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| The river and a cool church |
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| The view from a member's balcony. It's a little foggy so you don't get the full affect, but it is a stunning view. |
Well, what a week it has been! I don't really know where to start... so I guess I'll start from the beginning. We left the MTC at 3:30 AM on Aug 28th, went to the airport, and left at about 8:30. I have to say, travelling to the airport was the first time that I really felt like a missionary, carrying my suitcases and all, and it was really weird to think that I was going to another country for two years. We had a layover in New York for a grand total of 20 min which was super exciting when it came to finding the next flight, but we made it! The flight to Sweden was long, but it was super cool. My companion Äldste Radford was supposed to be sitting next to me on the plane, but since he is waiting for a visa, his seat was filled by a 22 year old girl from Korea named Jane. We began talking, and it turns out she has lived back and forth between Korea and the States, so she speaks really good English, and she has been doing an internship in Sweden for the last six months. As we were talking she asked why our whole group was dressed up so nice for such a long flight. I told her that we were serving a mission and began to tell her about the church. She asked a lot of really good questions and was totally open, so I ended up teaching her the whole Restoration. Looks like my first real lesson as a missionary was actually on a plane, somewhere over the Atlantic, not in Sweden. She also asked about prayer so I taught her how to pray, and the whole time I was talking about prayer she was tearing up. I know she felt something, and I hope she continues to act on the feeling and impressions she received. It was one of the coolest experiences I've had though. It was the first time I had ever felt the kind of love that missionaries feel. I had never met her before, yet I wanted her to accept the gospel so bad because I knew how much it would bless her life. I wanted to do everything in my power to help her, and it just made me sad that after we landed I would never have the opportunity to teach her again. I didn't have a book of Mormon on me, so I turned around and asked Äldste Moss if I could give her his. He actually wrote his testimony in the book, and we gave it to her along with a pass along card and information on how to contact the missionaries where she lived. I invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and I hope with all my heart that she does so and has a desire to know more.
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| President and Sister Youngberg |
We spent the night at the mission home and the next day we got our trainers and our first areas. I have been assigned to Eskilstuna, with Elder Wilkinson as my trainer! As it turns out, Elder Wilkinson was trained by Elder Jämsä, so my very first experience contacting was with my mission grandpa as they say. We even got a nice three generation picture together :) After getting our assignments and having
a very Swedish lunch of meatballs and potatoes, we hopped on the train, and traveled about an hour West of Stockholm to Eskilstuna. Eskilstuna is a really cool town, and it seems that almost half the population are immigrants which is super awesome. After we arrived and dropped my stuff off at apartment, we went to the church where we helped set up a lesson in Persian over Skype. We skyped a lady in California who is a member and speaks Persian, so she teaches people from all over.
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| My trainer Äldste Wilkinson and I. |
The next day was my first full day in the field, and one of the best so far. We had a lesson with an
elderly man, Peter, who is a Jehovah Witness, and he invited his friend over who used to be a Jehova's Witness. We didn't really know what to expect going into the lesson, but we walked in to his house and he immediately gave us sandwiches and cake. We had a good lesson and while Peter didn't seem too interested, his friend Järgin seems interested, and we hope to teach him again. The best part of all this is that I was fed by a Jehovah's Witness before I was even fed by a member! We went to a member's house for dinner that night though, so it wasn't too far behind. We also had a lesson that night with Allan. Allan is from Syria and has been living in Sweden for three years, which means it's super fun to talk to him because he speaks a mix of Swedish, English, and Arabic, so translating get's interesting. We were originally just dropping by to see how he's doing because he used to be an investigator, but he's been out of contact for a couple months. We had planned to share Alma 36:18-20 with him, but when he read it he didn't quite understand it, so he asked if he could read the whole chapter. We definitely weren't going to object to this, so there we were sitting on his couch listening to him read Alma 36 in Arabic while we attempted to follow in Swedish (most of which I still don't understand anyway). It was actually really cool, and he absolutely loved the scripture. He loves Christ, and we extended a Baptismal date which he accepted with enthusiasm! We hope he works towards his baptismal date of October 28th with diligence, and we are going to do everything we can to help him.
This whole week has been awesome, and I have loved serving here in Eskilstuna. People are more open to us on the street, which is truly a relief after Stockholm, and the feeling I get when we talk to people and teach people is indescribable. I truly love being able to go out and share the gospel with people every day.
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| A really cool little road |
That's about all I have time for, and I wish I could share more than this sliver of what has happened over the past week and a half, but just know that I love it here and the work is amazing. The people I have met are wonderful, and Sweden is absolutely beautiful. There is no place I'd rather be, and nothing I'd rather be doing at this time :)
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| The District! After district meeting we went to Folket's which is right by our apartment and has some amazing shawarma. |
