We Three Sisters and Perfect Public Transportation  

(Finland – Week 42)  

27 Oct 2015

     Tuesday night phone call from President: "Hey sisters, is there room for three in your apartment?" "Yes there is!" "Ok, thanks, have a great night!" ...President knows how to pull a cliff hanger.

Wednesday morning call from President: "Good morning sisters, you're getting a third companion on Sunday." 

And then there were three. I've spent quite a bit of time in a trio already, and the past day and a half have been great! There's a third more energy, a third less cleaning, and numerous other good things. 

     This past week we've had quite a few remarkable public transportation experiences. We sprinted to the train and caught it just in time (not remarkable or unusual) and dropped into seats gasping for breath. With a chuckle my companion said to the lady in front of her, "Sometimes it's hard," and the lady said back, "yes it is, my daughter is very sick, I'm coming back from taking care of her all day." And instantly we switched from laughing and being worried about our legs to a deep conversation about this woman's needs and the love of Christ. We were so surprised, because Finns don't like sharing personal things. On public transport "What is your work" and "what is your family like?" are often viewed as too probing. To have someone open up unprompted like that was very unusual. It really showed to me how Heavenly Father provides. We don't see a lot of the work He does, but He is always there. That lady needed us right then, people that would listen and want to talk. Each person is so precious to our Father in Heaven. I've been learning more and more about how I really love people. I spent my whole life watching movies about interesting people, but all of those pale in comparison to real people. People that matter, that really have their own unique and individual purpose. The more people I meet, the more I see "that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth" (Alma 26:27) and I just want to keep meeting more and more of these wonderful people. 

     A second awesome transportation experience was on the bus. I turned to talk to a lady, and instantly she went off, loudly telling me about her very negative opinion of missionaries. The bus went dead silent, and then a man at the front stood up, walked back to where we are sitting, and said, "I don't know what kind of experiences you've had, but I am very grateful for the work you missionaries do. You are a very peaceful people. Jesus bless you." and then he went and sat back down. As unexpected as the first story I shared was, this was even more so. I am so, so grateful to that man whom I did not recognize. Grateful for the missionaries that talked to him before, and grateful for the Light of Christ in each person which inspires them to do and be good. The power of our Savior is everywhere, our job is figuring out how we can best use it in our lives. I pray I all of us and use it well. 

     Here are some pictures from our exchanges in downtown Helsinki last week. There was quite the storm! We stopped a man in the storm and he said, "Of course I believe in a higher power! Look at this storm around you!" I love how this man found his Heavenly Father in all around him.

 

Have a wonderful week!

       

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Mendenhall

 

The Best Take Three in the History of Everything and Fridge Improv  

(Finland - Week 41)  

20 Oct 2015 

Everybody take a look down at the photos, one is of the gorgeous Helsinki temple. Guess what the other is? For all of you that guessed my fridge for the past week and a half, fantastic job! Finland always provides, our fridge waited to break until it was cold enough to keep everything outside. This has seriously improved our healthy habits: nothing to discourage over-snacking than putting everything in the frigid air. We are having fun with it (as are our neighbors I am sure), and grocery shopping is way easy with no worries of everything fitting into the fridge! We've even organized everything into different bags. Our landlord wants to buy us a new fridge, toivottavasti se tapahtuu nopeasti! But in the meantime, I have moved my ponderizing scripture onto the back door, thus it is still on the door of my fridge and I will see it often. 

This Saturday was written by the most hopeful of missionaries. At 12:00, our investigator was baptized! At 13:30, we made sure all was clean. At 14:00 a boy in the ward was baptized! At 15:30 we made sure all was clean. At 16:00 the downtown Helsinki sisters' investigator was baptized! And at 19:00 we ate a snack! Truly it was an amazing day. Our investigator was so incredibly prepared, and our mini missionary (who taught this investigator and made a huge difference) was able to come! It was definitely a day to bask in God's abundant love. I don't even know how many times in the scriptures we are invited to come unto Christ by being baptized. This morning I read in Moroni 7:34, "And he hath said: Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved." The chapter goes on in verses 36 and 37 to say, "Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men;" This past Saturday was the showing of great faith of three precious souls. I know that faith is real power and I love learning more about it, finding how I can tap into this power. I love this verse (41) in that same chapter, "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise." In a world with so many distractions, it's so important to remember where our hope comes from, from our Savior Jesus Christ. Why are we baptized? To follow Him. To return back to our Heavenly Father, through Him. I am so very grateful for my Savior, I love Him so much.

I wish you all the best! Have a great week! 

Love Sisar Mendenhall

Let’s Learn From All the Whippersnappers  

(Finland – Week 40)  

13 Oct 2015

   Yesterday we were going to teach a family that we teach in French and Finnish. We usually use the Book of Mormon that they have at their home (which is in Swahili) but this time I felt like I should grab a French Book of Mormon too. On the train there we sat by a man, and after talking with him we could tell his native language was not Finnish or English. We asked him what it was, and he said French! I whipped out the Book of Mormon that I had in my bag in French and excitedly gave it to him. He was excited too! He stood up, and took off his hat, giving us a little bow. He could tell that the book was important, and he was so excited that he could read in French again. I'm so grateful I felt the need to grab that book; the Lord knows exactly how to take care of all of His children.

   This past week we met a man whose wife had just had a baby. He was so excited to tell us about the new child, and happily invited us back! It was wonderful to share his joy and see the effect this child had on him. The scriptures talk a lot about the power of a child, and how we need to become pure and full of love, like a child. Mosiah 3:19 reads, "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." I love so much that of all the names God could be called by, He has chosen to be called Heavenly Father. He is our father, and He loves us more perfectly than even the most tender of parents. After we met this man we went to church, and it was our turn to give a missionary moment in the Primary. Wow, they treated us like superstars. Children have an easy tendency to love, and I loved being able to sing and share with them. 

   This past week I got to see the last session of General Conference, and I love the idea of ponderizing! I'm on my second scripture now and every time it or the first one comes up I feel a special connection to what is being said. The more we know the scriptures, the more they can help us, and I am so grateful for the help and comfort they give.

   Also, there is a fantastic street in Finland called, "kotiopetajakuja" which means, home teacher street!! Every one there must have 100% home teaching:)

        


This is a picture of me, reveling in the joy of a companion's package:) Her dad is from Tahiti, both her parents live there now.

Much love to all! Have a fantastic week!!

Love Sisar Mendenhall

Fire that your mom wants you to play with.   

(Finland – Week 39)   

06 Oct 2015 

Every Friday we plan out our whole week, and last week my companion and I were staring at our Monday that refused to be filled. No appointments were sticking, and we did not know where to go. We both got the thought that our mission president's wife would need help on that day, so we texted and she said that she would love us to come over! We went over yesterday and there were a few sisters there about to go home. We apologized that we were intruding and assured that after we had cleaned and made dinner we would leave. They all looked at us really funny and asked, "Why?" We looked at them funny and said, "Because we aren't leaving Finland." Then all those that were leaving told us that someone told them that we were going to be there that night. Finally after they each had reported that we were supposed to stay the night, we asked two more people, and then we believed them. We were so happy that the Lord was planning our Monday to get us to where we were supposed to be. We were also grateful for the extra toothbrushes and clothes kept at the mission home.

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! Wow, I just couldn't contain myself right there. Did you all watch it? Did you watch Elder Holland's talk and weep in gratitude for your fantastic, wonderful, amazing, super-hero mother? (Let's just say my bookmark was a tissue that night. LOVE YOU MOM! You're fantabulous.) Wow. The prophets and apostles are truly inspired men of God. I was really touched by the humility of the three new apostles called this conference session. It is amazing to see such wonderful examples that will admit they are not perfect. In fact, sometimes they feel inadequate and incapable. But, the important thing they know (and that I've been learning more and more on my mission) is that is does not matter where you are. Wherever you are now is a perfect spot to start. I noticed in the scriptures that Christ is referred to as the refiner, as in a refiner of metal. I imagine being in the refiner's fire isn't all that comfortable. Think about it, constantly being melted down, reshaped, and reformed. So what's the difference between the refiner's fire and the furnace of affliction? (1Nephi 20:10 "For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.") I've been thinking how much care the refiner has for his metal. He sees the potential, he sees something precious, of incredibly great worth. He spends countless hours and constant care, melting that metal over and over. Obviously to the refiner, this task is of the upmost importance and done with great care. What is the use of a furnace? To burn something down into nothingness. So although both are not comfortable, in the refiner's fire we have the constant care and attention of our Savior, we are constantly becoming better and valued for our precious divine nature. This discomfort leads to something better, and this discomfort eventually will end and be replaced with eternal joy. I'm so grateful for the constant refinement and care that Christ has for me, for each of us. He truly wants us all to have the best, and to be the best. We need only trust that He knows the best, and then follow His example. I love my Savior, I love conference, and I am so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which is truly Christ's church on earth again. Everyone, go watch or re-watch conference. Ihan nyt. Right now.

Here is a picture of me, riding my teeter-totter horse to the rescue, and then getting down to business. To defeat the Hun(s)ger for the gospel.

Rakkaudellani,

Sisar Mendenhall

Go watch conference as a family and eat uugali.‏ 

(Finland – week 38) 

29 Sep 15

What a week!

I had Uugali for the first time! No idea if that's how you spell it. Our African recent convert made it for us, and I ate it with my fingers in a way that would make my poor father cringe. (Dad, maybe you should skip to the next paragraph.) So uugali is corn flour paste in a consistency thicker than mashed potatoes but thinner than clay. It's on a big plate in the middle and everyone pulls off a chunk, massages it into a ball, and dips it in this spinach sauce. We had it with fish, still no utensils. It was super yummy and I'm not even sick! Blessings are real. I was so impressed by this uugali, it inspired my cleaning today (see attached picture).

I went to the doctor this week and there was a TV in the waiting room. It was ok, until the second Harry Potter came on. We didn't know what to do, we shouldn't watch but we couldn't leave yet! We decided to go to the free hot chocolate machine. And then to go to the free hot chocolate machine again. We were able to resist the TV, and the hot chocolate was way good.

We met a girl on the train who was really nice! And then we learned she was deaf. We started writing notes back and forth, and we invited her to conference! I'm so excited for general conference this week. We've been telling everyone we can that twice a year God's prophets and apostles speak to the whole world, and it's happening this weekend! That usually gets people to stop and listen. And rightfully so, because it's amazing. Amazing that God loves us so much that He wants to be in direct communication with us through prayer, scriptures, church, AND living prophets (and a lot more). Amazing that God is truly the same, yesterday today and forever. Amazing that when we listen to the words of the prophets and apostles, we can literally receive answers to any question. Amazing that when we listen to the prophets, we cannot go astray. We are promised in Mosiah 15:11 "Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God." I am so grateful for prophets. The other day we watched a talk by the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, in Swahili with an African woman, it was amazing that I still felt the calming influence of the Spirit, even though I could not understand the words. I love hearing the words of the prophets, they bring me such peace and knowledge. Mosiah 15:14 "And these are they who have published peace, who have brought good tidings of good, who have published salvation; and said unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!" I know that God has called a prophet, and that he is speaking this weekend. Everyone go listen! Go hear the good tidings of joy, go learn of salvation. One of our investigators received a testimony of prophets recently, and hearing her sweet words talking about her knowledge that God still speaks to us, was one of my favorite parts of the week. I am so grateful to our Father in Heaven for prophets. I know they are special witnesses of Christ. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on conference next Tuesday!

It's super dark at night now, the temple is so beautifully and brilliantly white against the sky!

Much love! Have a fantastic week (even though I know you will because you all with go watch general conference on www.lds.org/general-conference)!

Sisar Mendenhall