I love to see the TEMPLE IN HELSINKI FINLAND!!

    Oh my goodness....man oh man...where have you been all my life? Seriously, no more lack of P-day weeks...I missed you all way too much! How the heck are you all doing? Geez...can I just tell you how much I love every single picture and letter I get? I get so PUMPED every Monday to see all your beautiful faces! BTW, HAPPY WEDDING SHOUTOUT TO MY COUSIN HANNAH BANANA!! Man Hannah, I am so happy for you! You looked SOOOO beautiful, but mostly you looked so happy! I am so grateful for your example to me of being married in the temple! I am so happy for you and Brandon and just so happy, period! You two are so wonderful and I love you both! But anyways, thank you all so much for your love and support. Really, it lifts me up all the time and helps me keep moving forward on the tough days! You are all the best and I love you so much!!

     Mom thank you so much for the package and for the other package and for just being awesome!! I love your idea about the group message and scripture study! BRILLIANT!!! I hope that goes well!! Dad, I heard about your garage and am SO EXCITED to see it. Are all the deer heads still alive and well? I mean....dead and well? I told Sister Pace you have deer heads in the garage and she about died....she really loves animals! hahaha anyways Joce....HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY!!! Holy cow...I think I had some sort of a mid-life crisis with my little sis turning 18. That is insanity! But I am so happy for you and so excited for you to go tear up Utah State! Just keep the house clean...haha just kidding! But seriously! Anne, you MADE THE LAYTON HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM!!! YAYAYAYAY!!! You get to have that quality Layton High School coaching! Yeah! :) I am so proud of you though and am so excited to watch you play next year! Send lots of pictures and good luck with your first games! Remember, don't get in the way of the seniors, but definitely show them what's up...you've got skill! :) I really do miss those days a lot...it is fun to play for your school! Wear the Lancer blue well!! I am way happy for you! You will love it!! La-La, BB I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! You are starting 8th grade??? MY GOODNESS!! Why are you so old? I didn't even recognize you in the pictures! You are so gorgeous and I am so excited that tennis is going well! You have to teach me when I get home! Promise?? Ok good!! :) Luke and shweeda shweeda....5th grade!! Man...you two are so old too! I heard you are both already better than me at soccer...dang it! Oh well, I will have to get back in shape before we play again...but I am way proud of both of you! I can't wait to watch you play again!! Man, why are you all growing up? You're making mom sad...and me! But I am so happy for all of you and hope school and everything is going well!! I love and miss you all so much!!!

    Well, I don't even know where to begin with this e-mail!! SO MUCH has happened these past two weeks! It's been crazy! Speaking of which, we only have 2 weeks left in this transfer. Sister Pace and I could stay together or we could be getting split up! Also, we just found out that on September 12, we are having a mission conference which means all the missionaries in Finland are going to Helsinki because ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING TO SEE US!!! Did you know his son served in Finland and particularly in Vaasa? REPRESENT! Anyways, we are all super excited! Just some good news from up north!!

    Our investigators are doing really well...well the investigators are...the parents aren't. Ronja, Tinja, and Caspian can't get baptized on the 30th because they haven't been to church yet. We have tried so hard to arrange rides and to make it as easy as possible, but it's just not happening. I talked to President Watson about it and he said that we need to approach it from a different angle. I am not tired of trying different angles, I just wish we knew what to do with them. But Milla, our other investigator is doing great. We had such a good lesson with her COMPLETELY by the spirit. It was the best lesson I have been in in a long time. We just testified of the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed our lives and at the end of the lesson she said, "Ok, I am in. I am going to do this." Bank on the Book of Mormon man. It's the sword of missionary work! Oh my goodness, funny story, so we were walking down the street one day, and this lady walks out of a building and her shirt said in big red letters, "Virginia". Well that's something you don't see every day, so I asked her, "Excuse me, have you been to Virginia before?" She proceeded to tell me that she was born in Vaasa but moved to America when she was 15. Just as she is explaining that, this Santa Claus look-a-like man jumps out of a car and says, "Ok, I need to get in on this, I know who you guys are" in perfect American english. I was like Woah, that's something you really don't see everyday. Anyways, we proceed to talk to them and come to find out, they are from Virginia, met each other in California and are here in Finland for the next 4 months. Their names are Harry and Liisa and Liisa's father passed away a few months ago, so they are living in his möki or summer home here in Vaasa. As we continued to talk to them, both of them at the same time said, "Hey can we give you our number? We would love for you to come to our home and talk to us more about your message." Uh...mer....ya....sure? haha that really really was something you don't see every day. Anyways, we have an appointment with Harry and Liisa on Thursday, so pray all goes well with them! They are awesome!!

     Anyways, two weeks ago...man that feels like 23478932798 years ago, we had our mini missionary, Sisar Koivisto from Turku! She is awesome! We had such a great time with her and she taught us so much! We didn't really do anything different other than normal missionary work, we just had a fluent companion. It was wonderful and she answered SO MANY of my finnish questions. I wonder if I will ever not have questions about finnish. Some days I feel really good about it and other days when someone starts talking to me I feel like Elder Calhoun on the Best Two Years when he tries to order bread from that bakery! I hope my siblings all appreciate that reference! :) But she is 18 and is planning on serving her mission next summer. She was so cute and wrote Sister Pace and I notes all the time. She was way too nice to me, but really just made us feel so good about ourselves. Honestly, I have to brag about the finns for awhile....they are the best people in the world. I have conversed with them, gotten to know them, and been in their homes for 8 months, but man, having one as a companion really shed a lot of light on their goodness and their desire to serve our Heavenly Father. Not to mention they are like the sweetest people and the best friends you could ever have in the world. Sisar Koivisto would always mention how this was just the beginning of our lifelong friendship. We spoke in English in the apartment and then Finnish outside...or at least we tried, but she was super patient and helped us out a lot! She told me that before I leave my mission, if my family comes to get me, we have to go to Turku and stay with the Koivistos so plan on that! :) Anyways, I just love her a lot and was so grateful that we had the chance to be with her. She taught me that sometimes the littlest things make the biggest difference and that it's so important that we share our testimony at every opportunity we are given. Man, it was just a wonderful week with her!!

    So we dropped her off at the train station on Saturday night and then on Sunday, Sisar Pace and I headed down to Helsinki. Oh my goodness...I have to tell you about the train...hahahaha ok so we get on the train and head to our seats and these WAY SKETCHY looking guys were already sitting there. When I say sketchy, I'm not kidding. Probably super judgmental, but these guys had no shirts on, were COVERED in tattoos, too many piercings to count, no shoes, and two big glasses of beer in each hand. I walked into the car on the train, looked at the seat numbers they were sitting in, had a heart attack...and then I, being the senior companion said in my wonderful finnish...NOT...."Uh excuse me, I think you are sitting in our seats." One of the guys looks up at me with a beer foam mustache and busts up laughing and mutters something...in swedish...to his buddy. They looked at us and both just busted up laughing. Needless to say, they didn't move.

     Anyways, Sisar Pace and I found other seats, but we came to find out real fast that it was a full train. No extra seats. So we proceed back to our dear shirtless friends and I said, in English this time..."Excuse me, these are our seats." The same mustache guy looked at me with bloodshot eyes and stood up and staggered off down the aisle. His friend stood up and moved out of the way...I sat down...and then he sat down right next to me with his beer sloshing all around in his cup. So if you can picture this...Sister Pace and I are sitting across from each other....this guy is sitting next to me with his bare feet up on the seat next to Sister Pace just slurping his beer and burping right in my face. I was pretty terrified, but at the same time, it really motivated me. I thought about talking to the guy, but he was so hammered he couldn't even hear what I said. Anyways, it just made me so sad to see what horrible things alcohol does to people. That guy was completely out of his mind, practically naked on a public train. What kind of a life is that? I felt so awful. It's just sad how Satan gets people. We have to do the little things every day to stay safe. We had a lesson on Sunday about being in the world but not of the world. It's so true. We have all this junk around us all the time, but we have to stay strong. We have to stand up for our beliefs. We will all be called upon at one point or another to do it. We need to be prepared for that. Anyways, I will hop off the "Missionaries against Alcohol" soap box, but it was a pretty interesting train ride, to say the least.

    So we made it to Helsinki! I really enjoy Helsinki. I would bet 5 million dollars that there is at least one person from each nationality in Helsinki. It's awesome!! We stayed with Sister Owen and Sister Venz while we were there! They are so wonderful and we had such a good time with them! Oh wait, maybe I can kind of explain what happens at Interim. Ok, so when a trainee gets to 6 weeks, or 7 weeks in our case, in the country, we have Interim training. All the trainers and trainees go to Helsinki for 3 days. On Monday and Tuesday, we have training in the mission home with the AP's and President and Sister Watson and then on Wednesday we have language school in the morning and then go to the temple in the afternoon. Well needless to say, Monday morning I was STOKED!! I was so excited to see Sister Thayne and Sister Woods and all the other wonderful missionaries that I know and love. We walked in and Sister Thayne had saved me a seat...she is just the greatest thing in the world. I love her so much! But anyways it was just so good to see everyone!

    President Watson and Sister Watson are incredible. We learned so many wonderful things about doing missionary work and I really had been praying that I would be able to know what to do to help my companion. Sister Pace has really been struggling with everything. She is pretty hard on herself and was just super discouraged about everything. I have tried every way I know how to help her and nothing was working. I tried to talk to her, she definitely didn't want that. I tried to leave her alone and just work as usual, but then it got worse. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty heavy-hearted, discouraged, and tired heading down to Interim. President Watson really did say so many wonderful things that I needed to hear. In my mind, when I heard I was training, I was so excited and thought to myself, "Ok, I am going to do everything right. I am going to help my trainee be independent, I am going to help her do hard things, I am going to lift her up and support her, yadda yadda yadda!" Well, I got my idealist situation into my idealist brain and it all came back and blew up in my face. My trainee didn't want any of the things I had anticipated doing...in fact, those things made her angry. She wanted to be left alone. Man, I hope this doesn't sound whiny, cause I don't want to whine, but I have just had the hardest time these past few months knowing how to work with Sister Pace. I know I need to listen and love her, but even that isn't enough. I felt like I wasn't enough. I wasn't what she needed. Even right now writing this, I still don't think I am. I know we are together for a reason...God doesn't make mistakes....and I know I really don't even need to know why, but sometimes I wonder, "Why? Why are we together Heavenly Father?" I just don't understand it. She thinks I am crazy because I love to talk and to share my feelings and to really have strong relationships. She doesn't do that. Never has. It's like we are friends, but we are both always walking on egg shells because we just don't understand the other one. I don't know...I was just feeling pretty exhausted at Interim and was hoping and praying pretty hard for some answers.

    We learned so much about missionary work and being disciples of Christ. I wish I could just type up all my notes and send them to you, but I will show you them someday! On Wednesday we started heading to the temple and I still just felt so heavy-hearted. That really was the best way to describe it. I didn't expect Interim to solve my problems, but I expected some answers. I got answers to other prayers, but not to this "big prayer" I had been praying about for 7 weeks! Anyways, we drive up to the temple and I just looked at it and I couldn't stop myself from crying. It was literally the light at the end of my tunnel. We walked in and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! Literally, I can't even explain it and probably shouldn't. It was so Finnish. It was gorgeous. My favorite part was that we took off our shoes...just like in every Finnish home...they had a mud room!! WHAT?? It was awesome! Anyways, I really wish I could just tell you everything about how I felt and what I experienced, but after the session, I was just sitting in the most beautiful room I have ever seen and I felt like I was home. I felt so warm. I felt so peaceful and so happy. I hadn't felt that way for a long time. I just sat there and all of a sudden, my entire mission just came rushing into my brain. It started off on October 16, 2013 when I said goodbye to my family. I went through the MTC...the hardest and most wonderful 9 weeks of my life, I went to Tampere with Sister Egan and Sister Jones and then went to Vaasa with Sister Foster, Sister Fronk and now Sister Pace and I was just overcome with gratitude and love for my Father in Heaven. He loves us. Isn't that incredible? It just blows my mind.

     Dad, you always say how retrospect is an interesting thing and you are right. As I was looking back at my mission and all these different images were popping into my head, I was just overcome. Literally Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ have been with me every single step of the way. There have been so many times...too many to count where I have felt alone. Times when I have been in darkness and have been confused and frustrated and tired. He never left. He was always there. He has sent me help in so many ways. I know there are people working here with me every day.  Heavenly Father has allowed them to be with me and I am so beyond grateful for that. I love my family. I love you all so much. I can't even tell you how important you all are to me. I want you all to be happy. I want you to be safe. But mostly I want you to feel how much Heavenly Father loves each of you. I love you so much, but He loves you perfectly. We can't even begin to understand the love he has for each of us. The times in our lives when we feel the spirit so strongly are just glimpses of that eternal joy we can feel when we are with Him again, as families.

    Remember when we were in Nauvoo and on our very last night, we all sat on the stage and sang "God Be with you til we meet again?" That is one of the times in my life when I can say I was pretty dang close to perfectly happy. The temple on Wednesday was another of those times and I have had SO many of those times on my mission. This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I am so humbled and grateful to my Heavenly Father that he helped me get here, even when I didn't want to be. He knew better than I. He always does and everything we are given in life...trials and challenges included...are because he loves us. He wants us to grow, but he is not here to punish us. The first thing we teach people is "God is our LOVING Heavenly Father." There comes a time in all of our lives, I think, when our relationship with Him changes from God to Father. I think about my earthly father and how much I love Him and how much I wish I could just see him for minute. Then I think about my Heavenly Father and I miss him too. He wants us all back so badly. I know he does. That's why us 80,000 plus missionaries are out here....He wants us to get all his children back. I think sometimes in life, we are afraid of what Heavenly Father has in store for us. I know I am. Think about it, every person on this earth has been SAVED for this time. Not just sent, but we were all SAVED to come here. Right now. Right where we are! Have you ever really thought about that? "Have you ever really pondered that?" to quote President Watson. This isn't a coincidence. Nothing is. Heavenly Father is in control and He will not let us fail. I know He won't. The greatest evidence we have of God's love for us is that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior.

     During interim, Elder Tippetts, one of the APs told us a story about his great-grandpa. So his grandpa...I think his name was Tom lived on a farm when he was a kid. On their farm, when you turned 8, you were able of course to get baptized, but also to drive the tractor and plow the fields. Well, one day, Tom received the assignment from his father to go and plow the fields. In farming, you have to stick to the schedule so that you can harvest your crops at the right time. It was pretty critical that the field was plowed and ready for the next day of planting. Anyways, Tom sets out, gets about halfway down with the first field and then he sees a jackrabbit. Now Tom, being an 8 year old little boy stops the tractor, jumps out and chases after the rabbit into the woods. He gets into the woods and become Paul Bunyon. He is playing with all the animals and just having a great old time being a little kid. Well, Tom loses track of time and before he knows it, the sun is starting to set. He remembers in his cute little 8 year old brain, "Oh no, I have to plow the fields." So he runs back to the tractor and starts working. Before long, the sun completely sets and before he knows it, it is completely dark. To top it all off, the light on his tractor burns out. Not only can he not finish plowing, but now he can't even get home. He starts crying as would be expected. Just then, he hears another tractor coming in the distance. He looks up and sees the light of his older brother's tractor shining on him. Tom explains to his brother what happened during the day. His brother looks at him and smiles and says, "Come with me, let's go home." Tom climbs in with his brother and as they are driving back, he notices that every single one of the other fields he was supposed to plow have already been plowed. His brother had done it all for him. They get to the house and the Father asks, "Have all the fields been plowed." Tom's older brother looks down at Tom and then back at their Father and says, "Yes. The work is done." Then, the father welcomes both sons into the house and sends them to bed.

     Man, that story just about killed me. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the end, our older brother is going to be the one who saves us from ourselves. He is the difference between us being out alone in the dark to being nice and warm in bed. He has already paid the price, now we just have to do our part to serve and follow him. I know He is our Savior. I know he loves us and that no matter how far we feel we have fallen or how far off the path we are, we can always come back. It is never too late! I just love you all so much and am so grateful for all you do for me. The gospel is true. It's all real. God loves us and has a plan for us! Now it's our turn to trust Him. He won't leave us alone! Thank you all so much for everything! Good luck with school and work and soccer and tennis and everything else this week! You are all wonderful and I love you so much!

    Rakkaudella,

    Sisar Olivia Bitner

    P.S. Something Finnish....The temple...there are only 5,000 members here and they have a temple...talk about foreshadowing! :) I love you!!!

Me and Sisar Susanna Koivisto...our mini missionary

My comps

Me and my comps...and Vaasa

Of course we bought her McDonalds for her last night with the Amerikkalaiset! :)

Me and Sisar Pace heading to Helsinki

MY BESTEST FRIEND EVER!!!

Our hosts for the week, Sisaret Owen ja Venz

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TEMPLE IN THE WORLD....and Nauvoo and Salt Lake!!

this place is my home

oh mom, I finally saw the moon! FOLLOW ME MR: MOON!!

Finnish clouds....Nothing better

We love driving....Sisar Pace drives SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow...like under the speed limit....man oh man....it's way....funny....sort of :) then again, I am the one who got the speeding ticket....maybe I should learn from her....

Remember that one time...

    Hey guys!!! Remember that one time last p-day when I flipping DELETED MY WHOLE EMAIL I MEANT TO SEND HOME. Man, I can't even tell you how devastated I was. I know...way to be dramatic, but for real, I pour my heart and soul into these emails and to see it all taken away was a big old steak knife to the heart! Speaking of steak...I am seriously craving some Steak Diane right about now...can you send that in my birthday package? haha EW! That would be gross! But anyways,  Hopefully we have all come out alright...I can't promise it won't happen again...but I am saving this about every other sentence so hopefully, it all works out! You are all so wonderful! Thanks for being patient with me! :)

    So first off...BEST PACKAGE EVER!! You guys are too sweet to me! I literally about ate the whole box of Jared Munchies #foreverafatty and tears came to my eyes at the sight of White Cheddar Cheez-its and Sour Punch Straws. You know the way to my heart, that's for sure! :) Thank you so much for the raha dad...that means money...and for all the wonderful letters and other stuff as well!! :) You are all way too good to me but I appreciate it and all of you so much!!!!

    I hope you all had the best week ever! It sounds like Bear Lake was a huge success and that the Bitners still know how to party! :) I heard about the sprinklers....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA It wouldn't be a camping trip without everything getting completely soaked. You thought you could escape it in Bear Lake and than SHAPOW!! Sprinklers! Heavenly Father has a sense of humor! :) Just kidding...that wasn't his doing, but still, way funny! I love hearing the same story from all your different perspectives! It's way too hilarious and I can just hear you guys each telling me about it! I love you all! Thank you all for being you! You deserve to be told that every single day!!

    Well...I just have so much to say this week...2 whole weeks of not writing...I am about to explode...but we had a really good week this week! A lot of traveling...again...but such is the life of a Vaasa sister! I love it so much! I have to tell you about Monday night. So I kind of have told you a little bit about how Sister Pace has told me "You can be yourself around me, you just cant' do this or this or that or that...oh it also bugs me when you do this and that and..." blah blah blah. Kind of hard to be yourself when someone is putting restrictions on it. Anyways, last LAST week, I really tried to not step on her toes. I know she doesn't like to listen, so I just didn't talk about anything. I wasn't resentful or spiteful or jerky to her, I just didn't say anything about how I was feeling. I know as you are reading this, especially you, family, you are probably thinking, "Oh boy...SHE'S GONNA BLOW". And you are right. I blew up. But luckily...it was in the sauna in our apartment...did I tell you we have a sauna? We obviously don't use it #lame but it's a great place to pray and to not be alone sometimes. Anyways, I went in the sauna and I just cried. I haven't cried that hard in a LONG time. I know...I probably sound like a baby...but honestly I just told Heavenly Father everything. I prayed for like 1 1/2 hours. Don't worry, it was P-day! :) As I was sitting there, I looked over at my suitcase (unused saunas are great storage spaces) and I had the feeling to look in the front pocket. I looked in there and I had saved a note from my wonderful mother that she sent to me when I was in the MTC. It was so wonderful to see it again...and the one line that stuck out to me was "Thank you for being you." Mom, you said that to me and I needed to hear it SO BADLY on Monday. I am sure you didn't know you would be answering a prayer when you wrote that, but you totally did! I realized...in the sauna...wow this sounds way pathetic, but I have thought so much this week about being ourselves. After I read that, I realized that is probably exactly what Heavenly Father would say to each of us if He were standing right next to us. I realized that I am who I am and Heavenly Father loves me for that. What anyone else thinks really doesn't matter. In the end, He will always love us. It's like President Monson said in a Relief Society Meeting a couple years ago, "God's love is simply always there whether we deserve it or not." Thanks mom for being an answer to my prayer...again! I love you!!

    Anyways, after I prayed, Sister Pace and I had a great talk. She really is such a great person. I love her a lot. I think I wrote this in my letter last week but....hahaha....none of you received it....but anyways, I have been praying SO HARD to know how to help her and what I could do so that we could have a good relationship. Two words came to my mind as I prayed....LISTEN and LOVE. I just sat there praying, thinking, "Ok Heavenly Father, it can't be that easy." But I told him I would try it. It has been miraculous! This week she has really opened up to me. She has told me a lot about her life and why she does the things that she does. Granted, it still hurts when she says things sometimes, but I have a greater understanding of the "Why". I know that Heavenly Father is blessing me with love and patience for her and the great thing is, I really do love her so much. She really is a crack up! She always is talking in this voice that sounds like a chipmunk and I always catch her staring at me. Seriously, it's hilarious. I will be eating or driving or talking to someone or reading my scriptures or getting ready and she just comes and stands next to/behind me and stares...and stares...and stares...I usually just let it slide, but this week I said, "Sister Pace, is there something I can do for you?" and she didn't even hear me...she just kept staring. It's an interesting thing being with someone 24/7. Gotta love it. Let's just say the song "I always feel like somebody's watching me" has taken on a whole new meaning for me! I love my greenie! :)

    This week we had splits with the Sister Training Leaders on Tuesday, Sister Hubner and Sister Lund. Sister Hubner trained my BFF from Logan, UT Sisar Pack and Sisar Lund was trained by my best friend Sisar Fronk. Needless to say, I love them both a lot. Sister Lund and I were so fortunate as to be chosen to work in Seinäjoki for the day. Party!! :) It was so wonderful to talk with her and especially to talk about our favorite, Sister Fronk. Sister Fronk, if you are reading this...I love you so much and miss you like crazy! But anyways, we decided together that morning that we were going to follow every little thought we had for the entire day...if it was good. We studied in Preach My Gospel about following the spirit and this is what we read:

    In answer to the question, “How do we recognize the promptings of the Spirit?” President Gordon B. Hinckley read Moroni 7:13, 16–17 and then said: “That’s the test, when all is said and done. Does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be generous? Then it is of the Spirit of God. …

    “If it invites to do good, it is of God. If it inviteth to do evil, it is of the devil. … And if you are doing the right thing and if you are living the right way, you will know in your heart what the Spirit is saying to you.

    “You recognize the promptings of the Spirit by the fruits of the Spirit—that which enlighteneth, that which buildeth up, that which is positive and affirmative and uplifting and leads us to better thoughts and better words and better deeds is of the Spirit of God” 

    I love that so much! Following the spirit isn't always easy. Sometimes it's easy to think, "Well that was probably just me thinking that," or "We really don't have time" or "Would God really tell me to do that?" The problem with those thoughts is that if we think that way, the opportunity to act is already gone. Later on in Chapter 4 of PMG, it says,

    Your task is to live worthily, pray fervently, and learn to recognize and follow courageously the Spirit’s guidance.

    That little sentence right there is the kind of missionary and person I want to be. That is our only task. To live worthily, pray with all our heart, and then follow the promptings we receive. I love lists and this list is not only applicable and attainable, but it works! It works really well! Tuesday was evidence of that. We didn't have a whole lot planned, but we had some different names to visit and we just said, "Ok, we are following all our good thoughts today." I know you are probably expecting some miraculous story but nothing particularly miraculous happened except I have never been so happy doing missionary work in my whole life. I was so happy! We had the best day ever and were just laughing and talking to all the people and teaching and testifying, but most importantly, sharing our testimonies. I realized this week that is what missionary work is. It's about living worthily, praying fervantly, and learning to recognize and follow courageously the Spirit's guidance to share our testimonies. We do that in so many different ways. We do it by our example. We do it by smiling. We do it by saying "Hey" or "Moi" in my case. We do it by listening. We do it by loving. We do it by treating others as the Savior would and we do that by actually telling others what we know to be true. The spirit does the converting, it's just our job to open our mouths!

    While Sisar Lund and I were in Seinäjoki, Sisar Pace and Sisar Hubner found this BOMB AWESOME INVESTIGATOR, Milla. Milla is a finn, 23, red hair, english major, and is probably the sweetest person in the world! Sisar Pace was so excited to tell me the story when I got home that night...I wish she could tell it to you, but I will do my best. So they were sitting in the Tori...center of town...waiting for this semi-interested investigator to come and meet them there. As luck would have it, he called and cancelled, but they both felt they should stay at the bench they were at for awhile. Apparently, this man came over to them and started yelling about why the church isn't true and how stupid we are for being here and how we should go back to America...honestly people aren't very original...but Sisar Pace said, "We just sat there and politely testified and secretly wanted to punch him in the nose." Anyways, this guy left and Sisar Hubner starts talking to this little old lady about the weather when Milla turns around and just butts into the conversation and says, "Ya, it looks like rain today". They all did a double take and were like "Ok, thank you random woman." But the older woman left and then Milla pops up and comes and sits next to them and says, "I am really sorry, I didn't mean to butt it, but I think what you guys were saying to that man is true and is really interesting. Would you mind telling me a little more about it?" Sisar Pace was practically bouncing off the walls...she is so stinking funny...but anyways, Milla became a new investigator!! It was awesome!!

    We had a church tour with her this week and the whole time she was just asking question after question after question and just wasn't satisfied until she knew basically everything we believe. She is the first investigator I have had that actually genuinely wants to believe the same way we do right at the beginning. She would say, "How do you guys feel about infant baptism?" and we would explain and she would follow up with "Phew, Ok, me too." Then she said, "I hear you guys don't drink coffee, but how do you feel about tea?" We explained, then she said "Well I guess it wouldn't be too hard for me to give up coffee or tea. I mean...I don't really NEED it." In my head I was like, dang girl, you planning on joining so soon? Hopefully YES. But she got sick and couldn't come to church. Oddly enough, I really believe she was sick. She wanted to come and she will next week, but anyways, pray for Milla and a baptismal date!!! She needs this and wants it so bad! I love MIlla!!

    Tuulia's kids are doing well. It's been a really frustrating week...Tuulia wouldn't answer her phone or answer texts...again...so the kids didn't come to church...again. Man...Satan is working hard on this family and it's ticking me off. He is a punk and needs to go away! #millenium But anyways, we got in to their house last night and wrote down all of our appointments for the month of August so that they could know exactly when we were coming. Sisar Kronqvist said she would pick them up at 9:30 every Sunday for church so we are just hoping and praying it goes well! These kids are awesome! Tinja is 11 and she has already read the Book of Mormon to 2 Nephi....it's been a week and a half. Caspian is 8 and is trying hard to read, but we gave him that little Book of Mormon stories book and he likes that better. Ronja is also reading and praying every day. It is seriously the greatest feeling in the world to teach these kids! I loved teaching primary and I love teaching it again...sort of! Kids are so sincere and they really love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. No wonder we are commanded to become as little children. They are great examples to me!

     I don't know if I have told you this yet, but we play soccer for 1 hour each week with our ward. It's so stinking fun! Seriously...I LOVE SOCCER!! This week we had so many non-members there, it was awesome! Our team totally dominated...I scored some goals...it felt pretty good! Sometimes when I feel like I still don't speak Finnish and I can't be a missionary, I go play soccer and it reminds me that I did know how to do something once! :) Anyways, the saddest thing happened at soccer...I probably shouldn't even tell you but oh well, the cat's out of the bag now...there was this little kid at the game. His dad wouldn't let him play because he is like 2 and there were a lot of big scary finnish men playing. He was sitting on the sideline, but towards the end of the game, he decided he wanted to come play. He jumped up and ran in the middle of the field. Meanwhile, I was dribbling the ball up the sideline, trying to get away from this Turkish man who just started playing with us from off the street #alwaysfinding but anyways, I get past him and cross the ball as hard as I can and BOOM!!! I drilled the little kid right in the head. He dropped like a sack of dirt. It was awful and I was horrified. I felt so awful and he was just crying and screaming his head off. Worst thing is, his dad isn't a member so now what he thinks about mormon missionaries is that they hit kids in the head with stuff...really hard. Man, I still feel horrible about it, but everyone else was laughing. I didn't think it was funny at all. The worst thing is that yesterday at church, everyone thought it was still funny...now everyone knows about it! I am surprised that someone didn't mention it in their testimony! But hey...the kid is fine, I learned my lesson....don't let Turkish men tick you off! Anyways, it really is a good way to find investigators...three teenage boys just showed up that we don't even know! They said they want to come play again this week! I think it's so good for people to see that we are normal people and we do stupid stuff like hit kids in the head with a ball! I love this ward though! They are so great!!

    This week has been incredible with our members! For the last 6 weeks, we have done nothing but LOVE LOVE LOVE them and really tried to build them up and help them see how awesome they are! They Finns, in general are a bunch of perfectionists and are SUPER critical of themselves. They HATE being complimented. I thought before it was just because they were awkward, but the more i get to know them, the more I realize that they genuinely don't believe they are good people. When we tell them they are...they feel like a bunch of frauds. They really are the best people I know. I hope some Finnish goodness rubs off on me, because they really amaze me every day. Their faith and hope and love for God and others is inspiring. Anyways, this week we had 4 dinner appointments, 2 unscheduled "Hey Sisters, do you want to stop by for like 20 minutes and give our family a lesson" meetings and 1 really solid referral from this family who "never" gives referrals. Honestly...LOVE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!!! It is changing the world in Vaasa. There is a different feeling in the ward as we have just tried to help them love each other and serve each other and also to love themselves. To realize how proud Heavenly Father is of them and how much he loves them! I just love being in Vaasa! I have almost been here for half of my mission...I never want to leave...dangerous thing to say, but it really is the promised land!

     This week, I was thinking a lot about Christ. I was thinking about the Atonement. I was thinking about why Christ did what he did for us. I just finished reading Mark in the Bible and each time I read about Gethsemane and Golgotha and the crucifixion, I just sit there and shake my head and think, "Why?" Why did the most wonderful, glorious being in existence come to this earth and allow himself to be mocked, humiliated, judged, smitten, and eventually killed. Why did He do it? Honestly, I still don't know. I know He loves us and I know He loves His father. That kind of love though...I don't know if I will ever understand it. I know I have said this before, but the song, "I Stand All Amazed" just expressed my feelings about the Atonement. 

I Stand All Amazed at the love Jesus offers me

Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me

I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,

that for me a sinner, he suffered, he bled, and died

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine

to rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine

that he should extend his great love unto such as I

sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify

I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt,

Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?

No, no I will praise and adore at the mercy seat

Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet

Oh it is wonderful that he should care for me, enough to die for me.

Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me. 

    What a beautiful song! I love it so much! Jesus Christ can literally help us become something better than we were before! My favorite song, since being a missionary is "Lead, Kindly Light." I am really bad at explaining how I feel...hahaha....not really....but songs just say it better than I ever could. Sorry for all the lyrics...feel free to skip over these if you're busy...haha anyways, it says:

Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom

Lead thou me on!

The night is dark and I am far from home,

Lead thou me on!

Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see

The distant scene, one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou

Shouldst lead me on.

I loved to choose and see my path, but now

Lead thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will, remember not past years.

So long thy pow'r hath blest me, sure it still

will lead me on.

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till

The night is gone

And with the morn, those angel faces smile,

When I have loved, long since and lost, awhile!

    The MoTab sang that song in the Saturday Morning Session of the last General Conference and I literally bawl everytime I listen to it...which happens quite often. This song is "Sister Olivia Bitner's Mission". That should be the title. The night is dark...well at least it was. I was far from home. I didn't care to see the next week, I just needed to see the next day, the next minute at the beginning of my mission. Never before in my life had I thought I needed help. Wow. I was so prideful. I had never asked for help, but man, this mission has taught me, literally every day, that "Yea, I know that I am nothing, as to my strength I am weak, therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength, I can do all things, yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." Alma 26...just read the whole thing! It's incredible! You all are those "angel faces" and every morning, I look at your picture hanging next to my desk and am so grateful that we are going to be together forever. It is so wonderful! I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support! Knowing you are all praying for me motivates me so much! i just want everyone in Finland, and in the world in general to be able to have what we have. This truth, this gospel is the most wonderful thing in the world. We are so blessed! 

    I just love being a missionary. I love waking up every day and everyone who talks to me knows me as "Sister Bitner". I think I am going to wear my nametag under my clothes for the rest of my life. I never want to take it off. It's the best thing in the world! I hope you all have the most wonderful week! Oh boy, little sidenote: Something Finnish for the week. I actually don't know if this is Finnish but I have never heard of it in Utah...we are getting a "mini missionary" this week....a 18 year old girl from Turku...south of Finland...is coming to live with us and be a missionary for a week! Only 7 companionships get to have a mini missionary and we are SUPER excited. Sister Pace is terrified! We pick her up tonight at 19! Hopefully all goes well! Also, next week is Interim! I will probably get to print off your emails, but probably not write one...we don't have p-day next week! We are in Helsinki from Sunday to Wednesday. But we GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!! Oh my goodness, I am like dying to go to the temple! I finally get to go!! Oh my goodness I am so excited! But just know how much I love you! I am so grateful for all of you! Have the best week and always remember to be yourselves! Thank you all for being exactly who you are!! You really are the best!!

    Minä rakastan teitä todella kovasti!!! Minä kaipaan teitä, mutta mä tiedän ette olen tekemassa Jumalan tyotä täällä Suomessa ja on suurin siunaus mun elämässäni! 

Jumala rakastaa teitä!! Muistakaa!!!

    Rakaudella, 

    Sisar Bitner

My companion for the day..Sisar Lund she is lovely!

MY PACKAGE!!! YAY!!!

Vaasa missionaries!!

I am an idiot.....

How are you my wonderful family?? Oh my goodness I want to cry right now...I just typed a whole letter and it deleted before i had the chance to send it...I seriously am dying right now....I had so many things to say and I just botched the whole thing! I am so sorry this email is going to be so lame, but oh my gosh I am so sorry. I feel awful! I wrote this whole email about everything that happened this week....it was such an incredible week! Oh my gosh...I am so sorry!!!! I seriously could cry right now!

well I guess I will just write a little blurp of what happened....first thing, I love and miss you all. I missed Nauvoo so much this week! Remember the condo we stayed in? Remember how it smelt like supreme pizza? hahaha Remember the beautiful Nauvoo temple? Remember Jennings? hahahaha Remember David Archuleta coming? Remember playing soccer and ultimate frisbee in the rain? Remember teaching the highland fling and sweating to death in our pioneer dresses? Remember district meetings with John and singing "Called to Serve" everyday...GO BAPTIZE!! Remember the Lyon's and the Larsens #bestfriendsforever Remember eating treats at Grandma and Grandpa Bitner's house after the pageant? Remember the fireflies and chiggers? Mom remember running in the morning around the temple and being SO SWEATY? hahaha Remember our yellow cast t-shirts? Remember Nauvoo Pageant in a flash? But most of all, remember the spirit we felt? Remember the people we got to know? Remember Carthage? Remember walking down Parley Street? Remember how sad we were to leave? Man, if that's anything like what heaven is going to be, I am going to do everything I can to get back! My testimony of the restoration of the gospel was solidified during that summer. I love Joseph Smith. I know he was a prophet and am so grateful to him for his faith and courage. Thank you so much mom and dad for letting us do that!

Tuulia's kids have baptismal dates! It's for August 30th I wrote all about the story....oh my gosh I can't believe I deleted that letter....but I am so excited for them!!

I don't have time to write anymore....I will write about this week and last week next Monday if I can...I am just so terrible sorry. Not that anyone pines over my letters, but I love that you all know what is going on! I guess it happened for a reason, but know that I am doing pretty well! Just plugging along. I have been frustrated with how slow work is moving here...it's hard not to think that is a direct reflection of me sometimes. I am the trainer. I am "in charge" and ever since that happened, the work has slowed down. I know it's dumb to think that way. I am doing my best, but I just feel like my best isn't enough sometimes. I was praying the other night and I was frustrated when the thought came to my mind, "What if the reason the work has slowed down is so that you could be there 100% for Tuulia and her kids? isn't that enough?" I realized then and there that is enough. They mean so much to me and I am so excited for them to be baptized!

I wrote this whole letter about how much I love all of you and all of the things that happened this week...man I am super bummed right now, but above all, know how much I love and care about each one of you! You are the most wonderful family in the world and I am so grateful I have you! I really am so sorry about the letter...hopefully you don't all lost interest by next week and forget I used to write letters...I am just kidding...I just put so much into these letters...on Sunday night I write down a list of all the things I want to share. But things happen...good lesson to learn...always save your letters. But I love you all so much and hope you have the most wonderful week ever! You are the best!!

Rakkaudella, Sisar Bitner

P.S. Something Finnish....their doors open the opposite way of ours. Like they open out instead of in. It's really awkward when your next door neighbor and you are trying to get into your door at the same time. Also, their front doors usually have an outside door and an inside door....fun fact for the day...I am way sorry this is probably the lamest thing you have ever read! I love you all though!! 

Moving Boulders

WASSSUP?? Ok, I love you! I know I always start these emails out with a burst of love, but I can't help it. I really try hard to  focus, focus, focus during the week, but man, I come to e-mail and I freak out with all the love I feel for my family and friends! I love you all so much! I love hearing from you and reading all your letters and seeing your beautiful faces! It makes my week so much better so thank you for your love and support!! You da best!!

First off, Grandma, you and I are definitely having a Chuck-A-Rama date when I get home! I will eat ALL the rolls and soft serve ice cream! :) Dad, I am so happy you are the mission prep guy! HALLELUJAH!!! Heavenly Father answers prayers! You are exactly what the soon to be missionaries need. I am so happy for you! I was thinking about what I could say that would have been useful to me before I came on my mission. Of course about 3259052908 ideas came to my mind, but one really big one would be practicing contacting or "Talking with Everyone". I never realized how much time would be spent walking around talking to people. The sooner you get comfortable with that and know how to bring up the gospel normally and naturally, the better. I think that is one of the biggest challenges I have had on my mission. I love talking to people, but as a missionary, sometimes I feel as though I am only talking to them because I have an ulterior motive. Granted, that motive is their salvation and eternal life, but the times when talking with everyone has been most successful is when I haven't even worried about bringing up a gospel topic. I just try to talk to them and bring it up normally and naturally. In Preach My Gospel, Elder Holland said that if we listen with love, something they(the people we talk to) say will ALWAYS highlight a truth of the gospel about which we can bear testimony, and then offer more. It really is all about loving the person in front of us. But yes, definitely do some role plays with that. It's actually really fun once you get over the, "I'm too cool, this is awkward" stage. There is no such thing as awkward in missionary work! :)

Another thing I would stress a lot with them is the importance of working with members. That is the future of missionary work. It's moving slowly here in Finland, but I know that is the way we are going to find the most prepared, solid people. I really don't have a lot of advice on this subject because I still have no idea how to do it correctly and effectively, but it would be definitely worth it to study about it and also ask members what they expect/want from the missionaries. How can we help them to become the most effective missionaries they can be? That's really all we are trying to do is to make it so members feel more comfortable sharing the gospel! But anyways, that is my two cents...sense...I don't know...but ya! I hope that helped or gave you some ideas! The lessons are obviously important to learn, but they come and every single situation is different. I have never taught the Restoration the same, twice. If you teach people not lessons, you really will come to know that we need to know the doctrines of the lessons so the spirit has something to feed on, but if we don't teach by the spirit, it is just a bunch of information teaching, not transformation teaching!

Oh yes, one more thing...Mom, I got the scarf from Paris! It is probably the cutest thing in the world and I LOVE IT!! Thank you so much! I wear it all the time...granted, I usually take it off because it is surprisingly hot in Finland, but you best believe I will wear it e'erday in the winter! Thank you so much for thinking of me! It was so nice to get a little something something from you Parisians! :) You are the best!!!

Ok so now that I am done rambling...hahahaha....ya right...like I will ever be done rambling...this week has been pretty good. Not going to lie, it's been really hard and discouraging, but hey, as my main man, Michael Buble once said, "That's life." The good news is, bad days and bad weeks always end and something good is always around the corner. It's just a fact of life. We have really struggled with finding and teaching a lot this week. We found 1 new investigator in Seinäjoki, Iris. She is super sweet and has great faith in God. We are really excited about her and are going to church this week in Seinäjoki, so hopefully she can come and have a good experience! She bought us doughnuts...seriously, these people need to stop feeding me...Finnish pastries are SO STINKING GOOD. Seriously, it's bad! But anyways, we had a great first lesson with her this week. We invited her to be baptized and she said, "If I knew how my life would be better after baptism, I would definitely get baptized." Valid point. It's like you always say dad, people want to know what is in it for them. I used to think that was kind of selfish, but the more I think about it, I realize it's totally not. At least not where something this serious is concerned. These people want to know what is so great about the gospel that would make them want to change their lives! Whenever people say that, I always think in my head, "Well, it's true, isn't that enough?" But we have been praying for her and praying for the gift of discernment to know what she needs! Mutta, katsotaan! That is my favorite saying in Finnish. It means "Let's see". You should all use it! :)

We had district meeting in Kokkola this week. It was AWESOME cause Elder Stimpson from my MTC group is our Zone Leader and the zone leaders and sister training leaders came to our district meeting. Seriously, my MTC group is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I love them all so much! They are all my brothers and sisters! I got a letter this week from Sister Thayne and Sister Pack, congratulating me on making it to "Hump Day". haha I love them both so much and all the others as well. Anyways, during district meeting, the sister training leaders. Sister Hubner and Sister Lund...I LOVE THEM BOTH....talked about the day we received our mission calls. They had our district leader, Elder Christiansen, read his call as we all sat, with our eyes closed and listened and tried to remember how we felt when we read our call. Well, you best believe I was bawling. I remembered so clearly that wonderful day May 23, 2013, when my life changed forever. It's funny because I sat there, thinking about that day and remembered how immediately when I read "Finland Helsinki Mission" I knew that is exactly where I was supposed to go. I think our mission calls are included in our "Preparing to go to Earth" packets up in heaven so when we read it on earth, it's like we remember something we knew before. We aren't learning something new, just remembering a part of us that we hadn't realized yet. Anyways, it was a super inspiring district meeting and that night, I recommitted myself to the work for the next 9 months! I want to look back on my mission with no regret! Does that mean I will be perfect? Heck no! But I know I can do my best every single day, and that's all Heavenly Father expects of me!

We had a lesson with Tomi and Maria this week. It was awesome! Sisar Pace and I were both pretty scared just because these guys are awesome and we really want things to work out! We went into their home and sat and talked with them about their lives and beliefs and their expectations of our visits. We realized, as we were sitting there A, teaching people, not lessons is so important, and B, these people really just want to have a strong family. They want their kids to have good values and are doing their best to achieve that. They have 4 boys, 2 are baptismal age and they are just awesome. They are former investigators as well and it's funny because on the record, it said how they don't want to change and are too set in their ways. Granted, I only have met them like 3 times, but the spirit we felt in their home was so strong. I know they will be members. Tomi is going to be the Branch President!

So Jan....oh boy...Jan...what a gem! He is a way cool guy! We had a lesson scheduled with him on Wednesday and literally, I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE WOMAN IN OUR BRANCH WAS BUSY. We could not find someone to save our lives. I was so frustrated and stressed. It ended up that we had to move the appointment to the following day. Thankfully Jan was super cool about it. But anyways, we kept trying to get members to come for the following day and literally no woman could come. It was insane. I was like "Ok, it's been hard to get members to lessons before but literally, this have never happened." Sister Pace and I were sitting there at lunch and I just looked up at her and said, "I think we need to pray." We prayed together and then both went and prayed individually. We came back together and literally, we both said at the exact same time, "The elders need to teach Jan." Man...not going to lie, I did not want to give our golden boy away, but, for some reason, we knew we had to. So we told the elders about the church tour, they found this really cool, hipster member to go with them, and now Jan and Patrick...the hipster...are best friends! Seriously, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I learned a valuable lesson though. Sisar Pace and I both did. We realized that our pride was getting in the way of the Lord's work. Yes, we needed to find Jan, but Jan needs to be taught by the elders. I don't know why, but he does. It's kind of funny how literally nothing was working out and the second we "let go" it all worked out perfectly. Heavenly Father knows best. But yes, that is the update on Jan! He will probably get baptized which would be awesome so keep praying for him!! I know you all do!

Funny side note: our sink got clogged this week so I learned a lot of new exciting vocab like clogged, hairball, drain, pipe, and repairman. hahaha I had to call our landlord and then the building man and I tried to explain what was wrong...I think he caught on pretty quick that I don't speak finnish very well so he hung up on me and just came over and fixed the drain! It was hilarious! oh man, the mission life! There is nothing better!!

We didn't get to meet with Tuulia's kids all last week. Man...agency of others really gets you sometimes. She doesn't answer her phone and it's super frustrating because I know, the second we start meeting regularly with those kids, they are going to be baptized. Pray for them and that Tuulia and Caius will be open to us coming over! I love this family so much and want them to be baptized! They need the church now more than ever!! 

Sister Pace and I are doing a lot better. I have this list in the back of my journal called "Lessons learned as a lähetyssaarnaja". I added to the list this week, "There is no person you cannot love once you hear their story." That happened this week. Sisar Pace is pretty incredible. I have never met, hung out with, associated with anyone like her in my life, but I love her. I really do. She teaches me new things every single day! She really is so wonderful! 

I have to tell you all about my experience with church this week. Church is the place of miracles. I was doing pretty well this week, in spite of not having a lot of success until about Saturday night. After we had planned for the day, I just felt this wave of despair and hopelessness crash into me. The worst part is, I know it was a choice. I made the choice to be disappointed. I felt the hope leave me. I have tried so hard for 7 months to work with these members. I have tried to motivate them by duty, responsibility, making them cookies, doing service for them, and it's still just like pulling teeth sometimes to get people on lessons. I love all the members of the church, especially in Finland, but man, I was just so frustrated! I went to bed that night feeling pretty sad and woke up Sunday morning and just felt sick. I didn't want to go to church. Of course we went, but I was sitting in sacrament meeting and I just felt tired. I felt heavy. I felt no motivation to do anything. 

During the actual sacrament, my first Sunday in Vaasa flashed through my head. I remembered looking at all the members as I bore my testimony and the love I felt for each of them. I saw Sisar Eriksson who said to me, "I always save a seat next to me so when my husband comes, he has a place." Her husband is less active. He doesn't come to church. Talk about hope. I saw Sisar Raitila whose husband isn't a member, yet who brings her daughters to church every week and is the district young women president. I saw Sisar Vuorinen whose kids are all less active and whose husband isn't a member, yet she still comes to church every week and is always kind to those who don't have many friends. I thought of Sisar Nieminen who lives alone and tries to share the gospel as much as she can with literally everyone she meets and I saw the Bishop's family, the Alahäivälä's. Their two oldest sons are blind, Sisar Alahäivälä literally does EVERYTHING. She is amazing and Veli Alahäivälä works so hard for his wonderful family and for this ward. Not only did I feel love for these people, but I felt the same way I felt after leaving Larsmo, "I am not worthy to be serving with these people. They are incredible." Really they are. They do so much. The thing about Finland is that these members, the ones we are working with now are still in the process of building the foundation of the church here. It's so easy sometimes to get frustrated and think, "Well, why don't wehave ward missionaries?" or "Why doesn't our BML even live in Vaasa?" But the thing is, we...all of us here together are building this foundation so in 5 years, 10 years, 50 years, the church here in Finland will literally not be able to accommodate all the people who will want to come in, just to feel a little bit of the spirit. I know that day will come. These members don't need to be guilt-tripped into anything. They need love, support, and they need our help. I do not feel worthy to be here, but I am so grateful to be! Sisar Pace shared this poem with me this week. I really love it and it pretty much sums up how I have felt about being a missionary here in Finland. It's called, "Love". The young man is a missionary...substitute young woman in there if that applies to you :) but it really has such a great message:

The young man walked down the city street

in a strange land, with his own now far away.

And his newness clashed with the echoing beat

Of horse carts and cobbled streets. And they say

He preached of a better world to those who loved their own,

And he prayed, "Oh God, I would my good be known!"

And no one understood.

The young man stopped in the pitted road, 

His manner not so shiny now, and gazed 

At humble folk, their backs bent 'neath their heavy load.

And vaguely sensed the meaning of eternal days.

And preached, "Come follow me that you might have rest."

And prayed, "Oh, God, help me to do my best."

And few men understood.

The young man trudged down the country lane,

No stranger now he came, still searching for those paths to roam,

But somehow unashamed, a little older now he came.

And deep within his heart he sang, "This place is home."

And he preached the brotherhood of man, and peace and charity;

And prayed, "Oh, Lord, that I may be worthy of such as these

In some far eternity."

And lo, he understood.

I love that so much! Also, Sister Thayne sent me this quote in her letter she wrote me and I LOVE IT and want to share it with you:

There once was a man who had a huge boulder placed before him. The Savior came to him and told him to push the stone out of the way. Day after day and week after week he pushed and strained to move the stone with no success. The devil came and discouraged him after not moving the stone even an inch. He started to lose faith. He complained to the Savior that there was no way he could ever do this and that it was a waste of time. The Savior replied "Look at your arms, they have received strength. Look at your shoulders, they have grown so broad. Look at your back, chest, and your legs, they have become stronger. Your job is to push, my job is to remove." And with that, he removed the stone.

I love that so much. I can't move the stone/boulder on my own. But it's not my job to move it, it's my job to push. I know I can push everyday. I can give my all and work as hard as I possibly can and if I do that, whatever happens will be according to the Lord's will. There is always sunlight through the clouds. In Finland, there is always sunlight...period. hahaha but I know that sometimes getting the rock rolling is the hardest part! I know God is here with us and he is helping us! Thank you for your prayers! I feel them everyday! I love you all and hope you have a blast up in BEAR LAKE!!! Get nice and tan for me! :)

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Olivia Bitner

P.S. Something Finnish for the week....CROCS AND SOCKS MAN!! They all rock the crocs and socks! It's hilarious! I miss my crocs! You are all wonderful and I love you!!!

Oh and mom, your no-bake cookies are changing Finland! Thanks for the recipes! :) 

9 months down...9 to go baby!! WOOOHOOO!!!

    HELLOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Man, where do I even begin! Probably should talk about the title of my letter...guys...my halfway mark is on Wednesday...HOLY COW. Where does the time go? I seriously can't believe it! I have so many different little "rites of passage" to do on Wednesday that I have saved for my halfway point! I can't tell you what they are though...that would ruin the fun :) This is nuts! Also, did anyone else just realize other than me that being a sister missionary is like expecting a baby twice...two sets of 9 months...kind of an interesting perspective...was that inappropriate to say? I don't know :) , but anyways, it has been the most incredible 9 months of my life! I have loved every second. Hardest 9 months of my life...uh YES! Would I trade them for anything? Uh...NO!! I love being a missionary and I love that I have 9 months more of this wonderful life! It's the best!!!

    2nd thing...OH MY GOODNESS YOU MET SISTER FRONK!!! Holy cow...I about died when I looked at your pictures...yes I am crying! She looks like she belongs in our family! She is so wonderful and I am so happy you got to meet her! She really is one of my best friends and I am just so glad you were there! This is the best day ever!! 

   3rd thing...EMMA RUSSELL IS GOING TO PERU!!!! Holy cow....this is insanity! Emma, I don't even know if you read this, but I am SOOO excited for you! Seriously, you are going to love being a missionary! How cool that you are leaving at basically the same time I left! It is a great time to be in the MTC!! Wait, you will probably actually go to Peru, huh? Oh man...you are way too cool! :) They are going to love you down there and you are going to love being a missionary! I am so excited for you and I love you so much!! Send me your e-mail so we can be besties/sisters/cousins forever!! hahaha I love you!!

    Wow, I have been looking forward to emailing this whole week! I knew you were going to meet Sister Fronk and that Emma should have received her call! I have been reflecting a lot this week about all the things I have learned on my mission. Actually, that's false, I don't have time to think about all the things I have learned on my mission. But I hope you all know, more than anything how much I love Heavenly Father and my Savior and this work! It is so wonderful. I don't know what else to say about it! It's amazing how hard it is and how many struggles you have, but the joy you feel is like nothing else I have ever experienced. It's funny because it's not just even joy doing the day to day things we do as missionaries, but your love for EVERYONE increases. That includes all your family, friends, and all the people who influenced your life for good before your mission and all the people who have influenced it during your mission. Honestly, I know I am so happy because I love you all so much! I love the Finns so much! I love my companions so much! I just love everything. It's amazing what can happen to us as we allow the love of Christ to fill our lives. That comes as we pray for his love to fill us. Anyways...I just LOVE you all with a capital/capitol (#dontrememberenglish) L! You are so wonderful!!

    Well, this week on "Something Finnish", let's talk about Angry Birds. BTW, I really can't remember all the things I have already told you, so if some of this is repeated, then sorry and this is really embarrassing, but hey, you can never know too much about the same thing, right? Anyways, I don't know if you know this, but the creator of Angry Birds is from Finland. If anyone wants to know why that is funny, come and try to sleep through the night in Finland. The birds are MENTAL. They sit outside and squawk and chirp and beep and buzz and cry and yell and scream and do every other sound you could think of. Seriously, it's amazing. I think they have some sort of an "Angry Bird Orchestra" that performs outside our apartment building each night. Luckily we have a fan, so we can't hear too much during the night, but they are always there without fail in the morning. Anyways, I guess some Finnish man thought they were pretty crazy as well, but he decided to do something constructive with his whining so he created Angry Birds and is now making billions of dollars! So there ya go...fun fact for the day!!

    Oh yes, little sidenote...it is really hot in Finland...let me 'splain....they don't have air conditioning in their homes or buildings because... it's not usually necessary...but man, on those days when it is warm outside, we cook like little dough balls. Especially in the church...it is nice and toasty! I am hot as I am sitting writing this email in the church! I know it's not anything to South America or Mexico or the Philippines, but man...it's roasty toasty! I sort of have a tan line...my skin went from translucent to how it was when I was born! I am coming back to life! :)

    Sisar Pace and I are doing pretty well. I have never had so many disagreements with a companion before, however, and it's really hard for me to understand her. She has a lot of really good ideas, and I really made it a priority and goal at the beginning of this training experience to acknowledge and try her ideas. I wanted her to know that I am her trainer, she is my trainee, but we are also companions and I value her opinion. She is very wise and an incredible missionary, but she does think that it should be her way or the highway. She likes to say, "It's not like I think I am better than you or anything, but I think you should do this like this" or "You should probably work on that" or "If I were you, I would do things this way". Not going to lie...it's hard not to let it bug me and to just shrug it off. We have extremely different sense of humors, and what she says are jokes, I would only say to someone if I really wanted to insult them. I have been praying SO HARD that I would be able to love her and understand her, because honestly, sometimes it's hard. I don't know everything, but I do know some things, especially stuff I have learned on my mission.

     Anyways, yesterday she decided to tell me, ever so sweetly, some of the things she thinks I do wrong and I just looked at her and said, "Sister Pace, I respect you and your opinions, but you are asking me to change who I am and to become who you are. You are wonderful, but I cannot and should not be you. We are different for a reason and if I do things that really irritate you, please let me know so I can work on them, but we need to work together and we CANNOT be critical of each other or this will never work." Dad and Mom, your letters last week helped me more than you know...they have been running over in my head all week, but anyways, we had a good talk, and I really listened to her and asked her questions about her friends, family, and her life. It's amazing how the more you learn about someone and their background, the harder it is to be frustrated with them. Yes, she is super sassy. Yes, she hurts my feelings a lot, but I know she doesn't mean it. This is really good for me and I hope for her as well. I am learning how to not get offended...EVER...and I don't really know what I am teaching her, but I am sure it's something. It's amazing how on those days when I pray REALLY hard that I will love her, I do, and the work and everything else goes so much better! Christ's love man, it's the only way to go! We can love anyone when we love them with the love of Christ. I know that is true, 100%!

    Anyways, We had a pretty good week this week! We had the best day ever scheduled for Tuesday. We had an appointment with Chau in the morning, a lesson with Jan and two awesome YSA's from our ward, and then a church tour with Markkus scheduled with this YSA who is always super busy, but had time to come on Tuesday. Then we had 2 dinner appointments with members and a lesson scheduled with our Less active, part member family that we are working with. Monday night, I looked at our schedule and thought, "Dang...this has the potential to be the best, most productive, successful day of my mission." So I went to sleep with flowers and sunshine in my head...woke up next morning to both of our investigator lessons cancelling, but oddly enough, I wasn't frustrated. I really felt like we did all that we could do and put it in the Lord's hands. Everybody goes on vacation in Finland during the summer...members included. It's hard to get people to lessons, but we are REALLY trying and the Lord is blessing us for our efforts! Anyways, those two appointments fell through so we haven't met with Markkus or Jan yet, but pray for them. We have appointments scheduled for this week!!

    On Tuesday night, we met with the Less Active/Part Member family. The mom, Tuulia, and the husband, Caius, are divorced. Both finnish. Both still members. Both less active. Both in our ward. Kind of an awkward situation. Anyways, they have 5 kids, 2 have been baptized and 3 are baptismal age, but haven't been baptized yet because they don't come to church. The bishop has really been wanting us to focus on them lately, and we have tried, but they just don't answer calls and are always busy. Anyways, thanks to Heavenly Father, we had an appointment with them on Monday. I am not going to lie, I was TERRIFIED!!! There was a lot riding on this lesson and I just felt super inadequate. I know that is a tool Satan uses to get at all of his missionaries, but I just remembered what Sister Fronk told me before she left, "If you love the people you work with, you will never fail." I decided right then and there just to love Tuulia and her kids as much as I could. We got to know them a little bit and she was super warm and friendly. I was actually really surprised and was feeling pretty good, but then I knew that we needed to bring up the fact that we want to teach her kids. I said a quick prayer in my heart, and just told her, "Hey, we would love to come and teach your kids about the gospel." She smiled and said, "Of course, I would love that too." I asked her little daughter, Ronya, if she would like to learn more about Jesus, and she said, "Kyllä. Minä uskon Jumalaan ja Jeesukseen," or "Yes. I believe in God and Jesus." I love primary age kids. Seriously, they have the most pure spirits and desires. It's incredible. I just feel so bad for this sweet little family though. It's a really sad situation. Tuulia has kind of been barking up the wrong tree. She has a 20 year old boyfriend...she is 45...and he lives with her and her kids. The spirit in their home was so sad. I just walked out feeling pretty junky. I know that they need the light of the gospel back into their lives and in their home. Pray for Tuulia, Ronya, Caspian, Benjamin, Tiina, and Caspar. They are awesome and we hope to see them baptized soon!!

    We have/had this investigator in Seinäjoki, Anna. She is pretty old...like pushing 85, but she comes to church every Sunday and just LOVES it. She is super hilarious and half the time, I have no idea what she is talking about. We have taught her on and off ever since I have been in Seinäjoki and Vaasa. This week, we decided that we would ask her to be baptized and kind of gauge the situation from there. We went to her house and she proceeded to tell us how Jesus appeared to her and told her that she should stay in the church she is in. Man, I hate when that happens :) JK but we are giving her to the Lord for awhile! Seriously, the funny situations you find yourself in as a missionary are priceless! I love it so much!!

    We had an awesome day on Sunday. We went to church...ilmeisesti....isn't church the greatest thing in the world? I look forward to it like none other! Yesterday, the meeting was wonderful as always! Not going to lie, I know I am going to miss singing the hymns in Finnish! But after church, we finished our studies and then we set off to go heart attack some ward members, contact a referral, and go visit a member family. I love heart attacking people. It's such a small, dorky, sister missionary thing, but man...PEOPLE LOVE IT! Especially in Finland. I have told you how they don't express love very often, so when two american girls plaster big, bright hearts all over your door telling you how much they love you, it is a bit out of the ordinary, but man...they always either call us, text us, or talk to us in church about it. We had a dinner appointment this week with the Pettersson family...the wife is Finnish and the husband is Swedish, and they are wonderful! They have only lived in Vaasa for a year, but are always willing to help us with anything. Anyways, we heart attacked them and last night at like 10:25, Sisar Pettersson calls us, crying, and says, "Sisters, thank you SO much. How did you know we had been praying to feel loved and needed in this ward. You are angels. We love you both so much." Man...it's times like that where you just sit there and smile and think, "Is there anything better than serving others?" No, there really isn't!

    We received this referral from a member about 3 weeks ago. His name is Zhang Feng...yes, yes, HE IS CHINESE!! I love CHINA!!! I love the people, I love the food, I just love them! Anyways, I have been pretty persistent about getting in contact with this referral A, because it's a referral, B, because he is chinese, and C, because the member who gave him to us said that he didn't know much about him, but felt like he had a great heart. Enough said! :) Anyways we have tried and tried and tried to contact this guy, but he is never home. Yesterday we decided that it would be the last time we would try to contact him. We show up to his door, all sweaty and dirty cause we bike everywhere, not expecting him to answer, but guess what? He answered...in his rubber ducky pajamas! It was awesome! We had a great discussion with him at his door and gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to a church tour on Saturday. He was so nice and way excited. We actually just received a text from him saying that he talked to his "mentor" in China and the mentor said that he couldn't meet with us. I'm pretty sure when he said "mentor" he meant "De-mentor". Who does that? Satan is working so hard to keep China closed. They really are the best people. Anyways, we want to take him a chinese Book of Mormon...we can't interfere with the laws of the land where we don't live or serve....go figure...but anyways...maybe something will come up! He is a wonderful guy and HE IS CHINESE! I have nothing further to say! :)

    Anyways, after we contacted Zhang, we rode our bikes to the Raitila's house. Sidenote: I love riding my bike more than anything in the world. It is my new simple pleasure. It's coming home with me! :) But we had an awesome lesson with their family. Sisar Raitila is a supermom...Mom, you two would be great friends, she reminds me so much of you. Their daughters are adorable and are so sweet to us when we come. Their dad isn't a member, but the elders are working with him. Sisar Raitila bore her testimony yesterday about hope and how even though they don't know when their dad will join the church, they know he will and that makes every day worth living. Man, talk about rockstars. These members are amazing and I just love them all SO MUCH!! It's the best place in the world. Plus they gave us watermelon! It was way delicious! :)

    Oh, way funny story, so we were trying to find the Raitila's house through this neighborhood. Sister Pace was navigating...we take turns navigating...and we were totally and completely lost. Neither of us knew where we were. We were driving down this neighborhood street and I glanced over at this house and saw a big flower in the window. I kind of smiled and thought, "That was a pretty flower," but kept going along. The spirit hit my like a bag of bricks and said, "That flower was attached to a shirt...someone was staring at you...go back and talk to them." I rang my bike bell...yes I have a bike bell...and told Sister Pace we had to go check this house. We walked our bikes up to the door and this older couple comes out and I asked, "Sorry, we are lost, can you help us?" The husband turns around and goes back inside, but the wife, Maija, stayed outside and was looking at the map, trying to help us at least find where we were. All of a sudden, her husband...probably in his 70s comes out carrying his bike and said, "Follow Me". I was like, "Oh my goodness, you don't have to take us over there, we just wanted to see where he were." He muttered something in finnish and waved his hand at us, as if to say, "Oh please, you will never find this place alone," haha but anyways, there we were, an old finnish man, Sister Pace and I biking through the Finnish forest. He got us right to the Raitila's house. We thanked him as he started to drive away, but Sister Pace and I both felt like we should take them cookies later this week to say thank you and hopefully to talk about the gospel, cause that's what we do. :) Anyways, it was a pretty funny experience...first time it's ever happened to me! It was awesome!!

    Anyways, I have been thinking a lot this week about happiness. I was pretty sad at the beginning of the week. I really don't like when people are frustrated with me and I felt my companion was and I was just like, "Dang it...what am I going to do?" I prayed a lot...like all day...and just asked Heavenly Father to help me know what to do. The answer came so directly, it kind of caught me off guard. I was sitting one night, writing in my journal and the thought came to me, "Don't let your happiness be dependent on anything, especially someone else's opinion of you. You will have a long, unhappy life if that's how you decide whether or not to be happy." Two things caught my attention from that answer, A, it doesn't matter who it is, whether it's a companion or a spouse or a best friend or a parent or a sibling, whoever....our happiness cannot be dependent on another person. That song from "Tea for Two" kept coming into my mind this week, "I want to be happy, but I won't be happy, til I make you happy too." That song is a lie! :) Just kidding, it's a cute sappy, love song, but in the end, it's really true that we can't become so dependent on another "person" that whatever they say or do affects us to the point of making us happy or sad. Yes, we need to love everyone as the Savior loves them, but I know for a fact that when people said rude things to him or when people he loved did stupid things, it made him sad, but he didn't wallow in it or distract him from his true purpose. He pushed forward with love in his heart and served those around him. What a wonderful person!

    But, I realized that it really is our decision to be happy. We literally have a choice, everyday when we wake up to decide how we are going to respond to situations during the day. I don't really know how to feel about that. It kind of puts some weird kind of pressure on us, but it also gives me such a sense of freedom. It doesn't matter where we are, who we are with, or what we are doing, if we rely on the Lord, put our trust in Him, and love those around us, we will not be able to stop ourselves from being happy. I have seen so many people in my life who have "put their trust in the arm of the flesh" and have suffered for it. It's a good lesson to learn, yes, but we can't put our trust in a sandy foundation. It's like in Helaman 5:12, if we build our foundation on Jesus Christ, we will NEVER fail. Never. It's impossible. 

    I love being happy. I hate being sad. Honestly, the greatest desire of my heart is that everyone can be happy. The best part is, the way to be truly, truly happy is to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are all wonderful missionaries. You live your lives every day, thinking people don't notice, but trust me, they do. You are making a bigger difference than you know, just by being who you are. Heavenly Father loves each one of you so much. I know that is true because every night when I pray for you, I ask him to bless you and keep you all safe and to help you know that I love you and he loves you, and I feel his love for you come into my heart, and that multiplies and perfects my love for you. It's amazing how much Heavenly Father loves each of us. He really does. If you don't believe it, just ask him to see yourself through his eyes. I promise, you will never be the same again! The gospel is real. God's love is real. Pure, Christ like love can change the world. It has changed me forever and I am beyond grateful for it! You are the most wonderful people I know. Mom, Dad, Jocelyn, Anne, Lauren, Luke, Caroline, and everyone else who tries to read this and gets bored cause it's so long...hahaha....you are the most wonderful people I know. Be who you are. Invite others to do things with you. Help them experience the joy that we have because we know we can be together forever. What greater blessing is that? Have we not great reason to rejoice??!! I love you all so much and hope you have the best week in the history of forever!!! MINÄ RAKASTAN TEITÄ!!!! 

    Ether 12:4 It's my favorite scriptures! The gospel is our anchor! Make sure it's tied to a solid foundation! :)

    Rakkaudella, 

    Sisar Bitner

    P.S. I have thought about Nauvoo SOOOO much this week. It is the loveliest place, and the best people under the heavens! I love you all! LET ZION IN HER BEAUTY RISE!!! :) 

Land of the free, Home of the Brave...Happy Birthday America!!!

    Well, well, well...how the heck are you all doing? First off...you are beautiful...all of you...just had to get that out of the way! I LOVED all the pics you sent of the fourth...seriously I felt like I was there in spirit! Dad...congrats on the float! You are awesome and I was so proud to see you in the most wonderful parade in the world...that of Grantsville, UT! BTW, there is a Sister here from Tooele...fun fact for the day! :) Anyways, it was so great to be a part of your fourth of July! I wore my stars and red skirt...I have been planning this outfit since I bought this shirt! Isn't America the best! I love Finland, but man, a lot of Finns were rocking the red, white, and blue...it was actually super funny and I just felt such love for America! We sang every single American hymn in my little english hymn book and, not gonna lie, I got a little teary eyed! We are so blessed to live in the promised land! America was made for the gospel to come forth! What a blessed land! One of the senior sisters made 4th of July cookies and played American music on her iPad at zone meeting and it was awesome!! Too bad I was in a skirt or I would have been doing cartwheels and running all over the church! America is the best!! I love it and I love you all!!

    Oh mom, you said you were going to send my package off next week...I was wondering if you could send me a curling iron or a wand or something so I can change up the hair...9 months of straight hair kind of gets you down! :) Just kidding but that would be wonderful! Also, my little speakers in my room I got for Christmas! I think they need batteries, but I would love to have them so I can jam out to my EFY tunes in my apartment! Ask my if i know the words to every song from LDS.org? Yes, I do! My favorites are "Not the only One" and "Brand New Year". They are my pump up songs! haha anyways you are the best!! I love you!!

    Well, this week was pretty crazy! I am sorry my letter last week was kind of debby downer and sad! I was/still am sort of overwhelmed, but we are getting into our rhythm and I feel as though once again, Jesus Christ is helping me every step of the way! It's funny how easy it is to forget that. It's sad actually. He is always there and sometimes we...for some unknown reason...try to take everything on our back. He is standing there saying, "Uh, I can help you...let me take some of that" and we look up with our sweaty, dirty, tear stained faces and say, "No, I want to carry it all. I can do it alone. I just need more time." I can imagine what it must feel like to stand there and watch us helplessly go through things we don't have to go through alone. He loves us so much. I know he does. I have felt his love for me and for everyone I know too many times to think otherwise. The trick is giving all our heart and soul to him. I know he will take care of us!

    Anyways, on Tuesday, I was feeling pretty bummed. I just felt like all hope for missionary work in Finland had flown out of me and I was watching it fly up into the sky. It was horrible. I felt so depressed and old and tired and just awful. I tried to cover it up as best I could...but I am horrible at hiding my emotions..you all know that. Sister Pace has been an answer to my prayers this week. On Tuesday, during weekly planning, she looked at me and said, "Sister Bitner, I want you to read this." She handed me this packet that she had received in the MTC during In-field orientation! It was a case study about a sister missionary who served in a ward in America where missionary work was dead. The members in this ward were AWESOME...much like in Finland...but they are pretty content to stay where they are...much like in Finland. As I read this case study and how this sister missionary got the members excited, I started bawling. I know...pretty pathetic...I am sorry to disgrace the Bitner name by my emotional breakdown, but man, I felt like I was reading my mission. I felt like everything this sister expressed, every emotion, frustration, and situation are the same things we deal with in Finland. Now, I don't mean to make this sound like "Oh poor me", but it's reality. Finland is the best mission in the world...duh...but it is hard. Hard work and not a ton of success. But this sister was in a similar situation and instead of getting depressed and discouraged...as I was beginning to...she completely changed how she was doing her missionary work. She gave up the tracting and mindlessly roaming the streets, and she focused on doing things as Christ would do them. Exactly as Christ would do them.

    She worked with the members. She loved them, she served them, she wrote them thank you notes, she commented in Relief Society, she was always positive about the area where she served, she got to know the members, she and her companion motivated these members by love...not by guilt. I think as members, it is really easy to feel guilty. We never feel like we do enough, even when we do. Then on top of that, to have missionaries come over and guilt trip you about not doing missionary work doesn't sound very motivating. Now, believe you me, we do NOT try to guilt trip anyone...but the attitude of missionary work in this mission has really honestly been one of frustration. "Why don't the members ever give us referrals? Why don't they feed us? Why won't they come on lessons?" I have had those same thoughts...not going to lie. But this week, I realized my approach for 7 months has been wrong. Yes, I have loved the members, but in the back of my mind, those frustrations and thoughts have been roaming around. Definitely not as Christ-like as I should have been!

    Anyways, we decided to put this to the test. All of our investigators had fallen off the face of the earth and we literally had nothing at the beginning of this week. We had one finnish investigator, Sirkka who was out of town. We looked at our week and thought, "Well, what would Jesus do if he were here?" We started serving. We had a dinner appointment with the Nåsman family...President Nåsman is the district president here. They are wonderful and always have us over for dinner, but it has been kind of hard to get them involved in missionary work. Not because of them, but honestly, we just haven't known how to work with them. They are kind of intimidating.

     Anyways, we were planning the lesson we wanted to share with them I said, "I think we should talk to them about starting a family mission plan." We have really been focusing lately on getting members these "family mission plans". Sister Pace just kind of sat there, staring at me, and then she said, "I think we should talk about how much we love being missionaries in Finland." Uh...I just sat there like, "Oh, you little greenie, you...how sweet to think that would work." But, I figured, what the heck? We have nothing to lose. We got to the Nåsman's and it was just Sister Nåsman. she is the nicest lady in the world, but she speaks finnish SOOOOO fast and has great style and is beautiful...she reminds me of my mom...except for the speaking finnish part :) but I don't know why, I have always kind of been intimidated by her. But as we talked more with her, I felt this love for her and her family spring into my heart. All frustration I had with everything...training, finnish, members, lack of investigators, just left me and we had the most wonderful conversation. We were all laughing and chatting and just having a great time. The most optimistic, happy spirit was in their home. After lunch, we got ready to share our spiritual message. Sister Pace started it out, (gotta get these greenies working :) and she shared Ether 12:4 which says, "Wherefore, whose believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." She talked about how it is so easy to forget the "Why" of missionary work. It's interesting because I think we always remember the "How" or "What" of missionary work or maybe more realistically, we always remember "I don't know HOW" or I don't know WHAT to do", but we forget WHY we do it. We do missionary work because this gospel, this church, this doctrine is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to any of us. It is the light of our lives. It is our joy. Our loving Heavenly Father has asked us to give it to his children who don't know about it yet. That's why we share it.

    Then I felt prompted to share D&C 84:88 which says, "And whose receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." Sister Pace had totally invited the spirit and it was SO strong. I just testified of how much I love their family. I told her how much I love Finland and being a missionary here and that my greatest desire honestly is to see this branch grow! I testified of angels being with us to give us strength and courage when we feel we have none. We were all a little teary and it was the most wonderful feeling! Sister Nåsman looked at us and said, "Who are you teaching right now? I want you to bring them to our home to teach them." She also asked us to come do service with her in her yard this week. Now, I don't know if I can explain the magnitude of what just happened. The Finns don't like to accept help. We offer, but they say, "No, we are fine." They are so independent and I love that about them, but man, it's rough when you want to offer service. We have asked the Nåsman's for service opportunities and tried and tried to figure out who and how we could teach in their home, and it hasn't ever worked. For 3 months. But this time, just because we taught completely by love...it all came to pass without us doing anything. It was incredible. 

    Sister Pace is incredible. Missionary work is incredible. I have learned SO much from Sister Pace and it is amazing to me how much training has changed in the MTC even since I was there. They are teaching missionaries how to do missionary work in the most effective way possible...completely by LOVE. Christ-like love can change the world. The work of salvation is hastening right before our eyes and literally right before my eyes. My companion has just come out of the most wonderful training in the world and she has completely changed what I think missionary work is. The reality is...it's love. We love people, so we want to talk to them and help their families. We love the members so we want to help them feel needed and to serve them. My focus has been too much on "Finding the Elect" by my own efforts. Heavenly Father, through President Rawlings and my new companion has shown me a new way. Find the Elect through the people that Heavenly Father has allowed to be in Vaasa right now. Use the Members. They will lead us to the elect!

    Anyways, we went on splits up in Oulu on Thursday...5 hour train ride later :) and we met President Watson and his wife on Friday during Zone Meeting. They are AWESOME!! There was such a special spirit when both of them talked. You could literally feel and see the love they had for each of us coming out of them! It was so great! President Watson talked completely about love and how each of us needs to pray in every prayer we say to be filled with the Love of Christ. He promised us that it will change our lives. I have started doing that and would challenge you all to do the same. Our worlds, our lives, will never be the same as we do this!

    So, as you can tell, I was feeling pretty good about missionary work...but then I looked at our teaching pool...and our empty schedule for next week and was just like..."Man...dang it." That's seriously what went through my head. We went to Seinäjoki for church this week and as I was sitting there kind of mulling things over in my mind, our former investigator...whom we had dropped a few months ago...comes walking into church, sits down next to me and says, "I want to meet with you guys again." Uh, what? Boom, 1 new investigator. Oh funny story, while we were driving to Seinäjoki, we pull up to a stoplight and there was a cop there. He signaled for me to pull over, muttered something in Finnish, and held out a little white tube with a little handheld machine attached to it. I about died. I was like, "what in the world is going on?" Ya, I was being drug tested. Thank heavens for the word of wisdom! Anyways, funny story, but good news is I passed! You can all stop worrying now! :)

    We had a dinner appointment on Sunday after church with the Relief Society President in our ward in Vaasa whose husband is less active. Sister Pace and I were still recovering from the shock of Anna showing up to church, but we both felt like we should go the way of "love" again. We did a similar message and then the thought came to tell Sisar Eriksson about the "BOO" idea that we do in Utah. You know where someone makes cookies and drops it off at a member's house and then it goes around the whole ward? Anyways, I explained that to her and asked if we could come start this little idea with her, and she was kind of hesitant. Her husband was still sitting at the table, sleeping, but he woke up and walked off to his office...he doesn't usually stay for the spiritual messages. Anyways, Sister Eriksson said, "I don't really know" but then from the office we hear her husband yell, "I have a recipe for chocolate chip cookies...when are you guys coming over?" I will never forget Sister Eriksson's face. She smiled the biggest smile I have ever seen and basically jumped a foot in the air and said, "Oh yes, this is such a great idea, when can you come...Oh can we give them to this family, oh how about this family, oh this family would love this.." and so on and so forth. Her husband came out of his office with his chocolate chip cookie recipe in hand and a HUGE smile on his face. He said, "These are so good. Come over and Tuesday and we will make them with you." Oh my goodness. Less Actives offering to bake cookies with the Sisters...what??

    As we were walking from the Eriksson's, still completely flabbergasted, we get a call from an unknown number. I answer and say, "Moi, Sisaret täällä!" or "Hello, this is the Sisters" and this guy says, "Well finally I get a hold of you. I met you on the street two months ago and you gave me your card. I have decided I want to learn about your church. Can you meet with me on Tuesday at 4:30?" Uh....what? New investigator number 2. His name is Markkus. 

    Then....THEN....later Sunday night, we were sitting doing some 12 week program study, and our phone rings again. It is our friend Jan, whom we met last week while trying to contact a referral. He said he was too busy to meet last week, so he didn't become a new investigator, but this week he calls and says, "Um, do you know the Nåsman family?" I said "Of course we do, they are awesome!" And he said, "my little brother is best friend with their son Thomas (Thomas is a missionary in Taiwan right now) and I would really like to meet them and talk with you a little bit more about your church. Can you meet on Tuesday at 2?" OH MY GOSH. I seriously am still pinching myself right now to know if this is really true. New investigator number 3 and he wants to meet with the Nåsmans. All Finns. All from us doing NOTHING but loving the people and serving those whom God has given us to love. What is this? I am still shocked.

    But just wait, it gets better. So there is this less active family in our ward. Well part member, less active family. The parents are both members but got a divorce and haven't been to church since the divorce. They have 5 kids, 3 boys and 2 girls. The boys are all over the age of 8 but have not been baptized. At the beginning of my change with Sister Fronk, we established a vision for Vaasa based on what this branch needed. What we came out with is 2 youth baptisms...we only have 1 young man in our branch, 6 member families implementing mission plans, and 1 reactivation. Well we have wanted to teach this family for a long time, but the mom won't answer our calls or answer the door when we visit. Last night as we were starting to plan, we get a call on the phone from THE MOTHER OF THIS FAMILY. She asked if we were available tomorrow night, meaning Monday, to come and start teaching her kids about the gospel. I SERIOUSLY CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT IS GOING ON. After today we will have 6 new investigators...all Finns...all fit our vision...and we have made friends with the less active husband of our Relief Society President. 

    "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail - But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." Moroni 7:46-47

    I seriously cannot even tell you how amazing this week was. I really don't know what else to say other than the church is true. All of this is real. It's God's work. When we do it his way, we can't fail. I love this gospel. It's so worth it to go through the muck to experience these wonderful miracles. I love the Savior. I love you all!!

    Oh, "Something Finnish" for the week...the strawberries in Finland are TO DIE FOR. They have little stands all over the place and they taste like sugar. They are pretty expensive, but we managed to scrimp and save to buy some! Sister Pace said she will make me strawberry shortcake for my birthday! YIPPEEE! You are all so wonderful and I hope you have the most incredible week ever! :) Pray for Jan, Markkus, Anna, Tomi and Maria (Potentials) and Tuulia and her kids and for Veli Eriksson. There can be miracles when you believe! Thank you for your prayers and support! It means the world to me!! I love you all!!!

    Rakkaudella, Sisar Bitner

Sister Pace drew a picture of she and I...that's what I look like studying...she is a goof!! I love her!!

This was my compy for the day in Oulu...Sisar Hubner! She was trained by Sister Egan as well!!

I STILL LOVE AMERICA!! Happy Birthday to the most wonderful place in the world...and yes I am wearing boots in July...yes it is freezing some days...Finland is nuts! I love you!!!