Lappeenranta with Sisar Nielson

4/30

Transfers!  Also VAPPU! We got to go contact some people this morning and a parade of children accompanied us down the street all dressed up in Halloween costumes yelling “hyvää vappua!” It was incredible! We eventually contacted a man who wanted to know more.  We had to make sure everything was filled out properly before we went to the train station. I got to meet and see a bunch of missionaries. It was so nice.  But I have never gotten a train ticket before and we didn’t get any information which means we missed the train.  So we got to talk to even more missionaries!  It was awesome!  Eventually we made our way to the trains and I left dear Helsinki for my new home Lappenranta! We didn’t have anything planned that night so after dinner I got to get to know the area a little better.  It was sweet!  My new companion is Sister Marta Nielson.  She is so smart and so kind and so good at Finnish.  I love her!

5/1

On Wednesday in the morning I was studying about Ammon and King Lamoni and one part really stuck out to me. The queen looks at Ammon and tells him people are saying her husband is dead and she only has Ammons word that he isn’t.  And she basically tells him that she has no idea what is going on, but “nevertheless, I believe…” That really stuck with me.  She had such faith to just accept.  I tried to keep that attitude with me.  Something like “I don’t understand Finnish, nevertheless, I believe God will help.”  It really helped when we taught the coolest man!  He an insane bike rider!  He’s going to bike from somewhere in Russia to here, Just Because! (I think anyway) But he is way cool! We contacted after his lesson and came home.  We were supposed to have another lesson but he wasn’t home, so the member took us back to our home area and gave us donuts (so good! and Homemade!) And we did some work here.  It turned out to be a good day!

5/2

District Council.  So much travel time!  Bike – train – train – walk to the meeting then walk back 1.5 hours later – train – train – bike home.  This whole thing takes from about 8:30am to about 3:45 but I had to get a bus card and fill out a change of address form. So we got home around 4:30. Crazy day. We have a cool district.  We are the only sisters but besides the zone leaders, there is Elder Robbins and Harlow in my district from the MTC.  So its pretty fun. We were going to have 2 lessons that evening, but nothing worked out.  So that kinda sucked. So we tracted and did some follow up before heading home for the night. For some reason, we were just exhausted and most of our day was travel.  Weird how that works out.  

5/3

A good Friday today.  We had studies and weekly planning today. It was weird to do my 1^st weekly planning for my new area. So weird, its all new people! So it was a lot of learning names and where they are, but still good.  Then we met with a friend and he’s cool.  A little bit of a sign seeker, but he’s willing to learn and discover his answers.  So he’s way cool.  His lesson went so good and ALL in Finnish! And I understood more than I expected.  After his lesson we went to follow up with someone and set up a lesson then headed to the church for our language class, to which no one came.  But! We got to talk and get to know a member who is so cool!  She just got back from a mission in Winnipeg Canada.  After waiting for a bit, we headed home for dinner then out to talk to some people.  It was a good evening.

5/4

Saturday was a distracted morning.  Our landlord and his wife came over (they are members) to set up screens for our window and to help with some maintenance. All during studies it was a bit hard to focus.  Then we visited and sang to an older member who was just put in a nursing home. We were able to make her day a little bit brighter. Then we thought we had a lesson, but the lady wasn’t home. So we went on our bikes for following up with some returning members. And one was actually home! He was alone though, but said we could come back later! Miracles! Then that evening after dinner we went tracting and on the way home, we were at a bus station and this lady sopped us and asked if we ere speaking English. We were like, “yeah..?” and we talked to her about her family and her life and her travels and she was so cool. She has lived in Italy and England and all over so it was cool.  And we started talking about the church and she was pretty interested to learn more.  So we swapped numbers and then she was gone, but it was way cool.  Then we went home.

5/5

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Church! So many new people! It was so fun though! We had a friend there and she is the sweetest ever!  We talked with her a little after then came home and napped instead of lunch (yay fast Sunday!) Then we went to visit these returning members.  The wife just had surgery so we just went for a few minutes to get to know them and introduce me.  It was good.  Then after some contacting and studies we had dinner of TACOS [cinco de mayo] Then we went to tract some more before our ward coordination meeting which was good.  The mission leader is like 25 so it was really fun to have the meeting.  Plus ENGLISH! But we had a good meeting and I got some good dating advice, life advice, and mission advice.  It was way fun!

5/6

Today was way fun! We walked more than 10K over the whole day.  We had studies then went out and walked for about 3.5 hours and tracted and contacted and followed up! Then we went home and had dinner and a nap before heading out again.   But this time we missed the bus coming back so we had to walk ALL THE WAY HOME! It was so long  More than a 5K just by walking home.  It was insane. We got a couple “sure you could come back” and had 2 drunk Russians try and get us in their apartment and talked to so many nice people.  It was sweet! It was a long, tiring good day!

Love

Sisar McCammon

 Seeing Sisar Kristensen at the train station was a highlight!  Abbie and Sisar Hansen said goodbye.

 Abbie with her new companion Sisar Nielson! 

 The view from their apartment

 Cherry Blossoms

 Puunjalostuksen historiaa (Lappeenranta) = Wood Processing History

 The monument of Lauritsala city center tells about the long industrial history of the area. The Kaukas factory has donated a piece of a rocky paper machine with a small tile attached: The history of wood processing in Lauritsala.

 Golf Course