Lucas's Mission: 1/30/24 Päivä Raumalla

This week has actually vanished as it progressed. Many lessons, many new experiences, and many funny moments.

Apartment inspections happened this week and they went well. We got a new bed! My back feels like its eighty but the new bed is helping. The Kite's -the senior missionary couple in charge of apartment inspections- are pretty amazing. Good inspiration to keep the apartment in good order.

Then, we had our district council in Rauma. Now, I have been to every large and coastal city in the west zone. We had to wake up a little earlier but my companion set his alar for 5:30 AM. Was not expecting that and I was in a trance for most of the day. District council brought some fun energy to the work. One of the sister missionaries is going home soon and gave us wisdom that she had acquired over the last year and a half.

In addition to going to Rauma, we taught some lessons in Finnish throughout the week. For those who are serving in missions where you have to learn a new language, its hard to follow a conversation, especially when the language is considered one of the hardest to learn. So, I focused on the Gift of Tongues as I went into these lessons. As said in the Articles of Faith, "We believe in the gift of tongues, ... interpretation of tongues, and so forth." (Articles of Faith 1:7). Learning Finnish is no small task but my efforts are magnified when I use Finnish to help others learn the Gospel. Faith and works really show when you continuously work towards learning a language.

Honestly, there was a lot but I'll try to summarize the rest:

- We had a DA with the Hyssälä's and that was fun. They also spoke in all Finnish and some of the jokes they told were pretty funny. I only understood one but it was just really fun.

- Culture night brought in a lot of people. People brought food from their cultures and the food was good. Wasabi chips were actually good. We also got to hear a recent convert rap. Good stuff.

- Taught two lessons which both went well. One was with a member from Pori and it was cool to see them again. The other is with a guy who has come to church for nearly five years but is still thinking about baptism. Both were good lessons.

- Had another DA yesterday. There were some good laughs and it went pretty well.

- Visited a funicular for P-day. Pretty anti-climatic. My companion and another missionary beat us there cause we walked all the way across Turku after realizing we could not rent ice skates cause they were closed.

- Had many experiences with ice. No wipeouts yet but I'm sure more are coming.

Anyhow, its practically summer here cause its 36 degrees Fahrenheit and its nice. Hope you all are doing well this winter. If you have any questions, feel free to sent me an email.

The work awaits,

Vanhin Hsu

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