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| Pictures of Kyrkogården (I apologize that the pictures can't do it justice) |
Overall it has been a wonderful week here in Eskilstuna! We had Zone Conference this week, and we received a lot of wonderful instruction and ideas from leaders that we can apply as we strive to help others come unto Christ. We found out at Zone Conference that our mission has been approved to be a technology mission! We are currently the only mission in the world that uses iPhones, but this means that we will be switching to Samsung smart phones (the church is no longer using tablets for missionaries) and every missionary will have one, instead of one per companionship. It also means that we will start using social media as a means to contact people and spread the gospel. Beyond that, we don't know any details yet as President Youngberg had just received word that this would happen. The only thing he knows is that we have been approved, and that it will happen "sooner than later".
It turns out that Halloween is a celebrated holiday here in Sweden, although there is no trick or treating (apparently they do a sort of trick or treating around Easter) and people usually only celebrate it by having a party the weekend after Halloween. We were invited to celebrate Alla Helgons Dag, which is Nov 4th, with some members. We went to Kyrkogården (the cemetery) where the tradition is to light candles for your deceased ancestors. It was a massive cemetery and it was an absolutely stunning sight to see literally thousands of candles lit throughout. I wish I could properly capture the amazing experience through pictures, but they just don't do it justice.
Unfortunately our investigator Ibrahim will not be getting baptized this Saturday as planned. He met with some friends and the next day when we went to teach him he told us that he couldn't continue with our church... He claims he doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon which quite frankly I don't believe is true. We are still unsure as to the cause, because his testimony was so strong. Something his friends said to him gave him doubts, but thankfully he has agreed to continue reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and meeting with us. He has continued to be one of our best friends and while I don't know how long it will take him, I see this only as a temporary set back to his progress. As we taught him we bore testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this is Jesus Christ's restored church on the Earth. Regardless of how he chooses to act from here, I must say that I have never felt the Spirit witness to me with more power that this is the true church than it did during that lesson. While he expressed his doubts and concerns nothing he said could hold up against the witness that the spirit gave me at that moment. I cannot express how sad I am for Ibrahim and the pain it brings me to see him turn away from the unbelievable joy and gladness the gospel brings. However, I am grateful that my Heavenly Father would allow me to be there, and that he shed forth his spirit in confirmation to me that this is Christ's restored church on the Earth.
This week my Heavenly Father has been incredibly merciful in showing me what I consider missionary work "payoff" moments. On Tuesday we had a lesson with Nadia in which we talked about baptism. She is still unsure about baptism, and we have been trying to help her recognize the answers and promptings of the spirit in her life. During the middle of the lesson she just looked at us and said, "Gosh! Why do you guys always have to say the right thing?" What a wonderful opportunity we then had to explain that we don't just show up for these lessons, we prepare ourselves through prayer to our Heavenly Father that he will guide us and give us the things to say. We were able to bear testimony that when it sounds as if we say "just the right thing" it's because it is the Lord speaking to her through us, His representatives.
I had another missionary "payoff" moment on Friday while on companion exchanges with Elder Malone. We contacted two young Swedish guys around 10 AM one of which was agnostic but the other, Simon, believed in God, although he is unsure whether Christ is really the Son of God or not. We talked with them for a time and exchanged numbers with them. We continued on with our daily activities with the intent to call them the next day and set up a teaching appointment. Later that day, around 5 PM we were out contacting people and approached a group of three people who we could hear were talking about Jesus Christ. We were a little surprised because that is not a topic you hear discussed very often here in Sweden. Intrigued, we approached them only to discover that it was the two guys we had met earlier, along with a girl. We stopped them and explained that we had heard them talking about Christ, to which Simon replied, "Yeah! I was just telling her all about it actually!" Not wanting to disrupt such a conversation we encouraged him to continue and bid farewell. It was so cool to see that the conversation we had earlier had led him to talk about Christ with someone else. As missionaries we often don't get to see the affect we have on many people. Certainly there are the few people we meet on the street that we have the chance to meet and teach, but with the vast majority of people we only get to share a brief part of our message and we never see them again. For me, as long as something I say can improve their life in some small way, lighten their burden, or even just give them a glimpse of hope, it's all worth it. Unfortunately, as missionaries we don't get to see these types of effects very often, and it can be easy to think that nobody is listening. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father would place them in our path at both times so that I could see one example of the impact we have on others as we share our message with others around us, even if it seems as though they don't listen. Because we talked with Simon and his friend on the street, their thoughts were turned to Christ throughout that day, and they shared the message of Christ with someone else. To see that was absolutely amazing, and I testify that we have an affect on others far beyond what we can see as we share the gospel. This principle isn't true just for missionaries either. We can all share the light of Christ and the goodness of his gospel as others. It may not seem to be anything grand or to have any immediate effect, but I know that God has a plan and these interactions have a far greater impact on people than we can possibly understand.
Äldste Sirrine
