I believe in a God of Miracles

Back in Stockholm!

This week has been quite the adventure! Elder Bjornn and I arrived in our new area, Täby, to absolutely no Area Book (all we had was a piece of paper with one name and a corresponding phone number on it), and we didn't even have SIM card for the phone or bus cards for the first day. So it was pretty much as blank as it could be.


We're living at the mission office along with the Assistants and office elders which has been a lot of

fun. Our mission has gotten rid of all the 4 man apartments we had, so having six missionaries in one

apartment is definitely unusual. On Saturday we ran to a nearby soccer field and were able to play

Us and the assistants on the 

subway. From left to right: 

Elder Lewis, me, 

Elder Bjornn (my companion),

 and Elder Steele.

soccer for our morning exercise with just missionaries which was pretty fun. We also work in the same area as the Assistants, and together we're able to accomplish a lot here with the ward's help.

As mentioned earlier, we didn't have a phone number for the new area, so we got the phone number that the sister missionaries used to have here in Täby. The good news is that we have a phone number. The bad news is that literally all the members and missionaries we call have our phone number saved as "Sister Missionaries" in their phone contacts... BUT, after having this number activitated for just four days, we got a call from a random number. It was Saturday afternoon and when we answered the phone, and the guy on the other end said, "Um... are you the guys I talk with to become a member in your church?" Well, the only thing we could really think to say in reply was, "Yeah". After talking to him and getting some more details, we met him at the church just an hour later and had a lesson with him. He's an 18 year old named Leo who is looking for a "more Christian" church than the one he used to belong to, and he wants it to feel right. He has a cousin who lives in Finland who is a member of the church and has told him a lot about it, so Leo decided to do some research online and said it somehow felt right, so he decided to call us. The number he found was ours, so if we hadn't opened up the area and reactivated the number, he wouldn't have been able to contact the missionaries. We had a great lesson with him at the church, and as we taught him and asked questions, he showed that he is sincere and has a strong desire to be baptized, so he accepted the invitation to be baptized on March 23.

This has been one of the most incredible experiences of my mission. That just doesn't happen here in Sweden, and we now know exactly why we needed to open an area here in Täby.

Here's another cool part of the story. We found out that Leo actually lives in the Stockholm ward, two streets outside of our area. As a result, we got to accompany him to the Stockholm ward for church on

Sunday, and I got to see all the members, including Henrik there! They were surprised to see that I

was back, but even more surprised when they met Leo. He got a great welcome from the ward and

The view from my desk in the apartment

felt right at home with members who really went out of their way to help him feel comfortable there. The young adults even reached out to him and invited him to a dinner that night for all the young adults in the Stockholm area, which he attended and really enjoyed.

Leo will actually be taught by the office elders, but he lives just a 5 min walk from our apartment and will be in the Stockholm ward, so we'll stay in good contact with him. I feel incredibly blessed to have been placed in an area where the Lord needed us. By small and simple means are great things brought to pass.

Äldste Sirrine  

Eriks Baptism (I forgot to send this last week)