Planting a seed

Hi

This week was pretty good. It was pretty slow as far as numbers go, but I felt like we were really trying and that good things came because of that. We found a really great Russian family, which was exciting because our Mission President said that "There is a Russian family there in Joensuu and you Elders need to find them" So we had been praying for that and it finally happened. It was a sweet first teach and we are excited to see them progress.

And another cool thing happened about 2 nights ago. We were done tracting and walking to our bikes. We happen to look in the window and see an African. And as you all know, I love Africans and so I said we should go and knock his door and try and teach him. It was not a building we had tracted at all and he was the only door we knocked, but he let us in. And it just so turns out that he is a member. Not only that but he has been an active member for 15 years (he even had his endowment) but has just sent his papers in to leave the church. He did not feel very welcome when he came to the Finnish branch (One of the challenges here in Finland is that Finns are more reserved and quiet and they don’t always reach out to people as well as they should) and he also had some good solid questions about the church, the problem was that he only asked his questions in Sunday school and never in a one on one interview with a Priesthood Leader. He had quite a long story of what led up to him sending his papers in, and we told him that the one thing he needed to do was have a long good chat with an actual Priesthood leader. He is leaving to go back to Africa this Tuesday, which made it all the more clear that we were definitely led to him. Our plan was to plant the seed so that he could some day actually talk with a leader because the place he was at was not the most open to allowing us to solve his concerns. I don’t know what will happen to him, but I am hoping the advice we gave him will help him later on when he is more open to accept the answers.

On the bike ride home, me and Elder Rogers we just amazed at all the things that led up to us meeting with him at such a critical time. He had just sent his papers in and he was leaving for Africa in 3 days. I know that we were led to him.

Other than that, a pretty regular week. It has not been too cold, but a little bit more windy. I am getting really excited for the spring to come. We are planning on playing Badminton with our 65 year old bishop today. I’m pretty excited.

Thanks for all the support. I love yall.

Vanhin Merkley