Swedish-speaking Finn, friend of the missionaries

  Dear Reader, This past year the missionaries have been really nice and wonderful. A lot of them have gone home and I miss them. The sisters and me have been having a lot of fun, and the elders too of course. :) My dad passed away in November and elder Wood and Smith were in Jakobstad then. Now they are both home. Time flies and the mission always has to end :( But I am happy and hopeful they will come visit Finland again after a while. :) We have had a really wonderful time and I am so grateful for my friends. More later!

 Good morning!  Since last transfers we have been having a lot of fun with the missionaries... We got elder Schelin back and a set of new ZLs and some great sisters. There is some kind of Swedish onslaught and also a really wonderful revival at church! The Swedish onslaught is brought by the appearance of sister Björling and elder Schelin both having roots in Sweden. And of course I myself am a Swedish speaking Finn, the OG from Jakobstad... My first language is Swedish, Finnish my second and English my third. I know. A lot. LOL. I lived 12 years in Stockholm and studied English on/off for those years. English is my "work language" in case you haven't learned that yet. FYI: it's my favorite language. I have been passionate about learning English from a pretty early age and I chose it as my major at the University of Stockholm. To say that English has been important to me is an understatement. It is my life. Anywhooo... :D The missionaries and me have been eating lunch...

  Some pictures from the former transfer, and from this new one! Good morning from the Finland Helsinki Mission! (Tampere Zone, Tampere first and second wards) The last group of missionaries, before the recent transfer, was nice but I spent a lot of time in Jakobstad and the missionaries were here of course! :) My laptop is a little messed up, so I will continue later! Cinders

 Good morning form Finland!  If you're wondering where I have been, I haven't been far. I went to the Temple in Espoo in April though. I met my friend elder Standage and his companion on my way down, they serve(d) in Hämeenlinna. We ate a pizza and had fun for a little while, then I took the train to my best friend in Espoo. I was so tired, I slept a lot at my friend's house. The next day I rested. Then on Saturday that week I went to the Temple. I met elder Wood by coincidence at the Temple housing. So it was a very fun trip, missionary-wise :D HAHA. My favorite mission president ever is now the Temple president, I love to see him and his wife in the Temple. They are from Rovaniemi. Very far away in the North. That is probably one reason to why they are so nice. They also understand me and appreciate me a lot. No offense to any of the bigger city people... but there is a reason why people say that people from smaller towns are nicer. At least it's true for many people....

Good morning from my new home (in Hervanta)!  How is it going? Hope you're all doing well.., Yesterday I attended our stake conference. The Tampere stake of course. It was held in Åbo, at a theater there, Next to the river Aura. A really nice place if I may say so as a tamperelainen, i.e. a person from Tammerfors. I am not actually from Tammerfors but almost! I have lived here since I was three months old.  Anyway,,, I met my friend sister Nielsen and elder Standage! SO happy to see them. I have missed them and they are really awesome! I met them back on transfer day at the train station in Tammerfors. Seems long ago though. Sister Nielsen is serving in Pori and elder Standage is serving in Hämeenlinna. Really nice places. My paternal grandfather is from the Rauma area, and Rauma and Pori are kind of rivals so I do prefer Rauma... Hämeenlinna is okay too. But I haven't been there for years. I honestly think missionaries are better than people. They are representing our Savior ...

 Good morning from Finland! I hope you're all doing really well, dear readers. I made some changes to this blog. Being a friend to the missionaries is what I am and I want to continue writing about some of our experiences together. I am often willing to be the first member they visit and connect with, and I love helping them feel welcome. Honestly, most missionaries appreciate my help. The ones who are a little iffy, are mostly sister missionaries. I am too old maybe, to be friends with the sisters, sometime, I really don't know... Oh boy. It has been interesting and sometimes very challenging. When some parts of our group have less of a friendly attitude towards me or something. But thank goodness it's almost always good.  The things I do for the missionaries are feed them and give treats, being friendly and welcoming, speak English (I need the practice and we can understand each other well), invite them to my home. Sometimes we also have parties. I have received a lot of ...