Vanhin companion

9/12/11

Hi.

This week was good and stuff. Me and Elder Gamblin has taught me a lot about getting along with different personalities. I have been with him now for almost 5 months. You know when you have been with somebody to long when you occasionally introduce yourself as: "Hi, I’m Elder Gamblin...." which is something that both of us have actually done. This week I asked Gamblin if I was the weirdest companion he had ever had... He said without a doubt yes. He said that I am the only companion he has had who wears chums and half way through there time together decided they are going to be a vegetarian from now on. I was like...well, ya that’s true. It has been funny to see his reaction to some of our differences. A couple weeks ago I realized that Elder Gamblin is quite gullible, and so I have been having some good times with that. I convinced him one time that we had Pac Man on our missionary phone and another time I told him that the apartment ipod had "Dane Cook" (who is a comedian, and also not at all "Missionary Appropriate"). Oh, good times with Elder Gamblin....

Fun Finnish Fact: In Finnish, they don’t say Umm but instead say Tuotta.... which is really interesting because I thought that Umm... was something that everyone said naturally but I guess in a way its English.

This week we met the sweetest guy from Vietnam. He is 22 years old and his name is Minh. He does not have a christian background and so teaching him has been very simple and basic. He came to church last sunday and wants to come to the Young Single Adult activities which will be sweet because he will make a lot of friends. Interestingly enough, we met another Asian man from China and is way cool as well. But he is only here for three weeks and then he goes back to China where we don’t have missionaries, so we are trying to help him as much as possible. Its been really fun teaching these asians. They have no background at all but they are so hungry to learn about God and Jesus Christ. Hearing their prayers was so cool. They don’t have the habit of saying the usual prayers so everything they say is straight from the heart. That has been one of my favorite things while being on a mission, peoples first prayers are so powerful. It made me want to be cooler and say better prayers.

The language is coming along. I understand a lot and can speak simply. Its been really really hard (probably the hardest thing my brains ever had to do, somedays it whines and wants me to go back to watching T.V. and playing Halo all day....Someday Brain! Someday soon!). And I still have a long way to go, but I am making progress and I’m at a point where I understand enough to get along and so I’m not completely bored and zoned out like I was back in the beginning.

Finland is still pretty warm, but it is getting colder especially at night. Speaking of night, the moon is way awesome here. I don’t know how but I swear its way bigger than normal.

Ok, let me know how its going with you all.

I love you guys. Keep doing good stuff.

Love, Vanhin Gamblin......I mean Merkley