Musical Vans and Strengthening the Tree

(Finland – Week 54)

 19 Jan 2016

This past week there was a solo sister going home, that meant my companion and I were companions with her for a day and took her to the airport! It was a huge blessing. She's a really fantastic missionary, she taught us a lot in the short time we were with her. It was really great to be with her, not so great when we had to go to the airport with two large vans, an equally large luggage trailer, and snowy hills. We were about 70 seconds out of the mission home before we got stuck, really stuck. The van with the trailer would not budge, and the van without a trailer budged about halfway up the first hill. Then commenced an intricate, complicated game of Musical Elders and Luggage. Bags and bodies were being tossed about, at one point there was a rope extended between the vans (that didn't last long). We finally got one van up after loading it with as much luggage as would fit in the back, and as many Elders as would fit in the front. The second van was taken up in like manner, and then only the trailer remained at the bottom of the hill. A few self-sacrificing Elders ran down, and like humble work ponies towed the trailer up. Much cheering ensued, and we had no more problems to the airport.

This week we had a really, really rough lesson. It was with a man that we thought was really prepared. We were devastated. This is literally the first lesson I have ever fought back tears in. This is the first lesson my companion and I have ever cried over. It really hurt. But it didn't hurt so much because of what was said, but because it meant that he wasn't going to learn anymore. He was choosing to stop something that I know only brings happiness and strength. That morning I had felt the need to study Jacob 5 with the question, how does God feel about His children? I was impressed with how many times it says that it "grieveth" the Lord to lose His tree. How hard it is for Him to see us distressed, lost, or not as close to Him as we could be. He loves us so much. That lesson really packed this point in with a punch. God is there. He is here with us in fact. He loves us. Jesus Christ is His Son. I felt that in no circumstance could I possibly ever deny the fact that God is our loving Heavenly Father. We went to bed that night so grateful for God's love. Still saddened by how the night went, but with even deeper testimonies of our Heavenly Father.

Jacob 5:13 "And these will I place in the nethermost part of my vineyard, whithersoever I will, it mattereth not unto thee; and I do it that I may preserve unto myself the natural branches of the tree; and also, that I may lay up fruit thereof against the season, unto myself; for it grieveth me that I should lose this tree and the fruit thereof."

A few more important thoughts:

According to my dictionary, the word "lama" means recession, depression, or llama. I'll be asking a Finn about that one...

Something truly wonderful about the cold, is that the snow doesn't melt! You just shake it off, no melting in your socks, no soggy gloves!

Love to you all!

Rakkaudellani, Sisar Mendenhall