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