Sisu in the Coldest City

Hi

  

This week we had a district meeting in Savonlinna and afterwards went to the castle. It is a sweet old one and we got to walk around and take a tour of the inside. The Finns have a long period of defending themselves whether from the Swedes or the Russians. There is a word in Finnish "sisu" which means like grit or guts only better and they definitely have a lot of that. We then went to kebab after. Kebab is a huge stable to missionaries in Finland. When we go out to eat, 99% of the time its kebab. Which is tricky for a vegetarian, but I have been able to find the few meatless items on the list so I cant complain.

We then had splits in Kajaani. Which is not the most north, but it is the coldest city where missionaries serve. And it was cold. I was used to a bit warmer weather and was not dressed right so I was getting pretty dominated. But the good thing is that my fingers and toes were only black and are now just a dark purple. Just kidding but it felt like it.

Vanhin Oberhansley and I have a tradition to do something fun every saturday night for dinner and this week we bought a puzzle to do. We were going for a Christmas puzzle because it is a family tradition, but all we could find was a polar bear puzzle. Close enough though. We have been putting that together and we now even have some glögi. Which is a good Finnish traditional Christmas drink.

We were teaching a lot this week and things are moving along. We found a really cool couple that like to travel a lot. I could see myself being good friends with these people. For one, the guy was wearing a tie dye shirt. And when we went back the next day, he was wearing the same tye die shirt. They are super cool and nice and hopefully will come to the ward Christmas party this week.

Thanks for everything.

I love you all.

Vanhin Merkley