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.