lots of news 02/18/19

hope everybody had a great ystävänpäivää

finnish word of the week: ystävänpäivää (ew-sta-van-pie-vah) friends day!! (valentines day)

wow this is a week of news!!!

1. my return date got changed to aug 15. so, i have less than 6 months....CRAZY STUFF!!!

2. we got transfer calls!! we had mLC the day before transfer calls and that evening we were spending the night At the mission home and the president gave me my transfer call right there! wow, I Am Super Excited!! haha 

3. i will be staying in oulu!! woot woot i am super happy because i love oulu! i will be driving the car!! yees it is gonna be bad!! haha it's been over a year since i have driven a car!! the snow plows here are the worst!! haha they just smash the snow into the road and then all the cars drive on it and then it turns to ice then they dump a ton of rocks on it! i'll send a pic haha

4. sisar kokkola is coming back! we served in tampere together my first transfer and now she will be joining me here in oulu as a sTL!! woot woot! it is crazy stuff!!

5. this next transfer is going to be 10 weeks. the last 10 week transfer i had was with sisar kokkola too! 

6. sisar hooser is leaving home this week! aww sad stuff!! this transfer has been a blast!!! 

i don't really have a ton else to say. this next transfer is going to be crazy busy with zone conferences, exchanges, MLC's and eMLC! woot woot!! let's go!!

have a great week everybody!

Love sisar Larson

last week of the transfer 02/12/19

Moi everybody!!

finnish word of the week: aurinko (ow.rin.ko) - Sun

We've been seeing a ton of the aurinko this week! haha every time it's out sisar hooser and i get an awesome burst of energy! 

transfer calls are this friday and this is my last week with sisar hooser before she goes home!! oh my!! I'm so sad!! She is seriously the BEST! haha we have had so many fun adventures this transfer!!! She has been such a wonderful example of happily enduring to the end! She has worked so hard on her mission and oh my I am so grateful for her!! 

OUR LIL GRANDPA FINN GUY GAVE UP COFFEE!!!! WOOT WOOT!!! we are so excited for him!! he is doing so good!!! 

we fly to helsinki again for another mission leadership council! woot woot! we also had more exchanges this week! it is so fun serving and working with our awesome sisters!

we got let in for the first time this transfer the other day! It was a cute old finnish couple haha they could not believe that two Americans were speaking finnish to them! It was so funny. we went back a few days ago and they totally forgot who we were...way sad but we left them with a book of mormon so! hopefully they read it! 

lol we found nerf guns in the apartment annnnddd we def have gotten a little carried away haha they're so fun!!! 

also, we made a Piñata out of old progress records,a weird balloon, flour, and water then took it to district council!!! haha it was fun!

hyvää viikkoa

sisar larson

one year 02/05/19

Moi everybody!

Swedish words of the week: ha en bra dag (hah-en-brah-dog): have a good day!

woot woot! it has been a crazy fast and busy week!

This week we went to Vaasa for more exchanges! Vaasa is a Swedish and Finnish speaking area! So, the sisters there are learning some Swedish. It was so cool contacting with them! We would start in Finnish and people would often speak Swedish so they would introduce the Book of Mormon and offer it all in Swedish and yeah it was cool stuff! haha they taught me some Swedish so i thought i would teach you all too! haha 

We saw the northern lights again! OH MY GOODNESS!! We caught the very end of them though so they only lasted a few minutes! but wow are they amazing! no pics this time :( sorry!

Our cute lil grandpa finn guy with the baptismal date is doing awesome! He has been struggling with coffee a little so the other night we took him all the tea we had in our apartment. We called to check how is was doing last night and he reported only 1 cup of coffee and a bunch of tea haha but woot woot! progress!! we are excited for him! he also came to church again and he had the BIGGEST smile on his face! It is so tender!

Every once in a while, we help this cute russian grandma and her granddaughter with english! They are so cute and there accents are so awesome! haha

I reach my one year mark this week! I feel like it was just yesterday I was saying goodbye to my family. I remember taking a few steps then turning around to get one last look and the weight of everything hit...but the call to serve was and still is so strong! wow am i grateful for this call! It has been amazing to witness the Lords hand in the lives of these people here in Finland. I love this work and my Savior! 

ha en bra dag everybody!

love,

Sisar Larson

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS 01/29/19

Moi everybody!

finnish word of the week: revontulia (rev-on-tool-ee-a) - northern lights

we set an investigator with our grandpa finn guy this week! haha he is so cute! we set it for march 9th! woot woot! he also came to church for the first time this week and OH MY GOODNESS! he has the biggest smile on his face! haha 

wooowww oulu has some weird smells....there are some factories here and one of them is a licorice factory....you don't smell it very often but when you do WOW it stinks! also let's just take a hot second and talk about sauna it's probably the best thing i have ever smelt and i swear the colder it gets the stronger it smells haha 

also, sisar hooser and i won the photo challenge! haha i will send a few more pics! we got 38 haha it made for some way fun contacts!

last p day sisar hooser and i went to a husky farm and got to go on a sleigh ride! It was the coolest and coldest experience of my life! i'll send pics

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!! OH MY GOODNESS! they are the most amazing thing i have ever seen! the other night sisar hooser and i couldn't help but notice the clouds looked a little funny! we knocked on our investigators door and asked her if they were the revontulia and she said "yep! but it's cold so come in!" sisar hooser and i were like wait! haha but we went in and taught the lesson and when we came back out it was the WEIRDEST clouds i have ever seen! so we stopped a lady and asked her and she was like "hey yeah those are it" so casually and we freaked out and it got her all excited haha it was cute! but yeah i guess that the most common kind you see are more gray but they glow!

we tried to get good pics on my camera! you can see some of the green in them but we didn't have a ton of time :( so next time! haha also now that i know what they look like i am pretty sure we have seen them a few times! lol but yeah they are a little different than what you think they are!

they were like these huge waves in the sky and they weren't too far above us and oh my gosh it is so amazing!! haha i don't think i can do it justice!

we drove a little further out to see them and by the time we got out there they flattened out and looked a little different so i didn't catch the coolest part on my camera and actually the pics don't do it justice really at all! haha sorry!

but now that i know what i am looking for i will get more! we have heard feb is the best time to see them! 

anyways wow seeing the northern lights was a huge reminder that God is real! He loves us and this beautiful earth is a reminder of that!

have a great week!

love sisar larson

fun week 01/22/19

Moi everybody!

finnish word of the week: kuopio (kew.oh.pee.oh) - a city in finland!

we reached -28C the other day....haha it has been getting colder and colder here!!! still haven't seen the northern lights but!! it's getting colder and clearer so hopefully soon!! We had MLC again this week! We got to fly down to Helsinki! It was weird being in the airport haha MLC was way good! I learned a lot and am excited to apply it! 

We also had exchanges with the Kuopio sisters! woot woot! we took a train from helsinki after mlc! The sisters there are so awesome! Actually, i think most of you know one of them...her name is Sisar Doyle! She graduated with me but we never really knew each other haha just of each other. She just finished her training and is doing so good!

We got to teach a lesson together and wow! It was awesome! I guess their investigator hasn't been very willing to pray so we talked about the importance of prayer and at the end when we asked him to pray he was like...it is going to be bad... and right when we were about to say something he jumped into the prayer and it was sooo good! WOW!!

there is something so special that happens when somebody offers a sincere and heartfelt prayer! It was so touching! Sister Doyle's finnish is also coming way good! woot woot! she is awesome!

we had district council yesterday! i don't know if i have ever talked about our district but we are the only sisters! lol. we have the elders from kemi, rovaniemi, kajaani, and our fellow oulu zl's. so we have a pretty big district! however yesterday kemi accidently missed their train and the oulu elders were attending a different district meeting so we were a little small yesterday and thought we would set some serious and fun district goals for the week.

so! our fun district goal is to try and get as many pictures and potentials with people as we can lol and the losers have to bring treats for everybody else haha

(don't worry we set some other more serious goals too) but it has been so fun and we have actually had success from it! i'll send some pics haha 

we also met with our investigator from Nigeria last night! last week we invited her to kneel down and pray and she shared the most touching experience about her prayer! She said ever since that moment she gets on her knees every night and prays. wow! prayer is life changing people!

I have such a strong testimony of prayer! It has been so amazing to see how people grow and change when they speak with their loving Father in Heaven. Prayer is powerful! If you haven't gotten on your knees for a while and said a prayer i invite you to do so right now! 

Have a great week!

love,

sisar larson

busy week 01/15/19

Moi everybody!

finnish word of the week: Mormonin Kirja (more-mo-knee-n k-ear-i-ah): book of mormon
you guys! Oulu is sooo pretty! the sky is always in a sunrise or sunset and soo colorful and wowow, it is an amazing place! 

wow!! it has been a busy week! We had zone conference this week!! woot woot! Sister Hooser and i had a segment of it and we got to talk about the importance of ward councils! To start we called a few volunteers up and had them each hold a jar away from the body and open it with one hand! nobody could do it!! haha not even President Aura! soo then we let them open it with two hands and everybody could do it! haha we related it to working with your ward councils. It is a lot easier to get this work done when we work with the ward councils!! 

we also had exchanges with the vaasa sisters this week! woot woot! i was so impressed with how bold they are! It was so wonderful working with them! they are great missionaries.

I need to thank you all for the birthday book!! it was so fun seeing all of your cute pics and it really made my day! The Vaasa sisters were her on my b-day too! special s/o to them for making the day so wonderful! We made ice Cream sandwiches and did lots of good missionary work! It was a good birthday!

It was also one of our investigators birthday this week! She has a testimony of everything and is so ready to continue pressing forward in this gospel but she has some concerns with her family! She invited us over to her birthday party with all of her family this week. we were able to share a spiritual thought with them about the Mormonin Kirja and guess what!! Our investigator Miss U. taught most of it! it was so awesome!!

We made pizza the other night with one of our investigators and her two daughters! It was so fun! We also talked about the importance of family and her youngest daughter shared why her family was important to her and wow!! it was so tender!! 

I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary! I love sharing the gospel! It has been so incredible to witness the amazing change in The Lives of Others As they Choose To live it! 

love you all!

sisar larson

Plan of Salvation 01/08/19

moi everybody,

finnish word of the week: nopea (no-pay-ah): fast

honestly this week went by so nopea i can't really remember what happened haha

we met with a sweet lady and her two daughters this week! She told us about how her son died a few days after he was born and we taught her the plan of slavation! It was such a cool experience! wow!! Even her two young daughters were excited to learn! 

one of our returning memebers made this soup that is 1£ here and wooowwww it was nasty!! haha yeah that was gross.

sisar hooser and i found a weird plant at the store the other day. maybe some of you know what it is but we didn't!!! haha so we bought it and it tastes just like califlower lol

there are these huge snow piles everywhere that little kids like to dig tunnles through so i convinced sisar hooser to climb into one and she may or may not have gotten a little stuck haha it was pretty funny

anyways this week i was reminded of the importance of families! have such a strong testimony of families! I know that they are eternal and wow am i so grateful for mine! i hope all of you are doing good back home.

have a great week everybody!

Love,

Sisar larson…

2019 Happy New Year everybody!!

finnish word of the week: sukka (sew-kah) - sock

wow!! haha it has only been a few days since we emailed but so many wonderful things have happened since being here in Oulu!! 

My first week here Sisar Hooser and I got a call from a man who met the missionaries 3 years ago. He accepted a Book of Mormon and told them that he could learn about it on his own. When he called he told us that he had been studying a little and felt that it was time to call the number on the back of the card left in the Book of Mormon! He is so eager to learn and we are so excited to teach him!! 

Our branch president knows one of my neighbors back home!! haha he has been showing me pics of them together and sharing fun stories!! 

Skpying with my family!! oh my goodness!! best christmas present ever!! It was good to see you all and hear about life at home!! 

one of the less actives we teach is helping me knit a sukka!! haha i tried before but wasn't very successful. haha she is teaching me in finnish and it is pretty fun and a lil confusing but!! she is awesome!! 

it has warmed up a little but snowed a TON!! we were at a members last night and it snowed a few inches!! haha i will send a pic. it was crazy getting home!! 

also we had the darkest day of the year on Dec 22! you guys!! it was sooo cool! the sun rose for two hours then set for the next two and it was so beautiful!! It's kinda crazy how dark it has been but despite all of this darkness i have never felt more light in my life!! I am so grateful for Christ and His light! And i encourage you all to set a goal this year to share His light with those around you!! 

Have a great week!

Love,

Sisar Larson

hyvää uuta vuotta!! 12/28/18

Moi everybody!!

finnish word of the week: uuta vuotta (ew-tah vew-oh-tah) - new year

I'm officially backing up a car!! woot woot!! Oulu!! oh my goodness!! It is so beautiful but we are down in the negatives here people!! It is cold!!! but I absolutely love it!!

My new comp is Sisar Hooser!! Oh my goodness!! we have become quick friends!! She is an amazing missionary and we have had some pretty wild adventures already this transfer!! She is so dedicated to this work and has a such a big heart!! I am so excited to go through this transfer with her!! 

Last week we had MLC (mission leadership council) in Helsinki!! It was a bit different than i thought it would be but still way awesome! We had a 9 hour train ride down to Helsinki and got to spend the night there. It was fun getting to see people and cool to learn more about the mission! 

Since this is Sisar Hooser's last transfer, we got to go back to Helsinki again yesterday because she had my plan!! woot woot!! So i got to spend the day with Sisar Johns (a sister from my mtc group) and Sisar Wulfenstien in Marjaniemi!! We did a lot of contacting and met some really cool people! I also got to see part of Neitsytpolku (my first area) again!! aww i miss that place but it is nice to be here in Oulu!! 

we got to celebrate three days of Christmas here! we had 4 appointments with members in our branch and they all fed us the same thing....potato, carrot, and turnip casseroles....you guys.....they are not as good as you think.....Chrismtas evening when we finally made it home i was feeling so sick and threw it all up......haha yeah....not fun....

but on christmas eve night everybody goes to the cemetery and puts candles next to all of the headstones! you guys!! it was SO pretty there were sooo many candles and they were all still lit on christmas day! i'll send some pics!! 

anywayyssss i email again in like 2 days haha so i will share more then!! 

have a hyvää uuta voutta
Love, Sisar Larson

HYVÄÄ JOULUA!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 12/17/18

finnish word of the week: Oulu (oh-lew) A city in Finland

note: ( Sisar Larson forgot to name her photos so I Did my best haha!)

I have news!! I am being transferred to Oulu!! It is the most northern city that sister missionaries serve here in Finland. I will be there for the coldest time of year...rip! however, i am really excited! I will also be the STL (sister training leader) over the north zone and east zone with my new companion Sisar Hooser! wow, I am very nervous but I know that the Lord will help me in this calling.

Sisar Hollingsworth is staying Here in Tampere and Sisar Watts will be coming to her from Jyväskylä!! Sisar Watts was in our district this transfer so they already know each other!! woot woot! This transfer has gone by so fast! I am sad to be leaving Sisar Hollingsworth and Tampere but I know Oulu will be good. 

I had my last lesson with Mir this week! She is old and having lots of back problems. It is super sad to see her struggle but she still wants the missionaries to come over and she still wants to go to church! She has so much faith!! It was sad saying goodbye but I know Sisar Watts and Sisar Hollingsworth are going to be the perfect combo for her! 

Lots of our other investigators are out of town for christmas so it has been a week of contacting and tracting! One day we were out tracting oma koti's (houses) and we met this Very cool finn!! He is so interested in the Book of Mormon and we ended up talking to him for a while! I am excited for Sisar Hollingsworth to keep teaching him! woot woot! 
We had a ward party after church this week! We ate rice porridge with them and wooowww finns really like that stuff haha! they ate so much of it so fast! it was funny!! 

anyways, i hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas!! There is no better time to celebrate Christ than right now!! I love my Savior and I am soo grateful for Him and His eternal sacrifice! I know that He lives! I know that He is always there for each of us! 

Hyvää Joulua!

Love, Sisar Larson

hyvää itsenäisyyspäivä! 12/11/18

Moi everybody! 

Finnish word of the week: ystävä (ew-st-ahh-v-ahh): friend

wow it is getting darker and darker everyday!! also all the snow melted :(  and it is kinda icy now haha Sisar Hollingsworth and i are counting down the seconds until one of us eats it

hyvää itsenäisyyspäivä everybody!! this week we celebrated Finlands 101st independence day!! it was way cool! they had flags everywhere and shot off a ton of fireworks that evening!! 


oh my! I woke up this Morning pretty sure it was only week 4 or 5 of the transfer but turns out we're on week 9 and get transfer calls this friday!! i have absolutely no guess for what is going to happen this next transfer soo....i'll let you all know next monday!! 

we had a ward christmas concert on sunday with the Tampere 1st ward (we're the 2nd ward)!! earlier this week we were contacted by a less active who has refused to meet with missionaries for a while and she told us she wanted to release her new song that she wrote at the concert! so sister hollingsworth and i got to sing her song at the concert! It was about christ and how he is our eternal ystävä!! we are excited to see what the future holds for her!! 

We met with mir for the first time in a while! at our last lesson we went over the baptism questions with her and she believes and has a testimony of each of them. she told us that she doesn't feel ready still and wanted a break. but we met with her this week and we are working on helping her overcome her challenges!! she is so prepared!! 

anyways i was in a rush last week and forgot to send my some of my favorite names of christ!! Savior and Redeemer!! I have a strong testimony that Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer!! I know that His grace is sufficient for us!! To heal us and to change us for the better!! 

i hope that you all have a great week!! 

love,

sisar larson

joulu is near 12/4/18

Moi everybody!! 

finnish word of the week: Joulu (yo-lew) - christmas!! 

Light the world started this week!! We went to an old folks home and sang some songs with the missionaries in the other ward!! Sisar Hollingsworth and i are the only missionaries in our ward so we get to do fun things with the other ward all the time! I even got to play the piano! it was so fun! 

We had mission tour this week!! It was so wonderful to see all the missionaries.

we had Elder, i have no idea how to spell his name but here we go, Engbow from the europe area 70!! I also had an interview with him after and it just what i needed!

He reminded me what success means as a missionary. It was so nice to discuss this with him and i feel that i have an even stronger purpose behind each step. He also reminded us of the importance of finding one by one. It reminded me that the most important person is the person who is in front of Us. 

We got our first snowfall last night!! it was so pretty and oh my goodness, i finally feel like i am in Finland!! i hope it will stick!! 

sorry for the shorter email This Week, i gotta go though!! 

Love,

Sisar Larson

apuyhdistys 11/27/18

Moi everybody!! 

finnish word of the week: Apuyhdistys (ah-poo-eww-dee-stews) - relief society

We still don't have any snow!!! There is thick frost everywhere that kinda looks like snow but finns keep telling us this is the warmest winter yet!! Hopefully we get some soon! 

Remember how I told you all we have a really old ward?? well!! we had the weirdest experience in apuyhdistys this week!! We were sitting there listening to the lesson and all of the sudden one of the cute old ladies fell unconscious and for a hot second i thought she died!! it was so scary!! and while the people next to her were trying to help, everybody just casually continued on with the lesson!! haha sisar hollingsworth and i were low key freaking out but she ended up being okay!!

we have mission tour tomorrow!! i can't wait to see a bunch of the sisters from our group!! it is going to be so fun!!

Sisar Hollingsworth and I had our own little Thanksgiving dinner this last week. During dinner we had a little discussion about the things we are grateful for in life. I am grateful for many things, but I am beyond grateful for my Savior! Because of Him and His wonderful plan I have had the lovely opportunity to be here on a mission and witness people change through His grace and develop the light of Christ.

anywaysss hope you all have a great week!! 

Love, 

Sisar Larson

Happy Turkey Day 11/20/18

Moi everybody!!

Finnish word of the week: Suomi (sew-oh-me) - Finland (this might be a repeat!! sorry!! haha)

It's been another cold and great week here in Finland!! 
This week we had exchanges with the Sisar Griffeth and Sisar Huber!! (Yep, Sister Huber got transferred to Tampere as an sTL! woot woot!!) It was sO fun working with Sister Huber again!! She is such an amazing example of faith in every footstep! We were able to accomplish a lot of work in our area so it was a success!!

I attended my first baptism this week!! The elders had an English-speaking investigator get baptized and it was such a cool experience!! Mir came and we got to translate the whole thing into Finnish for her. The spirit was sO strong when we were standing at the font translating the baptismal prayer. The work is progressing here in Suomi and I am so grateful that I can be a ‘part of it!!

Earlier this week Sisar Hollingsworth and I were studying Jacob chapter 5 and I was reminded of how much I have grown to love the name Lord of the vineyard on my mission! one of my favorite verses from that chapter is verse 72 "and it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things."  I have seen so many miracles throughout my mission as I have obediently done His work! He is truly with us as we labor and do His work and will!! 

I hope you all have a great week and a happy turkey day!!

Love,

Sisar Larson

HUMP DAY 11/13/18

Moi everybody!! 

Finnish word of the week: mummo (moo-moh): grandma

Today is my Grandma Bonna’s Birthday!! WOOT WOOT! She is the BEST Grandma and I love her so much! If you see her, Wish Her a Happy Birthday!!

it has been getting darker and darker every day!! it's sooo weird!! it has also gotten a little warmer! finns have been telling us that this is the warmest fall they've had! it has also been raining a tON!!!. 

Sisar Hollingsworth and i reach our halfway mark this saturday!!! AHH this is crazy!! i still feel like a baby out here!! i can't believe how quick time has gone!! 

this week we gave a school tour of our church!! the other tampere missionaries were supposed to help us but they had leadership training down in Espoo sooo we had to do it alone!! luckily our ward mission leader and one of his friends came to the rescue and were able to help us out!! it actually went really well and Sisar Hollingsworth and I were able to explain everything pretty well! I definitely felt the gift of tongues working with us!! 

so after district meeting on wednesday Sisar Hollingsworth and i were walking back to the train station and as we were waiting at the cross walk we watched our train speed away... we were stuck in Jyväskylä for another 2 hours but the Jyväskylä sisters let us work with them! It was fun getting to speak with the finns in Jyväskylä for the day. 

we had a lesson with our cute mummo investigator!! she is so cute!! we taught her the rest of the restoration and it was a Very powerful lesson!! Sisar Hollingsworth and i have been trying to find our unity in teaching and i think we finally got it at that lesson!! woot woot!!
One of Christs names that has stood out to me this last week is Master!! Christ is the Master Teacher!! He has taught me sO many things during these past 9 months and he has allowed me to teach others about the joy and peace His gospel brings to our lives. I am so grateful for His example and I know that as we turn to Him we can find answers and peace!

i hope that you all have a great week!

Love, sisar larson

p.S. we were told not to post the camel talk video but We couldn’t resist haha (sorry Sisars).

mennetkö naimisiin? 11/06/18

Moi everybody!!

Finnish word of the week: mennä (men-nah): to go

This next Sunday is Fathers Day here in finland so i gotta say a quick Happy Fathers Day to my dad!! You're the best and i am crazy grateful for you!! 

We got to teach the ySA family home evening last night!! I have never been more nervous for a lesson than i was last night, haha!! it turned out great though and we actually got a few of them to help us out with lessons in the coming week!! 

After district council we got to hang out in Jyväskylä a little longer and do a fun district activity!! We went to their city center and contacted around!! Sisar Hollingsworth and I were having a lot of fun!! Then we got talking to this one guy and it was going so well then all of the sudden he turned to me and said mennetkö naimisiin? and i didn't know the word naimisiin meant so i looked at Sisar Hollingsworth and she said EI!!!! and they kept going back and forth until finally he said in english will you marry me? lol we gave him a book and ran away. 

Ikea was a blast!! It's HUGE here and a bit Fancier than back home, haha!!

we got 4 new investigators this week!! it has been so awesome!! three of them are natives and one of them is from brazil!! It has been so wonderful to help them develop their relationship with Christ!! In my last week with Sisar Kokkola we met a cool guy we'll call Joe!! He told us that his mom was a recent convert in a city nearby and was willing to meet with us! We had our first lesson with him this last week and It was such a cool experience!! He is working on recognizing the Holy Ghost and feeling Heavenly Fathers love!! We have another lesson with him tonight and are sooo excited!!! The man from brazil has been searching a lot of gospels for the truth!! He had so many questions For our first lesson and is so eager to learn about why we believe this gospel is the true Gospel! We have our second lessons with the other two later this week so i will share more about them another time :)

so, to my mom for the halloween package!! We had so much fun with it!! I'll send some pics! 

As i said a few emails ago i finished reading the Book of Mormon right before conference!! Perfect timing with President Nelsons challenge right? as i have been reading the Book of Mormon again i have been underlining each of Christ's names and every time i find a new one i have been writing about what it means to me!

I thought it might be fun to share just a few of my favorites each week until the end of the year when i'm done reading it...I love that Christ is referred to as a Rock! I know that he is always there for us!! I know that when we build our foundation on Him we cannot fail!! I know that as we put our trust in Him we will see miracles in our lives!! 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sisar Larson

SNOW 10/30/18

Moi Everybody!!

finnish word of the week: lumi (lew-me): snow

guys!!!! It has been freezing cold but guess what.. we got some lumi!!!! woot woot!!!! none of it is really sticking down in tampere but when we went up to jyväskylä for distict meeting there was a lot!! i'll send A pic.

Sisar Hollingsworth and I started reading the Old Testament together haha it's been so fun and we've been learning a lot of cool things!! 

since it has been so cold and people aren't outside as much we have been using buses!! but Sisar Hollingsworth hasn't been on a bike yet so i told her we could take them out one evening!! at first nobody was out and i was feeling kind of bad but the spirit prompted me to keep riding! so that's what we did!! by the end of the night we met some way cool people who were totally prepared to hear our message!! 

we had an appointment with one of our Finn investigators this week! right when she opened the door she held out her Book of Mormon and told us she didn't want to meet anymore. It was sad and after talking to her about it we decided that she will keep the book and we will have one more meeting in two weeks from now. we are praying that her heart can be changed as she studies the Book of Mormon!

the tampere elders gave us a way cool referral!! she is from china and speaks fluent Finnish but she wants to learn English! so we are currently teaching her English!! haha it's kinda tough because we are trying to teach English in Finnish while using Chinese books but i know that the gift of tongues is real and definitely with us as we try!! 

we are going to IKEA today!! i'm way excited!! i hope everybody has a good week!!

love,

sisar larson

mustamakkara round 2

10/23/18

Happy birthday to my cute mom!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!! if you see her give her a hug and tell her she's the best because she really is!! i love you and hope you had a great birthday!!

finnish word of the week: mekko (meh-ko) - dress

woooowwww this week has most definitely been a week of adventure!! It has been SO fun to be companions with Sisar Hollingsworth!!! we have been chatting none stop trying to get caught up on these past few months!! some fun facts about her....she is from washington!! she loves horseback riding, and she is sooo in tune with the spirit and soo dedicated to this work!! it has been so cool to work with her!! and it's her 20th bday today so we are gonna go party after emailing!! 

I don't think i have ever learned more finnish in such a small amount of time than i have this week!! our first day together we were sitting on the bus and got talking to this lady and all of the sudden she stands up, takes her coat off, pulls the back of her mekko down, points at her back and keeps yelling something at me in finnish!! we had noooo idea what she was saying!! at first i thought she was asking me to scratch her back so i poked it with my finger then decided it was just too weird so i put her coat back on for her and she took it off and continued to shout something in finnish. sisar hollingsworth and i just could not figure it out for the life of us so finally she turns to somebody else annndddd they unzip her mekko for her...then she walked off the bus like it was a totally normal thing..... haha it was a weird first day.

we met with a new investigator last night!! we met with her and her cousin! it was sooo cool and she is so interested!! the spirit was so strong and at one point she even asked us if we think she can change!! before we could even answer, her cousin was supporting and encouraging her!!! woot woooott!!!! we are looking forward to our next lesson with them.

oh my i am the meanest comp ever!! i took cute sister hollingsworth to the kauppahalli annd we got mustamakkara!!(black sausage) haha i didn't tell her what was in it until she tried it but i did take a tiny bite to encourage her. it's gross... and i can't believe i ate it again lol rip 

anyways it has been a great week!! also rumor has it that we are going to get some snow this week!!! woot woot!!! i'm getting so excited for winter!! the city is slowly getting a bunch of christmas decorations and lights put up everywhere so i will send pics when that is all done!!!

i hope you all have a great week!!

love,

sisar larson

I ain't sayin she's a wool digger, but she ain't messin with no broke knitters 10/15/18

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY CUTE SISTER HANNAH!!!! I can't believe you are 17!!! I hope you have the best birthday and know that I love and miss you!!!

Finnish word of the week: soittaa pianoaa (soy-tah pea-ann-oh-ah): to play the piano

Transfer calls came!! We were in the middle of a lesson with Mir so she got to experience transfer calls! She was crying with us when they came! It was super tender! I will be staying in Tampere as a senior companion! My new comp is Sisar Hollingsworth!! She was in my mTC group!! I am seriously sO excited!!! 

This week went by crazy fast which is super sad because it's my last week with Sisar Kokkola! This transfer has seriously been SUCH A BLAST with her!! She has been such an amazing companion and has really helped me learn so much!! She is being transferred to my first area, Neitsytpolku!! I am so excited for her! She is going to touch so many lives down there!!

Sisar Kokkola and I got to soittaa pianoaa together in church on sunday! (lol i'm low key cringing at the random finnish words i throw into these english sentences...they aren't always right cuz i don't wanna change the endings and get everybody confused #sorry). It was sO fun to play with her! She is a great pianist!

We taught a man from Egypt this week!  It was very interesting ha Ha. he made us SO much food and showed us way cool pictures that he took of the pyramids!! oh my goodness i really wanna go see them one day. anyways.... he kinda tried to bash with us the whole time. I know he felt the spirit during our lesson, but because of all the bashing we are going to wait until later next transfer to visit him again.

The Elders in our district taught Sisar Kokkola and I how to knit during our district lunch on Wednesday ha Ha! one of the elders shared a funny thing... "i ain't sayin she's a wool digger, but she ain't messin with no broke knitters." lol hopefully some of you recognize the song! Sisar K and I are still cracking up over it.

anyways we have been doing lots of tracting and contacting this week! Our area is HUGE so we got to go to some parts we haven't been to yet! it has been a great week and we have some potentials that hopefully want to meet next week!! 

Also i know i informed you that sometimes i don't get emails but i am actually a little behind on them right now!!! I LOVE getting them, Thank you!! i will try to get caught up by next week as I only get a very limited time to go through them on P-day!

I hope everybody has a great week!!

Love,

Sisar Larson

1. lol, us trying to get a pic with Mir....she was not having it

2. sports day pic with the tampere missionaries

3. pretty finalnd

Conference! 10/09/18

Moi everybody!! 

Finnish word of the week: Mustamakkara (moose-t-uh-mock-er-uh): Black Sausage

We get transfer calls this week!! Woot woot!! The possibilities of what could happen are endless! I'm soo nervous but so excited! I'll let you all know next week what happens!

Everybody out here in the Tampere 2nd ward keep encouraging Sisar Kokkola and I to try Mustamakkara. The other day our bishop called and he told us that he heard we hadn't tried it yet soo he asked us if we wanted to come over for a mustamakkara dinner. We said sure and he kept talking about how brave we were for wanting to eat it even Though we knew what's in it. We definitely did not know what was in it but of course we didn't tell him that.

After eating it we found out it's pig blood and pig fat and a bunch of other nasty things. I have never felt so sick and i will never eat it again. haha i didn't take any pics of it so i will try to find some and get you a pic next week. It looks as gross as it sounds.

Pat has been keeping us updated on the northern lights!! (he's a nothern light photographer) we went to bed early one night and woke up the next morning to a text from him literally minutes after we went to bed saying they were out! so sad we missed it!

We met with a guy from Vietnam for the first time this week! He is seriously golden! He gave his first prayer ever with us and oh my goodness the spirit was so strong and sweet! it was a way cool experience! However we found out he lives in the elders area soo sadly we have to give him away.

Conference!! oh my goodness!! was anybody else as blown away as i was? we still have one more session to watch but wow! one topic that really stood out to me was love. i really enjoyed how each speaker spoke of different ways we can love! such as doing Heavenly Fathers will, serving for what we can give, and faithfully enduring. I know that as we do each of these things we will develop a greater love for the savior and for those around us, and i know that our capacity to serve will grow.

I hope everybody has a great week!

Love, 

Sisar Larson

moi 10/02/18

Moi everybody!

finnish word of the week: lokakuu (low-ka-koo) - october

we recently got back in contact with a man who sisar kokkola was teaching last transfer! he is from mexico and he's been having a tough time in life lately! one of his big questions was why does God allow bad things to happen. we read 2 nephi 2 with him and had a really good lesson about agency.

on sunday sisar kokkola and i were sitting in sunday school with mir and in the middle of class pete walked in!! it was the biggest surprise!! we had been calling him every day for two weeks!! he isn't doing very good and he might be moving to a place in helsinki to get some help. we will keep you posted. 

one of the tampere elders chinese investigators moved to paris this week!! so for his last day in finland he said he wanted to cook chinese food for all the missionaries! it was the Spiciest food of my life and one of the elders was literally sweating…drops of sweat from his face! hahaha

This Past Week We Had Another Amazing Zone Conference!! We Focused On Continued Personal Conversion In Becoming True Disciples Of Jesus Christ, Centering Our Teaching Around Jesus Christ And Teaching In A Plain & Simple, Yet Powerful Way! I Love My Zone!! Each And Every Day I Am Learning And Growing! I Love My Savior, Jesus Christ And I Am So Thankful For This Opportunity I Have To Share About The Gospel Of Jesus Christ Each And Every Day!!, It Is The Best! 

i opened my mission call one year ago this week last lokakuu...where has time gone?? this is crazy sauce!! i can't believe how much my life has changed since i opened my call...but i am so grateful for it!! and i am so grateful for a loving heavenly father who has a perfect plan for each of us!! 

is anybody as excited as we are for conference??? sisar kokkola and i literally cannot wait for this weekend!!! i want to encourage you all to go into conference with a question in mind!! 

I Hope You All Have A Great Week! 

Love,

Sisar Larson

sähly 09/24/18

moi everybody!!

finnish word of the week: hupsu (who-p-sue): foolish

on wednesday nights we get to play Sähly with the ward and investigators!! i don't think i've talked about sähly before but it's so fun!! it's kind of like floor hockey but the ball and end of the hockey stick have holes all over. it's way fun and i can't wait to teach you all one day! anyways, i got nailed with the ball this week and have a big ladybug (that's what they call welts when you get them in sähly i guess? haha). 

we had to drop dan this week. it was super sad and wow was i so scared going into that lesson. he knows this gospel is true! i know he knows it!! he's just not willing to act on his faith which is super sad:( but Sisar Kokkola and i both agreed that it felt right. in the lesson we were reading the parable of the 10 virgins and in the finnish translation it uses the word tyhmä, which means stupid, which is kind of really harsh. so Sisar Kokkola and i changed it to hupsu, which means foolish, so it would sound a little less harsh. right after reading it our member said "is that a new translation of the bible? tyhmä is a way better word than hupsu!" and she kept going on about it for like 10 minutes and i was trying to do everything i could not to not laugh. but overall the lesson was good.

also, pete has disappeared! we can't find him anywhere! last time we talked with him he kept going on about these demons that are following him. before i say anything else i think i need to apologize if it came across that i was making fun of him a few emails ago. I do not mean any disrespect! we think he might be suffereing with some mental health issues and we didn't recognize that until recently. we have been trying to get him the help he needs but like i said he's totally disappeared so hopefully he will contact us soon. I pray that he is safe.

we finished the 21 day challenge this week!! woot woot! i hope everybody who participated enjoyed it!! It really helped us over here! as we have read with investigators we could see their faith and understanding grow! It has been really cool to witness! I have such a strong testimony of the book of mormon! i know that it is the word of God and i know that by reading It we can receive so many answers to our questions! i know that as we develop the habit to read it regularly we will develop a greater capacity to receive personal revelation and a stronger desire to align our will with Heavenly Fathers. 

i hope you all have a great week! 

love, sisar larson

"sinä olet pelottava" 09/18/17

Moi everybody!! 

finnish word of the week: pelottava (pail-oat-ta-v-ah): scary

It's been a super rainy week here in Tampere, but I really love it!! 
We were reading over some stuff with pete and he would laugh every time i looked up at him so i finally asked what was funny and he told me i would make a good secretary...then on sunday he told me i was pelottava...rip! haha Pete's the best! also i know i said a few emails ago that we were handing him off to the other sisters but he is really struggling right now. So, President Aura gave us permission to keep teaching him. 

Pat!! i don't think i've told you all about pat yet!! he's from london and he has a cute little boy! he has been super busy these past few weeks but we had a lesson (sorry i forgot to write about it) with him a few weeks ago and he kept talking about "if" he was baptized.

so this week we extended a baptismal commitment and he accepted it…kind of!! he said january for sure but that he didn't want to pick a date yet! we are super excited to work with him! I hope and pray that it all works out for him.

We had a super fun ward party this week!! we had two of our investigators come and it was really great! the ward was super awesome with them too!! also, i tried this weird fish cake, haha! not my fav thing...and i don't know what it's really called but yeah i hope I don’t ever have to try it again!

we also had a dinner appointment with some members in our ward and we ate something they call sausage sauce with some potatoes haha it's actually pretty good! 

i really love the quote shared on day 16 of the 21 day challenge! it says "Conversion is an enlarging, a deepening, and a broadening of the undergirding base of testimony. It is the result of revelation from God, accompanied by individual repentance, obedience, and diligence." a word that really stuck out to me is diligence!! It's so important in our conversion process because it is how we can progress!!so i want to encourage all of you to recognize something you can be a little more diligent with in your own conversion process! 

have a great week everybody!! 

love,

sisar larson

syksy 09/11/18

moi everybody!!!

finnish word of the week: syksy (suu-k-suu) - fall

for the past couple of weeks, Mir keeps saying "it's syksy, it's syyksy!!" It's finally starting to look like it!!! it's also been getting darker earlier, we saw our first star this week! it was actually pretty cool!!

remember the giant hill we have to bike up and down to get anywhere in our area?? well, i have a funny story about it!! haha i don't know if words can do this story justice but here we go...

so because the hill is super steep there aren't a ton of people usually walking on it, so we usually fly down it. the other day sisar kokkola was a bit ahead of me and we were hauling down the hill and suddenly a person appeared out of nowhere so sisar kokkola stopped dead in her tracks and i had to slam on my breaks...but they gave out....and at full speed i totally took her out in the middle of the contact! haha the sidewalk we were on was super narrow so it was either her or the person she was talking to....so i picked her.

after we quickly put ourselves together we turned to the guy to talk to him and he had the funniest look on his face. but i don't blame him. so poor sisar kokkola may have some bruises and yes my bike is wrecked. we're waiting on a part to fix it and Sisar Kokkola is going to be okay! 

we gave a church tour to a group of high school kids this week!! they were a little awkward, but it was still wayy fun!

we also got two new investigators this week!!! woot woot!!! we will call them mrs. k and her sister.

mrs. k and her sister heard that we believe families can be together forever from one of their member friends, so they contacted us!! we got to teach them about the plan of salvation and the spirit was so strong throughout the lesson! I'm so grateful that i can be with my family forever!! they mean the world to me and i'm so grateful i can share the peace and happiness that this knowledge has given me to others here in Finland!

so, pete....he is convinced he has some demons following him. he claims there is a force keeping him from coming to church. we have a lesson with pete on wednesday. So, we will see how well it goes, pray for pete.

we had a good lesson with dan this week. we talked about things he needs to be doing to progress and as a result of that we call dan everyday and read the 21 day challenge with him!! it has been super powerful to study and ponder the scriptures with him!! i really loved today's (day 11) challenge. part of the quote that goes with it says, "How we live our lives increases or diminishes our faith." this week i have been studying a lot about agency!! It is so important to remember that we are 100% responsible for how we think, act, and live our lives!! 

I Hope Everybody Has A Great Week!!  I love you all!

Sisar Larson

Finland is awesome 09/04/18

Hey everybody!! 

How are you all?? So I meant to type valitse oikeaN last week...sorry I left out the N!

Finnish word of the week: alue (all-ew-ay) - area

We went to another fun tower last pday!! It was way cool I'll send some pictures.

So Pete moved into the other sisters alue. He doesn't feel comfortable with the other sisters so we are currently teaching him with the other sisters to help him feel more comfortable. It's sad that we have to say goodbye to him but we know the other sisters will take good care of him. 

Mir and Dan both skipped out on church this week. We ran into Dan the other day and he kinda smelt like smoke so we're kinda sad about that. We have a lesson with him later this week so we will see what happens. 

Other than that it has been a busy week of just contacting and tracting. We've given away a ton of 21 Day Challenges so that's been way cool and positive for us this week!!!

Speaking of the 21 day challenge Sisar Kokkola and I just started and wow has it been awesome!! We have also been getting positive feed back from some of you back home and it's been so great to hear!!! woot woot!!! Keep me updated on how it's going!! 

I would like to leave you with a quote from the 21 Day Challenge regarding how we can find joy in this life! "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives" - President Russel M. Nelson. 

I know that Jesus Christ lives and that His gospel is true!! I know that if we focus our lives on Him and His gospel then we will feel joy no matter what challenges we face!! I am so thankful that I can be a missionary and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others!!

I hope everybody has a great week!! 

I love you all so much!!

Sisar Larson

valitse oikea 08/27/18

hey everbody!!! 

Soo I've been told by some of you that i don't respond to your emails and after some investigating we've discovered I'm not getting some of them. If I don't respond within about 2 weeks that means I probably haven't gotten them. 

Finnish word of the week: valitse oikea (vall-eats-say oy-kay-uh) - choose the right

We gave Pete a valitse oikea ring this week and he loves it!! haha he saw the one on my finger and wears it just how i do hahaha we taught him about choosing the right and the holy ghost and ever since that lesson he has been really upbeat and just overall happy! It has been awesome to see the change in him! 

So we also have two eternal investigators, one woman who we'll call mir and a man we'll call dan.

Mir came to church this week!! she sat next to us during all three hours it was way good and she was even super involved in the lessons!! during relief society she handed me a water bottle and asked me to open it for her. right when i twisted the cap it exploded allll over us...turns out it wasn't water....and it got shaken up in the bottom of her bag... haha 

Dan isn't really progressing, we had a lesson with him and it went well, he knows everything is true but he won't read the bom and he doesn't come to church. hopefully we can make more progress with him this next week.

a missionary who recently returned home was visiting with her family and they brought us american mac n cheese and peanut butter!!!! oh  my goodnesss!!!!!!! the mac n cheese was wayyyyy more cheesy than i remember it but the peanut butter was SO yummy!! i died a lil!! 

We're doing this thing called the 21 day challenge here in Europe!! it starts on the 1st of september!! i will send pics of it! if any of you want to do it with us feel free and i would love to hear your thoughts on it!! 

I hope you all have a great week!! 

love sisar larson

bikes are the best 08/21/18

Moi everybody!! 

finnish word of the week: pyörät (p-eww-rat) - bike

sisar kokkola and i have been using our pyöräts everyday this week!! we live in the corner of our area and the only way to get to the rest of it is down this huge hill and wowow it's fun to go down but it's the worst biking up it! haha our legs are crazy sore. I also ate it way bad this week and almost took out two finnish grandma's! sisar kokkola got a good laugh out of it but then she wiped out the next day sooo I too had a good laugh!!

in district counsel 2 weeks ago we set a goal to teach 8 mini lessons per companionship to people on the street each day!! we definetly didn't reach our goal every day! but i noticed sisar kokkola and i really made more of an effort to share our testimony and to really give people the chance to know a little about this gospel before they rejected it and it made such a difference in our missionary work this past week!!

earlier this week one of the elders in our zone said around this time of year the dark comes and before we know it we're not going to see the sun. i couldn't help but think...wait a minute, we've been living in the sun day and night for as long as i've been in finland! lol but, last night the dark came early and wowow it was weird to walk around in it!! 

i have decided i am going to give our investigators better nicknames so you can all follow them a little better!! So, pete has been investigating the church for a while now!! he's finnish and the most awkward person I have ever met but we love him so much!! we invited him to be baptized and he confessed about an addiction he has but says he wants to be baptized!! woot woot!! so we're working with him on it!! 

Pete is really our only investigator right now.... so we've been doing a ton of tracting and contacting this week!! earlier in the week sisar kokkola and i were having a blast tracting this building and on our very last door for the night a man answered. He bashed us pretty bad in english...when He realized we didn't fully understand everything he was saying in finnish....But when he asked us if we really knew what we were doing out here we were able to share our testimony about Christ and i felt the spirit testify so strongly. I know Christ lives. My testimony of this grows stronger every time i testify of Him. I am so grateful for this opportunity to wear His name on my name tag and be a disciple for him. 

I hope you all have a hyvä viiko! 

love sisar larson

moi from tampere!!! 08/12/18

finnish word of the week: tampere (tom-pear-ray)- the city i was Transferred to

after a 2 hour train ride i made it to tampere!!! woot woot!!! it is SO beautiful here!!! our area is HUGE!! we have half of the city and a ton of neighborhoods and forests in our area!! we also do a lot more tracting out here!! people in tampere are a lot nicer than they were in the helsinki!! even if they're not interested they still take time to stop and listen to us!! it's way awesome!! 

my new companion is Sisar Kokkola!! she is just darling!!! she's from layton utah!! she likes to golf and play piano and she's a really hard worker!! her grandpa is from finland so that's where her last name comes from!! her last name means little hill in finnish!! she has been out one transfer longer than i have!! it has been so fun working with her!! she knows how to enjoy the little moments in life and make the most of tough times!! i'm super excited to learn and serve with her this transfer!!! 

we speak and teach a lot mostly in finnish here!! it's way awesome and i can tell my finnish is already improving!!! we taught a super awesome lesson earlier this week with a guy who has been investigating for a long time!! hopefully this week we can commit him to be baptized!! 

the ward here is old but amazing!! i got to share a lil about myself and my testimony in church on sunday and everybody here is super supportive of us and so willing to help us with lessons and the language!! they even knitted me a pair of socks (haha it's a finnish thing)!! every week we meet with some members and they answer our questions and teach us more about the language!! it's wayy helpful!! 

sisar kokkola and i get to take an hour and a half train ride to district meeting in jyväskylä each week. it's a super pretty ride!! we travel through tons of forests!! we're not part of the tampere district because there are so many missionaries here, but we get to see the tampere district at church and sports day on saturday so it's fun for us.

some members in the ward gave us bikes!! woot woot!!! we've only been able to take them out once cuz it has been raining cats and dogs here but they're super fun to ride!!! 

i saw my first sunset since....the beginning of april? i think? hahaha it was SOOO pretty!!! wowow i forgot what they looked like lol and the street lights were on last night....it was wayyy weird!! 

anyways have a great week everybody!! 

sisar larson

anddddd i'll send a lot more pics next week of tampere and my cute comp!!!! 

6 months!! woot woot!! 08/05/18

moi everybody!!! 

finnish word of the week: vaihdon soitot (v-i-don soy-to-t) - transfer calls!!!!!!!!!!!

I have some exciting news!!!!! vaihdon soitot came!!!!!! annnnnnnnd I'M GOING TO TAMPERE!!!!!!!! woot woot!!!!! i'm so excited!!! An elder in my district served there for 8 months and he said it was his favorite area so i'm pumped!!! also i reach my 6 month mark this week.....WHAT!!!!! where has time gone?? 

so, since i'm leaving i had to say a lot of goodbyes!! i have one more tonight that i'm not looking forward to. we have one last lesson with our Estonian investigator and i have really grown to love her so much!! it's sad saying goodbye but i know we'll keep in touch! She has definetly taught me wayyy more than i have taught her!! now that i'm leaving i am able to see how much i have really grown to love the people here in helsinki!! I'm crazy excited to go to tampere to share the gospel and to learn from the people there. I know I will grow to love them too!! 

we got a new investigator this week!! woot woot!! he is from mexico and he's just the happiest guy!! his first lesson went really well until we extended a baptismal commitment to him and then he got a little nervous but he said he would think about it and the sisters will be meeting with him after i leave so hopefully all goes well!! 

my last lesson with our old finnish grandma was so fun!! when she found out i was leaving she was sad but still made fun of me until we walked out the door. i don't think she understands that i understand when she makes fun of me....but it's alright, haha, she's the best!!! 

our other finnish investigator is progressing really well!! she has read SO much of the bOM and she asks really good questions so i'm excited to hear what happens with her this next transfer!! 

also....i broke my camera.....but not before i captured a few pics this week!! so, idk when you will be getting pics of tampere!! sorry everybody. 

have a great week!! 

sisar larson

i ate more beans 07/31/18

Moi!!!! 

Finnish word of the week: kiva (key-va) - nice

It has been another great and hot week here in Finland!! 

Our Estonian investigator has been progressing so well!! She has been really committed to give up coffee and she's doing so well!! 

Our Bulgarian investigator moved to Turku so we had to give him to the Sisar's up there. We miss him lots but we know the Turku Sisars will take care of him!! 

Soo our fav old Finn grandma is starting to get reallllyyyy old...and things are starting to get hard for her to do. So, we try to serve her once a week now. Oh, and her battery to her hearing aid died so she can't hear us very well but she always asks us to sing songs so we sing as loud as we can. We sound terrible but she loves it soooo it works haha!

I ate refried beans this week........I think it was the first time I've ever eaten them (my mom tries to convince me that I have eaten them when I was little, I disagree with her) lol...not my fav but I don't hate beans anymore haha! This is an improvement!

Sisar Jarvis and I visited an older Finnish woman in our ward yesterday and woooowwww I have a lot of Finnish to learn!! She told us a story about her brother and his child and his life in Italy and a lot of other things I didn't understand... at the end of the story I said kiva, which means “nice” and Sisar Jarvis gave me a really scary look then burst into laughter!! She quickly explained the story to me and it was about all these illnesses he has and these tragedies he has faced so I apologized and we all laughed haha! So, even though “nice” was not the appropriate thing to say she is still friends with us!

Anyways, Finnish has been a struggle!! It is a very hard language haha! I don't always understand what people say and I know I say a lot of things wrong. I am still learning! I do love the power of prayer. The more I pray with a sincere heart to understand Finnish and rely on the Holy Ghost the more I understand!! I have such a strong testimony of prayer!! Heavenly Father really does hear our prayers and he wants to help us!! All we need to do is get on our knees and ask with a sincere heart!!! 

We get transfer calls this week so I'll let you all know what's happening next week!! 

Have a great week everybody!!  

Sisar Larson

An insert from the Larson’s: This week we received a few different emails from random people who ran into Sisar Larson & Sisar Jarvis. They sent us sweet little messages about these amazing Sisar’s with pictures! It makes us SO happy to receive these little tender mercies!!! 🇫🇮

happy 24th everybody!! 07/24/18

finnish word of the week: kuuma (koo-mah) - hot

so remember that investigator that was in the mental hospital?? yeah.... he disappeared...we can't find him haha we think he might of ended back up in the mental hospital so we're gonna go check there later this week when we have some time!! 

OUR ESTONIAN INVESTIGATOR IS BACK!!!!!! oh my goodness i love her so much!!! she is just the best and is totally ready to be become a member of this church she's just a little nervous and really wants to make sure that this is the right thing to do!! 

our bulgarian investigator is doing awesome!!! he shared a cool experience with us about the word of wisdom!! he said he had a bottle of alcohol in his hand and he said a thought came into his mind, he could choose the alcohol or he could choose God, so he threw the bottle of alcohol away and hasn't had it since!!!!! he is starting to recognize the spirit!! it's so cool!! he will always place his hand over his heart and in the little english he knows he will tell us how the holy ghost touches his heart!! it's so powerful!!! 

our other investigators with baptismal dates are progresing well!! we tried to commit the "sister wives" girl to live the word of wisdom and she said she would give up everything but coffee so we still got a little work to do with her but she has read SO much from the book of mormon and she says she knows that what she has read so far is true!! so it's progress!!!!!! woot woot!! and our last guy with a baptismal date is from africa!! but he's in america until around transfers so idk if i will see him again.

the weather has still been crazy kuuma!! sister jarvis has moved her bed from the top bunk to the floor cuz we just can't deal with the heat, hahaha! 

alsooo remember how i told you all i don't like beans but i ate them anyways haha so i decided to give them another try cuz i realized they aren't that bad...so we're gonna eat some tonight!! lol 

have a great week everybody!!! 

love

sisar larson

protests, jeans, and sunburns 07/17/18

moi everybody!!!! 

first off i have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD THIS WEEK!!!!!! woot woot!!!!!! if you see him sing him a lil happy birthday song and give him a hug for me!!!! 

finnish word of the week: farkut (far-kuu-t) - jeans

sooo lots of you have asked me about trump and putin and yes!! they were in my area on sunday and monday!! haha it was crazy!! no i didn't see them but we had a lot of protests so lots of the public transportation was down and running different routes so it was a little crazy for us but we're good now haha 

last pday we got to go to suomenlinna with our stl's (sister training leaders) and we got to wear farkut!!!! woot woot!!!! one of the stl's hurt her foot and needed to wear more supportive shoes so president told us we could all wear casual clothes!! it was sooo weird to wear farkuts but sooo fun!!!!! 

it has been CRAZY HOT here in finland. sisar jarvis and i are always sweating...always....i'm even sweating typing this email lol sorry if that's tmi haha it doesnt help that the sun is out for soooo long every day haha. we got a little sun burnt too but that's okay cuz it was worth it!! 

saturday we got to do a photo night!! it was so fun!! an elder in our district is super into photography and videography and he got to bring his nice camera and it was a hit!! we took a ton of peoples pics for them at the church!! it was so fun!! and we had him take some of our pics which i'll send!! 

we extended three baptismal commitments this week and all three accepted!!! they're all during next transfer i don't know if i will be around for them but it was a super exciting week!! we extended one to a man from Bulgaria!! he's so cool!! it was on his first lesson too!! our second lesson with him we taught him the word of wisdom and he said he is struggling with a lot of substances but he is so willing to give them up!! he keeps sharing with us how he knows that this is Gods plans for him!! we also got a new Finnish investigator this week!! she was watching sister wives and wanted to learn more about the church so she called us and now she has a baptismal date in September!! woot woot!! 

it has been a great week here in Neitsytpolku!! thanks for all your fun emails!! 

sisar larson

tämä ei ole mikään nauru asia  06/09/18

Moi everybody!!

finnish words of the week: tämä ei ole mikään nauru asia! (tam-ah ey oh-lay me-can now-ru aw-see-aw) - this is not a laughing matter!

It's been another great week here in Finland!! Sisar Jarvis and I made a goal to syl (speak your language) every time we're out side of the apartment!! It has been tough but i've learned so much!! 

We visited our fav old finn this week!! She's so cute!! she really opened up about a lot of her concerns this week which was a big blessing for us because she always trys to avoid talking about them!! so we've been able to help her and she's doing awesome sauce!! We stopped by her house on our way to church again and she had lost her keys, hahaha, so we were trying to help her find them and then she asked us what day it was. she just could not believe that it was sunday!! she was convinced it was thursday and i couldn't help but laugh. she got really mad and serious then said tämä ei ole mikään nauru asia, hahaha i love her!! 

we had another lesson with our crazy investigator man!! he's currently homeless because he's refusing to live in a homeless shelter but he's progressing!! he hasn't been able to charge his phone but he always comes to finnish night so hopefully we'll be able to set up more lessons with him then. 

i don't know if i've ever written about finnish night? but every thursday missionaries in our ward (so just us and a pair of elders) teach a finnish class at a library in our area! we have a ton of english speakers here in helsinki so we get to teach them all how to speak finnish!! it's super fun!! 

we were supposed to have a lesson with the man from india but he had to cancel, so hopefully this week we can meet with him!! the Estonia girl gets back from her trip this week so we're gonna teach her on friday!! i'm so excited!!! 

we also went on exchanges this week!! we got to go to espoo!! it was SO fun to see what life is like outside of the city!! it's kinda crazy to think i've been in the city for so long!! 

After reading Alma, the other day, I thought I would share one of my favorite verses with all of you!

Alma 17:11 "And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren and establish my work; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls."

 This verse has helped me a lot her in crazy lil Finland. The struggle out here is real, people aren't always nice to us, the language can be hard and the combination of everything can make you easily miss home. A huge lesson I am learning is patience! It's been a hard lesson but as I show patience and as I do the things the Lord has asked me to do I have been able to see how I have been an instrument in His hand.  I have seen the promise in my mission scripture come true.

D&C 84:88, "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

I have seen the spirit go before me and touch hearts. I have felt angels lift me up and help me. I know this gospel is true. I know we have a loving Father in Heaven who wants to help us. I know the Savior suffered for each of us so that we can find peace and joy! 

i hope you all have an awesome sauce week!! 

love sisar larson

an awesome sauce week in Neitsytpolku  07/02/18

alrighty!! this week was crazy sauce, where should i begin!! 

finnish word of the week: rukous (roo-ko-oos) - prayer

We had a wonderful zone conference this past week!!! i have to say, we have such amazing missionaries! Our theme was "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." DC 6:36 & "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7.

I felt sO much love at zone conference! It was very powerful! I totally forgot to bring my notes so there will be more to share on this next week, to be continued...

so we got a new investigator this week. he has been in a mental hospital in our area for a hot minute so the elders were teaching him. he was there because he has some pretty crazy stories but it turns out they're all true. sooo he's out and we get to teach him now, haha! we have our first lesson with him this week so i'll let you know how it goes. 

we tried to visit our fav finn grandma investigator this week but every time we knocked on the door she wouldn't answer!! we knew she was home because we could hear her inside!! so sunday before church we stopped by and again, we could hear her inside but she still didn't answer. so when we were walking outside we noticed that her porch door was open.

so i convinced sisar jarvis to go stand in the doorway and yell her name, haha! after a few minutes of doing this we shouted as loud as we could and as we were walking away she came flying around the corner to her front door!  she finally answered, woot woot!!!! turns out she hasn't been wearing her hearing aids for a while so she couldn't hear us, haha!!! our lesson with her that day was awesome sauce!! we talked to her about baptism and she's considering it!! woot woot!!! 

we had a lesson with a man from india this week, it went really really well!! we talked a lot about rukous and how god works in small and simple ways!! it was a really cool lesson!! his mom was visiting him from india so she joined in on the lesson and she was very interested!!

at the end they gave us some traditional indian treats that she brought with her and they were SO spicy and SO good!!  they also gave us this really gross mint seed stuff and they all laughed at me cuz i guess i was making a face, lol! i tried not to but it was sick nasty. 

anyways it's been crazy rainy here but i love it!!! hope you all have an awesome sauce week!! 

love Sisar larson

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting!! woot woot 06/26/18

hi everybody!! 

finnish word of the week: sininen (see-knee-nen) - blue

so we had our last lesson with our Filipino investigators for a while cuz they're going to the Philippines for 6 weeks. they always feed us reallllly yummy food!!  it was sad saying goodbye, i probably won't see them again unless i get to stay next transfer!! speaking of transfers a few of you asked how long my transfers are haha they're 9 weeks!! woot woot!! 

we got a new investigator this week!! woot woot!!! she's older but she looks SO young!! haha she's also a native finn!! she's super cute and very interested in the gospel!! we have our next lesson with her on monday!! i am SO excited for her!!

Sisar Jarvis and i were on the metro the other day and it was packed full of people!! so i got talking to this finnish lady about her cute purse and she said thanks and we got talking about colors haha she told me her favorite color was sininen then i looked down at my hands and saw a sininen book of mormon so i held it up, pointed at it, and i asked her if this was her favorite color of sininen. she kinda gave me a little eye roll and said yes that kind of sininen. then we got to talk about religious stuff haha and she took a pamphlet so that was awesome!! haha 

we had another lesson with our 84 year old investigator annnnddd it was kinda weird haha she kept talking about how her aunt is her real mom and that her dead husband was resurrected and leaving green thread all over the paintings in her house and all over the tables and in her coffee so she couldn't drink it (haha which is good) but she asked us if we could see it and we said no haha and her house just felt kinda creepy after that so we sang some primary songs with her and said a prayer and it felt better!! we're visiting her again tonight so i'll let ya know if she's doing better next week!! 

I also gave my first talk in sacrament meeting on sunday!! it was the scariest thing of my life haha but people said they could understand me and i know it was all the gift of tongues!! I am so thankful for the gift of tongues and i know it's real!! there is no way i could learn this crazy language without it!! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!! 

love sisar larson

hyvä isän päivä!! 06/18/18

Hi everybody!! 

finnish word of the week: isän päivä (i-san pie-va) - fathers day

HAPPY isän päivä DAD!!!! i'm so grateful for my father!! he has been a huge support and a great example of a kind, loving, patient, and hard working person for me throughout my life!! i love you dad!! 

so as a said last week my new companion is Sisar Jarvis!! she moved to utah right before she left on her mission. Her mom is finnish so she's half finnish and grew up speaking finnish with her family!! She is an awesome singer and loves to draw!! this is gonna be an awesome transfer!! woot woot!! 

our Estonian investigator got a preisthood blessing this week!! she has been really doubting that she can do this so it was a really cool experience for her! she is going to be out of town for about two weeks which is sad but she is going to try to read the book of mormon and pray every day while she's gone!! she also attended church on sunday and took the sacrament for the first time! she said she felt a lot of peace and strength so it was a really cool experience for her!! 

this week we also had a lesson with an investigator who owns a restaurant. he tried to bash with us the whole lesson and didn't let us speak much. at the end he told us he wouldn't benefit from our lessons anymore so we had to drop him. it was a sad day. 

Saturday i woke up sick so we stayed in most the day and did area book work. 

we had a lesson with our 84 year old native fin investigator!! she's so cute!! at the end of every lesson she gives me a hug and pats my butt and i feel super awkward but i still love her haha.. we tried to get her to come to church on sunday but she didn't want to so hopefully next week!! 

we have an american family visiting our ward for the month and invited us over for dinner and it was soo nice to be with americans!! haha it was kinda weird because they're super outgoing and talkative haha but i loved it!! 

My personal goal this transfer is the 3 L's!! listen, love, and learn!! i have a goal to really try to understand the people we meet so i can know how we can help them more and so we can love them more!! i also want to humbly learn from my comp and our investigators so i can improve as a missionary and as a person!! woot woot!! gonna be a good transfer!

talk to you all next week!!! 

Love, 

sisar larson

Transfers 06/11/18

hi everybody!!! 

Finnish Word Of The Week: Poro (poor-oh)- reindeer

so i officially made it through my first transfer!!! woot woot!!! (transfers here are 9 weeks) annnnd i have a story to tell you all!

so once upon a time Sisar Huber trained Sisar Jarvis right out of training. Sisar Jarvis left on her mission the same time i did but she was already fluent in finnish so she was only in the mtc for three weeks. friday President Aura called us and i get to stay here in Neitsyltpolku (Helsinki) and Sisar Jarvis is going to be my new companion!!

sister jarvis finished her training three weeks ago and now she is going to finish the last three weeks of my training!! i'm a lil nervous because we're both super new haha but mostly excited!! we're gonna have a lot of fun adventures!!!

Sisar Huber is going to be our sister training leader!!! so she won't be too far and we'll get to go on exchanges with her.. 

this week our district got together and sang in a park. sisar huber brought her guitar and we got a lot of attention!! it was super awesome so i think we might try it again this week. 

sisar huber and i were at the train station the other day and a guy yelled at us to stop. he ran up to us and started speaking finnish but we were having a hard time understanding him so he "i don't know if i can say it in english very well....but...i've been cursed....by a very...bad...man." hahaha

we had to bite our tongues to keep from laughing!! he said it in such a dramatic way and we're pretty sure he was a little drunk, haha but it was funny.

i ate Por0 (reindeer) for the first time this week!! haha it was surprisingly good!! 

I just gotta say i'm crazy grateful for Sisar Huber!! she's been an AMAZING trainer!! i have learned so much from her about loving everyone & lifting others burdens! She has been a huge blessing for me this transfer and i SOO look forward to going on exchanges and learning more from her next transfer!! she's gonna be an awesome STL!!! 

love and miss you all

sisar larson

guess what i ate? 06/05/18

Hi everybody!!

finnish word of the week: pavut (paw-voo-t) - beans

it's been another great week in finland!! 

we had a lesson with our investigator from Nigeria this week annddd it was a lil scary!! for a while now we weren't sure if he could read, so we finally asked him to read a verse for us and he kinda can but not very well. we also discovered that he might get deported and he told us that if he got deported he would know this church wasn't true haha. 

so we called him the day after he found out and he said he stayed up all night reading the book of mormon and that he felt great peace and he knows that god has a plan for him. it was a total switch!!  we're still not 100% sure if he got deported so i'll let ya know next week. 

so almost everybody in finland has a sauna, even our apartment has one!! we're not allowed to use it Though :( haha but anyways sisar huber and i think that ours is somehow connected to our neighbors next door because lately they've been smoking something sick nasty in there and it's been stinking up that area of our apartment!!! also we have a friend upstairs who has a dog that doesn't stop barking and sisar huber and i can't help but just laugh hahaha finland is awesome sauce!

we had exchanges this week!! woot woot!!! it was super fun and i really got to practice my finnish haha.

one of the sisars taught me how to ask a question and then let me try. i had no idea what some people were saying so i would offer a book or pamphlet then testify of it and i would get a weird look but people accepted them!! haha 

most of you might not know this but i veryyy strongly dislike pavut. i haven't eaten them in years and i have been able to avoid it up until this week of my mission. a few weeks ago we got invited over for dinner by this cute family in our ward and when we were asked ahead of time if we were allergic to anything i was about to say pavut.. but then i felt bad lying so i said nothing. this whole time leading up to the dinner appointment i just knew we were gonna eat pavut, and that's just what we did. hahaha they had some spicy sauce stuff so i put a lot of it on my plate so i couldn't taste the pavut lolol sisar huber said she couldn't believe i actually ate the food hahaha and honestly i can't believe i did it either lol 

1. sisar hubers first face masks!! woot woot!! 

2. ocean

3. sick pic

4. tuomio kirkko

Moi everybody!! 05/29/18

Finnish word of the week: kellertävän (kale-er-taa-van) - Tan

I have a few new countries to add to the list of people I am meeting!! Hungary, Slovenia, Israel, Uganda, Turkey, and Latvia! It is really amazing how people from all over come to live here!

We had a lot of lessons fall through this week so we got to do a lot of contacting!! Sisar Huber has a guitar so we went to a few different parks and sang primary songs to anybody that would listen then explain a little about the gospel!! It was way fun!! and I got a kellertävän hahaha so that's a bonus!! 

We have an investigator who is 84 years old and she is just darling!! She thinks I'm really bad at speaking Finnish so she always makes fun of me to Sisar Huber. I don't understand everything she says but I always understand when she makes fun of me!! hahaha but we just have a good time with it and Sisar Huber and I have a really good laugh afterwards.

This week we got two new investigators!! woot woot!! One is a man from Sierra Leone and the other is a man from Cameroon. They both told us about how they have seen Gods hands in their lives and I'm super excited for what the future holds for them!! 

We also taught a man who owns this yummy restaurant called Chalupe. Seriously, it was SO yummy!! It was spicy mexican food and man I didn't know how much I miss spicy food until we ate there, haha. He is from Afghanistan and he doesn't speak much English or Finnish so it is really hard to communicate with him but he seems interested in the gospel so we are hopeful to see where it goes! I'll let ya know how are next visit with him goes!! 

Anyways, I love being a missionary here in Finland!! I love sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone who will listen! I am so thankful that Heavenly Father is aware of each of us and I know as we take the time to notice, we too will see the hand of God in our lives! This reminds me of a really great talk,                 O, Remember, Remember by Henry B. Erying. If you are not familiar with this talk, I encourage you to read it!!

Love you all,

Sisar Larson

P.S. Sorry for the overload of pictures!!

en ole kiinalainen (im not chinese) 05/22/18

first off i gotta say a quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cute sister Sammi!! i can't believe you're turning 14 this week!!! that's crazy sauce!!! 

finnish word of the week: kiinalainen (key-na-lie-nen) - chinese                                                                                                                                                                                                                

so this week was a blast!!! we got to go to return and report!! woot woot!!! on monday the sisters from kupio stayed the night with us so we could travel to return and report the next morning!! it was so fun talking to them and seeing sisar kristinsen (a sister from my mtc district) again!!

so return and report is where all the new missionaries that just got to finland go back to the mission home with their trainers for a few days and learn a bunch of awesome sauce things!! we learned how to plan better and work harder and over all how to be a better missionary. it was SO fun seeing all of the missionaries from my mtc group!! We also got to go to the temple and it's SOO pretty!! i'll send some fun pics! 

finland has reallllly started to warm up!! the sun stays out until about 11 at night and wakes me up around 3 am haha soo things are getting pretty warm here!! also finns don't have air conditioning.....sooo the trams and trains get reallllly hot and kinda stink lol

this week we were contacting in student housing and a Vietnamese man answered the door haha and said "en ole kiinalainen" which means i'm not chinese hahaha but i think he meant to say "en ole kiinosta" which means i'm not interested!! haha 

this week we taught three investigators!! since we had some extra missionaries with us monday evening we went on splits and i got to teach a lesson with two of the three kupio sisars!! it was super fun!! we taught our investigator from Nigeria about the plan of salvation! also he walks an hour and half to church every sunday...EVERY SUNDAY!!! i'm excited to see what the future holds for him!! we also taught our investigator from greece!! this was his second lesson and he had a lot of questions about what we do on sunday so we gave him a church tour and he decided to stay for sacrament meeting at the end so that was awesome sauce!! 

have a great week!!

sisar larson

1. finland temple

2. finland temple trip

3. cool statue, Eino Leino...a famous finnish poet and writer

4 a fun return and report pic

5 a harbor on the ocean

Happy Äidinpäivä!!! 05/14/18

HAPPY ÄIDINPÄIVÄ MOM!!!! I am so grateful for my mom and the huge support she's been for me!! She's been an awesome example of how to work hard and trust in the Savior!! I love you mom!!! 

finnish word of the week: äidinpäivä (i-deen-pie-vaa) - mothers day!! 

Summer is FINALLY here!! Most all of the trees got their leaves this week and the weather is getting hotter and hotter everyday!! 

I had my first zone conference this week!! It's so fun and motivating to be with so many missionaries! Zone conference is awesome sauce!! Also, I got to see some of the Sisars from my district in the MTC so ya it was crazy fun!! 

I've been asked by some of you why I can't use my investigators names. I can't because of privacy laws in Finland!! Sorry everybody!! 

We have an investigator from Nigeria and he is just awesome sauce!! He doesn't know very much about Christianity so he has a lot to learn but he's progressing pretty well!!

This last Sunday was stake conference and we had two area 70's with us! Elder Johnson and Elder Gilmore! so after the meeting we were talking to our investigator and Elder Johnson came up to us and talked with him!! I think our investigator was a little intimidated but it was still way cool haha...

We also invited one of our other investigators from Estonia to live the word of wisdom this week!! She was super nervous about giving up coffee so we offered to give up sugar and go through this together!!! so that's what we're doing!!! I miss eating yummy finnish treats and it's only been one week but life is good!! hahaha 

So a few emails ago I told you all a few of the countries that people we meet are from!! My list has grown a lot since then so I thought it would be fun to share all of it with you!! so far I've got...Canada, Russia, Germany, Spain, Holland, China, Japan, Ecuador, Egypt, wales, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Romania, France, India, Nigeria, Estonia, Iraq, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Australia, Somalia, Cambodia, Greece, Poland, Scotland, Philippines, England, Sweden, Lebanon, Gambia, Ethiopia, Peru, Brazil, and Ghana! 

Miss you all!! 

Sisar Larson

1. skyping my cute family!! 

2. train stop in helsinki

3. a cool church

4. last sugar we ate

Moi everyone! 05/07/18

Finnish word of the week: ruotsalainen (roo-oats-a-line-en) - swedish

The beginning of this week was really rainy and cold. Vappu was crazy sauce, but everybody still went to the park in their winter jackets and had a picnic haha. 

the good news is things are finally starting to warm up in finland!! woot woot!!  

Earlier this week Sisar Huber and I visited a less active in our ward. On the walk over Sisar Huber tried to explain her situation to me and told me to be super careful.

When we walked in the door I thought we were in Harry Potter. There were stacks of books and really random thing everywhere!

So we're in the lesson and our less active sisar is speaking crazy fast so i'm trying really hard to understand what she's saying, then out of nowhere she yells in perfect english "the winner takes it all! the winner takes it all! and I am the winner!!" hahaha we're not really sure what she was talking about haha but she was fun to visit! 

The work here in Finland is going good!! All of our investigators are progressing pretty well!! We meet somebody from a different place everyday! Also almost always when I introduce myself to somebody they point to my name on my name tag and say "oletko ruotsalainen?" which means are you swedish? haha 

anyways love and miss you all!

love sisar larson

1. vappu picnic

2. rainy finland

3. sisar huber and i at a park

4. Finland

happy vappua everybody!!   05/01/18

finnish word of the week: vappu (vaw-poo) - May Day

these past two days have been crazy sauce!! june 30 and may 1 are vappuaatto (vappu eve) and vappu. so everybody in finland celebrates graduation from high school and college and so on. on vappuaatto we had over 35,000 people in our area celebrating!!

they all gathered around a statue and washed it then put a graduation cap on it. then everybody parties and drinks and things got super crazy last night haha!

everybody was also wearing these things called party pants hahaaha they have stickers and stuff all over them. i'll try to get a pic this week so you can see what they look like next week!! on vappu everybody has a picnic and stuff so since today is our pday we're gonna go check it out!! i'll let you all know how it goes!! 

finland is awesome sauce!! it's still cold and rains all the time. the trees don't have leaves yet but i love it here!!

the sun is up before we are in the morning and usually wakes me up before our alarm does haha and then it sets right before we go to bed!! 

this week we had exchanges!! we got to go to espoo! it was very different from the city!! people are a lot nicer haha and we got to see the temple so that was crazy fun!! 

talk to you all next week!!

love sisar larson..

1. vappuaatto

2.graduation hat

3. vappuaatto

4. finland temple

        04/23/18

 meeting people from all over the maailmaa  

terve!!!!

 

finnish word of the week: maailmaa (my-el-ma): world

 

this week has been crazy awesome and i am really short on time today sooo this email is gonna be a short one!! 

we meet so many people from all over the maailmaa!! so i thought it would be fun to make a list!! here are a few places...Hong Kong, Cambodia, Greece, Malaysia, Iraq, Iran, Taiwan, Australia, England, Scotland, Somalia, Romania, India, Nigeria, and sooo many more!! 

we have had some awesome experiences this week!! our investigators are all progressing and doing really well!! a few of them came to church on sunday and they said they loved it!!

the other day sister huber and i were walking past a graveyard and we had a feeling to walk around the back of it. So we did and there was a little park hidden behind some trees and a man from india walking around with his young daughter! we both got the impression to talk to him soo that's just what we did haha he was so excited to hear the message we shared with him and he even set up an appointment right then and there for us to meet with his family!!!

woot woot!!! this has been a great week!! i love being a missionary!! 

 

love sisar larson

 

i am out of time so i'll send pics next week!! 

finland helsinki mission 04/17/18

terve!!

finnish word of the week: lentokone (lent-o-cone-ey): airplane

soo after a flight to dallas and a long flight to london we finally made it to finland!!!

 the flight was SO long hahaha london was super foggy so we couldn't see anything!! we couldn't leave the airport. the airport was HUGEEEEEE biggest airport of my life oh my goodness

our mission president and his wife are both awesome sauce!

they took us to the temple and it's so pretty!! i'll send a pic of it!! after the temple we went to the mission home and stayed the night.

the next day we had lunch, met our trainers, then left to our areas!! my trainer is Sisar Huber!! she is just the cutest!! she has been in finland for about 4 months and she speaks the language SO well!!

we are serving in Helsinki!! we have all the cathedrals and the ocean and lots of touristy stuff in our area!! it's awesome sauce here!! 

we use public transportation to get everywhere haha it's way cool!! we talk to so many people that way!!

people here talk SO fast haha i have a hard time understanding everything that they're saying

 i can't even speak finnish i think we learned the wrong language in the mtc. haha!

but my trainer is so awesome and she helps me a ton!! I've learned so much from her! 

it's totally different here...culture shock is real..  i'm smack in the middle of the city. the pics i sent of the ocean were like thee islands with resturants on them. 

before i left the mtc i ran into a friend from idaho, HYRUM!

it was so fun to see him, he was called to serve in india...

Love you all

Sisar Larson

4 more days  04/05/18

terve!!

finnish word of the week: suomi (sue-oh-me) - finland

T-4 DAYS UNTIL WE GO TO SUOMI!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! 

we just got a new member of the mtc presidency this last sunday and he served as a mission president in suomi. so he talked to my district yesterday about suomi and i am SO pumped to go!! i never thought this day would come! 

this last sunday we had the opportunity to watch general conference!! it was so powerful watching all the missionaries sustain our prophet Russell M. Nelson. i wish you all could of heard the missionaries gasp and cheer when temples were called in their missions!! i'm so grateful i get to be a missionary at this time!! 

during priesthood session sister Elaine S. Dalton spoke to the sister missionaries!! it was amazing!! she told this awesome sauce story about how her husband and her were running one day and they came to this hill so since she is a competitive person she started running quickly up the hill to beat her husband.

part way up the hill he raced past her so she stopped running and yelled "okay!! i will wait for you in the car honey!!" she turned around and felt her husbands hand on her shoulder then he said "don't you know, you never make a decision to turn back or quit when you are on a hill."

then they finished their run. i love this story because hills are opportunities to make you stronger!! don't ever make the decision to quit on a hill because you can do it! go on!! have hope in the savior and you can do all things!! 

love you all

sisar larson

pics

1. the zone

2. 6 of the 7 sisars

3. mtc

4. last pic with some of the mongolians

guess who spoke in sacrament meeting!!  03/29/18

moi!!

finnsih word of the week: synnti pukki (sew-n-tee poo-k-ee) "a sinful goat"

okay so you're never gonna guess what!! so you know how every week I talk about how the finns haven't spoken in sacrament meeting?? soo this last week our district was joking around as we were writing our talks about synnti pukki. It has multiple meanings and it's just a weird word haha so i was like okay i'll use it in my talk if i have to speak. soo i wrote it in thinking i wouldn't have to speak on sunday then sunday comes and guess what... i'm the only finn that has to speak lol so i get up there and i said it hahaaha all the finns were cracking up and everybody was asking us what i said after haha it was awesome sauce

guess what else happened!!!!! we met a native finn here at the mtc!! but we could hardly understand him!! he spoke really quietly and he was speaking spoken finnish!! so right now we're learning written finnish and next week we learn spoken finnish!! ahh which is crazy sauce cuz we only have a week and a half left!!! 

our swedes and nords left this week!! it was so sad saying goodbye!! not gonna lie it's hard watching so many people progress from the the mtc, but we only have a little over one week!! ahh i'm seriously so excited for finland!!!!! 

anyways love and miss you all!! 

sisar larson

apostle #3!!    03/22/18

this weeks finnish word of the week is : viikko (vee-ko) - week

MOI!!!!!

how are you all?? i know i say this almost every viikko (week) but this week went by soo fast again!!! ahh i can't believe how quick pdays come and go!!! we have 2.5 more weeks until we leave for Finland which is CRAZY SAUCE!!! i'm so excited!! there's a chance we get our flight plans tomorrow so cross your fingers they come!!!! 

sisar smith and i are doing great!! she is the BEST companion ever!! tuesday sisar smith had to go to the dentist cuz she ate a wall in her sleep, jk idk if she ate a wall but she did chip her tooth in her sleep hahaa. so it was fun leaving the mtc for a lil bit. 

our danes are gone!! it was sad saying goodbye!! but the new danish district came in on wednesday!! there's only one elder haha we also have to say goodbye to our swedes and nords on monday!! EVERYBODY is leaving us!!! but i'm so excited for all of them!! 

also the finns still have not spoken in sacrament meeting haha and this sunday is the last sunday we have to do it soooo i have a filling lots of the sisars are gonna speak!! 

we had our third apostle speak to us on tuesday!!! Elder Renlund!! he gave a really awesome talk!! he shared a quote i love but i didn't get to write the whole thing down! so i'll share with you what i wrote..."the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. HE (Christ) is the joy." and i love this koska minä tiedan etta jos me keskipistemme miedan elämä jesus me voimme löytää onni!!! 

minä rakastan teitä!!

sisar larson

pics

1. sisar hansen and I

2. our cute lil finnish district!! 

3. veli (brother) edwards! one of our teachers

4. cutest zone ever with our danes that just left and there's a random guy we don't know too haha

oli hauskaa viikioa  03/16/18

Moi!!

finnish word of the week: hauska (how-ska) - fun or funny 

how are you all?? this week went by SO fast oh my goodness time is flying by!! i can't believe how close finland is but at the same time finland doesn't feel real haha

the daines in our zone leave on monday for denmark! super sad but super exciting!!

nobody from our district spoke on sunday haha we're all getting a lil nervous!! 

next friday we get to skype members in finland and teach them lessons!! i'm so excited!! 

we've learned SO much finnish this week!! wowow did you know that finnish has 15 cases?? and we've learned about 10 so far!! 

sisar smith and i got a new investigator this week!!

soo when i say investigator i mean one of our teachers portraying one of their investigators in finland. haha he's the most chill person EVER!! so we were teaching him and he was acting kind of depressed so sisar smtih asked him if he was okay and he said ya i'm just peaceful and some other stuff and i must of had a weird look on my face or something because when he looked at me he let out this little squeak of a laugh and i BURST into laughter hahaha i just wasn't expecting anything that had happened in our lesson and the person our teacher was portraying is the complete opposite of him so i was literally crying from laughing so hard and that made my companion laugh so since we were both laughing our teacher started to laugh and long story short we had to take a time out haha sooo ya that was a hauska experience haha 

Bishop Waddell spoke to us at our tuesday night devo!! it was SO good!! he talked about our role and how important of a tool the book of mormon and spirit are!! he encouraged us to seek the spirit always and wow just such a great talk!! 

anyways i gotta go!!! love you all!

sisar larson

1.view from our classroom

2."texting" one of our investigators 

3. prettiest comp ever

4. laundry rooms

halfway there!! 03/08/18

terve!!!

finnish word of the week: penki - a bench

sooo this week went by crazy fast!! we reached our halfway mark this week!! which is crazy sauce!! i feel like i've been here forever but at the same time the mtc is flying by! finnish is going good!! we learn a lot each day! our teachers encourage us to speak our language as much as we can so the sisars and I will have random lil conversations about random lili things haha 

sooo one evening our zone was walking back after class to our residencies and sisar smith and i were chatting with some of the elders and one them ate it SOOO bad on what we call the henki penki (a bench) hahaha it was SO funny!!! we laughed about it ALLL night long!! 

so i think i've told you this before but sisar smith, johns, hansen, and i all share a room and they have allll tell me i sleep talk hahaha in finnish and italian and obvi english too lolol

so everybody in our zone has to prepare a talk for sunday because you dont know if you're speaking until they announce the speakers after the sacrament!! guys!! none of the finns have spoke yet so i'm convinced imma be speaking this next sunday haha 

elder m. russell ballard spoke to us for devotional tuesday evening! he did a Q and A with us!! it was so cool!! i learned to study, pray, and trust. that even though i may feel inadequate and i need to trust in the lord!! pray to have the spirit with me at all times, and trust that i will receive help in times of need. i love being here!! i love this language, the people, and most of all my savior!! 

love and miss you all!! 

sisar larson

pics...

1.sisar johns, me, sisar smith, sisar hansen

2.sisar hansen and i

3. package from the fam

4. cousin, Sister Cortney Larson

5. my cute companion sisar smith

minä rakastan soumeski!!  03/01/18

Terve!

I. LOVE. FINNISH. oh my!! guys!! it is the best language everrr!! it's finally clicked this week and everything is making sense!! i mean we still have a lot to learn but so far everything is just awesome sauce!! also i thought i would do a finnish word of the week just for fun haha so this weeks finnish word is hyvä (who-va) which means good! 

every wednesday evening we teach trc. trc is rm's from finland that we get to teach kinda like a family home evening and it's soooo fun!!! the returned missionaries that come are all super fun and outgoing with us so it makes for a really good lil lesson!! 

guys.. i'm a pro at volleyball now. jk, not even close to a pro but i'm improving!! i have some gnarly bruises as proof! i'll send a pic! 

sunday evening byu mens chorus sang a bunch of songs for us at devotional!! THEY'RE SO GOOD!!! oh my goodness!! i died!! and Tad R. Callister spoke to us tuesday evening about evidence that the book of mormon is true and not to underestimate the power of the book of mormon!! it was really cool to hear!! 

guys our district has been asked multiple times this week what asian language we're speaking hahaha i dont think finnish sounds very asian but i guess other people think it does!! 

so sisar smith (my companion) has a cold so that's been sad. ummm i'm trying to think of some other stuff to tell you guys but this week hasn't been super crazy or anything.... 

every week we get to write a talk for sacrament meeting on sunday because you don't know if you're speaking until they announce your name!! guys!! none of the finns have spoke yet and i just know it's gonna be me this next sunday!!!! hahaha 

anyways i miss and love you all!! 

sisar larson

1. volleyball bruises 

2. sisar smith and sisar nielson arm wrestling 

3. veli (brother) spiers one of our mahtavaa teachers 

4: our classroom and some of my notes haha

minä rakastan olen lahetyssaarnaaja! 02/22/18

Moi!!

wow! week 2 has been sooo good!! last pday was a bit crazy so I didn't get to tell you all about our zone! our zone consists of missionaries going to sweden, norway, denmark, netherlands, mongolia, and us!! mongolia is here for 10 weeks, us 9, and everybody else 6. our zone is mahtaava!! for exercise time we all play volleyball and it's SOO fun!! haha so ya..that's a lil about my zone! 

finnish is SOO fun but SOO hard!!  Veli (brother) ryan could tell we were getting kinda stressed one day so he taught us a lesson on how to manage our stress but he taught it in finnish so it was actually kinda really stressful lol. 

also i forgot to tell you all i saw sister shinsato last week!!! i was walking to lunch with my district and i heard somebody yell sister larson so i turned around and she was running full speed at me!! it was so happy to see her!! and i saw sister cordner yesterday!! i was waiting in the hall for my comp and i heard a voice that sounded like hers haha so i looked over my shoulder and she was just there!! haha i totally cried when i saw her hahaa but ya! some of you were asking if i've seen those sisters so i thought i'd tell you once instead of writing it multiple times!! 

Elder Holland gave a devotional tuesday evening and i have never felt the spirit stronger in a talk!! my favorite part was when he talked about Joseph Smith. i can't remember exactly what he said but i remember thinking this... Joseph Smith had an elementary school education and he translated the BOM. he wouldn't of been able to do that without the gift of tongues!! the gift of tongues is SO real! i notice it in each lesson sisar smith and i teach, i notice it when we study and guys it's just so incredible!! and i'm so very grateful for it!!! 

anyways i miss you all SO much!! keep sending me updates on your lives!! i love reading them throughout the week!! minä rakastan sinuä!!! minä rakastan olen lahetyssaarnaaja!!

sisar larson

 p.s. pics from last week aren't working! hopefully next week i'll get them to you!

TERVE!!!! HELLO!!! 02/14/18

you guys!! i miss you all so much! before i tell you about how awesome this week has been i've gotten the same question from a lot of you! so you guys have been asking me if i can read emails throughout the week and i can but only when i have time and i can't respond until pday! also i know spelling and such might be bad but i don't have enough time fix stuff so sorry in advance!

so we have 7 sisars in our district (people going to finland) so no elders. all the sisars are very smart and just really awesome people!! my companion is sisar smith! her dad served in finland so he taught her some finnish and it's been super helpful for both of us! i love having her as a companion! sisar johns and sisar hansen share a room with us! the four of us have grown so close in the past week! i love each of them so much!! also i've seen SO many people from lp haha it's crazy sauce!! 

you guys! finnish is SO hard!! 48 hours into our stay st the mtc we taught an investigator in finnish. the lesson wasn't the best but we tried!! monday was the hardest day this week. after teaching the investigator, veli (brother) ryan got a little frustrated with us because we were writing out word for word what to say! so he had us put all of our notes and books away and practice teaching each other. we all struggled through it and by the end of class we were all crying haha. tuesday morning we go up at 1:30 and left to cali so we could get our visa's. we were all still super bummed from monday but when our shuttle driver picked us up we got talking to him and we taught him about the gospel and he accepted a book of mormon! guys we talked to a bunch of other people about the gospel and even placed one more book of mormon on our flight home!! it was just the experience we needed after monday. Wednesday veli ryan told us we couldn't teach the investigator with our notes anymore. i don't think i've ever been more scared than i was right before sisar smith and i walked into the lesson. when we started teaching words kept coming to me and the spirit was so strong!!! guys the gift of tongues is so real!! \

soo pics aren't working and some of you have asked what finnish looks but i can't use umlats on this computer so here is kinda what it looks like

mina rakastan ollemalla myohmpien aikojen pyhien jeesuksen kristuksen kirkkon lahetyssaarnaaja!! 

love and miss you all

sisar larson

p.s. pics aren't working this week so be prepared to get a million next week