Finland is Finland and Missions are Hard!

Good morning!

I am so sorry that I have given up completely on my weekly letter.I hope this is still good. It's a collection of letters to other people, and mainly focused on the cool stuff that happened or the not so cool stuff, but I am pretty sure that by know you know that "I got up and I got dressed." I don't suppose that's what you wanna hear.

This week I feel like I have grown a lot. A lot more appreciation for missionary work. The good outweighs the bad though. Sister Miller has really been a big help. She is so encouraging and loving. I feel so much love from her and even though I'm sure it's been hard on her to have a companion like me, who's questioning herself a lot, she's a champ. She is so excited and loves talking with people and I've been able to see her grow a lot as well. It's been nice.

People we are teaching. The people we teach are a lot the same. Our friend from Slovakia is doing good. She was at the sisters conference and just loved it. She hasn't quite decided about baptism, but she's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying, so I know that she'll know soon. I seem to have a knack for only finding people willing to discuss, but not willing to change. They want more information but they are against changing beliefs. I don't know why these are the only people I find, but I'm working on helping them through commitments anyways. It'll be good.

A tender mercy this week happened on Sunday. We were on our way to the bus to head out to an area when the bus passed in front of us and I was a bit sad we missed it, but the bus stopped to let someone off, so I sprinted. I made it to the door right after it closed and waved my hands and she let us on. It was a miracle we made it since the buses are less regular on Sundays. As we were walking when we got to the area, I mentioned that God really takes care of us missionaries and I'm really grateful. Later that night, on our way to the bus to a different area, THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED! The bus barely saw me to let us on after I sprinted again. It was a testament that even in the small things, Heavenly Father takes care of His children

We had 4 DINNER APPOINTMENTS PLANNED THIS WEEK!!! FOUR!!! One was cancelled but it was really fun. We got to help paint a goat shed with chalk paint at this first one, then she fed us dinner afterwards. It was so fun! I love service so much. If you can come up with literally any random service opportunity for the missionaries, give it to them. Even if it is just to do the dishes. I would do that for literally any member of my ward because I love them. I know your missionaries love you too, so let them serve!!!!!! The other one was with our bishop and his wife who is from Bolivia. So she knows how hard it is to learn Finnish. So she helped us by holding a Finnish 101 course over our main course. I only remember that vatsa means stomach maha and means tummy! Thank all my lucky stars for moms!! Unfortunately one was cancelled and rescheduled for this week! And the last was with literally the best family in the entire world!! The kids were a bit rowdy, but honestly when are kids ever not? We got to have fun though, and the mom and I became a little bit closer bonding over small children. It was also fun because the mom always tries to speak Finnish to us so we can learn, but this time she spoke in English a bit more, and I was SO GRATEFUL!! Finnish is so hard to understand. I'm learning though... I hope....

We also got three referrals this week. One is for this guy in the army who is so legit. He really wants to learn more, and has the coolest story ever. Here is the original text from the elders who taught him first, "What the flip is up everyone! We have some pump up news as well! We found "A" last transfer who happened to be stopping in kouvola (original City he was taught in) on his journey home to Lappeenranta (😊😊) from an army base. We spoke with him and one thing led to another and we ended up teaching him a following Friday in which he had the same lay over in kouvola. Unfortunately he got re stationed to Hamina and wouldn't be traveling through kouvola anymore....so we thought. We texted him today to see if we could meet him in Hamina on Monday as we would be down in kotka, turns out his bus to Lappeenranta was full and he got re directed to kouvola, we were able to meet with him for a hour. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and extended a baptismal date, he said "I do feel like I need to be baptized again, it is just something in front of me" unfortunately he is too busy with the army camp to be baptized on that specific day, and he had to run to catch his train but we told us he would keep baptism on his mind as he read and prayed." So now we get to teach him! One was a member's friend who he shared the Book of Mormon with. She also came to church and seemed pretty interested. She's really nice and we hope to meet her soon. The last is a young man whose dad has given us several other referrals. We went to follow up with him, and he wasn't interested because he's too busy but told us we just HAVE to talk to his son. So he calls his son out (who I've met before) and we give him the whole schpeal and he's interested! YSA for the win!

The last thing I'll talk about is both cool and not. We had several appointments set up this last week (5) and all (5) of them were cancelled. We were bummed out about this, and we doing some calls when Sister Miller sets up a lesson for that night. A place where a man had just cancelled with us. So that was pretty cool. But still slightly bitter about the other (5) lessons that were cancelled. But off we went to this lady's house. We come in and she puts her accordion down and asks if we want coffee or tea and chocolate milk works just fine. So we got our milk and sat down, and she pulls out some cookies and donuts. This is average Finn behavior so I'm not too worried, but she already has her Bible open, so I'm a bit curious. We talk for a minute about her family before she just starts praying. She doesn't bow her head or close her eyes just prays while having a staring contest with me. Slightly confusing when it's a foreign language. Then she starts reading from her Bible and telling us this and that and basically Bible bashing about prophet. I'm not a fan of that I think it's contentious and it's hard in Finnish. So i told her I don't want to fight and she doesn't either but keeps going till I just start to nod my head and hope I'm not telling her false doctrine. Then she gets all happy and we chat for a minute before she asks to braid my hair. I'm a bit caught off guard and tell her she can if she wants. So she does my hair then sister Miller's hair. It was so weird and I was so glad when we finally left. This wasn't as short as I wanted but it was cool and also not. It didn't live to the expectations I had, but we still got to teach and testify so that was good!!

I think that's all for this week. Sorry for the lack of energy level letter, but I hope you all have a good week! I love you all!!


Rakkaudellani,
Sisar McCammon

Fry Bread - She's becoming quite the cook!!!  Only apparently rapeseed oil has a very low burning temp and it filled their house with smoke when they fried these up!!! LOL!!!

Sept 17, 2019

Hello! 

This week was kinda busy and kinda not. It's one where I have felt like I have done a lot, but I can't really remember much from it. I remember enough that I can talk about the good things from the week.

Wednesday was a travelling day but it was really good. Now that we have skype district meeting, I cherish the days we have in person a lot more. We had a really good council though and I learned a lot about growth for me and how much the Lord is helping me out.

Thursday was great we got to visit a happy older member of our ward who it was so nice to visit with her. She can't see very well so we read the Book of Mormon to her and she loved it! We also had a dinner appointment and the member had some visiting family and they spoke English!!! They're from Australia so it was fun to hear a new accent. Blessings of English!!

Friday was good old weekly planning and then we had a lesson with a friend. He's really cool but it was a bit difficult because he talked the whole time. I could barely get in a testimony before he had to leave. It was good though. Afterwards we had a small sports night where we played sähly or floor ball or indoor hockey with a wiffle ball and no rules. It was super fun and it felt so good to play again! 🤗🥰 then we came home to call a bit before bed. We were so much happier afterwards though.

Saturday We taught our English class and they were so nice! It was raining pretty hard so we taught a lot about weather and the 5 senses. Then we got to go and find find find find find. Lots of finding, but it was fun.

Sunday we had church and talked to a bunch of members. They are so awesome and we got four dinner appointments set up for the week! 4! It's kind of a lot, but we are pumped. Then later we went tracting and knocked on this woman's door who let us come in, but said she wanted to finish her TV program before we could talk. So we waited and learned some Finnish before teaching her a little bit. She was such a sweet and kind woman. We then left for our ward coordination meeting. It was fun. I had previously made a cheesecake so we ate that and enjoyed our meeting. Definitely a highlight of the week.

Monday was good. We had Skype district council today and then taught English and then went to  a member's house and helped her paint her goat shed for the goats she is buying... it was AWESOME!! I had so much fun and I got to watch her wrangle some chickens to give to her friends. We literally have the coolest members. It was a good day.

And that was the week. It was really good and I can honestly say FINLAND IS THE BEST!! I LOVE IT HERE!! It really is absolutely gorgeous and I love it. If you ever have the chance, come out here! It is absolutely amazing!! It's well worth it.  I love you all and hope you have a good week!!

Love,

Sisar McCammon 

Turning 20 in Finland

Hey! This week was crazy. But also not. We had our normal things that happened but for some reason they seem extraordinary this week. I'll do a quick run down of what happened because it was fun!

Tuesday we went and helped a member clean out her childhood home. It was fun and there were her (A) and her husband (H) and another member (E) and her mom (V) and Sister Miller and I. It was so fun! A's children were also there so we got to play tag in Finnish. I'm still not quite sure what it is but something like hippa. It was really fun. We had a good evening.

Wednesday we had online district council, so we had time here in Lappeenranta, but for a reason that will pop up in a couple days, I was wiped out. So I took a 20 min power nap that turned into me sleeping for 40 min because I still couldn't function after 20 min. I was wiped, so when our lesson happened at 16, I was a bit confused still, but the Spirit works in mysterious ways, and I functioned and in Finnish. I also kept going all the way through our bible study in the evening. That was luckily in English, but it was good. We enjoyed our time, then I came home and passed out early. Slept all night too.

Thursday we had another school presentation and it went just as well as the first one. We had the same member who saved our lives by coming a second time. I couldn't have done that one without him! And it was way cool to teach so many people at once! We had a good lesson later that day too. He was really nice. We were supposed to have a third lesson after dinner too, but she was a little sick, so she rested and talked to people around town instead.

Friday was a bit of a bummer day. We had weekly planning, but I was feeling a bit sick anyways. We went and talked to people after weekly planning and it was good. We went out to follow up with some people, and we had one who when we was found the missionary who was going home told her companion, "I'm glad I'm leaving because he's too attractive for me to teach." Or something like that, so we went to follow up with this attractive fellow, but turns out that he has moved... but another attractive college student opened the door. Unfortunately he wasn't interested, but if you ever want to find some really attractive people, just move to Lappeenranta. 🤷‍♀️ on our way home, we heard some ABBA playing while we were waiting on the bus, so instead of staying on the bus my companion and I jumped off and went searching. We didn't find it but! We ended up finding a less active member who we haven't seen in a little while. It was so cool and spirit led. It was a little weird to just jump off the bus, but so worth it because we ended up being blessed both us and the member by us seeing each other! It was great!

Saturday was my birthday! It was so exciting! Except here's where Wednesday's tiredness comes in. I GOT SICK!!! I was sick on my birthday! It was okay except we had our English class on Saturday and they were so sweet and brought cake and treats! Of course I ate it despite feeling gross. They were all so nice! Afterwards, we had a lesson and member 1 was late so we grabbed member 2 who was just at the church and started our lesson. We were about 5 minutes in and I felt sooo sick. I was so scared I was going to explode or something during our lesson because of how bad I was feeling. But after 15 minutes, member 1 walks in with flowers for me for my birthday. It was so sweet, but she left again and we stayed with member 2 and it ended up working our perfect because the person we taught really needed member 2. Then we went home for me to rest, but I felt so bad that we ended up texting our ward mission leader and headed back over to the church so I could get a blessing. Which was the best idea ever because not only did I feel better, but everything that was said was exactly what I needed. So many things were said that I needed to hear. It was really good. Then we came back home and I finally had the peace to actually rest.

Sunday was good. I translated in the second hour of church, and did a fine job. Not the best because I translate the way I understand. By idea not by word, so I hope everything made sense... but it was good. We had a meeting after church and found out that our stake wants to double its size this coming year. It's a big goal, and really exciting! Let's hope it happens! We did a lot of tracting that day and it went well. No one was very interested but we met lots of really nice people. Then that evening we had another missionary meeting. It was good. We ate ice cream and chocolate while there. It was nice.

Monday was good too. We were studying in the morning and saw a member walking down the street and ran to our fake balcony to try and wave but he didn't see us so we tried to wave out the window and we called him and told him to turn around and walk toward the street and he was really confused but it was awesome because we got to wave and he waved back. He's less active so we got to meet with him later that day. It was really good. We always go to help him, but always seem to be the ones that are helped more by him. We stayed and talked till we were all chattering... didn't take long, but we ate cake and talked and I learned so much from him. He's so cool. He was the same one we saw because ABBA. It really was good for both him and us.

That wasn't really a quick run down, but we had a good week. Lots of normal, but really good stuff. I'm really grateful for all who sent me birthday wishes. You're amazing and I love you all. I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Sister McCammon! 💖

We'll start with one of her most frequented places! LOL!!!

Sisar Godfrey, Sisar McCammon, Sisar Miller and Sisar Christiansen (the two on the ends are the sister training leaders)

Abbie getting a little trim from a sister in their ward.

Happy Birthday Abbie!!!  The big 20 and a Sister in their ward was nice enough to think of her and give her flowers!

 Abbie showing off her "fake balcony"

I think this is the second most frequented place Abbie goes! LOL!!!

The temple...a place of peace!

Heya! This week has been kinda crazy. It feels like we were hardly in our area at all! It was good though. A lot of stuff happened. Last Tuesday we just hung out around Lappeenranta and went down by the beach and relaxed.

Wednesday we had our weekly missionary meeting in Mikkeli and it was really good. But this started the trend of not being in our area. We were gone by 7 and didn't come back until 3 in the afternoon. It was good though. I really like travelling. We go by bus and by train and Finland is beautiful. There are so many trees and lakes here, and it's so GREEN! I love it. Unfortunately, they are changing so we only travel every other week. But we had a good day in Mikkeli.

Thursday, we got up early and got on a train and headed down south to Espoo. We had the opportunity to go to the temple before we had exchanges with other sister missionaries. The temple was so beautiful! I felt so much peace and happiness inside and felt a lot from my Heavenly Father. It was wonderful! I also got to see a woman from the first place I served in here in Finland! It was such a blessing! Plus I got to see my MTC companion again!! My dear sweet sister Godfrey!! ❤❤ I love her so much!!

Friday we continued exchanges and I got to work with both Sister Christiansen and Sister Godfrey. I taught a sweetheart who is a swedish speaking Finn and also their recent convert who was baptized while I was still in Lohja. It was such a good day and I got to teach so much. It was so busy!!

Saturday. I literally cannot remember what we did. I do remember in the evening we went out to the Harbor/beach place because we saw the entire population of Lappeenranta gathered in one area. It turns out that it was a little end of the summer festival where they celebrate lights. So we went and contacted the world!! We met so many cool people and pet so many dogs and watched fire dancers and acrobats and pet more dogs. We also got to talk to people about why they love Lappeenranta. It was awesome because I love Lappeenranta too!! ❤❤

Sunday was a really good day. We luckily didn't have to play the piano again. But we have a member who's daughter married someone from Sweden and they live there now. But they were visiting today!! It was so much fun! I also learned in church that the reason (well at least I think) we have a hard time explaining spiritual experiences is because our spirits are celestial and we're learning things on a level that we aren't used to. Then we try to explain a celestial thing using telestial means. I don't know if that makes sense but I felt the Spirit at church anyways.

Monday was really good. We had our school presentation in the morning and it went so well! The kids were so attentive and it was awesome to share about this church to all those people. They seemed really interested too. No one really took a book or card or anything, but they seemed to like it! We went to a Chinese restaurant with our member who came with and it was awesome. Then later that day we helped another member with some Finnish. It was really fun! I really love the members here in Lappeenranta. I could spend the rest of my mission here with them! I don't think I will but I would love it.

I love you all and wish you all the best week!

Love,
Sister McCammon 💕💕💕✌😄

 Stumbling upon and end of summer festival near the lake.

 Beautiful girls and a beautiful sunset.

 Abbie said they watched the fireworks from their apartment but apparently there was supposed to be a huge bonfire. It was after curfew so they didn't see that and couldn't see it from their house.

 Lit up street art at the festival.

Thanks to Uncle Jason and Aunt Heather for the pancake mix!  It made missing Founders Day a little easier.  She had watermelon and sloppy joes too!!!

 Founders Day or as the rest of the world calls it Labor day is a huge celebration in our family.  We head to Wellsville every year for a long weekend of family and fun!  Her companion made her this poster to help her feel happy!

August 26, 2019

Hey everyone! 

This week my email is going to be really short. Mostly because not a lot happened. It was a good week though. I really like my companion. She is so nice, and she is so ready to talk to everyone. It has been fun to get to know her and serve her. She's awesome! 

We had zone conference this week on Tuesday, and they really encouraged us to speak to youth. To focus our efforts on student housing and working with those our age. It was a surprise to me because even though they are the ones searching for direction, they are the ones who don't always listen. So I was a little wary. But the Lord always gives us opportunities to show that His way is the best way. We were sitting in our English class when a group of teenage girls come up to the church. We take a quick break to go talk to them, and it turns out they want us to come to their religion class at school and talk about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The history and what we believe. It was a surprise that's for sure, but an awesome opportunity anyways. We are excited for it next Monday. 

Another fun thing that happened this week... Sister Miller and I are not musical. At all. Honestly neither is our ward. Which brings the problem of only having one member who plays the piano... who couldn't make it to church on Sunday... so Sister Miller and I played piano. In church. During Sacrament meeting. Granted, I only played one hymn, but still. It was so bad. Sister Miller did good. She must've taken more lessons or been more diligent than me, but she's awesome. I played horribly. I tried so hard though. Luckily no one could hear me. Our mission leader told me at our meeting later that evening "I think it reached the point when everyone realized you couldn't play, so they sang louder to drown out your piano playing..." It's true. It was bad, but experiences, you know?

It was a good week though. We haven't met with very many interested people, but our returning members have been in contact with us really well. We were able to meet and uplift many of them and the ward has been really active in helping us. Especially the young adults. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the back to school season! Good luck everyone, love you all!

Love, Sister McCammon! 💕💕