General Conference

(Just the view of the ocean from our afternoon contacting. I dont know what the Finns did, but God must really love them to have given them this breathtaking land....oh and also, dont be fooled, it was just about freezing when I took this picture #worththecold)

Well, this week was a great one. I think that I have never enjoyed conference as much as I did this weekend. What a blessing to hear from such wonderful people of the world. Its such a testimony builder first off that these men are not "dumb guys" but very intelligent and successful men who wouldnt be fooled by an untrue church. They speak truth. Secondly, a big testimony builder that some of my questions were answered that I didnt even know that I had. I already cannot wait for next General Conference because not only does that mean that I am halfway done with my mission, but that I will have grown so much since this Conference this weekend.

Really cool story for ya... So about a week or two ago, we were contacting around the park lake here in Vaasa and we talked to a 21 year old guy, very briefly, from China. His name was (Bobby), and when we asked him about his religious beliefs he informed us that he doesn't believe in any God, that 'we really do not have any purpose here on earth. We simply just exist'. He didn't seem interested in learning anything more so we gave him a pass along card and went our seperate ways. Then, look forward to this past Saturday. We are walking down the street, making our way from a potential investigators place to the church to watch the Women's Session. We encounter this man again and recognize him. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes and really established a good friendship, learning about where in China he is from, why he is in Finland, what he is studying, and so on. As we were about to walk away, I just mentioned--without really thinking much about it-- that he should come to watch our prophet and apostles speak to us tomorrow (Sunday) and that we would be eating in between sessions. He said he might come and we parted ways again. Yesterday, to our pleasant surprise, (Bobby) walked in about halfway into the first session. It was so awesome to have him there. We also had two of our other investigators there and they really enjoyed it (I quote my mother in saying that 'if everyone in the world would just listen to conference with an open heart and mind, then everyone would want to be converted' and this was the light that I saw in these three peoples eyes.) In between sessions we ate some homemade American apple pie that Sisar Harris and I prepared in celebration for one of our investigators birthdays. We talked and laughed and honestly just had a good, normal, fun time. After the second session, (Bobby) came up to us and said, "this is pretty interesting, I think I would like to learn more." It was amazing! Here, this guy that we met a week or two earlier that had absolutely no interest in hearing what we had to say, and after an, initally unrecognized, spiritual prompting, we had made an appointment to teach him, he had a page of notes from the prophet and apostles of the Lord, and he had even joined the facebook group of the YSA's of our ward so he could come to activities in the future. WHAT?!? So awesome. We really are led to those who are being prepared.

I really loved being able to hear the words of such wonderful people this weekend. It is impossible to walk away from conference, after truly listening, without an increased testimony and desire to be a better person.

Sisar Cardon

We picked literally about 3 million apples last pday and have made applesauce, 4 apples pies for members, baked apples, apple salads, and eaten our weight. So so so fun!!