Let's get down to business!

So this last week was ridiculously busy! Again! It never seems to let up so long as your a missionary. Ever! Which is good I guess, always moving forward, always learning more, always attempting to brign people closer to Christ.

As you probably have all heard, I was in Helsinki last week. Helsinki, a great place to visit, I love going there. Don't know if I'd ever want to serve there. I think it would lose some of it's magicalness if I did. Sister Schellenberg and I had the privledge of being trained by the mission president and his wife for three days straight! We did role plays, go talked to, took notes, learned how to shine shoes, wash our faces and spread the gospel. (No joke about the washing faces one... in case you're wondering you're supposed to cleanse twice with soap or cleanser stuff, use toner and then moisturize/sunscreenize (morning and evening). Also... exfoliate twice a week). By the end of the three days, we were pretty pumped to get back to our area and get to work. The fourth day in Helsinki was Sister Schellenberg's 6 week kielikoulu, and the temple was closed. I mostly endend up hanging around the office, while other missionaries got to go on splits and set baptismal dates. sigh. Although, I was able to see Sister Fronk, from the MTC, and email you guys AND say goodbye to my district leader who was transferred down to Helsinki to replace another missionary who went home. We then got to go home.

Friday, we got to have district meeting in Lahti! A rare occurance! We could just bike to the church, and not be on trains for a total of four hours! A real blessing! We had a really good, inspirational meeting in which we were able to talk about setting goals. We set some really good ones and by this time Sister Schellenberg and I were more eager than ever to share the gospel and to get started on our goals!

But, we still couldn't very much! We still had weekly planning AND conference over the weekend. All of which went well. I was only able to watch 2.5 sessions of conference (plus the relief society one). We were even able to bring conference to one of our investigators, who doesn't understand Finnish or English very well. In the end, I got to watch the Saturday afternoon session twice, once in english and in once in portugese. Aika hauskaa! I really love conference though. It really hit me, just how special it is to listen to the words of true apostles and prophets. Who else gets to do that? Well, everyone should! But, how many generations of people have gone without it, and how many there still are who don't have it.

So, now today, it is really time to get down to business. To implement plans, use training and bring people to Christ!

Wishing a hyvää viikkoa kaikille! Rakastan teitä aina!

Sisar Kastendieck