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