From Winter to Spring in the Blink of an Eye

Help From The Members Is The Best!
This past week was the BEST week of my whole mission thus far!!!! I honestly have no idea how to begin to tell how amazing this week was.  We really are seeing so many miracles in Oulu and really all over Finland.  The work really is going forward.  The best was that the members were helping us so much!  I have always struggled with getting members to lessons but really they are the best part!  They help so much and bring such a strong spirit and are another testimony to the lessons we teach.  This week was amazing as we saw members really coming together to help us! We had 8 member present lessons with investigators this week!  It was incredible!!! I have never seen that happen before on my mission and we already have 9 member present lessons set up for this next week.  We are being so blessed!  

The Blessings of Church Tours

My first talk

In our mission we are really focusing on this 10 day program which is a bunch of steps that we want done within the first 10 days of someone becoming a new investigator.  Two of the steps are church tours and baptismal dates.  This is something that Sister Nyman and I have decided to really start to focus on and try to improve on. So we have really focused on getting people to the church and as we have started to invite more and more people to church tours we have found that it is a really successful non threatening thing to people. Also, as church representatives it is not a weird thing for us to want to show them our church building, what we believe, and give them opportunities to ask questions. Just from starting to invite more people to church tours we were able to find 5 new investigators this week and have 3 church tours this week and 2 next week!  It really brings such a strong spirit to do church tours and then afterwards we almost always invite them to be baptized and one of them said yes!  He is a former investigator, Ben, from a year ago that we ran into on the street and invited to a church tour and he came and it went so well.  He had been invited to baptism before, which he mentioned when we first contacted him on the, and he said that was why he stopped meeting with missionaries...Well guess what!?  We invited him to be baptized again and he said yes!  He will be baptized on the 28th of June and we are so excited for him! :)
Speaking in Church

I also had the opportunity to talk in church this week.  Talk about the scariest thing that I have ever had to do on my mission.  The worst part was that we were SO busy this week that I didn't have time to translate it until the night before. That was nerve racking.  But it all got translated and our language coordinator got to go over it.  The best part about speaking in church is that it gives your investigators more reason to come to church.  Sadly, only one came but it was our investigator with a baptismal date.  It was SO good that he came and we are meeting with him two more times this week.  We really feel good about him and if all goes well he will be baptized. :)  It was an incredible week. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here in Finland and be a missionary.  It is the best experience of my life!! 

Half way through.  So fun celebrating with
someone a companion that came out with me!

I Was The Lucky One

We did have one crazy experience this week though. We got to talk to a drunk lady who told us her really sad life story and just kept drinking and crying while she was talking to us.  It was the sadest thing ever.  But we shared a scripture with her and talked about God with her and she just loved us and said we were like her own daughters and then before we left she kissed me on the hand and Sister Nyman on the cheek...Haha,  I was the lucky one! 

Spring Has Come At Last

Finland is really changing over night.  People would always say that Finland will go from winter to spring in a blink of an eye.  I never believed it.  But oh my word it is so true!  Trees were completely bare last night and now they are covered with leaves.  I seriously couldn't believe it.  Plus, it is SO HOT!!!! I am dying!  (Last week it was in the 40s and 50s and today it is in the 80s, though it will go back down to the 60s and 70s for the rest of the week.)  I have never been hot since coming to Finland but today it really is just so hot outside!  There actually is a summer in Finland!   I have to admit the worst part about summer in Finland is the ice cream stands.  When you are doing addiction recovery with investigators and are trying to give up sugar.... wow.  Yeah, there are ice cream stands on literally EVERY CORNER.  But it tastes amazing :)  

The funny 9 month picture

Thank you for all of your love and support!!  I love all of you so so so much! 

Love, 

Sister Knapp