Snowballs From Heaven

Moikka!!! 

Smallest Glimmer of Hope 

It is definitely not summer here in Finland.  I have to admit that I got the smallest glimmer of hope that it was going to be an extremely odd winter and we were going to have an early summer.... That was definitely not true. It SNOWED!  I guess that might not be the biggest surprise for everyone back home but it was definitely a surprise to me! I was not expecting it to snow again because it had been so warm!  I even had a day where I didn't wear any tights!  That is like a really big deal!  The sun was shinning and it was just beautiful. Then one night I could not sleep because I was absolutely freezing.  It turns out that it had snowed ALL night long and ALL day the next day and the day after that.  This meant walking through the slushiness and getting hit by "snowballs from heaven" as the trees let go of all the snow that they had collected right on top of you.  It wasn't too bad though.  It is kinda crazy because when it snows a lot here they have tractors that come and knock the snow off of roofs because apparently people die every year from the snow falling of the roof and onto people. Not good..

Living In a Freezer

Sister Egan in the bathroom and me behind in the sauna

Anyway, one exciting thing is that the heaters in our apartment decided to stop working this past week...uh yeah..... cold, Cold, COLD!!!  We are basically living in a freezer!  The only heat that we get in our apartment right now comes from the heated tiles in our bathroom. This means a lot of time is spent in the bathroom.  After much contemplation with my companion we decided that we had no other option but to deep clean the bathroom... I mean I literally got on my hands and knees and scrubbed every inch of that bathroom... and then pull our mattresses in there and sleep in the bathroom and sauna.  Yes, this really did happen!  It was the best night sleep I had gotten in 3 nights!  So let's just say that we really hope we can get the heaters fixed sooner rather than later! 

Shortcut to Heaven

Can I just say that Ha i(our convert) is one of my favorite people in the world?! Even though it does require me to eat really weird foods, some of which I would never want to try in my life time, I really just love Hai.  Hahaha he is so funny. So this past Monday we got to visit with the Hentunens for family home evening and of course Hai came with us.  Our discussion was going really well and we were talking about trusting the Lord and about Jacob and the stones and boats, when all of a sudden Hai jumps in and says " that seems a bit risky....." hahaha. So we said, " Yeah, that is a bit risky, so why did they do it?!!"  His answer: "I guess because you just trust God and hope that tomorrow you get somewhere.  And if you sink.... It is just a shortcut."  Haha  that's right!  Shortcut to Heaven right there!! hahaha  We about died laughing.  Oh Hai!!  

Look!  No Tights!

You Know You Are a Missionary When...

This week was really rough because all of our investigators decided that they didn't want to answer any of our phone calls or text messages.  I really don't like it when that happens! Fortunately, one of them did and we were able to do another movie night this week.  It was crazy though because we planned to do it on Saturday because there is mutual night on Fridays and so the church is really crowded. It turned out at the last minute our investigator that could come along with the Hagaa sisters' investigator could only come on Friday though.  So we had to make some quick calls and were told that they only use 3 rooms and that we could easily use one of the rooms in the church and the TV. Well, Friday we got to the church and it turned out that that was not the case! Almost every room was being used and so was the TV!  Plus, a lot more people ended up coming because some other missionaries brought their investigator too. So we ended up having to squish 12 of us into our tiny library and watch the movie on the computer.  It ended up going really well though. They loved the Joseph Smith movie and we were able to give both of them the Book of Mormon. So that was great. We also had a bunch of food left over, including 2 bags of chips that we did not want at all. So while Sister Egan and I were in the room cleaning up and talking to Gezelle (another new convert), Elder Smith walked in and asked if there was anything they could do to help. We immediately tried to get him to take the bags of chips but he wouldn't.  Instead, he turned to Gisel and asked,  "Gisel do you know anyone who would benefit from this bag of chips?  I have had many bags of chips in my lifetime and they have really blessed me."  Oh boy!! haha You know you are a missionary when you are trying to get a referral using a bag of chips!!!  

The Crazy Things That Happen

Crazy things always happen at the movie nights. Last week we had it in Haaga and their Muslim investigator came and watched the movie with us.  She absolutely loved it and was so filled with the Spirit that she didn't know what to do.  So she immediately stood up after it ended and told everyone that she needed to give us all a blessing and asked us all to close her eyes... umm... So we we all did and for like 2 minutes it was completely silent and she didn't say ANYTHING until she finally said, amen.  We later asked the Haaga sisters about it and apparently she annointed us all. Oh the things that happen on missions!  

Thank you for all of your love and support!  Mä Rakastan Teita! 

Rakkaudella, 

Sister Knapp

That Is What We Do!

Sister P-day shopping!

Moika!!! 

The Lord Places People in Our Paths

This week has been a good week.  I got to teach one of the most spiritual lessons of my entire mission this week and it was amazing!  We had this Vietnamese girl, Thu, text us this past week asking if she could meet with us because she had been struggling with depression and being in Finland! Sister Fronk and I had actually met her on a train in the beginning of December and somehow she remembered us!  So that was really neat.  We ended up inviting her to the church and told her all about how it was a place that we can find peace and comfort and so she really wanted to come. She ended up meeting us there on Tuesday and we got to give her a church tour and tell her about how much her Heavenly Father loves her and knows her.  It was so special and you could just see how much it meant to her!  The Spirit was so strong and we ended up feeling prompted to invite her to be baptized! So we did!  And she said yes, if she can come to know that this is all true, but she doesn't know how.  YES!!! That is what we do!  We help people come to know how they can receive answers and come to know the church is true!  Perfect!! We ended up being able to teach her how to pray and gave her a Book of Mormon and she was so happy because it was in Vietnamese. :)   I am guessing that you can't find a lot of Vietnamese books in Finland. She then ended up praying for the first time and it was the sweetest prayer ever!  She is so cute and we are going to be meeting with her again this week!  We are so excited for her.  She is wonderful and it is just amazing because I know how hard it is to adjust to coming to Finland and being alone without family.  It is amazing how the Lord places people in our paths that we can really relate to. 

On a Frozen Lake!

This Train Is Leaving!

The funny story of the week is that I actually got separated from my companion!  We were running for a train, which is a usual thing for us to be doing, but it was pulling up and we were still about 100 meters away.  So I naturally I started sprinting to the train thinking that if I can get there first I can just keep pushing the button to keep the doors open so that my companion can get on.  So I do just that. The only problem was that the doors started closing and I was pushing the button from the inside but they kept closing anyway.  My companion was pushing the button on the other side.... but no. This train was taking off no matter what!  So It ended up leaving with me on the train and my companion on the outside of the train!  Whoops!  I ended up having to get off at the next stop and sat alone for 15 minutes waiting for the next train to come.  This stop was Kera, and absolutely no one is ever at Kera, so it was completely empty!  Perfect time for a power nap!! :) 

Tears & Sniffles:  Food Adventures

Also, Guess what I got to try this week!!!  PIG TOUNGE!!! Yep!  Hai was kind enough to make us some "delicious"  pig tounge this week.  Oh my goodness.  There were things that I thought I would avoid trying by coming to Finland but it looks like that is not the case!  Surprisingly it didn't actually taste all that bad.  The only problem was knowing what it was and getting it down.  Yuck!  I mean pig tongue?  Really?  I used to think that Dad had a hard time letting things go to waste.  It looks like other people have that same kind of problem but to the more extreme side of things!  But hey, It does make for a good story to be able to say that I  tried pig tongue on my mission.  I was worried I wouldn't get to try anything weird. Haha no need to worry now!  

We also got to meet with Yan and Lin this week!  They are a less-active couple in our area and they are the cutest!  I absolutely love them so much!  And guess what!  They made us Chinese food this week!  YES!!!!  I love Chinese food!  It was so good, though it was really Spicy!  They had made it earlier this week for a movie night we had and Lin said that it wasn't spicy enough.  Well this chicken was definitely spicy enough!  Through tears and sniffles we were able to share a really good lesson all about family history work  and it was awesome!  Plus, I really loved the food! :) 

Family History Work & Loving My Family

This week I got to talk a lot to people about families and family history work and it was amazing!  It made me realize how grateful I am for my family and the fact that we get to be with them for all eternity!  And because my family is so wonderful I want everyone to know a little bit about them! 

Taylor and Emily:  Shout out to Taylor who is turning 26 this week!!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  I have the best older brother and sister-in-law in the world!  I love them so much!  They even surprised me and flew out to my farewell from Texas before I left on my mission!  It honestly meant the world to me that they were there!  

Kara:  She is like my best friend!  She is so understanding and the easiest person to talk to!  She really knows how to take care of others and is really amazing at it!  I can't even count the times that she was there for me to listen to me after having a bad day, failing a test, struggling with friends, etc.  She is amazing and I love her so much! 

Cassie:  She is the best sister!  She is absolutely HILARIOUS!  She has this amazing talent of making people smile and laugh where ever she is!  She is the best at making family trips and activities fun!  I love her! 

Landon is my buddy.  He is the sweetest, most caring person in the world. He just cares about everyone and wants to make everyone happy.  I remember time and time again when I would fall asleep on the couch and he would get me a blanket and cover me up to make sure I didn't get too cold. He is an angel!  I love my bud! 

My dad is the worlds #1 Dad!  He is so supportive in everything I do!  He writes me every week and you can just tell he spends hours on each of his letters and I love them. 

My mom means the world to me.  I love my mom so much.  She does so much to take care of me and really is the reason I am the person I am today.  I don't know what I would ever do with out her.  I love you Mom! 

Really, I love my family so much! I am so grateful for each of them and I am sure most everyone out there is so grateful for their families!  So I would like to encourage everyone to do something to show your family how much you love them because I really believe that the closest things to heaven is when you are with your family!   

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

Rakkaudella, 

Sister Knapp

P.S  I would also love to thank my Aunt Judy who sent me a ring this week!  I absolutely LOVE it!  E.T.T.E.  Endure to the End!  :)

 P.P.S. I found the coolest park in the world this week!
 Angry Birds was invented in Finland!

You Have to Face the Sun!

Moikka! 

Record Those Family History Stories!

This has been a rather crazy hard week.  But even though it was really hard, there was so many blessings that we got to see and it made it so much fun! One really fun thing that happen is that some Area of the Seventies came to teach us all about family history work!  That was one of the most amazing thing ever!  We got to take our recent converts Hai and Gezelle to the devotional they had in Helsinki and it was absolutely the most motivating devotional that I have ever been to.  I am so excited to be able to do my family history when I get home. The decided to emphzise how Family History work is not Geneology work.  It is the stories about our family members that we pass on!  It just sounds so fun to me to be able to hear stories about my grandparents and parents and write a book with all of the stories.  They encouraged us all to go home and to ask a family member a story that they remember about their childhood or their parents and to record it and write it down!  So I would like to encourage all of you to do the same!  Record those family stories because how fun will it be for generations to come to hear all about your stories and what life was like for you or for your parents!

With Gizelle (center) and Hai (left) and his friends

You Look Like a Dead Chicken

We also got to see a lot of my wonderful one and only Gisel! I love her so much!  She loves to spoil us and make us soup and bring food to us all the time! I absolutely love her so much!  It was actually the funniest thing ever...there was one day this week that they sun was really shinning and she decided to visit us.  So we are sitting there talking and I am facing away from the sun and she finally grabs me and turns me towards the sun and says, "You have to face the sun Sisar!  You look like a dead chicken!". hahaha  So I guess that is what happens when you live in Finland in the winter! You become SO SO white from not seeing the sun that you look like a dead chicken!  So let's just all hope that the sun just starts to show itself a little bit more here! 

With Sister Egan, my new companion

Heartfelt Prayers
Saturday was super fun!  I got to go on an exchange with Sister Fronk!  I absolutely love her.  She is wonderful. So we started the day by helping a member clean her house because she had to move last minute and really needed a lot of help.  So we got to do that.  After that, we went to the church where we were going to meet with Gisel and Hai and make spring rolls and then end up teaching them all about  family history, when to our surprise Hai called us and told us that he was bringing 4 friends with him to help us make spring rolls!  Awesome!  Sister Fronk and I almost died laughing (inside) from shock when Hai walks in the church with these 4 beautiful Vietnamese girls, Whan, Thu, Tu, and Chang!! Our Hai, who claims that girls really don't like him, shows up with 4 beautiful girls!!!  It was the funniest thing ever and they were the cutest!  We ended up spending like 4 hours with them and gave them a church tour too!  They had so many questions about repentence and baptism which was amazing.  They also asked us if they could come back here whenever they wanted so they could feel peace.  It was amazing.  We then decided to close with a prayer of course and asked one of them to say it,  they all wanted to learn, so we all knelt in a circle and went around and each said a prayer.  They were the most sincerely heartfelt prayers I had ever heard. It is also so exciting because we are meeting with them all again on Friday and having a movie night and watching the full length restoration movie.  We are super excited and they are so cute!
Baptizing Asia in Finland

With Sister Vincent, whom I met before we both reported to the MTC

Speaking of Vietnamese girls, we also had a really cool experience with a Vietnamese girl, Thu, that we had met a couple of months ago and invited to an activity but she couldn't come.  Well, last night she ended up texting us because she has really been struggling being in Finland and felt like we could help and asked if we had any activities going on! Yes!!  It was so cool!  So I got to call and talk to her and we are actually taking her to family home evening in Helsinki with us tonight and we are so excited!  It should be so much fun!  And she is the cutest!  So we now have a lot of Chinese and Vietnamese Investigators!  Looks like we are going to be baptizing Asia in Finland.... Who knew!? 

Well, Thank you for all of your prayers and support! I love you all! The church is true! 

Rakkaudella,
Sister Knapp

The Best Last Lesson

My First Baptismal Challenge

This has been a pretty exciting week! We finally got a baptismal date with our investigator, Anna!! It was such a fun experience because it was the last lesson that Sister Fronk and I got to teach together!!  I have to admit that I was so scared to invite her to be baptized even though we were almost positive that she was going to say yes!  And it was such a cool experience to see how excited she is to be baptized and how she feels like this church is true!  She is absolutely wonderful and we are so excited for her!

Sister Fronk and I before transfers

Best Companion Ever

I have to also write about how great of a companion Sister Fronk was!  She is absolutely one of the most amazing people that I have ever met!  She loves everyone and takes care of everyone and helped me personally through so many hard times and I am so grateful for her! She is SO much fun and absolutely hilarious and could make me laugh in moments when I thought it wouldn't be possible to laugh!  She is also one of the most forgetful people I have ever met and would forget things everywhere!  The last night I was with her we got to pull an all nighter for her doctor appointment the next day!  Talk about fun!  But before that we had a little disagreement on which day the appointment was on.  I was sure it was Wednesday and she was positive it was Tuesday! So we went with Tuesday, stayed up all night, and missed our district meeting just to find out that it was actually on Wednesday!  hahaha It honestly was the cherry  on top of the cake with all the crazy experiences I had with Sister Fronk!  Luckily, because of that we did get to go to the temple after district meeting and get pictures with people in our district before we all headed off to where ever we were going!  But anyway, I love Sister Fronk! Best Companion Ever!!! 

With my Espoo district just before transfers

Tracting Success

The rest of the week went really pretty well, even though we had to do a lot of tracting, which I will admit is not my favorite way of finding people, but it all worked out and we ended up finding 3 new investigators this week!  One was super confusing.  At first she told us that she was absolutely not interested, but after my companion jumped in and testified a little bit and talked to her all about prayer and asked if we could come back and talk to her more about prayer, she said yes!  And we set up a time and exchanged numbers and everything! So we are excited to see how that lesson this week goes! We also had a cool experience where we were 5 minutes early to a lesson and so we had a few minutes to tract.  We prayed about where we should go and felt really good about this one door that we saw.  It ended up being a Chinese couple that was Christian... rare to find one of those... and they were all for hearing more about the church!  It was really amazing!  

Teaching Agency with Chocolate

Sunday was also a really fun day at church!  We got to teach the Primary all about agency, which I have to say was the funnest thing ever!  We started by doing a couple of games and one was giving them chocolate and giving them the choice of whether or not to eat it and if they didn't eat it then they got more at the end of the lesson.  We also played a game where we would blind fold one of the kids and they would have to follow one of our voices while everyone else was trying to make them lose their way. It was really fun and we got to relate that to how we are going to have a lot of choices to make but that our Heavenly Father is there to guide us to help us make right choices and when we make right choices we get blessings for it!  It was so much fun and the kids loved it!

Well, Thank you for all your love and support!  Kirkko on Totta! 

Rakkaudella, 

Sister Knapp

Change Calls: My First Actual Change

Moika!!! 

Well, this has been a pretty fun week!  And really I think the best would be to start will what happened each day and explain it that way because then hopefully I can remember it all. :)
What Missionaries Do For Fun

Monday after discovering that we were not supposed to be back in Espoo, we made a quick rush back to the apartment in Helsinki before President would even know.  It was pretty smooth of us I must say and then we finally had more clothes and things to keep ourselves busy while we were hanging out inside all day!  And that is basically all that we did! I read more of the Book of Mormon and got all the way to Mosiah in just a short few days!  It was the best and really actually a ton of fun!  Yes, that is kinda what we missionaries do for "fun"! Just kidding, we do a lot of other fun things like throw snowballs at each other, lose things on trains and call other missionaries further down the line to run out and grab stuff, run for trains and buses... and miss them.... and a ton more. :)  I'll explain later.

Last district meeting with this group 

Missionary All Nighter! 

Tuesday was fun.  We got to go to district meeting back in Espoo.  We tried to ask President Rawlings if it was alright for us to go but he didn't answer so... we just went anyway!  We love our district and we knew that it was going to be one of the last times that we would get to be with them.  But then there was that awkward moment when we discovered that our mission president was there giving interviews and was really surprised to see us.... oops! haha  We both got to get interviews and he told me what the doctor had said about Sister Fronk and the results!  So really she is having seizures and isn't actually passing out.  They just need to do another EEG scan when she is sleep deprived and then get some medicine and she will be fine!  That is a relief!   I am really excited for her to be better.  So tonight we get to stay up all night for her EEG!  So I get to pull an all nighter and keep her up all night on a mission with permission!!  :) SWEET!!! It is going to be really fun!  Plus, it is our last night as companions.
The Three Finger Hold
Anyway (back to Tuesday) after district meeting we had to go back to our apartment in Kilo because Sister Fronk couldn't make it to the train station, so the Lohja elders ended up driving us to our apartment.  Elder Hunter finally realized that something was wrong with Sister Fronk and kept looking back at her and asking if she was ok. I kept having to tell him to keep his eyes on the road because he was driving! I don't know how he had just noticed because she had a big seizure right in front of him!  Oh Elder Hunter! haha  But then when we got to the apartment, I was carrying all of her stuff and she was trying to stand up outside the car but was falling forward. So Elder Waite was trying to hold her up with three fingers, because he's an elder and she is a sister...but she was going to fall on her face!  So I had to tell him that he had permission to touch her--not sure what good permission from me does--but it worked!  Actually, better than I thought because he ended up bending down and picking her up and carrying her into the apartment where he plopped her on the couch, completely out of it, and then left!  Haha it was pretty funny. Sister Fronk was so upset about it later! But she needed help, so I feel fine about it!  It was just embarrassing I guess... haha.  Then later we went to the temple and taught a less active family, which was really amazing!  Then we went back to Neitsytpolku (Helsinki).  

Exchange with Sisar Ross

Exchange with my MTC Companion

Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with Sister Ross and Sister Gasser!  It was really fun to be able to see my MTC companion again! I love her so much! Plus I got to hear all about her mission so far and the work that they have been doing and everything. And I got to experience some miracles with them! They had this potential investigator who just wanted a CD of the Tabernacle Chior and so they took her the CD  and she ended up letting us in.  We were able to teach the first lesson and she asked for a Book of Mormon and told us that we could come back the following week!  So that was really cool to see. We also went to a less active's home and her son is actually not a member and usually doesn't come out to listen to anything, but he came out and listened to the whole lesson and joined in on the prayer and everything!  It was really cool to see that!  

Giving out Valentine's cookies with Sister Fronk

Train Difficulties & Miracles

Thursday I was back with Sister Fronk and we ended up going back to Espoo because both her and I really missed it and knew that one of us, if not both, would probably be leaving Espoo soon. So we took all of our stuff  (including Elder Ahlquist's 17lb package) with us... 2 backpacks, a small suitcase each and this big package!  Let's just say it was the most interesting difficult trip back to Espoo ever! And that is when Sister Fronk ended up leaving her shoulder bag on the train!  It practically had her life in it!  So we hurried and called the Espoo sisters further down the line and they ran out and got it off the train!  A miracle!  That night, we invited a potential to a ping pong activity that was happening at the church and she said she could come but then ended up not being able to because her roommate didn't have a key and she needed to wait until they got home. Super sad!  But hopefully we can do something later with her! 

Valentine's Day
Friday... YSTÄVÄNPÄIVA!!!!  So Friday morning Sister Fronk was really struggling and so I got to spend the whole morning making heart shaped sugar cookies! Later that day we printed off little notes to put on the cookies with a scripture on it (Moroni 7: 45-47.)  It was super fun and then we went to people's doors and to people on the street and wished them a "hyvää ystävanpäiva" and gave them cookies.  We got to sing "Love one Another" to some of them and it was super fun! Plus, it really made people feel good when we were giving them cookies. (Though someone flat out rejected my cookie on the train... rude... so I went to a different cart and gave it to someone else! :) haha
Change Calls
Later that night we finally received our change calls!  I will be staying her in Espoo and my new companion Sister Egan will be coming to Espoo.  Sister Fronk will be going to Haaga which is right next to Espoo. So we are all close by and I am still serving with Elder Waite, Elder Hunter, Elder Crofts and Elder Kääria!  So that will be really fun! 

With our investigator Anna

Finally Teaching Anna

Saturday and Sunday were really good! We still continued to give out belated valentine's cookies and that was fun.  We also got to teach Anna before church on Sunday!  FINALLY!! We were so excited! She is so wonderful and we love her so much!  The lesson went really well and we had 2 members there who are now her really good friends which was awesome! She has now come to church 5 times and yesterday she prayed for the first time.  She is reading the Book of Mormon and we are meeting with her again tonight!  We are so excited!  She loves coming to church and doesn't want to leave!  She has even had people call her in between classes at church and she will tell them that she can't talk because she is at church and that she will call back later!  She is honestly amazing!  Yesterday, we also got to go visit a less active member who is in the hospital and sing to her and to some of the cutest old ladies ever in the hospital who were all so sweet!  It was super fun!  

TOIVO!! Cutest little boy in the world!  (I still want to name one of my kids after him! haha)

Well, the church it true!!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve here in Finland and share it with so many! Thank you for all of your love and support! 

I love you! 

Rakkaudella, 

Sister Knapp

I Love Finland!

Moika! 

Time Drags When You're Locked Inside

I don't really have a ton to report this week, so this email will probably end up being shorter than usual!  This past Monday and Tuesday I got the flu again--throwing up, fever, and everything!  Talk about not much fun at all!  We really didn't get to do anything those two days and were stuck inside just hoping that I would get better in time for the Zone Meeting that was being held on Wednesday that we both were helping to conduct.  To be honest, this week has honestly been one of the LONGEST weeks of my life.  When you can't go outside and work, the time just seems to drag on.

Zone Meeting Blessings--Heavenly Father Loves Us!

Fortunately, we were able to go to the Zone Meeting on Wednesday! Haha, and the Zone Leaders were kind enough to even let me do the Statement in front of everyone! Every morning and before every meeting one person (or as a companionship) gets to say the following statement:

"We can stand in the place and stead of the Lord Jesus Christ in administering salvation to the children of men, He preached the Gospel.  So can we.  He spoke by the power of the Holy Ghost. So can we. He served as a missionary.  So can we.  He went about doing good. So can we.  He preformed the ordinances of Salvation. So can we. He kept the commandments.  So can we.  He wrought miracles, such also is our privilege if we are true and faithful in all things. We are his agents, we represent him, we are expected to do and say what he would do and say, if he personally were administering among men at this time. " - Elder Bruce R. Mckonkie. 

My district in Espoo:  (not in order) Sister Fronk, Elder Crofts, Elder Kääriä,
Elder Waite, Elder Hunter, Elder Gustafson, Elder Ahlquist, Elder Call,
Elder Ryan, Sister West and Sister Venz

Following the statement we all get to recite D&C 4 in Finnish!  So, I may not have it memorized completely in English! But I do in Finnish!   The meeting ended up being super good and a lot of what we focused on was how we are all children of God and how much our Father in Heaven loves us.  It is so easy on a mission, and at home, to lose sight of how much your Father loves and cares about you. I know that may seem funny to lose sight of that on a mission but when you may not be seeing the number successes that you want and feel like it is your fault in some way, you forget where we came from and how proud of us he really is!  He knows each and everyone of us.  One thing that I have been thinking a lot about is how he knows each and everyone of us and how he sees us.  I have been wanting to be able to see more clearly how my Father in Heaven sees me.  Sometimes, I personally struggle with feeling like he may be disappointed in me. That I am not doing enough, I may have slept in, or been sick, or just been grumpy and frustrated with people around me and tend to think that he must be so frustrated and mad and disappointed in me himself!  But really that is completely false!  Our Heavenly Father is a loving Heavenly Father. He loves us and wants us to be happy. He knows us perfectly and we are his children.  If you really think about it, him being frustrated or mad at us would be like a parent getting mad at their child who is learning to walk for falling.  You just don't do that!  He knows we are going to fall, but he is always there to pick us right back up.  He loves us and wants to help us and when we are doing the best we can.  Though we may stumble and fall, if we just get up, lift up our heads to him we will find he is really just looking at us and smiling as a proud father would.

 Sister Gasser, Me, Sister Ross, Sister Nabatnikova, Sister Fronk, Sister Ladd

Helsinki House Arrest

This week was also rather crazy later in the week as well.  My companion has this thing where she passes out a lot, and we finally decided that we needed to do something about it.  So we called our president and the doctor and the following day we were told that we needed to pack for 4 to 5 days and that the zone leaders were going to rush us to the office in Helsinki where an ambulance could take her to the hospital so they could look at her head and speed up apparently this lengthy process to getting her to a neurologist.  Talk about exciting!  The elders ended up having to leave an appointment they were in and come and pick us up and drive us there.  Then the ambulance got there (more like a minivan) and they talked to her and me and then took her to the hospital, and I was left with the sisters in Helsinki for the night.  Fortunately, she was out of the hospital that night and she has an appointment with the neurologist later this week or next week.  But for the next few days we were under 'house arrest' in Helsinki and the president wouldn't let us go back to Espoo! Let's just say it gave me a lot of time to study the Book of Mormon!  But when Sunday came around we really wanted to go to church in Espoo... So we got permission and went and never ended up going back to Helsinki!  We just love Espoo too much! (It looks like that is changing today, though, and we are headed back to Helsinki to help in the office for the week.)

 Me with Elder Brown and Elder Green (the Assistants to the President and first missionaries I met when I got to Finland), and Elder Anderton who are all going home this week!

But It's Free!

We had the coolest thing happen on the way to church though!  We got on the train and we really didn't feel like talking to anyone and were about to go and sit off by ourselves when Sister Fronk and I saw this lady that Sister Fronk felt like we really needed to go and talk to.  So we went and sat accross the aisle from her not having any idea what to say or if we could even do it, when she started talking to us to make sure this was the right train for her!  Perfect!  So we started talking to her and she started talking about her church and we naturally started talking about ours.  She had known a Mormon family and had seen the Mormon Tabernacle Choirr before and everything but had no idea what we believed and really wanted to know!  So we told her all about it and ended up giving her a Book of Mormon that she just hugged and asked us to write our names in it and number and then she insisted on giving us $20 for it.  We tried countless times to give it back to her and to explain that the book is free, but she insisted, saying that she knows it is free but that she wants us to take the money and buy some candy, haha, or just give it to the poor if we want to!  This lady was seriously the nicest lady in the world!  Sadly, she isn't in our area but she wants to learn more and wrote her phone number really big in our planners and gave us her email too. So miracles do happen!  

Transfer Calls Are Coming

So this week is transfer calls so we got to take a lot of pictures at zone meeting with the departing missionaries going home and just the missionaries in the zone because who knows where we will all be soon.  But I've got to say that whatever happens,  I have loved serving in Espoo and have served with some of the best people (my district) I have ever met:  Sister Fronk, Elder Crofts, Elder Kääriä, Elder Waite, Elder Hunter, Elder Gustafson, Elder Ahlquist, Elder Call, Elder Ryan, Sister West and Sister Venz.  They are all truly amazing.  I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve with them.   They have each taught me so much and really have helped me to grow. I love this area, I love this people, and I love this country! 

I love you all!  Thank you for all of your love and support and prayers!  You are all wonderful! 

Love,
Sister Knapp

Learning Through Embarrassment :)

Well, 

This week was definitely one for the books, haha!  As crazy and embarrassing as it all was, it was a lot of fun!  I have to say that this was just a really good week!  I don't think that I have laughed so much in a week as I did this week! 

Serving "With" My Friends

Monday was great!  Writing home and all that jazz is seriously always one of the high lights of my week!  I love being able to write home and receive emails and hear about everything that is going on back home and in friends' missions. It is seriously one of the coolest things ever to be out serving at the same time as SO many of my friends!  I love it!  

With Sisar Fronk eating out :)

"Searching For Joy"

Well, one profession that Sister Fronk and I have started up is coming up with "Book Titles" for missionaries' missions from stories that they tell or things that are going on!  So, for instance, once Elder Waite and Elder Hunter were talking about how they feel really separated from the ward out in Lohja and from everyone else because well.... they are!  So they are "Lost in Lohja".  We also had some sisters come and tell us how they were trying to find a former investigator named Fabrizio and how they used it as a door contacting approach, haha, by asking if Fabrizio lived there.  So "Finding Fabrizio" is their book title!  (though they haven't found him yet).  Well, we finally came up with ours!   We were with Gisel, a new convert, who is absolutely wonderful by the way, and she wanted to introduce us to her friend who isn't a member and also from the Philippines and her name is Joy.  So we were looking everywhere for her in this big mall and couldn't find her anywhere and we just started joking about how we are all "Searching for Joy".  So that became our title for our mission! And guess what!  We found Joy!  We also got to have a great lesson with her in the middle of this big mall that made her cry because the Spirit was so strong and now she is our new investigator!  So the spirit really can work anywhere :) 

Go Hide in The Woods

Tuesday was super great too!  The Lohja elders were at interim training in Helsinki for the week and so they weren't going to be in Lohja all week but there were sisters in the ward that our relief society president really wanted us to go visit that lived out in Lohja.  Well, it was the perfect situation because we got to "move in" for the day and take over their stomping grounds.  The only problem was that the elders forgot to tell us that it was Lohja's personal 'go hide in the woods'  holiday and practically no one was around!  We had gone to what seemed to be a ton of homes to find that no one was home!  So we decided to go and visit a half Finnish, half American family out in Lohja that has the cutest little 5 year old boy in the world, Toivo, that everyone just loves to death!  And guess what?!  They were home!  The best part of the whole day was that when we went and knocked on their door, before the door even opens, we hear "OH MY GOSH!!" from this overly excited little boy who is just in shock to see us! haha  He ended up showing us practically all of his belongings.  He is the cutest!  It was so much fun!  We also got to visit the family that the Relief Society President wanted us to visit, Sister Blair, and they have 2 of the cutest little girls that just love to run and talk and so we decided to divide and conquer.  Sister Fronk took over talking to the mom, while I took over distracting the kids!  It was perfect!  I love visiting Lohja!

Elder Ahlquist (center) in my district and from my MTC group accidentally forgot to wear a tie one day and went all day with out a tie and with his top button undone and he didn't even notice until the end of the day!  So the kind elders in the district all showed up to District meeting without ties.... hahaha.   I get to serve with some of the best elders ever!  They are great! :)

Running Crazy!

Wednesday was completely and totally crazy busy all day, much to my over planning things with not much time in between... whoops.!  We were on exchanges and I was left in our area to run things!  Talk about pressure to know how to get everywhere.  Plus, that day we happened to have lessons at each corner of our area, which I have now learned might not be the best idea.  We ended up running a lot to lessons,  barely missing 2 trains (seeing them pull away right in front of us when we were already running on a tight schedule), watching a bus do the exact same thing, somehow getting on the wrong bus, managing to get us lost and finally having to call a member for directions to their house. But through the miles of running, the wrong turns, and missed trains.... It was SO much fun and we had some awesome lessons so it all worked out great!

With Sister Ladd on splits

Lesson Learned!

Thursday was just plain embarrassing but makes for an awesome story.  On Wednesday night we ended up getting home really late because of traveling from exchanges and lessons going way to late and everything.  So Thursday...well, let's just say I was exhausted and not the perfect missionary and may not have gotten up on time and then didn't Jaksaa (feel like) to get dressed so I stayed in my pajamas through our studies and I figured that since it was planning day and we would be inside a lot that I had time to get dressed later.  Well, lets just say that Heavenly Father had a great way of teaching me a lesson! So we were in the middle of this really great companion study when all of the sudden some people bang on the back door.... Oh No! The first thing that popped into my head was "Angry Drunk Guys" but then I looked at the my companion's face of terror as her face went pale and she said  her thoughts out loud, "Trainers.... Temple... Oh No!"  I grabbed her knees as we noticed people starting to open the back door and said, "Sister Fronk!  I am still in my Pajamas!" haha.  Immediately I followed Sister Fronk's great idea "Hurry!  Get in the room!" which led to me diving over a couch and rushing into the bedroom... it was so bad!   Sister Fronk covered for me, telling them that I wasn't feeling well.  It happened to be like 5 of the trainers who were all going to the temple because their trainies were in language school and they wanted to see us.  One was this elder that Sister Fronk had served with for a long time, along with practically everyone in my district, who I had heard a ton about and really wanted to meet but guess who decided not to get ready on time?! After they finally left Sister Fronk was dying because she had no makeup on and was so embarrassed.  I was dying because I didn't get to meet the famous Elder Werjefelt that everyone talks about!  It just goes to teach the both of us, but especially me, to get ready on time and wake up! hahaha It was a good lesson learned.  Fortunately they stopped by again after the temple so I got to meet them all :)  It was so embarrassing to get a million "get better soon's" even though I was just fine!  We were both way embarrassed about the whole thing! 

missionary night with the young women

The Luckiest Missionary Ever

Friday we had Mission Leadership Counsel and so we got to go to the temple! I love being able to go to the temple!   This was the fourth time I have been to the temple while on my mission and I just feel like the luckiest missionary ever! Some missionaries have been out a year and still never been inside the temple or only seen it once and I get to see it everyday!  It is seriously one of the best blessings ever.  The training also was really good and we learned so much and I was so grateful for it.  It gave me a new perspective and I am just so grateful to be  apart of this amazing work. Afterwards, we got to go and conduct a Young Women's activity focusing on missionary work and that was the coolest thing ever!  Every single one of them is wanting to serve a mission and had so many questions for us and it was just great! They were awesome and it was so cool to see how much they look up to us. We had some of them pulling out cameras and taking pictures of us while we were teaching. haha.  Its really amazing to be apart of the work and to see how the work really starts to grow and go forth! 

Email Hijack!

Hi! I'm Sister Fronk and I have stolen Sister Knapp's email so you can know the truth about her. She is about the most gutsy, hilarious, wonderful person ever! She is doing so well at being a missionary in Finland, which isn't easy. She works really hard at the language and has a natural gift for it that really impresses.

Funny Answers

FREEZING!!!

Saturday and Sunday were both really good.  Saturday we did a lot of contacting and tracting because we are still trying to really get this area open and let's just say it was freezing!  But fortunately eventually our feet just went numb and then we were fine!  No worries, we didn't get frostbite or anything. But we did get to teach Hai our recent convert who is really struggling with jobs and housing and everything and guess what happened!  Sister Fronk managed to get a bloody nose right as we got there! So she told him ,"And now Sister Knapp is going to give you a thought that will lift you up and make you feel better".  Talk about pressure!  But it all worked out :) Sunday was a really interesting day. Our investigator Anna came to church for the fourth time this month!  She is amazing!  And now she is going to institute too! The only problem is that she is still really busy so she never can meet during the week really but we are hoping to be able to do so at institute this week before she leaves town.  She says she can meet next week so we are excited about that!  It was really funny to find out that 3 people tried to give her a Book of Mormon on the same day we did.  Haha, we just have some awesome members!  Sunday was also really exciting because my companion has this habit of passing out on occasion but she never does it in front of other people, just with me.  On Sunday she decided (I guess she really didn't actually want to, haha)  pass out in front of the ward in the hall right after sacrament meeting!  At first Gisel and I were just holding her up and she usually pulls out of it really quick.  The elders were asking if she needed to be moved to a chair but I  just said that she was fine because I didn't want to draw attention to her since she would hate that, but she didn't start to pull out!  So I had to get Elder Waite to help me pick her up and take her to a chair.  So we did but she was still having a tough time and all the members were really worried..  So I had to try and explain what was going on to them in Finnish!  That was rough!  But she ended up coming out of it and being fine! After church, however, she really needed to rest a lot and so she did and I got to study the scriptures to help prepare for the upcoming zone conference.  It was the best!  Plus I had been praying to know how I can better help my companion and take of the stress load that she has and I even got my answer while studying!  Heavenly Father really does have a sense of humor :) ...

Hai and Sister Fronk

D&C 75:10 -12

"Calling on the name of the Lord for the Comforter, which shall teach them all things that is expedient for them-- Praying always that they faint not; and inasmuch as they do this, I will be with them even unto the end.... Behold, this is the will of the Lord your God concerning you.  Even so. Amen." 

I have to say that I love this Gospel and I am so grateful to be here in Finland! I apologize that this is so long!  I love you all!

Love,
Sister Knapp