September 6, 2016 Lappeenranta ja Interim! (Lappeenranta and interim)

Sunflower patch we found

Thanks everyone for the sweet emails! I wish I had time to respond back to you all personally but the clock is hyper speed, I swear. Just know that I love you and treasure the sweet words you send to me. 

This week was a busy one (arent they all?). We had 5 days of training with all the new missionaries and their trainers, called Interim. It was President and Sister Watson, the APs and my companion and I doing the meetings. Wow. Those things stress me out sometimes, but it was so good! We ate way too much food...Sister Watson spoiled us. One thing we talked about was obedience and I really like the analogy that President Watson gave. It was about the speed limit (yes daddy, I definitely thought of you). He said that when you are driving above the speed limit, you have to always be worried about "is there a cop?" or "can I get away with this many over?" and it takes away your mind from the beautiful journey around you. I thought it was so profound. When we are clocked right exactly on the speed limit, we are more free to look out the window, and see the 80,000 lakes of Finland and the thick forests and the fields. Its so true, when we are obedient, we are free.

Helping Sister Watson unpack groceries for interim...
we played real life tetris with the fridge. 

We went to Lappeenranta for an exchange Sunday night and came back this morning. Its about a 2.5 hour train ride, and breathtakingly beautiful. Its the closest city to Russia where the Finnish missionaries serve, just some miles away from us. Darn it I should have learned how to do a contact approach in Russian! It was a breathtaking city. I love the opportunity to learn from so many different sisters in the mission. 

Morning runs in Lappeenranta
on the biggest lake in Finland

FUN FACT: We have a jar of peanut butter in our car at all times because there are so many apples outside EVERYWHERE that we just pick them and eat them...it helps when we dont have enough time for meals at home. All the Finns think we Americans are obsessed with peanut butter..we are.

GREAT WEEK LOVE YOU!!

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Cardon

AT the temple for Interim

Phone calls with President Watson in the trains
ONE PERSON phone booth...nice squeeze. 

August 30, 2016 Tammisaari -(Oak Island)

We had Mission Tour this week. Elder Johnson (gave the talk in conference about Resurrection) and Sabin came to Finland. It was incredible. They chose 8 missionaries from the mission to interview and I was chosen. It was so amazing to be interviewed by a General Authority. I learned a lot from him. 

Mission Tour Highlights:

-power comes from personal righteousness, peace comes from clear consciousness.

-We need 3 things to be happy in life: fill fill mind with truth, hearts with love, and lives with service.

-This is the university of Godhood there have to be challenging courses.

Seeing Sisar Jacobsen at MLC made me cry...again!! How does Heavenly Father do it? We meet our pre-earth life best friends through our missions.

So we pick berries, apples and things on the side of the road all the time...#Finland and this week I found out that the weird pumpkin berry things I have been snacking on...they bloomed. ya those are rose buds. I have been eating roses. #stupidsisarcardonmoment

Quick funny story...So we are over a lot of area, including this really far out town called Tammisaari. We were going out there because we had a couple of assignments to do. it was a 75 minute car ride through probably one of the most beautiful parts of Finland I have ever seen. We were in fields, forrest, old old old towns and lakes...lots of lakes. We get there and as we are talking to people they ALL just keep speaking to us in Swedish and I am like "uhh, that is definitely not the language I have been learning"...yeah turns out its a swedish town and pretty much nobody would speak to us, BUT we did meet a few really golden people and saw the prettiest tiniest city ever! Sister McAllister and I are gonna start learning some Swedish before we go back there.  

We had exchanges in Helsinki yesterday! It was one of the funnest exchanges I have ever been on! #picutres attached. I literally dont have time to tell all the details now, I will tell when I am back in America, the story of us meeting a 94 year old granny on the street, she invited us to lunch and a gospel discussion, we went for some reason, and turns out it was in an old folks home. She bought us our lunch...and we some how managed to get it down (I dont think I like old folks food). Good day and pictures attached

Rakkaudella, Sisar Cardon

  

August 23, 2016 (Notes from a personal letter this week)

I dont think I have enough time for anything these days. I am trying to still write in my journal thought. Its crazy here is Espoo. 

I know that in serving a mission I am being refined. I feel really blessed to know that Heavenly Father is helping me become who I need and can be. I love knowing that I truly am doing HIS work. 

I love you and I KNOW that this is the Lords work. The gospel is the biggest blessing and will be the key to making everything work. 

August 16, 2016 Wise Finns

Finland fun fact:

Bedrock covers most of the land of Finland. The Finns do not drill it away, but rather build on it. (very respectful of the land and how it "wants" to be and was created) The Finland temple is literally built on a gigantic rock. Houses are all built on rocks. They are everywhere. I read this morning Luke 6:48-49 and thought "The wise Finn built his house upon a rock". 

Finland skies will forever have my heart

On our second exchange this week I was with cute sister Hyde. We not only wore the same outfit (swore I would never do that but...) but we saw a little chalkboard at the door for "messages" and so we wrote our contact info, that God loves them and has a message for them, and left our card. Now they have something fun come to:)

Sister McAllister took a stalker picture of one of the
sisters and I on exchanges. Mom, I bet this makes you
happy to see what I actually do! 

We have a new ward mission leader. He is SO rad.
He had us over for our first meeting and made us
and the AP's a huge meal of Spanish,
Finnish and Greek food.... 

...Yeah, Brandon I bet you would be so jealous of that 16lb hog leg that had been hung in the smoke house for a year that we cut from to eat. Wow. I felt so cultured...and grossed out by the hog hoof less than a foot from me on the table. 

August 9, 2016 Sisar Paakkari on todella ihana! Sisar Paakkari is really wonderful!

What a great week of learning and loving! The mini missionary experience was probably one of the biggest highlights of my mission. These youth of Finland are absolutely incredible. They truly are the future of the church in Finland, and they will be amazing. Our mini missionary who we were able to serve with had so much faith and determination, even though everything about missionary work can be so out of ones comfort zone. We reached new heights together and truly saw an unreal amount of miracles. I was so proud of her when she prayed for her first time in her life in English! She is so brave. 

The 3 Musketeers

My companion on the biggest lake of
southern Finland. We love our road trips.

Guess what...I translated for the mission president’s family this week. Just about wet my skirt, but it all went well. Have I ever told you all how much I love Finnish? Yes, its Adams language for sure.

It was raining so hard this week my umbrella broke...
we huddled together as if one big umbrella...
it was just about as successful as burnt toast,
 but we were smiling!

While pondering and studying this week I read a scripture in Alma. At this point in time of the Book of Mormon, Alma is saying some of his last words to his son Helaman. He says in chapter 27 vs. 34 "...teach them to never be weary of good works..." and I thought..."man, sometimes I get super worn out as a missionary!" but after a random and total "Sister Cardon thought" I pondered more, thinking of the question, Why do we get worn out of good works at times? In further thought and reading I found an answer, vs. 36 "Let all thy doings be unto the Lord and withersoever thou goest, let it be in the Lord". We will get worn out of good works when they are for ourselves, but when we are going forth with the desire and love for our Lord, he will not let us ware. 

Great blessing this week was that we received EIGHT REFERRALS! Wow. I am not kidding, that mini missionary brought many blessings. 

Keep smiling everyone, you know I am!

Rakkaudella,

Sisar Cardon

Hugging our little Finnish baby goodbye :(

-We took a break of our morning runs and played soccer at the field...
right next to the Finland temple! #bestarea

August 2, 2016The weeks feel like days and the days feel like...seconds??

Moi,  (Hi)

 It would take the entire day for me to even tell the half of how this last week went. #missionarylife

MLC this week was such a blessing! I SAW SISTER JACOBSEN and you better believe there were tears. Sisar McAllister and I picked them up from the airport and it was one of those epic off the plane reunions, running, hugging, crying, and laughing. Yeah. SO GOOD.

We had many meetings this week. We talked about being a "successful missionary" and we discussed about Abinadi. He died before he even knew the effect his words and teachings had on Alma. Abinadi literally gave his life for the work of the Lord and didn’t even get to see the result in his lifetime on earth. If we think about it, Alma, who was converted, has a family line that leads straight to Nephi, the Nephi who welcomed Christ to the Americas. Abinadi had no idea the "success" that he was having, but he didn’t ever doubt. He died in faith, that someone would know the truth. What a cool perspective, especially to remember that as missionaries, and members of the church, we are planting seeds that will have significant influence on many. 

 

We went to the temple. I love the temple. I sat in there with Sisar Jacobsen and Suvi Hyssälä (the bishops wife from my last area Turku--the fact that Sisar Jacobsen and I were both there may or may not have played a role in their coming...we will never know ;). ) It was one of the most special experiences of my entire mission. 

We have a mini missionary with us for the week! SISAR PAAKKARI. She is 17, Finn, and outstanding! She is so brave to come see what missionary life is like and help us in our work. Man, if every person, or even just 17 year old member in the church had a testimony as strong as her, this world would be a whole better place. She is so strong. She testifies boldly. I am learning much from her. 

This week we met with a recent convert, read the scripture 2 Nephi 28:30 about "line upon line, precept upon precept is how we learn wisdom" and she responded with a thought provoking question, "does that mean that we only understand the scriptures little by little?" Yes, yes it does. I am learning each and every day little by little about the plan that Heavenly Father has, especially through the scriptures. I am reminded often that it is ok not to know everything, for if I did, what would be the fun in that?

This week was simply great...and I can’t believe that we did ALL that we did in just a week. We even had dinner with President and Sister Watson. It was the 2 assistants and my companion and I. Yep, you better believe it was the best "family dinner" of my mission, with a mind blowing spiritual discussion for dessert. 

                                         Keep on keepin’ on everyone!

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Cardon

PS. Birthday shout outs to DALLIN MICHAEL CARDON the baby of the family! 

They grow up so fast ;)