Excerpts from letters

December 20, 2010

Our star investigator is so ready for baptism, he is just waiting to see if he gets his Finnish citizenship (he isn't from Finland). He should know by the end of the year if he gets it. Pray for him to get it because without it, he cannot be baptized. It's a pretty complicated situation so I won't try to explain it. He just needs his citizenship and then he's getting baptized! Last week he introduced us to one of his friends who is also basically converted already. He read a bit from the Book of Mormon and was so shocked by it's power. The way he said it is that when he reads it and when we speak about it, it is as though is heart comes out and is soaking it all up. The Book of Mormon changed both of their lives. It is important to remember that it's not the Book of Mormon itself, but it's the Spirit speaking through the Book of Mormon, testifying about Christ and Heavenly Father. My testimony of the Book of Mormon's converting power has been strengthened so much by meeting people who read it, feel the Spirit, and decide to change their lives. Imagine if we as members of the church would read the Book of Mormon more earnestly and frequently. Wow, that's a lot of power.

December 13, 2010

Last Friday was zone conference meeting with President Brown. We spent a lot of time preparing for that by picking people up from the train station, setting up stuff at the chapel, organizing some dinner things. For dinner we made pizza. A lot of pizza. We made about 14, in a kitchen with only one oven. It was a miracle. The conference was so good. It was a special Christmas conference centered on Christ and his Atonement/life. It was really really good. I have never felt so strongly about my personal relationship with Christ as I do now. The ''personalness'' of the Atonement is so amazing. I have never felt so close to the Savior before. It was really interesting because a year ago at the last Christmas conference, much of the same material was presented. This time however, I was influenced much differently and more powerfully. It was so interesting to see how that happened. We tend to change over time and so do our needs. That's one of the awesome things of Christ's Atonement. It doesn't just cover our sins and guilt, but it covers EVERTYHING. Any kind of pain, suffering, sorrow, and just anything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement. That's something that I have learned. There is a reason that there is a special spirit around Christmas time, and it's not just because of the gifts and lots of food. It's because it is a time to remember that the Savior of each and every one of us was born, marking the beginning of his mission in mortality. I really like it.

December 7, 2010

Things are going great. Elder Peterson is my new companion and is great. Yes I am still a zone leader, but in the North Zone! Oulu is a really awesome place. I had visited here a few times in the past for conferences and what not but I never thought that I would actually come here to serve. The branch is awesome. They are missionary gung-ho and do so many good things. Yesterday a lady who was baptized a couple of years ago invited us to meet one of her friends who is having some pretty hard times. It was a good meeting and now she is an investigator. That simple! There is a really good spirit here and tons of potential for success. In fact, there has been tons of success in the north this whole year so it's a huge blessing to come up here and be part of it. Last year there were 12 baptisms in the whole north. This year there have already been 30 and counting. It's awesome.

Oulu is much smaller than Helsinki. I kinda like the smaller city feel. Despite the fact that it is smaller, there are us, a sister threesome, and a senior couple here, 7 missionaries in total. It's fun to be with them.

There are some pretty good investigators too. One guy was met just a couple of weeks ago and is progressing so quickly. The plan is that he is going to be baptized on the 18th of this month but that may have to change because of family difficulties. We'll pray for the best and it will hopefully work out.

It is a bit colder here and it has been snowing the last three days pretty much nonstop. They don't speak Savo here, they speak a northern dialect that adds syllables to words. It isn't too different than ''book'' Finnish though and not everyone speaks it very hard so it's not too bad to understand. That and I have been a missionary a lot longer now so I can pick it out a bit better. In fact, given my age in the mission and places that I've been in I want to try and adopt a bit of the dialect. I will be able to visit Kuopio again for splits. We should be going next week, which will be the first time that I will be back in Kuopio since I left back in February. Elder Ranzenberger is still in this zone and he is training a greenie, which is really cool. We have a Christmas conference on Friday where President is going to come and teach the zone here in Oulu. There I'll get to see/meet a lot of the missionaries that have been in the north, including Elder Ränzenberger! Because our mission is so small (only about 60 missionaries) we all know each other or at least have met each other/know of each other somehow.

It's quite a bit darker up here. In fact the sun is already starting to set (it's currently 12:46). The sunset will take a long time though, a couple or three hours or so.

We have a car and live really close to the University of Oulu.

November 29, 2010

Dear Family,

So, I'll start with the transfer information. I am getting transferred to Oulu, way up north. It is going to be really cold and really dark. Cool! Yesterday at church was really sad. I have been here for about 7.5 months or so. That's a long time. When our Bishop got up to conduct the meeting, the first thing he says is, ''We have bad news. Elder Grimm is getting transferred to Oulu.'' Many of the ward members here became like family. And it's right before Christmas. A lot of members invited us over to eat throughout the week so we will have a number of appointments with them. They are really good opportunities though because every time we eat at a member's home, we get to encourage them to do missionary work and strengthen their testimonies. We also have a number of investigators to meet this week. It's going to be a busy week. I leave on Friday. After our zone leader council meeting on Friday myself and Elder Peterson (who is currently in Oulu and will be my new companion) will be taking a night train up. He's a good missionary. He is in the group that was after me in the MTC, eli we were in the MTC for a few weeks with his group. I like him.

Last week we had a cool experience with one of our investigators. He was up until 4 in the morning the night prior to our visit reading the Book of Mormon. He read from 4 Nephi all the way up to Moroni 9, leaving the last chapter unread. We read it with him and he really liked it a lot. Even though he hasn't come to church yet he has changed so much simply from reading. The challenge is that he believes the Book of Mormon to be true because it teaches the same doctrines as the Bible, but he hasn't yet identified a strong spiritual witness about its truthfulness. He has told us aboue the good feelings he gets when we talk about it and when he prays but it's a bit of a challenge helping him to connect the dots that that is God telling him it's true! He might be able to come to the ward Christmas party though and that would be a big step.

November 15, 2010

Missionary work continues to go really well. Everyone in our zone is really energized after having the week of training meetings. There are a good number of individuals in our zone alone who are waiting to be baptized. Our focus right now is shifted more towards the members. There is so much potential with the members of the church it's crazy. As missionary work goes faster and faster, more and more members are feeling the spirit and are wanting to take part. We have a number of dinner appointments coming up scheduled by members with whom we have never had the chance to visit yet. I can't even wait for Christmas to see the impact that it has on the work that is already going forward so quickly. There's something about Christmas that really brings the spirit into people's lives and softens them up. And it's a good excuse for us to make people happy. I mean, in the summer time we can't sing Christmas songs while we are tracting, but around Christmas we can!
November 8, 2010

Dearest Perhe,

Today, we made pies. Six pies, in fact. This week we have the training meetings again so we are keeping up our tradition of baking something for one of the lunches as a surprise. The time we made cookies. The second time we made cookies and banana bread. This time we were determined to step it up. So, we made pies. Apple pies. They are so good too. It's kinda like service. And it's fun.

We had our zone leader council meeting with President Brown last week. Everything in the mission is going really well. By the end of the year there will be many many more baptisms than there were last year. It's not about the numbers, it's about the fact that more people are willing to accept the Gospel and change their lives. It is really neat. I have talked a lot about how well things are going because it is so exciting.

November 1, 2010

Yesterday was our fast Sunday because the coming Sunday is Stake Conference. Our church meetings were really awesome. There a lot of really good testimonies and there was a great spirit during the meetings. A week ago was the farewell of a guy going on his mission. That family is really neat. Yesterday the mom came and invited us over for Christmas! Yeah! We already have a Christmas place! I really hope I get to stay in this ward as long as possible, to be here for Christmas and hopefully even after it. It feels like we have a very good relationship with many members and I would love to stay in it. That said, I will go wherever I am told to go. At least I don't have to worry about it for the next five weeks.