Swedish-speaking Finnish Missionary Bonus Mom

 Hello there! I have had a few days to adjust to the new situation where three of my children have left my city... (They left yesterday but I saw them the last time on Thursday last week.) It is still a little difficult to think  that they are gone. All three wrote in my friend book, really nice :) Elder Frantz left for Turku, Elder Stratford left for Oulu and sister Logan went to Mikkeli.We got back elder Carlson who was here last year too, sister Faddis and a greenie whom I have not yet met. Sister Faddis is the newbie, Elder Carlson is the oldie and the greenie is umm, the greenie :)  Yesterday we had game night at church. We played my game that I bought a while ago: LABYRINTH. It is so fun. I came second to last in every game lol. Elder Heaton is so smart, he won every game he was in. After game night we threw a tennis ball with the missionaries and it was good, because I have really bad physical condition... Missionaries make everything more fun! LOL. (Even excersize...

 Dear reader, Since 2021 I have adopted missionaries, right? Well, yes. But some of them have still managed to become more dear and important to me. Like almost favorite children, even though I KNOW it is basically impossible to have favorites... Still when I met the new missionaries arriving some months ago we became good friends quickly (elder Frantz came earlier but he also became more important when the new ones arrived).  By the time they arrived I had been really depressed for a looong time and in a miserable state. I had zero energy. I stayed at home for weeks on end, only going to church on Sundays. I sat on my couch or lied in bed with my phone and scrolled through  facebook etc. for hours on end. Sometimes even 9+ hours a day! I didn't have energy to clean my home. I had really severe anxiety.  THEN: the new missionaries arrived :) I went to the culture night (they have it once a month) and I had a lot of fun with my friends who are not  members of our...

 Dear reader, Yesterday on Saturday the transfer calls came in to the missionaries here in my city. :( Three of them are leaving to other cities. Our little bonus family is changing. We are getting a new sister, a new elder and one greenie (greenies are the ones who are just arriving to Finland). As a tribute to these my children who are leaving, I want to posrt a few pictures from their time here. So... With the permission of sister Black, sister Logan, elder Frantz, elder Heaton, elder Stratford and elder Watson, here are a few gems :) Here we are at a culture night at church. From left to right: In the back: Elder Heaton, Elder Watson, Elder Stratford and Elder Frantz. In the front: Sister Black, Sister Logan and me. After watching the chosen at churh. Elder Heaton in the back, Elder Frantz in the front and me and Sister Logan. Church pictures. Half of me, Sister Logan and Sister Black. Elder Heaton, Elder Stratfors and me. Elder Frantz with the scarf I made him. The elders arr...

 Good morning! I have been SO busy lately, I also had writer's block so I am so sorry I had a little break... Last week was a blast lol. I met the missionaries on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We had a lot of fun and the really good thing about hanging out with the missionaries (for me) is that I do not have the time or the energy to feel depressed. Plus the missionaries are always in a good mood and good moods are catchy :D  On Tuesday we had game night. They had zone conference so I met a few of my children who served here earlier. We took a few pictures of course hahhah. We played board games. I played Cluedo (Clue) with a few missionaries and I actually won once lol. I tend to loose a lot... On Thursday we had pancake night. One of our elders made pancakes and put green color in the dough (it was st. Patrick's day on Friday). We played a little too, I just can't remember which game lol. Maybe we didn't play... My memory fails me.  On Friday morning...

 Good morning! :) So, I am an international girl lol. I have traveled and also lived abroad. I lived in Stockholm Sweden from the beginning of 2001 to the end of 2012, studying English at the University of Stockholm. My auntie lived near Frankfurt around the same time and I visited her a lot, learned a lot of German and had my own room in her apartment. It was great for a young adult like me (I was young then, those were the days...).  I have also visited Gran Canaria, Spain over 10 times since 2004. So I know a little Spanish too... Anyways, I started taking pictures of the missionaries in my city of Tampere in 1996 and kept a kind of photo album from then on. If you were skipped, I am so sorry, or maybe I was in Sweden back then or something... I sometimes took pictures of missionaries in Sweden and also of course in Germany. These were all like old photos, not at all digital lol. I am old. (Even though some people try to make me feel younger and some friends succeed). ...

 Hey! I just read a post by a Finnish missionary serving in Sweden (where I lived 12 years while studying). It was about why people in Sweden or in general do not accept help or do not want to ask for help from the missionaries... This is making me really sad. Some people (many people) in both Sweden and Finland want to do everything themselves and be strong, have SISU and they are kinda proud in a way... If the missionaries want to help with shoveling snow or something, it is NOT because they want to convert people. Still this is the perception of many people who are not memnbers in the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints... Finns especially want to do everything themselves and think they are weak if they ask for help. WRONG! You will have to be strong and humble if you ask for help, because we really can not do everything in life without some help. I am kinda too brave maybe lol :D I ask the missionaries to come visit me and help me clean, organise books and other things,...

 Hello there (again)! It's me... :D For a long time I have been single and unmarried all my life. No children. That is why I am so happy to have my ever-growing family of bonus children. Thank you so very much to my "first borns" who I adopted back in 2021. I thought that I am old enough to be their mum so why not?  It is not always easy either. It is easy because missionaries are grown, I don't need to take care of them since infancy and I can enjoy being their mom for the while they are here and when they go home still if they want to. One of my lovely daughters from the East Coast of the USA is really a wonderful daughter. She keeps in touch, she is soon going home. She visited me in the hospital with the other missionaries last year. I am so happy I could skip the hospital (or so it seems) this year and the reason is my current family :) I have the most lovely children here at the moment. I get along with them all really well and they have helped me get out of my ...

 Hello!  I am back. Oopsie! :D So. A little thing I experienced only twice on my mission, P-day. I do not really remember a lot except we went to the city center in Jyväskylä: to the library to write emails and to a café to eat a little. It is sooo weird what our brains choose to remember lol. My companion from Idaho celebrated her birthday while I was there and we ate cake at church with the elders. I do not remember a lot else... I remember I did not get along with one of the elders, he was a little different in a way I did not understand. It was difficult. There I am. :) My father Pekka said it would be good to take a "mission picture" :D He was the first Finnish missionary sent abroad by the way. I am so proud of my Dad. My mom served a summer mission near her home town of Jakobstad/Pietarsaari I think when she was the same age as me when I went on my mini mission (17). So, my missionary work is in my family a very important part. We have always invited them to visit a lo...

 Hello! I am so happy I have finally found a good subject to blog about. My old, new and forever friends know that missionary work and missionaries mean a lot to me. I think those of my friends who do not understand this part of my life are missing out, maybe because they are scared of doing missionary work or something... So, I was in my early teens when I started feeling like I want to tell my friends about the church and what I believe in. It took me several years of training my courage and many interesting experiences before I became a lot braver and nowadays I am often a lot braver. I invite friends to our activities, with not much success but once my speech therapist did come listen to our Christmas concert where I played the piano. That was nice.  I also often slip a word or two into my discussions with strangers on the bus etc. You can call me many things but scared I ain't :D I wish often I could have gone on a REAL mission. But I think I have done my part so far, I j...

 Hello there! I hope you are all doing well. I am doing really well. I am so thankful for facebook and messenger for helping me keep in touch with my bonus children all  over the world. Yesterday I callled two friends (separately but from the same area). I am so happy many children still want to keep in touch. I wish we could all meet up somewhere at the same time, a sis Santonen reunion lol. (Me, I am sis Santonen... in case you didn't know).  Maybe that reunion will be after this life, who knows? All I know that it would be awesome and I might cry a little lol. I should probably also invite my big brother and big sister missionaries, those who came before I started adopting missionaries. I will have to think about it.  Yesterday we had a testimony meeting here and I said an important thing about the missionaries. I said I am thankful for the support and help and care they give and that I want to support, help and care for them too. I also said they have helped me w...

 Hello there! I can not sleep so I might as well update my blog. Thank you for following me on this journey of remembering the past and telling about my current situation. It is fun to write this blog. More fun than I would have thought, actually. Missionary work is one work I am always willing to engage in and help with. If someone wants to ask me to do something else, I can do it but not maybe always enjoy it. I always enjoy missionary work, even in the tough moments. Talking about difficult times... I obviously had a tougher than usual mission. But thanks to the hospital and health care in Finland and Sweden I have coped pretty well. If I would have not went on my mission I think I still would have been ill at some point in my life. I was bullied for ten years at school before my mini mission... That is enough to mess you up for life :( The missionaries visited me last March (2022) at the hospital in Nokia (Pitkäniemi). They even brought me a pepsi max bottle, they know I like i...

 Good morning from Finland!  Now I have found that this blog is the most fun to keep, at least so far. Thank you to the people reading it. If no one read it, it would be more difficult for me to continue. But I think I am writing this mostly for myself, to remember and keep somekind of missionary work journal for myself to look back on. Missionary work is really tough. I remember when I was street contacting people in Jyväskylä on my mini mission... One person THREW the Book of Mormon on the ground and yelled at us. A lady argued with us a long time once when we visited her. I knew this could happen but I still got very shocked. Nowadays missionaries can use facebook and they have it a little easier to invite people to come visit church and we often have many fun activities at church during the week. I want to support them and also I get to eat, play games and hang out with all the people at church. We have game night on Tuesdays, Pancake evening on Thursdays and on Saturdays ...