Sisar McCammon on a Mission to Finland: Help the Missionaries Serve

I am almost done with the Book of Mormon!! I am in Mormon, and I love the Book of Mormon. I have drawn so much strength from reading it! I absolutely know that it is true. It has so much power. I woke up very angry a couple times this week, and by the time studies came, I was ready to go to Hyvinkää and use the Elder's punching bag. But I read the Book of Mormon and the urge was gone. I felt a lot more peace and a lot more in control. So I really know that it is from God because everything good is from Him, and the Book of Mormon is very good!!!

E (from Slovakia) is doing well. She is really busy while here. She is trying to sell and get rid of all her stuff, and completely move to Slovakia, so she's always really tired, but she comes to church. She is going with a friend to Russia this weekend so she won't be at conference, but she said she will watch it when she gets home. We have really caught the conference bug. We are inviting everyone to conference. We ended up meeting this one man, who basically took the words out of my mouth. He offered his number and asked to be invited to church and activities. So that was cool. He came to church yesterday, and said he wanted to meet, but he's really busy. It was exciting though. We also are going to teach a woman on Wednesday who is a referral from a member, and are hoping that she will be able to attend conference with the members who referred her. It is really exciting. She already promised to read the Book of Mormon! It's awesome! If you could pray for E to have her concerns be resolved and that she can have clarity on if baptism is right for her, I would love that! She is amazing and is just a bit afraid to accept a specific date. BUT SHE IS READY!!! Also pray that everyone who comes and listens to conference will feel the Spirit and find answers to their prayers.

Tender mercy this week was probably the hand hug last night. I was ready to just give up and go home. I was really sad, and it was a really bad day yesterday. I shared a lot of struggles with Sister Miller, but I still was struggling. We went to our ward coordination meeting anyways. Which was good. We got there, and the Ward Mission Leader had brought a treat, which was really nice. The ice cream soothed my sadness a little bit. But as we were discussing, we started talking about me, and how I am doing, and with both him and Sister Miller, they were able to really help me out. they helped me and answered a lot of prayers. Then I shared some insecurities about my relationship with members, and the Ward Mission Leader shook my hand which is a rare occurrence, then said "This is something I learned on my mission" and he gave me a hand hug. I really appreciated it, because I really felt like I was his friend and he cared about me enough to help more out of friendship more than responsibility. It really helped me to see clearly that people do care about me. It was such a tender mercy that I really just knew that Heavenly Father is looking out for me. He's sending so many angels to support and help me out. It is really nice.

ANOTHER AWESOME THING!!! SISTER NIELSON IS BACK!!! She got here to LPR on Saturday. She is staying at a member's father's house, and we were with the member when she got there, so we got to see her! It was awesome! She looks so good, and it is so weird to see an old companion in normal clothes and hugging boys and stuff. It was good to see her and meet her parents. they are really nice. Plus we got to see them at church and we got to go to dinner at a member's house with them and help translate! It was so much fun!! Plus we are having a ward family home evening night tonight so I will see her again. SO FUN!

I also made chicken pot pie this week. And fudge. I am really enjoying being in the kitchen. It is really relaxing. I love it a lot. I also made this thing called taco lasagna. SO GOOD!! It sounds really weird, but it was delicious. If you didn't know, before my mission, I couldn't do much more than boil water and stir when my mom said stir. So I have grown a lot. I am experimenting and finding a lot of really good and pretty easy recipes. I am having so much fun learning!

We rode our bikes this week too. We took an adventure on flat tires and forgot our pump at home... It was a bit sad because even though we both like biking it was made a lot more difficult because of that. So I was really sore, and it took much longer than was necessary. We just need to air up our tires. Maybe one day.... It was lots of fun though! I LOVE biking! I am so exciting to go home and ride my bike again!!

The last thing I want to talk about is members meaning YOU!! Here in Finland there are a set of missionaries per ward. But in Utah and Idaho, there are one or two companions per stake. THAT'S A LOT OF MEMBERS! The missionaries love you! Next time you see the missionaries, stop and talk to them! Tell them thank you for what they do. Ask them for advice on how to invite your friends to church. Ask them what their favorite scripture is. Invite them to dinner, or ask them to teach you the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, ask them to help you finish up the garden or do some yard work or put up the Christmas lights. THEY LOVE YOU!! They might be busy, but they want to strengthen you and if you have a friend that they can help by service or teaching or friendshipping, TELL THEM!! They are only there fro a short time, help them out! Ask them if they want to go on a hike for PDay or if they want to go bowling or something. Invite them because they miss their families. They miss their friends. Become their friends. It will benefit the both of you so much more than you can imagine. I love you all so much and I promise that you will receive so much strength in your testimony and life. I have felt so much love and happiness with members. Who knows, maybe you'll make a lifelong friend!

Love you all!! Talk to you next week!

Sister McCammon

Cute street art