News from Vanhin Henderson

This is part of Trevor's companion's letter:

Dear Family,

We have been working smarter and smarter this past week. Slowing down is one of the hardest, very most humbling experiences. I want to go go go and just go, but that is not how the Lord works. Our language study is interesting because there are so many words with patterns and conjugations and rules. Finnish words can mean many different things and it depends on how we use them that determines the definitions. Just as in life, how we decide to live and learn determines largely the happiness that will come to pass in the future and coming days.

We are working hard on doing things at a wiser pace and more sound. I have to tell you about this old lady that is in our ward. She is 87 and the first member in Kajaani. I love to just sit by her and talk to her because she just loves it. She can't hear or see well so I speak very slow and clearly. She is a pearl. My companion is doing well, I love him! He is working hard to get fundamentals down and building a foundation of teaching. Kajaani is getting freezing, I must say I don't remember Finland being this cold when I was here last winter. You just have to laugh and peddle faster. I thank you all for the prayers and faith. I hope to accomplish what I am here to accomplish. I hope to stand back and see the Lord's hand at work.
Rakkaudella, Love, Vanhin Henderson

"Lyhyt Kirjain" -- Short Letter

Hi Family,
This week we taught 3 discussions to people that were already taking them. But, we found one new investigator. This is a small branch and an area that is kind of new. I’ve been on splits once. It was nice to meet more Elders and get to know them. Our mission conferences are every 6 weeks. If the missionaries are assigned to the northern areas, we only go to the mission home when we have our conferences. Any letters or packages sent to me there will have to wait until we meet at the six week mark. Or I can pay to have them forwarded to my apartment. It’s better to just send everything straight to me in Kajaani. Well, we finally visited the Kajaani Castle that you asked about. I took some pictures and will be sending them to you. We also visited an old cemetery, but we didn’t take any pictures, sorry. It’s cold here and, no, I haven’t purchased a new coat yet. I have two jackets to wear already and that’s almost as good as a full shell coat, ya know. We are planning to go shopping today and there are some sales going on right now. So, don’t buy anything for me. I’ll let you know if I can’t find something and then you can send it to me. I’m sending a letter, but it will take a week to get there.

Love, Trevor

Kajaani Castle

Kajaani, Finland -- Week 2

Hi Family,

My companion’s name is Elder Henderson. We will have transfers every 6 weeks. So since I’ve been here for two weeks, I have a month left before transfers come for us. It’s quite safe to mail anything here. It’s a lot like Logan, so send anything you want to send. We are riding bikes now.


I just bought a bike this past week. We haven’t had much time to go site seeing. I haven’t been to the “castle”. There doesn’t seem to be much opportunity to really do service projects for people here. So we are mostly tracking and trying to find people who will let us teach them a discussion. There are only 22 members in our branch. Last Sunday, my companion and I did the whole sacrament meeting. We lead the music, my companion gave a talk, we did the special musical number and said the closing prayer. I met all the members the first week. It was a little overwhelming to meet them all at once and try to memorize all their names. I didn’t really understand what everyone was saying but they are very nice to the missionaries. Most people we met are nice, but they usually tell us they aren’t interested and just walk away. We taught one discussion this week to an older lady. She finally told us not to come back and that she didn’t believe the things we were teaching her. I guess she was just lonely and wanted some company. There are about 55,000 people here in our town. Logan feels a lot bigger than Kajaani. I haven’t tried any weird food. The food is very bland. They don’t have very spicy food and we aren’t eating tons of fish like we thought they would. They do celebrate Halloween here in Finland, but we aren’t supposed to participate. I’m not quite sure what it will be like. Some people try to speak English to us, but most everyone speaks Finnish. If we were in Helsinki, there would be more people who use English. Its humid here sometimes in the summer, but right now it isn’t. I didn't notice any stink coming from the paper mill factory. The fall leaves were gone when I got here, so I missed the fall season. Sorry. I would have sent a picture of those to the family. Well, I’ve written some letters. They should take about a week to get there. Thanks for everything you do for me.

I miss everyone…give Baby Kate a hug and kiss from me. Trevor

"Tervetuloa" -- "Welcome" to Finland

Dear Family,

I am in Kaijani. It is a little town up in the middleish northish of Finland. It's cold here and it's a really small town. The branch here is like 15 members, I think... maybe less. I don't understand anything being said in Finnish. I get every 6th word maybe if they talk about the gospel. It sucks. I can't understand what anyone says because they talk so fast. I survived the jetlag with no problems. It is already pretty cold here. I haven't found a coat yet, but I will try to do so today on my P-Day. We usually have an hour if we are lucky for email time, but today its only 30 min again. We email from the library. I'm still trying to figure out how to get picture attachments. I'll try again next week. Not sure if we can.

"Tervetuloa" means welcome in Finnish. It's on a lot of the doors here so I picked up at least one word here. Umm, yeah so my companion is a little crazy or "kulu". He is just up and at em all day long. He is always smiling and super happy at the smallest of things. He keeps quoting scriptures, and that is a good thing. I am getting a lot of help with the language. I hope I can survive the next 6 weeks with trying to understand and learn Finnish.

My apartment is actually pretty nice...its quite roomy, I think. It has a bedroom, hallway, kitchen and bathroom and a familiy room all separate. Oh ....and a washing machine room. We have wood floors too.....even though I think they are fake. Well, I need to go. bye...

Trevor

PS...I'm trying to send a letter, you should tell me when you get it. Oh, its 1:30 pm my time and 4:00 am yours.

Up, Up and Away-- "Ylös, Ylös ja Poissa"

Hi Everyone,

Well, we received a phone call from Trevor. He was at the Denver Airport and was assigned to be the group leader....not to worry, everyone seemed to know what to do without much guidence from Trevor. A group of 8 would be hard to miss. Trevor said a member of the church offered to buy him and his companion lunch at the Salt Lake Airport...it was very much appreciated by the two boys. Also, some members talked to their group in Denver to find out where they were going on their mission. Wow, thanks to the members for keeping an eye out for our missionaries. It's great that we have such a "big family" out there to watch out for each other in this world. Now, it's our turn to watch out for those missionaries in our midst....I need to be better about emailing or sending info back to moms of missionaries here in Logan. I hope the members in Finland will keep in touch with us regarding Trevor.

We are anxiously waiting for news of his "safe arrival" in Finland. We expected a call from Trevor while he had a 7 hour layover in Frankfort, Germany. But, alas, no call came...We aren't sure if the calling card didn't work or if the jet lag got the best of the missionary. We will update the blog site with new mailing addresses and info when we receive more news.

Thanks for all your support. Trevor loves to hear from all of you!

The Christensens