And then I'm grateful I'm still in Helsinki‏

So, transfer week! I'm staying in Itäkeskus for at least nine more weeks but probably 18. Sister Wunderli and I have another transfer together! Yay! I'm so excited to stay with her! Our area has been dead for about six months and now it's starting to pick up! We are finding people and actually teaching lessons! We haven't really taught a ton of lessons since I've been here, and I guess it was even slower before I got here, but now we have at least one lesson everyday which (for Itäkeskus), is quite impressive. Ha!

Well this week I became extremely grateful for being in the warmest place in Finland. Thursday was cold. Absolutely cold. I've never experienced such cold in my entire life. With temperatures reaching a high of -20 C and a low of about -27 C (-4 F and -13 F) this was a whole new experience for me. When it is that cold, if you breathe in through your nose, your snot will freeze and your nose will be frozen shut. Fact. Also, your hair will freeze and you will become a living Elsa. Fact. When it's that cold, you don't dress to "stay warm" you dress to NOT FREEZE. I have never before experienced this and honestly I'm still having nightmares about it. It was quite traumatizing. But no worries, it's warmed up here to about -12 C, so it's not as bad as Thursday, but the fear still remains with it coming back at any moment. 

This morning was fantastic! We woke up to one foot of fresh new powder. Man, trekking through the snow has now become quite fun. It's definitely quite a workout when you have to walk through the woods a lot since you are making your own paths, but its quite amazing and beautiful! I love it!

Even though this week was cold, the work is still moving! We've got some really cool people lined up that are progressing really well! We have this one investigator who read 18 chapters in the Book of Mormon in five days. He's golden! Ha!

It's the best time to be in Finland and I love it so much here! It's fantastic! Just keeping praying I won't freeze. Ha I love you all and I miss you!

Love,

Sister Jones

Okay, so I understand that this picture makes me look a little crazy, but this is just how cold it is. My eyelashes are frozen and my hair is quite frozen. It's been insane. I'm trying to recreate my Dad's mission picture of when he was here 30 years ago.

 

Timo 30yrs ago

 

 Me trekking through the insane snow. 

 

Me and Sister Wunderli walking to the church today!