August 27, 2012 (abt. 187 days left)

Hello there!!! So this week has been an incredible week! It was so interesting coming up here from the south haha. I guess I will tell you the story haha. I get on a train at about 9:30 at night. I am literally watching the clock for 40 minutes till I connect to my night train in Riihimäki haha. I get off the small train and pull all of my bags and bike off of it. I am standing on the train platform at like 10:30pm by myself and it is pretty cold haha. There were some people on the platform, and so I decided to start a conversation with this one guy haha. We talked for about 30 minutes, and then all the sudden the night train pulls up. It was super long, and i realized my car was at the other end of the platform!! I grabbed a couple suitcases, and for some reason i picked up my bike with one arm and started running haha!!! I asked the conductor for some help so i could get my other bag, and he said, "what help?" haha basically why do you need help?? GOSH! Luckily i looked behind me and found the place to put my bike haha! I then b-lined it to my other bag, and then I had to get on the train! I pushed all my bags through like 2 or 3 cars until finally I came to my bunk. There was an army guy in there and he was okay. However as i finally laid down to go to bed, he took off his army boots and stuff, and our whole room that we were sharing stunk!! GREAT SCOTT!! I tossed and turned the whole night, fearing that i would miss my stop and end up in Norway. It was about a 7 to 8 hour train ride on the night train. It was intense, yet i was pretty peaceful the whole way. I wasn't really that nervous to come to Oulu, I felt ready. Elder Pope is my new companion, and he is from bountiful Utah. It is so funny, we were in the MTC together. We actually both thought about the MTC and we weren't sure how things would go. However as we got to know each other, we discovered that we are a lot alike haha. We have been laughing non stop since basically i arrived! Our apartment is huge!! I love it so much! Being a zone leader is a lot harder than I expected haha. We have a zone conference (mission tour) with Elder Richards of the 70 coming, and so we have been working on that a lot. We have a lot of things to do today to prepare for that, and we have 24 missionaries arriving in oulu tonight! So that will be fun! I am actually very excited because I know almost all of them, and Elder Ogden is coming tonight! Unfortunately I left Elder Manwaring in the south zone! We had an awesome opportunity to go down and do compi exchanges down in Pietarsaari (which is along the west coast of finland) with the district leader there. He is doing so great, and we had a fun time. We went to a teach with a part member family. The wife has been active her whole life, and her husband has never joined the church. We were talking about the Book of Mormon, and how it can answer our questions. We gave him a paper, and he glanced over it, and said, "How can anyone know the answers to these questions?" Then he set the paper down, and kept starring out the window while we talked to the member. The member then stated that she wanted to make a copy of the paper. It was just us and him haha!! I felt very strongly just to get to know him. I ased a few questions. Where did you work?, what did you do in the army?, do you like any sports? AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREEEEEE!!! He loves sports, and talked about how he was a great runner! I told him that I ran in high school (one year... cough). I told him about how i won the jr. olympics in utah for my group. We started laughing and talking, and then the wife came into the room! We then commited them to read the questions together and pray about them, and after a little hesitation they accepted. After we said the closing prayer, I went up to shake his hand, and he asked me about my old running times and stuff haha! It is really funny because this guy reminded me of Grandpa Marshall! His finnish twin! I learned the importance of just really getting to know those we meet with. They are going to be way more open, once they feel like they can relate to us! DUH! good one elder perry, your quick! Following we went down to teach a family, and I really felt the importance of not always answering peoples questions right in the teach. The husband asked a question from the questions of the soul paper, and a prompting came very strongly to say this. "We know that we could give you an answer to this question right now, but we want you to recieve an answer for yourself from the holy ghost. We will give you a chapter in the Book of mormon that answers this question, and we will discuss about it next time." It was perfect because then Elder hansen came in (the district leader) and said, "You can right down you feelings and thoughts, and we will talk about it next time!! The spirit really helped us to teach after the manner of the workings of the spirit! It went very well. Later on this week, we went to an americans house for dinner. He is a less active man here in Oulu, however is very cool, and loves the gospel very much. We ate with him, and had a fun time with him. We then sat down to share our message. Of coure we turned to 2 nephi 32:3 and talked about how the words of christ will give us the answers we need to our questions. He looked at the questions on the list, and we asked who comes to your mind, who would benefit from answers to these questions? He said, me haha. We then did the Invitation to pray with him, and we helped him to know who he could show the book of mormon to. He also commited to read the sections with his wife haha! Everything really is just tying together as we have been using the Book of Mormon in everything! I love it so much! I really have come to love the book of mormon, and I have complete confidence in the fact that it is a true book. No more doubts, just questions! Although the stresses of being a missionary are apparent. I have just as strong as every a testimony of the fact that this is the Lords work. It's true, and awesome! I know that l am in the right place, and i wouldn't want to be anywhere else at this time! i love you all, Elder Perry