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