Monthly Archives: June 2015

Missionary Monday: Sister H. in Arizona!

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Hola everyone!
This last week was transfers. And I was transferred. I was so sad to go because I love my last area and everyone there but I felt really calm and at peace with transfers. I knew that everything would be okay.
Tuesday night I am all packed and ready to go for transfers the next day. That night I had a dream. It was a short dream but I couldn’t get it out of my head. In my dream I walked up to a man, I reached out my hand to shake his and said, “We are the missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”…..in Spanish.
The next day Sister C. and I go to transfers and we are all sitting there listening to President speak and then he says time for transfer business. I felt so calm. Normally I am a nervous wreck but I felt so calm and at peace. He starts off with our zone. He goes through each missionary.. but he doesn’t call out Sister C.’s name. so weird. We both look at each other like what just happened, did he forget? What was running through my mind was oh my goodness did he decide to change last minute and keep us together?! but then he calls out another zone. “Sister H., SPANISH speaking with.. Sister W.”
My jaw dropped and I looked at him like, is this real? I walk over to Sister W. who I don’t know at all haha and give her hug. She asks me, “Do you speak Spanish?” And I say back, “Uhh…pequito!” All the missionaries were flippin out because I was now Spanish speaking! It was crazy! President continues with transfers and at the end we tell him uhh you didn’t call out Sister C.’s name. haha he accidentally skipped over her name. She is with another Sister, she goes home this transfer and is from Utah.
I just want to bear my testimony that God knows us! When I found out I was being transferred I was upset and sad. Why is this happening?, is what I would say. But the minute I stepped into this area it is loud and clear to me that I need to be here. I am not fluent in Spanish but I am learning and it is AMAZING how quickly I am picking it up. It doesn’t matter to me if I am here for one transfer or until September when I go home. Because right now in this very moment this is where I need to be. God knows everything and he will put me where I am needed. I am grateful for this opportunity to teach in Spanish but most especially to be a missionary. My life is forever changed because of these past 14 months! 🙂
I love you all! <3
Sister… achem.. I mean Hermana H. 🙂

Sunday Best!

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“Nevertheless

neither is the man without the woman,

neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.”

-1Corinthians 11:11

———————————

THE FAMILY is ordained of God.

Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.

Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

-The Family: A Proclamation To The World 

Hope your Sunday is the Best! Love, Joy

Expectations!

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FourCorners

Expectations!

Is it good to have expectations?

I don’t know…except to say I have had and continue to have expectations about my life. Has it beneficial? I would say no. Things don’t always turn out the way we expect them to, I would say they rarely turn out the way we expect them to.

When Kelsey, my “Dream Come True” was in high school, she would say that when she graduated she wanted to go visit New Zealand! As her time in high school continued, she changed her plans…knowing that the chances of making it to New Zealand were slim to none.

Her next plan was to go to the “Four Corners!” 

Definitely more realistic.

Guess what? She didn’t do either one! She went to New York City for a week and stayed with her aunt and uncle who live there (She let me and Emily come too).

It was a blast! We love NYC!!!

Did reality match her expectations? Was it still ok? You bet!

I think we all need to relax, and enjoy life! (I’m saying this for me:))

I am still working on this, but it seems so many times that what I expected, or wanted to happen in my life doesn’t happen, and what happens instead is wonderful!

Missionary Monday: Sister F. in Finland!

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June 2, 2015

This whole transfer has been super solid,

and I can’t believe we are already a month into it.

It feels like just yesterday my companion and I were dragging my bags to this area,

and now she and I are about as close and close gets.

I am super blessed to have her as my companion and every single day I am completely in awe

at just how much we learn and progress every single day.
That is something so incredible about a mission..
You learn and grow so quickly and positively.
The days are getting longer and longer,
I am in love with Finnish summers. The sun sets at about…..midnight I assume.
And when we wake up at 6:15 the sun is already risen into the blue sky with massive clouds as far as the eye can see.
Also. We sleep on the parveke every single night.
I really want a parveke at some point in my life.
It’s nice because we are surrounded by glass so it is enclosed,
but we still get fresh summer air.
And thankfully missionary work is exhausting enough that it doesn’t really matter if it is light outside or not, we still sleep deeply haha.
I am so grateful for my mission, and for how everything has gone so far.
I am thankful for the understanding and love God has given me,
and for how different of a perspective I now have on life, and happiness, and success.
And I am thankful I still have more time in Finland.
This mission is the most sacred part of my life, and I hope to able to really suck the marrow out of life for these last few months.
One thing I love about missions is they take away everything you thought you needed to be happy.
You don’t have your phone, or movies, or social media, or your friends, or anything.
Everything that seems “essential” for life nowdays….
All of it is taken from you on a mission.
And the magic of it all is that you see how much happier you are…WITHOUT all of it.
There is a quote President Uchtdorf uses from The Little Prince.
It says:
“One sees clearly only with the heart.
Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
There is so much truth in this. I think it is one of my all-time favorite quotes.
You can’t see God’s love, or any love really.
But it is essential to life.
You can’t see the Spirit, you can’t see your testimony.
But they are essential.
I saw a blind man on the metro the other day and thought about how useless a smart phone would be to him. And then I thought..
Huh. I want to live my life physically blind.
I want to live my life in a way that the things I see don’t matter and don’t control me.
But I want to see things with my heart, more clearly.
Kuitenkin….enough with deep rants.
I love you all and hope you are doing well.
Oh and HYVÄÄ KESÄÄ!!!!
Rakkaudellani,
Sisar F.

Sunday Best!

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The scripture tells us this truth: “Charity is the pure love of Christ.”

His love never fails, and we never will cease to feel in our hearts the urge “to mourn with those that mourn … and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.” Nor will the peace He promises ever leave us as we serve others for Him.-Henry B. Eyring

Hope your Sunday is the Best! Love, Joy

Family History Friday: Uncommon Jobs, Uncommon Names for Jobs!

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Have you ever wondered what your ancestors did for any occupation?

Some are very interesting.

Like:

Phrenologist: A person who feels the shape and bumps of the skull, based on the now discredited belief that they reveal character and mental capacity.

Badger: Middle man between the producer of material and the merchant. The term being badgered may come from that job.

Leach Collector: The person who collected the leaches for “medicinal” purposes.

Resurrectionist: These guys would go to cemeteries and dig up bodies to sell to medical institutions.

Powder Monkey: This is the one who loads the powder in the cannon on a ship, during a battle.

Lung: The person who kept the fires going at a workshop.

Drover: Driver of animals to market, dealer in cattle.

Fell Monger: One who removes hair or wool from hides in preparation for leather making.

Jagger: Fish peddler.

Pettifogger: shyster; lawyer

Your ancestor’s job title may be listed on a census record. You might look up what the main occupation was in the area they lived. If it was a mining town, they may have been a miner. You may find it in a journal or a history of an area. If you do find out what their job was, find out what they actually did. Some of these jobs don’t exist anymore. I would hate to be a Leach Collector. It is sure is fun to find out what my ancestors did though!

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

A Trip to the Motherland!

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My parents went on a lovely trip to England

with my baby brother, his wife, and her parents.

What a wonderful thing to do!!!

I almost climbed into their luggage.

In this picture they are visiting a place called Rollrightstones, you can read about it here!

“The Rollright Stones is a ancient site located on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border in England. The complex consists of three main elements, The Kings Men stone circle, the King Stone, and the Whispering Knights.”

I may never get to go on a trip like this, but I have been traveling with them as they go. You might wonder how. The answer is…the internet. I have their itinerary. I know what their plans are, and I can search and see what they are seeing on the internet.  I am having a blast on their trip!!!

Hopefully I’ll be able to share some more pictures. So come visit and I’ll share what I can.

Missionary Monday: Elder H. in Texas!

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6/1/2015

So I am loving this area!! The City is built around a university and its got lots of hills and trees. My comps name is Elder C. and he is a stud! He loves to talk to people so its nice to not always have to be the one pushing to go out and do the work. I have a great zone here! Our branch president told us that he was really concerned about a part member family that lives on the bank or the river. with all the rain the last few weeks there has been a lot of flooding in many of the areas around! and there is a wall of water coming and will get here around Friday which will raise the river another 5 to 6 feet. when we went to go see them the road was flooded with about 4 feet of water so there was no way that we could drive in. we were given a bag of potatoes and some other garden veggies and not sure what their condition was like we waded about 100 yards through 4 feet of water then walked a little over a mile to their house. the husband of the family was blown away to see us walking down the road. they have been stuck out there for 2 weeks. we did what we could to get his stuff on higher ground but there is only so much you can do with that amount of water. pray for them. they will be safe but their home and property could get washed away.

Life is good and I’m loving the work here

-Love Elder H.