Oct. 28th,2019 Last letter

Elder Mardo and I went with Sasha to the temple on Saturday and she was endowed. She said that it was a lot of new stuff for her, but she left talking to the ward relief society president (who was her escort) about how they could get the sisters from the ward to go to the temple more often so I think it went alright. There were some new things indeed. They took us out to eat after to a buffet of tacos. Tomorrow we're going to spend the day with President, but I don't know what the plans are. Wednesday we all travel back home. 

As I think about the "best" experiences that I've had my mind turns to the moments where I've been able to see that people have changed for the better or have endured well through difficult moments. The gospel is all about hope and change and I've been happy to see how much the little things can make all the difference as well. Some of the hardest moments were when people turned away or rejected the gospel due to fear, misunderstandings, or indifference. One thing that I've understood more plainly that will help me a lot from here on out is that the gospel is more than just a list of to-do's and not-to-do's. It is life's most important pursuit and it requires extra effort, attention, and sacrifice. I'm bad at remembering funny things without something that reminds me of the experience, but I'm sure that you'll hear a story from this week at some point.

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

 El Tajin with Ivan (one of the guys we baptized).

 I didn't really tear my pants, it just looks like it in the picture. 

Baptism of Oswaldo

Oct. 21st, 2019, Letter #102

Sasha says that she's waiting on the Stake President for a signature so she hasn't been able to schedule with the temple yet, but she's pretty sure that she'll get endowed on the 26th. I guess you'll have to wait and see what happens. 

El Tajin was really cool. It was a pretty place for sure. That being said, I forgot my adapter and my companion forgot his camera so we'll wait still on the pictures... 

The woman is going to wait to get baptized, but her enthusiasm didn't decrease at all. She said that she'll send me pictures of the wedding and baptism. Her son chose to get baptized anyway (we'll also wait for the pictures until next week).

There's another investigator that wants to get baptized before I go who is waiting to recover from an eye surgery. He'll have his appointment today and we'll see if he can do it or if he'll have to wait, but either way I'm sure he'll get baptized at some point so it's fine. 

I haven't been able to find a nativity set. I'll keep an eye out, especially when I go to Xalapa. I have tried, but it's hard out of season. That being said I do have a back-up plan that I hope you'll like. We'll see if I can get both things. The eating thing is something I'll figure out when I get a bit closer. I really don't have a strong preference though. 

This week my goal is to just remember that it's still not about me and that I am to continue representing the Savior and doing his work. The tender mercy/miracle was being able to baptize Oswaldo and seeing Carla (his mom) take the news well about waiting. 

For P-day the zone tried to surprise plan a Carne Asada for me to celebrate (I found out beforehand, but the thought counts haha). It was really nice of them. I'd give a big shout-out to the sister missionaries who were the ones that went the extra mile with the planning and preparation. Of this event I will send pictures that were taken by other missionaries. 

I decided this week to make a bit of time to read a general conference talk each day along with my regular study. I would look for the "marriage" topic in the old ensigns we had sitting around and read. I thought it'd be funny haha. But I did get some good stuff out of it and what I learned can be applied to anything. I just reinforced the idea that we need to trust in God in making sure that we seek His will in all things as well as that we should make Christ the center of everything. In all reality I think that those eternal truths show up in the study of just about any gospel topic. I also enjoyed studying chapter 3 in Colossians. 

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

 P-day party in Connor's honor

Oct. 14th, 2019 Letter #101

I talked to Sasha and she said that they haven't had a lot of time to figure everything out for the sealing, but she wants to at least get endowed on the 26th, but she said she'd let me know for sure probably tonight. 

Our investigators liked conference. We had 2 in church this week that are really excited and I think at least one should be able to get baptized before I go. One thing I liked about this week was that we did splits several times and it was fun to see how the other missionaries were because it's been a while since I've done much work in splits. One challenging thing is a situation we have with an investigator. She herself asked to be baptized next week without us having invited her to baptism. We said that we could make that work. The problem is that we found out after saying that that she isn't married to her "husband." At first I didn't think it to be a problem because they're not currently living together anyway. But she is planning to move to where he is living now soon. I called President to see if it would be ok to baptize her if we made a plan with her to get married as soon as she moves (the "husband" is also willing to listen to the missionaries), but he didn't approve so now we're going to have to go tell her that she actually can't get baptized next Sunday. I'm pretty concerned about it, but I'm hoping she'll understand. I have my doubts though because at the end of the day she is keeping the commandments currently and if we made a plan for her to get married when she arrives there then I wouldn't see the problem, but I also understand the risk involved. I could weigh both sides of the argument all day, but I'll stop now I guess because I'm not in charge of the decision. 

One tender mercy is that I decided to make a more consistent effort to study the Book of Mormon with a question in mind. So a couple days ago I was reading with the question: "Has my missionary service been accpetable?" I then read this in Helaman Chapter 10: 

"And it came to pass that Nephi went his way towards his own house, pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him... and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments."

So I can say that it's worth reading the Book of Mormon with a question in mind. We'll get more out of it and the scriptures will become more personal for us. 

One thing that I'll miss about the mission is being able to not think so much about myself. I don't have to worry much about finances, grades, etc. Just trying to help others. One thing I'm looking forward to when I get home is putting in practice what I've learned from the mission back home and seeing how different post-mission is from pre-mission. One thing I've learned much better from the mission is to "Trust in the Lord with all (my) heart; and lean not unto (my) own understanding." One way that I've matured is in my way of seeing things. I think it's really easy for teenagers to see their life as their own, but I now realize that it's one big opportunity to serve others. I did get your pictures, thank you. I'll be going to Tajin later so you'll have to wait until next week for those pictures.

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

Oct. 7th, 2019 Letter #100

I actually felt super normal when they cut my tie. I feel like I did before coming on the mission. A little excited, a little nervous, but mostly calm. It's one of those "I'll figure it out when I get there" kinds of things. After President and his wife any other missionary(s) can come cut the tie as well. So a fair amount of people that knew me cut mine. Some took big sections and others took smaller ones. I don't which Hermana was in the picture cutting my tie. I don't know what they do with the clippings. 

My favorite part of the zone conference was being able to help out in the classes whenever participation was needed because I know from experience how crucial participation is in a class. There were 4 zones there and it was held in my stake center. 

I liked conference. I was left considering the fact that the speakers aren't typically there to expose deep doctrine, but rather to bare testimony behind testimony of the same simple doctrines that we need most to apply in our lives. I liked the talks by Elder Budge and Elder Boom a lot. Elder Uchtdorf also had my attention from the get-go with a reference from The Hobbit. I was going to comment on the same themes as you basically. Trust in the Lord and keep covenants. One funny thing is hearing the Spanish translators read off the names of the apostles to sustain them because it's one name after another that they say with a strange accent until the very end when they nail Ulisses S. Soares. 

One tender mercy/miracle is that I have the desire to finish my mission with some success and I've been praying about it and we went from having 0 people in church last week to 4 this week. At least 3 if not 4 of them are pretty interested and one of them has already accepted a baptismal date. 

I didn't get around to talking to Sasha, but I intend to do it soon. It's hard because when we get home at night Elder Shumway has to do phone calls now that he's a district leader. He's doing really well. I've seen quite a bit of progress in him lately. 

For P-day we had a little b-day party with the zone for Elder Shumway who turns 20 tomorrow. I asked President for permission to go to the ruins at Tajin next week and he said yes so I think we'll go.

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

 Poza Rica Zone

 I love these pictures of the tie cutting ceremony for missionaries on their last transfer.