August 27, 2018 Let the Spirit Guide

Stockholm!

On Tuesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Ahonen, who comes from Finland! He is only one of two non-American elders in the mission, so it was pretty cool to get to talk to him about what it's like to grow up in Scandinavia. I've also discovered that he's really good at innebandy (floor hockey),

Splits with Elder Ahonen

because it's such a popular sport here, so you definitely want him on your team if your going to play. He's been out a year now, and funny enough, his Swedish actually has an American accent... Looks like he's been hanging out with us a little too long :)

This week we had several experiences that confirmed for me just how willing God is to guide our path. It's something I've seen many times before, but every time I get to the end of the day and think about what happened that day, I realize that there is absolutely no way it could be by chance or any amount of human planning.

One example of such guidance we received this week was on Thursday as we were traveling on the train to visit several people that evening. We realized we didn't have time to visit them all, so we prayed and listened for the guidance of the spirit. It finally came as a small prompting, just a subtle feeling, that we should visit Jeremie and Daisy, a couple who was baptized in January. We didn't have anything official set up, we were just swinging by, so Jeremie was completely shocked when we knocked on the door and he opened. Jeremie was the only one home, but he invited us in and we shared a short message about prayer with him. He shared with us that they had been on vacation and unable to attend church on Sunday, so he wanted us to come by for a spiritual boost, but had been too busy to give us a call, and couldn't believe that we had shown up anyway. He continued on to tell us that just that morning he had had a miraculous answer to his prayers, and was even more amazed that our message was about exactly that. As we talked with each other, we came to understand why we had received the prompting and how the spirit had spoken to us. As we learn in the scriptures, the spirit is a still, small voice that will press just firmly enough for us to hear if we pay it heed. We may not know why we receive the promptings we do, but as Moroni teaches us, we receive a witness after the trial of our faith. As we act on promptings in faith, the Lord will go before us and prepare our way so that all things might work together for our good.

Äldste Sirrine

Elder Bills and I found an outdoor clothing 

store called Norrona. They have a chamber that 

goes down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit with a fan

that simulates a strong wind so you can try their

 clothing. We couldn't resist...

We visited a member family to teach them 

about missionary work. The kids were eager 

to take our tags, so it looks like it worked!

August 20, 2018 And thus we see that summer comes to an end...

The Vasa Museum

Last Monday we got to go to the Vasa Museum for P-day. The Vasa is perhaps the most famous museum in Sweden, and is the museum all the missionaries try to visit. For most, they have to ask permission to leave their area to come visit it, but for Elder Bills and I here in Stockholm, it's literally

The Vasa Museum

right across the bridge from our apartment. The Vasa Museum contains an entire battle ship, The Vasa, that set sail in 1628 but sunk after just 25 minutes of sailing due to instability. Amazingly, the Baltic Sea has such a low salinity level and the water is so cold that the ship and everything in it was almost perfectly preserved for 333 years. Then, in the 1960's, they found the ship and salvaged it, placing it in a museum that would preserve it. I have to say, that was probably one of the coolest things I have seen. Shipping and sailing has been such a prominent part of Stockholm's history, so it was incredible to learn more about it and imagine what life in that time would have been like.

This week was a bit of a whirlwind as I ended up going on exchanges with Elder Butler in Gubbängen on Tuesday and then Elder Waters in Stockholm on Wednesday. District leaders go on exchanges with each

Splits with Elder Waters

elder in the district each transfer, which usually isn't too many, but when the district is just 8 elders, and no sisters, it ends up being quite a few. It was a really great opportunity to learn from both Elder Butler and Elder Waters, who are phenomenal missionaries. I definitely got some good ideas I want to implement in my own work.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Swedish culture is how everyone just picks up and leaves during the summer. Sure, people back home would go on vacation during the summer, but Swedes take it to a whole new level. Because everyone gets several more vacation days here, everybody takes vacation during the summer and leaves for 5-6 weeks. There were families and people we teach that we didn't see for an entire transfer, and weeks at church were there was only about a third of the ward in attendance. Thankfully everybody is now returning from their vacations with the start of school, and at church on Sunday we were back to about 80 members in attendance. We're certainly grateful that everybody is back, and we're looking forward to all the new opportunities that will arise!

This week I was reading the talk "Until Seventy Times Seven" by Elder Lynn G. Robbins from the April 2018 general conference, and was greatly impressed by what he said. "“Success,” it has been said, “isn’t the absence of failure, but going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm...Hopefully, each mistake we make becomes a lesson in wisdom, turning stumbling blocks into stepping-stones." This stood out to me because it's something I have noticed and have been thinking a lot about. I have seen that every trial I face, each mistake I make, can teach me something. When we have an attitude of humility and look for the lessons we can learn from our mistakes, they turn from moments of sorrow or anger to moments of rejoicing and learning. When I have such an attitude regarding my challenges, I find myself actually rejoicing for the challenges I face, and expressing gratitude that the Lord would use something small to teach me something great. If we can learn from even the small challenges or disappointments we encounter, we will likely be able to avoid even greater challenges that lie in the future. Regardless of the effort it may take on our part to learn from our mistakes, it is through the Savior that it is made possible. He tells us in Ether 12:27 that "If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Äldste Sirrine

Elder Bills got a mug at the Vasa's gift shop. 

As some sort of Christening, he decided to fill it with 

water from the Stockholm Harbor and drink from it. 

One of the coolest statues I have come across

Its a Small World!.. fun sidenote from Sirrine family...

Johnny & Amelia had some friends come stay at our house, Garret and Louise Jeffries & baby James.  Louise grew up in Sweden!  A couple of days later, she forwarded this picture from her father living in Sweden.

Also, we sometimes get pictures sent to us by strangers.  It is a fun surprise that makes the day happy!  August 20th this photo and note were sent via text:

Your cute boys with my husband, who served in Sweden 20 years ago. 

David Barker, from Phoenix AZ. 

Thanks for having such great kids! We enjoyed talking with them today. 

August 13, 2018 When in doubt, talk about släktforskning (family history work).

Beautiful sunset

This week we were tracting and ran into a guy named Jan. As soon as we started talking to him he told us to take a seat, and we started talking. He told us that he had met the missionaries 50 years ago, but hadn't seen any since then, and he was surprised we were still going around doing missionary work. I informed him that thankfully we weren't those same missionaries he had met 50 years ago, but that the church had no plans to stop sending missionaries any time soon....Apparently he met the missionaries when they came to his school class and taught about the church, and he said he even has a Book of Mormon he believes is still on the shelf. He said he wasn't interested in religion, but he started talking to us about family history, and he even told us about how big a role the LDS church has played in family history work here in Sweden. Sweden has tons of records, which have been very well kept throughout the ages, so the church came to Sweden and asked if they could upload them to do temple work. Apparently Sweden told the church that they could, under one condition. The condition was that the church had to make an extra copy of every record they copied that would then be left in Sweden to back up their records. The church agreed, and since that time has made incredible impact on the records and family history here in Sweden. To be honest, I was surprised he knew all this, but it was pretty cool to talk to him about it. He's an older man, and has trouble with his knees, so we offered to help him with some yard work. He was hesitant at first, but finally told us that he will be gone for two weeks, but would appreciate some help when he returns home, so we look forward to meeting him again. I thought it was pretty neat that this man remembered the missionaries from 50 years ago, and I thought a lot about the people I meet and the the seeds I plant. We may not know what comes from our actions, but the light we share with others is not easily forgotten.

Last Monday we taught Gabriel how to stop smoking. There is a program available for the missionaries that has 15 steps a smoker can take to stop smoking. The steps are done everyday for a week, and by the end of the week the smoker no longer has the desire to smoke. It works be removing all the bells/triggers that trigger the person to want to smoke, such as mornings, coffee, tea, after meals, breaks, etc. It also required that we have a first lesson to teach each step and why it's important, and it's to be taught a members house. The lesson went incredibly well, and the family we taught it with offered to call Gabriel every morning at 6:30 am and every night at 9:00 pm to encourage him and pray with him. The most important part of the whole program is that the person commits to doing it exactly as taught, every step, for seven days without fail, which requires a true desire to quit. If they don't want to, there's no way we can force them, and the program won't work. We had taught Gabriel the Word of Wisdom about a week before teaching this lesson, and when we asked if he would immediately destroy any cigarettes had left at home, he informed us that he had

We found an Australian Shepherd

 and had to pet it.

already gotten rid of them all and didn't have any left. This showed us his true desire to quit, so we felt the 15 step program would be a great way to eliminate even his desire to smoke, and we felt that he would be willing to do whatever it takes. We had write his commitment to stop smoking on a piece of paper and to sign it, and then taught him the 15 steps he could do every day to not only stop smoking, but to even eliminate the desire to smoke. While each step is important, the most important would be to pray every morning and every night. It is God who has the power to work such mighty changes in our heart, and as Nephi teaches us, he prepares a way for us to fulfill all his commandments. I'm happy to report that so far he has been doing every step every day, and he has been successful in not smoking. We will continue to support and help him in every way we can, and thus witness the power of God in changing his very nature. The best part of being a missionary is seeing the difference the gospel makes in the lives of others and the changes they make. For this reason, this week has been one of the best of my mission, for no where else have I seen such a change happen so quickly and and fully as with Gabriel.

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Election season is coming up, so a bunch of posters 

went up all over town this week. 

Like ALL over.

 Looks like they take it pretty seriously...

August 6, 2018 Apparently I Can Speak Norwegian

The Stockholm Sweden Temple

Going to the temple on Tuesday was an amazing experience! There was actually a girl from Norway going to the temple for her first time, so it was all in Norwegian! The languages are incredibly similar, but Norwegian sounds really weird, and there are also some different words, so it took my brain a bit to adjust to what I was hearing. After getting used to it, I was able to understand everything I was hearing, so now I know I'll be set to go if they ever build a temple in Norway! Going to the temple felt like a complete rejuvenation or recharging. What a wonderful time it was to sit quietly and ponder on the love our Father in Heaven has for each of his children and to feel His presence so near.


We taught a couple on Wednesday who were just baptized in January. They actually both spoke in Sacrament meeting last Sunday, and if I didn't know their story I would assume they've been

Kottlasjön on Lidingö

members their entire life because they're so spiritually mature. We've been teaching them the missionary lessons again, and on Wednesday we were able to teach them about fasting in preparation for Fast Sunday. Jeremie has already had inedible experiences with fasting and was excited to have the opportunity to receive great blessings as he fasted again, but his wife Daisy, who is 8 months pregnant is unable to do so. She shared with us her desire to fast, and then an idea that a member had suggested. Because she is unable to fast from food and water, her plan was to fast from all electronics for 24 hours instead. Now if I was 8 months pregnant, I would probably just say I had earned the right not to fast, and enjoyed whatever food was available. However, her desire to sacrifice something that was withing her ability shows an understanding that fasting is much more than just going hungry, but rather a way to receive great blessings as promised in the scriptures, and not something she would ever want to go without. I hope we can all learn from her desire that fasting each months should not be something looming in the future or something we grudgingly do. Rather, we can fast joyfully as we understand and have faith that such a simple action brings the power of heaven into our life in measure so great we cannot receive it all.

On Thursday we had district council (Last month they came out with an updated version of Preach My Gospel changing the name of District Meeting to District Council, "investigators" to "people we are teaching", and a few other changes throughout), and it was my first as a district leader. Our district is made up of 8 elders, and we do district meeting over video chat which is pretty interesting. The video has been a little buggy the last couple meetings, but we tried a new service which worked a lot better thankfully. It's still not quite the same as being in person, but it works pretty well and certainly saves a lot of time traveling. We were able to counsel with each other about setting goals, which I have come to realize are absolutely necessary to achieving our desires. How do we expect to arrive at our destination if we don't know what that destination is? Something Elder M. Russell Ballard said has impacted my view on goals greatly, "I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.” This means we can't just set goals, but we have to learn how to live to reach them, and I have come to know that the best way we can do so is to rely on the help and strength of our Father in Heaven.

Äldste Sirrine

 

P-day today. A bunch of missionaries from 

Stockholm and Stockholm South zones 

got together and played innebandy (floor hockey),

 soccer, and a bunch of other games! It was 

basically the sport version of zone conference. These 

are elders in my MTC group who were there.

July 30, 2018 I Love to See the Temple

"I love to see the temple. I'm going there someday."

Like tomorrow.

I don't have much time to write today, because Elder Bills and I will be taking our P-Day tomorrow so we can go to the Stockholm Temple! I feel incredibly blessed that Sweden has a temple, and even more blessed to be in close proximity and have the opportunity to go. It has been a year since I have been able to attend, and I have come to realize just how much the temple blesses our lives. The peace, healing, and instruction we receive there cannot be found in any other place.

Äldste Sirrine