keep it real, and keep smiling; the Gospel is the good news. The Lord is on our side, what do we got to fear?

Love ya,

Sisar Hubner

P.S. gave a talk at P's baptism on the gift of the holy ghost, my president once explained in a very simple way that imagine your life is made into a movie, baptism represents editing out all the bad parts. But the thing is you are still the same character that could probably do those bad things again. That is why we need the gift of the Holy Ghost, which literally changes our character. Literally helps us open our eyes and see the way the Savior sees when we act on promptings, it changes us, to only desire to do good. That is why the Holy Ghost is THE most precious gift the Father can give us. 

Pine Cone Wars and Bike Dancing

So much fun with my Sisar Thayne. So like I have said before we have this thing everyday called ''Err-bodies favorite time'', where we do something randomly fun to make sure we still got spirit and laughter and fun and we also remind ourselves that we really are still 19 year of girls, and let the happiness out.  This week after our amazing scavenger hunt, we were walking along a strange forest path to make it back home and I come up with this idea to pick up all the pine cones I can gather in about 3 nano seconds before Sisar Thayne realizes what i am doing, and start attacking her with pine cones. Needless to say we definitely had a pinecone war, in the middle of a forest, out side of our less-actives house in Tampere, Finland. Does life get much better? Or more fun? I'm not sure. 

The next day while trying to contact a potential investigator who said she wanted to come to church, turns out the address is bogus, and is actually this very interesting Punainen Risti Logistiksi keskus, stuck in the bottom of the only mountain/hill I have ever seen in Finland, very peculiar, because it is literally stuck into the rock face of this mountain mustavuori (black mountain) with all these video survellence, and there are dead squished frogs all over the ground. Very weird to say the least, and while we are biking down this huge hill, we start singing "another one bites the dust," and dancing on our bikes....If you have never tried bike dancing I highly recommend it, preferably in a place that not too many pedestrian are. Too fun, love this life.

Well it’s just been another good week to be in Tampere. Most of our investigators dropped us or we had to drop them, or they were Muslim and it turned out to not be a safe thing to teach them, so we have been doing the ten doors but in an exciting and more effective way.

Cool Story of the week, because we have been dropped or had to drop some investigators, we have been doing it in a different way to switch it up. We call it the scavenger hunt, because we are on a scavenger hunt in a specific area to find the few who the Lord has been preparing. The game is this; we have really no other clues to where these people could be except for through the Holy Ghost. So we have to make prayer a huge thing, or else it is just a guessing game. We broke up the ten doors and through praying always we were literally lead to 3 new investigators, and a couple of really solid potentials. This is in an area that we were about to stop going there as often because we never find anyone. There are 2 ways to not make missionary work as scary or stressful, 1. Turn into a robot (not effective, and usually discouraging) or 2. Turn it into a fun game and laugh when it gets awkward, and be grateful were in Finland. Worked like a charm! 

In church we have been learning a lot about gratitude. The Holy Ghost literally opened up my mind to understanding this concept better. Biggest thing that has been holding me back, my self and thinking negative thoughts. This is where Satan gets us the most. If he has us telling lies to ourselves, then he doesn't even have to do that much work to stop us from being the valiant servants we are. Negatives thoughts to myself such as, 'well I wasn't courageous enough yesterday so there is no way I will be today', 'should I talk to him/him? He'll probably ignore us', 'wow this bus is so empty, this woman will not be open to talking to me if I sit next to her, that’s too weird.' I have been realizing that although I'm not a downer type person, there are so many negative thoughts that are literally crippling my ability to work. When we train ourselves to think positively or even be a little more grateful to the small things, it literally opens our mind and eyes to see the whole picture and work better. 

Our investigator P. is progressing very well, it helps that he has a girlfriend who is a strong member. He just called us and told us that he went to church is Espoo so that he could visit the temple grounds and that he really wants to go in! This is the work we are doing, this Saturday he will enter the waters of baptism, and then in a couple of weeks he will be able to go to the temple and be a proxy for Baptisms in the Helsinki temple. He will then have the opportunity to feel the fullness of this gospel in the house of the Lord.

Also I hit my one-year mark as a missionary in one month! Wow times flying, and also sometimes crawls by slowly but, for the most part its crazy to think where I was last year at this time.

SNOW in May !!!!!!!!!!

Hyvää Vappua! Means Happy first of May, its a national holiday, and people get drunk like crazy and wear these funny party pants from their university, its a hard red day which means that if possible we are inside as much a we can. We had a Lu'au at the church led by one of the missionaries here and it was so fun and he taught the members how to Hula dance, and when we tried to get home we got stuck in the center because all the busses stopped, and let me just tell you, we heard the most amazing Native American music of my life, literally Sisar Thayne and I were entranced by it for about 10 minutes. Turns out the festival that happens in the center every year is run by this Native American group and they play music and sells clothes and bracelets, and food. It was incredible, so random but so fun, and I got a little surprise for my baby sisters, so Aria and Saige, get excited I was so excited when I bought it! 

Well I am very much out of time but I love you all, sorry if this email is all over the place but ya, The gospel is the good news, and as my Dad and Mom would say, its all about the Gratitude Attitude!

See ya soon Mom and Dad, for mother's day on Skype!

Rakkaudellani,

Sisar Hubner!

P.s. this is us after our pinecone fight!

Glittering Lakes and Boots stored away

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I remind myself that I am in FINLAND on a mission for the Lord, and it gets me all sorts of excited....still! This place is breathtaking. This week has been so warm almost 17 degrees Celsius everyday, I’m not exactly sure what that is in Fehrenheit, but man, sooo great. The boots are stored away, green is budding out of the little branches everywhere, the birds and valitetavasti, the bugs are coming out, and the lakes are glimmering and glittering, its a great time to be alive and sharing this awesome message to these Scandinavian People.

Me in front of Tohloppin Järvi, this beautiful lake outside my apartment that I drive past on the bus, every single day! I love this amazing land!

I went to the train station with my little baby, Sisar Pack and sent her on the train up to Jyväskylä. Can't believe my only daughter left the nest and is saving China,,,,,,errrrr Finland. Then I got my new companion Sisar Thayne. I don't know whose idea it was to put us two together, but man, this week/transfer seems too fun to be missionary work in Finland. It seriously has been a blast; she is from Provo, Utah. Ran track for University of Utah, lived in Ohio (it all keeps going back there.......weird stuff) and California, and she is just the cutest! Also has great clothes that we have been sharing (= hahahaaa true story).

We started it off right and went to our investigator's house M, this is on Monday our P-day and our member who has been fellowshipping M. was there with her whole family and their kids became best friends instantly! So great, we had some yummy Indian food that her ''cousin'' A. from Tunisia (not really sure how that works) made. And we ate cake, took pictures, and sang. It was so fun, and A. made it a point that we pray all together over the cake before we all ate it! Hahah funny guy he also dressed up in a dress and did a crazy dance for us......hahah tervetuloa(welcome) SIsar Thayne to Tampere 2. Needless to say we were off to a great start!

We have made goals to continue to destroy fear so that we can totally run off the spirit with nothing holding us back. We do crazy awesome workouts by the lake, and we speak complete Finnish every other day! This is the life. 

As some of you know our investigator P. has a baptismal date for May 3rd, and we have been praying soo hard that he will get a firm answer of it. He has been going to church every Sunday down in Helsinki with his friends for about a month or more, and is keeping every commitment, reading the Book of Mormon everyday when He has extra time in the car, or at night, and has been praying so hard to receive a firm answer. We had just finished our lesson with him, the member and bishop present and I felt like I should let him know that he can receive a priesthood blessing of comfort and guidance, when I told him this he said, ''Kyllä on jo saanut'' Yes, I know I have already received one this last weekend. I’m not sure exactly what happened but I was just hit in the heart with this brick or something, that I can't even explain, his Heavenly Father's love for him just rushed in, completely filled me, tears started to swell in my eyes. I felt like I needed to say the closing prayer. So I ask everyone if we could kneel together. I go to say the prayer and I cant, tears are just streaming down my face, as I humbly started to pray and plea to the Lord to give P. the strength to stand the hard temptations he has been facing, and the bless him with a sure answer, to bless him with understanding of his Father's love. It was the most powerful prayer that I have every spoken, and for a couple minutes after the spirit was so strong and it was as if the veil or unknowing, of doubt, or confusion was lifted and we were blessed with a clear few, if only for a few moments, I know that P. felt it. 

This is the true and living gospel, and P. knows it, now it is just a matter of timing and love, and katsotaan what the Lord has in store for P. But I know that P. is God's precious son, and I am so grateful that I was able to help him understand that a little better. 

This weekend we had Vaarna Konferensi, Stake conference, and it was great! President Keran, from the 70 came and spoke he is from England, and just such a delightful and inspired man. The man lesson learned this weekend was this, Chose one thing that is holding you back, pick it carefully and through the atonement let go of it, let go of the fear, the bad habit, the lack of faith, and change. It is possible through the Savior's atonement. Another realization to me this week was, that just like in 3 Nefi 11, we have General Conference, then right after stake conference, and after that we talk about it in Church. Why so much? Why did the Father have to try and introduce his Beloved Son 3 times? Sometimes we go and listen, but don't apply, that is why we need to hear it at least 3 times. But just imagine if the people in 3 Nephi 11 had listened, and understood The Father the first time, how many more miracles would have happened, how much more time would they have had with their Savior? The message in this modern day that is becoming more and more confusing and full of heartbreak, is that the Lord loves us, He has restored precious truths back on the earth again today. 

The gospels, the good news, so share it with a smile! 

I love you all, keep up the great work my friends (=

Lovella,

Sisar Hubner

P.S. Pic 1 Sisar Thayne and I in Pynikki, so beautiful

Sisar Thayne and I on our walked to our investigators house!. Pic 2 is a picture of us at our investigators birthday party with our member's family!

 

Doing Service

Transfers!

So as you all know, due to the title of this email its we got our change calls early this week. I have been here for 8months now in Tampere so I was getting the feeling that maybe I would be leaving. We got the call a couple days early which was a surprise to say the least and guess who is staying in TAMPERE?!? This sisar! Woot woot. I am actually really excited because this is miracle time, and the Lord has blessed me enough to be here to see it happen. Also there must be work that I still haven't done yet. Prayers! That we will find the ones who are ready for this gospel. Our mission president said that while he was praying, he felt very strongly the Lord say to Him, and with His help every area in this mission can have a baptism this month and next month. So exciting, we are holding to the Lord's promise and putting our faith in Him. 

We have been working with P. for a while, we found him from the ancient referral site and he has been so interested in finding truth. Well we reset the baptismal date for the 3rd of May, and it is looking like the conversion is taking place, He literally seems like a new man, then from the beginning. He is living the word of wisdom and though he says it has been way hard to go without coffee, he can feel the difference. He has been going to church down in Helsinki with his girl friend who is a member down there, and they have just accepted him into the ward with open arms, and he loves going to church, and always has so many questions for us. It’s so great to teach people that have questions, and want to learn! It seemed that for a while we were just trying so hard to get people to want this, but that is not our purpose, our purpose is to find those who are searching for the truth but know not where to find it. Thanks to the counsel from Neco and Felipe, we were able to teach this time at a member's house through the commitment of living the law of chastity, through the importance of Baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We asked why it would be important for him to live it he went on with this whole testimony of it, and smiled and said that of course he would live it!!!!!! It was magic, and then this member just sincerely testified about the blessing of baptism and how it is a new start and right now he doesn’t understand it all, but he soon will and will be ready for his baptism by reading the Book of Mormon and praying fervently to his Father. It was so powerful and P. was really moved by this lesson. Prays for him that he will continue to feel the answers that he has been looking for. 

Also this week, I don't know if you know this about me but I just love Asians. In any way shape or form, and I saw this adorable Chinese woman on the street pushing her stroller and I immediately ran over there and started talking to her. Of course she was too cute, and so kind and said that we could come over on Saturday but she wasn’t that religious, but we will see.

So we went over on Saturday and we had a timing mess up but we went with her and her son so that he could play at the park and just talked to HER about her and learned more about her and her needs. Its so interesting how that changes things, instead of thinking about what can we say, or we do. But rather just listening and care about her, the gospel naturally comes out, because it has the answers to everything. She told us how it was really hard to be in Finland, and that he husband was always at work and how she wants to be a good Mom but she is so tired, and feels that she isn't doing good enough, and I just started talking about my amazing mom, how she had to deal with me as a kid and though I must have made her so tired and warn out, that the one thing that helped her so much was prayer, and that her Father in Heaven would give her more energy, and more love to love me beyond herself. We continued to teach her about prayer and she was so interested and wanted to try and had such sincere questions of how she could actually get answers, at the end she said the sweetest prayer I have ever heard, thanking her Father in heaven for her son and the sun shine, and an opportunity to meet new with us. It was so sweet and she is so ready to learn more and wants a relationship with God. 

It was so humbling to be able to teach her simply about the love that God has for her specifically. I know understand better how important it is to teach this first, so that no matter what happens after the lesson they leave feeling the conviction from the spirit that they have a father who loves them unconditionally.

I love you all, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve along my Savior, trying to align my will with his, I haven't gotten it down yet but I want to, and I love that everyday is a new start, that is the message of this gospel, you can never fall too hard, so fast, so far that you are out of reach from the love and cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to lift and heal the scars. I hope you all reflect a little more on how you have seen the hand of the Savior in your life. 

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Hubner

P.s. pic 1, is traditional wooden weaved shoes and basket from Finland, pic 2 is my Finnish grandparents, I love them so much, such hard lives, and yet they love beyond their selves and look to lift those whose hands hang low. 

Easter! Pääsiäinen        14 April 2014

Hey Family and Friends, so basically we had a pretty awesome week, I ran out of email time so sorry this is going to be so short. But I just want to give a huge shout out to my Hubner family. I love them more than words can describe they have molded me into the person I am today and keep learning so much from them. 

This week our huge push is to get the doctrine of action under our belts. In the letter our President sent to us he talked about being determined to act on whatever the answer we get from the Lord before we even get the answer, it really also helped me understand how to teach our members and investigators how to really get answers to there prayers. Sisar Pack and I have a system that we have come up with which is called, ''Overcoming Fear'' how to really recognize our fear address it and then face it. There was an article in the Liahona that said that when we are Disciples of Christ, we do whatever to Spirit tells us. I feel like we are soooo close but sometime the fear kicks in and then we only give small commitments or miss the one that we were sent to find. This last week of the transfer, we are trying to just blow it out of the water and get members out with us, and find find find, and set one more baptismal date. It has been so hard to retain our new investigators; we get them with a member present. We are really trying to invite the spirit in, so that they feel something different and want to learn more. 

Cool Story, so we wanted to figure out the referral site a couple weeks ago, because we were convinced if we put the work in then the Lord would give us a miracle. From that site, we found one man, that now has a baptismal date, and just last Saturday we got a call back from the other referral from a couple years ago from the referral site that wanted to meet. We met her with a member present, and it was crazy, all her family just came out of no where and we were able to pick up a few new investigators, received a couple service opportunities, and then that Sunday, her Son and our investigator picked us up and we went to church together. IT was Amazing!

I love my Savior, I have been reading more about His life, and how I can better use His atonement daily so that His suffering wasn't in vain. During this Easter time think about what type of relationship you have with your Savior. How can we become better disciples?

I love you all, 

Sisar Hubner

P:S. The second picture is in Pyyniki, the prettiest part of Tampere, the picture depicts how much I love Finland

Other pictures was during out 'every bodies favorite time, we found a small forest to walk through to get to our appointment, man this place is amazing!! 

P.P.S. Awkward story of the week I accidently told someone I loved the weapon they were wearing, instead of saying the outfit they were wearing......too good, still making noob mistakes with this language sometimes! kuitenkin KIRKKO on Totta!

If we do our part, the Lord will make it happen

So for most of you that have been keeping updated with my letters know that from the beginning of the year we have been doing this huge mission wide fast to start the second harvest in Finland. For every week, there has been one area that we have been praying for and in return they have been fasting specifically that the Lord will open up the windows of heaven and pour down his blessings! So this week was the end of the fast, and our mission president promised us that if we do our part, finding always-talking with everyone, always a member present (member with us every night), setting baptismal dates early, and getting them to church, and doing church tours, and of course praying always then every area in this mission will have a baptism this month, or next month. 

WOW, not to much to ask for in return for their eternal happiness, we are trying so hard to do what he has asked because we have TRUST in the servant of the Lord. The image of our friends in white for baptism, and then white again for the temple has been our constant reminder, our driving force. 

This weekend we were lucky to be able to hear the messages of love and warning from the prophets of the Lord. And on Sunday, Sisar Pack and I, along with all the other missionaries in our mission fasted for this blessing to be poured down upon the people of Finland, and that one baptism at least will happen in April, or May and focusing on of weapons of rebeliion that still need to be given up so that we can fully trust in the Lord and his servants and jump with a leap of faith, knowing that as scary as it seems sometimes, we have to fully make the jump in order for the Lord to give us His wings to fly. 

Can I just say how amazing General Conference is? That the Lord loves us enough that he gave us more than an ancient bible to guide us in the hard days of today's world. We have living prophets, apostles, and mentors that remind us of our worth, and our potential. I was talking with this lady from our ward. She is amazing and she came out with us one night, and though everything fell through, we were able to knock on some doors, and she bore such a powerful witness and testimony of this gospel. She said that John Bytheway once said, ''Its like us seeing Michael Jordan and being so excited to meet him and asking him to show us a dunk or something amazing that we know he has done or can do, and him being so confused about what we are talking about and saying that he has no idea what we are talking about, that he can't do that stuff and walking away.'' This is us, we don't remember the people we were before this life, or our potential, but just like what was said in general conference, we can only reach our potential, if we don't separate our personal life and religious life, through the Holy Ghost and follow the promptings we can reach that potential the Lord knows we can reach. 

This week we worked so hard to get members out with us every night, and guess what? They came, but unfortunately every single one of our investigators forgot, and we were left knocking doors and talking to people on the streets. Although not the most ideal, I have faith that when we do our part, we can't control the outcome, but the Lord in His own way will make it happen! 

So those who are reading this, please give it a try and go out with the missionaries, and when things fall through get creative and continue to spread the gospel! 

One cool story of the week, we went to our appointment with our new investigator, and what do you know? She’s not at home, so instead of turning into a robot, we had been praying really hard that day with intent to find a mother in this area Haukiluoma, that was at home during the day. So instead of just knocking the closest 10 doors. we prayed really hard to be lead to that family. We felt like we needed to go across the apartment complex and go to this specific kerrostalo. We went in and knocked on 3 doors but nothing happened. Then we heard some really loud noises, and got excited and knocked on the door. We started talking about family, and when we finally asked one more question, she told us to come in. In their living room there were 2 kids, a Mom, and a grandmother. We followed counsel, got to know them, and used the opportunity, to start with prayer and teach them the right way. We taught almost the whole first lesson, they agreed to us coming back the next day, and the grandmother said the closing prayer. It was amazing, I am learning more and more how to use the opportunities the Lord has handed us and follow the counsel given no matter what. Miracles follow when we remember whose name we are representing

I love you all.

Sisar Hubner

Pic 1- everyday we try and do, ''errbodies favorite time'' where we do something exciting to make sure we still have the fun in us, to do this work! We found a small plastic spring horse, which I fell off of......a day in the life of a Finnish missionary

Having fun

I think she needs more practice ;)

Pic 2- one of my most favorite member, who came out with us to contact a former investigator, she’s such a sport!