Letter #70

Dear Family

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! This week was EXTREAMLY CRAZY!!!!!! I got my new companion, new apartment, new car and now its Christmas. Halelujah.

 

Last Wednesday I got my new companion. His name is Elder Nate Hunter, he is from Orem. He is a WAY sweet Elder.

 

New apartment, and all that goes with it. We had to put all the stuff away and we did get around to teach a few lessons. THe members here are GREAT!!! they are WAY excited about missionaries coming to Lohja!!!

 

Oh, Friday was the Best day EVER!! we turned in our slightly older but very nice car in to a dealer, and I had the wonderful opportunity to drive away with a brand spankin new car!!!!!!! RIGHTOUS!!! The milage was only 10 kilometers when I got in the car. WAY SWEET!!!! very spiritual experiance for me. I definatly am grateful for this chance to serve a mission. :) :) :) It is a Toyota yaris. Its got a navigator and if you use bluetooth, the car can call people for you!!! it is AWESOME!!!! i like it. the front seats heat up too, (machine washable darling thats a new feature) :) oh, the car talks to you too. I like the british women voice talking, i feel like James Bond. "yes master Waite?" "Its Elder Waite to you miss Pots thank you". Just kidding, the cars name is NOT miss Pots. :)

 

So, for a first week city we did get our only investigator to church. We were in the car with him and a member 40 minute drive to church, 3 hours there, and 40 minute drive back. I have a feeling it will be a little tough to get investigators there. its basically a whole day affair. haha, I love you all and see you soon!!!!

 

Love

Vanhin Waite

Letter #69

Dearest Family, Friends, good acquaintances and JOCELYN!!!!

HOW IS IT GOING!!!!!!

Life in the good North is pretty good. So we had change calls, and turns out, I will not be Zone Leader anymore, I got DEMOTED to dog sledder. I use a dog sled and the missions 12 dog powered huskies to transport copies of the BOM to missionaries as well as deliver Christmas Packages to them. Its quite a big job, we missionaries call it the "Elder Santa" spot. Basically I am just one big conduit for all sorts of stuff relating to missionary work here.:)

JUST KIDDING!!! pretty good right? but I am opening a new city called Lohja, it has never had missionaries there before and guess what, I am TRAINING!!! my second time!!! oh there really is joy in the posterity!!! (Jocelyn please explain) :) I am excited!!!

We had a tougher week than usual, we took a hit in the teaching pool department, a couple of investigators dropped us. But that is Otay, because we had one come to church.and there was much rejoicing, yeahhhhhh....

and I dont have a Christmas call organized yet, but most likely it will happen on Christmas(go figure) at 7 or 8 oclock my time. and for you math people out there that is about 10 to 11 oclock in the morning for you all. And next week i will have that in concrete, o tay??

I love you all!! I sent your christmas stuff!! but dont be too excited, tis very tiny. not much. There is a Christmas FINNISH market going on in Helsinki, so I will browse through there and get stuff. So maybe real Christmas will come later. 

I love you, I miss you, but i dont want to hug you, because I got 6-8 months left and I like it. I have had SOOO many cool experiances and testimony builder moments its incredible!! I love this work and this time of year to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Thank you for your love and support. Have fun and read the Book of Mormon.!!! than share it with others!!! love you!!

best wishes

Vanhin Waite

Letter #68

Dear family

Tis a new month and new chance to improve!!! I gave a talk yesterday and we had a investigator in church who is starting to progress. I am grateful to be a missionary in Finland at this time and I love Finland!!!

I have decide to start over with a lot of things in my missionary life and just focus on the simple, easy things. There is a  member here who is a GREAT example to me of selfless service!! But he often forgets to clean his house and when he is not taking care of everyone else he is too tired to clean, so we talked and I related a little to him and I said its the little things that matter. Just clean up after use.    i have learned a lot on my mission mom about cleaning. and natalie:)

I gave a talk in my ward about missionary work of coarse!!! i talked about easy and natural way to ask and include non member acquaintances and friends in our gospel way of life. it was alright.

I love being a missionary!! there are of coarse tons of things that are a bit scary for a wee wittle guy like me, for example standing infront of over 160 people for a talk..... making friends with strangers and knocking doors and crashing parties. BUT, the lord is with all his missionaries!! I know it. I love you all and I am very grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost, I am grateful for the Gospel and I love my life. I love repentance. ANd I love all of you.

Love

Vanhin waite

Letter #67

dear family

This week is great!! I love being a missionary because you are givin so much to do and so little time and it is SO fun to trust the Lord and know that His work gets done when "put our shoulder to the wheel"

I am very grateful for my family and friends!! in that order too!!! thank you for all your love and support!!! we had a great thanksgiving this week!! two american families got together and had us come over and it was SO fun!! everything traditional style it was great!!! 

So next week i give a talk in my ward. first ever official Ward talk i´ve given on my mission. i will be talking about missionary work and how everyone IS a missionary when they are friends. ANd how all missionary work is is being their friend and then kinda offer salvation through Jesus Christ so no biggy. :) :)

I love you all and i think your hte best!!

Love 

Vanhin waite

Letter #66

Dear Family! 

This last week was great!!! Our friend was baptized and what an experiance!! It is definately late fall here and I am excited for the Holidays!!

We were extreamly busy last week, and one cool part was a potential we tried. SO the cool thing about Finland is if you drive just 5 or 10 min in any direction away for the city, your in the middle of the forest. ANd this refferal lived out in the middle of no where. long story short, we couldnt get our car through one of the dirt roads, and had to walk, but... we didnt know we would have had to walk almost 2 kilometers and it was raining, pretty hard. it was dark and we find this address but no house. in the middle of the field and all there is, is a mail box just sitting in the middle of nowhere. then we looked around and our first thought was no way, was this somebody sick but quite funny joke to get the missionaries to come all the way out there but then we see it.... on this hill about a 100 yards on the other side, embedded into a bank of trees slightly concealing it was a enormous manor. we were like, no way. so we went up there, soaked and cold and miracualy got inside!!! pretty funny experiance and we loved it.

But our friend got baptized this saturday!! i gave the Holy Ghost talk. Man, this guy is amazing!! 

it gets dark around here at about 4 30 and now it is getting pretty cold. No snow yet, and I always think this is the most miserable time without snow but, we´re still having fun. I am excited for the holidays and I love you all!! have fun and be safe!!

Rakastan teitä!!

Rakkaudella Vanhin Waite

Letter #65

Dear Family

Hey this week was good. I love you all!! This week was really good. We have a investigator who is really progressing. The work is great!!

Sorry, I have to make this short. But one cool story was we totally met a less active and we had a great discussion. She talked to us about missing the Temple and wanting to go back. We talked to her and she wants to come back!!! We are pretty excited about that. 

Also, I am excited for CHRISTMAS!!! I love you all and I hope this week goes well for you all!! 

Love

Vanhin Waite

Letter #64

Dear Family

Okay, I have to be fast but I am ALIVE!!! no worries there. We had change calls this last week and I got shipped out of my city after only 18 weeks. I love you all and life is great!!

So, last Saturday we got the change calls and I was to leave Kajaani and go to Espoo which is all the way down south in Helsinki right next to the Temple!! I am very excited!! But after we got the information we met with a member in Kajaani, told him the news and he said "your going to Espoo? Really? I am too!! but for the Temple!! Can I give you a ride???" So I made a few calls and turns out it was okay, but he left on Monday. Which is our P-day, so I didnt get a  chance to write then, but better late than never. It was a long car ride but I learned a TON of Finnish. man, it was a 6 hour language study. my head hurt. haha   But all in all, WAY busy and I got here and were running. Big city traffic and everything. :)

I hope everything is going well in the world. Life here is hektic and AWESOME!!  I love this work! But before I left Kajaani we had a real sweet lesson with our investigator who said he would like to be baptized within the month. So I hope it goes through. He knows the Bom is true and the word of God. This is also the same investigator who told us the first time he met us was "I was born a Catholic, I will die a Catholic."  :) I love the Gospel.

So now I am actually in a real ward. This is my 4th area, and my whole mission I have loved and enjoyed small little branches with 2 hour church. My last branch had 40 people with 17 or 19 active. WAY FUN!!! I loved it. But now I am in a ward of 350 with about 130 active. big difference. I love this gospel though. The Spirit is the same. I got to go but I write next time.

My new comps name is Elder Crofts. He is from Pleasent Grove. so I am getting around Utah county still. haha, I love you all and I wish you the best week!! have fun!!! 

Love 

Vanhin Waite