3/25/25 Kevät tulee!

Another week with some bright sun. Those sunglasses finally came in handy.

Well, normal-ish week of working hard and talking to many people. 

Lately, I've been thinking about odds. Not just for March Madness but also in terms of life. For example, I've been blessed with;

- Two great parents

- The ability to speak enough Finnish to talk

- The chance to live in Finland

- Friendships that will last long after my mission is over

- Enough sleep to go each day and work

- The ability to be a missionary

Some, if not all of these things are head scratchers and most people never imagine them. I've noticed that many people have so many blessings in their lives but fail to recognize them. 

In the end, your collection of experience, circumstances, and everything else is unique to you. I invite you to reflect on your blessings and how the odds have been in your favor.

Alright, here's the rest:

- Talked with two Muslim guys about religion a bit and it was cool. One even said there is only one difference that separates Christianity from Islam. Lots of similarities but one key difference for sure.

- Ate at a members and one of them kept saying "I talk too much" and kept talking. It was a good environment and funny.

- SPLITS! The Jyväskylä Elders came and we did some fun work after DC.

- Had another Origami event. Only one person came. I still have hope for next time!

Hope you all are having a great spring cause, in fact, kevät tulee. 

The work awaits,

Vanhin Lucas Hsu

Photos:

 

Fun spray paint art

  

Elder Richmond captivated by a stream

 

The tower & the splits crew

 

Most empty city center I've seen

3/18/25 Reindeer Burger

And we're back. From the land of Mikkeli. It got warm, and cold, and warm again.

Since we had our district council meeting on Monday, we had a full week of work. No lessons meant we knocked, talked with people on the streets, and did social media work for a solid 8 hours a day.

Miracles naturally followed as we showed our faith in the work. More on that later.

While in church, one member mentioned a talk named The Music of the Gospel by Elder Wilford W. Anderson. In it, he gave this bit of wisdom:

"If you’re not hearing the music of the gospel in your home, please remember these two words: keep practicing."

Keep practicing. Just because it can be hard shouldn't we we stop. In a devotional with Sister Kristin M. Yee, she said something like hard and good go side by side. 

How can you keep practicing? Supporting your kids? Helping a friend in need? In any case, I invite you all to keep practicing.

Here's the rest:

-Ate a reindeer burger. A little leaner and flavorful than beef. 

- Anttola!! A smaller satellite city in our area. We decided to go and do a ton of tracting and we did just that. Tried to knock on an old friends door and nothing happened.

Knocked many other doors and met a cool British dude. Not interested but a friendly chap. We got a little chilled in 22ish Fahrenheit degree weather. Long day but good day.

- Visited another church's young adult activity and had a great discussion about the church.

- Went to a language cafe. In Finland, its hard to find others who speak languages besides Finnish. The usual native speaker for English wasn't there so we got to be the native English speakers. Got some free hot cocoa and cheese cake along the way. Talk with these tow older ladies about hobbies, what we do, as well as smaller subjects.

- Our 2nd DA was on Sunday and it was fun. The members we were with are fellow Ghibli enjoyers and we nerded out a bit. The father is also an IT dude so we had a small tangent there too. Before we left, we played a few board games. 

- Miracle moment yesterday. Door knocking, we were finally let in by a super nice family. They spoke Spanish and a little bit of Finnish. We shared a short thought and talked a bit. For reference, this is my 6th or 7th time being let into someone's house door knocking during my time as a missionary. It is rare but well worth every rejection.

Ok, hope all of you guys have a great spring week and enjoy the sun!

The work awaits,

Vanhin Lucas Hsu

Photos:

 

Cityscape

 

Big Lutheran church

 

Swans

 Cool horse thingy

 

Funny sign while door knocking

 

Anttola's Lake

3/11/25 The Origami Tie

Another week of work and another week of sun. This spring is looking to be pretty warm.

We did lots of contacting and had many good conversations with people. We also gave out two Book of Mormon's yesterday!

Even admist the contacting, there was lots of pondering.

While pondering, a talk came to mind. Be 100% Responsible by Lynn G. Robins. In it, he gave this bit of wisdom:

"Agency and responsibility are inseparably connected. You cannot avoid responsibility without also diminishing agency."

Moral of the story, if you avoid something, you reduce the amount of stuff you can do now. Challenge hetki: what is one thing you can do this week to be responsible? When you identify it, try to do it.

Here's the rest:

- We have a push up competition between another zone and I'm uber sore. Nothing crazy but it lasts till Saturday.

Had our first DA in Mikkeli and it was nice. The members have a missionary in the UK right now and it was fun getting to know them and their missionary son a little.

- Did more social media work.

- Made a wearable origami tie.

Yeah, not too terribly much else but hope you all are doing well! 

The work awaits,

Vanhin Lucas Hsu

Photos:

 

Members place we visited

 

City view

 

Funny poster

 

The Mikkeli Lutheran church scaled down

 

The tie

3/4/25 Officially Spring?

Welcome back and here's to spring! In all actuality, it get to like 45 degrees here in a few days, which is weird.

This week flew quite fast. The usual missionary work of knocking doors and talking to people as we walk by is a lot easier once you kind of understand what other people are saying.

On another note, during my studies this week, I relistened to the talk Finding Joy in the Journey by President Thomas S Monson. In it, he gave this bit of wisdom;

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

Solving problems is something I love and to love one another is the best solution. Even if you friend eats your favorite ice cream you left in the fridge, loving them is the best solution. This week, how can you approach a problem with love as the solution?

Ok, here's the rest:

- Got a little sick but almost kicked it for good.

- Went to Jyväskylä! that brought back some memories from 6 months ago but it was awesome. Fun DC, fun district, and got to meet everyone.

- Ward conference! Met the stake president as well as his first counselor. Had a solid Finnish lunch of nakit and tomaatit (hot dogs and tomatoes). One of the YA's also got set apart as a missionary! Twas a good day.

- Bikes... So, we have two bikes. One is a little older, the other newer. Both had tires that were a little flat. On Sunday, we finally got a bike pump to inflate the tires. Last night, we went to do just that. 

For the older bike, it worked perfectly. The newer one, not as well. After accidently making one tire flat and unsuccessfully pumping the other one, we gave up plan A. Being a little peeved, we went to knock doors that were closer. 

Upon returning to the church, I tried to figure out why the pump didn't work. Well, turns out the new bike has not one but two different valves that the old bike didn't have. The down side, the pump we have only works for the old valves. So, at the end of the day, I learned a bit about bikes and still have an unusable bike.

That was a bit much but hope all of you had a great cold start to spring! Till next time!

The work awaits,

Vanhin Lucas Hsu

Photos:

 Good old Terraforming Mars

 

Bagel recipe we tried and it was gooood. Credit to Sister Lehtinen.

 Ducks

 

Mural on the hospital

 

A photo