I miss the sun. (and its windy)
It has been a full week! We didn't have any special events or activities this week so I got to see what a normal week of missionary life is like. My trainer, Elder Boone, and I kept busy this week!
Spiritual Thought:
At our Zone Conference this week we talked about Mathew 10:16.
16 ¶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
What an interesting choice of words.
I have been thinking much this week about how to be “wise as serpents” but yet “harmless as doves” in a world of “wolves”
Elder Oaks taught, “A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices.”
In my constant quest to be guided by the Spirit I sometimes forget that the Lord trusts me. He lets me make decisions on my own amongst the wolves in my life and he does the same for each one of you.
I am often afraid to make specific choices if I don't feel a spiritual confirmation of my actions beforehand.
One thing a mission has been teaching me is to not be afraid to make independent choices because I trust God and he trusts me.
In my (not so expert) experience I have found that I have grown the most in times when I am unsure. However, as I try to be “wise as serpents” and “harmless as doves,” and align my choices with God's commandments, the Lord gives me just enough room to grow while keeping me close enough to pull me back from the wolves of the world.
This week I hope you will think about how you can be “wise as serpents” but yet “harmless as doves” in the midst of your own wolves.
Do what the Lord would have you do.
Be wise. Be harmless.
And trust yourself enough to grow.
Short Version of Email: Did a ton of street contacting! Tried some Finnish Chocolate. Played sahlu (Finnish floor hockey) which was so fun! Trust yourself because the Lord trusts you!
Finnish Word of the Week: Saippuakivikauppias, which means “Soapstone Merchant”. The cool part is that it is spelled the same forward and backwards.
5 Amazing Things of the Week:
1: My comp and I got to teach our first lesson to a real person this week. Because we both got put in a new area we have mostly been trying to find people to teach so it felt good to finally teach someone after all the days of contacting.
2: We presented at a school this week about our Church. We thought the teacher texted us to come but it was actually a student. It was still fun to do even though it may have been a prank.
3: It has been snowing a lot here. It is also so cold that the ice doesn't melt on the roads/sidewalks. They can't use salt to melt it because it is too cold. Ice here is no joke. There is a solid sheet of ice covering everything. As I am writing this I am sitting in a tire shop because all the cars get studded tires for the winter. Not sure how people are still biking.
4: We drove out to a Immigration Camp right next to Russia to teach a lesson this week. It made me very grateful for my little apartment. The people there were so kind. Everyone in Finland is so kind, for the most part, even if they are mostly uninterested in our message. I love the people here more and more every week.
5: We do a lot of community events. My favorite one we do is a floor hockey night! It was so much fun playing against some of the ward members. They are really good but I can run so it evens out. We may even go with a member to a hockey game!
Tender Mercy of the Week:
Our main way of finding people to teach is through talking to people on the street, which can be frustrating sometimes, because no one wants to talk with us. (I don't blame them though because I wouldn't want to talk to someone random on the street either.)
It felt discouraging this week after our third straight day of knocking doors/finding people- all day with no success. I was just hoping that the Lord would see our effort for the past 3 days and help us find one person who wanted to talk to us. Then right as I was thinking that we met someone who was interested and is now coming to our events! Stereotypical mission miracle I know, but it felt good to see a personal way the Lord was watching out for us this week after hearing about it happening to others so often.
Where I am/Who I'm With: I am serving in Lappeenranta (which is a town on the east of Finland right by Russia, like seriously it's so close we can walk to the border of Finland and Russia). My trainer is Elder Boone.
Elder Boone has been educating me a lot on Finnish foods and culture which has been fun!
Scripture of the Week:
1 Nephi 21:16
16, Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
My thoughts: I love the symbolism in the atonement in this verse. I like to think that each of us is “engraved” on the Savior’s hands where the nails pierced his flesh. His hands and body literally bear witness of what he did for us. Just some cool symbolism this week.
Talk of the Week: “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father” By Elder Neal A. Maxwell” (October 1995)
My Thoughts: Great talk this week full of good quotes. I've heard this is a very famous talk but if you haven't listened to it it is so so good. So many lessons to be learned. I listened to it like 3 times this week lol.
“Many of us thus have sufficient faith to avoid the major sins of commission, but not enough faith to sacrifice our distracting obsessions or to focus on our omissions. Most omissions occur because we fail to get outside ourselves. We are so busy checking on our own temperatures, we do not notice the burning fevers of others even when we can offer them some of the needed remedies, such as encouragement, kindness, and commendation.”
There are so many lessons to be learned from this talk but I loved this reminder to look outward!
I hope you had a lovely week! Send someone a thank you text this week because you love them! Gratitude goes a long way. Thanks to everyone who sent an email to me this week. I love reading them!
Sure love ya,
-Elder Balls
