Chapter 10: The Arrival, FINLAND!, The right foot do creep

 Monday December 11, 2023

YOOOOOOO WHATS GOOD YOU LOVELY PEOPLE, a lot has happened this week as I'm sure none of you are surprised, so on Thursday last week we wake up and get our luggage and head on down to the travel office where we get all of our bus, train, and plane tickets, we then make our way over to the airport via train and bus, I cannot tell you how weird it felt not being in the MTC and being beyond the walls after being stuck in them for 2 months.  Anyways in the airport we had actually food again,  and by actual food I mean panda express and Cafe rio, since we got there at the time we did we had 4 hours to wait until our flight so ya I munched hard.  We met the Czechs there because they were coming with us on our first flight so we didn't have to say goodbye yet.  The plane had three columns which was sick,  but what wasn't sick was the fact that my ticket had me not sit next to anyone in my district or near the Czechs, instead I sat alone while they were all together which was a big bummer but whatever.   The flight was 9 hours, so not as bad as we all thought it was going to be but still it's 9 hours,  and I'm proud to say I didn't fall asleep for a second of it,  i sat next to this girl from India and she was really nice so W passenger buddy.   She was also a W for watching Big Hero 6 with subtitles on so I was an apostate without really being an apostate,  btw an apostate is just someone we call who breaks the rules, so like watching movies and all jazz, but I definitely became an apostate when I found out they had 70s-00's music on there.  So eventually we arrive to France (the land of desolation), fog absolutely everywhere to the point we couldn't see outside the windows very well.  The France airport was pretty cool for the most part other than the workers fighting eachother over what to do with the Czechs because they missed they're flight since the fog messed with the plane and there was a plane ahead of us that just wasn't moving so we were on the ground for a while not doing anything, but don't worry the Czechs were able to get another flight and headed on their way, Imma miss those goofy Czechs, they're all gonna do great on their missions,  so in the airport in France I was just chilling right, but then tragedy struck when my nose absolutely just died and blood started coming out like a faucet, it was a tragic moment.  After getting that all cleaned up we headed for the Finland plane and saw some actual finnish people, ngl they didn't appreciate us very much but what can you do, the others on the plane were some epic people though.  I was fighting for my life trying not to fall asleep on this airplane and I think I did for a bit here and there but overall I didn't really.  So we get to the airport and are struggling to find directions but eventually we get to our Mission President and his Wife who are super awesome.  The AP's were also there to help us out and we got our luggage and loaded it up in the van and started driving.  Our first stop was the Helsinki Temple which is such a beautiful one, idk like it might rival the Phoenix AZ for the best (BTW these are the only two valid opinions of what the best temple is, all other opinions are wrong).  Oh btw it was already snowing a lot as expected but ya, A LOT of snow.  Next we made our way over to the Mission Home and had a fire dinner there, can I tell you what it was? No I cannot, but can I tell you it was good? Yes I absolutely could, and I can also show you what it was too, the food was absolutely amazing that they made for us.  Next we each had interviews with the mission president so we could talk to him and tell him a bit about ourselves and that stuff.  Then we just got some rest and let me tell you I was ready for it because without sleeping for the entire trip here,I would get no jet lag and boy did it work, I woke up full of energy and ready for the day.  We all packed up the house and headed to the stake center where we got 

tons of Orientation done, and then the moment was here where I'd get assigned both my dad (trainer) and my birthplace (first area).  So drum roll please (unless you already saw me post about where I'm serving now lol)

I

AM

SERVING 

IN 

                       -  HYVINKÄÄ  -  

And my trainer's name is Vanhin Torgersen but I just say Torg, he's an absolute legend and the best trainer ever, he's so good about us doing everything we need to and is super funny and just all around a great guy, man is a legend.  He's from all around the world, he's lived in multiple states, Germany, Korea, and Italy.

So after getting assigned Torg as my trainer we had some lunch there which was super good, if I remember correctly it was pot roast but don't quote me, it's the one I never took a picture of, I also got to meet the legendary Elder Kevin Mitchell! So me and Torg head out and I said bye to the district which was sad ya but was overshadowed greatly by the excitement of Finland, while we're on the train heading to Hyvinkää he tells me that he's the bread guy and that he makes bread and that he's going to teach me how to make bread as I'm his son and I have to inherit it, so that's gonna be epic to learn.  We eventually pull up to Hyvinkää and struggled finding where the last missionaries put the car but we eventually found it and headed to our apartment, when we got there, tragedy struck AGAIN and my nose blew up yet again while I was walking up with my luggage to the room, I'm telling you right now the way the snow looked, you could have guessed it was the scene of a murder, IT WAS BAD. But eventually we made it up and got settled in and we went to the store and got some food to survive off until P day, Oh I forgot to mention that we White washed this area, for those who don't know what that means, we both are new to this area and don't know anyone or anything, but the sisters who served here last were super goof about giving us all the information we need and we have a lot of people interested in the church already to work with so that's great.  So we went to bed that night and woke up the next for Church.  I cannot disclose how much I Loved my first day at a Finnish Church, there was such a different spirit in the Finnish church, and maybe it's because the members are incredibly friendly and talkative unlike everyone else haha, but I love this ward so much, everyone is amazing and we have some friends here already, my favorite person in the ward's name is Aatos, he's an actually GOAT, he's a little older than me, I forget by how much but its a couple of years but he's super strong, benches 315, squats 465, and deadlines 450, the kids a monster and he's super funny, he has a professional contract to the Finnish American Football team after his mission which he's getting ready to serve in January, and he's serving in Finland! That means I'm gonna get to see this GOAT even more then,  seriously he's the absolute best, we have some other friends in the ward like this British guy named Gary whose just super funny and cracks jokes left and right.  I don't know how much I'm supposed to say because Finland's privacy laws are actually cringe and are super strict, so until I know what I can say I'll stop here but just now that this ward is the Best, the Bishop is also hilarious too.  After church we went on our first street contacting, and although nothing came of it, it was still super cool and fun to experience, I absolutely love it here, after that we just had some studies and went to bed for the night, yesterday we woke up did some street contacting pretty early on with no success again but again I don't blame the. Because there's not that many people out because it's incredibly cold and people don't want to talk so I get it, although we did get a funny excuse yesterday as to why she couldn't stop, she said that she had stuff in her bag that would melt if she stayed and talked despite it being -6 , but I just thought that was funny, later that day we went tracking and were unsuccessful but still a great experience, we also did do some street contacting on the way back home and actually got to give someone a Light the World card which was cool.  For the last part of the day we did some social media work and I had my first Member dinner with none other than The GOAT himself Aatos and his Family, they made some type of chicken and rice which was so good, we talked for like over an hour just getting to know each other before sharing our message but its good to get those connections early, after that we headed on home for the night and woke up and here I am, so that's all for this week, Finland is the best place on Earth I'm convinced, I really don't have any complaints, I love this place and people with all of my heart, we're getting ready to teach some friends or as some of you may call them investigators pretty soon so we're hyped for that.  I LOVE YOU ALL, HAVE A GREAT WEEK 

I'm gonna have to send some pictures separate because of limit but ya 

Oh and we have to hit the griddy on the way home every Pday eve, that's why "the right foot do creep" is in my title haha, it was just something the sisters wrote on the to do list for us