Lucas's Mission: 1/9/24 The Fall of 24

I have now officially survived the coldest temperatures, kind of. The average temperature was around 0 Fahrenheit and that was brutal. Just walking outside for ten minutes is enough to chill my whole body.

Besides the cold, we had a cool preparation day (p-day) this last Tuesday. We went to an Asian buffet for lunch with the district. The food was pretty good and may visit again sometime. I also got my first taste of wasabi. Verdict, not worth trying again. After that, we went bowling for a bit and that was fun. Elder Chandler, one of the elders here in Turku, used to bowl and he was pretty good.

A few days later, we had district council. Talked about patience and endurance as well as how we can do better in this winter season. Patience is a critical in Finland because the language is one of the harder ones for native English speakers to learn. One key thing about patience is endurance but also doing what we can within our means to achieve our goals. "Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!" (Dieter F Uchtdof "Continue in Patience"). Patience is something we all can acquire as we continue working towards those goals we have set from day to day. Pikkuhiljaa.

Now after that, we had lunch. Over the last three weeks, I acquired the ingredients for dumplings. The moment of truth came. Well, they ended up being pretty good even though I messed up a little. Looking forward to next time to try again.

Not too much else but here is the rest;

- Went to a few dining appointments with members and I was able to share a story of how I felt peace from the Book of Mormon in Finnish. Despite the language difficulty, its slowly coming.

- Went to church in my dress shoes, which have some of the worst grip on ice. So, stepped on a little ledge wrong and THUD. Stuck the landing on my side and survived. Was a little stunned for a second but got back to it. Its only the 8th of January and the first Fall of 24 has come.

- Finally watched some of The Chosen.

- Had a heart stopping moment when my SD card decided to stop working for twenty minutes as I was transferring files to a flash drive.

All and all, things are looking good and looking forward to the warm weather ahead (AKA 32 degrees cause that is warm). As we continue to learn and grow, we can all experience the warmth and light of Christs gospel.

The work awaits,

Vanhin Hsu

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