I Felt Like A Spy

Hi

This week was fun. We had Halloween and unfortunately didn’t really do too much for it, my comp is a Finn and so Halloween is not a big deal to him and my excuse is that I was lazy. But, we did, in a way celebrate Halloween. We had District Meeting the next day and people came in a "missionary appropriate" costume. It turned out that only me and another guy did anything, but still funny. He wore a superman shirt under his white shirt and said he was Clark Kent, I just stuck a piece of paper on my nametag so that it read: Vanhin Werewolf. Haha not the most elaborate but you do what you can. We also visited a cool museum they have here in Kuopio. They have this big Mammoth that the made. It made me wish that Mammoths still existed. Who needs a car when you have a sweet mammoth. Answer: Nobody.

We then went to Joensuu and interviewed these two young girls from China and Vietnam for baptism. It went really well and it was really cool to talk with them. They were both so excited to have the chance to be baptized. They were very humble and explained everything they had been learning so simply. It was fun to be with them.

After that we took off for Savonlinna and had splits. Savonlinna is a really small city. So small that they had to warn me of who they had talked to before, and there were many. Its a cool city, and although small, it has a cool feel to it.

We also went on all saints day to the cemetery with an investigator of ours. Like they do at Christmas, the Finns have a tradition of going to the graveyard and lighting a candle on the graves. It was a cloudy day and the graveyard looked solemn and cool. After that, we went to a Lutheran church service. We walked in late and a lot of people were staring at us because of our badges. I felt like a spy. It was interesting to see the differences in our meetings compared to theirs. They sing a lot of songs and there was some slightly awkward moments with the sitting and standing and chanting, but overall it was a good meeting. There was also a man there with only one ear, which I have never seen before. Interesting day.

Keep it up and have a good week.

Love you all,

Vanhin Merkley