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.