I'm Cold 1/7/2020

Hei everyone!
 So it finally happened. I'm not in Provo anymore. What?????? Yes. It's true. Wow what a crazy week! There are so many emotions all wrapped up in the past week.  MTC group and I got up painfully early last Monday and started the long journey to Finland! It was honestly so much fun! We arrived in Finland looking real cute after 27 hours of travel and met our mission president and his wife. They are honestly the best people, so kind and loving. I had the strongest confirmation that President Aura truly is called of God. 

We spent the night at the mission home and I was way dead and emotional but since the next day was a holiday I got an extra day with my MTC district! It was such a blessing! On Wednesday I met my trainer Sister Allen and she is literally the greatest!! She is so amazing and kind and patient and has such good Finnish and she's basically perfect I just love her so much! Haha and then we got assigned to Espoo! We are opening this area. The cool kids call it shotgunning or something but I didnt know that.  I definitely need to brush up on my missionary lingo. Then on Thursday we all separated. It was rough, haha!  I love my MTC district so much. Saying goodbye to them was not fun. I didn't want my trainer to think she got a crazy one so I held back my tears all day. It was an accomplishment. Wow, then the missionary adventure began! 

The struggle is so real.  I have been insanely jetlagged all week and I feel so bad for my comp who had to put up with all the times we'd be planning and Id just pass out, including the time we were on the phone with the APs. Literally any time we were sitting down I would be out or bobbing. It's so bad!! But anywho I've already met so many cool people! We chatted with this man one night who wasn't interested in the church but he thought what we were doing was very respectable and he kept asking us how missionaries learn the language so fast.  We just kept telling him it's the power of God but he just laughed but I know that it's true! He told me a lot about the Finnish culture and asked me about my first impressions.  I told him it was way cold and he laughed way hard because apparently this is like the warmest winter Finland has had in a really long time and then he continued to laugh at me because I was wearing like 5 sweaters, a huge coat, and huge scarf and he was in a thin jacket. I basically looked like the marshmallow man ghost thing from Ghostbusters. It's fine. 

Our ward in Espoo is AMAZING!! I had to bear my testimony. I looked like a glairn (dork) but it was fun to have all the old Finnish ladies tell me I did good haha. The ward we are in hasn't had Sister missionaries for a couple years so they were all so excited to meet us. We have like a dinner appointment every night this week. I am so thankful for such a loving ward. We had dinner at the bishop's house Sunday night and it was a party! I mean I didn't understand much but they were so kind! 

Last night we went over to the world's cutest old Finnish lady's house and it was such a highlight!! She didn't speak any English so it was hard to understand which broke my heart because I wanted to understand her so badly! But she was so sweet. She showed us pictures of her grandchildren and gave us some riissipirakka which is this Finnish rice patty thing, idk how to explain it but its super good haha and then I complemented her knitting and so she pulled out a pair of socks that she knitted and gave them to me! It was literally the sweetest thing of my life. I almost cried. 

Classic stories of the week! We knocked this one dude's door and he opened up not wearing any pants! I was a bit traumatized but then he went and put some on and came back. He then continued to gamble on his iPad while we talked to him. It was strange but he did have one of the sickest man-buns I've ever seen so that was awesome. We then tried to talk to a lady who was walking but she just threw up her hand and yelled sauna and kept hustling along. Sauna night is very serious here. I also biffed it so hard down the stairs twice because my scarf was too big I couldn't see my feet and I fell off my bunk bed multiple times this week I think Sister Allen thinks I will slip on ice and die someday. It's great! #yayuncoordinatedness

Anywho I am so thankful to be here and get this amazing opportunity. I hope everyone had a wonderful week! I love you all so much

Love, Sisar Karren



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