Shurtz Start to Finnish

Monday was the East Zone Conference held in Mikkeli. Sister Aura was preparing the food. She asked Elder Robbins and I to arrange the bananas. One of the zone leaders came in and thought the bananas looked so nice he wanted to take a picture. So, Elder Robbins and I showed off our handiwork.  President Aura always has such wonderful insights and teachings for us.  There were some great role playing scenarios set up by the zone leaders to help with contacting people.   Afterwards there are always pictures. We took them outside because it was such a lovely day!  Sister Aura was trying to arrange us all, .  . . not an easy task. We drove from Mikkeli to Jyväskylä. It was a beautiful drive! It was so nice to be driving in the light, with green trees and blossoms.  We passed many piles of logs, and saw several log filled trucks.  We also passed many beautiful lakes. (Well, of course we passed lots of lakes and l...

This week was a bit of a sad one, as we had a couple of goodbyes. First thing Monday morning, we had to say goodbye to Nathan and Charlotte as they headed back home.  We enjoyed having them come to visit us, and are grateful that we were able to spend some time with them. They will be on to their next great adventure soon, as they will be moving to Arkansas. We have been grateful to have them living in our home while we have been on our mission.  Although we are sad that they will not be living nearby, we are excited for them to begin this new chapter in their lives.  Also, this week was Sister Herttuainen's last week.  Monday morning we got our Book of Mormon order.  We got them all moved into the storage room and then decided we needed to get a picture  since this was the last Book of Mormon order for Sister Herttuainen. We had some treats in the office on Monday, so Pres. Aura and the assistants could join us.  Sister ...