July 9, 2018 Heja Sverige!

Watching the World Cup

Last week we got one of the most surprising texts I have received on my mission. The text came from our mission president, and he was giving all the missionaries permission to watch the Sweden vs England match in the World Cup! It was the World Cup quarter finals, and literally everyone who wasn't working would be watching it, so we were allowed to view it with members as way to participate in a major cultural activity and develop relationships with ward members as well. Unfortunately Sweden lost, but it was still a great experience and a lot of fun.

Despite living in Sweden, we managed to have not just one, but two fourth of July celebrations! The first came in the form of a red, white, and blue cake a member made for us after we helped paint

Our Fourth of July cake

some chairs for them, and the second was dinner with an American family. The mom works at the American embassy, so it's hard to get more American than that! There were no fireworks, but otherwise it was just as good as the real thing back home!

This week we have witnessed the hand of the Lord in many different aspects of the work, including finding a new investigator. On Sunday, July 1st, we were on the train to go to a members house for dinner, and we met a guy named Gabriel. As we talked with him, he said he had read the Bible about two weeks ago, but he thought it was all made up, so he put it to the side. He then continued to say that since reading the Bible, a bunch of things have happened that have made him start to think that God is trying to find him, and then all of a sudden we show up. He was definitely shocked by our appearance, and when we asked if he believed in God, he said that he believes in God, because a bunch of crazy things have happened recently, but he doesn't know too much. We told him that we had a message for him, and he was curious to hear it, but his stop was coming up so we had to exchange phone numbers quite literally as he was running out the door. We went to dinner, and the members would have given us a ride home afterword, but their car had gotten a flat tire, so we had to take the train. We hadn't been on the train too long when suddenly Gabriel got on as well, and his face when he saw us was absolutely priceless. He came directly over to us and we continued our conversation, this time getting his address and setting up a meeting for Tuesday at 11. Excited for the opportunity to teach him, we gave him a text on Tuesday morning to confirm the appointment, but we received no answer. Hopeful he just hadn't seen the message we traveled to his apartment and were there at the appointed time. Naturally there was a port code, quite possilbly my least favorite device ever created, so we gave him a call, but got no answer. There wasn't much we could do, and then suddenly a Postnord man (mailman) showed up and let us into the building. The people that work at Postnord are seriously angels in disguise. They only go to a building one time per day, but it seems to always happen when we're locked out and need to get inside a building. We got inside the building, and had a list of all the residents, but it was by last name, which we didn't have... Suddenly we had the idea to try finding him on Facebook by searching the name Gabriel with every last name on the list. There were a lot of names on the list, and it seemed unlikely, but it was worth a try. After some time, I offered a prayer that we might be guided to the right name on the list so we wouldn't have to try every single one, and after trying just two more names we heard someone coming down the stairs who turned out to be our man Gabriel. He was excited to see us, and explained that he had lost his phone, so there was no way to contact us, but he had come down the stairs in the hope of finding us. He also added that he never gives his address out, but was glad he had, otherwise we would not have been able to come. As we began to teach him, he said there was no doubt in his mind that God exists after everything that had happened, and he wanted to know why God had sent us. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and how to pray, the means of communication God has provided for us to find such an answer for ourselves. The way Gabriel put it, he wants to find the truth and will look under every stone to find it, and it's my testimony that such a sincere seeker will surely find.

Gabriel also came on Saturday morning to play soccer with the ward, and then later to the Karlssons house with us to watch the World Cup match Saturday afternoon. We got a text from him before the World Cup match asking if he could bring his older brother, Kim, and we replied that we'd love to

Sanding/painting chairs for some members

have him along as well. They both really enjoyed watching the game with us, and Gabriel told us the next day at church the reason he had invited his brother. He said, "I was just going to come, but then a thought out of nowhere hit me that I should invite my brother. He's been having a really tough time, and doesn't think anyone cares about him, so I wanted to show him that people do in fact love him and care for him." The love of Jesus Christ is made manifest through our actions, and although we may not think anyone notices, they do. Gabriel certainly noticed the love that comes from the ward members, or he would not have thought to invite his brother to feel of it. I'm grateful that Gabriel could feel our love for him, and that the members treated him with the same love the Savior has for each of us. 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." Sometimes the best way to do missionary work is to simply to live our faith and follow the example of Jesus Christ by loving others.

Äldste Sirrine

We saw this car right outside our apartment

(the door in the background is ours). The 

look on Elder Bills face accurately 

describes our reaction :)

Elder Bills gave his first talk

 in Swedish, so I was helping

 him correct the Swedish