December 12, 2017 Lots of Pictures this week!

A beautiful, 1000 year old church we walk by each day

This week as we were out on the street we met a Monk, who was also proselyting. Intrigued by his clothing, we had to go talk to him and actually had a really cool conversation. As we spoke with him I couldn't help but analyze his contacting approach to see if I could apply anything to improve my

The Monk we met on the street!

own... As we spoke to him I couldn't help but think that his beliefs and clothing seemed a little strange at first, and that's when I realized that that's exactly what people think when they meet us on the street. It was an incredible experience to be on the other end of being contacted on the street, and that realization has helped me improve the way I talk to others to whom our beliefs may seem strange and foreign. Ultimately the spirit must present for conversion to take place. People may not understand our unique message at first, but as they feel the incomparable power of the spirit, the desire to learn more will grow within them. It was really cool to meet someone who was so strong in their faith and who was out doing the same thing we are. He was incredibly nice and we had a wonderful opportunity to teach him the restoration and even gave him a Book of Mormon.

On Saturday we had our branch Christmas party! We had a really good turn out, and it was a good time for members and

Branch Christmas party!

non members alike to enjoy each others company, food, the missionaries singing, and President Karlsson reading the account of Christ's birth in Luke. We had a lot of non members come, and it was a wonderful opportunity for them to feel the spirit of Christ.

This week we had an awesome lesson with Nadia. At first the lesson seemed a little scattered and wasn't going as we wanted. As Elder Cotton was speaking I began to listen as hard as I could for what the spirit wanted me to say, and I felt prompted to share James 1:5. That's when everything changed. I had just recited the scripture from memory, but she wanted to see it, so we opened up to it and read it again. She was clearly thinking deeply and

Food for the Christmas party

pondering this scripture and she listened intently as we continued with the lesson. The goal of the lesson was to invite her to start writing down her spiritual promptings and answers she receives, because we know she receives answers, but it's easy to forget those feelings or rationalize them as imaginations later. When we invited her to do so, she told us that she knows she needs to because earlier when we read James 1:5 she had received a clear answer, as if God was slapping her, to something she had prayed about a few days ago and she needed to write it down. I am so grateful that the spirit prompted me to share that scripture. There is no way I could have known that's what she needed, but the Lord did. I am also so excited to see how recording her spiritual impressions will help her. Doing so can help us recognize how the spirit talks to us personally, and it can give us strength later. I have

Persian dish called "Ash".

Super intense. Super super good

often wondered what makes Lehi, Nephi, and Moses different from Laman, Lemuel, and the Children of Israel. They all wandered in the wilderness for many years and suffered greatly, but Lehi, Nephi, and Moses remembered the hand of the Lord and the miracles, while the others remembered their old life and focused on their afflictions, forgetting what great things the Lord had done for them. Remembrance is a powerful thing. Recording spiritual thoughts can help us stay focused on what the Lord has done for us, and the answers we have already received from him. I testify that the Lord hears and answers our prayers. He loves each and every one of us more than we can comprehend, and as we open our mouth to share that message with others he will give us the words to say.

Äldste Sirrine

A cool bridge

Thomas Munktell. Who is that? Good question... I don't actually know.

What's going on in Sweden you might ask? Apparently Star Wars...

 

Dec 4, 2017 Bicycles, Eggs, and Port-Codes

Thanksgiving dinner

Several weeks ago we discovered a super cool little Arabic store where we go to get some of our

The flat of eggs I rode home with

groceries because it's significantly cheaper, and is sometimes better quality (although you definitely have to be careful with some of the food....) Among a few other items, I regularly get eggs there because you can buy a flat of 30 eggs that are cheaper and twice as big as the eggs you can get at the other grocery store. It's an incredible deal, but the only problem is transporting the eggs home with a bike... Normally they rubber band a second carton to the top of the eggs so I can put them in a sack and hang them on the handlebars, but on Monday they didn't have any extra cartons to do that with. So there I was with 30 eggs and a bike to get home. Naturally I accepted the challenge and did the only thing that made sense; I rode the bike with one hand while carrying the flat of eggs in the other hand. Elder Cotton tried to convince me that we could find a different way and that all of the eggs could survive, but that just sounded too easy. After a fairly intense bike ride, I am glad to report that all 30 eggs made it into the fridge safe and sound.

This weekend we got to spend the night in Stockholm for Stake Conference! Stockholm seriously has to be the coolest city ever, and after taking so many trains I have really gained an appreciation for it's subway system (the Tunnelbana), which is pretty amazing. Stake Conference was held in the StockholmsMässan building, which is a big convention center (they actually had a big fitness trade show going on at the same time in a different part of the building which looked pretty interesting). Stake Conference was wonderful, and it was awesome to see so many faithful saints gathered in one place.

This week we definitely had some cool experiences that witness that our Heavenly Father places people in our path for a reason, and that He always prepares a way to accomplish His commands. One evening we were out in town around 8:30 on our way back home. We aren't usually around that area at that time, and as we came upon an intersection we stopped and tried to decide whether we should take the shorter route, which we usually take, or the longer route, which would take us through town in the hopes that we could find someone, even just one person, on the deserted streets to talk to. After saying a prayer it became clear to us that we should take the longer route, and it wasn't too long before we came upon two guys from Nigeria who had just come from the gym. We had a great conversation and they want to meet with us to learn more about our church and the Book of Mormon. We are never in that area at that time, and had we not prayed for, and followed, inspiration on which way we should go, we never would have had the chance to meet them.

This week our Branch President asked us to visit a couple less active members and deliver invitations to the branch Christmas party. Seeing as how branch council is on Tuesday and we wanted to have a positive report, we determined to do everything we could to deliver those invitations. Yesterday we went to visit the last two people on the list, and upon arriving at the first we were met by the bane of

See if you can find the Santa Claus driving the tractor

missionary work here in Sweden, the port-coded apartment building. After unsuccessfully calling the resident and trying everything we could to get in so we could at least slip the invitation through the mail slot on the door, we stood there not knowing what else to do but unwilling to give up. Right at the moment, a lady delivering reklam (basically a bunch of advertisements/mail) walked by and asked us if we needed to get in. Naturally we responded that we did, and she happily let us in. After checking every single door in the building we discovered he had moved to France and no longer lived there (which the branch president had actually suspected) which was good to know so that we don't waste time in the future trying to contact him. We then went to the second person we wanted to visit where we were once again met by the Devil's handiwork, the port-code. After several minutes of trying to get in we were about to leave when a man walked out of the building. We explained the situation to him and he let us into the building where we were then able to deliver the invitation as we had set out to do. I know without a doubt that the Lord prepared a way for us to complete our assignment by placing those people in our path. Whatever our assignment may be, if we strive to do everything we can the Lord will prepare a way for us to overcome the elements we are incapable of on our own.

Äldste Sirrine