April 26, 2011

Hei Family,

How's everything going? Are you still thinking about moving to California for the summer? How was Easter? What did you do? I feel like I ask you questions but I don't get answers to them. I guess, I now know how it feels :)

Our trip to Tampere went well. It is about a 3 hour drive having to swing down to Rauma and pick up the elders (Schoof and Budd) from there. I got thr latest on my language score. Because it is hard to tell one's language score from just one test, the test is set up in ranges. -9 to 0 to +9 is the right where you should be range and anything above is advacned and anything below is behind. I scored a -9. Right on the edge. And as you can guess, it's drives me insane! haha. But it's ok. It's a fun langauge.

We went bowling last week and there was just a ton of high school girls haha. Like 50 high school girls and 3 Mormon missionaries haha. It was fun. I just got this whole bowling thing down. ATHLETE! Dad remembers my bowling abilities. 

I got lettesr from Shubin, Sister Folkman, and a card from the Whitehursts! Sweet! Be sure to tell them thank you for me. That is cool that Austin has got his email address on his facebook. You should do the same for me! I can't email people back but if they leave their address I can write them back. That would be sweet to get some more mail. I will forever feel bad for never writing Jimmy or Thomas because I know the joy that letters bring now. haha.

I don't have much else going on. Things are going well here. We are having a lot of fun. The weather is warming up so the jackets are soon to be coming off. We're having a good time. 

Congratulations for your first double double and you first In-N-Out burger in Colorado. I hope you enjoyed it! Was it everything you imagined? I wish, somehow, there was a way to ship fresh Chipotle burritos. But at the same time, not, because it will make that first one back home so much sweeter.

How are all the guys doing? How is Alex liking the military? What is Matt England up to? Have you heard from McKay at all? 

How's Scotty? Is anything happening?

I love you all. I hope everything is going well over there. I haven't heard from dad in awhile? How is he doing? I figured I would be getting a letter from him sometime soon after the draft with all the reports and stuff so i will just be waiting for his letter and papers. Take care.

Love,
Vanhin Behnke

April 18, 2011

translation:  Happy Easter and up your keaster!

We had a pretty good week this week. He had 15 appointments. We were flying around. We got 4 new investigators this week and had 2 in church. We should be in shape for another good week this week. We are heading to Tampere this week for our final President interviews with President Brown. It should be pretty good. He is taking off soon. I am getting pretty old out here in the field. Next month, I'll only have 6 months left. Whoa. Time just takes off here. How's time there? I'm not getting trunky or anything so don't worrry. It's just weird. 

I really want to go to eat at this place called Harold's. It's a viking restaurant. They give you a viking helmet and gauntlet and just a knife for a eating utensil. The entire district is onboard I just have to convince the sisters. It's going to be tough. I think it would be so fun.

How's everything at home? How is scott doing? How's Gram? What is everyone doing? How is eric Zane doing? Alex Sawyer looked Korean when I first saw the picture. I couldn't even tell it was him. He looks bigger. Does he like the military?  How do the Sawyers like Atlanta? 

What is going on in America? I learned from a drunk guy on the street recently that America is bombing Libya. What?!  Crazy stuff.

I don't really know what to say.  Kristen Secor is getting married. Wow! Does the Secors like the guy? How are the rest of the Secor clan doing? 

I have an idea. You should tell Zach and Justin that I sent them a present from Finland. When they come and get it, have them open a package with just a pen and blank paper inside. hahaha. Maybe I'll hear from them then. Have you talked with them at all? What about McKay, Knapp, and Nathan? I haven't heard from Chris and Drew in a long while. I have now become forgotten :)

What are your easter plans? Easter here is the same here. Eggs and everything. There is a standup comedian who talked about Christmas. I think it was Jim Gaffigan. He was talking about how they people were coming up with holiday tradition. "What should we do do celebrate the death and resurection of Christ?" "How bout eggs?" "What!?" "Yah, and a bunny rabbit!" I thought it was pretty funny.

Anyway, we are going bowling today to start our Tri-Wizard Tournament to figure out which missionary of us is the best. I feel like I have a good chance at winning the bowling event but may be lacking in the Putt-Putt and Eat-A-thon. It's going be an intense match-up.

We are just pushing along here. I love you all and pray for my investigators to receive their answers and get baptized. Have a great Easter. I'll talk to you all next week.

Love,
Vanhin Behnke

April 11, 2011

Hei Family,

The threesome is going great! They are always a lot more fun but it just makes missionary work more awkward. We scare enough people away as a two some let only three of us now. But things are rockin' here. We have 4 investigators, 2 with baptismal dates and we have 6 other planned teaches with others we have met last week for this week already. 2 weeks ago we had 2 investigators and had 2 teaches. Now, if everything pans out perfectly, we could hit 20 teaches this week with 6 new investigators. We're stoked!  We got a shot at the title!! 20 teaches!! Just like that everything swtiched. For the past 2 and half months, we haven't had a new investigator but now it's just cruising here. It took 5 days to go from 2 teaches a week to a possible 20. It's great. I really love the people we are teaching. They are all doing so great. I'm so excited for what is happening in Pori.

I still can't get a licence. It's ridiculous. I had to pay 60 euros for a physical for this thing but they still won't give the licence to me and I'm really tired of trying to get this. So my attempts of getting a finnish licence may have ended right there. We'll see. At least I know I'm healthy and capable of driving.

Sister Brown is home. That's great. She is so funny. Do you still check my facebook? Has anybody from Finland sent a fried request or anything? I haven't become too good of friends with people here who would own a facebook. You should check and let me know if anyone has sent anything.

How is Scotty doing and the rest of the family? Have you heard from any of the guys lately? I got another letter from the Whitehurst's. That was nice of them. 

I don't have much else to tell you. I get to call home soon. I swear I just talked to you all. What else has been going on? Is the NFL going to have a season when I get back? What is teh draft looking like? I had a dream that Brett Favre signed with the New Jersey Devils Hockey team. I'm not sure what the Favre talk is nowadays but if he signs with the New Jersey Devils just let me know haha. Have you talked with anyone I know from BYU? So how many people are married now? 

I love you all. We have a big week ahead of us. 
I will talk with you on Monday

Elder Behnke

April 4, 2011

Hei Family,

Here is what is happening here. Elder Peck is leaving to Jyväskylä. I am staying here with Elders Larsen and Hunt. So I'm in another threesome. This will be my third one of my mission. It's always on the 4th change. I have been in a threesome my 4th, 8th, and now my 12th. So I should be in another one my last change haha. So that's what's going on here.

General Conference was good. I liked it. We don't get to see that last session so I missed Elder Holland's. What did he talk about? Was it good? It was fun being down there. Elder Lytle baptized someone while we were there so it was pretty cool. Elder Lytle kept giving me hard time about not wanting to be married right when I got back after every time when someone in general conference would speak about it haha. It was a good time. What did you like about confernce?

Packages. Don't worry about it. Just do your thing and just get all situated. Let me know where you move to. I'm interested to know. What is dad going to do while you two are in California, if you go?

I think I will try and sell the boots. They take up a lot of space and weight and I really don't think that I will use them. That would be really good if you sent the jacket to Elder Baccile. He has asked about it a lot and it's now the time of year where he needs it. So if you could send that to him at his address in Pietersaari, that would be best. You can grab the Pietersaari address and his phone number from online. I told him that you had already sent it a couple of weeks ago. So he is waiting.

Elder Groberg sent me some pictures. The ones with me in them is our sähly team for Leadership Training meeting. We thought it would fun if we made jersies for them. Mahtavat Ankat (The Mighty Ducks).

The Finnish Mighty Ducks

 

I don't have much else to say in this email. Thatnk you for everything and enjoy the week.

I love you all,

Vanhin Behnke