May 27, 2019 Karl's son in Karl's city

with Elder Karlsson

Elder Karlsson arrived here in Karlstad on Wednesday, and it's been a great week getting him up to speed here! It's been really neat to be with a native Swedish speaker and I feel like I've already learned things in the last 4 days that I've been trying to understand for quite some time now.

A spirit of missionary work has really come over the branch in the last week here and has taken form in us receiving three referrals from them. They've introduced us to some of their friends and in every case their friends have enjoyed meeting us and have asked us to teach them more about what we believe. The vast majority of people that say no to us as we speak to them on the street or at their door only do so because they are unsure of what listening to us would imply for them and find it much easier to say no then to worry about it. When we've had the chance to meet people in normal settings, introduced by trusted friends, there has been nothing uncomfortable or unnatural about speaking with them and the gospel conversation is driven by their curiosity of what makes us so happy and why we do what we do.

This last Tuesday we had a really neat opportunity with our Elder's quorum president. He works at a high school here and invited us to join him there for lunch. The purpose was not to proselyte, but as

Our Elders Quorum president

we sat at lunch one of his colleagues sat down with us to eat. It didn't take long for her to notice our name tags, and then it was pretty fun to watch the confusion on her face until she finally asked, "How can your name tag say that you are the oldest (Äldste in Swedish literally translates to "Oldest") when you're like 20 years old? It provided a perfect opportunity to tell her how we've come here to Sweden as representatives of Jesus Christ which she found very fascinating. She doesn't have a belief herself, but she really enjoyed talking with us and invited us to come visit her at home and teach her more along with our Elder's quorum president.

Äldste Sirrine

The last day with Elder Olson

Cool building in town

May 20, 2019 "You can't beat the Mormons"

Swedish forest

We went up to a members farm to help 

out and the daughters made us a bouquet!

Things are going really well here in Karlstad and it's been a busy week! We have transfers this week, and Elder Olson will be transferring. We've had so much fun together and I'll be sad to see him go, but I'm looking forward to my new companion, Elder Karlsson! Elder Karlsson actually comes from Stockholm, so I've served in his home ward for 6 months and his family is one of my all time favorites! I remember being at his house before he was a missionary and getting help with Swedish from him and his brother, so I'm looking forward to having a walking dictionary beside me and being able to speak Swedish 24/7 with a native. Elder Karlsson is one of two native Swedes in the whole mission, and everyone wants to be his companion to help improve their Swedish, so I feel incredibly blessed to be with him.

On Friday we had an entire school class come tour our church. The class consisted of about 28 high school seniors, which I have to admit was a little intimidating. First off, Swedes are surprisingly tall, so although I was a year or two earlier than the students, I felt kind of small. Second, they're all my age and native Swedes, so all of a sudden I was somewhat self conscious of my Swedish and hoping they understood. Lastly, over the last two years I've gotten used to speaking with 1-3 people at a time, so speaking to a class of 28 was kinda new. The tour went really well, and we were surprised by how attentive and interested everybody was. Swedes are happy to tell you that Sweden is the most secular country in the world (something I hear on a regular basis...), but interestingly enough all high school students are required to take a religion course, so we didn't really expect them to be incredibly enthused or excited to be there. However, at the end of the tour we offered free copies of the Book of Mormon, and 16 of them eagerly came up to get a copy for themselves. They were all talking about how much they liked it as they filed out of the church, and their teacher came up to us and said, "You guys do such a great job! I love coming here because you just can't beat the Mormons." Amazingly, Elder Olson actually tracted into her a couple months ago when there was snow on the ground, and after she expressed strong disinterest they decided to shovel her driveway as an act of kindness. She remembered that occasion and took the opportunity to thank us for doing so and showing true Christlike kindness.

The tour was their last class of the day so everyone went directly home afterwords, but one of the students, Samuel, stayed and talked with us for another 15 minutes. He expressed his belief in God and described how he's visited a few different churches in search of the truth, but doesn't feel like he's found it yet. He was excited to have a copy of the Book of Mormon, and he asked if he could come to church with us and learn more. Unfortunately he had a soccer tournament this last Sunday, so he was unable to come, but we look forward to seeing him in the future!

Äldste Sirrine

Remember when we had about 4 hours of total daylight 

here in Sweden during the winter? Well, now we're to 

the time of the year when it pretty much never gets dark. 

Here's what it looks like when we go to bed at 10:30.

Here's a political campaign poster. 

"Lagom" is a word that means "just right" 

(not too much and not too little) in Swedish.

 Only in Sweden would that be a positive 

thing to campaign for. 

 

May 13, 2019 Blessings of Sweden

Grilling fish tacos by the lake

One of the slightly random things I miss while being here in Sweden is the ability to buy corn tortillas. They just don't exist here. I've experimented with making my own, but haven't had much luck until yesterday when a member of our branch who comes from Mexico told me where I can get the right corn flour and how to make them. I'm happy to report that after getting some flour this morning, I have successfully figured out how to make corn tortillas and started cranking those puppies out. This led to an inspired P-day idea of going out to Vänern, the biggest lake in Sweden, and grilling fish over a fire on the shore to make fish tacos with our homemade tortillas (and guacamole). We've never been happier. Shout out to Sweden who makes their nature so easily available to everyone and even provides free fireword.

On Saturday we were biking out to swing by and teach a few people when we passed a lady on the side of the road picking up garbage. As we passed I got the prompting to stop and ask if we could help, and my natural reaction was to continue, rationalizing that we had several appointments that day and wanted to stay on schedule. The prompting came clearly again to turn around and help, so I stopped my bike and told Elder Olson. He was happy to turn around and go back and when we came up to the lady she gladly accepted our help. She explained that she bikes past that place everyday and is irritated by the trash thrown out of car windows there that clutter the otherwise beautiful surroundings. She had decided to pick up the trash, and she was surprised that two guys had decided to stop and help. We talked with her the entire time we picked up trash (for about 30 min total) and at the end she asked us what our function in the church is. We explained our role as missionaries, and she mentioned that she's not religious because she feels like religion has caused so much contention and war throughout history. Before she left we shared our witness that God's desire is not for us to fight and contend with each other but rather to love and serve one another, and that in the true church of Jesus Christ we follow that example. We asked her if she'd like to learn more about our church, and she politely declined, but before she got in her car she thanked us for our help and told us that we're good representatives for our church.

Last night we had an incredible lesson with Emil. He was concerned about the idea of Heaven and Hell seeming so white and black and wondered what happens to people like him who may not be firm believers in God, but aren't completely bad people either. As we taught the Plan of Salvation

everything seemed to click in his mind and at the end he was nearly speechless. All he could say was that everything made sense and he hopes it's true. We invited him to pray to find out if it is, but he said that he couldn't promise us he would do so, because he only wants to pray if it will be sincere, but that he would continue to think and ponder on it. He's an awesome guy with a great heart, so pray for him :)


Äldste Sirrine

Before our lesson with Emil, he took us around this

 lake and taught us a little about the forests and 

animals of Sweden. 

I feel like I'm living in a fairytale book sometimes. 

May 6, 2019 Valborg and Göteborg

Göteborg

Where they were going to light the bonfire

This last Wednesday was the Swedish holiday Valborg. They actually celebrate mostly the night before by lighting bonfires and singing traditional songs. We got to go to a park where a fire was to be held, but unfortunately it's been to warm and dry so they didn't actually light it because of fire

Valborg men's choir

hazard. Elder Olson and I had to laugh about this because they were planning on lighting the fire right in the middle of a big green lawn with nothing but a river anywhere close by. In Utah it would have been a go by all means, but I guess they're a little more careful here... We still got to listen to a men's choir sing and enjoy the Swedish festivity in the park.

We got to travel down to Göteborg this week for zone conference which was fantastic. I hate to miss time sharing the gospel in my area, but the spirit of revelation at zone conference is worth of every minute. By paying careful attention to what the spirit taught, I received very clearly what I need to do and in what areas I need to improve. When sought after, such guidance is a clear sign of the love our Heavenly Father has for each of us.

This week we got to teach a young couple the plan of salvation. The lesson went well and the spirit was felt strongly throughout, but the best part was what the husband said to us at the end. He said, "I mean this in the best possible way, but there's something different about you two. I'm baffled by your confidence to come to me, a university professor of philosophy and former high school teacher of religion, and teach me about God. There's something about the way you do it, and you do it very well." We told him directly that he was feeling the spirit and that such confidence comes from an unshakable faith in God which we have because of personal experience and that he too can have such experiences. We'll be teaching them again tomorrow, so keep them in your prayers.


Äldste Sirrine

The Swedish flag

April 29, 2019 Missionary! Look at me!

The farm

It's been an incredible week! One of the highlights was going up to visit a member who lives an hour and a half away from Karlstad. He and his family own a farm there, and amazingly they come actively to church despite the long distance to travel each week. We got to spend the day on Saturday helping them on their farm and were able to help him repair an old tractor from the '70s. It felt really nice to get in touch with my redneck side and see some livestock again. Two of the little girls, who are 3 and five years old worked along side us and whenever they had something to show me they would simply say, "Missionär! Titta på mig!" ("Missionary! Look at me!"). It was pretty fun to have

The drive out to the farm.

someone who wants to get the missionaries attention instead of just avoiding eye contact as we walk toward them on the street. I'm convinced after driving through the Swedish countryside that Sweden is the most beautiful country in the world. I really can't even describe how beautiful and green the plains are, surrounded by crystal blue lakes and forested hills as far as you can see. It's absolutely breathtaking.

Our mission president had been encouraging us to teach more lessons and we've been doing our very best to do so. On Wednesday we had a goal to teach 4 lessons, but as 6 pm rolled around we had only taught two. We had a plan to visit a lady who Elder Olson had given a Book of Mormon to last transfer, so we went out to that area and knocked on her door. We weren't able to go inside, but we talked with her on her doorstep and she told us about a severe injure she had a few years back from which she still experiences pain daily. Just that morning I had been studying in Alma 40:23 which talks about the resurrection and had marked it in a book of Mormon to share with someone that day. I opened directly to that verse and read it to her after explaining how I had felt that morning that someone needed to hear it. She was touched by a message delivered by a stranger but seemingly tailored directly for her.

Directly after teaching her, we knocked on a few of her neighbors doors. One of the neighbors was sitting outside, so we started talking to her and I had also studied about prayer in my study that morning, so we told her that she had a Father in Heaven who wants to communicate with her through prayer and asked her if she had ever tried praying before. She hadn't, and there were two empty chairs beside her calling to us, so we asked if we could sit down and teach her how to pray. A little surprised, she accepted our offer and we got to teach her right then how to pray and invite her to do so. We can't afford to forget how precious prayer is. It can easily become routine or taken for granted, but in all reality it is our lifeline, a direct communication with an all powerful God who created us, knows us, and loves us. I can testify that it was a direct answer to our our prayers that day that we were able to teach two new people, and that God had not only prepared them to hear it but had also prepared us to share what they needed to hear.

Äldste Sirrine 

For P-day today we went to the coast of Vänern, 

a great lake here in Sweden about 5 times the size

 of the Great Salt Lake. 

This is my view as I write this email.

Drive out to the farm...Sorry for the poor quality 

pictures. It doesn't do it justice.