TRULY, the BEST TWO YEARS.

Dear Rakkaat,

Wow, This has really been the best two years. Ever. It seems now that it has gone by so fast, but it also seems so long ago that I was starting my mission, and i feel so old now.

This week was a great one to end on. I am going to miss serving here in Espoo 2 ward though. I have come to love the members so much. I have learned a lot about the importance of member missionary work here. They are so willing to help out and do stuff for the missionaries. We had one lady last sunday bring us food because she has a son who just left on his mission to Portugal and he has not been receiving any food appointments from the families there. She prayed that as she started to love and serve the missionaries here in Finland, that her son would be blessed as he served the people of Portugal. She also brought us food this sunday, chicken noodle soup in a little sac. so kind. And she said "God has answered my prayers! My son received his first Dinner appointment. Out of nowhere last sunday my son said that members called him and his companion saying that they were having a fiesta and wanted the elders to come. He said he has never eaten so much good food in his life!" Wow, I know that Heavenly Father is looking out for us. I know that he loves us and is providing for us! 

I had our last lesson with Anneli this week. It was so good! We met her with our bishop. We taught  the Restoration and read some of the Joseph Smith history with her. At the end we invited her to pray about Joseph Smith, and if he really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and if he was a prophet. The next day she texted us saying "Elders, I prayed in the evening after you left my house about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true. The spirit answered me yesterday, I felt great peace that it is true. See you tomorrow at church! :)" It has been such an amazing blessing for me to be able to teach Anneli and her son the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We also had a great filipino feast this week. Some of the members in our ward invited us over to eat with them. Some authentic filipino. they call themselves "the tribe". It was so good. I almost threw up because they kept saying "elder, eat more, take" One of these members is the one that I had a baptismal interview with two months ago. She is doing so good and still comes to church every sunday! 

I want to thank all of YOU for the support on my mission! I am so grateful that so many people have prayed for me, and all the missionaries. I am so grateful for the experiences that I have had here as a missionary. I have completely changed as a person, and disciple of Jesus Christ. 

One of my very favorite verses in the Book of Mormon is: Moroni 7:48

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^apray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true ^bfollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall ^cbe like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be^dpurified even as he is pure. Amen.

I love where it says that as we develop this Christlike attributes, we will be able to see the savior as He truly is. I really believe that before most of us see Him and meet Him in person, we will come to know Him in our selves as we become more like Him. I love Finland so much because here is where I have come to know who our Savior is. I have come to gain a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus christ. I have felt a little bit of the true joy Heavenly Father has in store for each one of us!

I will see you all soon! 

Love Elder Christensen

"Life Motto"

wow, 

We had a great week here! I am loving these final moments. We just got done playing frisbee golf with the APs. That has been so fun for me this transfer. If anyone ever wants to go when i get home I am in! ps. i won this time. 

This week was superb. Very fast too. We had some great finding. 3 new friends and lots of great discussions with people. We also had the zone leaders doing splits with us this week. One of our lessons was on that day and it was so good. Maybe one of the best that I have ever taught. Her name is adina. She is a way cool Finnish girl. She said that she feels like her relationship with God is kind of the focus point of her life right now. I feel like she was really into the lesson and hopefully next time we meet we can set a date with her for when she will be baptized. Anneli our recent convert is doing great. She was at church this week and enjoyed General Conference last week. It is so amazing to see how the Gospel has affected her. I also ride the bus home every sunday with this filipino sister who was baptized 3 months ago. We have a special connection with each other because I gave her baptismal interview. She just went to the temple and is experiencing a lot of joy!

 

Cool story this week is that we were stopping people on the street and we stopped this young guy. It turns out that he is a player on FC Honka. The soccer team here. We told him that we were his biggest supporters and he loved it. In the end he was not interested, but we gave him our card and phone number!

Also, we had a first lesson with this guy from pakistan this week. Way cool guy. he works at this certain restaurant and invited us to come in and talk for a while. He gave us these huge burrito sandwich things. At the end I asked him what we could do to help him and he said "all I want is for you to do something good today for someone that you do not know." That really made me realize how much good we can do for each other. There are so many chances and things that we can do. Maybe at first we dont realize it, but I know that they are there. I feel like I want that to be my motto for the rest of my life. 

I love you all! I will see you next week!

TWO YEAR MARK.

Terve!

Hey all, we had a great week here! I hit my two year mark as a missionary on the 4th. I am so blessed to be able to have an extra 20 days! My time is quickly running out though. I leave on the 24th back to Florida. 

General conference was really good. I have not yet watched the women's conference or the sunday afternoon session, but I definitely will and I am excited for it. I really loved President Nelson's talk about Humanitarian aid. It got me so pumped to pay a generous fast offering when I get home, and to always pay a full tithe. It was super cool to see all of the good that comes from paying fast offerings. I also really liked sister franco's talk about missionary work, and then I think his name was elder alliaud who spoke about the Book of Mormon, and how we all need to receive our own testimony about the Book of Mormon. 

We unfortunately did not find anyone last week, but this is a new week and we are back to the grind. We found one yesterday, a young man and we taught him at the library. He was super cool. Said that we need more missionaries in the world. It is true! I can say 100%  that I needed to serve a mission. It has changed my life forever. I appreciate the gospel so much now and have learned a ton about life and working with others and responsibility. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to serve as missionaries because they love us, and they love those who we can help. Imagine the change that goes into every one's life when missionary work is done.

Our friend Anneli is doing great. She is the one that was baptized a couple weeks ago. She is loving it. She said that the first couple days after her baptism, she felt like she was in Paradise. That is what the Holy Ghost does for us. It doesnt matter what our physical circumstances are. Hers did not change. But the feelings that she had did change. As we follow the example of Jesus Christ and do all that we can to keep Heavenly Father's commandments, we are so blessed.

We had a great pday today. We went and played some more frisbee golf. I forgot to send these pics last week of the national forest that we went to. It was super cool! It is called nuuksio. we had a makkara grill out and it rained but the fire never went out. These pictures of the angry birds is the headquarters of angry birds in our area! Isnt that crazy? clash of clans and angry birds are both Finnish companies. I hope that you all have a great week!

love Elder Christensen