October 30, 2018 Up to Umeå! And Back to Stockholm??

From the airplane

Getting off the plane in Umea!

The chapel

Well, on Wednesday I left the the bright yellows and oranges of fall in Stockholm and came to the white wonderland of Umeå. The view out the window of the airplane is absolutely incredible, and if you look out one window you see Sweden, while if you look out the other side you see Finland in the

Map of my area!

distance. So I can now say I've seen Finland! It's been about 10 degrees here, so we've already gotten some good snow which makes everything beautiful, and the lake by our house is starting to freeze! I also really enjoy the fact that my area is now bigger than most missions. The Sweden Stockholm mission has big area boundaries in general, but now that I'm in the north I have about 1/8th of the country. Just to give you a little perspective, We have a member that lives six hours away by car and still lives well within our boundaries. Unfortunately we don't really have much reason to go that far away from the city, so I'll probably never get to go that far, but hey, at least I don't have to worry about going out of my boundaries ;)

Interestingly enough, I didn't get much time to enjoy Umeå before I found myself heading back to Stockholm... We had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) on Monday (the reason

Elder Simmons and I 

in the mission home for MLC

I'm emailing on Tuesday this week), so we flew down on Sunday night, had our meeting on Monday, and then flew back Monday evening. Flying in over Stockholm was incredible, and it was strange to get a bird's eye view of my last area! I couldn't pick out my apartment itself, but I saw the building just down the street :)

We have some great investigators right now, and it's been awesome to get to know the members here. A couple nights ago we decided to swing by a few people that Elder Simmons had tracted into, and one of the people we went, Michael, let us in and we had a great lesson with him. I didn't think too much about it at the time, because it was my first time meeting him, but Elder Simmons told me later that that's only the second time the missionaries have ever been let into his house (usually he just talks to them for a minute or two by the door) and now we have a return appointment set up to teach him the Plan of Salvation because he had several questions regarding it. The timing of our visit was truly a miracle, because the reason he let us in was because his wife suggested it, and it was also the first time she's ever been home. One of the best parts of missionary work is the little miracles like these, and they are also the things that bring us great joy in the gospel if we're willing to look for them.

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by the water in Umea!

A giant clothespin sculpture... 

Why? I have no idea.

From the apartment balcony

Stockholm from the airplane

Heading down to MLC

October 22, 2018 From Fall to Winter in the Course of 60 min.

Strandvägen 

Well we've been enjoying an incredibly nice fall here in Stockholm, but it looks like it's time to break out the winter coat and brace for the winter. Yep, we had transfer calls last night, and after 6 wonderful months here in Stockholm, I'll be transferring to Umeå to serve as a zone leader. I'll be leaving on Wednesday and will be taking a plane, yes a plane, an hour north of Stockholm to Umeå (Umeå is in the northern part of Sweden called Norrland) where I will be with Elder Simmons. What does this mean? Well, I'm going to be seeing a lot less sun and a whole lot more snow, like a lot. While it's certainly much colder, I've heard a lot about Umeå from two of my past companions who served there, and I can't wait to get there because it sounds incredible. We had a chance to talk with the Elders who are there right now, and they saw the Northern Lights about two weeks ago, so I should get a few opportunities to witness them myself :)

I also look forward to being with Elder Simmons, who I don't know much about, but we happen to share the same birthday so I'm sure he's a great guy ;)

Elder Radford will be staying here in Stockholm, and we found out that he'll be training a new missionary! I'm excited for him to have the opportunity to do so, because that was probably the best experience of my mission so far, and there's no better place to train than Stockholm ;)

This last week we got to teach a lady, Helene, with our ward mission leader at the family history/institute center in Stockholm. The lesson went incredibly well, and afterward our ward mission leader (who also happens to be the ward family history specialist) asked her if she wanted to try some family history work. She was really excited to do so, so they started doing that together while we left to go to another lesson. We found out the next day that she apparently REALLY liked it and ended up spending 3.5 hours there... We had also invited her to pray to know if Joseph Smith truly saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, and she later said that it went really well. We'll be teaching her again tomorrow, and I can't wait to hear more about her experience!

We were also able to teach Henrik about the plan of salvation this week, and he accepted the invitation to be baptized on December 8! The spirit that was present while we taught him was incredible, and Elder Radford's drawing of the Plan of Salvation was right up to par. Henrik has become one of my best friends here in Stockholm, and it will be tough to leave him, but I'm excited to hear about his progression as Elder Radford and his companion continue to help him work towards baptism.

One of the many things I've learned on my mission is the truth of the Lord's words when he said, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." (Isaiah 55:8) Each time I've left an area has been incredibly difficult, but I've been amazed to see that every area, every transfer, has gotten better. It has only gotten better up to this point, and I have full confidence that it will continue to do so as I follow the plan of the Lord. I'm not entirely sure what lies ahead of me, but I can't wait to see what He has in store!

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Also, I came to the realization this morning that my two ward mission leaders I've had here in Stockholm have been named Tom and Jerry.... Coincidence? Maybe.

The Guerras (members)

The Awishas (part member family)

The Reenstiernas (investigators). 

Probably the only time an investigator has been 

dressed nicer than me and my companion...

October 15, 2018 Kubb, Korv, and Good Company

The Lake we hiked around

Today for P-day we decided to go for a hike with the office elders and assistants. The fall colors here in Sweden are absolutely amazing, and we've been having incredibly good weather this year. I distinctly remember last October being pretty cold and rainy, which is normal, but this last week has

Roasting Korv

been in the 60's and absolutely perfect. We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather by going for a hike in the forest, but being here in Stockholm makes it a little difficult to find large expanses of untouched nature. We had to settle for a really big park with lots of nice trails, but eventually we found a place we could make a fire, roast some korv (hot dogs), and enjoy a nice game of Kubb together :)

In updated Timmy news, our neighbor reached out to us this week and asked if we could take Timmy for a walk Saturday evening because they were having a big birthday party. We were more than happy to do so, and when we picked him up we were able to meet the entire family, along with the cousins and grandma! Timmy was excited to see us, and apparently that spread to everyone else, because everyone really liked us. Timmy continues to surprise us with missionaries opportunities, and before you know it we might just take him out contacting with us ;)

A couple weeks ago we met Gabriels friend, Maylene, at a baptismal service in Gubbängen, and on Wednesday we were able to teach her! We had a recent convert, Molly, come with us to help teach, and the lesson was absolutely incredible. As we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we shared with her the experience of Alma, who suffered great anguish as he realized his many sins against God. In the midst of his anguish, he remembered the words of his father who taught him of

Elder Radford and I with office elders and assistants

Jesus Christ, and in desperation reached out to Him. The description he gives next is perhaps a few of the most beautiful verses in the Book of Mormon, for after calling on Christ he said, "And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy." (Alma 36:19-20) The message of Christ is the greatest message of hope to be found. Through Him, we can not only be forgiven, but we can receive the most exquisite joy we have will experience. I have experienced that joy, and it's the reason I'm here in Sweden today. Like Alma, "From that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." (Alma 36:24)


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October 8, 2018 Flowers!

 Temple flowers

Well, I don't have much time to write today because Elder Radford and I will be going to the temple tomorrow! Our mission president has said that we can only go to the temple if we live within an hour

Planting flowers at the temple

of it, and we can only go once every sixth months. However, Elder Radford hasn't been to the temple in the last sixth months, so I feel incredibly fortunate that I can go with him tomorrow, even though I've been fairly recently.


Speaking of the temple, on Thursday we got to go to the temple and help plant 7,000 flowers! It was an incredible experience to serve alongside about 30 other missionaries and spend some time on the temple grounds. It's always fun to see other missionaries, but I was definitely surprised to arrive and see my trainer, Elder Wilkinson, and my "son", Elder Bills, there (they are currently companions on the island of Gotland)! They had zone conference the day before and had to stay an extra day in Stockholm because of ferry issues, so I got to see them again! It's been a long time since I've seen Elder Wilkinson, and he's going home at the end of the transfer, so I never thought I'd actually get to see him again.


As it turns out, planting flowers was also great preparation for General conference. I couldn't help but feel a much greater appreciation for all the work that goes into the beautiful arrangement of flowers behind the speaker I usually fail to spend much time admiring ;) General Conference this weekend was powerful. For all of you who saw it, I'd encourage you to continue studying their talks over the coming months. For any who haven't, I'd encourage you to claim the revelation and guidance the Lord wants to give you by listening to the message of his servants. We were able to watch it with several of our investigators at the homes of different members, and last night we were able to watch the Sunday Morning session live at the mission home with President and Sister Youngberg. What an incredible experience it was to watch general conference with the people who hold some of my greatest love and respect.


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Splits with Elder Ahonen

My släkt (family)! Elder Wilkinson and Elder Bills.

October 1, 2018 Timmy Never Faileth

Timmy!!

We definitely had some of the best service of my entire mission on Thursday. We were coming home for the night and it was raining, so we were completely soaked. As we entered our apartment building, we were surprised to see our neighbor walking out of the elevator with a raincoat and boots, accompanied by no other than my favorite dog Timmy! We of course took the opportunity to pet him and talk to our neighbor (like we do every time), and she said, "Yeah it's not so fun to have a dog when you have to take them out in the rain..." I told her we have legitimately debated knocking on their door and asking to borrow Timmy for a few minutes before, and that we'd love to take him out right then. She laughed a little bit, but we said we were actually serious, so she let us take him for a walk! It was raining pretty good, but nothing could diminish the excitement of getting to play with Timmy a bit. When we brought him back, she told us how grateful she was and said we could take him any time we want :) Each time we talk to our neighbor she asks us a few more questions about missionary work, so eventually we'll have taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ all thanks to Timmy!

One of the great miracles we witnessed this week was the opportunity to attend Joy's baptism in Gubbängen with our investigator Gabriel. We invited him to the service, and he said he'd like to

Joy, baptized in Gubbängen on Thursday

come, and then just 5 minutes later he called us back and asked if he could invite his friend, Maylene, because she wanted to see how it works. We got to meet her at the service, and she's incredible. She was born in the Philippines, and her husband was born in Germany, but they have now lived in Sweden for 2 years. She was originally part of another church, but she stopped going to church here in Sweden because her husband was offended by the priest. She says her faith has declined dramatically over the last two years, so we asked if she'd like to build her faith back up. She sighed as she responded that she really wants to, but she doesn't know how. We took the opportunity to teach her about the Book of Mormon, which she really liked, and then we gave her a copy and set up a time to meet this week and teach her more. The baptism service also allowed us to show her around the church, teach her about the covenant of baptism, and enabled her to feel the spirit. Teaching someone who has the desire to build their faith is one of the most incredible experiences, and I look forward to seeing the change in her life as her faith in Christ grows.

Saturday was another day which we know was completely directed by the spirit and an absolute miracle. We had a great day with three lessons planned, but when Saturday morning came, all three

Henrik and Jonas

called us and rescheduled for next week. We were a little bummed at first, but as we called a few people that morning we decided to call Henrik and see how his reading of the Book of Mormon was going. As we talked to him, he mentioned nonchalantly that he was moving the same day, so we jumped on that and offered our help to him. He was incredibly relieved to have some extra help, and told us that he would have a couple other friends there as well. Elder Radford and I knew right then that God wanted us to meet those friends, and had arranged for us to do so, which meant the only question left was who these people are. Although not knowing exactly what the future held, we were excited to meet them, and as we helped Henrik move we got some time to do so. As it turns out, one of his friends, Jonas, is a serious rock climber who took fourth place in the national championship last year, and the other, Alex, already knew a little bit about our church and was impressed by it. Both of them want to meet again to learn more, so we definitely look forward to that :)

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Our ward had a cake competition, 

so we decided to enter :)

District Council over Skype