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 just need to keep up the good work.
The missionaries are a light in my life, and when I spend time with them either when we are cleaning my home, eating ice cream or playing Cluedo at the church, I feel a lot better each time I have met with them. There is no gloom in the world that the spirit of missionary work and the example of good missionaries can not conquer.
This has been very literal in my life. The missionaries visiting me in the hospital is the biggest example. Last year I had bad anxiety and had to spend three days in the mental hospital in Nokia, near my city and the really wonderful missionaries came to visit me. They brought a big bottle of pepsi max, bless them. Those two sisters and two elders have a whole other insight into my life now, and into the mental health care we have here in Finland. I must confess I tear up a little bit and cry myself a river (almost) when I think of that March last year (2022). Before the elder from Idaho left he came for a surprise visit with his parents and brother one time. I was so happy and grateful. The elder from Utah is a really good friend whom I still keep in touch with.
One of the sisters is so lovely and sends me messages on facebook sometimes. She is a really lovely daughter of mine. At Christmas in 2021 my mother and four missionaries spent time with me and we watched Mickey's Christmas carol and ate good food.
Nowadays our missionaries are super busy, which is really good. They have promised to come visit me once before transfers. Oh the dreaded transfer lol. I can never handle them well :D I guess it is also part of my illness, I feel the ups and downs of life VERY strongly. But I have decided to embrace my weirdness and just not beat myself up for example crying a lot at church when some of the missionaries bear their testimony or tell me they are leaving.
If you never care for your friends and bonus family you can never feel the blessings.
So I do not regret getting attached and becoming good friends with the missionaries. It is just part of my life. As a 50% Finn and 50% Swedish speaking Finn I am probably expected to behave more like composed. Maybe I became this wacky because I grew up with the missionaries. I went to English class for years lol. That is one of the reasons I learned English plus I studied English in school since I was nine until I was 20 and at the university of Stockholm in Sweden on/off for 12 years. Music and books in my third language (English) are essential to my well-being lol. I have also started to write my journals mostly in English and read and listen to the holy scriptures mostly in English. Like I said: English is my "happy language", the language of my emotions...
People sometimes STILL make fun of me and/or laugh at me being missionary work nutso. Well, let us see who gets the last laugh. I think as we are told in the scriptures, bringing souls unto Christ is our greatest work we can do here on Earth. Even if we only one person to church, even if that person is ourselves, it is very important and our joy will be great.
So: HAHHAHHA! :D
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