Wouldn't It Be Great If There Were Three Of Me? 

(Finland – Week 18) 

Hej! 

So change calls came and like that wonderful title implies, I will be finishing the training of not one, but two sisters up in Vaasa! It's about a 4 hour train ride north and where a lot of the Swedish-Finns live. I already learned one word in Swedish! Hej! (Pronounced "hei" if you're Finnish and "hey" if you're amerikkalainen, thankfully that word wasn't too hard to get). Of course that was immediately followed by a terrible Finnish blunder, courtesy of moi/minä/me, and lots of praying that the three of us will be ok! I am really excited and feel quite calm about all of this, I know the Lord will provide where I lack. And no worries, I'm not actually planning on making these sisters my minions.  

This past week we had Vappu! May day! It's a huge Finnish holiday and since one of my companions is Finnish, we celebrated the suomalinen way! That meant a pastry that looks like a brain, delicious donuts, and balloons! We twisted balloon animals (we had really impressive worms and snakes) and swords, and had several brightly-colored balloons to welcome spring! Spring really is here, I saw a leaf this morning! It's weird to remember that trees usually have leaves.

I've been reading a lot about leaders, specifically Captain Moroni. He is a fantastic example of courage and strength, it even says in the Book of Mormon, "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni , behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." (Alma 48:17) In times of war as well as in times of peace he tried to always find peaceful solutions, and he was always preparing. He always looked to the Lord for inspiration, and came up with ingenius new ideas. Captain Moroni is one of my Book of Mormon heroes, and I very much want to be more like him. It's wonderful to apply the Book of Mormon to ourselves, only then it is really able to change our lives. 

Have a great week! I'll write from the north soon enough. 

Love Sisar Mendenhall