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