Transfers and a new companion!

So hello everyone! This week was very interesting. Pretty crazy because of transfer week. My companion is Sister Miller. She has been in country for 3 months and is so AMAZING! It has been really weird being senior companion. I have loved it though. The spirit has been so strong with us in helping us figure out what we are doing. I have also felt a lot of help in the language. I'm still kinda lame at Finnish but! My understanding is getting a lot better. It has helped that I don't have someone more advanced in the language to help me out. It has been pretty awesome.

A little bit about the week. Super busy and way fun!
We transferred on Tuesday and I said goodbye to Sister Nielson, she's now back in America and hopefully having the time of her life seeing family again! But I got my new sister and we went immediately to a dinner appointment and it was crazy to immediately be the one who understood and led things.

Wednesday we helped a member in our ward move across town to our side of town! We are so excited to have her closer to us! We love her and are super happy she is living in a much better apartment! But because of moving her, we were really late to our Bible study and by the time we got there everyone but the hosts had left. So we talked with them about the church and Book of Mormon and they said they wanted to learn more on another day! It was a miracle!

We had interviews with President Aura on Friday. It was so nice to see him and talk to him. He has been such an amazing help to me while I have been here. I can tell he really cares about me and will do everything he can to help me. But it was awesome! We also got to go tracting and it's crazy how much my Finnish has grown. I understand well enough to actually lead another person around and converse with someone! It's crazy!

Sunday was church! ❤ it was really good. We talked about some crazy things but Romans 8 has a really good part where Paul testifies about how nothing can separate us from God's love and that was a really powerful part to me. That nothing we do or nothing that happens or no sin can take away the love we can always feel from God. It's always there. I have really felt it too recently. I don't know if it's the amount of prayers from all you or your letters of support and encouragement but I have felt such an outpouring of love and I am really grateful for it!! Thank you all!! I love you and miss you all so much and I hope you all have a good week!

Rakkain terveisin,
Sisar McCammon


P.S. Sister Miller was calling someone from our list and he answered and she introduced who we were and asked if he wanted to meet and talk about Jesus Christ, and he was so funny. He said, "Oh, you called to talk about Jesus. Okay well, umm. Today is busy but you can call later." It was so funny to me that he thought the missionaries would call for not Jesus. It was so funny to me and I still can't stop laughing.

Have a good one lovelies!!!

Sisar Miller

I sent Abbie new sunglasses but she can't wear them because they are mirrored, oh well. 

2 Week Recap

Hey!
This week wasn't too exciting and so sorry for the lack of an email last week. I'll try to write some of last week too. But these past two weeks have been absolutely crazy. Sometimes slow and sometimes moving way too fast. Sister Nielson leaves on Tuesday, and I get a new companion, so we have been preparing a lot for that. Lots of packing and letter writing and seeing people for the last time. It's all pretty sad over here. But it's been good too.

Last P-day we went to a member's mökki or summer cabin. We tried to help him set up a fishing robot of his own creation, but it got stuck so we just kinda left it and ate dinner and looked out at the lake and chatted instead. It was so beautiful and rainy! It was so much fun!

And we celebrated Harry Potter's birthday with waffles by the lake with one of the people we teach! Then one of the Bible Study's we go to, the hostess had a birthday on the same day, so we got her some strawberries and a card, and went to her Bible Study. We had so much fun!! Lots of fun food!

On Monday, we got to teach a really cool woman, and she was so nice! She really liked what we were saying and she even said she wanted us to teach her young son because he had a lot of questions about God. Such a cool lady!

On last p day we got to go see an art museum and a cavalry museum. It was way fun! Very, very Finnish. It was a Väinö Something exhibit then the other was all about the Finnish cavalry. It was really fun.

On Friday we went out to a member's house and got to eat with them. As we were waiting for the food to cook, the dad found out that we had asked his son to send us memes, so he pulled out his phone and started sending us memes. He laughed even harder than my dad does when he sees a meme. It was so funny to watch him just crack up at something and no one else knows what meme he's looking at.

Saturday our two lessons fell through, but our member was there so we talked to her and learned some Finnish. It was really fun. Sister Nielson went over her talk with her, and it was really nice. Then we went to the Sister's night for the ward. It was nice. We wrote down all the negative things that people had said or we had thought about ourselves. Then we BURNED THEM! It was awesome. Mine took forever to burn. Makes sense. It was a good day.

Sunday we had church and had some friends there. It was really nice and there was a lot of support for Sister Nielson. It was awesome. I also translated her talk to English for one of our friends. It was so legit. It was easier than I expected but it was hard to translate as fast as she spoke. But I did it. Then we fed dinner to our Ward Mission Leader for our meeting. It was a good meeting. We received a couple desserts this week, so we had ice cream and apple cake. So good. We had a good time. Our ward mission leader is really cool. He's a YSA and it's way nice to just talk in English to him. It was way nice.

But that's the last two weeks. So 👍. Good week. I know the church is true. I love Jesus Christ. Not much else to say. I love you all! Have a good week.

Love,
Sister McCammon


Outside the supermarket.  She's too chicken to take pics inside LOL!!!

The puzzle she just finished

Sister Nielsen saying good bye to her plants and giving them away.  She goes home this week.

Sister Nielson on a swing

Abbie on the swing

A Successful Missionary

A Successful Missionary
By Sister McCammon
Being a missionary includes many known and unknown things. The known things include waking up early. going to bed early, talking to people, and teaching the gospel. The unknown things are less physical and include getting rejected all day, day after day, feeling homesick, feeling like you are not enough. At least in my experience that is what I didn't expect. The knowns make it worth it, but the unknowns can present challenges. For me, the biggest challenge is knowing when I am successful.
Preach My Gospel describes success as a missionary as "your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the Church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost." The words of this manual are inspired by God, so the Lord has said that He doesn't just want converts. He wants converted disciples, starting with His missionaries. He wants the missionaries to be committed in helping Him. As Nephi states in 1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." The Lord has commanded His missionaries to be where they are and do what they are doing and be successful. So He provided a way for that.
The hardest part is the influence of the world as a missionary. Satan works very hard to make missionaries feel worthless. Preach My Gospel warns against comparison of numbers from ourselves against other missionaries. It is not easy though. Despite all efforts it still feels to not seem enough. There still feels like there is criteria and so many things to be doing at once, that it feels like an equation set up to make a missionary fail unless they are perfect. It feels like constant failing by focusing on what you are not doing instead of what you are. Brad Wilcox talks about this in his talk "His Grace is Sufficient"; he tells the story of a girl who came to him and sadi she didn't understand grace. She listed things she wasn't doing, and should be, and things she was doing and shouldn't be then told Brother Wilcox, "I know that I have to do my part and then Jesus makes up the difference and fills the gap that stands between my part and perfection. But who fills the gap that stands between where I am now and my part?" This is the thought that Satan uses against missionaries. He makes them feel as if they are too far gone, that they really can't reach the point where the Savior starts to help. As Brother Wilcox explains though, "Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference." There is never a time the Lord is not helping us. In reality, He is there all the time.
From Preach My Gospel, there is a list of things to know when you are a successful missionary, but the biggest one in my opinion is not even listed. It is to really feel that you are closer to Christ everyday. You are feeling the Spirit and using the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That is success. The Lord says he wants commitment, and that is the reward for that. When we are doing what we can to show our appreciation for all the blessings and opportunities we have as missionaries, we are rewarded in spirit and in love.
All this is not to say that there are never going to be days and maybe weeks where success seems impossible, but the Lord will help us know what to do. Stephen E. Robinson expands on Jesus Christ's Atonement as a deal we make with Him. We can never pay the full price, but Christ says to us,“I’ll tell you what. All right, you’re not perfect. How much do you have? What can you do? Where are you now? Give me all you’ve got, and I’ll pay the rest. Give me a hug and a kiss; enter into a personal relationship with me, and I will do what remains undone.” This is Christ's main goal for all of humanity. He wants us to give Him what we have, no matter how meager, how big some days or minuscule others, He wants us to hand it to Him, and He will do the rest. He invites us all in Matthew to, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." He invites all people everywhere to attach themselves to Him, and He will give us rest. He will help us find our way. As we learn of Him- and we learn best by teaching- we will find rest because we will become like Him.
Missionary work is hard. It is really hard to feel like you are enough because we are imperfect people attempting to do a perfect work, but Christ is there. As we turn to Him and really trust that He is there. Believe not just who He is, but what He says, then we become successful. I struggle still. I am still learning myself, and there are a lot of scriptures and wrods that comfort, that testify of Christ being there, but ultimately, Christ will let himself be known. He doesn't want us to be in darkness because He is "the light and the life of the world" (3 Nephi 11:11). He will light the way and bring us to the knowledge of our success. The world will try to darken the way by saying that "it is too hard" or "you are not good enough" and sometimes "you can never be as good as Sister." All of these are lies that belief in Christ will dispel. It will take time. It is not meant to be easy, but it is meant to help us grow.
Success; therefore, cannot be measured in who is better or who had the most numbers, but in commitment to our Savior and following the commandments He gives to His people. He loves us, and that is the greatest feeling of all. That is the measure. That is success. To feel the Lord's love for ourselves, to feel the Spirit. It can and will be hard, but the Lord is there. You are not alone, and success is fully attainable. It doesn't have to be a challenge, because He is helping along the path He prepared and is lighting. Christ really is the Savior, our Savior. He loves us, and has established His true church for the benefit of all people including you. He provided the Book of Mormon and Bible as examples of His love. Jesus Christ really is our Savior and our friend, In the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Not a lot of time to write a real letter this week so she included something she sent to the Mission President. Working through struggles with emotions that she's never dealt with before is mentally exhausting.  Here's a few photos from the week though!

Summer Cottage of a member

Picking Currents at the cottage

Making Daisy chains in the park