Fall is coming

Hi

The week has been a good one. We had District Meeting and talked about how to relax as a missionary. Even in myself, I have noticed that sometimes I get all worked up when things don’t work out or are slow, but the best way to overcome that is to take a few deep breaths, think of a good joke or something and relax. It’s a good skill to learn as a missionary and also in everyday life. Life is in the little moments, and we need to learn to enjoy them.

Turku is a sweet city and this week was "Turku day" which led to a whole bunch of sweet festivities throughout the whole week. They had some dudes skateboarding, some people were spray painting, some were juggling, there was even a band playing. We couldn’t exactly participate in everything, but it was still sweet to walk by and see what they had going on. Turku believes a lot in cultural diversity and so a lot of it was related to that. It was cool.

Vanhin Nilsson and I have been playing a lot of tennis. We wake up and 5:45 and go play. It has been a ton of fun because we are so even. It has been great having a companion who likes sports as much as I do. The only downer is that it is getting darker and colder.... Once again, winter is on its way.

Fall is coming. It is weird to me because it seems like summer had just started. Time seems to be flying faster than usual. But I really love the feeling of fall here in Finland. You can already see the differences in the trees and pretty soon here the ole winter coat will have to come back from retirement. It will be like reuniting with an old friend, an old friend that was always a slight pain but a friend nonetheless.  The Mission President just dropped the hammer on us wearing our suit coats all the time. I am currently wearing my suitcoat. He said that we have to wear them in winter and even the summer. It sounds wimpy to say that it gets hot in Finland when its 75, but when you get used to -25, 75 seems like straight fire.

We had a straight outta Bible belt Bible bash the other day. One of the guys was from Texas and a former Baptist and the other guy was an African 7th Day Adventist. I would be lying to you if I said that I enjoyed it very much. I would also be lying to you if I said that the discussion led any where useful on either side. But I wouldn’t be lying to you if I said that we probably won’t be going back there anytime soon...

It was a good week. I’m thankful for all of you and am happy that you all seem to be doing well. We have a lot of blessings.

Love you all.

Vanhin Merkley