Halloween in the mission field

It’s Halloween.

But it doesn’t feel like halloween because I’m stuck in the same costume that I have been in for the last 9 months. I did get a little festive and carved a pumpkin, made a sweet ghost and decorated my planner for halloween. I also got my hands on Edgar Allen Poe’s "Raven" poem. And for P-day we are going into the city for a lil sightseeing... This may turn out to be a pretty ballin halloween afterall. Halloween is one of the best holidays in my opinion. What other day can you cut holes in your old dance dance revolution pad and wear it (my costume last year) and still be considered kind of normal... Such a great holiday.

Speaking of Holidays. I’m starting to see Christmas stuff at the store. Because santa clause is from Finland, they do not mess around when it comes to Christmas. I’m really excited to be in a country that loves Joulu as much as I do!

This week we got the call that its going to be six more weeks in Haaga with Vanhin Pearson. He wanted to move areas because he does not like the big city. I told him I am going to try and force him to like it. We are really in a groove now and are not having a lot of fun together. We have a baptism set for this Saturday. It is a lady from Tanzania. She is really golden. We are teaching a lot of foreigners right now, and mostly it’s because we are close to the big city and there are a lot of them around us. Although, it does not really help my Finnish improve, I don’t really mind because I have developed a huge love for foreigners.

This week we really hit the pavement and did a lot of contacting. We do not have a ton of investigators right now so we are trying to find a few more. Contacting is really interesting. Some days you can’t do anything wrong and you’re finding all the time. But then other days, you don’t even have a single conversation with somebody. I have noticed that a huge part of it is staying positive and fresh. It is such an interesting part of the work. I’m glad I have the companion I do because although our styles are different, we both have a similar sense of humor so that keeps things easy.

Thank you all for the emails and letters. You guys are all cool.

Love you. Have good weeks.

Vanhin Merk