Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Letter #36


Dear Family

So, this week was epic. I went down to Helsinki to pick up my new companion. His name is Elder Anderson and he is from Payson UT. He is
6´6´´ and way nice. What can I say, we are a good pair for basketball.
:)

This week we had a lesson with a elderly women in our ward. All we did is we shared a scripture about music and than we sang to her. She
loves music and all she wants to do with us is sing out of the hymn book´. :) But this Elderly sister is so special. She has a hard time moving around and she really wanted to give us a little something to eat and she is just this precious little older lady. At the end of our little meeting we got up to go and were putting on our coats and shoes and I remember looking over to see her and she was still sitting in her bedroom/livingroom/office just stareing off into the distance. And I remember thinking that she is very special to our Heavenly Father. She lives alone and she has a hard time moving around her house, but
she always comes to church, and as we left I thought of 3Nephi 12:14-16. When Christ talks about being a light to the world, and how our good works glorify our Heavenly Father. I know there are people whom we can serve and love and to whom we can give our light.

One thing I have noticed this week is how powerful and important the BoM is to us. I have definately grown to LOVE and cherish my Book of Mormon. 2Nephi11 talks about how much Nephi loves the scriptures, and it is interesting how he says he delights in proving to others the coming of Christ twice in the same chapter. Pretty sweet, go
missionary work. :)

I love you all and I am very Greatful for you. I have learned soo much as a missionary and most of it is about myself. I love my Mission Presidentl, he is truely inspired and a man of God. It is way fun to
be a trainer, and I love Finland!!!

Love,
Vanhin Waite

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Letter #35- We had a BAPTISM!

Dear Family, Friends, close and not so close relatives,

This week has been WAY GOOD and WAY interesting.The whole week went
pretty good, we had a district meeting which was way good and before
it we played basketball for two hours. Way fun. Then that night after
district meeting we had a baptismal interview which the Zone Leaders
conducted. I love our Zone leaders, WAY humble guys. The next day we
had a BAPTISM!! She asked me to baptise her which was really special.
She is the first Baptism ʹve ever had. :) A Awesome totally tender
mercy of the Lord. I never taught her anything because she had already
been taught and she was just waiting for her birthday to be 18. But
she is SO cool. In the interview I found out that her answer to the
question "why do you want to be baptised?" she replied "I want to be a
part of the Kingdom of God on earth." (way good answer in my opinion)
So she is really prepared and very blessed. It was a really cool
expeiriance and I will always remember it. Very special.

So my companion and I were tracting last night, and he felt like we
should trackt the last building on a block. So far, all the doors in
the building before it did not answer and it was getting close for us
to be late. But we trackted the last building and about every door in
this last building answered. After trackting we started leaving and
then this man comes out of the building who had previously said no to
us, he said "Hey! Would you like some tea and to discuss about
things?" We said no to the tea but said "of coarse" to the discus
things part. We went inside to a small family, with one son and they
fed us fresh home made blueberry pie with ice cream. Turns out they
are SUPER religious and would like to learn more about our religion.
Way cool! Best let in EVER!

So, this change is comeing to an end. I have almost been in the
country 6 months and it is the end of my 4th change. I was District
leader and I was in Joensuu. And this next change I will NOT be
District leader anymore,(tells you how crapy I did) BUT I will be
Training. WAY sweet! Pres told me he doesnt want me doing the District
Leader stuff as well as the Training stuff. So, WAY cool. I will be
Training in Joensuu, with the luckiest Elder in the World. I am SOO
excieted for General Conference next month!!

I love you all, and it is REALLY awesome out here and pretty busy!! I
know the Book of Mormon is true and I love this Gospel. Joseph Smith
really was a prophet of God. My testimony of obeying and exact
obediance has grown SOO much, that when I have my "eye single to the
glory of God" then I am Happier and I am able to fulfill Christs
commandment of "Love one another, as I have loved you." I love you and
I hope your week goes EXCELLENT TEE!!! (a little bit of Spanish
accent)

Love,
Elder Waite





Thursday, March 14, 2013

Letter #34

Dear Family,

This last week was really cool. I went down to Savonlinna for the day.
There is a great castle in that city and now I can say I have been to two of the 4 castles in Finland. Way cool. But this one is definately way more castle ish like and it has a little Russian flare to it. I
think. Oh, I also had my first EVER baptismal interview. WAY cool. It was a very sweet guy in Kuopio who is really prepared. The Lord is really preparing people and we have a baptism this next week. It is amazing how your faith grows and you see the hand of the Lord, like the Brother of Jared did, touch the lives of people.(not stones, but people:)

This week my gratitude for haveing a prophet has grown. It is one of the main points, if not the point that we have a living prophet today. I know that he is God s representitive on Earth, but what is cool that what ever the prophet says under direction of the Spirit, it is as if God himself was saying it. To me that is really cool. And I am way excited for General Conference!!

That is pretty much all I got. Life is going good, living the gospel dream. :) :)
I love you all and I am grateful to have you as Family and Friends.
Have a good week!!
Love
Vanhin Waite

Letter #33

Wow, what a week....

Dear Family

This week, had a lot of goings ons. It went from District meeting, to people we met, exchanges to getting sick and all kinds of stuff. But it was definitely a blessed week. I learned a ton about accountability, obedience and patience. All three I need help with.

Praying always, on Tuesday we had a long trip out to a investigator really fast because he was about to leave to somewhere. and I was not feeling too hot. The lesson was really good but at the end, he didn't
want to be baptized anymore. He agreed to talk about it later but then we had to travel all the way across town to our next appoint which we were late to. I know I am dramatic sometimes and all but, it really
was all the way across town. My stomach the whole time was a aching and with the wind and the cold, it was just not a good day, but as I sang the song "Come, Come ye Saints" it helped me to pray always, and I remember feeling adequate enough strength come to me. It was an amazing experience and I have notice that when I talk to people, my pains and problems go away, its as if the Spirit is prolonging my
problems so I can listen to the people I talk to. But I made it home, and I had to crash for 3 hours. I'm all better now. :)

Then we had District meeting. All 8 elders slept in the same apartment together the night before and we got up at 530 to play some sähly and basketball. We played fro 2 hours and then got dressed. wow, WAY fun. I stink at bBall now, it was the last time since the MTC. But District meeting was really good. We discussed what it means to be successful to the Lord and to our own work. I used some scriptures from all over the place like from 3Nephi when Christ speaks about a tree that bringth forth not good fruit is thrown into the fire and we discussed what kind of fruit we each bring out. So this is where I learned about
obedience and how important it is. That the Fruits of our labors or our success comes from being obedient as was Nephi, Moroni, and other great men. I learned about accountability in my personal study later
about that. That Accountability goes along with our Free Agency, we must choose to be accountable to others and that it also includes "... being anxiously engaged in a good cause." I love being on a Mission
because you learn what your life goals are, what you want to be.

Patience, I learned I don't have it. I am not patient with my self, or with the people around me. There has been many learning experiences and I can just imagine Mom going "YES, he´s catching on!! He´s
learning something!!" I already knew I had problems, the mission is just proving them. :)

This week, was good, and mostly rough. I know the Lord is helping me and seeing His work move foreword. I love learning, its great. I love
you all and I wish you da best. :)

Rauha,
Vanhin Waite

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Letter #32

Dear Family, Friends, and Muut,(others)
What a WEEK!! right at this moment I cant remember a whole lot of it so....it might be pretty short. But this week I did do my first ever exchanges with another city. It was really cool. We went up to Kajaani for the day and we came back the next morning on a 5 40 am bus. DEATH!! But we lived. Wow, this is totally the Lords work and a I am extremely grateful for His help and love.

We have a investigator right now is about 20 years old. He had been smoking about 15 cigarettes a day and he really wanted to change. And the whole time we have been teaching him, he has felt that what we have talked about is true, but he never really acted on it. We have been praying really hard for him to have the strength to stop smoking and to start on the path to baptism and then on the road to the Temple. And the Lord answered our prayers through this investigators mother. She told him "stop, give it up right now and quit smoking", I don't know what else went down but it got him to just stop. And it has been a MIRACLE. He use to now go 2 hours without smoking, and he has just gone 6 days straight without tobacco. and he has told us after church he said "I don't even want to smoke." Now he is preparing to be baptised very shortly.

I love this work and I have learned a TON about myself, my Savior, and this Gospel. I learned this week (Im a little slow sometimes but) that Gods work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Pretty cool right? no this is what I learned though, sharing the gospel with others, is glorifying God. We show our love and commitment to follow Christ by sharing the Gospel and serving others. Pretty great stuff. I love the Book of Mormon. I love this Gospel. And I know that this Church is true. There is no way to describe the love you feel for a strugling son of God as he puts down a dark and destructive habbit. I know the Atonement is real. And my faith has grown so strong. And I know I am weak, but I will do my best in EVERY aspect of this gospel. Its GREAT!!! I love you all and I hope your week is great. Party on.
Love
Elder Waite