And Just like that, Its over...

I've been pondering a lot this week about what this mission has done for me. As I've come to the end and experienced all the "lasts" I've had a lot of things to ponder. 

I just want everyone to know one thing. I'm not the same Emili that left almost 19 months a go. I'm not. I've changed. Heck, people don't even think that I look the same. And lately most people don't believe that I'm an American.. Ha that's been a funny one.

But I wouldn't change anything. 

I am so much better now. I've grown in ways I didn't know were possible. I've literally seen the healing power of the Atonement change my life. 

I'm happy. Truly happy. I know that there is NO OTHER WAY to achieve true and eternal happiness in life than through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There literally isn't any other way. 

If anyone would have asked me 19 months ago if I thought I would love and appreciate my mission as much as I do, I would have told them that they are crazy. That makes total sense since I screamed at my dad on the way into the MTC to turn the car around. 

I am eternally grateful that he didn't. He kept going and I stayed here. Even when it was hard and I wanted to go home, I'm grateful for all the people who kept me here and helped me through it all. 

I have served my mission. I've tried to do everything the Lord has asked me over the past 19 months and do it well. 

I am so grateful for my mission. I don't think I'll ever see the full effects that this mission has had on me, but the ones that I can see, have been the worlds greatest blessings to me. 

I love My Heavenly Father with all of my heart. Jesus is the Christ. This is the ONLY way to receive salvation and happiness in this life and the next. Families are eternal. Life isn't easy, but with our Savior and Heavenly Father by our sides, its possible and its amazing. I know the church is true. 

I love the Finnish people with all of my heart. My people. I've grown to be one of them and I'll be forever grateful for my divinely inspired call to serve here.

I love you all so much. Thank you for your love and support as I've served these past 19 months. I'll be forever grateful for everything you've done.

My homecoming will be 23 April 2017 @ 9 am. My church address is 205 S. Angel Street Kaysville, UT. Everyone is welcome to come! I would love to see as many of you as possible!

See you on Thursday!

Rakkaudellani,

Sisar Emili Jones

 

 

 

Enjoy this random picture of me and Sister Kehr.. I had just eaten a blue airhead.. ha

 

My final week...

Its soo insane that this is my last week here in Finland.. So weird.. BUT the work is still going forward and its fantastic!

We were able to start teaching our new recent convert the Recent Convert Lessons this week and he's just doing sooo well. Its seriously so cool to see the difference in him this past week! He's doing fantastic!

We also were able to meet with a new investigator this week. He is very excited to learn and to strengthen his relationship with Heavenly Father. 

I gave a talk in church on Sunday. My last one here in Finland and it went really well. It was fun because the ward didn't know it was my last regular sacrament (next week is Fast Sunday in Finland) so they were so happy I was able to speak before I left. I talked about our Savior and why he means just so much to me. 

It was so great to have so much time this week to truly focus and study our Savior. Its probably been my favorite thing to do on my mission. I'm so grateful for him and all that he has done for each and every one of us. He truly is amazing. I know I'll never be able to fully understand everything he did for me, but I'm so incredibly grateful that he did all he did for me and all of us.

I am so grateful for this time that I've had to serve and for the week I still do have. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Jones

 

 

Last District Picture

Last Flag Day

 

It happened!

Yes everyone! My first baptism! 

It was probably the best baptism in the entire world. Seriously. It was an amazing experience and insanely special. He was just so prepared and has such an incredibly strong testimony. The service went amazingly smooth and it was seriously perfect. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this man is. He really has just the most amazing spirit and he's just so happy and excited to be a member and to have made that sacred promise with Heavenly Father.

President Watson came to the service as well, and that was really cool. He was able to talk to me and Sister Kehr about it and why we were put together as companions. President looks at me and says "Wow, Sister Jones, what an amazing way to end your mission. With a baptism of such a wonderful man who you can already tell, is going to work miracles in Finland. He's going to be one of the strongest members here." I died. Honestly, if President says anything good to me, I pretty much die every time. Its okay. haha But President wasn't lying when he talked about how strong this man is, he really has the strongest testimony I've ever seen a recent convert have. Its amazing!!!!

Last p-day we went to this really cool museo (I don't know how to spell the english word anymore..) with Lauren. Her and her husband are here on an internship for about 2 months, and so we've been spending a lot of time with her while he's at work. So we went sight seeing last week. And we found this really cool museo and we took lots of pictures :) It was sooo much fun! These are a couple of the fun pictures we took at this museo! We also went to the big white church in the center. It was sooo much fun! 

Honestly it was a FANTASTIC week. SO amazing. I've been soo blessed to be a part of such wonderful expriences this week. I'll be forever eternally grateful for the miracles that happened this week.

I love you all sooo much!

Love,

Sister Jones

He gave permission to post this picture

Olen ihan suomalainen!

I DID IT EVERYONE!!!! 

So the other day we were out contacting and we stopped this guy. Sister Kehr started the contact and the guy could tell that she wasn't a Finn, so he started speaking English. He turns to me and says "Oletko suomalainen?" YESS!!! I told him, in Finnish that I wasn't a Finn. He told me that he thought I was! 

SO MY MISSION GOAL IS COMPLETE!!! I got mistaken for a Finn, BY A FINN! Now granted everyone who isn't a Finn, thinks I'm a native Finn, but Finns always think I'm from Sweden or Russia.. So its been my goal for the past 18 months to be mistaken for a Finn! 

This week we've been getting everything ready for our investigator who is scheduled to be baptized on Saturday.. We finished teaching him all the lessons and he's got one of the strongest testimonies I've ever seen. He keeps asking what he needs to do to prepare for Saturday and I told him "Continue to pray about the Book of Mormon, about Joseph Smith, and about all the other things we've taught you." His response was as follows.. "I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith restored the church, and that this truly is God's true church on the earth today!" I practically died. He's sooo cool!


And to prove just how dedicated he is, he's is Sweden all this week of a business trip, but he's flying back twice during the week, so a lesson and his baptismal interview. Legit, this guy is sooo dedicated.


We also had a really cool expirence on Sunday. It was the "Northern Europe Combined Stake Conference". It was a really cool exprinece. It was broadcast from SLC, but it was showed to all of us here in Northern Europe. Whitney L. Clayton, Timothy J. Dyches, Linda S. Reeves, and Elder M. Russel Ballard spoke to all of us. They talked sooo much about gaining our own testimony and how its okay to ask questions. It was really cool to have them explain the things we need to do to have our own testimony grow and how if we have questions about what happened in the past, or why something the way it is, as long as we we keep doing what we are supposed to, it will be okay and we will be able to understand everything better.. Honestly I loved it. It was a great conference!


I love you all! It was a great week and we are looking forward to fantastic week ahead of us! I hit my 18 month mark on Thursday which is absolutely insane.. BUT I've got 3 weeks still, TIME TO WORK EVEN HARDER!


Love,
Sister Jones

 

Me and Sister Willoughby on Exchanges this week

All of us sisters on exchanges! Yes, I truly am that white and pale...

It better be the last time..

Well, I was sick again. haha OF COURSE.

No worries though, I'm totally fine and doing great! I can even sing again, which is a miracle since I lost my voice like 3 days ago, so I would say I'm back on top of the world! Ha too much? Maybe?

But it was a great week! We got a new investigator and she's really cool! She's dating another member (I think all of mine are right now.. ha) and she's really interested in the church! YAY for member missionary work! 

We also had interviews with President Watson this week. It was so great! I was able to talk to him a lot about how to really work with the ward (one of my goals this transfer) and how to reach some other goals that I have. I absolutely love talking with President, he's so great and really just helps so incredibly much. 

After our interviews the Watsons had us stay for dinner with them. They are so incredible. I really was sooo blessed when it came to my Mission President :)

Its kinda a short email this week, but granted I was in bed for most of it.. But I love you all! Thank you soo much for everything!

Love,

Sister Jones

 

This is how we did companionship study, language study, and weekly planning for a couple of days... #SICKLYFE

 

 

The week I was in a Horror Movie..

Yes everyone I was in Horror Movie this week.


I really wish that I had other stories to tell you, but here's the deal. I've forgotten the entire rest of the week after yesterday. I wish I had some super uplifting spiritual story to tell you, but honestly, I can't remember any right now.. So you get the Horror Movie story..


So we met with the Bishop on Sunday and he suggested some people for us to go visit. He suggested this lady that nobody has really seen in like 10 years.. He also mentioned that she's slightly a hoarder.. Okay not to alarming right? 


WRONG.


We go to her house yesterday and she says "Kuka se on?" "Its the Sisters!" She then spends about a minute unlocking like 7 different locks on her door.. She opens the door and let me tell you, this is probably the most intense hoarding I've ever seen.. There is just a 18 in hallway that we can walk through. We sit down and our chairs are just piled with stuff and its like a little space to just sit amidst all the stuff. Also there are about 40 dolls on the walls just staring at us.. It was insane.. 


We then pray which really calmed us a lot.. And we share Mosiah 16:9 with her.. My all time favorite verse to share. And the spirit was feeling good, which was just so helpful. Then all of the sudden, she starts rocking back and forth, her face is turning red, and she's flailing her arms.. I can't really understand her because she's speaking really old Finnish so I don't know too much what she's saying. All of the sudden she looks at me square in the eye and yells, in english "CLOSE YOUR MOUTH RIGHT NOW!!!" I hadn't said more than like 2 works in about 10 minutes.. The moment she said that I felt the spirit instantly leave. I've never felt anything like that before. She yelled at me for about 15 minutes because my mouth was slightly open--For those who don't know, I've had a lot of nasal problems in the past and I can't really breathe out of my nose, therefore I'm a mouth breather. 


It was the worst thing ever. I just wanted to cry, not from her being mean, but just because there was SUCH an awful spirit there. It was the hardest lesson of my mission. We hurried and left and she told us to come back soon.. After that it was just about dinner time and I looked at Sister Kehr and I just told her I couldn't go home yet.. So we ended up going to the Fazer Cafe for dinner and eating ice cream for dinner. We then came home and just read our scriptures for a while. It was seriously the most insane thing of my life. It was just like a Chucky Movie. I'm pretty sure that Chucky's entire extended family was in that house..


I've thought a lot about it, and it just makes me incredibly grateful for the gospel. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father has given us the Holy Ghost to guide and protect us. Sister Kehr and I both felt the we were very protected while we were there. I'm so grateful for the Hole Ghost.


Well, no worries. I'm safe and sound and doing honestly fantastic! I love you all!! Have a great week!


Love,
Sister Jones

Me and Sister Kehr :)

Finland is the bestest

Me and Sister Kehr :)

I've been out so long that these aren't creative anymore..

Hey everyone! I hope that you all have had a great week! 

This week started out kinda weird.. I had the MyPlan Meeting.. Its this meeting where you go through and talk all about what your life is going to be like at home and how you will apply what you learned on your mission and such. 

Well, it was weird because it was all of us going home missionaries. So I got to be companions with Sister Adams again for the day! It was sooo good to see her again. We all just sat there with President and Sister Watson and President starts by saying "Today I need you completely focused on going home. Not on your missions. This is the only day to do this, so please really be focused on home." It was weird. We talked about different habits we want to continue and such and we even hit the subject of dating and temple marriage.. Luckily it wasn't as awkward as any of us were expecting.. Including President.. ha But we all just talked during lunch and dinner about our missions and our plans for when we got home. It was surprisingly really relaxing and insanely helpful :)

All the Elders (there's 3 that I go home with and 1 other assistant) drove and me Sister Adams to the train station to pick up our companions. On the ride home Elder Andreason was asking me hair color questions because all the Elders were so confused as to why people put foil in their hair.. So don't worry, they all know the chemical name for the hair color and they understand the purpose of foil in hair. Ha 

But we were late to the train station and so we were rushing to get Sister Adams on a train, and she steps out of the van and slips on the ice. Luckily she wasn't hurt, but there was a tonnnnn of adrenaline panic going on that I left my bag in the car.. So after Sister Adams and her companion are gone and I'm running with Sister Kehr (don't ask me why, we didn't need to catch a train, it was just kinda panicy there.. ha) and then I starting running back to the car to grab my bag, and I fall flat on my back.  see 2 Elders hurry and run up beside me, and 2 jump out of the car to make sure I'm okay and I called for Sister Kehr. hahahahhaa what I sight.. I'm a true missionary. Then as they are telling me to run or I'll miss my train, I look at them and say "I'm just going to Neitsytpolku!" All of the sudden it felt like a weight was lifted from all of us and they said "Oh! Right! Have a nice trip!" And then we slowly walked off instead of running.. Yep. ha

Well, after that novel, life has been good! The work is moving forward and we've got some REALLY solid investigators right now. I love this work with all my heart!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Jones 

 

 

Me and Sister Adams

Me and Sister Kehrs relationship

She's a cutie :)

 

My week in Helsinki

Hey Everyone!


Okay I just love being back here in Helsinki. The city life is just so familiar and so comforting. I love it so much! Its been so much fun because everyday I keep running into people that know and it really is just such a sweet blessing to be able to continue these relationships after I haven't seen these people in 6 months :) So sweet!


We've been able to meet with a couple of new people so far this week and its been really cool. We were meeting with this man for the first time and he asked us how often we read the Book of Mormon. We told him daily, and then he was so excited because he too reads the Book of Mormon daily.. Ha he has a 30 minutes train ride to work everyday, so he decided he would read the Book of Mormon during that time :) YEP! Soooo cool! And he came to church yesterday so that was pretty much awesome. Ha.


Sister Kehr is such a great companion. She's a convert of 18 months and she really has such a strong testimony. Its really cool being companions with a convert because they give you a new perspective of investigators since they were one, very recently in her case. Its been really cool.


We had a Zone Conference this week where they talked about the new schedule for missionaries... Eli, we now can go to bed at 9:30 and have 3 extra hours of P-day. It was pretty nice. I am enjoying the extra sleep since I'm practically worn out.. Ha BUT I still love the work, so that helps :)


This week I've really been thinking about the change of a missionary, or really just the change that the gospel brings into peoples lives. I've studied stories such as Paul (New Testament), Amulek, King Lamoni, Lamoni's father, Alma and Alma the Younger.. I've loved seeing their examples and the attributes they acquired and how they truly changed because of this gospel. Its given me some qualities to hope that I've developed over the past 17 months and some to continue to develope over the next 50 days. I'm so grateful for all that I've learned and just how far I've come.


I love you all so much. 


Love,
Sister Jones

Some of us Sisters at Zone Conference 



When your District Leader is 50 minutes late for callings and you're just wanting to go to bed..

The Beginning of the End

I'm back in Helsinki everyone! YAYY! Seriously it feels just so good to be back here! I love it! Seriously Helsinki is my home and I'm sooo glad to be back here! 

It was heartbreaking to say goodbye to Sister Adams and my beloved Tampere, but I'm excited for this new adventure! 

Before I left Tampere though, some members had us over for a traditional Filipino Dinner.. Now I'm talking legit traditional. Coolest meal I've ever eaten. They got Banana leaves and laid them all over the table, to be a serving platter, a table cloth, and our plates. YEP! Then they arranged the food super pretty all over the table and then we ate, with our hands and NO plates! It was probably the coolest thing I've ever done. I recommend it to everyone! ha Sooo cool!

After Dinner we had a lesson with one of our recent converts. That was one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever been in. We all bore VERY powerful testimony of our Savior and it was a really really amazing lesson. 

Tuesday morning I was off to Helsinki! I got to see a lot of my Elders from my MTC group for the last time on my way down here, and that was SUCH a blessing. Those Elders changed my life and I'll be eternally grateful for them. It was probably the best thing that could have happened.

I then got to Helsinki and I was right back in it. I was on the Metro again, walking the streets, and just feeling at home. It was really cool to see how quickly Helsinki life came back. We've been able to teach a couple of lessons and so far we've found 2 new investigators! YAY! 

I loved going to church on Sunday. I got to see soo many of my friends that I've made throughout my mission and I feel like I already know like half the ward! Its great! I love it!

I'm so excited to be back in Helsinki. Sister Kehr is a great missionary! Its fun to work with her because she's in almost the exact same area I was in last year and she's at the exact spot I was at a year ago, so that's been really fun to experience so far! 

I love you all! Thank you so much for all the support! I've got 2 months left and I'm determined to make them the best 2 months of my mission!

Love,

Sister Jones

 

Me and Sister Adams at our DA

Us and our recent convert

Sisar Waltzer, eli the greatest member ever!

Me and Sister Kehr

 

And so the last change call came..

I'm headed back to Helsinki! I'm going to be serving in the Neitsytpolku Ward! YAY! I'm literally soo insanely excited to be back in Helsinki :) 6 months way was farrr to long to not serve there :) I love Helsinki with all my heart so I'm just so excited to go back! 

I definitely am heartbroken to leave Tampere. This city is just so sweet. All the people here are just too adorable. I'm going to miss them soo much. I am also going to miss being a Sister Training Leader and working so closely with all the Sisters in our Zones, but I guess my time has past and its time for one last hurrah in Helsinki :)

This week was so insanely busy. Ha I don't think I've ever been busier and I've been busy lately. ha We had interviews with President last Tuesday after emails and right after that Sister Adams and I went to this really cool water tower to look over all of Tampere. We got ice cream and went out on this water tower and ate it when it was -10 outside. ha But we got some really cool pictures so thats a bonus :) ha

I also cut Sister Adams hair this week. 15 cm off. Yep. ha Its so adorable for her :) I really like it and it was fun to play around on her hair. No worries everyone she likes it too.

We also went out to Valkeakoski this week. We were able to visit with quite a few members. We got to practice teaching to this girl who is less active and it went really really well! Her friend was giving a talk in church yesterday and she came! It was seriously one of the coolest things ever! Ha

There are soo many other things to say about this week, but it seriously was a great week and I am excited to see what the last 9 weeks have in store! 

I love you all! Thank you for everything!

Love,

Sister Jones

 

 

 

Us and the ice cream

Coolest picture ever

Me and Elder Jones and our companions :)

Elphaba and Glinda

Elder Minson took the cameras

Classic District Pic

Dinner at the Members

Us with Sisar Andersson

ZL/STL photo

Post Change call snack

 

The Lord knows best

The time is seriously just flying by its insane!

This week we went up to Oulu for exchanges! Exchanges are probably the best :) I love them so much! The Sisters up there are so sweet! It started out really fun because Sister Adams and I planned to eat dinner on the train, neither of us had ever eaten at the restaurant car, so we go and they won't let us use our MSF cards because they don't have a chip in them and they don't believe us that they still work anyway. So we ended up having to get dinner at this way cool Italian place in Oulu :) It was awesome! ha 

We then had a fantastic exchange! It was so much fun! Every time I go on exchanges I'm amazed at how amazing of Sisters we have in this mission. They are sooo impressive its insane. I just am so excited for the future of this mission because these sisters are just all so amazing!

We came home and had about 3 hours before our next exchange started.. It was pretty insane. BUT It also was a great exchange. I learned sooo much about trusting in the Lords timing and that he truly has a plan for all of us. There were soo many instances during that day that really strengthened my testimony that the Lord is truly in charge and he knows what is best.

We've been finding some really cool new investigators and the work is definitely moving forward! It's been a fantastic week!

I love you all! This Friday we get change calls and that means I'm finding out what will be happening for my last transfer.. Time is flying and I love every minute I get to spend as a missionary.

Love,

Sister Jones

 

My yummy food in Oulu

Me and Sister Adams in the magical wonderland that is Finland

 

Zonneeee Meeting Week

Okay sooo I'm kinda a little hyper as this is being written, soooo We shall see what happens.. ha

Anyway! This week we had our insane Zone Meeting.. The one that came out of nowhere. BUT IT WAS SOO GOOD! We had an amazing discussion about Repentance. President wanted us to talk about the doctrine behind it instead of the process. It was a little weird at times because we thought "Are we even talking about Repentace if we don't mention the steps and such?" Well it ended up being on the most spiritual discussions I've ever had. 

I asked the zone the question of "Why was Jesus Christ willing to make his Atoning sacrifice for us so that we could live with God again?" Now. Ponder that. I had no clue what the responses would be, but there were some truly amazing ones. One that really struck me was the one Elder Vennerholm gave. He read a scripture from John 15:13 which says "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." That struck me so hard. I was blown away at how

powerful of a response that was. That pretty much sums up how the rest of the meeting went.. Yep.

This week we also had exchanges in Turku :) I got to be with Sister Nelson and Sister Harris. Sister Nelson was also trained by Sister Wunderli and it was so much fun to get to be companions with her. Even if just for a day :) It was such a great day in such a great city!

Well, that's pretty much my week.. I love you all soo much! Thank you for all you do!

Love,

Sister Jones 

 

The blondest district in the mission

Me and Sister Nelson

Me and Sister Harris

 

And now the snow is here :)

So FINALLY after a sudden heat wave, we've got snow and its absolutely beautiful! I love Finland! Its so amazing! Gah! Its the best!

This week has been such a blast! It started off with me getting my hair done last Tuesday and let me tell you, it was such a blast! The guy that did it was seriously soo funny and he did such a fantastic job! Now I don't know how many of you know this but I'm really terrified to just let anyone do my hair, but I had total faith in this guy! He did a great job and it was just so much fun! 

It was also Sister Adams birthday on Tuesday so our investigators threw her a Syrian Birthday Party! It was probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen. They invited their whole family over and made all this traditional Syrian food! Sooo much fun :)

We also went to Helsinki this week for MLC! I love going to Helsinki! Its my most favorite place ever. We had a great set of meetings and a FANTASTIC temple session! We were there and President had received work from the brethren that we are now to have Zone Meetings once a month and Zone Conferences every 6 weeks. He then also told us that we would be having a Zone Meeting in 6 days.. Well that was exciting news.. ha We've been panic planning the past couple of days. BUT it should be a great meeting tomorrow :)

This past weekend was the HUGE YSA 3 day New Years Party and it was in Tampere! Funny thing is that last year it was in Marjaniemi! So I've been at it 2 years in a row. ha We were really only at the church when we had lessons or meetings so we obviously didn't participate, but I got to see a BUNCH of my friends from my previous areas! It was so fun to see them! I get to sit in sacrament with one of my best friends from Marjaniemi and I just about died. Its was so awesome!

Well, thats about all this past week! I love you all soo much! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Jones

 

 

Sister Adams, Me, and Sister Cardon! All of our trainers were a trio in the MTC so we had a take a picture :)

We saw our mini missionaries! They are now cute YSA's!

 

Onnelista Uutta Vuotta!!

Hey Everyone! It was so fun to Skype my family the other day! It was so great :) 


We've had a busy week as normal here in Tampere :) We had Zone Conference week, so on Tuesday we had our conferences here and then on Wednesday we were on our journey up to Oulu for the North Zone Conference. We spent the night there and on Thursday was the conference. It was pretty funny because Oulu at the moment is a sheet of ice, so I slipped on my way over to the church. I didn't think much of it, but when I checked to see if I had gotten hurt, I had a giant hole in my tights and a nice gash on my knee.. I tried to tough it out, but it didn't work. I needed some intense band-aids.. Ha no worries though, now its totally fine :) I'm practically healed! But the conferences were really good and it was so great to learn from President Watson.


Then it was Christmas time! We had some amazing members who invited us over for all 3 days of Christmas. On the 24th (the big Christmas day here) we went and had traditional Finnish Christmas with an adorable family! On the 25th we had church and it was a fantastic service! We had a lot of people from off the street come in since it was Joulu Kirkko  and it was really cool! 


We then went to another families house for dinner and we skyped and had such a fun Christmas Party and program :) It was the best thing to jump right back into the work on Christmas! It was so much fun as well because they had 3 of our recent converts over as well, so we got to spend Christmas with them as well.


Yesterday we went to this older couples home and had such an amaizng time! Seriously! It was so cool because they remind me so much of my Mummo and Pappa that it was like i was just back at home :) I loved it! 


We've taught a couple of lessons and we have some more tonight :) The work is moving forward and I've so glad that I've had the past month of my mission to be sooo focused on Christ. I'm so grateful for his example and all that he has done for me. 


I love you all soo much! Thank you for all the warm Christmas wishes!

Love,
Sister Jones

All of us Sister in Oulu

Us posing with the cool ice rinks

Us being posers. Always.

Hyvää Joulua!

Christmas is in full swing this week!

I've just felt the Christmas spirit in all its amazing glory this week! Finland is truly a magical time to be a missionary! And to be serving in the mostest magical place in the world just makes it all the better! 

This past P-Day we got to go to the Joulutori! Which let me tell you was a DREAM COME TRUE. It was a winter wonderland and it was the coolest thing of my entire life. We were there and we had Moose Makkara and we met Joulupukki! Honestly it was such a blast! Funny thing was, we were looking at all the adorable shops and the only things I wanted to buy were decorations for the house that I don't own.. I think I'm getting old.. Haha but it was the coolest most Christmasy thing ever :)

So I went on a date! HA NO! I chaperoned a date. No joke. There is this cute old man in our ward who was trying to be sneaky and invite a recent convert over so he could "tutustua häneen" (get to know her) So he thought it would be really sneaky to invite the missionaries and her over for dinner.. It was so awkward.. Sister Adams and I made dinner for them while they talked and got to know each other.. It was just kinda really awkward the whole time and Sister Adams and I decided that if thats what dating is like, when we get back home, that we NEVER EVER EVER want to go on another date for the rest of our lives.

But this week is Zone Conference so we have that tomorrow and then we are off to Oulu on Wednesday for the conference up there on Thursday.

Its such a magical time to be serving our Heavenly Father and sharing the wonderful, joyous message of Christ. 

I love you all sooo much! 

Love,

Sister Jones

All the Joulutori pictures