The winter has been defeated

Hi

The new Elders name is Vanhin Ogden. He is from Provo, Utah. He likes sports and is really easy going and cool. I’m excited to be with him. He has a lot of fire and faith in the work and already a lot of good things have happened this week. He also knows how to play Pokemon... which is a plus because I have managed to get my hands on quite a few Pokemon cards. (I stole them from Elder Pope, who was a good friend in the mtc with me.) We play after planning so don’t go around thinking we are time wasters, but it has been really fun. I have noticed that there is a missionary scale. The scale is from "too much fun and not enough work" to "too serious and not enough relaxation." Being too far on either side of the scale in my opinion is a bad thing. My philosophy in mission work is that you need to focus and be serious, but you also need to have fun and relax so that you don’t turn into a stress-ball. You need to find a balance where you are working hard, but still having a good time. Every missionary is a little different, so everyone is in slightly a different spot. Finding the right balance is important because without it you are either not very effective or not very happy. This is just another little thing in missionary work (and also in life) that I have noticed. It is important to be balanced.

But, ya, we get along well. We had more teaches than we had had in a while this week. Not because we weren’t trying before. I feel like it is just that with a new missionary, they bring new ideas, which has really helped this week in Joensuu. We have been biking a lot, but it’s getting much warmer with the occasional colder day. It was great to here our branch President say: Talvi on voitettu which means "The winter has been defeated" We have also been hearing birds chirping again, which is a great sign. The weather the rest of my mission will be cakey because I only have half of a winter to go. Woo! I am really excited for summer, I hope I am in a really pretty city because the scenery is great in Finland.

Not to much more. I’m doing well. We are going to play badminton again today, which I am really excited about. I really love the city still. I’m excited to see what happens here because I feel like we have some really good potential with a lot of our investigators. It will be a good change.

I love you all. Thanks for the support and whatnot. Keep being cool.

--Vanhin Merkley