A time lapse of the 45 min car ride from Södertälje to Eskilstuna!
October 9, 2017
Well this week the weather turned pretty cold. The whole week has been really cold and rainy which makes it interesting to talk to people, especially on the weekend when it seems to turn into a ghost town here. It's hard enough to find people, and then they don't exactly want to stop and talk in the rain which is understandable. I would say one of the greatest differences in weather so far between Sweden and Utah is the rain. It doesn't usually rain as hard, but it lasts all day and is often just a misting rain which is really weird because it doesn't feel like it's raining but everything gets soaked. It's also notoriously windy here in Eskilstuna which makes things pretty fun when it's cold and wet. On the bright side, the trees are turning colors which is absolutely beautiful (sorry I don't have any pictures of that). On the not so bright side (literally) it's starting to get dark here, and you know it's starting to get dark when the mission president instructs everybody to take 2,000-4,000 IU of Vitamin D each day. The work still goes on, and it's an absolutely amazing time to be here in Sweden! I am really grateful that we have been working with the members to get more referrals and that we are starting to see the fruit of the labor as winter sets in, so we can teach more lessons when it's not quite as fun to be outside.
We didn't have to many lessons this week, so we spent a lot of time finding. We did have a really good lesson with Nadia about fasting though. She fasted yesterday, and said it was a really good experience. What made the experience even better is that she had to be in Stockholm this weekend so she couldn't come to church here in Eskilstuna, but she found a ward in Stockholm to go to! We were so thrilled that she would make the effort to go to church even while out of town which is not something she would have done a couple months ago. What a great example she is of faith and keeping the Sabbath Day holy.
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| The Church Building |
On Saturday we had an experienced that strengthens my conviction that the Lord truly hears and answers our prayers. Two of our investigators, Alan and Ibrahim, live together (in the same apartment complex that Elder Wilkinson and I live in) and we have been working towards their baptismal date of Nov 11. Elder Wilkinson started teaching Alan a couple months ago, and Ibrahim was present during a couple lessons, but he wasn't interested and would always be doing something else while we taught. The biggest problem for Alan is that he works as a photographer in Stockholm on the weekends, so he hasn't been able to come to church. About a month ago Alan had to go Greece to meet his mother who was fleeing from Syria, and he was helping her make it to Germany. He has been gone ever since, but one day we went by to see if he was back and Ibrahim answered the door. He informed us that Alan wasn't home, but he said we could come in. This was a little surprising, but we just sat down and started teaching him. We have been teaching Ibrahim ever since, and I have previously shared stories about the amazing progress that we have seen him make. Unfortunately, Ibrahim works as a technician at a theater in Stockholm on the weekends so he has been unable to come to church. For the past couple weeks Elder Wilkinson and I have been very concerned about both of them. They love learning about the Gospel and they want to be baptized, but they are unable to be baptized if they work on the weekends and can't come to church. We have been praying with all our might in their behalf, that their situation might change. Telling someone that they have to quit their job to join the church isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, but we had planned to teach Ibrahim about keeping the Sabbath Day holy this week, and saw no other way around the problem. On Saturday we were on our way home and took a slightly different route so we passed by their apartment. We glanced in and saw Ibrahim, who also saw us and beckoned us in. We were pretty shocked because he is normally in Stockholm working for the weekends, so we weren't expecting him to be home. We went in and began to teach him, but as we talked with him we found out that his job had changed so he know works during the week instead of the weekend so he can now come to church, and that he was excited to come on Sunday! We couldn't believe what we were hearing, and just then the door opened and Alan walked in. Let's just say we were more than a little surprised at the appearance of Alan, who has been in Greece and who we haven't seen for about a month. The lesson kind of went out the window at the point as we began to catch up with Alan and we asked him about his trip. He said he had just gotten back the day before, and that he was planning on coming to church on Sunday without telling us so he could surprise us. As we sat and talked with Alan, Ibrahim mentioned that he was going to church on Sunday with us which shocked Alan because he had no idea that we had been teaching Ibrahim. At first Alan thought we were joking, but when he realized we were telling the truth, he was overcome with excitement. Alan then told us that he too was going to come to church because his job is done for the winter (apparently nobody uses photographers in the winter...). I can't tell you how overjoyed we were to hear this. We have been praying for weeks that their job situations would change, and right before we go to teach Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, the Lord answered our prayers and their jobs changed so they can attend church, come closer their Savior, and are eligible to be baptized. I testify that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers. He cares about His children and wants each to return to him. As we pour out our hearts to Him in prayer, he will hear us and he will answer in his own way and in his own time.
Äldste Sirrine
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I don't think I ever sent this one, but this is my MTC group at the airport the day we arrived in Sweden!
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