A week of Firsts in Finland!

Hey everyone!!
Sorry this letter is going to be so short! I am the worst at time management! I guess that will get better with time though! This past little bit has been crazy! Between moving to a completely different country and leaving the MTC and starting missionary work in a foreign language, it's been hectic. I will tell you a few key highlights though.

My Companion! She is the most wonderful gift of a trainer I could ask for! I love her so much! She is like my trainer mom! She has helped me so much. She helps me with homesickness and with getting started with finding people! So much stuff. She pushes me out of my comfort zone, but makes me feel happy about it somehow??? I am not sure how she does it, but she always wants me to feel comfortable about the work as well as happy as well as actually working. She is the best trainer though. I will fight you on this.

Lohja!! My city! It is awesome! We get a car here so that is nice! We have seat heaters so in this cold weather that is definitely a tender mercy. We have a few people we are teaching and we have met with two of them already. He isn't quite grasping the importance yet, but he's working on it. Then the other one's wife just passed away and he likes the lessons, but there are some things yet that we need to work on that he has problems with. Like the Word of Wisdom. We also have a lady who was teaching how to knit that decided to start taking the lessons so we have our first lesson tomorrow. We are excited about that because she seems ready to learn. I am excited as well. The members here also are amazing and they are trying to start a branch out here in Lohja (pronounced Low-he-ya) It would be pretty big considering I think. But my frame of reference is whack so I don't know. We go to Espoo 1 (pronounced es-poe) for church right now. I bore my testimony in church on Sunday and everyone was so nice telling me how good my Finnish was. Like I had been here for 5 months not 5 days, but of course I didn't understand... It was so nice though. I only know how to talk in Finnish, not understand. But hopefully that comes soon. One recognized word at a time.

Leaving! So leaving the MTC was weird and sad. Leaving behind all our friends and then eventually each other was hard, but we did okay. I was kind of sad to be leaving behind our  little bubble of protection and spirituality. But so far it's been good. We flew over 2 days which was weird and screwed with my sense of time, but so far my jet lag hasn't been bad (thank you sleeping pills) but I've been able to sleep okay with few exceptions.

Adjusting!! The sleep stuff while we're on topic has been weird. Because we only have about 6 hours of daylight, when we wake up it's dark. So I will wake up in the middle of the night at like 2 o'clock and pray and start getting ready and completely forget that the alarm didn't go off. It's hard for me because the alarm is on our phone and I hate it. It's going to take a while to get used to the dark. So I hope that the sun comes soon. It should because the days are starting to get longer, but it will be a while yet. I haven't had too much of a problem with that though. The hardest part I think is street contacting. Just stopping people on the street. Because as Abbie McCammon, I don't want to be stopped on the street so I just would avoid doing it to others. But here as Sisar McCammon I have to and it is so hard. They like inch away as well so it's hard to want to continue, but it's been okay.

This letter may be short, but I just want you all to know that I am supposed to be here. As much as I may or may not miss you. I am supposed to be in Finland right now. I love it here and I know that Heavenly Father wants me here. I am excited to see what else happens here and I will talk to you all next week. I love you all so much! I hope that you have a great week and I recommend reading 1Nephi chapter 3. It's a good one and had comforted me a lot this week.

Love you all!
Sisar McCammon

I asked her a few questions in my letter: How was your flight/any jetlag? What's the mission home like? and Pres and Sisar Aura?  "It was crazy. I took sleeping pills for the first couple of days so jet lag wasn't bad. It was also way dark and crazy and fun and sad to leave everyone behind. but altogether good. The mission home was like a normal house, but like a modern cabin-y type feel. Pres and Sis Aura tried really hard to make sure we felt loved and at home and helped us out so much, but there was such an info overload. it was crazy. it was pretty nice though.
My companion is awesome! she is so helpful and positive and nice! She reminds me a bit of you and Kylie but with more of a softer personality. Very fun loving and patient. I really like her and that she is my trainer. we get a long so well!! I am glad that she is the one who gets to be my trainer. we do have quite a bit in common, but we also have some dissimilarities but those are tiny and unimportant. she never looks down at what I like and she's super respectful.
We live in our own apt. which I forgot to take pictures of but next week I promise. I should have some this week. I will have to send you some later.
It is cold, but beautiful and the coldness goes up and down. it is way pretty and no northern lights yet. I hate the dark. It makes me tired and sad but happy lights help.
We are teaching a few people. Teaching just kind of happens though. We do a lot of knocking and a lot of streeting... a lot of streeting... but its good. It's gotta happen somehow. We don't have any member referrals right now, but we just have to remember to ask. Missionary work is scary and I don't love it, totally out of my comfort zone. People here are nice enough though. They either let you say your schpeal and then leave or they say no and shut the door or walk away. And that doesn't bother me, but the anticipation and the knocking and the stopping does. It just feels weird.  I can open my mouth and say what I know and let Sisar Kristensen say the rest and testify, but the whole stopping people... it gets me every time. The members here are amazing! Especially over Christmas, they have been so nice and kind and helpful.
We had a great talk with her on Christmas.  She told us that the Privacy Laws in Finland are really strict.  They couldn't tell us the names of the members house they were skyping from.  They can't write down addresses or anything about anyone without written permission from them. She can't tell us the names of investigators to pray for.  Abbie said that makes things very hard. I'm sure its something you get used to it just seems weird coming from the US where I swear there is no privacy anymore.
She seems good but always can use your prayers! She needs peace and comfort and I am sure the darkness is something that takes some getting used to!  Thanks so much to everyone who is praying for her!!!

On her flight

 Scenery in Lohja

Christmas Day Celebration

 President Aura, Abbie and Sisar Aura

Sisar Kristensen in the car

Abbies Skype call home

Dec 17th and 18th Flight and Arrival in Finland

She arrived in Finland safe and sound!!! On the 17th, Abbie was able to call while she was in the airport.  She called Cierra at school and me at home from the SLC airport and then when she arrived in Dallas she called Bill and then Jesse.  It was fun to just hear her voice!  I love her so much and there is just too much emotion to convey the feelings that I feel.  She called once more just before getting on the airplane and tears flow with the words goodbye. She left the MTC at 6:45 they rode the FrontRunner and then transferred to Trax to get to the airport. And her Flight left SLC at 11:58 on Monday.  She arrived in Finland at 7:00 am our time and 4 pm Finland time on Tuesday. Pres Aura, her mission president, was kind enough to post a picture on the missionary moms Facebook page for Finland.  It was so wonderful to see her smiling face!  Her new companion is Sisar Kristensen and they are assigned to the Espoo 1st ward area.  

Here is her quick note.

Hey Mama!! I am here in Finland! It is so weird to be in a different country than you! I miss you so much, but I am so glad that I could talk to you today. I don't know when I can call for Christmas yet, but I will be able to know soon. I love you mom. Sisar Aura and her husband are wonderful. I love them both so much already and they are so sweet. They have made me feel so welcome and less homesick. I am sure it will be easier later and it will be hard tonight, but I am excited. Thank you for everything mom!  I love you lots and lots. I love you and Ce and everyone so much. I love you!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!! Love you Mama! You are the best, and I miss you. I will talk you soon!!! Love you!!! 

P.S. P-day is Tuesday usually

We will find out more when she emails/calls home for Christmas next week!  How exciting!!! Here is the airport picture, her new companion picture and a picture of her mission. 

Week 8 - I'll go where you want me to go Dear Lord.

Hey everyone! Talk about an exciting week! There has been so much that has gone on this week it feels crazy! Like an eternity since I have last written! It's been exciting though!! So here we go!

Periantai (Friday) We had a Skype TRC that we weren't fully prepared for, but it went well. It was just a little short. We were supposed to call one man named Tarmo, but he wasn't available, so we called Kristina. She was a very nice lady, but we could hardly understand her. She spoke pretty quickly and our connection wasn't fabulous. But we got through (she spoke probably too much English with us though). Then about halfway through, Tarmo called us but we couldn't answer, so we went and told the supervisor. He suggested that we teach him too, so like good missionaries, we marched in and got ready to teach again. So we called him just to share a scripture and we ended p teaching for 15 minutes. Ahhh how missionaries can go on. It was okay though. He's an awesome guy. Also a little hard to understand, but I'm blaming the connection issues. So we're only supposed to teach one person, but we ended up getting to teach two and that was awesome. We also got our Travel plans today!! We leave on the 17th at like 6;45 from the MTC and our plane leaves around 12. It should be really exciting!! We get to stop at Heathrow and that will be such an experience! We go from SLC to Dallas to London to Helsinki! We don't land until 4:30 is their time, so it'll be a long day of travel. We also had FHE tonight and we talked about our mission goals and what we expect to become, and also bore our testimonies. I may have cried quite a bit, but our Zone Leader was crying just as hard. It was a good night though.

Laulantai (Saturday) Today was real hard. Sister Godfrey and I got up and just went about our day as normal, but we went to a different building to study because we accidentally went to lunch early (we misread the clock). So we went to a different building than our district, and we ended up missing out. So when we saw them at lunch, we were told that all our district (minus one because he is not American) got reassigned to be either in Farmington, NM; Idaho Falls, ID; or Ogden, UT. I was terrified since I didn't know where I was assigned yet, that I was going home. I love home and my family, but going home would be hard. Then we went to look and they assigned me to Ogden and although it would be fun to see family (love you all) I don't know that I could do it, and stay on my mission. That would not be very easy for me. We had some highlights and good stuff though. Whenever Elder Robbins talks about going to NM he starts talking about how excited he is to see skinwalkers! He really thinks they exist! Oh well. It was funny.

Sunnuntai (Sunday) Today was good. All four of us sisters fasted today for either quick Visas or comfort about our reassignments. And all I felt all day was peace. I was kind of annoyed. I wanted our Visas not peace, but the peace was really helpful all day. I could focus in class (we taught Relief Society) and I knew God was helping me to be okay with how things are happening. It was comforting, but also I was still really hoping for Visas. I also got to see a couple friends from high school after lessons for the day. Sister Godfrey and I went to schedule haircuts and we saw each other, so I stopped to talk and got to say hi! It was Madsen Rhineheart and Nicole Crasper. It is always so fun to see high school friends! I've seen quite a few actually because I am here so long. But I've loved it. Then we had a musical devotional where the BYU Choir Boys sang. They are really good! If you haven't heard of them look them up. They're obviously not Vocal Point, but they're pretty good. Then we watched on of Elder Bednar's talks that he gave to the MTC. We saw it for the second time. It's about the character of Christ. How the natural man is like the cookie monster "I want cookie now!" but Christ has always turned outward and helped others before thinking for himself. It was good and I was definitely the cookie monster Sunday, but it was a good reminder.

Maanantai (Monday) Today we got the best news!! Our visas were approved!! We don't have the actual cards, but it worked and they got approved!! We are all so excited to go now! Before, all of us would have been okay staying in the MTC for longer, and we still would be okay, but knowing we actually get to go to Finland is so nice! We are so excited! All of our moods skyrocketed and we were so much happier because our language learning wasn't actually in vain! Not that being reassigned meant we would never get to Finland, but it was still nice. This whole experience has definitely strengthened my testimony about prayer and fasting. Thank you to everyone who joined with us. It was through our combined faith to do a fast, that helped us. I know God heard our prayers and blessed us according to our faith. It was a good experience. And funnily enough, I read in Ether the story about the Brother of Jared. He truly saw the hand of the Lord, but he didn't see it touch the first stone. In the Finnish translation, it actually says that he didn't see the finger of Christ until the 16th stone. But the Lord doesn't give us knowledge or sight right away. He lets us have our faith and He tries it. Then when we prove our faith and start to gain knowledge, he shows us His hand. Reading this on the day we got our Visas was very powerful. I know the Lord had His hand in our Visa processes. He wanted us to know that we are ready to go. Now that we have our Visas though, we still need to be humble and give the Glory to God. It was Him that gave me my Visa and only through Him am I able to be a good, successful missionary. We also taught our teacher as Mikka today. It was awesome! We were asking him to come to church and I felt that I should tell him to bring his family. Then when we were talking about reading the scriptures, S. Godfrey asked him to read with his family. We have only been teaching him (obviously because he's our teacher) but when we brought up that this is something that he can do with his family, he kind of changed. He was a bit more serious about our lessons and the commitments. It was pretty awesome.

Tiistai (Tuesday) Today we got a new companion!! Sister McKinney! She is a solo Mongolian sister, and she is waiting for her Visa. Her district leaves today, and her companion left early in the morning, so she became our companion. It was so fun. She's awesome! She likes to talk just as much as I do. We talked to scheduling though about where we should move rooms to because there are 4 beds in a room, and we have four sisters in ours and hers is on a different floor than our zone. So we got stuff figured out with them, and then went on our merry way. We took her to class and then we went to class. Sister Kappel was there and she gave us extra language help on anything that we needed help with. It was really nice and we could focus on what we needed to. IT was nice. Then after class, we went to pick up McKinney and she wasn't in class. So we asked her teacher and he smiled weird and did this thing with his fingers. It looked evil and then he said "Gone!" Both of us were like "What did you do to her?" But we asked "What" instead. Apparently her elders came to say goodbye, then left and it was just her teacher and her all awkwardly starting class, when they hear pounding footsteps. Two of her elders rushed in to say that the Travel office had her visa and she could go to Mongolia with them. So she ran to change and grab her bags which were luckily already packed and ready with a little bit out and because she needs to use it every day. We were so happy that she got to go with her district! A little sad we couldn't say goodbye, but worth it if she can go with her district and not alone. So even though we were her companions for not even 12 hours, we still love her and are so excited for her!!! We also had a devotional tonight. Sister and Brother Craven came and talked. Sister Craven is in the general young women's presidency. So her and her husband talked about missionary work and the importance of the Doctrine of Christ (found in 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 11, and 3 Nephi 27) which is Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. It was really good and she taught so well. She was so cool too because not only did she come and talk, she brought the whole young women's general presidency with her! Even though they didn't speak, it was cool they and their husbands were there!!

Keskiviiko (Wednesday) So I finished packing one suitcase today. Even though it is exactly 50 pounds, and will need to be fixed, it's done! We were in a new building today though. It was weird. Our whole district has always been spread all over everywhere, but now we're all in the same ish area of one building. It's super weird but also super nice. We will definitely get to know our people really well now. It should be fun. Although we miss our old room a lot, our new room is almost the exact same but green. We miss the blue, but green is okay I guess. We have to deal with it anyways though because we can't move, we must obey. For just the last week though, so at least not too long. We do miss our rooftop garden though. That thing was nice!!! A little too cold and snowy now, but still sweet!! Our building is also bigger, so in class today, we wandered a bit before teaching Lesson 3 to another companionship. We taught Elders Robbins and LeBaron (Chuck and Sally Smittywerbenjagermanjensen again) it was fun and we did pretty good. We didn't finish the lesson, but we taught it well. Then they taught us and Elder Robbins kept mixing up the words iankaikkisen (eternal) and the word anteeksi (forgiveness). It was funny! He said it once and all of us were so confused, so we asked him to clarify and we corrected him. Then he said the exact same sentence, so we corrected him. And he could not say the right word. It happened like 4 times. Not as funny in words as it was to watch, but still great. Then in the later class, Sister Kappel was there again to help us with specific grammar problems and to tell us fun mission stories! It was pretty awesome! Then Siser Godfrey and I taught again. It was so spiritual and so awesome! We were teaching lesson 3 to Mikka (our teacher Veli Edwards) and we were going to ask him to be baptized, but it didn't really feel right, so S. Godfrey asked if he had any questions, but he said no. But then I asked, if he believed in what we were teaching. And that's where it gets cool. (both of our questions were definitely inspired) He asked how he could know that what we were teaching was true. He believed it, but wanted to know. (which I thought we had already taught) but we taught him again, and we were blessed with the gift of tongues to be able to talk about it. I was so excited! Then he told us that that was the best lesson. If a little bit long, but still good. It was really good. Then we got to go back to the residence and welcome all our new missionaries!

And that was my week. It was really crazy at times and of course really fun! I will definitely miss the entire Spirit that I can feel here. It is so awesome! I do leave on Monday though, so FINLAND HERE I COME!! I am so excited to go out and serve the Lord in the country I was assigned to. I am so excited to serve the Lord in general. I love you all so much and I miss you! I hope you all have fantastic weeks and are finding ways to serve your community!! Just as a reminder, next week is #LightYourFamily start to plan ways you can serve, now!! (Good chapter to read in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is Ether 12. It is about Faith) Love you all!!

Love,
Sisar McCammon!

Her side note to me:
I am fine though. I promise you that mom. I am not just lying to make you feel better. I really am fine. The Lord is blessing me to be strong. He has called me to His service, and he wouldn't give me a commandment if He didn't provide me a way to complete it. He knows what I can do, and He is willing to make up the difference. He wants to help me just like you do. I love you though mom.


Its been an interesting week. Its hard to be on the mom side of things.  It is so hard to let go. Its almost like its really none of my business anymore. LOL!  The MTC doesn't tell me anything!!! Last Saturday I saw the letter from her mission President in Finland saying that he was sorry to hear about the delays in the visas and to embrace the new assignment until they can come. It was like a shock going through my system.  I immediately wondered how she was feeling, what they knew about how long it would take and what her new assignment was!?! It wasn't long until my master sleuthing took over and I discovered that she had been moved to the Ogden Utah mission. Oh dear, that is too close to home and lots of family members live in that mission!  Later that day I discovered from her companions mom that her comp had been reassigned to the Idaho Falls mission.  This was all to crazy!  We didn't know how many of the missionaries didn't have their visa's. We decided to fast and pray for them Sunday. Right after night prayers on Sunday after giving gratitude and asking for the blessing for Abbie and her district I got a text from the Finnish Immigration saying she was served with a decision and can log in to see it.  I assumed that meant her visa came through but I couldn't sign in so I couldn't be sure until her letter came today!!! Even still she said they get confirmation tomorrow of when they leave.


Sister Crasper and Abbie

High School Friend Madsen Rhinehart I assume his comp and Sister Crasper with Abbie

Abbie and her Companion Sisar Godfrey

Abbies Awkward hug with Sister McKinney

Not sure what's going on here!?! LOL

New Snow today

 Abbie and Sisar Godfrey

Picture of her District

Week 7 - Growth comes with Blessings

Hey everyone!!

How all your week? I hope it's been amazing and that you're all finding ways to Light the World! If you haven't heard about Light the World yet, then go to the website lighttheworld.org and get started! It really is awesome and you won't regret the opportunity to show the Lord that you love Him by serving others. Now is the best time to start service as Christmas time is here and our focus becomes centered on the Savior. Don't forget Him this season. He is the Light of the World and He loves you. He will help you find ways to serve others if you ask. He will put opportunities in your life to serve others.

So my weeks at the MTC aren't really much different from week to week. Everything is planned out for us, and nothing changes. But we find new stuff sometimes. On last Friday we had our first Skype TRC. We got to Skype a person in Finland and teach them. They are members, but they are awesome, and super sweet to help us. Sister Godfrey and I taught Pekka Huhtala. He was awesome! he sounded like he knew English pretty well too. He said a couple words to us in English and that was nice because we definitely are not fluent. But we talked to Him about obedience to the Lord and how that takes faith for us to be obedient because we don't always see results right away. We liked it to Nephi though when he built the boat. When he was commanded to build a boat, he immediately asked where to find ore to make the boat. He had faith that the Lord doesn't give a commandment that He won't provide a way for. So he obeyed because he had faith, and faith leads to action. So I encourage you all to find a commandment that you can live a little bit better and work on it better this week. (https://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/lesson-4-the-commandments?lang=eng) there is a link to some commandments if you want someplace to start.
Saturday was a normal class day and it wasn't exciting really.

Sunday was awesome! Kind of. Fasting sucks, but I tried really hard not to complain about it. (There's my commandment I can work on.) It just is hard when the choice is taken away from you. It was good. I would be fasting regardless, so I don't know why I complain. But we had mission conference where the entire MTC piles into the gym and listens to all the Presidency talk. It was pretty good and they played Christmas songs a lot. Each song is about Christ and His gospel if you search enough. It won't say it outright, but there are references. We also got to listen to the Christmas Devotional from the Prophet of God. It was amazing. Nothing I can say will do it justice, so go watch it. Even if you only listen to President Nelson's talk, it will be worth it. He talks about 4 of the gifts that Christ gives to us. Go watch it (https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/christmas-devotional/2018/12?lang=eng&vid=5974522744001) you won't regret it.

Monday was kind of terrible. I had a really bad headache right behind my eyes that didn't fully go away with Ib but it was okay. I just couldn't focus and wore my sunglasses most of the day. It was definitely something out of the norm that went away after I slept. We also had to opportunity to teach each other today. We first taught the other sisters in our zone, but then we taught Vanhin LeBaron and Vanhin Robbins. They role played as Chuck and Sally Smittywerbenjegermanjensen. They are from the South and Sally is illiterate. It was kind of hilarious and funny. I loved teaching them. It was weird, but fun. We taught about family history work and that was a blast. We also taught one of our teachers as Mikka and he "forgot" to read. We were not prepared for that, but I had the Gift of tongues and I totally asked all the right questions and testified about the importance of reading the scriptures, so that was a good experience for me. I love when that happens. It just reaffirms that the church is true and the Lord looks after His children.

Tuesday we had a normal day. We had Sisar Clark and Sisar Kappel teach. They are awesome and I love them. They taught us some more grammar which is always nice. I like them because they will use English when we need to understand instead of trying to keep us guessing or when they tell mission stories. Then we had choir and devotional. Choir is always good. brother Eggett is always the bomb. He's so charismatic. He has so many good stories and gives them very well. Then the devotional was about the 3 choices we make as missionaries. 1 what are missions are going to be like 2 attitude and 3 choosing obedience. It was awesome.

Wednesday was good. I read about the destruction of the Nephites and how the Lord gave them so many opportunities to repent and come unto Him and they didn't. So he destroyed them. He won't allow His people to defile his name. But as long as we repent and turn to HIm, He blesses us. Class was good, very normal. We taught Henrik and he really seems to be grasping the topics that we are teaching and we love him. He is progressing very well. Then Elder Ormsby almost died. He had Elder Hall push his legs out while Ormsby tried to push them in and that was a bad idea. Ormsby is small and his hip popped loudly and he wouldn't stop complaining but he was fine. Then Elder Kimball did the same thing to Elder LeBaron. It was funny. Classes were good but pretty normal. Not a much happened. It was fun though.

I hope everyone's week is awesome and you can find new ways to light the world this week and show the Lord that you love him I love Him and I know that He blesses us in more ways than we can see. He is our Savior and at this time during the Christmas season He is more aware of us than ever. I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you all!

Love, Sisar McCammon

Hey Daddy!!

Thank you for the advice daddy. I will be sure to remember it. Although I have been feeling homesick of late, I know the Lord has been helping me. I have faith in Him and I know that He wouldn't have told me to come on a mission if I wasn't needed here. It's getting a lot better and I love it here. It's going to be pretty sad to leave and have to say goodbye to all my friends. It isn't too bad though because all of the people that got here about the same time or before me are leaving this week and next, so it will be not so bad. Our zone keeps people for so long, that it's easy to get attached and hard to say goodbye. Especially with my district, they have really helped me out a lot in being less homesick. They are awesome and I love them. They really are exactly what I need here.

For me we just talked about everyday stuff, things she still needs. She loves photos so I've been uploading to my google photo account. She seems way better this week than last. Maybe it was just a bad week. I got a nice text from her branch presidents wife this week though.  She just wanted to tell me she loves Abbie and that she'll be a great missionary!  And included a photo! So sweet.

This is the photo she included!

 The Sisars at the Provo Temple

 At FHE

 Their District at the Temple

 Night view from a classroom

 Day view from a classroom

Its Getting REAL!!!!  Here's her itinerary!!!!