Still in Savonlinna, but New Companion

Hey family,
Well obviously, I didn't email you on Monday. This is because we got a change call on Saturday. So on Monday night, Elder Slade realized he hadn't packed enough and so we missed emails. Then on Tuesday, Elder Slade and I ran to our train…. a little too late, but just barely made it. The run was terrible because of Elder S's 50 pound bag and the hill in between us and the train station. lol. So all of Tuesday, we were rushing around swapping companions and I even missed a bus. Luckily, it all worked out and I ended back up in Savonlinna before the end of the day with my new companion Elder Empey. He was in the MTC with the group before me so it’s like serving with someone my same age in the mission. Elder Slade went to Kerava by Helsinki. I like Elder Empey. There is a mission web site?


But the past week, has been an interesting one. We had a Zone conf. and that is always a treat. And then on Sunday, I was able to get a picture of the whole ward like you wanted.
Also I don't know if I told you… but, our baptismal candidate with whom we met with last Monday night. She ended up being married to a Lutheran pastor and he strait up forbade her to meet with us or from coming to church. I was a little surprised, because I thought that she would have told us something like that on our first meeting. Sooooo... long story short, she is no longer investigating, but promised she would ask her husband if we could meet with him and discuss the whole thing. I still haven't been able to get a hold of her, or anything so I'll let you know what the final result is when I know.

Elder Empey is a hard worker and we can totally keep the ball rolling here. Hopefully, the members will contribute more as the change goes on. To answer your questions ….I am going up to Oulu again where President Brown will deliver gifts in like two weeks. So if the post is on the ball I will probably get your package by then, and if not oh, well. I can get it some other way. But if you haven't sent it for some reason, send it to Savonlinna. I will be here till Jan. 10th I think.

Oh, and that sister missionary from Finland at temple square…. I have met her once before. She happened to be good friends with the missionaries and was a translator a couple of times for some meetings in Pietarsaari. Other than that, I don't really know her, but I did remember the face. Elder Slade won’t stay any longer than Jan. 13th. Well I need to go…. so love you all and miss you.

Trev

11/15/10 Meeting in Helsinki with Pres Brown

Hey family,

Well, I was way surprised to hear about Erik’s paraglide accident. Tell him I am really sorry to hear about his accident. I also hope that he recovers soon.

This week was just great. I loved being down in Helsinki, not only because of the meeting, but it was great to do some missionary work with some other elders. The meeting itself was great. We learned more on how to teach simply while following the needs of our investigators and following the spirit. It was also really cool because with this new program that we have, we include some practice time after the lessons so that we can be comfortable with what we have learned. I really liked this because later on in the week the things we needed to do came naturally and much more powerfully than normally. Also, I loved the lessons from Pres. Brown because he taught everything in a new and different way so that we all learned something. He also helped us see the "down the road" applications such as teaching the law of chastity to our children. Gosh that was a hard one to tackle. It is hard to teach a child while being really careful. But now, I feel a lot more comfortable with new and different situations.

During the evenings, I had the opportunity to go out teaching with Elder Powell, a MTC group member. I learned some things about contacting people on the street from him. I learned how to be more bold and interrupt people nicely. Plus, I got to do some metro contacting, which nothing came of it for me, but it was nice to try it nonetheless. Also during the evenings, I went out for some teaching appointments. One was really cool. I went with some other elders to this young Chinese girl. Her name was “P”. Anyway, we taught really simply about Christ. She was just loving it, so we set up a baptismal date with her right there on the first lesson. It was pretty cool. So all in all, the trip was sweet. On the weekend, Elder Slade and I started to implement some of the things we both learned. Lastly this Sunday, we had a teach with an African French woman. The teach went really well, because the one the lady was really looking for answers about God’s church. She had noticed and was saddened because the Lutheran church has been voting on whether they allow gay marriage into their church. She had fasted and prayed for 3 days about the Lutheran church voting on it before we came. So when we told her about the restoration, she was like "that’s true". We ended up setting a baptismal date with her, too, for the 11th of Dec. So this week has just been on fire. I'll tell you more about it in a tape I'm still making. Sorry it’s not done yet.

One other thing of business, I ended up having to buy some bus tickets with my home card, but it’s ok…. I still have enough reserve money. You don't need to put more into my account. I'll get it reimbursed and use it for Christmas gifts and that coat or something. FYI: All travel is reimbursable by the mission. It has to be or it would kill me. It’s close to 120 £ every month. Anyway, I am taking care of my card accounts over here. I can check my wells fargo online account and take care of it. That way you don't have to.

Lastly, Elder Slade didn't go to the LTM meeting because only district leaders and their companions can go. So, we did a split and he stayed with the district leaders comp. I'll explain more on my tape.
Well I love you all and hope the best for Garrett’s toe surgery and Eric’s recovery. Thanks for the emails…..hugs and more hugs. Trev

Chat Time:
HI I’m on and will answer your questions in just a second.

So, my coat does have a hood to protect my head. It really will work great this year and fyi, this coat was bought last year from a nice store dressman. It's where I would buy a new suit should I want one. So it's a good coat, it just is a little pooofy. Not tight fitting. But I guess that is what I need for winter. lol.

I didn't get that wool coat, because I want to check at some other cities. The store doesn't have all of the styles that they come in and I think there is one I may like better. So, before Christmas I will probably buy one, because after then the coats don't stay out long…. sad.

I don't really know if we are going to have a meeting in Helsinki for Christmas, but I would say that you should probably send the Christmas package there. I'm sure I could have my district leader pick it up for me when he goes down for a meeting. I'll get it somehow if you were to send it in the next week or two. Just send it to the mission office and it will be ok. If all else fails, I'll just wait. lol.

Hey just finished the letter….can chat for like 5 min.
I did turn on the co detector and I have oodles of batteries. Don't need any more, and I can also buy some here if needed. About the Christmas package…..if you could I would like you to include some cooking recipes. ….like a pasta recipe with the olives in it. I don't remember which one. I guess you can just email those though. Oh well.
How’s Erik doing now this week?

Ok…. last thing, next week tell me what one liners they are that Arica misses. (Movie one-liners) I’m dying to know…. bye

(I asked him if we had the chastity talk.) um, yeah once we did have that talk. When I was 9 or so and (17 way too late, 16 may have been better, but I guess I turned out all right eh?) It’s all good.

(I asked him if he attending the temple during his training in Helsinki.) No temple attendance, I may only get to go once before I leave sadly. I'll let you know when that happens though.

10/25/10 4 Changes with Elder Slade!

Hey family,
Well as it turns out the unthinkable happened. Elder Slade and I stayed in Savonlinna. So we will be here for another 5 weeks.... 4 changes, that's the longest I've ever been with someone. Yeah, I did get your package. Thanks for the razors and the gum. I am on my last razor head, and they are really expensive here in Europe for some reason. Anyways, thanks also for the tape. I enjoyed it quite a lot and am going to try and get one back off to you in response to some things you asked on it.

As for pictures and stuff, I am also sending with the tape my SD card with all of my photos for the past while. Sorry, if I didn't take a lot of photos, but it seems not a whole lot happened that was picture worthy. I took some funny ones of Elder Slade on it ......so have fun laughing.
Wow, I can't believe that Brandon Johnson and Jordan Call have gotten their calls already. It just doesn't seem like they should leave before I get home. Weird how everyone sort of freezes in your mind when you leave.

The new coat that I found is from a missionary, so its all good. It doesn't look great but it is warm and good for missionary work. We haven't had any reports about a break out of bed bug here in Finland. ...Nor do I think we will. For some reason, Finland doesn't have too many problems, I blame the government. Either way you don't need to worry.

So you got Jason to say he would play the violin after I got home? how did you get him to do that? I suspect you bribed him with a car or something. (Trevor knows Jason all too well. lol That is exactly what he tried to get out of us.) All the same though, I would like to hear him play for the family or something. Gosh, I miss playing the violin even just a little, maybe I'll play something for myself upon returning.

This week, we have had some well "let downs" happen to us. Our investigator, "B" is really dragging his feet, so we are going to back off him for a while. ...you know, a week or two at the most. He just doesn't seem to want to come to church at all. It seems that has been the big clincher for all of my investigators, coming to church. Anyway and sadly, our other investigator family that we found is also on the back burner. They told us that they didn't want to be re-baptised. But at least we did what we are out here to do....offer people the gospel and invite them to come unto Christ.

Another thing that happened this week is that we got in contact with a less active member that moved into our area. She is super cool, and is going to meet with us in the next week or so. Yeah!! Some less active activation action. lol. and lastly this week, I went to visit some ill members at their homes and the hospital. I was fortunate to have the experience of giving a preisthood blessing to one of them, and it was a neat experience for me. The details aren't important but ...normally I am nervous about these sort of things. But this time ,I felt really calm and assured that I would be able to speak the words I needed to. In fact, I was able to be calm enough that when a nurse walked in I didn't have to pause or anything. Truly the Lord does speak through men today. I was sure glad for that tender mercy this week, and thought you would like to know.

Well, I'm off to find the elect. Hope you are enjoying the last of fall. Love you all, Trev

Side Note: Elder Slade's mom said that he was extending his mission call until Jan 2011.

Midnight Sun in Finland

Any packages for Christmas need to be mailed at the beginning of November to the Mission Home address to reach Trevor....

10/18/10 Shroom Month...and All Saints Day

It was "shroom month" this month. Look out! their poisono

Hey fam,
Well this week was good and bad. ;) This week we finally decided to drop our investigator "P". He has been with us since I got here in Savonlinna and has slowly gotten better and better. But really he has had such a hard time with coming to church and not being afraid of his wife. She isn't happy about him being a member. So sadly, we will just start check up on him in a couple of weeks and keeping in touch now and then. :) We don't want to cause any problems, but we will leave the door open for him to contact us or other missionaries later. Thats the nice thing about backing off, you can always return later, but it doesn't work that way if they tell you to leave. Hopefully, he will recognize the difference when we aren't there.

And then, we also found some new people. This time, it is a young family who are from Burma. Weird huh. Anyway, they happen to already be Christian, so they get a lot of what we are talking about. So this week, we are meeting with them again and seeing how they doing with reading the pamphlet we gave them. Side note: the church still doesn't have a BOM in Burmese, so we are trying to teach them out of the gospel principles book.

Other than that there hasn't been any other new things happening here. It snowed here just last Wednesday, and we still have some snow around on the lawns. Because of this, I also changed out my tires for some snow tires that came with my bike. Yay. no sliding to my death this winter.

Also this week, we had a funny "run in" with a drunk guy behind a door. He came out and asked us if we were interested in seeing some witchcraft, and that he was a witch. Of course we said no, but it was really funny because he was trying to explain what a witch was to us and he used the holiday in which kids dress up as witches. He would say the finnish word for witch, and then he said in english "Easter". It took me a minute to remember that Easter is Halloween here in Finland ...only its not as big. (It's not Easter. It's called All Saints Day. In Finland there is not a tradition for children going door-to-door for tricks or treats on All Hallows Eve, such as Halloween in the United States (The closest tradition to Halloween in Finland is when children dress up like witches on Palm Sunday, and go from door-to-door collecting sweets). Don't worry though about sending some Halloween stuff, I'm sure my companion and I will love celebrating it anyway in our apartment. I didn't get the package yet actually, but I will keep aware for it. It will probably come some time within 1-2 weeks since you sent it. I've noticed it takes more time to come to Finland than leave though. FYI: change call is coming up this Saturday, so I might just get moved. Both me and Elder Slade are pretty sure that one of us will leave, seeing as we have had 3 changes together, and thats the usual longest for a companionship to last. I don't reallyknow what to say other than.... thanks a bunch for the package, pictures and the weekly letter.

I liked the insight too about the gospel principles class you talked about, Dad. It reminds me of something I learned on a different subject that I later applied to the basic principles of the gospel. If you remember... the scripture in James 2 talks about faith without works being dead. I made the comparison that we first need to have faith in a priciple of the gospel and then our actions must show that faith. For example... belief or faith in Christ leads to baptism. Thanks for sharing your spiritual highlight.

Well I love you all, can't wait until next week. Love Trev

Later email: I'm doing the normal stuff. It's late here though, so we will be headed out procelyting soon. And then another week. Oh, I bought a suit from a kirppu tori or a local DI kind of a store. plus some other small needed things for like 3 £!!! Good shopping! I'll send a picture of it next week, my computer here is on the frits. Actually I need to go, but have a good time in St George. I love you. (We emailed this week from St. George..Jason was participating in the State Golf Championship Tournament for 4A high schools.)

Oh, and ps. I got a letter from Cecilia last week. So we got that all good. I bet if you keep emailing her from time to time she would come visit. lol. She offered to let us come visit her in Sweden if you come to Europe. I can tell she really likes you and Linda.

10/11/10 Habaneras, Free Coat and District Conf

Hi Family,

Well so far this week things have some changes.... "D" had his restaurant fall through, when he tried to buy it. So he moved down to another city where he has another restaurant. Did I tell you that he had said yes to being baptised last week? Anyway, so last last Friday, he committed to a baptism, and then the next Tuesday, he was gone, out of our hands. He is still going to meet with other missionaries down south though so all seems good. The older lady we were trying to teach has Alzheimer’s possibly and so we can't teach her either. She doesn't remember who we are from one week to the next. But hey thats ok, I'm sure she will remember who the missionaries are in the spirit world.

I also got to go to Kuopio again this week for district conference. It was really good, and I learned a lot about faith and how to use my faith better. One particular thing that I learned about was how we need to have our faith in correct principles in order to tap into Heavenly fathers power. I was able to speak with President Brown in my interview with him. I always like being able to have some one on one time with him so that I can ask some questions.

Lastly... today, I tried some habaneras. We used them in some tacos we were eating for lunch. Luckily, the one we used wasn't too hot, but it did suprise me at first. So put that one down for things I have now tried. Have any of you tried those before? lol.

So, a coat? Well the funny thing is.... I found one. It's not anything great, but it seems like it would be warm. Another missionary left it behind when he left the country. I thought I would just use that one for the next winter as well as my two jackets if needed for extra warmth.
How much was the black coat that you found? If it's a good deal then I might agree to take it. The thing is though, I 've now got a good warm coat that is free and I can just buy a new one if I want when I get back. It might just be smarter to not buy a new one. What do you think?
Thanks for looking out for me. If I hadn't found this coat, then I would have needed that black one. Last winter was a little cold with just two coats. lol.

Also for my package ....FYI, you don't have to add in candy. I feel like I've got too much candy. lol. but I'm glad to hear that you are sending the pack of razors, gum, and the voice tape. I've been waiting to hear that tape.:) Well thats about all for this week, but thanks for the emails and prayers. I love you all, and miss you too.

love, Trev

P.S. How are your fingers recovering Nathan? Plus thanks for the pictures. They are sweet.
P.P.S. FYI, I am applying for a drivers license this next week.... so it may be about 100 dollars coming out of my acct. The mission reimburses some of the fee though. Gosh, I feel like I've spent a lot lately. Sorry.

General Conference -- Successful Beginnings

Hi,
So.... This week, things have gone pretty well.... Great in fact. "P" started to progress this week...he talked to his wife about going to church. She wasn't all that happy about it and we just found this out. He told us he did a lot of reading from the BOM. I was surprised actually. I had gone over there to exhort him one last time to read and come to church, and then we were going to try and check back in a month or so. But, he actually followed through with it. It was sweet, and he even told us when he wanted to meet with us rather than wait for us to ask. It looks like he might just keep going until he gets baptized...I hope so.

"D" (from Nepal) this week accepted a baptismal date and then expressed his desire to have us continue to really help him get an answer to the Book of Mormon. I was pretty stoked to say the least. Unfortunately, Elder Slade didn't think it would be a good idea to do a chest bump after the teach....lol. But that's how I was feeling. The french guy this week slowed down a little bit with his reading, and told us how he wants to read the whole BOM before he gets baptized. But luckily, he still knows that our meetings are to lead to baptism and is willing to continue.

What else.... We also found a legally blind investigator this week. An older mummo. She is quite old, but would like to hear the gospel so we will see how it goes from there.

General conference was great. There were some really powerful talks given. Some I especially needed to hear. I especially liked Elder Holland's talk (thanking those who helped him). It was good for me to hear all of the things I can work on in my life. As for our sleeping arrangements, we stayed in Kuopio both nights.... Saturday and Sunday. The bus ride was long, but I didn't get one letter off. I got nauseous and slept so that it didn't get worse....both ways....so no long letters. Sorry, I'll try to record a tape today and send it to you this week instead. I think the tapes are better anyway. Oh, we had 6 missionaries there: Pond, Gorringe, Slade, me, Ranzenburger, and Watson.

Elder Slade will finish his mission in about 3 months - just after Christmas. I think he decided to extend a little bit. Oh, and I did see Elder Ballam a couple of weeks ago. It was weird seeing someone from the neighborhood and high school here in Finland, but a good weird. He said Logan is still the same...lol.

Well ,thats about it. I love you all and hope you have a good week. I'm still praying for you all.
love, Trev

P.S. Good luck re-habbing your fingers, dad.... and linda, remember what Elder Scott said about becoming something--- consistency is the key... that is for your new diet....lol...sorry i'm a tease. Thanks for the pictures and the video of kate...

News about Finland's education this week: http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=D802BA36-CC33-11DF-8853000C296BA163

9/27/10 French, Nepal and A "Billet"

Savonlinna Lake at Sunset

Hey family,
Well this week has been the best in a while. Well, some success in the work. So this week, we meet with our new investigator by the name of "B". That's French for "welcome". Anyway, this is the guy that we met forever ago and gave him a French Book of Mormon. He was the one who ended up reading half of it and is still going. Crazy. But we needed a couple of supplies in French, and also, we needed to find some time when he could meet. Thus, it took so long to start meeting or teaching him. So, really we are just working with him and helping him start to pray about the BoM so that he can get his answer. Our other investigator from last week, "D", the Finnish/English speaking Nepalanese man. He came to church, and it was great. He even brought his friend who was visiting him for the weekend. I was soooo surprised. So right now, he is still at the same point as "B", looking for his answers from Heavenly Father. So we are just sitting pretty so to speak at the moment. They are on track, and we are still trying hard to find some more people.

Annikin lane...reminded him of Star Wars

So, your adventures have sounded pretty awesome. I would have loved to go to the car show and check the Bugatti Veyron out. Oh well, I'm doing more important things here. AND, I will be watching General conference in Kuopio probably this next week. We are staying with the district leader, and having a "billet!!!"... that's a party. No, not really we will be behaving ourselves. But, both me and Elder Slade are super excited to go to gen. conf. I don't remember being this excited ever for gen. conf. to roll around..... odd how the mission will affect that.
Also, the new rims ought to look pretty good. Send me a picture if you get a chance when you get them on the Jeep. Thanks. Good luck with your fingers this week. I hope you get all five back, too. And remember, I am praying for those fingers, as well as the whole family's safety. Thanks for your support.

love, Trev

P.S. That was a really cool idea to send me Emily's mission blog from the last week. If that is a regular thing, let me know. I would like to keep updated.... if not, no biggie.

9/20/10 Shotgun Talk & New Investigator

Family,

As for what has been going on here.... a lot has happened in the past week. Last week I said that this week would be the best I've had in a while. and it has...

This week I started out by just doing the normal stuff, but I had a meeting with one of our investigators. "P", we went over to his house and taught him about baptism. We then asked him if he would be baptised in like a month, and of course he said no. We expected that. So we then used the situation to ask him what would be holding him back, and trying to help him see his concerns about changing his life. Really though it felt and he acted like he just didn't fully desire to do anything. so in the end we asked him to come to church and he said he would.( later in the week, he ended up not coming which by this point is a good indicator that we should give him some time and come back in about a month or so to see if he is ready to start acting on what we are teaching. Some good news though is that we have been in the process of meeting with some other man"D", who is a Nepalese man. We were able to get ahold of him this week, and he said that he was really busy, but he would be at church and we could discuss the gospel then. Funny thing was, that he actually did it. He came during sunday school, and we taught him a little of the gospel. He was really open and agreed to meet with us some more and start reading the Book of Mormon. OH, he speaks English well , and he can speak Finnish well enough to get by. He is buying a restaurant here in Savonlinna. Anyways it was really good,and the best part was that I could tell he was feeling the spirit, despite some other factors,( that is another story). Thats about how the work here is going.

Another thing, this week was that we had a special training meeting in Oulu, and it was really good. President Brown focused on teaching by the spirit, and receiving revelation as you are teaching. It was really good, and I have been trying to work on this for a long time so it was nice to get that form this meeting. Another thing was that pres gave us a challenge to re read the B of M before Christmas, while marking 4 things: Christ and his references(names), his attributes, his words, and the doctrines of the BofM.... all in different colors. His challenge was aiming at giving us more spiritual power that would come from the Book of Mormon. Personally, I was and am excited to do this. I definately felt like this would help me have a stronger conviction and more powerful testimony.

Lastly, this Sunday I gave a shotgun talk... I found out sat. night that the person who should be giving a talk was out of town for his son ( another story) and so I gave a long winded thought as a talk. It wasn't very good. ....lol. I laughed at how dad this week, in his letter, said how great his talk was..... sort of ironic.

anyways thats this week. Thanks again for writing and I love you all.
trev

ps oh, I got the retainer fixed already.... it was 25 euros. but I have the receipt... so I'll try and get the form filled out. bah... I'll have to talk to you next week about it more though. Pretty much, its under control at the moment. oh and I wanted to ask, but you can answer in your next week email--- What are the girls sizes and yours? I would like to be ready this Christmas on gifts and I thought I should know. lol. I'm guessing you are a medium and what is that in euro numbers? 40? or an american 8?..... anyway, just curious.

oh lastly, I got a letter from Elizabeth today... I was quite surprised.... thought you might like to know. lol. It was good to hear how she was doing. Yes, I did get my present off to Emily for her birthday.... last week in fact..... me beaming......:)
I'm on the ball ....oh, yeah.....
ok well, I got to go..... love you !

9/13/10 Birthday Cake & Awakening Finland

Fam,

Oh yeah, I did make Elder Slade a german chocolate cake and change calls came. We are staying put. nothing terribly new. I also fixed one of his ties for him and made him breakfast too. Unfortuantely, that was the best part of the day....lol... rotten luck. Also, I soon realized that you can't hide a birthday cake from your companion when he lives with you.... lol.

Hey, so that's ok about the dental stuff.... I am going to take care of the re glueing thing and like I said last time you can find out the stuff about the dental insurance. I don't think it will be a problem just yet.

(We test drove a car this week for fun.) So are we getting new cars? an audi a 6 supercharged sounds pretty cool. Is it faster than the Jetta? that's what I want... lol.... faster and quicker. You should definately keep me updated on what kind of cars you end up looking at. Oh and I will most definately have a couple of parties at the house when I get home. Hopefully my friends/college dudes/dates won't think it's tacky being at the parent's house. ...lol Send me a picture of the new sectional when you decide on one. I would like to feel at home if I can when I actually get home.

I did get Kate's "kisses email" from Celeste, but i dont know if i can open it just yet. ...but I'll figure it out in a second. Thanks for telling me 'hi' from Elizabeth... How did you see her? I'm assuming you met her at a golf match for Jason. BTW, how did she seem like she was doing? I haven't heard from her for a really long time. Oh, and I haven't ever gotten a letter from Cecilia. I was hoping that I could eventually get in contact with her someday. I might even be able to say a couple of things in Swedish with her. ...lol.

So this week... the overview of it all.... is that we still don't know what is going on with "M" We did find a congo french guy.... we just haven't been able to get over to him. We are still waiting for our supplies in French to arrive as well, so we can't really teach him until those get here. We get those this Friday, so maybe next week I'll have something more to say about him. "P" our other inv. from way back... we are trying to get ahold of him and ask him how he is doing. We are getting a lot of support from the ward members. They are getting behind us more and more the longer we are here. It helps to be in the same area for a while. We even got one sister to now believe that there is a new awakening coming to Finland and Europe. We had a good DA with her and were able to testify strongly.... so hopefully, we can get this ward to change the Savonlinna area with us. ;)

Lastly, I will send some picts next week when I remember to bring my converter with me. I forgot. ....sorry. Also I'm trying to get caught up on letters so I'll write you another letter when I can..... maybe on that bus ride I have one this week. Once again, thanks for all your prayers this week. I can tell that they are helping out alot, the members seem to be more open to what we have to say.
love
trev

9/6/10 -- Wisdom Teeth and Home Teaching

Hey Linda,

First off I wanted to ask you some stuff.... It's about my dental stuff. So, my retainer has once again broken. lol. It's terrible how many times its happened. So, good news is that I'm in Finland where I can see a dentist. Anyways, I was wanting to know if our insurance would cover it or if I would have to just fork over the money with my credit card. I have a $800 limit so I think I could cover just a glue and tweek job if it didn't get covered by the insurance first off. I really wouldn't mind having a bracket broken, but I noticed that my front two teeth are getting a slight gap in the middle. I don't know why they are doing that. It should just be an easy glue job like last time, but this time I have two brackets that are broken.

Also, another item I felt like I should have checked maybe just through you, is about my wisdom tooth. It is coming in (one crown is poking through) and I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't have any interference with my other teeth (make me loose my other tooth next too it). I've tried feeling around with my tongue, but I can't tell for sure what is going on. If you could go to Gunnel and get my last x ray records maybe Celeste could tell if it will be a problem. I haven't really had a problem with it, but I just wanted to check before it would become a problem, now would be the time to have it removed if I needed to....

that's about all for now. I'll be getting on again at 5:00 pm, my time.... 8 am yours. we can chat then and see what we should do.
tell you more about this week later. bye.
trev.

2nd email: I just noticed that my teeth don't have such a large gap like they did a day ago. wierd.
I am also not in a rush to get my wisdom tooth looked at but if I can I'll have the dentist look at it.

Hmm, sounds like a eventful week.... for you all. What with the sod laying and yard work at Arica's. Well, this week for me has been quite the opposite, a little dreary. It's been raining almost every day and "M" still says she is still sick. So we have been patiently waiting for a chance to meet with her, as well as working really hard at finding someone new. OH, this week had a little funny story...well not really but this week when I was out on the steets I tried approaching this young man. As soon as I got his attention, he saw my name badge and freaked out, and started running. Only then did I realize he might be handicapped. I felt a little ridiculous. Another thing about the missionary work, is that the bishop has asked us to help out with the home teaching, (we only have two priesthood holders) and so that should give us a good chance to get the members to spread the gospel with their friends. I think that it is going to help a lot. Well, that's about all for the week.

Well tell me what is happens next week. oh, and I didn't get the pictures of the grass being laid, but i can imagine pretty well. I've done a few in my days. lol.
love you all and hope that dad's fingers get better.
Trevor.

8/31/10 Refreshing my French ???

Dear Family,

Well, It has been another exciting week then in Logan.... what with Allens coming down and Jason's games and also Emily's farewell. So Nathan, how are your fingers doing? I thought you werent' supposed to do anything really strenuous.... like wakeboarding. Seems like you could re-injure them doing that. I thought I would let you know that I'm still working on a letter for Jason and I've just been a little busy this week. I shouldn't be as busy this week but we will see. lol .....things always seem to come up.

So as for me, I have been doing good this week. Lots of good things happening here in Savonlinna. First of all, we have been finding more people on the streets and at doors to teach. Good possible investigators. For example, there is a congo french speaking guy that we gave a Book of Mormon to about a month ago, and he is about half way through. Best of all we asked him if he thought it was true and he said yes. Now we just need some stuff in French to be able to teach him. .....by the way could you look up the verb ( to pray) on the internet for me in French. I can remember some of my French but its really rusty.

Secondly we met a lady, when we were both trapped by a huge rain storm, who really wanted to know about our message of families. Its just going great. Unfortunately there is some bad news. "M" has been sick for the past week and so she didn't come to church and she has to have her baptisimal date postponed. But not to fear, I believe she will go in a week or two... also the ward is really supportive here.

Well, thanks for letting me know about Logan. ...and also thanks for going down to Emily's farewell. BTW, how did you like Emily's parents and family? I just am curious... ok well I'll let you know what happens this next week. Oh and would you try looking into my checking account. I don't have a valid VISA card for that account. Maybe go into the bank and ask them about it. Nathan has full access to my stuff so he can do what ever he needs to. He just has to go into the bank to do it I think. ...thanks.

Oh and this week is Elder Slade's birthday, so I'm making him that chocolate cake recipe Mom sent me. Thanks for the emails....I love you all and wish I could tell you more, but I've got to go so bye,

Trev

Long Letters & Tapes 8/23/10

Mom and Fam,

So first off to tell you about the questions you asked... It is getting cooler this time of year and it rained a lot today. We have had a couple of thunder storms.... mainly, today and Sunday though. The temp is usuallly around 70, I think.... I don't have a thermometer here. I did get my Visa activated...I'll explain that in the tape.

I don't think I really have an experience to share for this week. It was a pretty normal week with nothing interesting happen. As for anything I need, I dont know, maybe more gum..... the orange kind.not so hot.... but nothing really did. "M" cancelled all the teaches because she had guests the whole week and now she is sick.... so we are just waiting until we can go over.

Oh I thought you should know, those big letters to girls take some time... usually a bus ride to the next city is involved. besides tapes are better for family. I actually recorded a tape today for you. (Nathan and I run into some of Trevor's friends who tell us they have received a letter from him...we always ask, out of curiosity, how long the letters are...most respond that they are 2-3 pages...! So we were giving him a hard time about it. lol)

Thanks for going to Emily's farewell. I know I don't have to "thank you" but still, thanks. Ok I'm going now. Love you all and say "hi" to the family.

love, Trev

Short and Sweet -- good goals

Family,

Yeah, so this week has been really good for the most part. I'll summarize to get it all in.... not a lot of time. The computers are really slow today.

So this week, we really worked with "E" We actually found out her name is "M". We heard her name wrong the first time and it took us a while to figure it out. lol....funny story. So this week we were working with her, and she agreed to be baptized this next month. "P", we finally got ahold of and he said to call back next week becaue he had a lot going on. Later this week, we met with our branch president. He talked to us about how slow the missionary work is going. We have made some good goals with him.

The weather has been a little cooler...tell Jason good luck with school. Thanks for your prayers and love. Elder Slade and I each made a fishing pole out of sticks...so dont' worry about sending one. I'll take pictures of it.

love you.....terve kaikkille --hi to all.
Trev

Need Prayers for Savonlinna

Hey family,

Well, first of all, here is the weekly update of the missionary work. This week has gone really well. “E” our investigator has continued to progress. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and also even came to church. Which is huge!! I am pretty stoked. Anyways, this last week we have just been working with “E” as best we could. We taught her the plan of salvation and she was pretty interested, and at the end of that lesson, she had a whole different question about repentance. Also, she had some good questions about the gospel being preached, which she had gotten from her BoM reading this past week. So at this point, we are going to commit her to be baptized… tomorrow in fact. So far she has been like, when I find out its true… I'll be baptized, But tomorrow, we want to set a date for her. I would appreciate your prayers for her to accept the commitment. As for “P” our other investigator…WE aren’t really sure what is going on, but we are trying to meet with him. This Tuesday, we are going out to his house to see if he is even in town. Maybe he left on summer vacation without telling us or something. That’s about it though. So yeah… it’s a good week to be in Savonlinna.

Actually, this week has been really hot… 33° C or that’s 94°F for you Americans. And it’s been almost this hot for the past 3 weeks. Really…very un- normal for Finland. (Elder May said it was the coldest winter and hottest summer the Fins can remember.) I have some funny stories for you about Fins and the summer...but it should wait for a tape. lol. So my bike…I just got my old bike from Seinäjoki and am selling it soon. I am using and have bought Elder Behnke’s bike that was here in Savonlinna because it is better… sort of. (It has studded snow tires.) And I just had some left over money that I pulled out forever ago. That is why my account didn't read a pull out. And on that subject, Nathan actually has access to my account at the bank. He should be able to go in and ask them what is going on with my account. Go ahead and send the card to me, I will activate it and all that when I get a chance.

Oh, I almost forgot, I did get your letter… just today actually. It was really nice to get all the letters from the family. Thanks for that. I'm sure the picture of me “without mail” worked.
Hmm, so I also wanted to tell dad “good luck” with his broken fingers. I have been and am praying for him. Just tell him to keep his fingers straight so they can heal. One last thing from your email about getting a new car/keeping the Jetta..... You should wait at least till next summer to buy a new car. I need one when I get home you know. lol…. Sorry, I couldn't help but joke.

Well, I hope that this week goes well for all the family, and remember I'm praying for you all too. I miss and love you all.

Love, Trev

PS One thing I would like is a recipe for a certain pasta that mother would make. It has chicken and tomatoes and a whole bunch of spices, and the noodles with holes in them, short even. I can't remember what it is but it was really good. You made it for Emily once. (This is a pasta dish from Kris Monson that I make very frequently…ahhh, finely appreciated….)

PSS I looked at fishing poles and I found a telescoping one for 29-39 £. I don't know if that is very good or if it would be cheaper to have you send one. Let me know what you think.

New Investigator and Fishing Anyone?

Hi Linda,

So Elder Slade's birthday is coming up soon about a couple of weeks. I haven’t planned anything out just yet. But, I will try to do something soon. Maybe I can get him some ice cream or something. Do you have any suggestions for me? Maybe I'll make him pulla. By the way, I am sending you the recipe for that. It will get there in about a week.

I did get your package this past week. It was really sweet that I got the gum I asked for and also the shirts were much appreciated. I've already started using them. For some reason
Finland has been especially HOT this past month. All the people say at the doors is either "It's too hot” and “go away" or “come on in...” I've been trying to stay cool though. Another thing about the weather was that this past week, we had a huge storm. We had like a bazillion trees fall over. No one got hurt, but a couple of houses had some trees fall on them. It was the only thing I heard from the members for a couple of days. lol. Crazy weather! The rest of the story goes that there was a huge city celebration at midnight with fireworks and all. And at the end of it, this huge storm all of a sudden whisked up. It was almost like the perfect lightning storm finally....

Hmm, lately we've had a little success with a new investigator. Her name is “E”. She is about mid 20's. I'm not quite sure what it is, but she is just a little different. Luckily though, she really wanted to know some stuff about the gospel and so now we are teaching her. She has already progressed faster than our other investigator “P”. I told you about him last time, I think. But she is quite easy to work with. So it's really a lucky thing we were able to find her. I'll tell you more about her later when I get a chance to write more.
Wow, does President Brown usually write you about what we are doing? I didn't think so, but that is cool. Yes we are currently trying to turn around the missionary work here in Savonlinna. It has had such a down turn for so long we are trying to boost the members faith, which really means we NEED a baptism here and soon. As for Elder Bailey I hadn't heard anything, but I will pray for him. Hope he turns out all right. (Pres Brown sent us a letter indicated Trevor had been in the mission for a year and that he and his companion were working hard in Savonlinna. Elder Bailey had a burst lung after he arrived home from his mission and has been in the hospital for about a week.)

Well, I need to go. But I'll keep the family in my prayers. Nathan's finger and Steven’s shoulder... thanks for the emails. I love you all and will talk to you next week. Love Trev

PS I'll try this week to find a license and pole for fishing. If it’s a lot, then I probably won't do it. But maybe fishing won't be so expensive. So hold off on the pole for a little while. Thanks though anyways.

Using Time Wisely/10 yrs No Baptisms

Dear Family,

OK… so update quick. I have been busting my butt this week. lol. I do every week…. it feels like. But this past week, me and Elder Slade have been doing the little extra that we can. We had a "using time wisely" district meeting so ... we were trying to do all the little extra stuff. Paying extra attention to how we could use time more effectively. So we did a lot of knocking doors and it actually payed off. We got some interested people to set up appointments with us this week. So yeah, I could really use some extra prayers this week to help us find some more people and to help us teach these people. I don't know if I told you about the ward here.... but suffice it to say that they haven't had a baptism in Savonlinna for 10+ years. We don't even have record …it’s been that long. So... we are really trying to break the cycle….thus the extra prayers needed. Thank you.

So yeah this week we have been still working with our only investigator, “P”. He hasn't been doing so well this past week with anything we told him to do like reading the BoM. But this week, we asked him if he will get baptized to see actually how serious he is. He told us that he would most likely get baptized but that it would just take a long time. That’s the Fins for you. Still though, it’s great that he sees the end goal of investigating. So we have been just been working with him, trying to get him to move along. Thanks for the package... I will look forward to it this next week, and I am glad that you got the tape.

Question... why is dad swapping to 10 hour days.? I think he'll like it. I loved having Fridays off. It just makes life easier with a longer week end. Tell me how he likes it.

I was quite amused to hear that Emily texted you for a “1/2 way mark congrats” because I wasn’t there. lol. Well, I'm glad she is still staying in contact with the family. I bet that is something you (Linda) are liking almost as much as me..;)

oh and yeah I didn't get a new companion.…still the same….Elder Slade.
I'm glad to hear that Jason was able to feel the spirit at the camp. I remember the APTC activities being quite boring sometimes and not totally fun…. not to mention cheesy. But I do remember the spirit making up for it, and being glad for that. In fact, I remember having the “runs” one day because of the chili, but the spirit made up for that too. Lol I'll try to send him a letter sometime soon. Maybe get it off this week or at least by the next one. Oh and would you tell him “good luck” on the golf tryouts for me this week. I'm afraid I won't be able to tell him myself.
Ok well, love you all and hope to see you in a year ;) long time....
Trev

PS Thanks for the cool pictures.

7/19/10 Tracting Grandmas

Hey, so let’s see…. this week I have been doing various things. This week started off looking really promising for our investigators and other people. Elder Slade and I had a whole bunch of appointments set up for the evenings. Practically every day, we had something going on…whether it was a teach or just something that was good… like a service project. On Tuesday, we found this older woman and started to teach her. She was really interested when we first got there, and almost right away welcomed us in. It was too good to be true..... and… it sort of was. Unfortunately, she was a little senile and didn't remember what we had talked to her about. So, that’s how the story went this week.

Some good news is that I did get to do a little bit of teaching this week. I wasn't completely just knocking doors all day. We had another older woman ( I don't know why grandmothers are so easy to get a teaching appointment) who was this time, sane. But she wasn't at all interested in searching out another church besides the Lutheran one. It reminded me of something Nathan had said in an email…”That a lot of the time people just won't change even if they know the church was true, because they have been so long in one religion and the culture is against it.” It was really quite the way with this woman. But she said she would pray about what we said, and I am going to call back in a couple of days to see how it went.

Other than that we had a service project with that less active who has a drinking problem. We ended up cleaning his apartment to help him repaint it. That was about my week.

As for the package not being sent off, don't worry about it. I should be staying here in Savonlinna just because I'm quite new in this area. As for Elder Slade, I'm not sure. He could be staying one more change, or he could leave next Tuesday. Yeah, this Saturday is change calls.
Did you get my tape I sent last week? It should be coming soon if not. I put a whole bunch of stuff on it that has happened in the past while. Well that’s about all for this week. Thanks for the updates and all. I hope Jason likes APTC…. it is a great place to feel the spirit and really enjoy it.

Love Trev

Email exchange--July 11, 2010

Trevor and I happened to be on email at the same time...our conversation was a bit disjointed but it was fun to feel like we were talking to each other. Here are some of the questions and answers we shared...no real news in the form of an email....but hopefully, Trevor will write a letter with more information. As you can see by the pictures he sent, Elder Slade seems to be a fun guy and they are enjoying the work in Savonlinna.

















Do you get the Ensign each month? Tell us something funny that happened this week.
cool stuff seemed to happen. Um, I actually do get the liahona every month, but not particularly the ensign. I am still trying to finish off the tape/start it, and yeah Ill try to get those picts to you soon. I'm going to email some here in a second. Well actually it won't let me do more than 25 megabytes so looks like I'll just send the chip via post.

Write a letter and tell me what the “cool stuff” is that seems to happen. Do you like the Savonlinna area better than Seinajoki?
yeah it is a lot more beautiful and nice to be at. but the people are just about the same. lol. ok so I'll write you a letter about all that's been going on....
ok i got to go now........ sorry, but the email time is only 15 min here. :(
hey I got another computer do you have any more questions for me.? I have like 20 more minutes

Can you send a picture of you and Elder Slade today? I’d love one for your blog. Gosh can you believe you’ve been out almost a year?
no I can't really except for the fact that It's blazing hot and that reminds me how long i'v been out. so a year is coming up this next week. the 22 nd. just think a year from two weeks ago and I'll be home.!! these are all the ones I have on the memory card at the moment so here you go.

Will you take some pictures of the chapel…a head shot picture of you and Elder Slade and some of your apt before you send the SD card. Is there anything you’d like in your next package (I’m sending another short sleeve white shirt (need it?) and some gum so far.
yeah I'll do that. and also I would like that same cd that you sent me only this time could you put it in a audio format or at least one that windows media player can read. It was from itunes and my cd player won’t play it. Maybe it needs wma format..... and for the gum could I get the orange trident.... thanks.

also I wanted to tell you thanks for continuing to write/talk with emily.. She told me about that in her email I printed off. so thank you i appreciate it.

ok time is really up now. ... got to go tracting doors. love you bye
and do you want to try this again next week?

Savonlinna News

Trevor at Savonlinna Castle Hey Family,

So yeah, first off, I got your package on this week's mission tour. We had Elder Causse of the 70 come to visit us and teach us just like we would have had a zone conference. It was pretty sweet to be able to get some more advice from a 70. Anyway, Elder May actually got the package like last Monday, but didn't let me know because he wanted it to be a surprise. lol. So I got both your letters and the card converter. I'll try to send some picts this week via email.

Lets see. the branch here has about 20 members, but they are all quite old. There is, however, one young family that is quite active in church and they pretty much run all of the sacrament meeting because they have all of the young preisthood... AND the father is the first counselor. By the way, our bishop is missing in action. He is moving away after his long summer vacation so..... this means that whenever the first counselor is gone Elder Slade is the bishop in a sense. We've been making some jokes up because of this. I 'm not too sure if they had me turn my drivers license in when I got a new one....so just don't worry about finding it. If it wasn't easy to find then its not at home. ... I actually had some of my stuff arranged when I left-- so it shouldn't have been too hard to find. I really don't need it anyway.... thanks for trying though.

Wow, Jason sang this week all by himself in church and you didn't have to coerce him? That is a really awesome thing. Tell him that is how you get all the girls, by singing.;) I sure hope that he can get his patriarchal blessing sometime soon. It should really help him in the immediate future. At least it did for me. well.

As for the drunk guy, we dropped him this last week because he couldn't be un-drunk when we went over. Sadly it's just not worth trying to teach him if he isn't in the right shape.

New email after 1st one: um, this week I've mainly just had the mission conference and travel. It was like 3 days of travel. Also this week, I was able to teach an old investigator. She is an older lady who has a grandson with bone cancer. She is really glad to have us over when she isn't busy or taking care of her grandson. I don't really know what will become of her in the next while, but I guess we will see. Also fyi, I am going to try to send you a tape that will tell about the last couple of weeks so that I can catch you all up in detail. Hopefully, I can get this off soon. Well, I have to go for now... . thanks for the prayers and faith in me. I sure hope that this week you all have a fun time.

Love Trev

ps. I am going to try to send a sd card to you all asap.

Google Maps

So anyone who is interested...go to www.googlemaps.com and put in Trevor's address. It will show you where he lives and there will be a picture of his apt and views from his street. It is fun to see what he sees every day. Also, he is fairly close to the famous castle in Savonlinna....he is right next to a large lake and it's very beautiful right now. The restaurant down the street has more pictures available for more landscape views.

Elder Slade and 1st Week in Savonlinna

Elder May, Elder Bailey, Elder Henderson, Elder Christensen in Seinajoki before transfer...

Hey Family,

So.... um yeah, this week went pretty well. My new companion is Elder Slade and we actually do have some good things in common like both of us are from Cache Valley.... so we as you put it... we "hit the ground running" for our first week. Cool, I didn't know that you had already talked to Elder Slade's mother earlier last summer.

We started off on Wednesday doing some normal missionary activities here in Savonlinna. We found a guy on the street that seemed interested and got to go and teach him on Thursday. Only one problem, he was drunk as a skunk. So we told him that we would come back today when he wasn't drunk. I guess we'll see how this goes. Sadly, he might not be ready today. As for the rest of the investigators, there aren't many. There is an older lady who isn't really looking to be baptised. Her grandson just got cancer, and she is afraid that changing churches would shake up the family further.....sigh....I wish everyone could see that the gospel would make their lives better not worse.

Sorry I don't write faster ...oops write you more later.... sorry weird library here. ...grrr. I really only have time to write the family and Pres Brown an email every week so I mostly do letters to everyone else....I'll write more in a letter.

love you, Trev

2nd email sent later on Monday...

Ok, so I'm back. the emailing here in Savonlinna is a little weird becase they don't have reservable computers here, and they are only available for 15 minutes at a time. So... I am actually here at 5:00 pm trying to finish up.

Pendilino Train in Finland

So for the change this time, I actually had less stuff to move than what I had last time when I moved from Kajaani. One huge thing missing was my bike. Unfortunately, my bike is still in Seinäjoki because they wasn't a place for it on the train. When the office bought my ticket, they bought a "pendilino" where there aren't bike places. It would have been extra awkward. That and I really couldn't handle having a bike plus my baggage. I barely made it as it was ..let alone adding a bike. So... that means that Elder May is trying to sell my bike in Seinäjoki. I tried to do it myself before I left, but half of the bike shops were closed for holiday or something. That and no one would take it. grr... So I'm using/buying another missionary's bike from Savonlinna. Its not the best, but at least I can re-sell it when I leave. I am just going to say I hate using bikes on the mission. They cause so much problems. As for the typewriter, it fit nicely into my bag and so I had two big ones and a small carry on. It was still hard to move 3 bags though. The best thing would be to have just a big and a small or two big luggages.

So what I arranged to do with Emily is to have her write me emails like she was doing normally, and then I am writing back with snail mail. I usually do this with everyone that emails me. Not my favorite thing to do, but look at how much more email you get every time, Mom. lol It's practically what I just did in this last sitting. Also, Emily got her mission call... and she told me just that..... she didn't say where she was going. I guess she will write me a letter and let me know. I am dying to know. She said she told you, but didn't want you to spoil her surprise, so don't tell me.

Thanks for the emails and the packages ( the last one still has not come from Elder May....) ;) I'm sure it will. Until then, I will keep taking lots of pictures. Tell me about your trip to Lake Powell, eh? I would like to hear about how it went.

love you all, Trev

Some Pictures from Savonlinna

Ice Sculpture Event in the Winter

Summer days playing in water by the Castle...I guess our missionaries won't be doing this! lol

Finland's top ten are among the oldest city in Savonlinna (founded 1639) is the Saimaa Lake District, an internationally famous tourist center. Natural beauty, St. Olaf's Castle, baths and inland waterway transport have attracted visitors to the city over a century. Also, culture has been strongly involved in the picture. The first opera performances were back in St. Olaf's Castle in 1912. Today, St. Olaf's Castle and held there in July opera festival in the city operate façade.

Castle for opera and orchestra concerts....maybe the missionaries can take in a concert or two?

Going to Savonlinna - Transfers again!! 6/14/10

Savonlinna, Finland....means "Castle of Savonia" and was founded in 1639. It is in the Saimaa lake region. There are 27,726 people in the city.

Hey Family,

Yeah, so I didn't get mom's letter package yet. And it is change calls this week. IN fact I am going to Savonlinna. so I will get you the address when I get there. I am leaving tomorrow early in the morning. I've heard that in Savonlinna they have opera house and a lot of lakes. It's supposed to be really beautiful there so I will be taking some pictures. Hope you're happy, Mom! More pictures coming your way. Anyways I am going to have elder may send off my package there.

hmm, so a little bit about this week. It went really well, I was able to do a lot of work with elder may and also had district conference here last friday. On friday we did some mass trackting with everyone 10 missionaries... It was pretty sweet to have us all there doing missionary work together. so on monday we found a new investigator, K is his name, He is about like 40ish and divorced. He is a little slow on the progression, but he has started reading the book of mormon and a couple pamphlets we gave him. Which is really hard for some people to do. I'm not completely sure how much he really understands what it means that joseph smith is a true prophet( but I guess we will try to teach that more clearly and bluntly this next teach, its today.) Also that girl,K, that we were trying to meet with... we finally got her to meet us and teach her. She had a lot of questions about receiving revelation our first meeting, so we ended up teaching the whole lesson on just that this time. The best part is that she realizes that we eventually want her to get baptized and wants to meet with us so she can learn more. She is definately searching, I think she just doesn't realize it or see it. I have a feeling that she will definately get baptized in the future if she just tries some things we have taught her about receiving answers/revelation.

Lastly this sunday Elder may and I had a cool experience with a mother and her daughter. T age 45 or so and M 25ish. Sorry.... back up a little. So after I had packed and gotten dinner elder may and I went out tracting, even though we didn't feel like it.. We came to the planned area and met this lady who after a breif conversatoin told us all of her neighbors weren't interested. This was sort of a bummer, but we went to the first door we saw and started to knock doors. The first door opened up and T was there. We talked for a little bit of time about stuff and then asked to come in. She said yes and we went in. Upon ariving we asked her daughter to join us and we then asked them some questions about their religious background. Suprisingly the mother and the daughter opened up a lot and told us about some really big experiences. Such as seeing M's deceased father's spirit. At this point we taught them a little about the plan of salvation and relized that our time was up and set a return appointment. It was really amazing to just find two people ready to hear the gospel.
so yeah this week we got some new investigators and the fammine is over. I ll have to tell you more in a letter. lol.

Elder may and I have been doing a lot better this past week with our missionary work. We had a good week with each other. So I did write P this last week. I still have yet to hear back from him, but I think it should be soon. As for the festival in helsinki for the youth. I think he may be going. I know that a lot of the young single adults go there to find husbands and wives,but I really don't know too much about it. Thanks for the info.
I hope this week I was able to give you enough info.

Love, Trevor

Knocking on Doors (June 7, 2010)

hey dad,
WEll this week has been pretty good. A lot of finding time spent in front of doors and on the roads, but all in all good. I have also been able to work more on the language. this past sunday we had a couple from canada who were visiting their relatives here. Elder may and I got to do some translating for them during sacrament meeting, so we sort of got to see exactly how much we understood really welll. Also this week we were able to visit oulu for zone coference and that was really fun to see almost half the mission..

I was able to teach a girl this past week. It went really well because this girl is quite interested it finding answers to some life questions like who to marry ect. So we were able to teach her a little about the spirit and how to dicern it. We might be able to meet again with her this next week, but its not too sure.

As for me i am doing well. Not at all too discouraged. I just keep working harder and harder throughout the week.Thank you thought for the words of encouragement. I'm sure they will help this week when the going gets tough.

Sounds like you have been doing a lot of fun things this past little while. skiing and all that. sure wish I could go skiing here in finland.lol. well tell me how your wonderful week alone with mom is. I hope this week your two get a chance to relax and enjoy the fact that all the kids and thier schedules are gone.

Thanks again for the emails and especailly the pictures. i'm going to go print them off probably today.

see ya
love '
trev.

Rain and the Birthday Packages

Hey!
so lets start off with Arica....Hey Arica, it's Trev. I wanted to wish you a "happy birthday". I promise I didn't forget it at all. I even have been searching for something to send you that you would actually like, but after a month I still haven't found anything. You are so hard to shop for especially because clothes are out of the picture now. Anyways Happy Birthday, I hope you enjoyed the festivities and all of your presents. Hmm, 24. thats pretty young still..:) I guess I better say that because before ya know it I'll be there myself. Anyways, I am still going to try and get something off to you, but it just might be a week or two late.... so it'll get there when it does.

So I got my birthday package this week....Tuesday in fact. It came pretty fast in my opinion. I wanted to thank you for all the gifts and other things in there.... such as the recipies I asked for and also the shirt and tie. I've already worn the tie, but it started to rain this weekend so no more short sleeves. Oh, funny thing. The CO alarm was a great gift. It was super thoughtful, and I even set it all up. the only thing is.. that in finland there aren't really any fire powered heating systems, unless you have a really old house. Its all industrially heated outside of town and then piped in. crazy huh?... but still it could come in handy if I burn something on the stove.:) Um, yeah also I got some american stamps in the box... I think you may have acidentally got those in..or did you actually have a specific purpose for them?

Elder May on the driving range...1st time golfing!!
Hmm, yeah so golfing last week was pretty fun. We went with Veli L (branch pres) to the private golf course and spent a couple of hours there. We ended up just doing some driving range, and then two rounds of a three holes three par courses. like 100 yrds average. I did pretty terrible because I topped every single driving shot. But after that, I played fairly well.(double bogey 5 strokes). I made sure that I taught Elder May how to play golf and then helped him with his swing as best as I could. It was his first time so it was a little hard for him to get it to move straight or far. ....but all the same we had fun. Brother L was a little surprised that I actually knew how to play. ...so that was a really fun experience.

This week we, unfortunately, have not been able to find anyone. We tried and tried, but still no one would meet with us. The Japanese girl that we had a meeting with even cancelled. Luckily, we got another meeting set up for later today, but she won't actually be an investigator because she is moving back to Japan at the weeks end.

Wow, I can not beleive that Kate is talking so well so early in her developement. Its too bad I can't really hear her on the tape though. I sort of got some little puffs of air from her breathing and a couple of dropped microphone sounds. lol. all the same it was way cool to have her on the tape recording. I'm glad Celeste and Kate liked the bracelet I sent Kate for her birthday.

Last bit of information about this week. I ended up buying an old typewriter at one of the flee markets for like 3 £. So I've been playing around with it in any free time and also using it for letters to my friends. I told grandma I used her money for my birthday gift to buy it, just fyi. I actually don't need anything at the moment, but I know you are trying to send off another package with the stuff you missed in the last package. Such as the sd card converter, and the burned cd woul be nice too. I 've been waiting for the converter so I can send you some more pictures from the past little while. Also I would like to get a testimony from you so that I can put it in the Book of Mormon you sent. I was a little surprised not to find it. lol. (Whoops, mom forgot to put it in....)

As for me and Elder May, we have been working on our companionship, and it has been going well. We are definately getting to know each other better and working better together to listen to the Spirit. We are both going to try and have more "Bradshaw" in our companionship and keep things fun. (Elder Bradshaw was Trev's former companion that was "wild and crazy" and made tracting/missionary work "fun".)

Elder Bradshaw and Trevor with their Missionary Warrior Masks (made from the bottom of Elder Bradshaws old suit pants) and "Mission Power" Rings

Well um, I'll talk to you next week. Thankyou all for your prayers and thoughts. I miss you all.
love Trev

PS... tell Steven "good luck" with Missy and to go right over if she calls him if she "gets scared". Jill told me about a little test that Missy likes to try on the boys she dates.....lol. (maybe Steven needs to get the whole story from Trevor....lol)

"Golf-peli & Palvelu" - Golf & Service

May 17, 2010

Hey Mom and family,

hmm, well this week has been a little dead. We haven't gotten any investigators yet and are still doing a lot of searching. I'm sure your prayers have been helping and I think they might need to continue. This last week we were able to get some service done for a member family, and we have been trying to get some more for non-members as well. Good news is that we found a Chinese girl who agreed to meet with us on Tuesday. She doesn't speak (Finnish or English?) very well, but I have a certain feeling about her. I think she will be our next investigator.
I have met Elder Slade once, but next time I see him I will have to talk to him more. Thanks for the heads up (Elder Slade is from Cache Valley). Sometimes, Elder Bradshaw and I talk, but only a little maybe every 3rd week. I have not heard anything about “P”. But I'm pretty sure he is doing well. Maybe I can send him a letter or something and see how he is doing.

It’s good to hear that Kate is speaking and Garret likes to have you around.,..lol. By the way, you are going to have to teach me how to take care of children when I get back. I know so little and I was always afraid to hold little newborns. Yikes, I feel like I would break them on accident, they are just so fragile.

As for me and Elder May, we are working on our relationship. Elder May is still a little quiet but we thought we would work on our team working skills. Tell Dad thanks for the pictures. I am planning on sending some pics via email soon.
Love, Trevor.
PS We went golfing this morning with the bishop. So I'll tell you about it in a letter or next week.

Elder May, Bishop in Seinajoki, Elder Christensen

Elder May: “Finland is full of surprises, in the winter it can get to -30 Celsius, and +30 Celsius in the summer, and last week we were in jackets one day and the next we were putting on our short sleeve shirts - it was crazy. The Finns are telling us that it never gets this hot in May, and it will last about a week then go back down, but it has been pretty warm and we have been sweating bullets. But we are having a blast and it is getting so beautiful, the leaves have started to grow and flowers are blooming. Every now and then, Elder Christensen and I can smell the ocean when a big tropical storm blows in. I love Elder Christensen. This week we have really focused on strengthening our companionship unity and it's doing wonders. We are both happy and more excited to do the work. At the moment we still do not have any new investigators, but we have a couple of potential people… it’s just extremely difficult to set something up with them. And we have district meeting with President Brown this week and we are figuring he will have some magic bullets he can give us …in other words, words of counsel and advice.

So a little about the pictures, last week Elder Christensen asked our bishop if there were any golf courses in the area… he was just curious. And before I know it, we are going with our bishop golfing on p-day for an hour and half. And me, never having been golfing was a little hesitant, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. We went and drove some balls first while Elder Christensen taught me some tips, then we did a short 3 hole course, and we can say that I still need lots of practice but it was fun to spend time with our bishop and strengthen our relationship with him. And I testify that only through the gift of tongues are we able to speak this language, we hear and learn new words every day, it just seems to be like the never ending story. And I love summer because it is so much easier to speak to people than in winter.

Last Friday, we had splits with the district leader and his companion who was Elder Bate. I learned some great things from Elder Karlsson, such a blessing it is to be able to work with other missionaries. See how they do things, talk to people etc.

And so this convention thing we went to in our city's center didn't really go the way we thought it would. When we got there we found out that preaching was forbidden so the only things we could really talk about /advertise was food storage and the service the church does around the world with all the catastrophes. But I felt that the most success came from our tent neighbor - Elder Christensen got to talk to her for a while and tell her about our church and the Book of Mormon. Even though she didn't want to take a book, it was a great opportunity and who knows, maybe down the road she will be more interested.” Elder May

Mother's Day in Finland

We talked to Trevor on Mother's Day. He sounded great and was very excited to talk to everyone in the family. Grandparents from both sides were here for Garrett's baby blessing, so they were able to talk to Trevor as well. He mostly wanted to talk to Nathan and get ideas about finding people to teach and how to gain trust with the Finns. He was very sweet and sang a Mother's Day song to Linda in Finnish (I tried not to cry...but wow!) He seemed a little homesick, but not sad....and didn't want to hang up...so we talked for almost 2 hours (unplanned on our part) What a fun day! Missionary Calls and Baby Blessings!!!!

Hey Fam,
We wrote to Trev: "Looks like we ran out of minutes on the phone card and that is what cut us off." His response: "So that's why the phone call got cut off. lol. I was wondering if I hit a button....or something."

Well here is the weeks update…this week I went over to a less active’s house out in the booneys and did some service work. It was pretty good to have a change up in the rougtine (sp?) but all in all, not a whole lot happened. Yeah, we taught her at the end but she still gave us some excuses as to why she couldn't come.... anyways not important. Um, other than that, my time was filled with knocking doors and hitting the streets. In our mission, it doesn't seem like we have a problem finding investigators. As of right now, we don't really have anyone to work with, but I think we will be able to find someone this next week to start teaching.I'm glad to hear that the baby blessing went well. (Garrett was blessed on Mother’s Day) Too bad I couldn’t'be there for it.

Thanks for the great advice and also the encouragement. I'll try to remember it and use it throughout the mission. By the way, I would still like some of those stories you told about me and Jason when we were younger. If you have time, make a tape of some of them in the coming months. No rush. Thank you also for the pictures I enjoy getting those...well, tell me how next week goes for everyone.

Love, Trevor

From Elder May: “So yes here in Finland, it was truly Mothers Day - Finnish flags out and everything, no stores were open so it was really nice. (I asked in our email if it was also a Finnish holiday or just one in the US - since I didn't ask that during our phone call. We found out Father's Day isn't until November in Finland.) Church was really nice and a good spirit was there. Elder Christensen and I sang in Finnish ''Army of Helaman'' and all the members loved it. The spirit was really strong, I love being with Elder Christensen, he has a great voice, and we sound really good together, since he can cover the high stuff for me and I got the lower notes - we cover each other's backs. We are really focusing on working and strengthening the members, by teaching them from preach my gospel and helping them understand how they can bring up the gospel with their friends.

They have these activities every now and then where it's a movie night usually or something like an informational about the church, and they have refreshments. So they had one last Friday where they were watching the movie the Ten Commandments, which is super old, and they invited us to it. So Elder Christensen and I went hoping the members had invited some friends which we could talk to, but they didn't show up and we were watching the movie, and into the beginning I decided ''oh boy, this is not missionary appropriate,'' but I didn't want to offend the members. The spirit was like ''you need to go now'' and so I talked to our bishop and he said '' oh yeah that will be fine'' so we left and went tracting.

And last Monday was Elder Christensen's birthday and I made a banana cream pie and oh, it was so good, and we sang to him and it was a fun little small thing to do as missionaries. So this week we have a ton going on - We have district meeting in Pietarsaari which is where Elder Karlsson (MTC companion) serves and then on Wednesday we have a thing in the center of our city were we will set up a booth with our members and try to advertise the church, almost like a convention that dad goes to, but an all around one - pretty much anyone can have a table, so hopefully it works for our favor and we can find some new investigators through it.

Then on Friday Elder Karlsson and his companion are coming down for splits and that should be really good. I love Elder Karlsson, we are both excited that Elder Quinn (the other MTC companion) is our new Assistant to the President.” Vanhin May

20th Birthday for Trevor

Hey Fam,
Yeah, I'm still in Seinäjoki with Elder May so the Mother’s Day call should work out like you planned. I sent our cell phone # home with Jason’s b-day package, so it should get there before next Sunday. This week has been interesting. We have no investigators at the moment because our last one we dropped. The older lady we were teaching told us she would never join the church because it's soo small. She still wants us to come and teach her though, so we'll see how it turns out. She is actually having a hard time with joining because she is taking care of her aging mom and can’t get out much. Elder May thinks if she could go to church she would feel the spirit. We are actually planning on going back this week. We went to Vaasa this past week and I took some pictures for you, Mom. So, I’ll try to send those home in the near future. And I can’t believe it’s my birthday. It’s pretty crazy to be 20. I swear I still feel like I’m 17…. young, underage, and not knowing what I'm doing. But at least I feel a little more mature in a different way.
I would like a burned CD of Enya in my package… as well as some trident gum, preferably the orange flavor. Well, hey thanks for everything, especially the emails and care packages. I can’t wait to talk to you next Sunday. I love you all and hope everything goes well. Tell Arica and Jordan and Garrett “hi”. I hope they have a good baby blessing.
Love, Trev

One more week

Hey Fam,
lets see.. the planes don't seem to be too delayed because of iceland's volcano thing. I think they are just being extra precautious and telling everyone that mail could be delayed. Elder May just got a letter from someone in America, so I wouldn't worry about it. Thanks for remembering to send my birthday gift...... i'll be sure to look for it.
That sounds great for the Mother's Day calls and everything, 5-6 will work for me and it should work out for Elder May as well.

Language school was good. It was just one day, but it went really fast. We ended up using a couple of hours discussing how we were learning the language and what helped us to learn it faster. I got some good ideas like mimicking the members at church, and thinking in my head in Finnish so that I didn't have to rely on translating all the time. I actually didn't get to go to the temple with Elder May.... they changed the way language school works since I got in the mission. So I went to my language school while he went to the temple with other elders' companions. Hopefully, I will get to go sometime in the future. I hear so many cool things about the temple here from other elders, sort of sad that I haven't gone yet.
Exercising in their apartment!!
Weather is good its finally sunny, but sometimes still quite windy. How's the weather in Logan? Is the snow all gone there too? The investigators.... well 'J' is still having troubles meeting with us. I'm not quite sure why, but I think its just because we are new missionaries and he doesn't have that friendly relatioship with us yet. Oh and he is back from Spain, and has been since 2 weeks ago, apparently he has been busy or something. Our other investigators have been let go.... the young couple wasn't too interested this past week when we taught them...they wouldn't do anything like even pray. Maybe they will start to search for answers later in life, but for now they aren't progressing. We do still have that old lady as an investigator. She is also hard to get ahold of, but has been reading and praying about the BOM. We are hoping to meet again this week with her.

Its good to hear from you, and especially about Kate and Garrett. I love you all.
Trev
P.S. I'm planing to send a b-day gift to Jason. I hope it gets there in time....

Update from Elder May-no email from Trev

Wow, what a roller coaster week, we have had amazing experiences and then some disapointing ones - such is the life of trying to find the elect. On Tuesday, we found a new investigator - YES, we were looking up some comebacks (which means that they didn't have time to talk the 1st time we meet them, but said we could come back later). Not a whole lot was going on and usually people aren't home around that time so we go to the center and talk to people. Then I had an idea (holy ghost) that this one comeback might be home since she was a little older. So Elder Christensen and I walked to her apartment complex and knocked on her door, and she was home. So she let us in and we taught her the restoration and she already had a Book of Mormon from the previouis missonaries. And she told us '' yeah this all sounds pretty clear '' and we asked to set up a return appointment, and she told us that she doesn't really know when she is free, that she can't promise anything, but we asked her to say the closing prayer. With some encouraging from Elder Christensen, she gave a beautiful prayer, and after she prayed, she turned to us and said, "when do you want to come back?" and her mind had like changed or switched completely. And then later her daughter called her and when we came back she was so excited, she told us that her daughter hasn't talked to her in a really long time and she had tears in her eyes and she told us that it was an answer to her prayers. And she was just soooo happy and it was really neat for us to see these miracles take place. So we have a teach with her on Tuesday and we have a member coming, but we found out that she was an investigator about a year ago, ( Elder Henderson taught her when he was a greenie in Vaasa and Seinäjoki was his visiting city). But we have faith and we will see what happens.

Then we had another teach later Tuesday afternoon with S and M. This was our second teach, the first was in an activities building (coffee shop, not the best atmosphere) but we got a return appointment and scheduled it to their house. I have a feeling that they are elect, they just don't know it. So on Tuesday we taught them the plan of salvation, and they thought it was interesting. M is really open to praying to see what happens or if he gets an answer, but S doesn't really believe in God. She feels that alot of churches just oppress and force you to do things - some of the religions here have missionaries that can be pretty fire and brimestone like.

Then on wednesday we felt prompted to go tracting in a certain area and on the second door, this door opened and their was a little boy and we asked if we could talk to his mom. He went to get her, and the door opened wider and there were so many kids in there, dont know if they were all family, but alot of them were. Then the mom came and we started talking about families and her kids in the background were laughing at us and their mom, so the mom closed the door (in Finland they have two doors - an inside door and then an outside door where the post slot is) and so she closed the inside door and stepped into the hallway and told us that she was sorry about her children, and she asked us ''so what exactly are you here for?'' And I just told her "we believe that this is Chirst's True Church on the earth and it has blessed our lives and we want to share that with you and the knowledge that families can live for eternity gives us alot of peace in this life'' and she started getting teary-eyed and on the inside I am like ''yes, yes, yes,'' - you know fist pumping it, ( in missionary work, we like to make people cry, or the holy ghost does) . And so she was telling us ''you don't know, you don't know how much this means to me, you are an answer to my prayers''. But at the moment she was busy with her family and so we gave her a pamphlet about the family proclamation to the world, and she was all over that. We scheduled an appointment and asked to bring a member and we were leaving and both of us were exstatic.

So we went back for our appointment and she wasn't there. We were pretty disapointed, and the member who came along, this has been the second teach that she was coming on when they cancelled or weren't home, so I hope that she didn't feel like she was a curse to us. So we swang by her house the day after and she answered the door and we asked her if she still wanted to meet with us and if we could reschedule an appointment since we didn't know why she wasn't home, but her whole countenance had changed. She told us a tragedy or catastrophe had occured in her family and she said she would get in contact with us in the future. So we will see what happens there.

So mom, Elder christensen and I were talking and we think that we will be together another change , and since mothers' day isn't until next change, you and his mom can discuss when you would like to call us and then when we get the numbers we can send them to you .

So on Thursday we went down to Helsinki for elder christensen's language school, and it was fun, but also stressful, well for me that is. So we left the mission office in Helsinki at ten and had an hour to get to the temple in espoo, so we left but the train, tram and bus schedule some how wasn't on our side. But it took longer to get there than I thought and we only had about 5 minutes to change in the temple before the session started - I wasn't happy with myself, since we could have taken a bus and gotten there early, but it happens sometimes, and in the end everything worked out. One thing though since all our companions were in language school, we didn't have companions, we were just in a group. Zone Conference is this week, I am soo stoaked - I get to see elder bailey and elder henderson and my beloved oulu. I am sooo excited to learn from president brown and my leaders. Oh mom I got your package, elder christensen was excited their was extra andes mints.

All my love, Rakkaudella, Missionary4Life, Vanhin May