Week 49: Back to the Beginning

July 29, 2025

Good week. Time keeps moving along. I hope you all had a lovely week and enjoyed the sun! I did. It is so hot.

Spiritual Thought:

It was a harder week. I felt like God was distant. In life, you have days where you get hammered over and over and over again.

Where it feels like the best parts of you are getting slowly chipped away. It's easy to think about the pieces of you that you’re losing instead of the careful chiseling that God is doing through the trials.

On a mission, I've found it's more about deliberately choosing to do the right thing, over and over again, instead of how well I do it.

“It's our choices that show who we truly are far more than our abilities,” Albus Dumbledore

This really hit home for me this week.

A dear friend gave me a journal with this written inside it: “Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.”

I’ve tried to live by this on a mission. As I try to do the next right thing, I quickly realize that God is never far away.

“Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.” D&C 64:33

Out of small and simple things proceedeth that which is great.

Short Version of Email: A couple good lessons, saw Pres and Sis Lehtinen. Lunch and learning about the new element of spiritual matter. Amazing P-Day in Lappeenranta.

Finnish Word of the Week: Sukellusvene = a submarine, but literally means “diving boat”

5 Amazing Things This Week:

1: Had an amazing district P-Day in Lappenranta (which was my first area). We went to an island with all the ward members for their ward party. There were cabins, saunas, lakes, food, and I got to see all the ward members I love so much from my first area. Then we got to spend some time walking around the city in the summer, and it was delightful.

2: Ate lunch with a super awesome old American Member of our Ward. The food was great but…he told us about how he has discovered a new type of element (or something idk). Spiritual Matter. He showed us all the equations and how it works. If anyone wants to send me an email explaining these pictures, please, I would love to know. I also voice recorded the whole thing, so if you want to hear some crazy stuff lmk.

3: Had two good lessons. One with Jani, our friend on baptismal date (we talked about the word of wisdom, scary), and one with Mikael, our recent convert (who has been ghosting us for the last month). Both have such good desires to come closer to Jesus Christ.

4: Our mission president and his wife were driving through our area and stopped to say hi! It was amazing to see them in person because our interviews were on Zoom this transfer. It is some good motivation, I would do anything for them, I love them. They brought us some fresh peas, Finnish strawberries, and raspberries. Because of the long days, which means extra sun, the berries are incredible here. The best raspberries and strawberries I have ever eaten.

5: Had a cool lesson with a guy named Kari Korhonen and his girlfriend. We've been trying to get in contact with them for the whole transfer, and it hasn't worked out. But this week he told us he and his girlfriend are interested in learning more.

Tender Mercy of the Week:

We have a saying in our mission that there is “No miracle too small”. This may put that to the test. In Lappeenranta on Pday we found a store selling my favorite Finnish chocolate bars for 90 cents. Usually they are 4.80 per bar. Safe to say we got a ton. It was a wonderful miracle.