Week 19: 12/31/2024 ‼️HAPPY NEW YEAR‼️
December has got to be the best month ever. I hope Christmas was amazing and that you are excited for a new year! 2025 is going to be so awesome! I finally ate it on the ice this week. It was only a matter of time. It makes for a good picture though.
Spiritual Thought:
Part of a scripture jumped out at me this week.
Helaman 14:9 — “And behold…Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord.”
I love the phrase “prepare the way of the Lord”
As a new year begins,
How have you “prepared the way of the Lord” into your heart, mind, and life in the past?
How are you preparing and letting Him into your life right now?
Most importantly, how will you “prepare the way of the Lord” this new year?
I know, if we include God in our lives we, “shall all be amazed, and wonder” at all God can help us do.
“God doesn’t care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are, and with His help, where you are willing to go.” (Holland)
I'm so excited to let God be the biggest part of my life this year as I “prepare the way” for him.
To pray about even the smallest decisions, include him in my studies, read his words, and become more like Jesus Christ.
And the best part is you don't even have to be a missionary to do any of this.
Because God “inviteth all to come unto him and partake of his goodness”
I am so excited for this new year and new ways to “prepare the way of the Lord” into my heart, mind, and life.
Because I know that with the way of the Lord, you can go anywhere, become anything and overcome everything.
Short Version of Email: Christmas was so lovely. Think about how you will “Prepare the way of the lord” into your life this year. The members are so
nice to us we were invited over a lot. Christmas conference was awesome!
Finnish Word of the Week: Hukassa - - “Lost”, but literally translates to “in a wolf”
Daylight Counter!
Two weeks ago–5 Hours 4 minutes
Last week–4 Hours 40 minutes
This week-5 Hours 19 minutes
5 Amazing Things This Week:
1: We spent Christmas Eve at the Bishop's house, his family has become like my second family here. They have taken me under their wing because I was trained here. We had AMAZING food, so much chocolate, and played some fun games. They even had “Skull King”.
2: On Christmas Day we went over to another ward members house in the afternoon. We got to go sledding with the kids, play in the snow, play an old Nintendo, bake a traditional Finnish Christmas food, and eat some really really good food too. It was amazing.
3: On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day) we got invited to another member's house who probably has the coolest, prettiest house I've ever seen in my life. She also lives in the middle of Lappeenranta Fortress which makes it even better. Imagine like the most perfectly decorated Hallmark movie house and then whatever you thought of, up it by 90%. Also it was the best food I've eaten in my entire time in Finland which is saying a lot because I've eaten so good here.
4: We had a Christmas Conference which was the highlight of my whole week. There were so many missionaries to meet it was amazing. We also ate chocolate fondue and pizza! President and his wife are so amazing. They talked to us and the Spirit was definitely there. I had to play the piano after he talked which was scary (because you cannot possibly hope to add on to the spirit after Pres and his Wife speak) but hopefully I added something.
5: We have been working on diversifying our contacting methods and using all the ways we can to find people- ie, social media, street contacting, housing, inactive member lists, ward member referrals, what's app messaging ect. It has been fun to get creative and try and find new people in new ways.
Tender Mercy of the Week:
We had a friend who we were teaching but had to stop because her husband said he didn't want her to meet with us. But we referred her to the sister missionaries and they are meeting over the phone. Our friend put herself on a baptism date! We are really excited to see what happens. She may be getting baptized early February!
Where I am/Who I'm With: I am serving in Lappeenranta. My companion is Elder Goodrich.
Shoutout Elder Goodrich he is the best ever. He put so much effort into making my first Christmas here so good. He is such a great guy.
Scripture of the Week:
D&C 1:23 That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.
My thoughts: This could be looked at just as a missionary scripture because I know that not everyone is constantly proclaiming the gospel. But, I love how the “weak” and “simple” are meant to bring about a good thing. Be bold, and be confident in yourself because although you might feel weak and simple, this verse is another reminder to me that God uses “weak” and “simple” people to accomplish mighty things.
Talk of the Week: “17 Points of the True Church” - - - Floyd Weston - - -
My Thoughts: This was a really cool story about a guy with a photographic memory who had compiled 17 points from the Bible about what the “true” (as in closest to the church Jesus started when he was on the earth) church is and went and looked for it. It was a super cool story and had some awesome moments. Highly worth a listen!
Happy New Year!
Elder Balls
(I tried to find a Jesus emoji but there isn’t one) 
