January 7, 2019 Gott Nytt År

Elder Ellis and I

The beauty of winter :)

We had a great New Years and were able to have dinner at the Iguarans house. They come from Columbia, and the dad had just gotten back from a visit there, so he brought a bunch of food back and we had genuine Columbian food for dinner! Feliz Año Nuevo :)

This week we witnessed a cool miracle, and of course it was the last door we knocked on for the night ;) When the mom approached the door, we recognized her as the woman with whom we had talked to in Backens Kyrka on Christmas morning where we attended Julotta with two families in the ward. The members we were with had just started talking to her, and she seemed like a really nice lady, but I hadn't thought of her since. We were both surprised to see each other when we knocked on her door, and we had a really good conversation with her. We mentioned that the Karlssons lived in the apartment building just 40 meters away from her home, which totally surprised her as she has never met them before or since Julotta. In the end she told us that she wasn't interested in learning any more, but she accepted a Book of Mormon and a card. We hope to return back soon and see if she's had a chance to read any.

We also went on exchanges this week, and I got to be in Örnsköldsvik (yeah, the pronunciation on

Örnsköldsvik

that one is pretty fun.... something like earn-sholds-veek) and I got to be with Elder Udeji! He originally comes from Nigeria, but he's also lived in Spain for five years and Sweden for five years, so he's about the closest thing we have to a native Swedish missionary (we actually have one other native Swede in the mission). He also speaks fluent Swedish, English, Spanish, an african tribal language, and he's learning French. So regardless of who he meets on the street, he's pretty covered.

Swedes really like to celebrate around Christmas time (despite being one of the most atheist countries in the world...they just like an excuse to celebrate) and New Years, so proselyting was less effective. Because of this, our mission president challenged us to read as many scriptures in the TG under the 57 subheadings of Jesus Christ as possible, and he gave us 3 hours a day to do so. I only made it about 3/4 of the way through, so I'm still working on it a bit at a time, but it was an amazing experience that completely changed my perspective and understanding of Christ. I find it incredible that he is the one that created both the heavens and the earth, calmed the storm by his word, and walked on water, yet it is with those same hands with which he performed miracles that he promises to lift us and comfort us. I have certainly felt him lift and strengthen me beyond my own strength, and I have heard his calming voice comfort me. I know He lives, and he stands there beckoning to each of us to come unto Him.


Äldste Sirrine 

This is called a spark. It's a type of sled used 

by people here as a mode of transportation 

when all the streets and paths get covered by 

snow. Older people especially like to use it 

in replacement of their walkers.