February 11, 2019 Juggling missionary work and walnuts at the same time

Proof I can Juggle

This is what our drive into town everyday looks like :)

Missionary work is a constant balance of finding new people to teach while teaching and serving those you already have. It's something I've been juggling since day one in Sweden, but this week I juggled something I never thought I would. Yes, I juggled walnuts.

Super quick background to all this; when we were at a members house on Christmas, he gave us some juggling balls and taught us the basics of juggling. Well, since then I've discovered a real like for juggling and even learned how to juggle under my leg and behind my back. This last Monday we were at a family's house for family home evening, and they started by asking if anybody had any talents they'd like to share, as they do every week. Well, the family was tired of seeing each other's talents, so they turned to us... I mentioned I could juggle, but I didn't have any juggling balls, so one of the sons handed me three walnuts (thankfully still in the shell) and told me I could use them. Apparently God can even help us juggle, because somehow I was able to juggle three walnuts and throw in a few tricks which really made their night.

On Tuesday an hour north to meet the Skellefteå elders half way between Umeå and Skellefteå for exchanges. We saw a bunch of reindeer on the way, so I can now say it feels like Scandinavia for

Reindeer!!

real.

A couple weeks ago we got to teach a man by the name of Erik, and we taught him again this week. The lesson was scheduled for Friday, and we got a call from him on Thursday evening. I'm not going to lie, we were a little scared he would cancel the lesson, but he just told us that he had lost the card marking the chapter he was supposed to read and wanted us to remind him what it was. We reminded him to read Mosiah 3 (GREAT chapter by the way, would totally recommend), and when we came on Friday he told us that he had read to Mosiah 6 and started showing us his favorite parts :) He reads humbly and asks sincerely, so I know the Lord will give him the answer he's seeking for.


Äldste Sirrine

We've had a lot of opportunity to shovel snow :) #goodexercise

Going to a member's house for lunch

February 2, 2019 Non-stop Adventure

I took this on the train ride from Stockholm to Umeå

The mission is a non-stop adventure, but that adventure got significantly more intense this past week.

It all started on Tuesday. We had a member meal, and during our planning Tuesday morning we decided that we would arrive in the area 45 minutes prior to dinner in order to Tract in the neighborhood. We wanted to set a goal for this time, and the thought came to mind that we should call the member when started tracting and ask them to pray for us. We then set a goal to get a return appointment for Saturday at 5 pm, because we wanted to have a concrete success we could report to the member instead of just, "We'll, we had a really nice conversation with your neighbor." We followed our plan in having the member pray for us, and then after a few doors we met a young couple with whom we shared a brief summary of our message. We asked if we could come back Saturday at 5 pm, and after checking their calendar, they responded that we could. It was a really neat experience to sit down at the dinner table with those members and Testify of the power of prayer as we shared this miracle with them and asked the father if he could join us for the lesson. We ended up teaching them on Saturday, and the lesson went rally well. They listened humbly and are excited to meet us again this week.

On Wednesday night, we flew down to Stockholm for our mission tour/zone Conference with Elder Massimo De Feo of the Seventy. He talked about our love for the Savior and letting his Atonement motivate us. He likened our motivation to a rock thrown in the air. Regardless of how strong you are, or how hard you throw the rock, it will eventually fall to the ground. In like manner, if our motivation comes from an external force that acts upon us, it will eventually fail. Our task is to learn how to change our motivation to an internal source, drawing on the power of the Atonement which will never fail us.

We had MLC in Stockholm with Elder De Feo on Friday, and then we were supposed to fly home. I say "supposed to fly home" because after waiting at the airport for 7 hours our flight was cancelled

At the hotel

and the airport put us in a hotel for the night because of some major snow in northern Sweden. Not gonna lie, that hotel was really nice. They included dinner and a breakfast buffet that had everything. It even had salmon :) Well, not only our flight was cancelled, but so were all the flights for Saturday and Sunday.... So Saturday morning we hopped on a train and took it all the way up to Umeå. Definitely the most beautiful eight hour train ride I have ever experienced. I guess it's also the only eight hour train ride I've ever experienced.... We are incredibly blessed that we were on that train, because the storm has continued and the trains also got cancelled yesterday.

So how much snow did we get? About a solid 2 feet between Saturday and Sunday. When we came out of church our car was almost buried and it was all we could do to get out of the parking lot. When we got home, they had plowed the street in front of our apartment creating a massive snow bank we had to remove (which took about 40 minutes of shoveling) before we could park our car... An older lady in the ward asked us yesterday to come shovel a path for her to get out of her house, but they hadn't plowed the roads in that area yet so our car couldn't make it... We went back and shoveled it this morning which made for quite the adventure. They've finally plowed most of the streets by now, but the last 2 days has pretty much been one continuous prayer that we dont get stuck in the snow with the car. I'm absolutely loving the snow, and just wondering how much more we need to get before I can the mission president if we can upgrade our car for snowmobiles ;)

Elder Sirrine

Before shoveling a path for an older member...

After shoveling :) 

January 28, 2019 9 advantages of winter I bet you've never thought of

Elder Ellis and I

Our apartment building

Well, we've been doing a lot of finding work recently, and we've met a lot of people who have expressed interest in learning more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that they continue to act on that interest and we're able to meet them and teach them further. One of the guys we met looked just like a viking. Like no joke, he had a full beard and a sweet man-bun. I thought that he was 30 years old, but then he told us that he was only 17... Every once and a while you meet some people here that just make you glad you that you don't live a couple hundred years ago in a village being raided by the vikings. That would be pretty scary.

All the snow we've gotten has given us some good opportunities serve others by shoveling snow. One of my favorite occasions was when an older lady in the ward (whom we are ministering brothers for)

called us and asked us if we could come shovel her driveway. We attempted our best to coordinate a time with her over the phone, but she just kept saying, "I don't understand you. I don't have my hearing aids in." The lesson in all this? Don't call someone without first turning on your hearing aids. That seems like a pretty important part to having a conversation with someone :)

When most of you think of being a missionary in northern Sweden, you probably think about how cold or dark it is. First off, I can confirm that it's cold (last night it was -15 degrees F, and it hasn't gotten above 0F in about two weeks). However, let me enlighten you on all the things you probably don't think of when it comes to winter.
1. Your white shirt stays clean. With 1-2 layers of thermals, then a white shirt, then a sweater, and then a coat, your white shirt doesn't ever touch anything, thus staying significantly cleaner.
2. On the subject of clothes, you can wear a sweater at all times (super comfortable), and the tie becomes your best friend as it acts like a scarf and holds in the heat.
3. You look forward to clouds! It makes it warmer :)
4. No bugs. Northern Sweden has some huge mosquitoes, but when it's cold, everybody is just happy it's "myggfritt" (mosquito free)
5. The area just before and after a speed bump collects snow, so you don't have to slow down as much :)
6. There are free ice rinks everywhere. We can't use this one as missionaries, but still pretty cool. Hockey is kinda a big deal here.
7. People are always dressed modestly outside. Here in Sweden, it's pretty much no clothes (summer time) or all the clothes in the closet worn at once (winter time).
8. If you don't have enough room in your freezer, put it on your balcony. This is a serious plus that we've been taking full advantage of.
9. You can walk, even drive at times over ice. #shortcuts (The ice is so thick, they legitimately make "ice bridges" by plowing and marking roads straight on the surface of ice of large lakes.)

The list goes on and on, but those are just some of my favorites. Sure it's winter time, what's not to like?


Äldste Sirrine

 

Splits with the Elders in Sundvall

January 21, 2019 You Never Know

Riding Spark

First off, I apologize for not sending an email last week. We had some members take us out to ride a "spark" on a frozen lake, so I wasn't left with much time. Riding a "spark" is a legitimate mode of transportation here in Northern Sweden, so we got it approved by our mission president to go with them :) It was quite possibly the coolest thing I've done.


This week we had transfers, and Elder Ellis and I are staying together! Elder Olson in Skellefteå (an hour and a half north of Umeå) was getting a new companion, but had to drive down to Umeå to meet

Picking Elder Fuller up 

from the airport at midnight

him at the Umeå airport when he came. Unfortunately his plane got cancelled due to bad weather, and then his next plane got cancelled, and then about three planes later he finally made it up to Umeå and we picked him up at midnight. Elder Olson had been planning on being in Umeå for about 2 hours and stayed a total of 42 hours with us. We enjoyed having an extra companion for that time!


We have had a fantastic week filled with miracles. We've been doing a lot of finding recently, and this week we felt the guidance of the Lord and saw his hand at work. We actually had two experiences that highlight the importance of talking to everyone and having faith that no effort is wasted.


The first experience began with a girl that checked us out at a store on P-day. While she was helping us, we began talking to her and told her about our work as missionaries here in Sweden. About a week later, we were contacting in Stan and stopped to talk with a girl who was smoking. When we walked up to her and began talking, we recognized her as the girl who had helped us in the store, and were able to bear our witness of the power of the Book of Mormon and invite her to learn more. She was eager to learn more about how it can help her personally, and we now have contact over Facebook messenger to find a time to meet.


The second experience was with a guy who requested a Book of Mormon from Mormon.org. A few weeks ago we delivered the Book, but he wasn't home, so we talked with his mom at the door. We've had contact with him on Facebook Messenger, but wanted to meet him in person, so this week we decided to swing by in person. Nobody answered the door, so we continued knocking doors in the area. We were in a neighboring apartment building knocking doors about 45 minutes later when we heard the door at the bottom open, and could hear people carrying something heavy sounding in. We hurried down to the bottom of the stairs to offer our help, and it was none other than the guy's mother and another man carrying in wind-sailing equipment (apparently they decided it was finally time to winterize?). We offered our help, and they responded that they were okay without it, but they didn't sound too decided against our help, so we said we were going to help anyway. We helped them carry the equipment into the storage in the basement, and they thanked us profusely for the help. We then got to share the gospel with them as they asked why we do such service and we taught them about the example of Jesus Christ. Later that night, we got a text from her son explaining that he had heard from his mother that we had helped, allowing for further contact with him. Tracting in that area was not our original plan, but through the guidance of the spirit over the course of several encounters, we were able to offer genuine service in behalf of the Lord. There is no effort wasted, and there are no coincidences. The Lord will guide us as we diligently follow the spirit in our labors, and this promise is not reserved for full-time missionaries. As you seek to share the gospel with others around you, seek the guidance of the spirit and you will be led in all your efforts, even if you don't see an immediate result.

Äldste Sirrine

Our P-day adventure. That's the Baltic Sea we're standing on. 

With temperatures the past week of -25C to -18C (-13F to 0F), 

it's been plenty cold to keep it frozen :)

The biggest bridge in Umeå

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.

Dec 31, 2018 Christmas is good. Christmas as a missionary is better.

Glimpses of winter in Umeå

Our Christmas here in Umeå was fantastic! We spent Christmas Eve with a member, Daniel, who somehow knows everything about Swedish traditions and was more than willing to share with us :) Most people have traditions, but they've become such a normal part of life that it's difficult for them to describe exactly what they are or what makes them different but Daniel explained them in a detailed way that helped us understand them a lot better. We had the traditional Swedish Christmas foods (called Julbord) and had permission from our mission president to watch Kalle Anka. Kalle Anka is Donald Duck, and for some reason that even Daniel doesn't know, every single household in Sweden tunes in at exactly 3 PM on Christmas Eve to watch it every year.

Outside of the Swedish church for Julotta

On Christmas day, we were invited by an older couple in our ward, the Karlssons, to go to Julotta

The Karlssons. 

They're basically my Swedish grandparents :)

with them. Julotta is the Swedish Church's Christmas program they hold at 8 AM Christmas morning with lots of music. We got there early to get a good seat, and when I looked behind me I realized two things. First, the place was completely packed. Second, I'm really young. I'm pretty sure that we were the only people in the entire church under the age of 65... Apparently kids aren't too excited about going to church early Christmas Morning. The program was really neat, and we then had breakfast with the Karlssons and spent the morning with them.


Christmas evening was spent at the Lövgrens house with lots of food and games along with a break to skype our families :)

The Lövgrens

The day after Christmas was really neat as well! We got with a member family to a nursing home where we sang Christmas songs in different locations of the facility for about an hour and a half. The people there really enjoyed it, but I don't think they could have enjoyed it more than I did.

Singing at the retirement home with the Carlssons

Here's a cool miracle that happened this week!A couple days ago we got a referral from Elder Francis of a man by the name of Gerald. Elder Francis had met him up in Boden a year ago, and the man was interested in meeting the missionaries, but he forgot to do send the referral despite meaning and wanting to. He was recently reading in his journal from a year ago, and realized he had never referred him, so he decided he would give it a shot. We got the referral and went to his house, hoping he would still be interested in learning more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Despite being over a year since he had been contacted on the street, the man was happy to see us and didn't seem to think the long time gap was weird at all. He then explained to us that they actually live in Denmark, but come to visit for a week for Christmas. We mentioned that we could help him get in contact with the missionaries in Denmark, and he was eager to exchange the needed information to do so. We also gave him a Book of Mormon and referred him to the church's website. Talk about God's timing! The missionaries found him up in Boden while he was only visiting for a couple of days, and then a year later happen to remember the occasion through reading a journal entry and then we visit them during the few short days they are actually here in Sweden.

I've also been loving the winter wonderland here! We've had a bunch of snow recently with temperatures of -6 degrees Fahrenheit to keep it around :) Also, fun fact, the sun rises here at 9:30 am and sets at 1:45 pm (yep, I've pretty much forgotten what the sun looks like because we hardly ever see it...), so we have lots of time to admire the Christmas lights!!

Äldste Sirrine

December 25, 2018 photo of Christmas Chat

Loved hearing from our Elder Sirrine.  We were able to have all his siblings on screen also.  Sarah, Mary, Leigh & Matt, and Johnny & Amelia at our house.  Danai & Jared in Arizona, Rebecca & Nathan  in southern Utah.