Pori Finland Here I am!!!

This week was absolutely insane! Last time I wrote, I was living in Lappeenranta and seeing a Russian every other person almost. Especially when we got to go to the Russian border! 😉 just kidding, we didn't see any Russians but it was awesome! I miss that place so much!! The known streets and trusty members and beloved friends. LPR was seriously home. But on Tuesday I shoved the last of my belongings into my bulging bags and headed to the train station. We were met by a member who drove us over there. I cried a lot when I said goodbye. And then I cried some more on the train and slept a bit and  talked to my sweet companion. I had roughly 20 minutes at the train station before bidding a bitter sweet goodbye to my dead sweet Sister Miller. 😥👭 I was sad to see her go but shes gonna be an amazing trainer. She's seriously amazing and LPR is gonna thrive. I boarded my train though, and rode to Tampere by myself. I cried quite a bit and tried to hide it from the few other passengers nearby. But it was a bit weird to travel by myself.

But I made is to Tampere and was met by Sister Allen 💕 from the MTC, Sister Middleton 💖 my new companion, and Sister Forrest ❤ who I was companions with for the day when Sister Nielson went to my plan. It was way fun. Then we hung out in the train station for roughly 2.5 hours before boarding the train to Pori with the Elders. Elder Hall (MTC) and Gatrell who was in Helsinki zone with me. I also got to meet my district and see Sister Broderick (also MTC [that makes 4 of us in the same district!]) Then Sister Middleton and I went and started working really. We bought some groceries and had dinner but just started working. We got to meet the most amazing members that night. It is the branch president and his wife and their one son. They are literally the best people ever. They are already good friends to me! 😁 They are so compassionate and loving. They are amazing!!!

That was just Tuesday. Wednesday we did a lot of finding then in the evening we got to go out and teach a recent convert. He is was cool. He has such a strong testimony and it was amazing to teach him and meet him. I really enjoyed my time there. That plus he gave us some chocolate and snacks. He is seriously super nice. Plus he is a professional piano player for the Lutheran church and he plays the piano amazingly. It is incredible.

Thursday was our ward coordination meeting. Which means we get to be with our Branch President for a while and he teaches us Finnish by having us go through an essay we write in Finnish prior to our meeting. So he teaches Finnish then we get to discuss about our friends and how we can help the ward and so forth. It was absolutely amazing. Then afterwards, the elders were kind enough to serve us by putting winter tires on our car. Here come winter. I am partially scared for winter driving but bring it on Finland. This Idaho girl is ready to take you on!! 🦸‍♀️💪

Friday I went to TAMPERE! And it was legit the best. We got there and found our way to the chapel. (Halfway across the city) so we got to see a bunch of stuff. And i bought ice cream that is lemon flavoured and delicious. Absolute heaven. 🍋🍦we has district council and I was excited to meet our district. Although I know most of us already. It was way fun! I love to see other missionaries although district councils are sometimes difficult. I feel guilty a lot during them because I never feel like I'm doing enough. It feels like chastisement a lot. I hope that can change too because it puts a downer on the excitement of seeing other missionaries. After council we had like and hour and a half in Tampere. So we wandered towards the train station. We took pictures by the church and by some statues and we took a picture that looked like the paper mill. It was cool we walked around a while before going back to the station and getting on the train to go back to Pori. We got to go back with the Elders. It was seriously way fun.

Saturday we did some following. We met a bunch of people who we interested in the morning and got to teach our other recent convert. He is so cool. He is pretty busy, but has already read the Book of Mormon is his three months of being a member. His conversion is so strong and he is dating a member, so we are praying really hard on his behalf that it goes well for both of them. People here deserve eternal marriage and families so much. There is so much these people don't realize they are missing out on. Only when we go through the temple and are sealed can we really live with our families after we die. Only through Jesus Christ can we feel completely forgiven and become like Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father wants so much for us to be close to Him because He wants to help us out so much!! Anyways, we also got to drive out to Reposaari. That's where the ocean (Gulf of Finland?) is, so of course I took a picture. Then when we followed up at the next person, we were so far from the city that the stars were so clear. We also got to walk out to a little beach like 10 meters from our car, and saw the ocean and the stars and i just felt so happy. I wish i could have laid down on the sand for just 5 minutes and soaked in the evening and appreciated.  It was good for the moment we were there though.

Sunday I bore my testimony in church!!! 😬😬 it went well though. The biggest mistake I caught. I almost said I had been in Finland for 10 years and not months. Even though we are a Branch and we didn't have that many members at church that day, I was still pretty nervous to talk in front of everyone. But church was really good. I understood pretty much all of it and that is still something I am getting used to. I remember still remember sitting in the chapel in Espoo and thinking during Sacrament, "the only thing I understood in that was 'dear brothers and sisters' how am I going to ever learn this language?" And yet here i am almost a year later. It's incredible what the Spirit can teach you. Another fun thing and merciful thing was our branch President and his wife feeding us dinner. It was the best dinner ever. They asked about the food I missed most which was funeral potatoes so we got to eat funeral potatoes!! 🥔🥔🥔 I love them so much! They take such good care of us!! (They gave us the leftovers!!!)

Monday was okay. President gave us permission to go and get to know Pori a little. So we went to the tourist place and learned a bit about what there is to see for the next couple months then we went and found a book at the public library about Pori before stopping for burgers on the way home. Then we finished planning for our week before heading for some more finding. Lots and lots of doing this week, but it isn't terrible I guess. I'm still new here, and I'm driving, so that's crazy. All has been going well, and I'm really excited for the rest of my time here. I hope I can love it just as much as I loved LPR!!

I love you all and hope you have a good week. Feel my love!!!

Love Sister McCammon!! 💖💖💖