December 25, 2017 Skyping on Christmas day!

December 18, 2017 Jul kommer!

We saw a great dane in town...

pretty sure I could ride on that thing.

Swedish houses and snow...

doesn't get much more beautiful than that.

What a week! On Monday and Tuesday we got quite a bit of snow here which gave us some wonderful opportunities to serve! On Tuesday we were heading out to go contacting and I felt prompted to go see if we could help the Karlssons (The stake presidents family who lives in our branch). I mentioned this to Elder Cotton, but it was prime contacting time so we decided to go contacting and then go see if we could help later. After walking about 10 steps I got the feeling again so we turned around and went straight to their house. Upon arriving we found their neighbor, and e

Swedish snow plows

lderly man, shoveling his driveway. We went over and asked if we could help, which he gratefully accepted. After shoveling his driveway we were able to have a really nice conversation and share Light The World with him. We then went to the Karlssons and knocked on the door. Sister Karlsson answered the door in an apron and we asked if we could borrow their shovels to shovel their driveway. She was overwhelmed with gratitude and said that she was sick and her husband was at work, so she was just about to call us for help when we knocked on the door. We were able to shovel their driveway as well as three others that night. I am so grateful for the guidance of the spirit which gave us opportunities we would have missed otherwise. I testify that the Spirit truly guides us to that which the Lord would have us do. We must be worthy of it's companionship and strive to act boldly on its gentle promptings.


On Wednesday we got to celebrate Santa Lucia with our ward mission leader and his wife, Johan and Amrita Persson. Santa Lucia (the actual person) was Italian, but for some reason it is a Swedish holiday... Churches throughout Sweden have a program for Santa Lucia which includes singing Christmas songs and a whole lotta candles. We watched a program at the Persson's home that was broadcast from a church in Stockholm and had a big fika with them (Fikas are probably the one of the most Swedish traditions I can think of. They're basically what you think of when you think of tea party. There's usually tea, coffe, hot chocolate, etc. along with cake, cookies, or pretty much whatever sweets you want.) It was awesome to participate in the celebration of Santa Lucia and I love the focus it has on light. As is well known, Sweden get's pretty dark. Here in Eskilstuna the the sun currently comes up at 9 and sets at 2:50... It's definitely interesting because you feel like you should be heading

Centrum. They set up a massive Christmas tree,

present, and an ice skating rink!

to bed and then look at the clock and it's only 3 PM and you still have 7 hours to go! Fortunately it will only keep getting darker for 3 more days before it starts to get lighter, slowly but surely!


On Friday we had our Christmas zone conference in Handen! We actually traveled to Stockholm the night before where we stayed the night with four other elders so we didn't have to travel so far in the morning. Zone conference was actually our zone combined with the Norrland zone and it was

Some of the lights that are throughout town

right now.

absolutely amazing. As always, it was a wonderful time to receive instruction and ideas to help improve the way we work. We also received instruction regarding our proselyting during the holiday season. The biggest surprise we got during zone conference (and what I consider to be the greatest gift I could have this year) is that our Mission President wants every single missionary to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover between Christmas Eve and New Years. To do this, he has instructed us to use all of our personal study, companion study and and additional two hours of study every day to read the Book of Mormon. Most of the other things we talked about at zone conference were somewhat expected, but no one ever saw this coming, and I can't tell you how excited I am to have this opportunity. President Youngberg told us of another mission president who did this with his mission and he said it completely changed the mission. I can't wait to see what it does for ours.


I am so grateful for this Christmas season and the chance we have to celebrate the birth of Christ. We celebrate his birth, but remember that Christmas would not be possible without Easter. It was the Atonement of Jesus Christ that made everything possible, and without it all would be lost. Whatever our plans for this season, let us always remember our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. Christ always went about serving others and we learn in Mosiah 2:17 that "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." As we celebrate the birth of Christ, let us give Him the gift he asks of each of us, that is, let us find ways to love and serve others. As we do so, we will find the joy, happiness, and peace that each of us desires.


Äldste Sirrine

The river

The river... again. Too pretty not too send.

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

Nov 27, 2017 Hejdå Äldste Wilkinson och Välkommen Äldste Cotton!

Eskilstuna with snow

Elder Wilkinson's departure at the train station

It's been a crazy week! On Tuesday I said farewell to Äldste Wilkinson and welcomed Äldste Cotton to The Tuna! The weirdest part about the whole situation is the fact that I am no longer officially in training. Up to this point I have either been in the MTC or have had a trainer, but now that I have a new companion who doesn't know the area at all I have had to take the lead in many situations. Interestingly enough, we have a set of sisters here in Eskilstuna, but because Sister Hill just got a new missionary to train (Sister Clark), Out of the four of us I am now officially the missionary who has been in Eskilstuna the longest. Not only does it seem strange to say that, but it creates some interesting situations when the members turn to me with questions and expect me to have the answers because I've been here the longest, when in reality I have only been here 2 transfers and half that

Elder Cotton's arrival!

time I had absolutely no idea what anybody was saying... It's been really awesome though, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be stretched and to grow.

On Thanksgiving we were invited to a members house for dinner. She has lived in the US for several years and wants to do a Thanksgiving dinner for us, but she didn't have time to do so on Thursday because of work, so we will have our real Thanksgiving dinner with her this coming week! We ended up having hamburgers with her on Thursday, which is pretty American, so I guess it still counts :) Thanksgiving is truly one of my favorite holidays. What a great time to reflect on everything we have been given and to express our thanks. We often talk about how being happy is a choice, and I have come to realize the number one way to be happier is to express thanks. As we recognize everything we have been blessed with, the things we may yet lack seem to become less important and we are able to focus on the things that are most important. I am truly grateful for my savior Jesus Christ and the gift of His Atonement which is given to each and every one of us. At this time I am particularly grateful for the time I have here in Sweden to declare the good news of that gift to everyone I can. It truly is a blessing beyond measure and brings me greater joy than I ever could have thought possible.

This week we picked up a new investigator named Hanna. She is in her 40's, from Eritrea, has been here in Sweden 14 years, and has three kids ages 16,14, and 10. She is a member of Pyngstkyrkan (the Pentecostal Church), and at first she was afraid to come into our church, but after showing her around she got more comfortable and really liked it. We had the opportunity to teach her the restoration and she could feel the Spirit confirming it's truth. Her husband is not religious at all, and doesn't necessarily agree with it, but he is also not against them going to church. The interesting part is that when we asked her to come to church, she said she really wants to, but she can't because her kids won't want to because they are fairly active and involved in Pyngstkyrkan and it's youth groups... We've definitely never had this problem before... I've never had an investigator who wants to come to church but is kept from coming just because the kids are active in another church. While we are trying to figure out how we can reach out to her children, she has committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray. I believe that as she does so, her kids will notice the difference in her life, and they will want to learn more about the source of her change.

Our investigator Alan

This week we are having a major focus on the #LightTheWorld initiative! We either have, or will have visited every member in the branch to introduce the initiative (which is actually called #ettLJUSförVÄRLDEN in Swedish) by Dec 1st. We are inviting everybody to participate by doing 25 different acts of service in the 25 days of December leading up to Christmas. I would extend the invitation to everyone who reads this as well. If you go to Mormon.org there is a video and information about what #LightTheWorld is. Check Mormon.org each day as a new video is released along with several ideas of service you can try. This takes away any excuse you might

Member Karwo from Iran

have of not knowing how you can serve...The month of December is a wonderful time to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and what better gift to give Him than to serve those around us? The acts of service don't have to be anything big, in fact it is most often the small and simple things that have the greatest impact on those around us. Make a goal to serve someone each day during December.  Elder Cotton and I have set a goal to do so, and I look forward to the experiences we will have as we serve those around us and add our small light to the many that will truly #LightTheWorld this Christmas season.

Äldste Sirrine

Members Younus and Yosef from Iran (and little Thindra)

November 20, 2017 ¡Hola Amigos y Familia!

Some of the snow we got earlier this week.

Somehow in the last week we have gone from almost completely Middle Eastern investigators to South American investigators... looks like my Spanish contacting is paying off! Just kidding, despite having taken Spanish for three years in high school I have forgotten almost all of it as Swedish has taken over the foreign language department in my brain. I am still left wondering how we have picked up 3 Brazilians, a girl from El Salvador, and a girl with Chilean roots all in the last week because before this week I had seen about 2 other South Americans in Sweden total... It's been awesome though, and hearing Portuguese and Spanish has been super strange as it seems distantly familiar yet so foreign and different at the same time.

The first Brazilian we met this week is named Lillian and she belongs to the Pentecostal Church. We met her on the street and she was super nice. After a nice conversation with her we invited her to church, which she accepted and said she would bring her nephew along as well, and then before she left she wanted to pray with us. So there we were, 2 Mormon missionaries from America holding hands with a Brazilian who belongs to the Pentecostal Church, in the middle of the sidewalk (so that people had to walk into the street to get around us) while she prayed in Portuguese (which was a mixture of psalms and prayer) and we happened to be standing right in front of a Baptist church... Yep, that happened. It was actually a really neat experience and she ended up coming to church yesterday with her nephew. Several of the talks focused on stories from the Book of Mormon and afterwards she was very interested in the book and wants to learn more about it.

This week we had an absolutely amazing experience with our investigator Katerin. We are extremely blessed to have the Stake President, President Karlsson, and his family in our branch (they live about

We saw the sisters on out on the street, so we thought we'd take a picture

a 3 minute walk from our apartment actually) and they have told us that they want to feed our investigators and have lessons at their house. We invited Katerin over to their house and we taught her about repentance in the context of the Plan of Salvation. I cannot say how powerful it was to have the support of the members in that lesson. The spirit was incredibly strong, and they were able to add an additional witness to what we taught. Hearing the gospel from two guys in white shirts is one thing, but to actually see it applied in a home and hear it from others who live it, is a completely different thing and has far greater power than we as missionaries can have alone. The lesson went really well, and she now has a firm understanding of repentance which is the most important thing we could teach as missionaries to help others come unto Christ. We felt really good about the lesson, but it wasn't until the next day that we saw the full impact our lesson had had.

We met with Katerin again the next day to finish the Plan of Salvation (with a different member present) and she told us what happened the night before after she had left the Karlssons house. She had gone to visit her sister and cousin, and when she started talking about the church her cousin told her all sorts of false things about our church. Her cousin told her that we don't believe in Christ, we don't have the Holy Ghost, we don't treat women well, we force the women to wear dresses all the time, etc. When Katerin heard this she replied, "That's not true at all. They certainly believe in Christ and they definitely have the Holy Ghost because I have felt it stronger than ever before with them. Furthermore, I just had dinner at the house of some members and they were incredibly friendly and open, the man treated his wife with the utmost respect, and they wear normal clothes." As she told us this experience and how wrong her cousin was, we were amazed by the strength of her testimony and how wonderful it is that she was able to defend the witness and knowledge she has received by the power of the Holy Ghost. I can't help but wonder how that conversation with her cousin might have gone differently if we had not had the opportunity in the Karlssons home. She may have believed her cousin because she had not seen for herself, and she certainly would have had many questions. Because we had her over to the Karlssons she was able to see the gospel in action with her own eyes. When false claims were brought up, she was able to defend her faith because she had experienced it herself, it wasn't just something two guys in white shirts said. The Lord has asked us as missionaries to work with the members and has promised that when we do, we will find success. I testify that the Lord's promise is true. Prior to our lesson at the Karlssons we could not have imagined how important it would be, but we knew that it was something the Lord would have us do. Through this experience the Lord has given us a small glimpse that he truly has a plan, and He has a purpose and reason for everything he asks us to do. With our narrow mortal vision we may not be able to see or understand the reasoning for things we are asked to do by the Lord through his Apostles and Prophet, but I testify that he has an eternal perspective and can see the things that we cannot.

Elder Wilkinson in Centrum. Kinda looks like something you would see from Russia...

Last night we had transfer calls and found out that Elder Wilkinson will be leaving Eskilstuna and going to Linköping. I will be receiving Elder Cotton as a companion here on Tuesday. We thought Elder Wilkinson would have another transfer here in Eskilstuna, and I'm sad to see him go. He has had the utmost patience with me as I have learned, and has truly taught me by example how to be the kind of missionary I want to be. We've had some great experiences together and it saddens me to think that he won't be here to witness the progress of our investigators. I know that the Lord placed us together for a reason, and I know that now Elder Cotton is who I'm supposed to be with, so I look forward to the adventures and experiences that lie ahead!

Äldste Sirrine

November 13, 2017 Pray Ye in Holy Places and Be Not Moved

We had our first Snowfall on Saturday!

One of the interesting problems I never thought I would have is not being able to exit my apartment building because of a Muslim praying. Our apartment is right above a Mosque, and when we went to exit the building one time this week there was a Muslim who was praying right in front of the door, so we had to wait for a little bit... We felt a little bad disturbing, but we found the whole situation pretty funny.

This week my companion and I were asked to help out with a funeral for the mother of our branch president. I was asked to play some hymns for the funeral and for the most part the hymn books have the same hymns, but there are several hymns added in that aren't in the English hymnbook, so I got to learn some Swedish hymns this week. Some of the Swedish hymns are super cool, and I wish we had them in the English hymnbooks as well! We found out that an interesting Swedish tradition is that men wear white ties to funerals. Our branch president was explaining this to us and told us that he once went to a funeral in Finland (his wife is Finnish) and wore a white tie, because that's how he's always done it, but apparently in Finland the tradition is to wear a black tie. He said he was the only person wearing a white tie and that he will definitely never make that mistake again.

Yesterday I was gave my first talk in Swedish and I can testify, as I have before, that the Gift of Tongues is real. Although not perfect by any means, with the help of the Lord I was able to present my message to the congregation in a way that invited the true teacher, the spirit, to testify. The Gift of Tongues is truly a gift, and it doesn't mean that God would deny us the great opportunity to struggle as we learn a new language. It certainly has been, and continues to be something I struggle with each day, but it is only through the struggle that we learn, and God would not deny us that blessing. As I interact with others I am continually reminded how greatly the Lord has helped me. As I speak with immigrants on the street I am amazed at how so many can't speak the language and have been here for several years, while with the Lord's help I am able to speak communicable Swedish after two months. When the Lord asks us to do something hard, he will always prepare a way, and he will not leave us without help.

This week we had a great lesson with our investigator Katrine. The night before the lesson she texted us and asked us if we payed tithing in our church. We told her that we did and said that we could explain it further in our lesson the next day. At the beginning of our meeting with her the next day she explained to us how grateful she was that God had put us into her life. She had previously belonged to a different church and gradually stopped going, but she said that she had just started to feel like she should come back to God when we found her on the street. She knows that this is what she needs in her life, and the spirit has confirmed to her that this is Christ's restored church on the Earth. As we discussed tithing she let out a sigh of relief, much to our surprise. She explained how glad she was that we pay tithing in our church because she had payed tithing in her previous church, and she knows that when she pays tithing, her finances are blessed, which she really needs right now. How amazing it is that she realizes the blessings that come from keeping the law of tithing, and I add my witness to hers that as we pay our tithing, the Lord truly "open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

New winter coat.

This week we had a lesson with Mekonen, who's been a member for about a year. We have been trying to get him to more actively take part in helping us with the sacrament, and to deepen his conversion. Mekonen is from Ethiopia and the question is not "What should we teach him?" but rather "What does he want to teach us?" We always go in there with a lesson plan, but as soon as we start teaching a principle he goes off for several minutes explaining his knowledge of the principle through stories and experiences he's had. As we sit there listening we sometimes wonder where he he's going with his story because it seems to be going in a completely different direction, but then in the end he always brings it back together and we just sit there in amazement at how effectively his story had just taught something. As we visited him on Saturday he began to tell us his life story. We sat in silence as we listened to how his wife had died three days after his son was born, how he was in the military and was taken as a prisoner of war for 182 days where he slept on cement, was beaten, and had only the clothes on his back. When he was finally released he escaped to Sudan and then Sweden. During the whole time he worried about his son, who he was not reunited with until years later in Sweden. After describing all this, and so many other awful things that had happened to him, he looked at us with a smile on his face and said, "And now, none of it matters, because of Christ." He explained how he had researched and been a part of many different churches, but it wasn't until he met the missionaries in Sweden that he found what he knows to be the true church of Christ. Through the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he has been able to let go of everything that has happened in the past, because he knows that Christ has experienced all of it, and that through Christ everything is made fair and just. He now cherishes the friendships and support he has found in the church, and he thanks God for every blessing he now enjoys. What a wonderful example Mekonen is to all of us. Whenever we may think that that we're doing the right things and yet something we have experienced is hard or unfair, we should remember that through Christ, who was perfect and yet suffered more than anyone else, the Plan of Salvation is made possible and everything will not only be made fair, but we will be blessed far beyond anything we could deserve of ourselves. Nothing about the Plan of Salvation is unfair. Remember the Plan of Salvation, or in other words, the Plan of Happiness and that as our prophet Thomas S. Monson has said, "Our future is as bright as our faith."

Äldste Sirrine