Last night we had transfer calls! As expected, Sister Eriksson (the only Swedish missionary in the mission) will be going home this transfer, and Sister Heroldsen, another missionary in the district, will be transferring. As not expected, I will also be transferring. We definitely thought the zone leaders were joking, as we really thought I would stay another transfer, but it turns out I will actually be leaving the big city of Göteborg and going to the even bigger city of Stockholm! To make things even more interesting, Göteborg and Stockholm are the only two areas in Sweden with a YSA center, and somehow I am hitting both back to back! I think I am probably the only missionary to have ever managed serving in both, let alone one right after the other...
Due to the unexpected transfer, we decided to hit the biggest item on my bucket list here in Göteborg, visiting one of the islands, Björkö. We left this morning, and after taking a series of busses and a
Due to the unexpected transfer, we decided to hit the biggest item on my bucket list here in Göteborg, visiting one of the islands, Björkö. We left this morning, and after taking a series of busses and a
ferry, we arrived on the island and then proceeded to walk across it. We eventually reached our destination, and as we traveled I looked around and was blown away by the beauty of Göteborg and the perfect weather we were blessed with. While the destination was certainly incredible, I would have to say that the journey there was actually the most enjoyable part, as it allowed me to see and experience such a variety of landscape. I thought of how our lives our similar to our expedition. While our destination is truly grand, we cannot let such future grandeur keep us from experiencing the joy in our journey there. There will certainly be hard times, but we must learn to look around and enjoy the moments that are ours. If we are always looking to some future day, some future event to make us happy, we will miss much of the joy that our Heavenly Father desires us to have.
On Tuesday, Elder Bringhurst and I decided we wanted to find a new investigator (preferably a Swedish family) so we decided to go tracting and thought of where we should go. We felt that we should tract around the house of one of the members in the ward, so we prayed and started biking in that direction. As we were biking, I saw a nice looking area and the scripture came to my mind "It is not needful for mine elders to be moving swiftly...whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief." (D&C 61:3) and that if there is a good area close to our apartment, we should tract there and not be afraid to divert our course even after just a couple minutes of biking. I stopped and asked Elder Bringhurst if we should tract there and he replied that he felt we should. The people in the area were incredibly nice, which gave us many opportunities to testify, and we found a lady named Linda who is interested in learning more about God and our message. She currently doesn't believe in God, but she wants to find out if He exists. We continued tracting the area, and as we walked past a house, Elder Bringhurst saw a lady in a basement window, waved to her, and she smiled back. We knocked on the door and there was no answer, so we knocked again. Still no answer. Disappointed, we continued onward and finished the street. After doing so, Elder Bringhurst said, "I really feel like we need to talk to that lady I waved at. Should we go knock again?" We decided to go back, and right as we approached the door, the woman and her boyfriend came out the door, going for a walk. We started talking to them and had an awesome conversation about faith. When we asked if we could meet again, they said that this is one area of their life they feel like they've got handled, so they weren't interested, but they thanked us for what we're doing. We asked if they had heard of the Book of Mormon, and he said that he actually has a list of books that he wants to read, and the Book of Mormon is on his list! He then added that he would move it to the top of the list because we had talked with him. We asked if he would like a copy, and he happily accepted one along with a card. I will say that there have been few occasions where I have felt more guided by the Lord. As we followed the spirit, we were literally sent to deliver His word to one who had been prepared.
Äldste Sirrine
On Tuesday, Elder Bringhurst and I decided we wanted to find a new investigator (preferably a Swedish family) so we decided to go tracting and thought of where we should go. We felt that we should tract around the house of one of the members in the ward, so we prayed and started biking in that direction. As we were biking, I saw a nice looking area and the scripture came to my mind "It is not needful for mine elders to be moving swiftly...whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief." (D&C 61:3) and that if there is a good area close to our apartment, we should tract there and not be afraid to divert our course even after just a couple minutes of biking. I stopped and asked Elder Bringhurst if we should tract there and he replied that he felt we should. The people in the area were incredibly nice, which gave us many opportunities to testify, and we found a lady named Linda who is interested in learning more about God and our message. She currently doesn't believe in God, but she wants to find out if He exists. We continued tracting the area, and as we walked past a house, Elder Bringhurst saw a lady in a basement window, waved to her, and she smiled back. We knocked on the door and there was no answer, so we knocked again. Still no answer. Disappointed, we continued onward and finished the street. After doing so, Elder Bringhurst said, "I really feel like we need to talk to that lady I waved at. Should we go knock again?" We decided to go back, and right as we approached the door, the woman and her boyfriend came out the door, going for a walk. We started talking to them and had an awesome conversation about faith. When we asked if we could meet again, they said that this is one area of their life they feel like they've got handled, so they weren't interested, but they thanked us for what we're doing. We asked if they had heard of the Book of Mormon, and he said that he actually has a list of books that he wants to read, and the Book of Mormon is on his list! He then added that he would move it to the top of the list because we had talked with him. We asked if he would like a copy, and he happily accepted one along with a card. I will say that there have been few occasions where I have felt more guided by the Lord. As we followed the spirit, we were literally sent to deliver His word to one who had been prepared.
Äldste Sirrine
Our Adventure to Björkö
The sign says "Whatever you do, have fun while you do it" Bj
