2/21/11 Chocolate Factory and New Companion

Hey family,

I am emailing earier again this week due to us doing a little traveling and Elder Baccile wanted to get a hair cut from this lady in Espoo. So we are down in Espoo at the moment. Yay my first Finnish hair cut. So, I told president in my email about having you pick me up, but I don't know if he actually got the message because he didn't respond that it was taken care of. I guess I'll check with him next time I can. Its not soo urgent to let him know, just 3 months in advance so they don't buy the ticket. Um, and yes you heard right from the your friends, there is the dinner the night before as well as a testimony meeting/president teach time on life and everything. President Brown is leaving like the next day after us/picking up the new president... Oh, and did you get my classes all picked out then? or is that in May? Could you run those plans by me before you do all of that? I'd like to be in the loop with it all, and know what classes I'm going to be in.

So this week.... I don't really remember what all happened. My mind is kind of fuzzy. But so far like I probably said last week, a young less active is coming back to church and it's great. She and her less active mother both are coming....thats two!!! "S" is still going strong, and this past week we took him to a member's home to run through the lessons again. He told us that he really likes being with the members because they respect his decision to be baptised and his standards. He has been having some of his friends not really be accepting. From what I noticed, it's sort of like him being able to get a fresh breath of air and not having to worry about his friends judging him. So... he is good. We are planning on going bowling with him today, so that should be fun too.

Um, did I tell you this last week? On monday we went to the Fazer chocolate factory. The tour itself was a bit dull, but I was glad to have a shot at the all you can eat chocolate bar and then buy some discount chocolate. I thought it was a good valentines day activity. Also Elder Baccile got a change call this Saturday. He is going to Pietarsaari. And I 'm gettting Elder Pace as my new companion. I hear he is really quiet. At least, I've heard he's chill.

Also our investigator, "P" is doing well. We learned that he quit cold turkey last monday with tobacco, and two weeks before that alcohol, and all the other word of wisdom stuff too. Now that is really good progress. Hmm, what else..... Today after our haircuts we are going to see the temple! Its closed every Monday, and we haven't had a good week to go to it on like wed. or something. So we figured it would be a good chance to at least get some pictures. Next change I could probably plan a Wed P-day and go. Well if you happen to be on at midnight you can ask me some q's love, Trevor

Baptismal Date in Kerava

So um, yeah last week, I had Elder Baccile write because Iwas writting a letter by hand and he had a couple of seconds. We had emailed at different times because of the wallet problem. And yeah. Elder Struthers was cool, but I didnt really get to meet him that much and get to know him. I'm glad you were able to attend Elder Slades homecoming. He is kind of quiet.

Um....yeah.... so this past week we had some good success. We had a really good teach with "S", our 18 yr old investigator. He has been pretty much ready. He got his answer/noticed it this time, and so now he is ready completely. He is going to be baptized on the 12th of February, and so both Baccile and I will be here. I'm pretty excited. Our other investigators have been sick or not really desirous to meet with us.... so that is the only news. .... but its like the best news. "S" got his answer by praying after an argument with his friend over the church. What I understood happened was that he had an argument, and then went and studied the material on how to get an answer, wrote down some notes, and then stopped for a second and was like.... hmm, it feels good. Then he prayed and asked about it, and he still felt really good. He started to laugh and was like (in his words) "yeah, oh my, Yeah!! whahooo!" So now we just need to review the lessons and get him in the water on the 12th. Also today we went down to Helsinki and played some basketball with "S" and his friend and some other missionaries in the area. It was fun but took a lot of time and so it was the only thing we did besides chores today.

Thanks for the pea soup heads up and no Elder Empey hasn't told me anything about the girl in Savonlinna that was investigating when I was there. She is probably investigating a lot or not at all. I'll have to ask him again. Didn't you send a small package lately..... probably to Savonlinna ? or is that still in the works? lol ...like always.

Hmmm, a funny story this week? I don't think that anything happened this week that was funny, but there is something in the basement that is funny. We have a storage center in the basement and it is so full we can't get to anything. Missionaries have just Iit will probably take an hour or so. but at least its a productive thing to do. It's a real mess. I'll send a picture next week or when we finally get it done. How are things at home? Love Trev

Jan 17 Kerava -- Week 1

Hey well, today we are emailing a little sooner because it fit with our schedule better. Sorry if we don't get to chat. But let’s see, I am really liking Kerava.
We have like 5 investigators….two or so are really slow though. So we are mainly working with the other three. The first person is “S”. He has had a baptismal date in the past and is just waiting for his answer of the Book of Mormon. It is sort of weird because he has done a lot to get his answer. I 'm starting to think that he has already gotten his answer, and so just need to help him see it. I’m thinking we can point out the influence it has already had on him….so we are hopeful a baptism will be coming soon to Kerava. The other investigators we have are a mother and a son. She is 40 yrs old and her son is 13yrs old. They have been sick this week and couldn't come to church even though they had planned on it, and they are still excited to meet with us.
Other than that ….I 'm pretty excited to be driving. Elder Baccile (that’s Italian) is so sick of driving, but I'm just loving it. I like my companion…. he is pretty chill and “bamf”. By the way, he is a convert of about 2-3 yrs. His grandparents introduced him to the gospel. Anyway, I like being senior comp, but I don't really feel any different. It just seems like I have a lot more responsibility, especially when members ask us to do ifffy stuff. I have to lay down the rules to them and be the bad guy. (We are assuming it things like going to the sauna which the missionaries can’t do anymore.) Most of the members are really nice though, and there are about 50 members in the church here. My city actually includes 5 small cities so it’s bigger than Savonlinna.
I haven’t talked to President Brown because I still haven't gotten my interview with him and won't until like 2 weeks. I thought it would be best to ask him then. But I could try in email this next week if it is needed. My leave date will be around the first week of July on a Thursday or Wednesday. It is 3 weeks before my entry date…. Sort of.
Um…. my bike got left in Savonlinna due to the really mean train conductor. He deliberately shut the door on me and the member while loading it. I even told him to hold the door. Instead, he pushed the member's hand out of the way and shut the door. WE were not late or delaying the train at all. He just was really mean to me.... so I'm shipping it in later. grrr....
Well, that’s about it for the week. Love Trevor

January 10, 2011 New city Kervava

Hey…. well it so happens that today we had lot of stuff going on. We actually had two da's but one was all of a sudden like 15min before. So my email will have to be short.
Thanks for having Celeste call Elder Empey... he was a little caught off guard when she was like “oh, you must be Trevor's companion.” (Celeste did not identify herself as Dr. Mortenson) lol. I would have recognized the number if I had had the phone. lol. Anyway, he is “toughing it out” when he eats hot foods.

Also update for you….. I am moving to Kerava this week. Elder Empey will be forwarding my letter from you, and so it’s all good with that. I'm sort of sad to leave, but glad to get a car now, plus FYI, I will be senior for the first time. lol.
Sorry I can't really write more because I'm out of time but I will make a tape and send it in the next week.
love you all and thanks for the update. trev.

Ooooops, just a little more time.
So yeah, I did get your Christmas card. It was pretty sweet and I will have to ask Emily about Jordan Benson being in her mission in my next letter to her.

Anyway, this past week went pretty well and pretty badly: First off, we had a lot of appointments set up because everyone didn't want to meet on Christmas week but later after the holidays. So we had like 8 appointments set up for the first three days, but all but two went through…. go figure. But still, we got in contact with “T” again. We had taught him earlier in December, but he missed an appointment or two. But this time, he seemed to really open up and let us know what he was looking for. It was a very powerful teach in which we were able to explain a lot about Christ's atonement, and how to access that. Not only that, but he promised to read and pray about the B of M and also he prayed at the end of the lesson. I don't know if that was a problem in your mission, Dad, but it usually is here. It’s almost like an indicator to see if they will actually follow through with our commitments. So besides that, we got in contact with a referral that we had received last summer. One of the members who gave it to us is setting up a teach with her. It will be a picture perfect appointment. Too bad I won't be there to see it. lol. But at least I could help set it all up, and get this girl to investigate. yay!

hmm, also this week. Elder Empey slipped and hurled his bike at a pole next to our apartment. He completely destroyed his light he just bought for it. lol. Bad luck. Anyway, all is good and I'm excited to see a new place, help more people know of Christ, and learn a lot. Also I am trying to cut down still on stuff that isn't necessary, due to it being awkward to transport. So I'm sending a package home economy style. It has my blanket and some papers that I wanted to make a book out of about my mission. If you could just take the stuff and put it in my closet I would appreciate it. love, Trev.

PS Tell Grandma Jan “happy birthday” for me. And your birthday gift is in the mail, Mom.

Jan. 3 A Teach and Elder Empey's Tooth

Family,

Ok, so to answer your questions first. Elder Empey and I don't really speak Finnish in the apartment, but we do do a little finglish and say the more fun or common words in Fnnish and then go back into English. I do agree it would be better if we did everything in Finnish, but it just takes a long time to explain everything. Finnish books are actually almost 1.5 times longer written out..... so its a little slow in Finnish. ....ya know. But I am hoping to speak a little more Finnish in the apartment as well as outside. Things are still going well with Elder Empey, we haven't had any disagreeements and are usually on the same page. The only thing that is hard is that he doesn't hear very well if I try to get his attention from behind. I think he gets in a zone and doesn't notice things like ELDER!! or EMPEY!! in a loud hissed voice. lol.

Hmm, Italy... that sounds nice when you come over. Too bad I don't know my French anymore/know any other language that would help in some other European countries. lol ....still though it sounds pretty exciting, I am looking forward to it.

The members here don't really give us any referrals.... actually not one this whole time except for one lady who lived and is living in Helsinki. The members just don't have any faith that their friends will accept the gospel, so they don't want to invite them to be taught. We are working with them though through the ward mission plan we just got put up this Sunday. So they should be inviting people to activities and church every month. Our goal is for about 15 a month. We, teach about 5 families for home teaching.

In the Missionary Newletter, I would like to hear from Kyle, Ryan, Andrew, and Andrew Higham if possible. It's great to hear about the others as well. I just sent you a SD card this week so you will have them soon. Change calls come this week. So we will see if I leave next week on tuesday. oh ho....I could probably stay though for another change.... no worries.

This week it was a little dead. We had like two days when we couldn't tract, and we were told to be inside for the evenings on the 31st and 1st. But still we found an older lady who wanted to investigate. She even read some from the B of M before our next appt which was the next day. Pretty sweet. Also, this lady is a painter and gave us two small paintings. I gave her the B of M with Jason's testimony and she was super thankful. That's about all the super cool news from this week.
love, Trev

Thanks for Kate's head measurements.

hugs.

PS. oh, ask Celeste about this.... Elder Empey got a large cavity filled and it has been really painful...after the fourth day it started. The pain starts because of temperature, but turns into a strong headache for about 5 min. and then goes away. Should he have it looked at again, or just wait until it stops hurting... we tried some tooth paste like sensodine to help, but its still hurting. It could be because it was really large. The doctor said if an invection occurs a root canal would be needed. ... let me know next week.. trev.

Sorry computer must be slow... and I need to go. Thanks for the email and I'll talk to you next week. Change call comes on Saturday, so maybe I'll email on a different day. love trev.

ps.. happy birthday Linda. !!

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.