Letter #23

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! HO Ho HO!!

 

Dear Family and all those who shall behold this epistle!

 

So, Tuesday I sent a package!! my first ever legitimate package!! and in another language!! oh, but i reallized when I got home that I had forgotten to put in the letters that explain it inside the package.... its okay, i mailed those so dont open them without the package family!!

 

Wednesday was great, our branch President took us around to visit members and non members, and as we were going around he would have us sing and share a cool little Christmas message and then skidaddle. It was SO much fun because one older couple started crying because we came. it was great!! (they probably stopped crying when we left. ha ha jk) But our branch President is such a cool guy. we tried a couple in actives and he even bought us some dinner!! so, he pulls up to a gas station and he tells us, "alright, so in America, when you want somting salty you go get hamburger, but in Finland this is what we get." and we go inside and he buys us these enourmus sausage/hot dog things. They were GREAT!!! the outside of them was like stiff and when you bit into it, it made like a popping sound cause they steamed cooked it and wow, it came with no bun, just the hot dog and it was GREAT!!! we need them in America, especially with a little bit of their mustard called Sinapi, its deeliishhh!!!

 

Then we had Zone Conference on Thursday, meetings are great!! I tottally needed the Spiritual Boost. I loved it. And on Saturday we did service for this family, and its great becase Im getting construction time. we are helping them put up sheet rock and help them establish their own humble abode. Its great. Then on Sunday we visited with probably my most Favorite non-related Finnish old people EVER!! I love them!

 

So one cool thing. The sun looks SOO pretty here at 1130am. The sun is setting then and the clouds just look sweet!! but the sunset lasts till about three and then its gone, but its way cool, the sun doesnt even go up that high on the horizon, i love it.

 

Tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!! ITs practically HERE!! so you can call us at 9 in the morning!! Im Excited!! so call craftycoding and we are good!! I love you all and I hope you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! HYVÄÄ JOULUA!!!

 

Rakastan teitä!

 

Vanhin Waite

Letter #22

Dear Family Friends and all others who behold this work of Art,

 

So, this week, alot of our investigators booked it out of the country for the holidays. It was still a very productive. On tuesday we went to a Home teaching appointment. This meeting was really special to me. We had visited her berfore but this time was different. She is single and her appartment is kinda small but very poorly lit. she is a member and when we got there I noticed that her table had been set up for some food and places for 4 people to sit. There was some desertish treats on a plater in the middle of the table. So we get in and than all 4 of us; me, Elder Anderton, a member, and this women whom we would teach. Than the Sis went and got glörgi for us(its like wasel and REALLY good(wasel is better:):)) but she gives it to us than it hit me. Here she is, older women all alone, and the food/desert/treats she had for us looked like they had been bought and prepared that day and that she had prepared all day for the 40 minutes she would have us with her. Idk, I probably destroyed explaining it, but it was a very speacial lesson. Me and Elder Anderton sang at the end The First Noel in finnish to her and than we left. We have been singing alot lately and I LOVE IT!! Elder Anderton is WAY good at harmonizing and singing bass so I just sing melody, and we rock it!!! but really good. Idk, thought ya would like to know something about a special meeting that went down.

 

So a really cool story this week comes from doing service for others. Me and Elder Anderton were on our way home from a lesson with an Investigator and we stopped by a members house to shovel there snow. As we shoveled there snow we realize the next door neighbor was shoveling snow too. He was an elderly man and so we hopped right on over to help out. He was SO grateful for us helping him he said "I have to pay you!" was said "No", then he said "How about some coffee?" we said "SURE!! WE would LOVE SOME!! Its been TOO long since I´ve had a sip..."  Jk, just checking if yall are paying attention.:) We said "No" (naturally)and than the man continued trying to persuade us to accept some form of reward and we said "We`ll take hot chocolate." and than he said "Okay, come back in 15 minutes and my wife will have something for you." So we were like, Great! Then we finnished the members drive way, clearing the snow, and went back to the neighbors house. We went in and I thought they had a very very nice house. There were these fancy cups set up for us and some treats as well and they wanted us to have hot chocolate and glörgi with them so we didnt refuse.:) but we talked about the Church and missionary work and shared a christmas message from the BOM. We had a disscusion about Christ and Christmas and at the end, before we left we sang a song. I thought it was really good the whole lesson and at the end of the song the older couple both had tears in their eyes. (Probobly from the singing, i think it would have made a dog cry, wether the singing was so beatiful to bring such tears or was absolutely horrendous, I will leave that for you to decide.) :) :) After words I thought wow, all this came from shoveling snow with a stranger. I thought it was incredible and a blessing.

 

We had a ward party on Saturday, it was WAY good. we even had 5 non members show up. which is great!! but the members really loved it. we had some food and some little presentations/things performed by people in the ward. And me and my comp did a little story, he read goldy loks and the 3 bears, while I was his arms. it was those kind of things where he is sitting down and Im behind him and there is shirt that looks like is on Elder Anderton but my arms are through it and, I thought it turned out pretty good. they laughed. and then Jouluu poki came!! (santa clause) and it was pretty fun. I love the ward, and lately they have been saying really nice things about us. Yesterday during Church we had a are 70 there and in his and his wifes talk they said "I´ve heard you have really great missionaries..." and we were like "Wow..... dats nice... :)" (in a dreamy, stunned happy voice) ;) :) but it was a really good week.

 

Being Christmas so close, I really have been reflecting on all our blessings we have, at least my blessings. Like for one, I am SO glateful Im not stuck with a guy for eternity, haveing a comp all the time is...... ya know... but other blessings like, the people in the ward who you just love and a warm apartment and the "Wonderful food to eat!!"-one legged Tiny Tim, But our lives are GREAT!! I love you all and I think the best Christmas gift ever given would be Jesus Christ. The more you learn about Him, His teachings, and His role in your life and in the Plan of Salvation you relize how much love He has for you and everyone!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Love,

Elder Waite

Letter #21

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

WOW, what a week, i think if i used any more capitals to describe how awesomely busy and crazy it has been than the WHOLE letter would be caps. :)

So, Last week, we had a district little activity for Pday, (the first one ever) and we went to Tampere and watched a dolphin show and also some Astronomy thing about the stars and their alignment in the time of Christs birth. It was was purty sweet. But the dolphins were SOO cool. I made lots of jokes about them, like "Why look! how´d you guys get so far north!!" ha...... it was funny if you were there. but it was fun. not much of a P day, we only bought enough food for 3 to 4 days but... we made it!!! :)

This whole week we had appointments after appointments fall through and it was beginng to look a week to forget. (except for the dolphins) But than, we had a member call us out of the blue, and she said she has a friend who wants to meet with us, and that we could meet at her house for dinner and a lesson. So we were fine with that. :) So we get there and the food was really good! The Fins love fish, and I loved this stuff. You could still see the eyes of the poor guys but, they were small and GOOD!! But just as the food was way good the lesson went AMAZINGLY WELL! and on Sunday he came to church. It is Amazing how much help members are in the work. The member didnt even know this friend was interested and turns out he is an investigator now. :) We need members help!!

So on sunday, I had to give a talk in church. oh, and earlier this week I set up some appointments and talked with some Fins IN THE PHONE!! I was so happy of that. and no, they werent just "hey, we good for tommorow? Great! bye" they were a little bit more sophisticated than that. not much, but they were definately worth the report back home!! :) So I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about faith, and not just faith, but Faith in Christ. I used alot of scriptures and said some things too that were good, and than at the end of my talk I led into a "Christ shared the gospel with others, and we follow Christ as members of this Church. We as missionaries need your help with sharing the gospel. Will you help?" not those exact words, but it was kinda close. :) and what I thought was really amazing is that the speaker before me and after me, all spoke about Christ and the last one was a Stake councilor in the stake presidency. and no, we were not given a topic.But it was so cool because after my talk, which lasted about 10 minutes, the Stake councilor speaks about the Finnish war and how they were fighting for their families and rights, and related it to today, will we fight for Christ? and wow!! he basically saved my talk and oh it was great!! (I think the ward is a little worn out now) but it was great!!! SOO many SWEET spiritual things happen on a mission its Wonderful!!

Merry Christmas all!! did you see the Christmas devotional?? wow I loved Elder Eryrings and Uchtdorfs AND Pres Monson. I love them. we watched it with an investigator. it was great!! I love you all and I love this time of the year to remember the Savior, the significance of His Birth and the memory of His life. A time to strengthen our commitment to love and serve He who decended below all things and suffered for us all. I love my Savior. Rakastan häntä, Hyvää Jouluu teille!!! (Merry Christmas to you!!)

Rakaudella (with love)

Vanhin Waite

Ty and Heidi- Thank you for the letters!! you two are awesome! I loved them!! Thank you!!

Jocelyn- Happy Birthday!!!! wow look at you!! your awesome!! i love you Jocelyn, i think your a fantastic missionary and doing great!! your WAY awesome!! i love your pictures!! Happy Birthday! :)

Letter #20

Dear Family!!

 

Wow what a week!! On Tuesday we did exchanges with our district leaders in Tampere. I spent a day in Tampere!! It was my first time in another city doing missionary work for a whole day!! it was fun. At the end of the day we had one family to visit left, and it was a part member family a recent convert part member family actually, I was just thinking it would be a lesson, but we get there and they had us eat dinner, it was a finnish soup that I thought was REALLY good. :) but after the meal we gave a lesson and it was WAY cool! The women was the member and she really loved it, and her husband, was not a member and he loved it too!! After the lesson we went back to the kitchen to have desert, WOW, it was SO good!! :) then me and Elder Jarvis (he´s our awesome district leader) we sang "Abide with me tis even tide" in Finnish. At the end we said a prayer, and everybody was just so happy, I shook the Sis hand and then Elder Jarvis just hugs the husband, and than the wife huged me!! It was GREAT!! :) :) :) it was the first women hug I´ve gotten forever!! but dont worry, she was over 50 and she kinda came at me but... No complaints!!! she was so cute, it was a momma hug. And than the non member husband who doesnt know me from Adam huged me, and I was like YES! I loved it, it was great!! So I guess the love is being spread in Finland. ;) but afterwords I asked Elder Jarvis why the man wasnt a member, he said "Oh he wont except it but he does love us." it was a good hour of love!

 

Then on Keskiviiko, (Wed) We had District meeting in the morning and those are always fun, I love them. Thursday we did service for a nonmeber family. they had work that needed to be done to finnish the house, and since we do service for free, I think they thought "Perfect!". But the funnest part was, is that I had to use one of those table saw things, where you feed the wood into a blade and it cuts her. Well it was totally sketch but I cut like a 6ft piece of wood with just gogles on... but what an Amazing blessing was that the piece came out perfect, so they liked it. It was Great!! We also put up some sheet rock on the walls(I think thats what it is called) and we totally did a professional job and that was SUCH a blessing because now were invited again!! On Friday, this was awesome, we had planning meeting. Its a meeting you have with your comp where you sit and talk about winters past and listen for sleigh bells and sip hot co-co. Just Kidding!! No its a really important meeting where we plan out the next week. Its super important. But what was cool is that during our planning meeting, we watched the tempeture drop from 0C to -12C in 3 hours! It was Crazy!!! but now we have snow, like you all. :):):):) Then we went out to visit a investigator, and wow, it is WAY fun to ride on the snow in a bike!! we had an awesome lesson about keeping the commandments and relateing it to the vision Lehi had about the Tree of life. And how by keeping the commandments we hold on to the rod and come closer to God. We used the Tree of Life because the investigator just read it. It was a really coo lesson. OH, totally spaced! He is portaguess, (Or how ever ya spell it;)) but he speaks Finnish to us because he doesnt know english and he says his prayers in Portagues. I think im starting to pick up some of it up...... scoosh bush da muush kee de la bush....... I think will speak fluently when I get back Rhett and Jocelyn, have no fear. :)  but he is way cool. and on the way home, there was tons of snow and its -12C (which is below 15F, i think) and I tottally biffed it!! it was great! Im fine, in case of worryings, but the curb was covered by snow alright. and im sure the car driving by thought it was funny. :) on Saturday we were going to visit another investigator, but we go through this little town square, and I was going first and so were going and I make a few turns and than I look behind to talk to my companion and he wasnt there! Then I see him come around the corner and he asked me "Didnt you hear me? I totally biffed it in the town swuare!" I thought it was funny that I honestly didnt hear him... but were falling all over the place. :) But dont worry, were picking up how to ride on the snow and slide and stuff, it comes pretty fast. :)

 

So today, It is almost -19C, that means we hit below 0F!!!! a good start for being December I think. :) its great! I am so greatful to be here! I hope everything is going well at home, Its December!!! Happy Christmas!! Today for Pday we are going to see some live dolphin show in Tampere, pretty cool I think. Thanks for reading and I love ya!

 

Vanhin

       Waite

 

 

Jayden-I got your letter, and I sent a letter back to ya, hopefully ya got it. sorry for being slow. and Thank you for the Email. Thats SO coo David is going to Nevada!!! Your awesome and I love ya. And Colombia sound SO cool! thank you

 

Meghan- Did I really spell your name wrong in the letter?:) sorry, :) I got your letter by the way, thank you!! :)

Letter #19

Dear Family and Friends and all yalls,

This week has been really busy and really awesome!! First off, Happy THANKSGIVING!!! Kiitospäivä!! :) Im a little late to the party buy yo, I love you all! 

So we have a couple of Chinease investigators, they are SO cool. We were teaching one of them how the Holy Ghost can help us and give us answers to our prayers, and he still didnt feel like he´s ever felt the Holy Ghost. So we decided to talk about Christ and His Gospel trying to lead into the Gift of the Holy Ghost and , and the Spirit was totally in the room with all of us and then we said "We know you have felt the Holy Ghost and we know that you know that this is true." than there was this silence that came, and nobody wanted to move.... and than he said "Yeah..... yeah I have felt that before, I felt something like this when we met at the door for the first time..." Wow, the Lord is preparing people and its great, he wants to be baptized but he is going to talk to his family about it first. Please pray for him, call him Jack. :) 

Okay, speaking of Missionary work. So, since Confrence and the news about younger missionaries doing the good work:) :) :) :) our Mission President told us some AWESOME news!! So right now, in Finland, there are about 70 missionaires total. about 14 Sisters and 56 Elders. This time next year, there will be 70 Elders and 38 Sisters!! oh and 4 more Elders in Finland but Sweedish speaking, for a total of 112!!! its Awesome!! 

So with Thanksgiving this week we had a big two district combination meeting, then we had some food after the meeting, okay it was alot of food. It was SO fun because me and my compianion were just crackin jokes like there was no tommorrow (we were eating, drinking and being merry.. JK!) and we had everyone smileing and rollin on the floor!! it was way fun. 

We had a dinner appoinment with my FAVORITE members EVER!! they´re this hilarious older couple, the Bro. drives way fast and its just funny, he laughs alsmost at everything and the Sis, she is just a talker about the gospel, you get her started and she will go on about blessings in church and about Everything, shes Great!! Im going to get a picture of them sometime because they´re awesome.

Love 
Vanhin Waite

Letter #18

Hey Family!! and all others who venture to read this!!

News flash, it hasnt even snowed here yet, pretty cool hugh? Its kinda surprising to me, it has not gotten below -2 for the last three weeks, but hey, counting my many blessing!! :) yo

So, I dont know if I said this, but "jo" in Finnish, (sounds like "Yo" in English) is a confirming are agreeing sound. Its Great!! I forgot to say that but I say Yo everyday to people and strangers and animals... maybe not the strangers.... Jk!!! But we had Stake Conference this last week, and I could understand 1/2 of what was said!! its great! yo! ;)

okay so, last P-day, we were shopping and my companion just said, "Hey, lets go in there". So this is a suit mission, but we went into this store and I found a WAY good deal on a scarf and one of those cool furry HATS!! but I also saw a navy suit jacket!! I had two pairs of Navy color pants, and it just so happens, they go together!(the colors)! I think its funny now because I have American pants and a European jacket, but I have Three suits!!! oh yeah.

So this week we tried visiting all the lesser activers, and it pretty tough to get a hold of some. But we met with this one man who had been inactive from the church for 10 years. He has an alcohol addiction and when we called him to set something up, he was soo drunk we had to have a member understand his address. but the amazing thing was that he wanted to meet!! and so we met with him, and he said to us oh I want to come back to church, we told him great and tried giving him a BOM to read, and he said some things that hit me, he said "No, I cant take the BOM, its a sacred Book, I know its true, and Im not worthy to read it." This little old man said that and all I thought was "Yes you can." The lesson went really well and we also have an investigator from China, he is the one that was so excited when he prayed for the first time, but he came to Stake Conference with us! but what was cool, is that he invited a friend, way awesome!!

So me and my Companion have this tradition of making pizza every Friday Night. Its Way fun!! I wouldnt mind keeping this tradition, in fact I think I will!! We also decided to try a different pizza every time, and so we have, and lets just say we have had some good, some not so good. :) who knew bananas dont belong on pizza. :)

Hoping everything is going great! because it is great here!!
Rakaudella
         Vanhin Waite

So, this is my winter face!! dont ask why I was holding the broom, it happened to be there. yo. :) and my new hat! its sweet

Letter #17

Dear Family,

Well, this week... alot happened for not being in your assigned area for 5 days. Helsinki was fun!! I love President Rawlings, he is so cool. He inspires, uplifts and gets ya freakin pumped to just talk to people and bring them the good word. its great:) Came back to Hämeenlinna and surprising got alot done for being gone so long. Its the last week of the Transfer, or Change, but me and Elder Anderton are staying in Hämeenlinna for another transfer!!:) :)

So, in LTM (Leadership training meeting) Pres would talk about a topic and than he would make us do role plays and incorperate the things we learned. It was EXTREAMLY helpful because it practices everything and we just learn so many new teaching stratagies and insights, its way good. There were about 12 total missionaries there and the Pres. his wife and the AP´s. But everyday there we would have lunch with the office staff. They are SO cool!! And they always tried to get me to finnish the rest of the food because they noticed I would take about 4 or 5 servings. (Tee Hee) They are just funny and I love them. Elder and Sis France are this Way sweet nice couple from Utah and than Sis Horning is just a way funny older sister missionary, shes hilarious!!! Sis Horning says she will go sky diving when she turns 70. gotta love her :) theyr way cool. But there food was really good and I told them so. yo. :):)

So, on Wednesday, as we were on the trolly to the meeting, the meeting started at 10 and we have been early to it everytime because its the Pres dont ya know. But on the trolly ride over I started talking to a man and he seemed to be interested. Now theres a rule I learned the day before that if your talking to someone, than its okay to miss the stop. Well I was talking to this guy about Profeets, and i notice that the other three Missionaries get of the trolly, than the door started closeing, but at the last second, the other missionary (Elder Larsen) jumps back on and the trolly starts going, leaving my comp but i had someone there. oh it was so crazy!! and scary, but I kept talking, and I tried to extend like a meeting with him, or a number, but he kept saying hes a devoted orthodox. so sadly, we got off at the next stop and nothing happened. but I love Elder Larsen, hes so cool. He was like good job! and than we made our way back because we missed our stop by a long short. We were 30 minutes late to the meeting.

So Finlands Fathers day was yesterday, did not know that. Its pretty cool. Everybody was busy, but we still got to teach a couple of our invetigators. In Sacrament meeting we had a primary program. It was really cool. hearing Finnish kids, wow, nothing like a little voice you cant understand..... but it was still great, they sang primary songs I recognised. Well, that was this week, I hope everythings going great, and I love Finland!! Iäve been here six weeks. thats one transfer. and I think soon they are going to be changing the transfer length. But its great to be rockin on here.

Love,
        Vanhin Waite

Letter #16

This past week was pretty cool. My companion woke up one day and his back really hurt. So we ended up indoors for two days, but... it was good. We cleaned and did a lot around the apartment. Sunday was probably the busiest, we had two investigators in Church!1 Yes!! and it was fast and testimony meeting, and after our branch president spoke, (he is a great guy! I love him! he is this big guy who is just happy and laughy:)) but he gave his testimony and when he sat down, there was like a 2 minute pause, and that is when he gave us "the eye", and it was so funny, but we ended up giving our testimonies. I told a little story of how we met a guy on the street on Saturday and had a conversation and how it blew his mind that me and my companion have not been in the country a year, let alone 6 months and 5 weeks. its crazy. but I know that I have help from Heavenly Father, and the Spirit knows perfect Finnish. We seek to have the Spirit everyday. I love my little branch. they´re great!!!

So, this week and over the past weeks I really have notice the sacrifice of members here. There is this Sis in the branch who I love, she is the only member of the Church in her family. But she comes every sunday, its about a 40 min drive for her, and we try to meet with her sometimes and she says she is always looking for ways to share the Gospel with her family. She is so amazing, and there are other members that really are alone in life but they hold strong. There are so many wonderful people in the church. And I absolutly LOVE one of the older couples in the ward, they´re both 80 something, but the husband, everytime you shake his hand and say hello he starts laughing and smileing and tries to squeeze your hand off, its SO funny. I love them.
So all saints day was actually on Friday Night, and NOBODY was out on the streets, but here are some cool pictures of the Graveyard in Hämeenlina. It was pretty cool, one of those movie moments, oh, speaking of movie moments, the fog here (pretty cold to ride a bikers through it) is like the movies, its awesome!!! I love it! So this week I am actually going to be in Helsinki, its for my 6 week language training thing and also some leadership training stuff. so... yup, pretty cool. but personally, i love Hämeenlina, its a lot more peaceful and a LOT less dodgy places. if ya know what i mean.
I love you all. I know this Church is true, the more we serve in it, the more you realize oh dang true it is. We have everything. And i´m so grateful to be here. I love Finland and serving a mission. its AWESOME!!! love ya! peace.
Vanhin Waite

These are pretty sweet ones i liked. :)

So, the fog comes a lot, its a pretty reoccurring friend. :)  its cool. Isnt the graveyard sweet? yo! 

This is the morning of the flight, bright and early going to the airport. and also some German Food!! I thought i should take advantage. :)

So these pics are when I arrived in Frankfurt. FIRST PICS IN EUROPE!!  

Letter #15

Tervetuloa Suomeen!!!

So it snowed on thursday!! so fun! the lowest it got was -10C so, were off to a good start.:) it actually feels good now. Its way fun to ride a bike in the snow, its pretty tiring but, its still fun. Alot of stuff happened this week it was awesome! 

So we decided to clean our apartment like bosses because it kinda needed some deep down and... cleany cleaning. It looked like it had not had that kind of love for a while. so we gave it some love. 

The main thing that happend this week was on Wednesday and Thursday, this is cool. So we had to go down to Helsinki for my companions 6 month kieli koulu(language school). After the first six weeks in the country we go to kieli koulu and than at 6 months you go for 2nds, if that makes sense. So it was my companions 6 month kieli koulu and we had tickets for the 6:52 train to Helsinki. As we get all our stuff together we were running a bit behind and biked as fast as our little legs could go to the train station, and when we arrived at the train station, so did the train. So we hurry and lock our bicks and start going to the train, but my companion said he forgot some kind of candybar to buy for kieli koulu because they told him to bring one. So we figured, we got time, it barely arrived. so we go inside, look around, and me being the antsi guy I am said, "you can buy one in Helsink...." than he agreed so as we walked out of the trainstation shop thing, we watched our train, slowly but surely as sun rises, leave. It left us with the "I cant believe what just happened" faces. I just laughed and said "well that kinda stinks." (because tickets are expensive and thats just a waste of 20 euros each) but as I said the "well that kinda stinks" in english, this Finnish women sitting on the bench pretty near by said very excidedly "Oh was that your train? Im sorry, go back inside and see the next train, it be on the teloviisio thing." she was so excited to speak english it was a funny. so we went inside, came out and said one hour, she said stuff like "go back inside you´ll freeze out here", (it was pretty cold but she was wearing a light jacket and some shorts, go figure) so we said were fine and began to talk with her, and the whole time we were speaking in Finnish to her and she responded in English. I told her we are trying to learn the language for a purpose (I though that was a sly way to transition things;) and we gave the first discussion because we had an hour to spare, and she was totally interested, near the end of our discussion she said "you know, I felt something special when you started talking with me..." than she opened up about how she was an achoholic and wants to stop, she had a child die and she wants to change her life and she always knew there was some sort of power or God that loved her and could help. The way this women has been prepared for the Gospel is amazing, I know Heavenly Father is watching out for all his children, because meeting this women after we missed the train we were suppose to be on, opened my eyes to see that "every soul is great in the eyes of God." But we left her with a BOM and she was SO excited to take it, it was awesome, she waved to us as we got on the next train and left. Probably the best thing that could happen after missing a train.

The next cool thing was going through the FINLAND TEMPLE!!! WOW! its my favorite, hands down, feet down, eyes down heads down. Its beautiful!! and I listend to everything in FInnish and the best part was, is that I think there is an even special spirit there, when you cant really understand what is said, I think going through a foreing language session is my new favorite. The Spirit is SO strong. I felt many things in that temple but one really special one to me was that, we are all children of our Heavenly Father. And the reason for Missionary work is not to convert or teach, its basically just inviting the Spirit to be with them, and really reminding their souls of who they really are, because they already know everything about the Gospel, they just need to be reminded. but of course we do this by converting and teaching. But I loved that thought that its not us that teach or converts, its the Spirit.

Another way cool thing, probably just as cool as the other stuff is... I went to Pizza Hut, and had American Pizza!!! it was WAY good, okay thats not as cool as the other two experiances but its still way cool. its been a long time but their Pizza and our home made stuff just doesnt cut it. but it was goooood. 

I love you all!!! your awesome!! Its great in Finland, alot of smoking and drinking but there is alot of teaching as well. Its not even too cold, but.... i cant say that for long. Im excited for -30!!! ya son!! 

Love,
Vanhin Waite

Grandma: Thank you for your letter, that is a way sweet story. It is so true that Heavenly Father is watching over all his children. You will have to tell me what happens and Im so glad things are going great. wow look at you, missionary Grandma. thats awesome. Love ya.

Meg: Thanks for the letters!! theyr GREAT! Thank you!! I want you to know... you can serve at 19!!! just incase you didnt know. tee hee. your awesome. and be looking for something in the mailers. :) peace.

Letter #14

Terve Perheni!!

Wow!! so much is happening!! I feel like everything and the sky is happening at home. wow, I hope everyones awesome, I havent read last weeks emails, so Im a little behind... but... I love you all. I miss ya totta kai(of coarse) but its still awsome out here! Hämeenlina has a CASTLE!!! I havent had time to go anywhere though, pretty busy here and it seems and feels like I never ge caught up on anything. (Funny how this feeling sounds familiar..... love you mom) jk jk, but now I know how you feel. Im sorry I didnt help much in my previous life. Mom, I have always apreciated your cooking and I want you to know that. yo.

Wow, the parker pictures and you guys were awesome!! I had no idea who you all were until you started kissing!!! :) I was like "who are these people? I dont know... wait a minute, Yup I know them now!" only after seeing the kissing, than I knew it was my family, I love you all. but I think parker was better with the halloween cape on, a little less happy, just the way we like him. Jk.

Okay, so this week was way good and some sad things but its awesome. So we have totally been teaching most of our lessons in English, it just happens that most of our investigators are not even Finns. A little ironic but hey, we have two families were teaching, one of them we teach in Finnish, but its so hard because Finnish is Not their native language and they are more comfortable in Finnish than English. So we try, and its going good. We are getting there. So we had the chance to go to another little churches little gathering because they thought it was awesome that us younge folk were preaching about Christ, it awesome because they did their singin and praising stuff which was really cool. and Than Elder Walker and I, (We were on exchanges with a near by city Tampere, he is cool yo, Everyone is. yo yo) but we just did a presintation of the restoration, more like just told everything in it. Pretty slowly and clearly because every sentence was translated in some language I forget.... But it was cool. At the end we had them sign up if they wanted a BOM and us to visit and we got 5 potentials now. pretty sweet in this neighborhood. yo yo

So in Church on Sunday, it was Hilarious. Im sitting by an Investigator and i notice in the front row, of our tiny little church building,(Not a chapel) and our small little branch, (little more than 20 total) these kids were doing something with colors and paper. And I love Church meetings, even when you have no idea what the topic is, I feel the Spirit there and after church I just feel like "Alright, lets get this bad boy DONE!!" Its definately great. but I look at these kids, two boys and one girl, and something happened where, one of the boys might of took a color to use, but this girl just gets that "Im about to have a fit" face and than she just goes off in rapid Finnish!! I was laughing and crying inside, heres this girl, whose about 3 years old, and shes yackin off AWESOME FINNISH!!! I LOVE IT. its so cool. I just thought. yup, thats how it goes. I thought it was way funny, and way cool.

So, I had Dinner with an older couple in our branch, it was WAY GOOD! in all reality though it just remainded me of home. but WOW! there was these little meet chuncks with onions and stuff, kinda soupy but we ate it with potatoes. it was REALLY good. And i learned alot from eating with them. and you know you are in the right mission when you find out, when it is custom to have dessert. they always have it. when i heard that i thought "SCORE!", its awesome. I love FINLAND!

So, I had to send the classic food pictures of what Im eating and stuff, its because Im so happy that I MADE IT!. its awesome, at least to me. No niin. Its been way fun with the bikes and all. it seems like everyweek we go back to the place we bought them from. Hes good guy, and he fixes them for free. The wheather is starting to be a bit chilly. But I like it so far. every morning its cloudy, and whats weird is that I think the mournings are warmer than the day. I think it is because of the clouds that do their little rain business during the night. This week was really good. I love this work, its addicting, but oh is it hard. Especially with all the household stuff, its business i tell you. i tell you what. yo

I love you all, and I know my testimony of the church has grown so much. You cant get much more of a growing experiance than standing up for what you believe. And everyday its a challenge, blessing, and honor to go to people as a representetive of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love this Gospel and the difference it makes in our lives. I thought my life, or challenges in America was hard, some of these people live lives that are, wow. Its amazing the love you can have for people. I love you all a pray for ya.

Rakkaudella,                Vanhin Waite

This is a pic of the castle, its 630 in the mourning, because we just ran out to it. but its lagit.

I cant remember if you got this one, but its an AWESOME pizza we created. yo yo

Letter #13

Tervetuloa Suomeen!!!  (welcome to Finland!)

Week two in the big blue is gone!! yo yo, so its really funny to talk to Fins, in the States i thought it was hard to start up conversation to strangers, and now Im tryin to do it in another language, its crazy. Mutta Suomolaiset ovat tosi tosi mukava! (But, Finns are really really nice) The wheather is pretty sweet, it stays around 5 to 10 degrees C, but than drops to 0 at nights, but its so cool because lately, me and my new companion (Elder Anderton, hes a boss, really just a smiley person, great cook very positive, yo) go running in the mornings, and the temp is still, 3 degrees, and no wind, its Awesome!
So our bikes have been giving us problems, its funny because my back wheel tire broke, but its okay, the awesome guy we bought the bikes from fixes them for free. oh and im not allow to tell my invetigators names to you.... kind of secrative out here..... dun Dun DUUN!! yo. but its all chill. so.. this week we got 7 new investigators!! I know Right! but before you get your hopes up mom saying "My babys Baptising Finland!", cause I am!! yo yo. one of them was high and five of them were from Nepal the last one is just really awesome! Minulla on toivo ja usko, ja meillä on Poljon Usko totta kai!! (i have hope and faith, and we have lots of faith of coarse!!)
Okay, now the people are probably the hardest anythings I´ve ever tried to understand! some of the things they say directly translations make no sense, the best was "Kiire on" which means "busy/rush is", people usually say "mulla on kiire" which just means "I am busy" or "I have a rush" or i just dont want to talk to you go leave me alone.jk it doesnt mean that but basically. I thought it was funny. so spoken Finnish is a bit different, okay its alot different but its kinda comeing. but its great. Great times out here. i love it! I hope everythings going good! I love you all!



Isnt it beutiful. yo. this is at the temple in Helsinki. but its pretty much the same here.

 Terve! and another view from the window. yo

 this is the Pizza me and Elder Anberton made, it was way good, it was basically chicken alfreado with tomatos and chees on top. yo

Letter #12

Terve Perheeni!!!
(hello my family)

Mitä kuulu?? hyvää kuulu toivotavasti koska se on mahtava täällä Suomessa!
(hows it going? good hopefully, because it is awesome here in Finland!)

          Well, i am here, it is very beautiful here, very green and lakes everywhere! in the mornings there is steem/mist that hovers over the lakes and floats along and the trees are everywhere and very green. So, I am serving in Hämeenlina, i live on lukionkatu, thats the street, and im not really sure what else, but..... ill get back to you later on that. yo.

So last monday morning got up at 2 and booked it to the bus thing. had a nice last time in Utah drive up to the airport, saw tons of sweet temples, in the Airport talked to dad, thanks dad, than we left SLC, for Chicago, and I tottally past Out i was so tired on that flight. haha, than we arrived in Chicago, it wasnt the wee hours of morning, but... there were alot of ihmisia, (people) Chicago was sweet, "da BEARS" and i tottally met Bro... NOO i tottally spaced his name, sorry... but i thought to my self "what the... this is AWESOME!! what are the chances of seeing you in CHICAGO!" it was way fun. talked to mom!!! thanks mom, :)but we left chicago to Frankfurt and it didnt even seem like a long flight, maybe between the trying to understand the German, or sleeping, or looking around like I´ve never seen Europeans before... oh wait it was! haha, So we should Totally fly with Luftansa if we fly to Europe, they´re freakin sweet and funny, they are awesome because they gave us dinner And breakfast!! before each one they gave out hot towel things sayin "you want hot towel?":) i liked the towel too, a delightful sensation. but all in all i liked the flight yo yo yo

So than on the plane ride to Finland I sat next to a very good guy Jim, he was from canada and going to Helsinki for a hockey match thing with a bunch of guys, and at the end of the flight, i gave him a Book of Mormon, and he took it!!! i hope he reads it. but this part was funny, we get off the plane, (me and my mtc lads, companions and sisters) and we wait, and finally get our luggage, and the moment we walk out side we hear "Tervetuloa Suomeen!" (welcome to Finland(thats one of my favorite words to say, tervetuloa)) and its our Mission President his wife and the aps! but what was funny, and i only relized it later, we all just kinda stood there and smiled and hugged him all kinda were in "what is happening?" mode, ya know what i mean? i thought it was funny. but then they drove us around Helsinki, and on the drive my companions fell asleep, even though it was 20 min drive, i was impressed. They took us to the Temple to walk around it and take pics, than just did alot of paperwork. but we surrvived the day and ate a VERY good dinner at the Presidents house, had an interview with him that was super cool and than went to bed downstairs, amognst the skeletons.... jk haha,

than i woke up..........................

twelve hours later

but it was okay, President Rawlings told us to sleep in. yo yo. So for breakfast, oh and at dinner, we had some of this bread that Fins make, and they call break bread, its way good but they have it on a plate thing in the midle of the table but you dont cut yourself a piece, you just reach over and break off some with your hand, my kinda food, Who NEEDS silverwear?? i know i know, make fun of my spelling why dont you. but its really good soft bread. yo yo.

So we went to a church nearby and thats where i found out my companion is Elder Anderton, he is from Washington and he has been in the field for 5 months and about 5 foot 6. very nice and up beat guy, we`re pretty ballin yhdessä(together), but we are in Hämeenlina, it means Häm`s castle or the castle of Hämen, same diff, but the Castle is totally AWESOME! but i didnt get any pictures, :( yet.. :)  our branch is pretty small, but I found out like yesterday, and from notes in the apartment and people here that this area the missionaries were taken out of and than 7 months ago missionaries came back, I thought that was cool.

So, our second day in Hämeenlina we were paying for our bikes, (oh yeah, I will be using a bike and playing chicken with any semi and car i see.... jk but i got a bike and didnt have the cash to pay the nice old man but he just said pay tommorrow, which was great, because both of us owed him some and didnt have anything. yo but we asked to share a message with him and he said sure but tommorrow.) so we came back to pay for the bike and than we got talking, (or my comp could carry the conversation and i just tried to pick out what he was saying) and than he invited us to the back of his shop. His shop is very poorly light, theres about 30 bikes total and all look used, they probably wouldnt get very much on ebay and it looked like, the bikes and the store and him looked like it has been through some hard times. but we totally had a first discussion with him in the back of his shop. it was really cool. and at the end he said "täytyy tutkjaa", i must investigate. :) really cool. but it was cool because this was the shop that missionaries have been coming to for a while and we just asked him can we share a message with him and he said sure. and we we`re like, "Hey, sounds good." :)


I thought Generel Conference was AWESOME!!! I loved it! I got to go now but i love the talks in general conference, and it is very brisk and chilly here, and here are some pics i have. i love you and thanks for being awesome!!! its all good on this side of the World and i hope things are going great there, sounds like it is. yo. have fun! love ya

love Vanhin Waite

Letter #11- I MADE IT

Hey Family!!!

So the long and slightly painless flight is over. I am in FINLAND!!! The place is Beautiful!! a little bit chilly, but on the whole...... perfect. The people speak pretty fast, but I can kinda keep up. I flew on Luftansa and when we come to Europe as a family, we are flying with them, it was funny because they fed us dinner and breakfast and (long flight, ya know what I mean) and they came around saying, hot towels you want hot towel? it was funny. k im safe and i love it and i love all of you. THank you mom for all that you do and thank you for your letter. i havent read it yet. but yo. love ya

Peace!!! Rakastan Teitä!!! yo

Vanhin Waite

Letter #10-Last Letter in the MTC

Hi yall!!!

K this has to be fast. Thank you mom for the CINAMON ROLLS!!! Thanks Jessica for the COOKIES!! Thanks Natalie and Rhett for the PULL UP BAR!!!! and doughnuts!!!! I love you all and it sounds like things are happenin down south!! yo yo. I hope work and chilling is good!! earlier this week I had one of the Elders that are from Finland ask me, so How many cases are in Finnish? I thought it was funny, because after he walked away he just called back "I dont know how much there are, I just speak it!" oh the ease of the native, lucky. So my companion had to visit a dentist, it was pretty sad and I went with him. He has to get a root canal. but the drive out of the MTC was fun!, I saw kneaders and University, and Lavel Edwards and Sherelys! I though all yall and I love ya. Thank you for the Belt too mom and All that you do!!! Thank you and Jessica for the I pod. Im sorry that this is so unorganized and not very good, but today has been really busy and I love you, but I dont have time for much.

So much is happening and I dont have time to write back. I love you all and that sounds great!! Im REALLY really happy lifes good!!! i love you. yo.

Letter #9

Sup Family!!!

yo yo yo it sounds like yall are having a Great time!!! sorry I dont have much time, but Thank you so much Natalie and Rhett and Meghan and especially momma!!!! I love yall tosi tosi tosi paljon!!!! so tama viiko oli tosi hyva, this week was really good, i learned more or the language and it is coming along. a little. but its okay, this week two things are going down, 1) Im not allowed to speak english, its kinda fun, I dont like english very much anymore but its not like im any good at Finnish, but...... its still fun. good challenge yo!!!:) and also, kind of a bumber, we got kicked out of our residence room, they need the beds for something but they moved us down stairs, it stinks because now we are not with the estonian missionaries, they were Awesome!! the really built guy in the pictures, is Elder Usevitch going to Estonia, He is hilarious and fun to work out with in the mornings. yo yo. I learned alot of things this week, it happens ocasionally, yo. but what i though was cool, is that I represent Jesus Christ and His Church, and that I have the same purpose of Apostles, but something cool that I came up with is, all who were baptized, and take the name of Christ, we all represent Him, you dont need a badge for that, I thought that was cool. I saw two people this week, Bro Mendenhall and Natalie Hickey!!! it was crazy to see them, way fun, I also saw bro Phair a few weeks ago, that was cool. But..... lifes good, just serving working and lovin. Please feast on the BOM, we had some amazing talks about it from some cool 70s. I hope you enjoy the pictures, the tongon elders were just freakin sweet elders, good friends. the pictures also had, my district and the older fins, and ya, yo. I love you all and i have to go. sorry.

Rakauksen kanssa, Vanhin Waite

Meghan- THank YOU So much for your package!! its lagit and I love It!!! thank you for taking the time!! Your awesome and I hope life is good.

Picture Time!!!