This week was one of the best weeks EVER!! I have to say it has been so much fun. We got to teach so many people and, of course, General Conference was this week! But before I get to all of the spiritual and uplifting messages from Conference I have to tell all about our super funny and cool experiences of the week. First of I would like to tell the story of our attempt and failure to play a April Fool's Joke on the elders. We had the best plan ever. We were dying to play a joke on the elders for April Fool's Day that we knew would really just make their day. So we decided that we wanted to break into their apartment and decorate their apartment with streamers and balloons and leave some Easter cookies. Such a good idea, right? Well, this would end up requiring some work on our part because first, they could not be home; second, we needed permission; and third, we had to be quick. From past experiences I had with the elders when I needed to borrow their car and get the car keys out of their apartment, I knew the door code to their building and where their spare key was hidden. So to put our plan in place, we set up an appointment for the elders, had an excuse planned for needing permission to get into their apartment and planned exactly when to call them to get that permission. We planned to call them and ask them if hey had an English Book of Mormon with them and if they were by their apartment so we could get it (which we knew they wouldn't be because of their appointment) and then they would simply give us permission to go in and get it. So we got on the Train way excited about the whole thing. I called the elders just 5 minutes before their scheduled appointment and asked if they were by their apartment. Elder Crofts was like "Yes, we are right here! We just got out of an appointment right next door.".... NOOOOOOO! So they ended up going and getting us an English Book of Mormon and meeting us at the station. Plan B: As soon as they got to the Station we asked if they had a Chinese Book of Mormon... Because, I mean, if you are serving in Finland you almost always need a Chinese Book of Mormon, right? Unfortunately, they were gentlemanly elders and said, "Yes of course! We can walk you to our apartment to get it." NOOOOO! We then asked why they weren't going to their appointment with their recent convert and they just simply said, "we moved it back an hour." NOOOOO! Plan C: After finally getting the Chinese Book of Mormon we decided to just be really slow leaving the building and that we were just going to forget the permission thing and just go right ahead and do it anyway. But they kept urging us to follow so I just thought, "no problem. I know the code and we can just get back inside and do it anyway." So we followed them out, and as they started running for the train, we walked back to the door and start trying to get it. I was positive I had the code right... but after 10 minutes of wasted time that I will never get back the door did not open! So we decided to call the elders and tell them all about how they had ruined our plans! They DIED laughing...."Our Door Code Changed TODAY! APRIL FOOLS ON YOU!!!" hahaha. So Yep, that is what we get for trying to Fool the Elders.... Lesson learned. :)
This week we also had such a huge amount of success with our sports activity. We had recently had an investigator who we were trying to show the temple, but our appointment fell through. After trying to get a hold of him multiple times throughout the week he simply texted and said that he was no longer interested in seeing our temple. There was no way we were were going to accept him dropping us over a text message. So we texted him back telling him that we just wanted to invite him and his friends to a sports activity that we were having on Saturday and see if they could come. He immediately texted back, "That's so awesome! I will need to speak to them... and confirm this tomorrow?" haha YES! The Sports activity ended up being a huge success! We had our recent convert bring 4 of his friends and then this investigator brought 3 of his friends with him, and we had 3 other non-members come to the activity too! That was not including those who were there from the ward. It was so much fun and they are all really starting to open up more to the missionaries and are coming every week. We also get to share spiritual thoughts with them and it is just so good. So much Fun!
Because Learning Finnish Isn't Enough... :)
We are also having really good success with our Chinese investigator. Even though we do have to take it really slow and use a lot of Google translator, she has really started to progress. It is also a lot of fun because, while we teach her the Gospel and English, she is teaching us some Chinese. This week I have decided that I really want to learn little sayings in different languages. I have now learned how to say 'hello,' 'goodbye,' 'you're beautiful,' and 'thank you' in Chinese; how to Say 'hello,' 'see you later' and 'how are you?' in Vietnamese; how to say 'thank you' and 'good bye' in Portuguese; and how to count to 19 in Cambodian; how to say 'how are you?' in Tagalog. I continue to remember some Spanish and then... of course, Finnish. I love languages. They are so fun to learn.
Conference was absolutely amazing though. I loved all of it and can't really say that I have a favorite talk. One thing that really stood out to me is how important it is to show those around us how much we love them. It is so easy for each of us to get so caught up in the busyness of life that we fail to realize the needs of those around us. When we really stop and take a step back and look at those around us, there are so many people whose lives that we can touch and lives we can bless. We are all God's Children. We are all brothers and sisters trying to return to our Heavenly Father. We all need eachother. So don't be afraid to take some time each and every day to find the One person that you can uplift that day. Find the One a day who needs you. :) I loved the poem that President Monson shared:
I Have Wept in the Night
For the Shortness of Sight
That to Somebody's Need Made Me Blind
But I Have Never Yet
Felt a Tinge of Regret
For Being a Little Too Kind
Thank you for all of your love and support! I love all of you!!! :)
Love,
Sister Knapp
P.S Sorry No new pics this week. :)
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