August 20, 2018 And thus we see that summer comes to an end...

The Vasa Museum

Last Monday we got to go to the Vasa Museum for P-day. The Vasa is perhaps the most famous museum in Sweden, and is the museum all the missionaries try to visit. For most, they have to ask permission to leave their area to come visit it, but for Elder Bills and I here in Stockholm, it's literally

The Vasa Museum

right across the bridge from our apartment. The Vasa Museum contains an entire battle ship, The Vasa, that set sail in 1628 but sunk after just 25 minutes of sailing due to instability. Amazingly, the Baltic Sea has such a low salinity level and the water is so cold that the ship and everything in it was almost perfectly preserved for 333 years. Then, in the 1960's, they found the ship and salvaged it, placing it in a museum that would preserve it. I have to say, that was probably one of the coolest things I have seen. Shipping and sailing has been such a prominent part of Stockholm's history, so it was incredible to learn more about it and imagine what life in that time would have been like.

This week was a bit of a whirlwind as I ended up going on exchanges with Elder Butler in Gubbängen on Tuesday and then Elder Waters in Stockholm on Wednesday. District leaders go on exchanges with each

Splits with Elder Waters

elder in the district each transfer, which usually isn't too many, but when the district is just 8 elders, and no sisters, it ends up being quite a few. It was a really great opportunity to learn from both Elder Butler and Elder Waters, who are phenomenal missionaries. I definitely got some good ideas I want to implement in my own work.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Swedish culture is how everyone just picks up and leaves during the summer. Sure, people back home would go on vacation during the summer, but Swedes take it to a whole new level. Because everyone gets several more vacation days here, everybody takes vacation during the summer and leaves for 5-6 weeks. There were families and people we teach that we didn't see for an entire transfer, and weeks at church were there was only about a third of the ward in attendance. Thankfully everybody is now returning from their vacations with the start of school, and at church on Sunday we were back to about 80 members in attendance. We're certainly grateful that everybody is back, and we're looking forward to all the new opportunities that will arise!

This week I was reading the talk "Until Seventy Times Seven" by Elder Lynn G. Robbins from the April 2018 general conference, and was greatly impressed by what he said. "“Success,” it has been said, “isn’t the absence of failure, but going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm...Hopefully, each mistake we make becomes a lesson in wisdom, turning stumbling blocks into stepping-stones." This stood out to me because it's something I have noticed and have been thinking a lot about. I have seen that every trial I face, each mistake I make, can teach me something. When we have an attitude of humility and look for the lessons we can learn from our mistakes, they turn from moments of sorrow or anger to moments of rejoicing and learning. When I have such an attitude regarding my challenges, I find myself actually rejoicing for the challenges I face, and expressing gratitude that the Lord would use something small to teach me something great. If we can learn from even the small challenges or disappointments we encounter, we will likely be able to avoid even greater challenges that lie in the future. Regardless of the effort it may take on our part to learn from our mistakes, it is through the Savior that it is made possible. He tells us in Ether 12:27 that "If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Äldste Sirrine

Elder Bills got a mug at the Vasa's gift shop. 

As some sort of Christening, he decided to fill it with 

water from the Stockholm Harbor and drink from it. 

One of the coolest statues I have come across