And that's how the cookie crumbles

Dear Family,
A) Thank you for your testimony of Christ Dad... Thank you for sharing that with us. Thank you! I've always found that phrase so poignant 'There was a ram in the thicket for Abraham and Isaac, please let there be a ram in the thicket for me...' Everything the Savior did for us. It's beyond my power to express how... grateful I am.
B) We sort of got our internet thing worked out... The church still doesn't work, but we got Library cards and now we're actually using some of the Library computers... It's not the best solution... but it's better than nothing. We'll see how it works today, and if it doesn't work we'll find another solution. Sigh. :D Just Kidding, it hasn't really been that much of a pain. I still have computers and e-mails.
Quickly, Congrats to Keana on her ACT, and I hate to admit that Mom might have a point... Studying might help, and then you'll beat me and get a 34! (I don't really hate admitting that, I'm starting to wise up... it's only taken me 20 years)
Tell Dan congratulations from me! Washington State... Spanish Speaking. That sounds like lots of fun!
And that's really cool that you give out homeless kits, that's really thoughtful of you guys! Where did you get that idea?
I hope that Taft starts feeling better. Oh, that sounds absolutely horrible! Feel better Taft! (That wasn't a suggestion, that was an order... although... I don't really have the authority for that... so I guess you can take it as you will...)
Alright... to start my weeks story... (Don't worry mom, I already have to look through my planner to remember what happened the day before, so if you forget what happened a week ago... No problems...)
To start... to start... There was a baptism on Saturday! Up in Umeå, one of the men that the Elders down here in Övik are working with got baptized, so we all went up there... But everyone was able to get a ride... except for us (the sisters) so we had to take a train up there... Except the trains up here in Norrland are pretty infrequent, so the only way we could go was if we left and got there 3 hours early... So we did, we wanted to be supportive of Gyula after all... and it's a good thing we did, because the Elders in Umeå had plans for that morning and forgot that they needed to fill up the font... So that's what Sister Pieksma and I did! We filled the font! It was pretty exciting... Alright, so in theory and in idea... all we really did was turn on the water and wait for three hours... those things take a long time to fill... (We also cleaned it a little...) But still... I filled up a font. Oh, the baptism was in Umeå because Övik is so small (and our chapel is actually the bottom floor in an apartment building...) that we don't have a baptismal font here... and the ocean is still a little on the cold side... But Gyula got baptized! And confirmed yesterday! It was wonderful! (Gyula is Hungarian so Elder Packer learned the Baptismal prayer in Hungarian, that was pretty cool...)
Did you know that Hungarian has 42 letters in it's alphabet? Crazy! I'm so glad I'm not learning Hungarian... Lie, Hungarian would actually be a super cool language to learn...
Earlier that week Ulf (one of the Mindre Aktivs that the Elders are working with... the one that gave us surströmming) invited all of us out again for lunch and then introduced us to a lady from Holland (Sister Pieksma's ancestors are from Holland, hence the awesome last name...) who makes amazing chocolates... (Award winning in Sweden...) It was super cool, she spoke a little dutch to us... it was sort of weird... It sounded a little bit like Swedish... and a little bit like German... and then just a little bit all it's own thing... It was nifty! (And yes... the chocolate was good... and much appreciated...) But then, that shouldn't surprise you... I do enjoy my chocolate!
This week Sister Pieksma hit her year mark! Crazy right? She's now been out on her mission for a full year! I can't even imagine how that must feel! We celebrated by eating Thai food (which was scrumptious) and we had also had District Meeting that day (and they made her waffles!) It was super nice of them!
(So just a little insight into my brain right now, I had to rewrite the word District several times in that last paragraph because I kept trying to spell it with a K, instead of a C, why, because that's how it's spelled in Swedish... my brain is becoming Swedishified! AHH!!! (I wish I could say that all of my spelling mistakes are because of the Swedishified happenings... but some of them are just because I'm not paying enough attention and I'm being super blonde... (I'm actually hoping that I actually become blonde this summer! The sun is going to be out for so long that I should! right?!)))
Oh, so crazy thing... On Thursday (night), President Ottoson was talking to us and he mentioned that Katherine wasn't going to be here this Sunday, and so he was hoping that one of us would be able to play in Sacrament Meeting. Well, I'm still not quite sure how this happened, but I was the one who got elected for this job... Funny thing, both Sister Pieksma and Elder Packer are better at the piano than I am... That and I don't have any Sacrament songs in my repertoire... so I have to learn some music, and just plain practice... but we have zero time on Friday for that and only the time in which the font is filling (see an earlier paragraph...) on Saturday... Needless to say Sacrament Meeting was very interesting for me.
I was pretty much shaking for an hour and a half straight, from the time I started the prelude music to the time that I finished the last song... trembling like crazy... But I did it... I need to practice more... Just another one of those 'Ah, if I had been wiser in my youth' moments... As you can imagine I have a lot of those... I wasn't the wisest of youth...
Well, Dad gave me some homework last week, and so I'm going to share with you a little of my thoughts regarding that. I thought quite a bit about the Life of Christ... and as I did the phrase 'Greater love hath no man than this than he giveth his life for his friends.' came to my mind. And I thought all about what that means, Yes, the Savior died for us, he gave his life for us... but... I also thought about the other ways in which Christ gave his life for us... I don't know how it worked in the pre-mortal existence, I don't know if Christ always knew what role he would play, but since that moment that he told the Father, 'Send me and the Honour be thine.' He has been giving his life for us. Everything he does is to fulfill the Father's purpose, and we know that the Father's purpose and work is to bring to pass the Immortality and Eternal Life of Man. Since that moment, before Adam and Eve, Christ has dedicated everything, for us, for The Father, before his birth and as Jehovah, during his perfect and dedicated life on Earth as the Messiah, and after his Resurrection, as our Savior, everything he does... is for us. He has given his life, in every possible way... for us. And it's true, there is no Greater Love than that that he has shown us.
I also thought about what the atonement means for me, individually and personally, I thought a lot about the words themselves, individually and personally, when I was younger I thought they meant the same thing, and I was always a little confused when one used both of the words. And while they do have similar definitions and can occasionally be used interchangably, they are different. The Atonement was done for me Individually. While the Savior suffered for the sins and pains of the whole human race collectively, he also did so individually, and while I may never be able to comprehend that, he did. The Savior has always worked 'One by One' he healed the people, one by one, he blessed the children, one by one, with the Nephites, it was one by one. And so to did he suffer for me... as the one. He knows me, as a seperate and distinct person. And because the atonement was individual, it is also personal. It means that he knows me, for who I am, and loves me for who I am. That he understands me for who I am. And while I hope that the person that I am tomorrow will be better than who I am today... Christ knows me for both... and can help me get to my Personal best. It means that I, personally, can have hope, that I personally, can change. And for me... I've come to realize that there are fewer greater gifts than the ability to change. And Christ has enabled me to do that. And I will be forever grateful for that.
I also read Luke Chapter 5. I thought about the man stricken with Palsy. I wondered if he was a little confused as he was forgiven of his sins rather than healed... But I imagine, there was a part of him that suddenly didn't care if he was healed, that part of all of us, that remembers every wrong we've done, every mistake we make, probably began to weep for joy as it was released from it's burden. And then... To quiet the increduility of the Pharisees, and possibly even the Man with Palsy's own disbelief, Christ proved that he truly had power to do so. He also healed him of his physical illness. If Christ had NOT had power to forgive sins, and had as the Pharisees put it 'been blasphemeth' than he would have revoked his own power, made himself unworthy, to heal. This idea is the same with the Atonement and the Resurrection... The Resurrection proved to us that the Atonement HAD worked, that it had been accepted by the Father... And once again we were shown that the Lord HAD the power to forgive sins... And so that part of each of us, that weighs down with the guilt of times gone by and mistakes made, has assurance that the Atonement is real, that it works, because the Savior lives. And so while the Resurrection in and of itself is wonderful beautiful... It is perhaps made more beautiful by what it means. While the man with Palsy was grateful to be healed, unbelievably so... What it meant for his spirit might have been the greater gift that day. The assurance that he truly had been forgiven. And for us, the assurance that we truly can.
I've been really grateful for the opportunity I've had to ponder more Christ's atonement and what it means for me... I'm so grateful for his love for me... And I'm so grateful for this Easter Season... And my hope this Easter Season is that we might be able to realize more fully what the Atonement means, that we might apply it more fully... That we won't waste our days in this time of preparation.
I know this wasn't the longest email I've ever written, but I hope it's been longer than the last few...
Just so you all know though, I figured out how all of our names would be written in Hungarian! (Alright, so I figured out how most of our names would be written in Hungarian...)
Carisa-Karisza
Tannen- Tennön
Dallin-Dellin
Keana-Kiana (Both A's have a fun little dash accent above it, don't know how to do that on these computers and don't want to figure out how right now, time limit!)
Taft- Teft
Kjanela-Sanela (my name also has a fun accent, but mine's on the e)
Sorry they didn't all turn super awesome, you should have seen what happened to Sister Pieksma's!
So I am now Sanela Szidni Fauszett (Only the one accent in Sanela on the E) Just kidding, I'm still Kjanela. Much more me!
Another super fun thing, we were walking around one time, we do alot of that, walking, and there were these two girls walking and smoking cigarrettes and I thought, 'hmm, let's talk to them' and we talked to them, and they are both in University to become nurses... and they said they might want to meet again! And it was SO exciting! I love it when people say they want to meet with us sometime! And then we contacted them later this week to set up a time, and we didn't actually get a time... but they said they'd get back to us... and so... we're hoping they really do... but if not... well... we'll get back to them!
It was SUPER exciting!
Anyways,
I LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH!
I'll work on getting back into my 'long and juicy' letter writing habits... And...
Well, have a wonderful week! Enjoy Conference! (I know I will! I'm SO SO SO excited!)
Love ya,
Kjanela
'What you know will always trump what you don't know.'
'And that's how the cookie crumbles...'