This is it. The Final countdown. In other words, I'm Dying...

This morning I was laying in bed (I woke up along time before the alarm) and was staring at the ceiling... and thinking of all the everything I need to do in the next couple days. And then I realized I'm going to be seeing all y'all in a week. And then I thought... that can't be real! But it is!  

Anyhow, so this past week was great. Actually, I don't really remember what happened. We taught our Hungarian investigator, who is super awesome! He used to be so skepitcal about everything but, his questions have been changing and although he's always been sincere, now he really desires to do all the things he needs to. For example, he was supposed to be gone the whole weekend in Hungary. He seems to spend most of his weekends in some other country, which makes it difficult for him to come to church. But, turned out his plane this weekend arrived in Finland at 1pm on Sunday. He then came to our ward at 2pm! So cool! And it sounds like he's either cancelled or shortened his trip to Rome next weekend as he promised he can stay the whole three hours next week! 

I got to spend one last Juhannus (midsummer) in Finland surrounded by some of my favorite missionaries and friends here. We played sports, games had a district meeting, The Sister Trainer Leaders (eli Sister Egan! and my baby finn Sister Cribbs) had a sleepover with us. Took a couple of pictures at midnight. 

Now, I've seen a few missionaries last emails and there seems to be a theme of them bearing their heart and soul about how the mission has changed them and all that. Sorry to disappoint... I will not be doing that. You'll hear it all from me next Sunday anyway, and if you can't make it then, well....we'll have to catch up later. And if that doesn't work.... I'm sure that 95% of the things I talk about for the next few months will pertain to my mission. It's better to hear it in person anyhow. 

So my schedule for this next week goes something like this. After email... I'm going and having my exit interview. This is a bit out the norm as I would normally be having it on Wednesday evening but, President Rawlings' term is also up, and the new mission president is coming in next week, and that just makes everyone's night crazy. I'll also be packing and this evening we have a family home evening with one of our new converts.  Tomorrow is a normal day. Wednesday I get to go to the Temple, see Sister Schellenberg (because she'll be in Helsinki picking up her new greenie!), do other stuff, eat dinner at the mission president's home. Then Thursday morning I'm shoving off. This is so bizarre. Seriously, I feel like nothing is really going to change, that I'll just always be waking up at 6:30, doing three hours of studies. talking to people in Finnish, going to church and worrying about investigators.

So, this is my last email to you. I love you! Thanks for everything!  I'll see you soon. 

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Kastendieck

#thenewbrazil

Explanation. Since there has been so much missionary success in the Espoo District as of late we have made up this joke that we are new Brazil (since they baptize like a million people there every week). Everything is up hill from here. And so, we sign the texts that we send to one another #thenewbrazil. Not that any of us really think that hashtagging things in real life is cool but, as a missionary some things just become funny. 

This week was busy. Really busy. We were putting together a baptism for our African investigator, rehearsing for our Music and the Spoken Wordfireside, and having a zone conference and trying to remain sane. I don't know how well the last item on the list was accomplished but, nearly everything else turned out.

The baptism was really good, for the most part. I mean, the person who was getting baptized came 15 mintues late, there were only seven people (besides missionaries) who attended, both our investigator and the Elder baptizing him forgot to bring towels, and Elder Gustafson had to baptize Dominic three times before he went all the under. But, Dominic really had a good experience. He said he felt so good afterward and now he has the Gift of the Holy Ghost and it's wonderful! In his own words as he left the chapel "I leave I better man than I came". Hooray! 

We had our fireside on Sunday. After lots of practice it really paid off. You all missed my debut performance as a soloist. Sorry about that. But, the whole program went really well. The theme of the night was Niin Suuri Oot (or in English, How Great Thou Art). We sang songs like Angel Lullaby, I Heard Him Come, How Great Thou Art, O Lord My Redeemer, I Know that My Reedemer Lives etc. and members had some stories they told in between musical numbers. It was powerful. About 95 people came which was twice the number we were expecting! 

I had my last zone conference this past week. I learned that it's never to late to be better. For example, I had kinda stopped focusing on Preach My Gospel over the last few months, as I feel like I've read it a million times. But, we were told that we should be studying mainly form The Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel. So I've changed my personal study to go in line with that. And I feel like when I have a greater focus on it I have a greater excitement for missionary work.  I also had to give my final testimony. Might have shed a couple tears. This mission has meant the world to me and I can't believe that it's pretty much over already. 

And now I get to go so hard for the last little bit. I still have time and I intend to use it in the best way possible. 

Love you all!

Rakkaudella,

Sister Kastendieck

Go so hard, go so hard, then go so hard again

Missionary work in Finland

This last week was pretty amazing. So many good things happened, including helping meeting with a lot of amazing investigators, splits with Sister Egan and just having fun in general.

SO, on Tuesday we had a lesson with our Hungarian investigator. We took him on a tour of the church, He really seemed to love it and at the end of the tour we invited him to be baptized. He accepted. It's great meeting with him. He really wants to learn and has an amazing ability to understand exactly what the scriptures are saying. He's so ready. Anyhow, that night we reported to all the people we needed to that we received a baptismal date. While talking to the assistants they told us that they wanted us to call them the next day with another one. We told them that we we had been planning on it but, our meeting with one of our promising investigators had been cancelled. So, we made a pact to try to invite someone, like on the street or at the door or anywhere, to baptism. If we did it, they had to too. Well, it turned out that we just so happened to teach another new investigator. We invited her and she accepted! So, we did get to phone the assistants again with good news.... and they on the other hand had completely forgotten their end of the deal. All well, Ei voi mitään. There just seems to be so many people all around that are 100% ready for the gospel, and they keep approaching us.

One of the cool things about serving in Espoo is that the temple is so close to us. Another fun thing is that during the summer they have tours of the temple grounds every Wednesday evening. We had invited one of our investigators to come for last Wednesday to see. He is preparing for his baptism this coming Saturday and we thought it would be cool for him to see the temple. We also, ended up last moment inviting our Hungarian investigator. Then we were at another lady's house and she brought up the temple and how she wanted to see it and learn more. And so we went with her, the Hungarian and our other investigator. Super great! There were a ton of people that night at the tour, the member leading the tour was surprised and everyone loved it.

I also got to go on splits with Sister Egan this week, She was my companion in the MTC, and is now my Sister Training Leader. We had SO much fun together! We got to ride bikes (For my first time in forever), contact this referral, play at a park, reminisce, teach some people and ponder our time on the mission and just ponder the nature of time in general. We've been through a lot together, and she is so amazing. Heavenly Father really does plan all things right. I'm so lucky to have had such a stellar companion and to have served in at least the same zone as her for most of my mission.

Anyhow, I need to go. I love you all. This week is going to be crazy. Wish me luck. I'm wishing you all luck in all your endeavors.

Taivaallisen Isän siunausta teille.

Sisar Kastendieck

EXCHANGES!

Hey friends and family

This last week was awesome. Beyond awesome. 

First off, back story. Two months ago our mission president emailed all of us missionaries here in Finland with a promise that in each area there was someone ready to be baptized in April or May. We get lots of promises from President and for some reason my little soul tends to think that they just apply to other areas. Well, Sister Johnson and I determined that we were going to show as much faith as possible and work as hard as we could towards this particular promise. After many baptismal dates falling through, stress, prayers and planning, it happened! On May 31st we had a baptism! The nine year old daughter of a part member family got to go to baptism. 

And now I really know that there are no exceptions to any rules, promises etc. In addition to this we have several other investigators who are top notch.

One of them we met several months ago but, have never been really serious about because she's quite old, and usually they have harder time accepting new things. Not so. We had a really powerful discussion about the Restoration and she loved it! She always talks about how things in her church are changing and she doesn't like it. 

I also had the opportunity to go off on member splits. Sister Johnson was a bit sick so she stayed at someone else's house while I went off to teach a couple lessons with a good member in our ward. It was scary. When you don't have the person who you've prepared everything with and your left kinda alone... it's scary. To make matters more fun, when we got to our investigator's house, he had a friend over. So, I got to try to teach about baptism, and on the side a bit about the Book of Mormon and whatnot so that his friend could understand. It went quite well, and was wonderful. I surprised myself, which is always fun to do, and then realized I deserve none of the credit. 

Also, icing on the cake for this week. In a couple weeks we're having a Music and the Spoken Word type special fireside. Guess what. I have a solo (scary) BUT, guess what song it is!!! It's Angel Lullaby from My Turn on Earth... I was the only one in my district that knew what it was, and so I get to sing it in Finnish! I'm so excited! 

So there is a glimpse into the life of me. Time keeps moving forward. Life keeps going. And miracles keep coming. 

Love you all,

Sister Kastendieck

SUMMER!

For some reason the Lord just keeps deciding to bless us more and more. Espoo is a place of miracles. Don't really know where to start but, here goes.

We went back and helped that family I mentioned last week finish moving. This time we wore pants. We talked with them a bit how God never changes, and how he still works miracles today. The husband was really interested, and actually has met missionaries before in his home country, Estonia. He said he was amazed that they could speak Estonian after being there for just a few months (Estonian is pretty much just as hard as Finnish). We explained that that's one of the miracles that God grants us today. I mean, my Finnish is far from perfect but, I can communicate fairly easily with most Finns. Many people have lived here for years and still don't speak more than a couple words. God definitely helps.

There was also a baptism this past Saturday. Really amazing. The man who got baptized is from Nigeria. It's really exciting and we hope that he and our investigator from Kenya will become good friends. They've started to sit together in church and in Priesthood meeting they get translated to by the same person (or so we hear).

Speaking of translating, I translated all of Relief Society into English for three women yesterday. I haven't translated for anyone in about six months. It was hard but, I feel like it went well. The topic was Elder Bednar's talk entitled The Windows of  Heaven about tithing. I had read that talk a bit a go in Finnish, so I was able to get some of the smallerish details I wouldn't have gotten if I never did. I felt a bit silly because there were a bunch other women in the room who could have done it a million times better than me. It was really cool experience though. I would actually like to do it again and hone my translating skills. It really helps me to know what I do know and how good my comprehension really is. 

Another fun experience. We got a call on Friday night from some leaders telling us that the mission president really wanted to have as many people as possible in church on Sunday. I really don't like when these types of invites come. There's no time to plan, and I generally feel like they lead to nowhere. Well, my companion, Sister Johnson, is a million times more faithful than me and accepted the challenge. We called a bunch of people, texted some more people, some of which were just names on lists of people who said they'd maybe, kinda be interested. None of them came. BUTon Saturday night when we were headed home we were walking to a bus stop. The only man waiting at the bus stop we were going to looked at us and said "I didn't know they sent girls out too". This started a brilliant conversation and we ended up inviting him to church. He came! and is interested in learning a bit more. And thus we see that when you put in your effort the Lord blesses you. 

Other fun things happening this past week include: a farewell bbq with my district (one of our zone leaders flew home this week), playing memory with the ten commandments, suprise dinner appointments, a heat wave, and having fun in general. 

Anyhow,

I got to go.

Love you all! 

Sister Kastendieck

Kesä on tullut

Warning: There are some cool stories contained in this letter. You might be taken aback by the sheer awesomeness and miraculous power of missionary work. Okay, maybe not but, at least I was this week.

On Saturday we had a mostly blank day, with tons of plans to visit and drop n on tons of people but, no appointments. Our first stop was our favorite older Swedish Finnish lady who lives really close to us. We went into the building and called the elevator, and waited. And waited. We then realized that someone was moving so, they were keeping the door open a few floors above. Eventually the elevator came down. There was a man and a mattress in it. We said hi and he told us his family was moving that day but, was stressed because it was just him and his brother who were moving all the things. (his wife was there too but, she's really pregnant) He then asked (jokingly) if we wanted to help. And we said "Yes!" which, shocked him completely. We ended up helping them for a few hours, skirts and all. Now, this is where the big miracle comes in. Him and his family had been potentials a few months early, we had tracted into them and they said we could come back. Upon a returning time though, he had said we shouldn't waste our time on them. Now, they love us and he just called a couple minutes ago and we're going back tonight!

Another story. On Monday we we're walking around on our way back home from the park we go to when we don't have much to do. We ended up talking to this lady from Rwanda! She has a young family and knows it's important to teach her children about God but, doesn't really know how to go about it. We offered, once again our services. So Friday night armed with our greatest member missionary, who happens also to be a mom, we head to her house. She is is SO prepared. We talked about the restoration, and she was always one step ahead of us, asking questions. Really good questions too like, "how do I know someone is a true prophet?" She loved it all but, my favorite part was when we got to introduce her to the Book of Mormon. She had just asked us, "so, what is the Book of Mormon anyway?" We opened with her to the introduction. We read just the first paragraph that talks about it being an ancient record of a people in America. As soon as we read that something clicked. She told us that she had always felt a bit distanced from the Bible because, how could after all God just love one people and talk to just them, when there his children are all over the world. I have never seen anyone light up like that over the Book of Mormon. Our member, also (without us even prompting) testified the whole time of how the gospel has helped her raise her family. It was amazing!

Also, all the members are great. We've been encouraging a lot of them to do their own missionary work. We had a good experience last night where we learned the members were already doing just that. It's quite hard to really do it in Finland  especially in the work place where it's mostly illegal to talk about religion. But, opportunities still come, and they just take them!  Really cool. Afterwards they made Sister Johnson and I play piano for them. Sister Johnson is quite good. Unfortunately all I know without music is Canon in D, which is really nice... I've just been playing it since I was 12 and it's getting a bit old. At least everyone else enjoyed it. I also got to play in Relief Society yesterday. So, that's fun.

Other than that things are pretty normal which, by the way, means fantastic. Ever since coming to Espoo my faith in missionary work has grown in leaps and bounds  The things that we're hard, are now natural. Things that seemed impossible are now in my grasp. Espoo is a beautiful place. Especially today. and yesterday. Everything is now green, and it's ridiculously warm outside.

So that is where life is at right now. Hope things are just as good where you are.

Love,
Sister Kastendieck

Moika!

Missions are weird. They change you so much. But, I feel like I expect some components of life back home to stay the same, but they change. Other components I think should change but, they stay the same. Time does weird things to everything.

Things have been going pretty great. We had planned fairly well to teach with lots of members. We were able to be with a member for a  good amount of time, teaching, nearly every day. It's not only a great time to  get to know my ward but, also a good time to show people what missionary work is really all about... not that I'm an expert at this or anything. 

Last weekend was Stake Conference. It was really good. Someone in their talk was talking about the attitude we can have towards things. We can, for example, go to a church meeting excited to learn, or we can go just because it's expected of us, or we can also go because some one made us. Those who will receive the most out of conference however, are those who are happy to be there. It's true about all situations in life. Those of us who may not have the best attitude don't get as much as we could. It's a principle I need to personally work on. We had a zone conference this last week and I didn't want to go. When I was there I didn't want to be there. And as a result did not get much from it. The zone conference before I was excited and I got tons out of it. A lot in life depends on our attitude. Life is what we make it.

This week I also met a boy on the train wearing a Winnipeg Jets hat. Now, it often happens that Finns will buy merchandise with American/Canadian League teams on it, just because they like the looks of it not because they know anything about/ support that team. But I saw his hat and I was thought to myself I should ask him about it. And then I told my companion about his hat and she convinced me to talk to him about it. So I dragged myself across the aisle and awkwardly starting talking to him. It actually went quite well, and he did know about the Winnipeg Jets, and we had a good chat. We don't have a return appointment or anything but, it's just another fun happenstance, that made me feel good.... and a little patriotic also. Look at me all Canadian, knowing about hockey teams and everything. (I also found out Team Canada lost to France in the world cup... not so cool. But Finland lost to Latvia so, our countries have about the equal amount of shame currently. Fun things you find out from random people)

Anyhow, I should go. I love you all. 

Rakkaudella,