My letters to the mission president became almost legendary amongst my companions. I wrote really long and private emails to president Anderson, one every P-day. It caused great curiosity as to what it is that I wrote - and I don't actually really know either. Except that president Anderson was probably very well-informed about the things that were going on in my areas, both in terms of missionary work and my mental state. My approach to president Anderson was that I trust him completely, I adore him, and I
need to tell him everything. So I did.
Now I would never share my letters to the president with anybody, not with companions, not with sister Anderson, and certainly not with the general population of Elftown. But I realised when looking at them afterwards (you get a copy of all the letters you wrote at the end of your mission) that there was a cool theme going with the way I ended my letters, so I wanted to share those. :)
28th of September 2009
Thank you so much for all your help and support and prayers.
Syster Porkka.
5th of October 2009
Thank you so much for all your help, and for your service. I love you.
Sister Porkka
12th of October 2009
Thank you so much for all your help and service and prayers. We'll probably see you in District Conference this Sunday.
Har det så bra,
love, sister Porkka
19th of October 2009
Thank you so much for the wonderful service you give to us all.
I love you.
Syster Porkka.
26th of October 2009
Thank you so much for your help and service, President. I love you.
Syster Porkka
2nd of November 2009
I am so grateful for all your help and service and prayers. I love you.
Syster Porkka.
9th of November 2009
I'm really grateful to be here in Sundsvall and in Sweden in general, and I'm really grateful for all that you and sister Anderson do. It was really great seeing you both in Sharpening this week.
With love,
Syster Porkka.
18th of November 2009
Thank you so much for everything.
Love, sister Porkka.
23rd of November 2009
Thank you so much for all that you do, and I hope you and Sister Anderson will have a great week.
With love,
Syster Porkka.
30th of November 2009
Thank you so much for your service.
With love, sister Porkka.
16th of November 2009
Well, we need to go to the Post Office and sånt.
With love,
Syster Porkka
21st of December 2009
Anyway, we need to go. Thank you so much for all your help and love.
Love, syster Porkka.
28th of December 2009
Thank you so much for your help and service, and especially for the Book of Mormon (talk about a gift that keeps on giving).
Love, syster Porkka.
4th of January 2010
Well, time to tackle the snow again (I'm sure my companion has shared some of our snow-adventure
s with you in her email).
Love, syster Porkka.
11th of January 2010
With love, syster Porkka.
18th of January 2010
Well, we'll hear from you tomorrow (early I hope :P), so... vi hörs.
Love, syster Porkka
25th of January 2010
Thank you again,
Love, syster Porkka.
1st of February 2010
Thank you so much, for everything. I love you.
Syster Porkka
8th of February 2010
I'm really grateful to be here today, and able to work in the Lord's service. And I'm so grateful for the help of all the other missionaries here too, and especially you and sister Anderson. I love you.
Syster Porkka.
15th of February 2010
Thank you so much for all that you do, and we'll see you on Friday in Conference :)
Love, syster Porkka.
22nd of February 2010
Well, we're again out of P-Day time, we'll have dinner with a member-family and Lars at the chapel today, and they are here, so we måste gå.
Thank you so much for all your help.
With love, syster Porkka.
1st of March 2010
Sorry that this email is so long today. A lot to unload this week.
Thank you so much for everything that you do, sorry that we're giving you so much grief.
Love, syster Porkka
PS. Did sister Cherrington tell you that she had her first ever grey hair today? :P
8th of March 2010
I also must mention/ask... We got the phonecall one morning telling us that we aren't allowed to skotta tak. So the question is: who fell off the roof?
15th of March 2010
Have a lovely week, and we'll see you Friday :)
Thank you so much for everything.
Love, syster Porkka
24th of March 2010
I am looking forward to the best transfer ever. :)
Thank you so much for everything.
Love, syster Porkka.
30th of March 2010
Thank you so much for everything. We'll probably keep calling, so vi hörs snart.
Love, syster Porkka.
5th of April 2010
Thank you so much for all that you do here.
Love, syster Porkka
12th of April 2010
Well, we're out of time, I'm sure there's much more to tell but I just can't think of them right now. I'm looking forward to Friday, to seeing you and sister Anderson again, and getting Betty the Corsa back :)
Thank you for everything.
Love, syster Porkka.
19th of April 2010
And we just got contacted here in the library by one of Ö-vik's old investigators who has just moved here. And hence time is all out.
Hejdå.
Thank you.
Syster porkka
26th of April 2010
We are once again out of time, so this will be så här.
Thank you so much.
Love, syster Porkka
3rd of May 2010
Anyway. I'm really looking forward to the mission tour on Thursday, it'll be great. And vi ses there.
Thank you so much for everything. I love you.
Syster Porkka.
10th of May 2010
Thank you so much for all that you do, especially for your patience and love.
Love, syster Porkka
17th of May 2010
Thank you so much for everything, I'm very grateful to be here serving with you and sister Anderson.
Love, syster Porkka.
26th of May 2010
Well, we're short on time once more, I'll just add this one more thing, that the members here really love you and sister Anderson, they miss you and they wish they could meet you more often.
On to new things, eh?
Thank you so much for everything. I love you.
syster Porkka.
31st of May 2010
Well, we need to go handla now and then head out to Simon and Frida.
Thank you so much, President. I love you.
Oh, I forgot to ask, I'm a little concerned, it's getting sunny and we're out in the sun a lot and I'm no stranger to sunstrokes. Are missionaries allowed to wear hats? I never used to go anywhere without a hat on, but that's because I'm old fashioned and think that you need a hat outside (and also it helped against the sun).
syster Porkka.
7th of June 2010
Overall I'm looking forward to this week and the rest of the transfer and beyond.
Oh and it was my halfway mark this week. Almost didn't even notice, it's gone so fast.
Thank you for everything. I love you.
syster Porkka
14th of June 2010
Well, we need to get to work now. This week is looking good.
Love, sister Porkka.
21st of June 2010
Well, I'll leave it there for now. I'm really looking forward to conference this week, feels like I'll need the pick-up. And we'll see you there then.
I love you.
syster Porkka
28th of June 2010
Well, we have a train to catch, so I'll wrap up here. We'll see you in a couple hours.
Thank you so much for everything, especially conference, and it was great seeing you and sister Anderson in Midsommar too. Being in Stockholm has it's advantages.
I love you.
Syster Porkka
5th of July 2010
I'm looking forward to seeing you again in Sharpening, and also to having a normal District Meeting, that'll be exciting and strange. We might have to sit in different rooms and have District Meeting on the phone anyway, just so that it doesn't feel too annorlunda.
I love you.
Syster Porkka
12th of July 2010
And then... I did something really dumb yesterday and I'll need to give you a call.
Thank you for everything.
I love you.
Syster Porkka
19th of July 2010
Well, this got long fast, and it's time to go.
Thank you again. I love you.
Syster Porkka
28th of July 2010
This work is simply amazing. I'm so grateful to be here doing it.
Thank you for all your help.
I love you.
syster Porkka
2nd of August 2010
We also saw a parrot flying around outside. I knew I was heading south, but I didn't realise it would be so exotic out here... I'll have to keep an eye out for the more dangerous junglebeasts...
Thank you for all the wonderful work you do. I love you.
syster Porkka.
9th of August 2010
Looking forward to a new week.
Thank you so much for all that you do.
I love you.
syster Porkka
16th of August 2010
Well, time to wrap up. We'll see you tomorrow.
Thank you so much for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
23rd of August 2010
Well we need to head out soon, sister Johnson is getting a haircut from a less-active member, which'll be great because people always talk when they cut hair.
Thank you again.
I love you.
syster Porkka
30th of August 2010
Thank you so much for all the support and the wonderful work you do.
I love you.
syster Porkka
6th of September 2010
I'm really sorry, I feel... cumbersome. Jobbig.
Thank you so much for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
13th of September 2010
I'm really looking forward to Sharpening. So we'll see you tomorrow.
Thank you so much. I love you.
syster Porkka
20th of September 2010
Thank you so much for everything.
I love you.
sister Porkka
29th of September 2010
This'll be a little short today because I'm very distracted.
Thank you so much for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
4th of October 2010
Overall I'm grateful to be here in Örebro, it's looking like it'll be some kind of tough, but it's supposed to be.
Thank you so much for everything, and sorry I'm such a hassle.
I love you.
syster Porkka.
11th of October 2010
Well, I'll wrap up here. Thank you so much for all your support and help.
I love you.
syster Porkka
18th of October 2010
Overall things are well, I love my companion dearly, we talk pretty openly so it's great. I'm grateful to be here in Örebro.
Thank you for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
25th of October 2010
Thanks so much for all the work you dofor all the support and help.
See you tomorrow.
I love you.
syster Porkka
1st of November 2010
Sucks to finish on a negative note, but that's how it is today.
Thank you for all your help and hard work.
I love you.
syster Porkka
8th of November 2010
Well, I'll wrap up here. Thank you for all that you do.
I love you.
syster Porkka
15th of November 2010
That's pretty much it for here.
We'll see you tomorrow.
I love you.
syster Porkka
22nd of November 2010
Well, I'll leave off here. Thank you so much for everything.
I love you.
Syster Porkka
1st of December 2010
There's also other exciting things in the future for this coming week, which makes me glad, it's a tender mercy from the Lord that my brand new golden companion will have a good start.
Well we're out of time and in a hurry, so I'll leave it there. Miracles continue.
Thank you so mch for everything.
I love you.
Syster Porkka
6th of December 2010
Thank you so much for all your help and service.
I love you.
syster Porkka
13th of December 2010
Well, we need to head off now.
Thank you so much for everything, and we'll see you on wednesday.
I love you.
syster Porkka
20th of December 2010
Not even a hundreth part can be written, because it's really long already and there's no space on the plates.
Merry Christmas.
I love you.
syster Porkka
27th of December 2010
Well, I'll get on with other things now, and wish you a god fortsättning and a happy new year.
Thank you so much for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
3rd of January 2011
That's all for today. Tills vi skrevs igen.
Thank you for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
10th of January 2011
Well, I'll leave it there, we need to go get ready for conference tomorrow. We'll see you there.
I love you.
syster Porkka
17th of January 2011
Thank you so much for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
24th of January 2011
I'll leave it here for today. This week we'll have sister Maxwell over on thursday, go see Anastasiya again (this time on the bus so we can see if that's doable), teach Peter more, and so on.
Thank you so much for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
31st of January 2011
Looking forward to a new week and new adventures.
I love you.
syster Porkka
7th of February 2011
Well, we'll see you tomorrow in Sharpening.
Thank you for all the help.
I love you.
syster Porkka
14th of February 2011
But it's not over yet. :)
I love you.
syster Porkka
21st of February 2011
Things are moving along well, annars.
Thanks for everything.
I love you.
syster Porkka
2nd of March 2011
I love this area, I love this work, and I love having had the rare privilege of serving the Lord here at this time and with you.
Thank you. For everything.
And despite of what I always say, it's not goodbye forever.
Love,
syster Porkka
Stumble!