Seinäjoki is really awesome and I love it here. So many crazy things happen to missionaries. And there is a ton to write about this week. First off, we just got back from p-day shopping and lunch. I had to buy some ties...because all mine are sock ties or too skinny...and they are illegal. But i got a good deal on them...50% off. Then I had to buy some boots...which is good because my current shoes haven't got any grip. I am always slipping and sliding everywhere. It can get very dangerous sometimes. I had my first couple wipeouts also. My last one happened while we were tracting and I fell down and dented the Book of Mormon I was holding. (our books are hard cover) We have yet to give one away. I still carry that one everywhere I go though just in case.
Personal Study:
Here is what I am studying in personal study. I love this time in the mornings. It is usually an hour long...In the MTC it is a lot harder to concentrate because you can just hangout and mess around, but here it is a certain time that is set apart just for that purpose. I wrote before on always reading while holding a marking pencil or something to take notes with. It helps a ton. It takes a lot longer to read because you are pondering on what you are actually reading. I usually can only get through two chapters.
My favorite verses of the week are:
mosiah 24 : 14-15___ God does care for us and will always help us. We need to be patient with what he gives us. He knows better than we do.
14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.
mosiah 25: 22___ The church is the same here in Finland as it is in florida...just smaller. 22 And thus, notwithstanding there being many churches they were all one church, yea, even the church of God; for there was nothing preached in all the churches except it were repentance and faith in God.
mosiah 29:33___This is a very important verse. King mosiah is explaining to the people why they should choose to not have a king. Throughout the entire chapter, he is explaining to them so that they can understand. This principle is so important especially to missionary work. Sometimes we want to just jump right in on the lessons and keep going forward to baptism...but if they don't understand, you can't just keep going forward...they will end up being confused. I remember at the MTC, We were teaching jussi, and like the very first lesson we taught about prayer...but for like the next month and a half, he still prayed how he did in the beginning. So in maybe our last lesson with him, we went completely off script to talk about prayer so that he could better understand it. He was awesome after that! Had mosiah not explained it to them so that they could understand, then there probably would have been a unrighteous king. 33 And many more things did king Mosiah write unto them, unfolding unto them all the trials and troubles of a righteous king, yea, all the travails of soul for their people, and also all the murmurings of the people to their king; and he explained it all unto them.
Last thing, Alma 2 has got to be the best chapter in the book of mormon. I read that yesterday and thought about it like all day...so interesting. I think that is right around where the seminary kids are though so I won't spoil it.
My missionary week:
Tueday:
Last tuesday after I wrote, we had a lunch with the Liukku family. They are an old couple. They brought us to lunch at this old person buffet place. Really interesting. Everyone was like 80 years old and we come walking in. We ate a classic christmas dish in finland. It was ham with liver casserole and sweet potato casserole and rutabaga casserole. It was one of the things I have ever tasted. We had a lesson planned with a guy named esa...He lived like a 45 minute away bike ride and it was snowing like crazy and all uphill. It is hard to ride your bike in the snow because you keep getting hit in the eyes...so you basically just ride with your eyes barely open. We passed a ton of new star wars posters too on the way there! Elder fielding really likes star wars, we got some pictures with it. There was this one really steep hill in front of his house where we tried to go off roading but we wiped out and fell down into some deep snow.. We were planning to ask Esa to be baptized, but we knocked on the door and he gave us his Book of Mormon back and said to come back in a year...so that is what we shall do...We did some tracting over by his house after that. I think I was stunned afterwards..it was as if I was just attacked with a critical hit. 
Wednesday:
Our mission area is so huge...I'll try to put a picture of it on there. We taught our first lesson! It was to veli (brother) Uusipirosi. He lives in ilmajoki (about 30 mins from seinäjoki using the bus) He is really cool and loves soccer. Very fun to talk with him about it. On Sunday for Christmas he gave me a Liverpool jersey from like the 1990's...very kind of him. It smelt of death though, so we washed it a couple times. Also on Wednesday, we taught a school presentation at the seinäjoki lukio (high-school) about our church. just facts and basic beliefs. Finnish kids are the biggest punks. They all ride around dirt bikes and these little buggy cars that you can drive without a license. We ate lunch with the teachers at the school. (same christmas meal) One of the high school kids asked us how we survived off 200 euros a month.
thursday:
We visited sisar mannistö today. she lives in Kauhajoki (like an hour away) she is a less active. We shared a christmas message with her. Veli Lahti, our branch president went with us. She made us really good pancakes with jam and sugar. Finland has the best Jam.
Friday:
On Fridays, we do weekly planning. This is like a 3 hour period where we plan a basic outline of our whole week. The members here (all 15 of them) are really nice to us. One of them brought us to a pizza place for lunch which was really good. Also, all next week we have our dinners planned out. everyone wants to feed us. (hopefully not the christmas meal) We do a lot of tracting. I like tracting too. kind of fun. Our district goal is to share the christmas video that the church made about sharing the light to the world 1 time a day. It sounds like a small goal, but it is super hard to get here. However, we have successfully showed it 8 times this week!
Saturday:
We met a lot with this college student named Daniel. He is from austria and a really cool and nice guy. College just ended here so everyone is going back home. Elder fileding was really good friends with him. We ate a last supper with him before he left. We also had the ward christmas party. We sang a lot of songs and ate christmas food and everyone told their favorite christmas memory. All the members are really funny and like to roast each other. they are really old too so it can be really funny.
Sunday:
I got asked to share my testimony again. I also played piano during church. They love me now. They want me to learn some Finnish songs to play during church, but I dont know if my skill level reaches that high. We tried making cookies for an old man that we met while tracting but he wasn't home. Gingerbread is actually so good! we ate a ton ourselves. After church, we do some more tracting and street contacting. After 8 here you cant do tracting so we try to find people on the streets. Not really anybody walks around though at night because really cold.
monday:
We found this really awesome guy named renato. We have been trying to talk to him since my first day here and we finally got to talk last night. He wants us to come back and teach him some Finnish and about the gospel. He is really cool. We always ride around hoping to see the northern lights. One night we drove to this huge lake and looked up at the clear sky for a while. we were in the middle of nowhere and it was pitch black. we turned off the lights on our bikes too. So cool. Hopefully we see them...I think winter is when the are most common. Usually October is the best month though.
cool facts:
dec. 21 is the darkest day, so now all days will be getting brighter by a couple minutes each day until summer, when there is no night!
On P-day we played bean boozled. the best flavors are canned dog food and rotten egg. They like explode in your mouth and filled our apartment with stink.
we eat a lot of chocolate. we ran out of bars this week, so we eat hot chocolate powder.
I think that is it. love you all...merry christmas! remember to put the church name and then my address if you are going to send something.
Love elder christensen
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