September 24, 2012 (abt 159 days left)

I HAD AN AWESOME WEEK! It was so good to hear from all of you! I especially love grandma's email's! I thought about what she said in her email, and i would ask that you would tell her this. Our mission president has counseled us to pray when we talk to people. Pray always, that the Lord will shine His love through your eyes in every contact. I have talked to a lot of different people out here haha. I have noticed when i follow that counsel, even when they are not interested in hearing what we have to say, that the spirit profoundly changes the attitude of the missionary and the person. I don't know how he'll do it over the phone, but he will if you pray for it. I am so excited that you are on a mission! I remember talking to you on the phone, and it would just soften my heart, so that i would want to do exactly what the Lord would have me do. You're going to do great! I wish that you were senior couples up here Oulu however! Things have been going very great! On Wednesday we went up to Rovaniemi for District meeting, and then we went and saw Santa Claus! It was so cool! I got a picture, and I will send it in the mail. I only bought one however, so you will have to scan it or something. I was going to buy gifts for everyone, however I ended up with a pair of slippers...... for myself........but i'm sure we will go up there, and then i get everyone souvenir's! I guess Finland has been declared the official residential place of Santa! Way cool! He speaks a whole bunch of different languages, and is hilarious. But you probably aren't interested in this so I'll go into the gospel stuff. I was reading in Ezekiel this morning about the stick of Judah........................ vitsi. Elder Pope and i had a very interesting experience. I hate comparing a missionary companionship to marriage, but it must be done for the purposes of this email. We just were not happy with each other haha!!!!! We definitely were friends, and liked each other, however we just weren't happy. For some reason we got into kind of an argument and it was dumb! However it led us to a miracle. We were both mad, and we finally just looked at each other and said, ya know, we are not happy right now. We decided to take a step back for a minute, and find the reason why we weren't happy. Elder Pope felt like we don't really have a vision in our work. I think that was the main source of our stress, and our arguments. We asked ourselves, "Where are we? and where are we going?" We decided to take a paper right then and there, and make a "Compi creed." First: We wrote down the things that needed to happen in our companionship. We really felt like respect needed to enter our companionship. We needed to see each other the way God see's us. There are many other things we talked about, however then next thing we talked about was our area. We really needed a driving force, that would motivate us to really work for something, rather than just working. Following that, we talked about the zone, and what we need to do there. One of the main answers to that question is the fact that we need to be examples in our own areas before trying to do anything. I was so grateful that my companion and i were able to work things out. We definitely haven't been miserable, just kind of lost it seemed like. I know that when we truly ask ourselves where am I?, and where am I going? The Lord will inspire us with the direction to take, goals to set, and His love with the assurance that we can accomplish all things. I really have seen His hand this week. It was so amazing to be able to feel His uplifting influence in the work. I have really felt how patient he is with us. The next day things went extremely well. We found a family! They are very great. The husband is very into science, and accepts that as an answer that there is no God. However when he asked us questions, we simply looked at him with a smile, and said we know these things are true. They said we can come back, and teach them sometime! Hopefully things work out! I have been learning very important lessons this last little while. It's funny how that happens in the Lord's service. Not only are others blessed in this work; we are too. We really have seen a lot of blessings with planning our lessons ahead of time instead of the day before!! Duhh!! We have really been taking time to write out the times when we will go meet with someone and the pray that the Lord will provide the way to do it. I know he does, as we simply take the time to do it. The Lord helped us to meet with a lot of our investigators this week, and also to re set up two baptismal dates this week with investigators that had one, but didn't make it. It was such a blessing to see the spirit there as we committed them to be baptized! I know that we have the right to call down the powers of heaven, after we have done the initial things that the Lord has required. Once we do those, we leave the rest to the Lord, and He does it. It is so weird to hear that Bryant is home and stuff. Tell him hi and stuff. Also mom when am I getting pictures from your California vacation? I have to say, I feel like i don't have any pictures of my family anymore haha. Well it's okay, I guess i'll be okay. ps. Apparently president wants us to make a withdrawal of like £250 in case there is an emergency and we have to travel down to Helsinki. I wanted to ask you about that before I make the withdrawal. I wont do anything until next week. I love you, Elder Perry

September 17, 2012 (abt. 166 days left)

Dear Family! This has been an extremely challenging week! I'm not going to pretend that it was easy! We are working very hard to do what is right, and follow the counsel. I actually had the privilege of going down to Helsinki to go on compi exchanges with the assistants. We were down there and i had the opportunity to meet with President. I was a little stressed and so I called him up to see if I could come talk with him a little. It was so great to meet with him. He talked about how we usually get stressed when we worry about things that aren't under our control. There are times when we just need to relay those things to the Lord, and He will take care of it. That really meant a lot to me. We talked for awhile haha! We talked about the North zone, and about the work up here. He says that very large things are going to happen, and i very much believe so as well. The adversary knows what's coming, and we just need to not get discouraged with our limited view of the things that are going on around us. We have been really trying to help the members do missionary work by role playing with them. We have been helping them present the Book of Mormon. It has gone very well as we have been consistent with it, and have made it fun. I love teaching so much. It is so much fun to see the light come on in someones eyes. Nothing can replace that feeling of love that comes for someone who Heavenly Father has placed in our path. We have been working with one guy who the sister missionaries referred to us. They have taught him multiple times, but he hasn't really come to church etc... We met with him a few times, and then Saturday he canceled our lesson with him. We pushed, and prayed that He would come to church. He said, well... I guess sooo. To be honest I didn't have very much confidence in his answer haha. The next morning he walked in, and it was so cool! I was so grateful to the Lord, that He helped him come. I had another cool experience with the scriptures this last week. In 2 Nephi 32:3 I believe it says,"Angels speak by the power of the holy ghost, wherefore they speak the words of Chirst. Therefore i said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ, for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things, what ye should do." The other day, I just prayed with all my heart that the Lord would help me see what we need to do now here. In the zone, and in our area. As I read and prayed very hard with specific questions I received very specific impressions. I was thinking about the importance of questions in our personal lives. Questions prepare us to receive revelation. It is interesting that Joseph Smiths prayer was answered as he asked god about his specific question. All I know is that it has helped me a ton in my work here. Way cool! Well I guess i'll wrap this up haha. Mom I would say that just get me signed up for the classes I need to qualify for that mcat test. I may need to retake things haha, because I have forgotten a lot about writing, and math, and science haha. I can't even pronounce english words with the letter r in it without rolling the r haha! It will be fun. I'm not scarred for the test though. I heard a quote once that says. "Whenever something in you says it's impossible, remember, take a careful look, and see if it isn't really God asking you to grow an inch or a foot or a mile, so that you may come to a fuller life." I don't remember who said it, but it's true. I can do anything with God's help. I love you so much. Thank you for your support. Will

September 10, 2012 (abt 173 days left)

Hello Family, This last week has been extremely busy! Of course... I think that if i had a euro for every time I started an email out like that, I could finally have enough money to buy enough muscle milk to support me for the rest of my mission. It actually is really funny. Yesterday we gave the sisters a ride to our meeting, and one of them asked... so what do you typically do for morning workouts... the first thing I said was lift weights hahaha I honestly do though haha, it wasn't "one of those comments." That reminds me of my whole high school experience. I keep finding myself in these awkward situations here in Oulu. So i'm sitting in ward counsel meeting,and we give our report, the sisters give their reports... check...the bishop starts asking about if "someone" knew anything about a meeting coming up. I could have sworn he was looking my way so I answered, "We don't know anything about it...." Bishop was talking to his wife sitting in front of me!!! DANG IT!! I blew it haha. He then made eye contact with me and said, "Oh sorry, i was just talking with my wife" I wanted to disappear into the wall behind me. you may think, well that isn't that bad... next story. We are tracting in a building and we come to this old guy. We start out with our message.. isn't interested, and so in attempt's to win his heart with my charismatic persona, I point at his shirt and ask, soooo are you an angels fan (wearing an angels baseball hoodie). He looks at me with the most confused look on his face, as he slowly closes the door... uh... I mean, do you... like (elder perry looking through the door jam) baseball... okay... have a nice day... HAHA STORY OF MY LIFE! Okay well moving on! We had an awesome set of zone meetings throughout the zone! It was so cool to see things how well all of our districts are doing up here. It was so inspiring to be with them, and talk about the counsel we have been receiving from President! We had a ton of cool little miracles happen, as we simply just humbled ourselves and followed the counsel. We felt that we should go out to this one area and talk with some members about the Book of Mormon. We went there and they were not home. We proceeded to do 10 doors, and as we went..either.. no one was interested, or they weren't home. We came to the 10th door (I think) and there was sauna smoke coming from the roof. We looked at each other, and thought, we don't really want to bother them when they are in the sauna, plus that would be gross if they came to the door naked. However we soon realized that we are the champions of awkward situations, and also that we needed to give the Lord a chance, so we went! At first the guy said he wasn't interested but then we showed him the questions of the soul paper, and prayed our hearts out that something would stick out. Something did stick out, and I watched his countenance change, and the spirit affect him, as he was reading about the introduction in the book. We set an appointment up, and it was so cool! We had the opportunity to go visit with a man in our ward. He talked to us about how he wasn't sure if he could endure to the end. He has just had a little bit of a rough past. We just tried to be for real with him, and we talked with him about his work, and just made him laugh haha! He then opened up a little more about his situation about which i wont talk about. Suddenly towards the end of the lesson a thought came into my mind, "Ask him if he wants a priesthood blessing." I thought, uh..... he probably doesn't want one...... excuse, excuse, excuse...........lame. I finally inquired of him about it. He responded positively, and asked me to give him one. In the blessing it was another testimony to me about how much Heavenly Father wanted to communicate with His son. I felt that love for this man from Him. The promises in the blessing were very bold and sincere from Heavenly Father, and I was grateful that we were able to help him. As we closed the blessing, there were tears in his eyes. Heaven had touched his heart. He reached out to give my companion and I a hand shake. I felt prompted to give him a hug. As I gave him a hug, I literally felt like I was standing where the Savior would stand. I felt like I was standing in His place. We embraced, which is something that Finnish men typically don't do hahaha. However I saw a tiny glimpse of what the Savior saw in this man. The Savior didn't see him as the man felt, but as what that man could become through the Saviors atonement. We have been role playing (introducing the book of Mormon) with the members, and really trying to apply the counsel into our work here. As we were role playing with one member, we showed him how we do it, and we explained everything step by step. When it was his turn he froze and just starred at the floor. He was so nervous to try in front of us. As we calmly tried to help him do it, he just got more nervous. We felt like we could go sit with him, and help him do it just like parents do for their kids in testimony meeting sometimes. It worked! I went over and sat right next to him. I did one part, and he did the other. It really helped our member feel like he wasn't alone in this. The members are getting excited about missionary work through the new counsel we have received from President. It is so exciting to see. So many miracles have occurred about which I would love to write, but I don't have time of course! Thank you for everything you do for me. I love reading your emails, and I think you all are great! love, Elder Perry

September 3, 2012

Hi Family! This week went amazingly well! The zone conference went very well in addition haha! I actually had the opportunity to be interviewed by Elder Richards. I waited for like an hour while he interviewed some other leaders. I walked into the interview, and we say an opening prayer. I am preparing for every question about missionary work he is ready to throw at me!! Elder Perry... yea?... What are you going to do after you mission?? UHHHHHHHHHHHHH........ I don't really know. I talked with him about college, and dating and everything they advise us not to talk about here haha. It was hilarious. He told me to take time to think about it, because honestly I avoid it!! But ya...... I have given it a little bit of thought. I am thinking about the Engineering program at U of U, as well as maybe Byu. I guess it really depends on what opportunities the Lord set's up for me, but i will think about it more, next p day. It is actually a funny story. We don't really get a p day today. We got word that President wants us to hold zone meetings as soon as possible, and sense we are way up here in the north, we need to travel down to different areas to conduct the meeting. Today we are taking a train to Kokkola to meet with about four companionship's in that area. Tomorrow we are traveling down to kuopio which is kind of by Joensuu, to conduct another meeting. We prayed about it and that is what we felt we should do. So hopefully we'll get some more p-day time on Wednesday. I am really excited that everything is going so well for you all. It is so great to hear that grandma is doing well in her mission. I have often thought to myself about grandma Huntley's testimony. I am convinced that if anyone has any concern or problem about the church or this work, if they take 15 minutes with her to hear her testimony about the Savior and this work, they will walk away asking... so when can i get baptized?? Tell her that I love her a lot, and that she is very special to me. As well as Grandma Perry. Tell her that I miss her, and think about her often. I love it up here as a zone leader, however I have come to realize that there are a lot of challenges!! With all of the training and things we do with other missionaries, it is easy to get behind on our area. I started to get really stressed out, and this is only my second week! However I have prayed very strongly that the Lord will help me. I have noticed that, that prayer thing really does help. It is hilarious. One moment i'll be in what seems like an impossible situation, and the next moment (after I pray) not only do i have the strength to accomplish the thing required, but also have confidence in it through the Lord. I know He helps us more than we are aware. I guess i was just taking too much on myself, and trying to do it alone. WHAT A GOOBER!! However, things have gone so well. My companion and I are getting along great! We are really trying to focus on taking all of President's counsel to heart. We had an interesting success story about consistency. We went out to this area to contact a referral, and then do some work. It turned out that the referral wasn't interested, and no one else in the area was interested as well. We stayed strong however. We did everything we could to follow the counsel to the best of our ability given the circumstances. As we were leaving the area, i was a little discouraged, however then came these words into my mind. "After much tribulation, cometh the blessings." We kept going. We went to another area, doing the same thing, no success, yet we were consistent. As we came back to our apartment, there was a guy out packing some things into a trailer. We offered to help him, but he didn't want help. We proceeded to follow all the counsel with him, and right there within 1 minute we set up an appointment for this week. It is so amazing to me to see how willing the Lord is to help us, yet he will teach us through our hard times. He will test us to see if we will be faithful in all things. The best stress reliever is following the spirit! This is true! I love you all, Elder Perry ps mom, what is the topic of the essay i'm supposed to write? Also can you just print my essay off the internet?` Joke!!!