June 3, 2019 Flowers and moving boxes

Karlstad is built on a small archipelago, 

so bridges are everywhere you go

One of the members of our branch, a young adult named Lisa, recently moved to Florida but we're

currently teaching her mother who is not a member. This last Sunday was mother's day Sweden, so Lisa ordered flowers for her mom and we got to go pick them up and go deliver them in her place. It

Delivering flowers to Lisa's 

momfor mothers day

was neat to be a part of something so simple, but you could see how much it meant to her.

This last week we traveled down to Gothenburg for our district meeting. The vast majority (maybe 95%?) of the missionaries in Sweden come from the US, but right now our district of eight missionaries consists of missionaries from Finland, Canada, Austria, and my companion from Sweden, so we've deemed ourselves the international district.

A couple weeks ago, our elders quorum president was walking through his neighborhood and started talking with one of his neighbors, who's bound to a wheelchair. The man mentioned that he was going to move, so our elders quorum president jumped on it and asked if he could help and bring the help of the missionaries. The man was of course happy to accept the help, and on Saturday we got to help him move. It was raining pretty hard all day, but it couldn't dampen the joy of serving and meeting so many of his family and friends who all appreciated the help. They were also curious about what we do as missionaries which allowed us to share the gospel through word, in addition to deed.

I had neat experience in church yesterday. I sat listening to the testimonies of the members in the branch, but I found myself thinking and worrying about a few things that had happened throughout the week. I wasn't planning on going up and bearing my own testimony, but out of the blue an older man who was visiting from Germany came up to me and asked if I could go up with him and help him by translating. We went up together, but I was pretty shocked when he started speaking great Swedish. I only needed to help him with 3-4 words he was missing, but when he went to sat down I was prompted to stay and bear my own testimony. As I did so, an incredible peace and calm came over me and my mind was cleared. The things I had been worrying about were put into perspective as I had the opportunity to testify and remind myself of the simple truths of the gospel and the power of Jesus Christ that I have come to know for myself. I quickly realized that the man did not in reality need my help, but the Lord knew that I needed his. There is power in testimony, and I would encourage all to focus on the things you do know when life would have you doubt or worry about the things you don't.

Elder Sirrine

Here in Sweden they cut these trees into squares. For anyone familiar with the game Minecraft, it's pretty much a real-life version. (Fun fact: Minecraft was actually created in Sweden)