Apr.12, 2010

Dearest Mom,
This past week has been quite amazing. On wednesday I was able to attend the temple for Elder Lytle had language school. I did it in Finnish and it went really well! I cannot wait until you all can go with me after the mission. It is so weird I will be hitting my year mark pretty soon. Elder Lytle and I will probably buy kebab to celebrate.

Stories: While we were tracting we were following-up on a potential investigator but they were not home. As a result we tracted in the potential investigator's building (see PMG ch. 9) and the last door before we had to catch the bus was a 56 year old man and pieni (tiny) 5 year old girl. He invited us in but he was eating so we set up another appointment two days later. We brought a member along and taught the restoration. Though He talked a lot, which is expected for he recently went through a divorce, the member, Hannu return missionary, invited him to church. Then sunday came and there came they came. The members just wrapped them up with love. One mom with 4-5 little kids took care of the little girl and our WML (ward miss. leader) welcomed this man warmly. It worked so well. Afterwards he was so impressed by the genuinity of the members for they live the gospel not just come on Sunday then leave. It is a life style. (I was just smiling ear to ear). We have another appointment set up with him this week. Our WML will be there. To be continued....

Next story. When I came to Lahti the elder I replaced had gotten a haircut in a local barbershop. The owner, is filipino and speaks english, tagalog,and finnish. Well we tried to stop by a couple of times for she is interested but she was always busy with customers. So I decided: Well then Im going to make time. Sign me up for a haircut. I usually cut my own hair for it is too expensive to get it cut professionally. So today she cut my hair and we were able to talk about the gospel. Upon the conclusion of the haircut we set up an appointment. The Lord has definitely prepared her. To be continued...

Also about the culture here. The Finns love rye bread. I like it too. It is soooo much better than the american rye bread. Also the cheese, yogurt, and ice cream is so good. In Lahti we use the buses to get everywhere which is really fun. We are able to talk to so many more people.

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouraging words. I love you each so much.
Vanhin Hamner

(Answers to our questions:)
Kebab is lamb meat. very good just dont eat it often

I did make the banana bread. it tasted great but it didnt rise well. I gave some to a member. She loved it!

I have not tried the chocolate smoothie yet but will soon

Tagalog is the language spoken in the philipines. She is still interested but she is way busy so we just need to stay on top of the situation.

Love,
Elder Hamner