June 16, 2014

Hello my Dear Family!

We also were able to have a wonderful Zone Conference with President Rawlings. This was our last meeting with him before President Watson comes. We are all very excited. Very tender time as we see our beloved mission president pass on the flaming torch to another. One of the beauties of this is that we are already able to feel the love from our up coming Mission President. We have not had any communication from him, but from what President and Sister Rawling say about them they are delightful.

Our focus in ZC was Praying always. And I had a cool thought a couple days later.

Simply Put. We are literally separate from our Father. Just like You( pl) and I are separate. We look forward to the times we can email and skype.

Does Not our Father also look forward to these times too when we are able to speak with him. The blessing of this, is that we can be in communication with him ALWAYS. But this depends upon us. the difference between a phone call order and a one on one interview with the Gov. of the Universes.

Another way that we  can look at this is by thinking about Navy Seals.

We are the Navy Seals(Missionaries, Men of Power, Men of God..ect) out on 'missions' and the ear piece( Holy Ghost) that we must wear always it keeps the whole team together.( Pray Always) Also gives us instructions coming from HQ (Heavenly Father).How vital this is.

"We ARE HIS agents. We REPRESENT HIM." - B. R. McConkie

We were able to see this in action on Saturday while we were in Järvenpää. I was thinking about Praying always and the simpleness of Prayer when this realization of prayer with our Father was unfolded in my mind.

I shared this with Elder Stanley and we both had a wonderful discussion about it.

Later that evening we met with a member who, in the middle of our lesson, We felt prompted to share this insight with him. Completely opened up our conversation with him about Prayer and the ability we have to pray for others.

I know that i have not understood the importance of pray and I am so grateful that I am able to learn more of it. Scripture study every morning. I don't know how i functioned before without it.

 In answer to some of your questions.

Juhannus is Mid Summer. We will be having a Party with our Ward this Friday. It is one of those days were we really cant do anything. Saturday is a Hard REd day so if we don't have appts. we are stuck in our appt.

Sister Kitchens is the mother of Elder Kitchens. I can send another picutre of him. He and I became best friends in the MTC. Helps that he lives in Logan where I have my family too. But anyway. I hope you are able to go to the Party with them. It will be a piece of what I will be doing. All but the sauna and such. Party as Hardy as Missionaries can. ;) 

 Veli Pekka and Elina have been out of town so we haven't been able to meet with them for a bit.

Change calls are coming this week end. So next week I should know.

My Retainer. It is kinda falling apart....So if it is possible to get a new one that would be great, but if not. I don't kow if you remember but I don't have a permanent retainer on my bottom jaw. It fell out right before I left. So I am really good about wearing my plastic retainer every right. :) That what my  big this on mothers day, but yeah.

Anything else i can do for ya'all just let me know. I love you dearly.

Rakkaudella

Vanhin Sandberg

Blue Tooth

Spiderman

Zone Conference

Pres. and Sister Rawlings

Vanhin Kitchens

June 9, 2014

Hello From the Other side of the Pond!

We are sure enjoying the bountiful amounts of Sun shine that comes our way. The humidity can be a bit much at times, but that just comes with the beauty

. The sun is up when we go to bed and when we get up in the morning. Probably be like this for a couple weeks. Until next change. That reminds me. Changes,  Juhannus. Our changes are the week after Juhannus. So I will be speaking in our ward next week since most everyone thinks that I will be leaving. I have only been here 8 months. Not too long.

Update on our Investigators, Pekka and Elina. They have both been out of town the past little bit so we haven't been able to meet with them, and our Less active member was unable to make it to church, but he is still holding strong. He would be more active if his health allowed. His sights are set on going back to the temple here soon. It has been about 8 months since he has last been so he is working hard to get back.

This last week was a little slow with appointments falling through and Pekka and Elina being out of town, but we were still able to find ourselves adventures.

One thing that Elder Stanley and I love is the fact that you can be in the city, but take a 10 to 15 minute walk and you feel as if you are in the middle of the forest. As we were walking we came across some mushrooms, ( Picture 1) Don't worry, I really din't eat it. but I did't come to think about what I nearly did next to the river.(Picture 2)

This was just our first adventure when we were down in Koivukylä.

I was recently reading in Gospels and thinking about why missionaries and Members are working so hard at this time. All the work we do for just one person. Rescue. I was reading about the Prodigal son and the deep meaning it has in there along with the parables before it as well. I realized the the entire chapter was trying to explain the Worth of just one soul.

Example of the Lost sheep. the Shepherd placed the lost lamb on his shoulders. We never hear of him complain about the journey to find the lamb or the weigh of carrying the sheep after, but the rejoices.

The same as with the Prodigal son, When the FAther saw his son a far off he ran to him.His pain and anguish was swallowed up by the return of his repentant son. How much must we mean to our Father in Heaven? these two parables have always stood out to me. The worth of every soul truely is great in the sight of Father.

I love you all and hope that you have fun with school being out. It felt like yesterday when school was just going back into session. Have a wonderful week. Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

June 2, 2014

Dear Momma and Papanua,

We had a week full of meetings with the members. We were feed nearly every single day this last week. and even of Friday we had two dinner appointments.  Mam can rest asure that I am well fed..

Thank you for the pictures of Ashley and Jeff, and Peiter. Pictures help with the memory of life changing.

To go along with mom's thought of motherhood. I witnessed this with a mom i saw on the street.

This Mom and her daughter were biking down the same road we walk everyday. The daughter only looked to be 4 or 5 years old, but as we were walking the rain began to fall and this little girl on her bike stopped and said something to her mom.

We were too far away to understand, but I watched as the mother stopped her bike alongside her daughter and take off her jacket she had and help put it over her daughters jacket.

I don't know why this struck my so much, but after I saw this I just wanted to walk up to that lady and give her a big hug and tell her she is a wonderful mother.

I come to understand more and more as I have been out here, how much our parents really do do for us. know that my love continues to grow with understanding and admiration as I am here in Finland.

We also had another talk with a member yesterday. He was driving us home from one of our distant areas, but he asked how is was having my dad as my bishop before I left on this mission.

I told him that it was one of the sweetest experiences I hold. For not only was my Stake President like a second father, but my Father was the Bishop. Heavenly Father knows me and blesses me with examples in my life to help me become who I can be come. And the Joy is it to already have this understanding that we have a Father in heaven. Who loves us. This is what our message begins with. We Have a Father. and it continues to the fact that we will be able to become like him and live with him once more.

What joy this message brings. Our times is so short in life and even more so on a mission. Both lives are so short, this is why we need spiritual and physical Adventures all the time.

Here are a couple pictures for you of our adventures!

playing spiderman....as safe and any 19 year old could be..... :)

Love Always,

Vanhin Sandberg

I hope that bench is bolted down!

Spiderman

Love that Smile

May 5, 2014 Struck by Lightening

 Dear Momma and Papanua,

We will be skyping around 7pm my time and 10am your time. We will only have 30 minutes. Prepare to see my face!

Our time is limited today, we were asked to move our schedule around today so that two of our members could do some family history. The Family history went longer than normal, but we still have time, The work we do is just as important as the work on the other side.

Right before we were able to email I got a call from Sister London, the woman you spoke with last night. She and her husband are amazing. The Mission is the Mission because of them. They already invited us to come and visit them later.

To start out or stories I will tell you the scary stuff first. Our building got struck by lightning! Way cool. We were having lunch or something when a storm came in and then the flash and BOOM, the lights went out for a moment. Way cool!.

Saturday morning we received a referral from the zone leaders, A family was found by the Espoo elders or members, but anyway. This family is ready for the gospel. The love church and are excited to be here. We jsut recently found out they lived in our area so we will be (hopefully) meeting with them this week. There names are Abagail and Michael.

We also have a lessong set up with another man that was found in Helsinki. Titus. We will be meeting with him tomorrow. The sisters found him they set up a meeting with him. Come to find out He doesn't live in there area they gave him to us. We called and were able to set up and appointment for tomorrow to show him the church.  We are really excited.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are in charge fo this work. All we have to do is relax and follow the spirit.

I am so greatful to have been brought up by two choice parents. Our family is who it is because of you.

I look forward to hearing from you next week. or 6 days, Mom is counting.

I love you all and will speak with you soon.

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

April 28, 2014

Dear Momma and Papanua,

First we will start with a story,

We had a fun experience yesterday with our elders quorum president. During the middle of sunday school he asked if he could speak with us.

He was contacted yesterday about a person that had seen the missionaries out in tuusula doing service for a member. This person was impressed enough that he asked if the missionaries could come and help him as well. Somehow it came to a Friend of the Bishop who gave it to our Bishop who then gave it to our Elders quorum president and then to us.

We are planned to help him on Thursday morning! All of this was nearly planned by the time that our elders quorum president talked to us. he just wanted to know if we were willing to help him and if we had time this week. 

The miracle that I have noticed is this is now the second time this has happend with in the last two weeks. When wer were helping another member with there lawn they had just mentioned that the elders were helping them in that day and the nonmembeer friend asked if the Missionaries would be willing to come and help her family as well.

Just like Mom said, Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives. What a wonderful time it is to be in his service on earth.

We have another name for you to pray for. His name is Veli (Brother) Pekka. He is nearly ready for baptism. Our goal is to have a baptism with him in May. He has been taught everything and is just in need of review, but it was wonderful because last sunday when he taught him he mentioned. "I know that the Church is true and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. I Am ready to come to baptism." IF you could pray for him that would be great!

It has been a bit difficult to meet with Harri and Gino, but we arn't giving up yet. We will have more of an update next week.

Another important thing. Mothers day is coming up WAY fast. When is Sacrament meeting that way we can plan best time to skype? Is there a time that best fits for you? We have not planned this as well as we should have, It just kinda popped up and we reminded another mission mom here in Kerava yesterday. We asked here, Are you excited to talk to your missionary on mothersay? Of course, wow, that is coming up really fast, Hannu!

Way funny!

one last story before I leave,

Saturday was one of our funnies days we have had here in Kerava. Many people wanted to talk to us instead. so we had two drunk men ask us what the differences were between Mormons and Helluntais. The second was a Man that was so excited to see us that he wanted to shake our hands before he left on his train. and the last was being stopped by two 13 yearold girls on our way to the station. So random, but funny. As we entered our appartment that night Elder STanley told me. Now you really have something to write in your journal tonight.

Wonderful Adventures of being a missionary. I love you all and look forward to talking to you on Mothersday. Remember that I love you!

love,

Vanhin Sandberg

April 21, 2014 Happy Easter!

Dear Äiti ja Isä,

You would be proud of me, I already sent Jordans Baptismal talk. It should get there this week. Letters seem to talk about a week to get here. From what I have noticed. Did you receive Pitures for Sisar Alhovuori? Because Elder Stanley and I have no idea what pictures you are talking about, but you have both our permission for what ever you are doing. We trust you.

Our week was Great, we got our change calls on thursday, both elder stanley and myself will be staying here in Kerava. But the change will be that I am not senior companion anymore. Which is good for Elder Stanley, He is a bit shy so this will be very good for him. ( He is preparing for a trainee)

If you received the Pictures from Sisar Alhovuori then you will see our grand adventure out in sipoo. We had service all day long. We had not planned it that way, but it was what was needed. We got so much done, wonderful to see afterward.

Thank you Dad, for teaching us to work, and to work effectively. Elder Stanley would ask multiple times why I would be doing something a certain way. "Because if I do it now, we don't have to worry about it later."

We were also blessed yesterday, we had a Easter Fireside which only a handful of members came too, but out of that handful we were able to have 6 non-members come. One being Harri and Aija, two being Reino and his girlfriend, and the third was our dry member and his friend.

It was heart warming to see as our bishop pulled us away and he mentioned, Veljet, we have 6 non-members here!" He doesn't speakk english with us often, but he was so excited to see that we had Harri, Aija, and Reino all there.

The best part was see how Heavenly Father prepares even Friends.

Aija found out that see went to school with one of our members and they even had the same teacher so the were abel to talk nearly the entire time after the Fireside. Tender mercy and a Fleece.

You too sound a little trunky ;) It is a little crazy to think that I have passed my year mark now. Elder Stanley and I baked muffins to celebrate. We also made Spagetti with white sauce on Sunday. You would be proud Mama, I take care of my companions very well. We eat very well.

The Language has just sky rocketed since being with Elder STanley. he is more shy than I am so he doesn't talk much around anyone, so at the beginning I had to talk to everyone on my own which has really helped. He knows this language really well and understands better then me, but preffers that i speak and he just listens. We are still working on that. ;)

I look forward to the time that I can speak with Annakaisa and George too. I have moments during the day that I just crave speaking Finnish. Other times I want to pull my hair out because i don't understand, but I am beginning to pick up finnish words before I think of the english one. It will be wonderful to have someone to speak too when I come home. I have ment  some senior missionaries that have come back to Finland and have to relearn Finnish all over again, this is not my plan. I really want to do what PMG asks us to do. Master the Language. If not now in the field then in years to come. It is a beautiful language that just strums my heart you could say.

I hope Jon and Jeff and Beej are all keeping up their language. ( You can picture my eye upon you.)

I will leave you with our Easter message. John 20:10-16. Also read Jesus the Christ when you have time about this subject. It is really beautiful. Thank you again for everything. I love you all so much and I pray for you daily. Keep on trucking!

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 8:08 AM, Debbie Sandberg <Debbie.Sandberg@comcast.net> wrote:

Dear Jeremy,                                                                                                                                            4-20-2014

dfghl'

\t8890dgggdfl;;fhf9'tttt'ttttzfsdsddzdadsdzsxz/aAaaA11  QQAZZXZXDDDFGFVBNNNNNNNM HHJHHHJ Y887 UU80OIITRRRH EHK30DFHIIIOOHSFHJKHGHHHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGHGDGUIIISIDHGHGHGHTGBC GHGHG YUI     YUUUUUUUIO

love

jordan

April 14, 2014 Dinner, Help, Book of Mormon

Dear wonderful Family,

We had a fun experience yesterday with one of our members. We had nothing planned for Sunday and by the End of Sacrament meeting we were well taken care of by another family asking, " Onko sinulla ruoka sopimus tänään?" (Do you have a dinner apt. today?) Nope, 

Right after church we were heading out to there house to have dinner with them. But the fun part came from what we talked about. We talked about the work here in Finland and the work here in Kerava. and then out of no where both the husband and wife mentioned something that I have never heard before,"Elders, I don't remember the last time I went out with the missionaries. Maybe they didn't want to take me along because I talk to much, but I would love to come out more with you."

and the wife said, "I want to find you more investigators."

We later talked about how as missionaries we are here to help train the memebers to be missionaries and that we can give them the tools to do these things.

This was the tie braker, on our way home our member mentioned that he has wanted to talk to his neighbor about the gospel for a while now. "Do you have a book of Mormon on you?" "Can I have it? I am going to give it to my friend today when she comes over for me to help her with her computer."

We are following up next week with him!

We are in miracle territory. Heavenly Father is moving his work forward. In Utah, Finland, Japan, Penn. and Africa. Every where. What a blessing it is to be in his service. I still feel as if I just got here, but I am coming up to my year mark here in one, two, three days! Time just flies past, We are running out of time to do this work. 

I am so blessed to have been born into the family that I have. Everything that I do everyday can be traced back to home. Thank you so much Mom and Dad, for all you do. I had a glimps of what is must be like for you. Mind you, we keep a clean apartment. I make my bed everyday, Mom, you would be proud. I am honored to carry the name of Jesus Christ on my heart and to hold the name of Sandberg. Thank you all for what you do. Keep up the great work. 

Love Always,

Vanhin Sandberg

April 7, 2014

Hello Family!

It sure has been a fun filled week, We were blessed to be invited to go to Interm ( New Missionary six week training). We were able to review the basic fundimentals of missionary service and teaching skills. It is so fun to see the brand new missionaries and even with their young age in the mission are just as effective as the Fat Sassy (old) missionaries as Jeff would say. One of the many blessings was being able to see Vanhin Speirs again. It is so true that some relationships will last more than the mission field. I was trained by one of the best. Certainly trained by the one that Heavenly Father wanted me to be trained by. Vanhin Speirs has changed my life in too many ways to count. I realize it more now then before.

We were told once that some companionships look more like brothers then actually missionary companions. And that is what Vanhin Speirs and I were. We are greatful that our families could meet.

 Skipping ahead now.

Conference.

Wow. I had the odd thought as we were able to watch the Saturday Session Live, " Weird. I can just imagine the Kids back home as Mom and Dad are calling them to come down stairs, and someone is probably eating something or the Mikrowave is going or something like that."

It was a Piece of home. We also made pancakes the Sunday morning. We were able to watch two live sessons of conf. Sat. Morn. and the Sun. Morn. We would start at 7pm and end at 9.

On sunday we spend all day at the church watching the recordings of Priesthood, Sat, eve. and the World report and then Sun. morn session live. We didn't get back home to our appartment until 10:20 or so. We Went to Haaga stake center to watch it. I was also able to visit with veli Rautio. Jeffs old comp. That was pretty much our week was interm and conference. busy week. sorry that this is so short. remember how much I love and pray for eachof you. Read and reread conference.

I love you,

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

Surprise email March 30, 2014

Dear Mom and Dad, 

Surprise, We need to email on Sunday because Elder Stanley and myself been asked to go to a three day training with the 6 week old missionaries. There was just an odd number of Missionaries and we are close enough Helsinki to travel there so that is why they asked us.  But about Niilo, I sure do know him, He was my Branch Mission Leader In Rovaniemi. I knew him right before his was engaged and moved to Helsinki. He is an awesome fellow. Him and Veli Jarvis are some of my looked up too members. Along with the Branch President and the Zone President up there.

This is part of our Fun filled week.  We had a miracle week. 

Wednesday we received a call from the Vantaa Vanhimmat (Elders) telling us that they had a referral for us. His name was Gino, from Africa and He already has a baptismal date. 

Come to find out, Gino used to be a former investigator in Vantaa, but in the past two months he has moved to Keravan area. When Vanhin Batey went through calling some former investigators he came across Gino, and he accepted to meet. Not knowing for sure where he lived they found out that he was now apart of our area, but in the boundry or their HSL cards so they went and met with him and were able to set a baptismal date with him. 

That was the First miracle.

 The Second was when Tampere  Vanhimmat (Elders) called us asking if we could go and teach their investigator. My first thought was that, " We are in Kerava, and Tampere is calling us to teach there investigator....how will this work out, we are not even in the same zone?"

Come to find out their investigator had a surprize trip to Kerava, to visit her soon to be husband (Harri), who also lives in Korso. She (Aija) had originally had an appointment with the Tampere Vanhimmat, but because of her trip she was unable to meet with them, but she still wanted to visit with the Elders. So we were able to visit her and her soon to be husband, who was a referral that we have been trying to get in contact with for three weeks now. When we got a hold of Harri (The soon to be Husband) We had asked if he could meet today, but he told us that he may not be in town so we had planned to meet the following week. But because Aja came to Korso we were able to meet with both of them and receive Harri as a new investigator. Even in our lesson he asked us How well we knew Salt Lake City....Well, I am about 20 minutes from down town...."I stayed in America for three days one year with a Mormon family. I have nothing against your religion. Nothing bad comes from it."

3rd Miracle was being able to meet with a former investigator that was so pleased to have us come back. This Former investigator still remembers Veli Boyer and Hybarger (Both are now teachers at the MTC, Veli Boyer taught me in the MTC.) who originally found him. This family also became new investigators right after our lesson with Harri and Aja.

It was a Tender Mercy filled week. 

These are the People you can pray for, Harri and Aija, Nang, and Gino.

I hope this was a Pleasent surprise to find this email waiting for you. I thought it might be better then you not receiving and email.  I also forgot to tell you last week. Sorry

I Hope you have a wonderful week Love you tons!

love,

Vanhin Sandberg

This is the article from the April Ensign that I asked Jeremy about.

Conversion and Sacrifice in Finland

By Melissa Zenteno

What is it like to be a faithful young adult in Finland? One young man shares his culture and his faith.

The Church in Finland   4,715 Latter-day Saints

15 wards

15 branches

2 stakes

1 mission

1 temple, dedicated on October 22, 2006

By the Numbers  5,250,000 people (as of January 2012)

187,888 lakes

179,584 islands

2.2 million saunas

Facts   Capital: Helsinki

Language: Finnish (Suomi)

A few miles off the coast of Helsinki, Finland, is the sea fortress of Suomenlinna, built in the 18th century to fortify against invaders. Stretching across six islands, this stronghold represents the steadfast determination of the Finnish people.

But Finnish members visit a different building when they travel to their capital. The Helsinki Finland Temple is a physical symbol of their conversion and the protection they receive from living the gospel.

For Niilo Kervinen, a 24-year-old young adult from Rovaniemi, Finland, the 10-hour train ride to Helsinki is a small price to pay for the blessing of serving in the temple.

Before the dedication of the Helsinki Finland Temple in October 2006, Niilo and other members of his ward had to travel to the Stockholm Sweden Temple or to the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. “The trips would usually take a week during the summer vacation,” he remembers. Traveling by bus and sleeping in tents on those trips are some of the best memories he has.

Yet having a temple in his native land is a wonderful blessing. “When they announced the Helsinki Temple, I was so happy,” Niilo says. “The dedicatory prayer still resonates in my heart each time I go inside.”

This love for the temple sets Niilo apart from his friends. “Finns work hard and enjoy being active but leave little time for spiritual things in their life,” he explains. Although Niilo says he has always been blessed with good friends, as he grew older the distinction between how his friends lived and how he was taught to live became clearer. It was this difference that caused Niilo to seek his own testimony when he was 17. “I had to make a decision of where to stand and who to be,” he says. “With the blessings of the Lord and with the guidance of family and good friends, I got a stronger testimony of the Church.”

In speaking of conversion, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said, “I promise that as we come to a knowledge of the truth and are converted unto the Lord, we will remain firm and steadfast and never fall away.”1 Although traveling to Helsinki requires time and money, Niilo is committed to being a disciple of Christ. And for Niilo, that is no sacrifice at all.

More about Niilo

What do Finns typically eat?

Some of my favorite dishes include salmon soup and reindeer meat with mashed potatoes. We also eat a lot of rye bread.

What do you do for fun?

I like to snowboard, watch movies, or just enjoy a walk outside. I served my mission in Japan, so I study Japanese when I can.

What is dating like in Finland?

We don’t have a strong culture of dating. People generally ask someone out only after they already have a considerable amount of interest for them. Here, dating isn’t a mechanism to get to know someone. There are faithful young adults here, even if there aren’t many members. Sometimes young adult members travel long distances to go on a date with a person they met at a young single adult dance.

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/04/young-adults/conversion-and-sacrifice-in-finland?lang=eng

Does a Mama Proud March 30, 2014

Vanhin Stanley and Vanhin Sandberg

A beautiful sunset

Vanhin Stanley having a bit of fun.

Dear Mom and Dad, 

Surprise, We need to email on Sunday because Elder Stanley and myself been asked to go to a three day training with the 6 week old missionaries. There was just an odd number of Missionaries and we are close enough Helsinki to travel there so that is why they asked us.  But about Niilo, I sure do know him, He was my Branch Mission Leader In Rovaniemi. I knew him right before his was engaged and moved to Helsinki. He is an awesome fellow. Him and Veli Jarvis are some of my looked up too members. Along with the Branch President and the Zone President up there.

This is part of our Fun filled week.  We had a miracle week. 

Wednesday we received a call from the Vantaa Vanhimmat (Elders) telling us that they had a referral for us. His name was Gino, from Africa and He already has a baptismal date. 

Come to find out, Gino used to be a former investigator in Vantaa, but in the past two months he has moved to Keravan area. When Vanhin Batey went through calling some former investigators he came across Gino, and he accepted to meet. Not knowing for sure where he lived they found out that he was now apart of our area, but in the boundry or their HSL cards so they went and met with him and were able to set a baptismal date with him. 

That was the First miracle.

 The Second was when Tampere  Vanhimmat (Elders) called us asking if we could go and teach their investigator. My first thought was that, " We are in Kerava, and Tampere is calling us to teach there investigator....how will this work out, we are not even in the same zone?"

Come to find out their investigator had a surprize trip to Kerava, to visit her soon to be husband (Harri), who also lives in Korso. She (Aija) had originally had an appointment with the Tampere Vanhimmat, but because of her trip she was unable to meet with them, but she still wanted to visit with the Elders. So we were able to visit her and her soon to be husband, who was a referral that we have been trying to get in contact with for three weeks now. When we got a hold of Harri (The soon to be Husband) We had asked if he could meet today, but he told us that he may not be in town so we had planned to meet the following week. But because Aja came to Korso we were able to meet with both of them and receive Harri as a new investigator. Even in our lesson he asked us How well we knew Salt Lake City....Well, I am about 20 minutes from down town...."I stayed in America for three days one year with a Mormon family. I have nothing against your religion. Nothing bad comes from it."

3rd Miracle was being able to meet with a former investigator that was so pleased to have us come back. This Former investigator still remembers Veli Boyer and Hybarger (Both are now teachers at the MTC, Veli Boyer taught me in the MTC.) who originally found him. This family also became new investigators right after our lesson with Harri and Aja.

It was a Tender Mercy filled week. 

These are the People you can pray for, Harri and Aija, Nang, and Gino.

I hope this was a Pleasent surprise to find this email waiting for you. I thought it might be better then you not receiving and email.  I also forgot to tell you last week. Sorry

I Hope you have a wonderful week Love you tons!

love,

Vanhin Sandberg

Hello our missionaries' moms!

Today we had your sons in the Primary telling children how to get prepared for the mission. Elder Sandberg let each child cut a piece of his tie (or someone else's old tie?) every time he/she was able to tell one way to get prepared. I bet the children will remember this Primary forever, it was so much fun! We enjoy having your sons in our ward. 

Also our son is on a mission. He left for his mission a little over a year ago - he is in Switzerland. I know you miss your sons like I miss our son. But I know we all are blessed for the service of our sons. Thank you so much for having raised your sons to serve their missions in our country.

All the best

Helena Tiits 

Toe Nail March 24, 2014

Dear Mama ja Papanua,

 So the story about my toe. We were playing Sählö. It is Kinda like hockey, but played on a court. Anyway, we were playing and i think It got stepped on...a couple times....Not sure, I just remember checking it after and having it blue, but It is growing back just fine. No worries. I thought it safe to share this one with mom after the fact. Don't you just love how missionaries do that?

Anyway, We were blessed with a miracle early on this last week. We received a partial referral couple weeks ago from one of our missionaries from Kerava. Vanhin Noso. (The same Noso that Annakaisa knows.) He had asked that if we had time, if we would go and try and find an old coworker. We had a general area of where he lived as well as his work place. So we went to work trying to find him, but to find his residence was some what difficult. We went through as many of the buildings as we could, but could not find him. We later tried his work place and it seemed to be closed for some time.

A few weeks later( or last week for us) We went one last time to his work place to try and find this fellow. The only thing we could do was knock on the door of what we had hoped to be the door to the company. Sure enough we had someone answer. We asked If they knew this Salomon. That is when Salomon comes out. We had found him. 

We shared our greetings from Vanhin Noso and chatted for a very short time. But because our visit to his work place was somewhat inconvenient we were just able to pretty much say hello before he had to return to work. Happy that we found him, we were a bit put out because we didn't progress to another topic such as another time we could visit or the gospel. As we were walking away we had a Van pass us that stopped and reversed. 

This is the miracle. there was Salomon, asking if we could get contact information for Vanhin Noso. He gave us his email, before he had to head to another Job.

If we had gone to his work just a bit later we would have missed him. We had such a short window of time that there is no way it was an accident/accedent.  This is in part why as missionaries we "Pray always" which means that we are constantly in tune with the spirit.

That is so exciting to hear that Vanhin Hegland is near the end of his mission. I can't wait to hear his stories. He is a wonderful example to us boys.

It is that time again. I am so deeply grateful for all that Heavenly Father has and continues to bless us with. I am blessed with a wonderful family. Thank you so much for all you do. I love you all and pray for your safety.

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

Ps. Mom and Dad, Thank you for teaching us boys how to behave and act. We had a dinner appointment yesterday and the mother was pleased that I was willing to do the dishes. Simple things that we as missionaries don't even really think about., but I give credit to my parents.

March 17, 2014

Rakas Moma ja Papanua,

Tender Mercy of the Week,

 "Talking with everyone and going out looking for that "one" a day really does work.

We were able to go on splits last wednesday and one goal that we wanted to focus on is talking with everyone because that is a weakness that both Vanhin Stanley and myself share. 

So Vanhin Richards and myself started out with a blank day. Oddly enough I was excited for it. We started out super strong, We were not letting one person pass us by without us at least saying hello and trying to talk with them. It was so much fun. Although my fear of it had not completely left me We were expecting to talk with the next person no matter what. As we went through out the day doing this we were able to meet some wonderful people. I saw it as a blessing that we had only meet Kind people. 

The Miracle really came as we were heading back home. We were cutting it close to make it on the next train back to kerava, but we were still talking with everyone we could. As we were less than a block away from the station We came up behind two men, one was obviously drunk and I unfortunately judged him.

As we passed by we said our normal "hello" and continued walking. ( planning on not talking to this person.) 

That is when this fellow called us back, in english. 

He asked us if we were the Mormon Missionaries, we confirmed, and were surprised by his next comment.

"I knew it was you. I try and talk to the missionaries every time i see them because I really appreciate what you do."

If that wasn't humbling enough we later came to find out that He talks with the missionaries every chance he gets because they bring a special spirit with them and He always feels better about himself after he talks with them.

We talked with him for the next 20 minutes about his life and prayer.

At the end of our conversation he told us this, " I knew that you were supposed to find me and that we were met to talk. Thank you."

This is what made our entire day of contacting worth it. Ole lives up past Rovaniemi and was only in Järvenpää for a couple of days. But we found him,, or he found us only because we were at the right place at the right time"

Another fun fact, Vanhin Stanley found out this week as we were looking through Family Search that he is related to Mary and Joseph. And a small portion of his Line goes all the way back to Adam.

That was a first for me to see.

Penti is our New investigator. If you could pray for him that would be great. Reino is still coming along slowly.

Thank you again for all you do. I love and pray for each of you. I even tried to bake a cake for Kindsey and Beej, but I burned it. But Fear Not, I am getting better at cakes. Ice Cream fixes everything.

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

Feb. 18, 2014 Transfers

So little time! As you have heard Tansfer week is this week. Elder Glasgow will be leaving me and Elder Stanley will be coming to Kerava. THis will be my third Change in Kerava. But this is nothing compared to another one of my favorite elders. He has been in Haaga for 10 months. and the last two changes he has been training. Just a bit of info.

Tonight elder Glasgow and I are heading down to Helsinki to pick up my new Comp. And then tomorrow morning Elder Glasgow will be heading to his new area.

Some of the stories I wanted to tell you will have to wait until next week. So I will need you to remind me. Here are the notes to remind me.

Ward FHE

Change call (The curse of elder glasgow)

Great Dal Moodie(prophets game)

Fufu!!!!!!

running after a man with the book of mormon bible.

Elder Glasgow had his birthday this last week. He is now 21. would you be willing to send him a little package? he didn't get anything from his family and I felt aweful. If you could write him just a short little note. He is one of the best elders. I cant wait for you to meet him. He is the example of Christ Like Love. I wish I could have stayed with him another change., but back to him. If you could send him just some thing small that would be great. 

Funny story about his birthday. 

His birthday was on Thursday our planning day so I had decided that I would bake a cake during planning and He. It was a recipe from my cook book from Kim and Beej. Anyway. We made this cake. It was cooking just grand until we pulled it out after its allotted time. It was creamy in the middle....Oh no I ruined his cake! But wait! Missionaries are bright fellows. We can think of something. So we decided to pull our the middle and put all the uncooked goo in the cup cake pan....then the cake would not come out of the pan. 

(Looking back we had the wrong pan all along....ei hyvä)

Scraping the sides we were finally able to get the cake out upside down.

after that we had to put the candles in the bottom because we had not top.

We put the candles in and lit them. (with 21 candles you have to make  wish fast because they start to melt.)

We blew out the candles and started to pull our the candles when we realized we had reuse able candles witha string thingy on both ends...That is when we realized that we put the candles in too soon after pulling the cake out of the oven. So we had candle wax melted all inside this little cake.

This was one of the best times we have had. We just laughed about it. because it was so silly. we ate it anyway, pulling out as much wax as we could. It was grand.

Short story i thought you might like.

We need to go and get my comp now...I am sorry that this is so short. and very fast. forgive all of my spelling mistakes. Know that I love you all and I pray for you every day. Be safe and good.

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

ps. Elder glasgow was in dire need of new shoes so I gave him my second pair for his birthday. How does my money account look? Am I doing alright?

pss. I sent Kim's chocolate bar to our home address because I don't have their home address. I know that you know what to do. :)

I have just a little bit more time while elder Glasgow finishes up. 

The pictures are great!! I figured that Emmie had some kind of digested food on her. And Jeff's new glasses.........and justin going in to get his checked.................not sure how I feel about this. I may be the only boy without glasses...........Dad and myself. But dad uses his for reading the scriptures so it doesn't count.

TIme to go.

LOVE YOU!!

Vanhin Sandberg

March 3, 2014

Dear Momma and Papanua,

I am pleased to know that you were able to make it to the funeral and back safely. Our example as members of the church reaches far beyond our comprehension. "We morn with those that morn" That means all of our Heavenly Fathers children and even more so family.

 So this week was grand! We had a wonderful zone training with President Packers son, along with Elder Rockwood, Brimhall, and Dykes. We were taught the impotance of Family History, becoming better leaders, and the Spirit of Elijah (Family History again)

I was also given a special spatula from Sister Thelin, because see loves me as well as I am becoming known for my cookies.( Thanks to you)

Back to Family History, Do you know If I have a Family Search account? I don't remember....sadly. We are meeting with our Family History person this next wednesday. We met with him last week as well and It was a lot of fun. I forgot how fun FAmily History is. It was fun to pull out my chart and share it with others. Helps with the Name as well.  Also, could you send me some family stories?

Now for the story of the week.

Saturday Morning Elder Stanley and myself were on our way out to another area called Savio.  It is just under Kerava, but we were going to visit a less active memeber when we received a call from a member asking us if we could bring them two books of Mormon before 7pm. We were also told to call their spouse to make sure they would be home. So after we prayed about it we decided that we did have enought time so we headed back to our apartment to pick up an extra book.

When we got to our apartment we thought it a good idea to call the husband to make sure he would be home for when we brought the books. When we called him we assured us that we didn't need to really bring the books, but that he would receive them on sunday. We got off the phone with him and just thought about it...Ok...Why are we hear? What will be the best use of our time?

We prayed about it and felt that it was needed that we go anyway. After we had already been told not to come. So we head out there. very few people were out at this time so we arrived there very quickly. We come to the door and  receive a call from our member who had just told us not to come.

"Oi Dear Brothern, my wife needs those books tonight! Anteeksi, but is there any way that we can still receive those books?

"Of course, We are here now." At which point I rang his bell.

This is just a small testimony to me the importance in following the spirit, It was just a small thing, but we did the right thing. We even made it to our next appointment on time which was also a miracle.

Thank you for all you do.

I am also greatful for the example you have set for me. I have recenly come to understand what it means to have Charity of Sharing. Just a side note.

The Language will come. I have seen to many miracles not to believe. I have also been able to play the piano the last two weeks. another tender mercy. Joyce would be proud.

I love you and pray for you!

Vanhin Sandberg

February 24, 2014

Dear Momma ja Papanua,

In answer to the first questions.

 Jeff also showed me the picture of you and the Mikkolas.  All Alste Mikkola said was that they met you.

Yesterday was ward conference and I had a womand from another ward come up to me and asked who I was and who was in my MTC group. Half way through the conversation I had to speak in english, because It was going beyond me.

She knew that she had heard something about me from other missionaries, but she couldn't quite remember. With out thinking I ask what Her name was. She said Mikkola....did You have a son that served in Sweden?....yeah....Well he served with my brother.

THats why your name was so familiar!! Right then her husband came up asking the same question. Sandberg....is this the same family....

That  is the story with the Mikkola perhe.

 1. So what can you tell us of this meeting???

Ward conference. It was Grand. I am still having a hard time understanding what is going on, but Sundays are still one of the best days.

 2. Also are Vanhin  Glasgow's parents members? 

They are both members.

 3.  Vanhin Stanley is from ?? How long out?  How are things going?

Vanhin Standley is from West Jordan, He is a 2 months older than me in the mission. And we are different. Still finding things out between us. He is shy so i have to rip information out of him.

 4.Your reminders of last weeks stories.

1Ward FHE

I just have to send you the words It is weird to explain. Super fun for american missionaries who don't know what is going on.

 2Change call (The curse of elder glasgow)

The last 3 companions of Elder Glasgow have trained after he Left. So....I was not worried on bit......I lied. I was really scared that I would be training, but I broke the trend and no Vanhin Stanley is with me.

 3Great Dal Moodie(prophets game)

You can play this came with the Organization of the church! The Prophet, his apostles, ect. It was a brain spark moment.

 4Fufu!!!!!!

Last sunday we had fufu at a memebers house. It is a african dish where you eat with your hands and it is like mashed potatos in soup and it is so good. Hot and spicy. I wonder if Ethan has had it.

 5running after a man with the book of mormon bible.

Elder Glasgow and I were just about to get on our train home when we saw this guy holding a book that look just like a finnish triple. The doors to the train open and he walks out and we are almost on when we decide to go and talk to him...well he was a fast walker so we had to run after him. took us 5 minutes to catch up to him from weaving in and out of people. We got up to him and asked about his book ( we really thought it was as Book of mormon) It was a Bible and He worked at some Helluntai church and was in very much of a hurry, but for the short time we ran after him it was interesting to think. Who is this man with a Finnish triple? Why have we not seen him at church.

 I missed Jeff's funny picture this week. Has he thought of any of his past object lessons?

In answer to your question about the language...It is still coming, I have to remind myself that I am a perfectionest and I can't be perfect. Understanding and Speaking are my tough points. But It is getting better. I pray for the gift of tongues everyday.

Sorry that my stories are all just thrown at you. I will be better about it next week. Thank you for your emails. It is always a blessing to be able to hear from your family. Thank you for all you do. until next week.

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

Feb. 10, 2014

Dear Momma ja Papanua,

I thought you might like to remember that I am in a European country. Did you put that picture up on your blog? Because of the difficulty in the MTC of sending pictures I forgot to send the picture of Matt so I was gently reminded last week and Sent it. I am pleased to hear that it was received by his mother. What I remember was just passing Matt and telling him."Elder....Hey...um, My name is Elder Sandberg and My Mom knows your Mom and my Mom wants me to get a Picture with you as well as give you a hug from your Mom."...All of his Mission buddies thought it was great, but he was kind enough to let a strange missionary give him a hug and picture from his mum. So that is the story of Elder Matt.

Just a couple hours ago Elder Glasgow and Myself were able to visit the Fazer Chocolate factory. The Outside smelled too much like Cookietree. The Alhovuori family is another family that you will need to visit as well as Brother and Sister Russ. So as a side note, If you come and pick me up that will have to be an activity to visit. That also reminds me of my other thought....What if you didn't come and pick me up, but we came back for Mom's Birthday and my late Birthday? Just an idea to pray about. I haven't thought about it too much, but when Vanhin Lamoin visited with his parents it made me start to think. But, Fun story about being guided and not realizing it.

Today after we visited the Factory, We stopped in Koivukylä to get some Kebab. ( Side note, I know this is not the best way to spend the Widows Mite, but we have somewhat of a potential at the Kebab shop. And we visit enough that they know us :) its is also cheap. ) After we came back to Kerava and went straight to shopping.First store we stopped at was closed. Which is never closed on Mondays, but today it was so we finished our normal shopping and went home. After we returned home we unloaded and decided to head for the church to email. On our way there we passed a man that looked as if he was in pain. Before we could talk to him he was asking if we could help him carry his bags. Some how he knew who we were. We picked up his bags and they both seemed to be 30 plus pounds. But we walked with him and as we talked he was asking about the past missionaries that were here in Kerava. Come to find out He as a former investigator and now wants us to come back with a Mk ( Mormonin Kirja) and Bible. 

If we had not passed at that moment we probably would have missed him. Way cool!

This last week we also had our First potential "Stood us up". We waited at the train station for 30 minutes and he never showed. 

Does Jeff or Ashley Pahl remember any cool Object lessons that they used when they were on their mission? I Remember Jeff sharing one about a Coin, water, a cup, and a plate., and the object was to get the coin out of the water dry. If he remembers any I would love to hear about them. Which leads me to my next thought.

Veli Russ. One of my favorite people. Both him and his wife are converts. We met with them on Saturday and talked about the Restoration and what it ment to them. Veli Russ told us that the first time he had ever heard about the Restoration it was in connection with a car. 

"When Jesus came down to earth He brought a Car. The car was in original condition. But through time the Car became distorted and different. For the car to come back to its original condition a Restoration would be needed."

Sister Russ mentioned the Restoration as a Mirror. The Gospel is just like a full size Mirror and with the Apostasy it became broken. Different Religions having a piece of that mirror. Just like other churches have partial truth. To bring the mirror back together it needed to be Restored."

Those were some cool thoughts that I had. 

It was great hearing from you again. I love you all very much and I pray for you eveyday. Be Safe. Be Strong.

Keep The Faith.

Love,

VS 

February 3, 2014 Secret Agent Tuc and Roll

Dear Moma ja Papanua,

I always look forward to the time that i am able to hear from you. The Stories are wonderful. I have made sure to let everyone know that it is my Nieces or Brothers birthday. Fun Story, Nick lives in the same zone as me. Not my ward, but very close. That is why i asked. I remembered Sister Asay saying something about it long ago., but I am glad to hear that you were able to celebrate the Girls and Jonnys brithday. Is the cake a Frozen Princess cake. I saw a book about it today. 

Fun story about today. We had a District activity today down in Helsinki.  And we went to a food place called Vapianos. Maybe Annakaisa knows about it. maybe not. It is popular with the Helsinki missionaries. You can have Pasta, Salad, and Pizza. They  make all to food right in front of your as you order it. Very good. I would have pictures, but I was talking the pictures for all the other missionaries so I will ask one of the Sisters in my Distirict to share some., But that was a fun Short story, The first picture is of me in front of a famous Statue in Helsinki. It is also one of my favorite.

Moving on...for obvous reasons....haha

Ok...with this next story you need to not judge too harshly. Keep that in mind.

Elder Glasgow and myself we coming home from a teach out in Sipoo (our swedish speaking area) Veli Tiits was giving us a ride home as well as his mother in law. The city the his mother in law live at is just one train stop away from Kerava so we thought it would just be easier to catch a train from Savio and then ride it to Kerava so Veli Tiits could not have to drive up and back again. So we did a secret agent role right out of his car in the middle of the snowy street! (Worry not, no cars were coming, but it was still fun.) Once we got to Savio station we had this bright idea to take the train down to Korso (The opposite way) and hope off the train and then hope on the next train back to Kerava. (This was to help us contact and keep warm) (staying warm in -5, real ruff ;)

Anyways, we got off at Korso and found out that the next train didn't come for another 12 minutes. So we had to sit and wait. As restless boys we found it fun to kick the snow around. That is when Elder Glasgow gets this bright idea. Lets kick the snow onto the tracks.....While a train is coming! 

I didn't think he would do it, but He did. A High Speed train going 80-150 Kmh. He football kicked a snowball at the train. and we just watched it explode. The snow that is. Way to much fun!

The best part of this story is that we shared with the Tiits family a spiritual message about Family Missionary plans.  And were able to visit with there home teachers as well. So we now see what a day full of fasting can do to two missionaries.

update on Reino, he was not able to make it to church. He has been out skiing the past two weeks, but we are still in contact with him. We recieved a phone call from a former investigator asking if we could meet again. So Dimitri is again meeting with us. So that is nice. We are working with our Ward on the Member role plays. Using the questions of the soul, word game, and others. Within the next few weeks we will be sharing these Role Plays with the RS so we are looking forward to that.

Bishop, How are Porter and Jessie doing? Were you able to meet with them? Do you want me to Write up a personal testimony in Finnish for the Elders in our Ward? English and Finnish?

Thank you for the update on Junior. He is just a good guy. I don't think there is a week that goes by that i don't think about my Friends on Swing Shift. Give them my Love and support. I learned a lot from them.

Well time is short and I have one last Spiritual thought. This was a scripture that I found today in my personal study.

3 Nefi 21:9-10

9 For in that day, for my sake shall the Father ^awork a work, which shall be a great and a ^bmarvelous ^cwork among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them.

 10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be ^amarred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that ^bmy wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

The Missionaries around the world are in the Hands of the Lord. We have left the Hands of our Parents and Put into the Hands of the Lord. And the same is for you. I find safety in knowing that you are under the Protection of the Protector. Remember that I love you and pray for you always. Be good and safe.

love,

Vanhin Sandberg

Week 36 January 27, 2014

Dear Family,

It is always special to me to see the way Heavenly Father is always mindful of you and as Mom put it orchestrates our lives. First off I would like to start out with a fun little activity. All of you who have an Iphone or similar, pull it out. Go to your app store and look for a game called "Bad Piggies" It is a fun little game.It is by the same company that produces "Angry Birds"  And special to me. Because I know the man that created this game. He lives in my ward. So When you look through the credits look for the name of the Creator.

Up Date. Reino was unable to come to church the past two weeks because he has been our skiing. But this last week we were able to have a good teach with him. He is such a wonderful man. The past two times we have visited him he has prepared sandwiches and tea for us. (Don't worry, it is Herb tea) He is progressing ever so slightly, So as you continue praying for him, pray that he will be able to receive answers to his prayers.

We were also able to get in contact with a former investigator this last week. His name is V. V went on vacation over the Christmas break as we were now just able to get in contact with him. Funny story goes along with him.

When we went to visit V we came to meet him and found him about to celebrate for one of his sales. So He has a bottle of Whiskey with him as we were talking.(He was still there mentally.) But when we sat down he told us that he wasn't going to offer us any because we didn't drink this stuff and He doesn't really drink either, but this was a time to celebrate. We were able to catch up with him on how his vacation went and what happened, and to our surprise he got married. 

So for the next hour he tells us how he met his new or soon to be wife. (Not really sure which it is) This is all wonderful, he poured himself a drink , but because we are talking so much he hasn't be able to drink. (The Drinking is also supposed to help him sleep...) We have now been there a while and we both decide that it is time to go. 

Side note, He calls us his "Church Brethren"

So as we are going he tells us about how his wife will be coming in a few weeks and he wants to take her some place nice. Sweden is just next door she he wants to take her on a cruise. It just so happens that He has already booked his room on the boat and his room has 4 beds. But there is only him and his wife. And today his Church Brethren have visited...."Hey, I would really love to take you guys on a cruise with me. It will be great. It only costs about 27€ and we can leave by 17:00 get there in the morning visit and be back by the next morning! What do  you say, it will be fun!"...

Just to let you know Elder Glasgow and myself will not be going to Sweden. We didn't even think to ask our Mission President about it. But we did tell V that we were thankful for the invite, but we were needed here.

I don't know how often Elders are invited to go on Cruises, but it was a first for me. Just a fun little story I thought you might like.

Mom, Could you ask Sister Asay if she still remembers if Nickolas Whamberg is still here in Finland?

I want to say that Sister Asay told me that Nick was still here in finland, but I can not remember. If you could that would be great.

 Here are some fun pictures. I love you and pray for you always.

Also, I think i want to do a Triathlon when I get back.

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

Week 35 January 20,1014

Dear Momma and Papanua,

We had a wonderful week last week. We were able to have a nice visit with our mission president, have two days of splits, and of course have Church. As i have mentioned before my companion is the district leader in our area so i have the privilege of doing exchanges with missionaries in our area. Well this last week we had two splits days. One with the companionship right next to us and the other with one of the Assistance to the President. One of our most productive was with AP Brown, AP Brown used to be my Zone leader when I was in the North zone. 

When we had Splits with Elder Brown we had the knowledge before hand that he had served in Kerava before. So we asked him who he wanted to visit for his short time back. Side note. We had over 6 teaches that day. It Rocked!

Anyway, We knew that we only had half a day with Elder brown so we tried to plan as best we could and to visit those who our heavenly Father needed us to visit. With our limited time we were able to visit two families that were really important to Elder Brown. One was a family that has the missionaries over for FHE ever other week. The second was an older Mummo. When we went to visit the second memeber Elder Brown shared this story with here of how wonderful it is to have a Father in Heaven who is in charge. Heavenly Father knew elder brown had family here in Finland that needed to be found. And because of this member he was able to find more of his ancestors and open up even more names to his family tree. All of this may have seemed simple, but with more information it became all the more special.

Elder Brown leaves in less than one month. Kerava was the first city he came too and the last time he may have been able to thank this dear sweet sister. 

From my point of view i can see even more.

Our planning has never been so flawless. We were busy all the day long running, i really mean running from place to place, because we had so much to do. Heavenly Father was able to use us to bless Elder Brown and this sister. It was so cool to see. EVery day I am reminded of how the Creator of our Universes and the Father of our Spirits is mindful of even the smallest of things. EVen as simple as letting a missionary say thank you before he retires home.

This was one of the best things that happened this week.

Another fun fact is that when we woke up this morning it was -20 C or -3 F. one of the coldest mornings i have seen. And it is only going to get colder. :) Of course we are staying warm.  No worries.

I am so grateful for the opportunity i have to serve at this time. IN the MTC we were told over and over that we were at the right place and the right time. At how true it is. I see that every day when I am blessed to see the miracle or tender mercy for that day. I pray for all of your that read this my words. Thank you for all that you do. 

Thank you for the up date, that is always appreciated.

I love and pray for you every day.

Love you tons

Vanhin Sandberg

The first two of me cooking are of me cooking Salmon. 

And the cool trick with the cool air out side and the hot fish... just a little boy trapped in a Mans body. 

The last is of this morning. -20 baby!

Week 35, 1-13-2014

Dear Sandberg Family,

In answer to your questions,

So how was your week?

We have had a fairly good week. We had some crazy adventures down in the Swedish speaking part of towns and somehow ended up in a medical compound...I will explain in a little bit.

2. Did Reino come to church again?

Reino has come to church, We just need to really pray that he finds the desire to know that these things are true.

3.  I really am curious as to what your first picture was? I still think it looks like pizza with cheese and that meat with the funny name. oh I remember kbob

The picture what from when Vanhin Glasgow and I were making pizzas. And this little guy was left on the counter and when we tried to move him he was stuck....So he became a roll....and then a monster of food. It just died in our oven so we had to take a picture. But just remember that It was ment to be a pizza at one point.

4.  What were you and Vanhin Glasglow sick with?

Just Change in the weather. We dropped down to about -10 this last week. And before we were at +5. And missionary work can sometimes take its toll on you if you try and just bust through missionary work when you are already sick.

   And what about, Sami and Luiza, how are they doing?  

Sami and his family are doing great, They were a little busy this last week and were unable to make it to our Asian party down in Espoo, but we will be meeting with them this week. So we are excited to meet with them again and start teaching.

   Finally, what's happening with Ville, anything happening with him?   Also, anyone else that you want us to pray for?   Just let us know and we'd be happy to accommodate.

Ville has disappeared. We don't really know where he is....But you could pray for the Helsinki Mission. We are running hard already this early in the year. 

Story time.

Vanhin Glasgow and myself went to Sipoo or Sibbo, It is more swedish speaking area. We have a couple members that live out there and we had a meeting with one of them so we decided to spend more time out there. Well we had an old former that we thought we would go and check on. When we got there we found this Victorian looking compound. And the name is one the picture with the sign. 

We didn't feel so good about this place and our bus was coming so we were unable to find our Former, but it was a fun crazy adventure anyway.

The second picture is to reassure mom that I am eating well enought. Elder Glasgow and myself made taco salad. Very good. I feel like it is a little bit like instagram. Sending pictures of my food.

Dear Jeff, 

Your companion Rautio is going on a teach with us tomorrow. even though he is apart of the Haaga ward, Kinda a tender mercy you could call is.

I also heard the Little girls were fighting over the MTC Sweat pants. Those are probably Jeffs. I have mine with me...so yeah.

Thank you again for all of your prays and love and support. I pray for you everyday. you are never far from my thoughts. 

until next week.

Love,

Vanhin Sandberg

Vanhin Glasglow

Medical  Compound