October 8, 2018 Flowers!

 Temple flowers

Well, I don't have much time to write today because Elder Radford and I will be going to the temple tomorrow! Our mission president has said that we can only go to the temple if we live within an hour

Planting flowers at the temple

of it, and we can only go once every sixth months. However, Elder Radford hasn't been to the temple in the last sixth months, so I feel incredibly fortunate that I can go with him tomorrow, even though I've been fairly recently.


Speaking of the temple, on Thursday we got to go to the temple and help plant 7,000 flowers! It was an incredible experience to serve alongside about 30 other missionaries and spend some time on the temple grounds. It's always fun to see other missionaries, but I was definitely surprised to arrive and see my trainer, Elder Wilkinson, and my "son", Elder Bills, there (they are currently companions on the island of Gotland)! They had zone conference the day before and had to stay an extra day in Stockholm because of ferry issues, so I got to see them again! It's been a long time since I've seen Elder Wilkinson, and he's going home at the end of the transfer, so I never thought I'd actually get to see him again.


As it turns out, planting flowers was also great preparation for General conference. I couldn't help but feel a much greater appreciation for all the work that goes into the beautiful arrangement of flowers behind the speaker I usually fail to spend much time admiring ;) General Conference this weekend was powerful. For all of you who saw it, I'd encourage you to continue studying their talks over the coming months. For any who haven't, I'd encourage you to claim the revelation and guidance the Lord wants to give you by listening to the message of his servants. We were able to watch it with several of our investigators at the homes of different members, and last night we were able to watch the Sunday Morning session live at the mission home with President and Sister Youngberg. What an incredible experience it was to watch general conference with the people who hold some of my greatest love and respect.


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Splits with Elder Ahonen

My släkt (family)! Elder Wilkinson and Elder Bills.

October 1, 2018 Timmy Never Faileth

Timmy!!

We definitely had some of the best service of my entire mission on Thursday. We were coming home for the night and it was raining, so we were completely soaked. As we entered our apartment building, we were surprised to see our neighbor walking out of the elevator with a raincoat and boots, accompanied by no other than my favorite dog Timmy! We of course took the opportunity to pet him and talk to our neighbor (like we do every time), and she said, "Yeah it's not so fun to have a dog when you have to take them out in the rain..." I told her we have legitimately debated knocking on their door and asking to borrow Timmy for a few minutes before, and that we'd love to take him out right then. She laughed a little bit, but we said we were actually serious, so she let us take him for a walk! It was raining pretty good, but nothing could diminish the excitement of getting to play with Timmy a bit. When we brought him back, she told us how grateful she was and said we could take him any time we want :) Each time we talk to our neighbor she asks us a few more questions about missionary work, so eventually we'll have taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ all thanks to Timmy!

One of the great miracles we witnessed this week was the opportunity to attend Joy's baptism in Gubbängen with our investigator Gabriel. We invited him to the service, and he said he'd like to

Joy, baptized in Gubbängen on Thursday

come, and then just 5 minutes later he called us back and asked if he could invite his friend, Maylene, because she wanted to see how it works. We got to meet her at the service, and she's incredible. She was born in the Philippines, and her husband was born in Germany, but they have now lived in Sweden for 2 years. She was originally part of another church, but she stopped going to church here in Sweden because her husband was offended by the priest. She says her faith has declined dramatically over the last two years, so we asked if she'd like to build her faith back up. She sighed as she responded that she really wants to, but she doesn't know how. We took the opportunity to teach her about the Book of Mormon, which she really liked, and then we gave her a copy and set up a time to meet this week and teach her more. The baptism service also allowed us to show her around the church, teach her about the covenant of baptism, and enabled her to feel the spirit. Teaching someone who has the desire to build their faith is one of the most incredible experiences, and I look forward to seeing the change in her life as her faith in Christ grows.

Saturday was another day which we know was completely directed by the spirit and an absolute miracle. We had a great day with three lessons planned, but when Saturday morning came, all three

Henrik and Jonas

called us and rescheduled for next week. We were a little bummed at first, but as we called a few people that morning we decided to call Henrik and see how his reading of the Book of Mormon was going. As we talked to him, he mentioned nonchalantly that he was moving the same day, so we jumped on that and offered our help to him. He was incredibly relieved to have some extra help, and told us that he would have a couple other friends there as well. Elder Radford and I knew right then that God wanted us to meet those friends, and had arranged for us to do so, which meant the only question left was who these people are. Although not knowing exactly what the future held, we were excited to meet them, and as we helped Henrik move we got some time to do so. As it turns out, one of his friends, Jonas, is a serious rock climber who took fourth place in the national championship last year, and the other, Alex, already knew a little bit about our church and was impressed by it. Both of them want to meet again to learn more, so we definitely look forward to that :)

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Our ward had a cake competition, 

so we decided to enter :)

District Council over Skype 

September 24, 2018 "Let Your Light So Shine"

The district

This week I had the chance to go on companion exchanges with Elder Gordon, and we witnessed an incredible miracle.

We were on the way to do language study at a members home, and the Tunnelbana (metro) ride was only going to be two stops, which usually isn't enough time to get a good conversation going that we can connect to the gospel, but as we entered the train station we were determined to try. We had

Exchanges with Elder Gordon

about three minutes before the train came, so we decided to sit down next to a younger guy, who seemed to be about 19 years old. He had a bag of items from a nearby store, so we immediately asked him about the contents of the bag and the store from which he had gotten them. He really opened up and seemed happy to talk to us. The conversation eventually shifted to more personal topics, and as the train came we boarded and sat beside him to continue our conversation. As we asked about his religious background, he informed us that he wasn't really religious, but that he had been to a confirmation camp (for the Swedish Church) where he had a minister, whom he really looked up to, tell him that God is much bigger than us and that it can be anything which helps us to be better. We highlighted principles of truth in what he said, and testified of that which we know to be true as well. As we spoke with him, we noticed that a lady across the isle was staring at us and listening. Elder Gordon turned to look at her, and she said, "I'm sorry i'm listening, but I'm just so impressed that you're talking about such deep subjects! I've been sitting here thinking and pondering about what you're saying, and I'm just really amazed!" We then began talking to her as well, and we soon approached our destination. As we got off the train, they both wanted to meet again to learn more, so we got their contact information and we'll be meeting them this week! The best part of the story is that later that evening we sent him a text telling him how nice it was to meet him, and he responded that he was really grateful we had talked to him. He said that he was in a dark place when we began to talk to him, so it was nice to have someone to talk with.


Sometimes it can be pretty difficult to talk to somebody on a train because it's quiet so everybody

ends up staring at you and listening to your conversation, but it's actually an incredible opportunity to

Kungliga Slottet 

(Literally translated "The Kingly Castle"....)

share the gospel with even more people. Those who listen start to think about the things we're saying, and those ponderings can lead to a desire to learn more or to change some part of their life. Similarly, it can be difficult to live the gospel standards when it seems as though others around us are staring at or judging us. While never easy, it can be our opportunity to heed the command of the Lord to "Let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." The Lord surely does work through small and simple means to bless and help his children.


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September 17, 2018 A Blast to the Past

Riddarholms Church, a burial place for Swedish Kings

Well, they say it takes a village to raise a child, and I guess it took all of Stockholm to raise Elder Bills. After so many experiences together, we kicked him out of the nest on Wednesday, and now he's

The narrowest street in Sweden

free to spread his wings and fly. It was really hard to say goodbye, but what happened on his journey to Gotland just confirms to me that God directs us to where we need to be. We've been working with a less active family, but unfortunately haven't been able to have contact in a couple weeks, and yesterday we finally got a hold of them. We mentioned that Elder Bills had transferred to Gotland, had actually run into him on the 3.5 hour ferry ride out to the island! Apparently he was on a way to a business conference and they had a pretty good chat, and now we will be visiting them tomorrow evening to teach them.

After dropping Elder Bills off at the train station I stayed with the Gubbängen Elders for about an hour while waiting for Elder Radford to arrive, so we decided jump on a few different trains and talk with people. While doing so, Elder Ahonen started talking from a man who actually comes from his hometown of Espoo, Finland! They started speaking Finnish together, and it turns out that the man actually helped build the Stockholm temple back in 1985! He even remembered the day that Angel Moroni arrived to be placed on top. He had learned quite a bit about the church back in the day, and he still has the Book of Mormon that he received. He doesn't live in either of our areas, but it was neat to be able to re-spark his interest in the gospel and the church.


Being with Elder Radford again has been incredible! It's been pretty fun to catch up on everything

This statue is actually in the middle of 

a roundabout. I have to admit, Europe's 

roundabout game is on point...

that's taken place over the last year. Despite being in the same mission, it's pretty amazing how different our experiences have been and how much we've grown. We've been looking at old pictures of the MTC and reading our journal entries which has definitely brought some good laughs and memories. It's been cool to be back with an old companion, and it's been one of the smoothest transitions I've had. We already know a bit about each other and how we teach, so all of our lessons so far have been spot on as we teach by the spirit in unity.


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September 10, 2018 Craziest. Transfers. Ever.

The Stenkronas

Well last night we got transfer calls and found out that Elder Bills will be leaving the great city of Stockholm. We had expected this might be the case, but much to our surprise, we found out that he will be going to Gotland to be companions with my trainer, Elder Wilkinson! I'm not sure that I've ever heard of someone being companions with their trainer's trainer before, but I'm glad that Elder Bills will get a small taste of what it was like for me when I was a new missionary ;)


The news of Elder Bills going to Gotland was crazy enough, but then we found out that the one and

The view out our apartment window

only Elder Radford (Yes, my MTC companion) will be coming here to Stockholm to be my companion! He is currently on Gotland with Elder Wilkinson, so he and Elder Bills will just be switching places. I can't even say how excited I am to be doing round 2 with Elder Radford, and it will be pretty amazing to see how much we've both grown over the last year of our missionary service. He is one of the best missionaries I've met, so I'm so happy I now have the opportunity to learn from him again and serve the people here in Sweden that we talked about so much in the MTC.


It's pretty amazing to see how much Elder Bills has grown over the last two transfers of training, and even more amazing to see how much I've grown while I've been with him. I have to say that Elder Bills is definitely one of the most bold, fearless people I know, and I have seen that the promise in the scriptures that we'll be given the words to say when we open our mouths is absolutely true.


I don't have much time to write because we are trying to do all the last minute things here in Stockholm that Elder Bills wants to do before he leaves, but things are going really well and are only getting better :)


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The Karlsson family. Well, some of them..... 

There are 4 different Karlsson families that 

make up about half the ward here...

September 3, 2018 Taking Spanish in Highschool Pays Off

The Endler family. 

Bishop Endler was called as the bishop about

a month ago, but he was only baptized two years 

ago. He's the best :)

This week was pretty much miracle after miracle, and I wish I could talk about it all, but I guess a few highlights will have to suffice.

On Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Olson here in Stockholm, and we were supposed to have dinner with one of our investigators, but he called us a few hours before and told us he had to cancel because of work. At first we were a little disappointed, and as we thought about how we might use our time effectively otherwise, we decided to go tracting in Larsberg. Tracting isn't quite as

exciting as teaching an investigator, but then the thought came clearly to mind that there was someone we were supposed to find in Larsberg. The thought was so clear that it surprised me a little bit, but we went out with eagerness to see who it would be. While tracting, we met a few people who said we could come back which was pretty exciting, but it was on the way home that we found the person we were looking for. We were sitting on a bench at the train stop when suddenly a woman came up to us and started speaking Spanish. She knew absolutely no Swedish or English, but somehow we were able to understand what she was saying to us. (Thank goodness I took Spanish in High School so the spirit had something to bring to rememberance...) As it turns out, she's a member, and has lived in Sweden for a few years, but didn't know where the church was due to the language barrier. She really wants to come, so we gave her phone number to the first counselor in the bishopric who comes from Peru. He's now talked with her several times, and will actually give her a ride to church so she can start coming.

On Friday evening we were out tracting in the rain, not having much success, when it came time to

Street contacting in Stockholm

head home. We looked down at the clock and decided we had 5 minutes left and decided we had time to knock another door or two. We knocked on the next door, and before we had even said a word, the man who opened it said, "It's raining! Come in!" We were both a little shocked, this was the first time I've ever actually been let in while tracting before, and we were pretty excited to be directed to his couch where his whole family was gathered. The man and his wife have two children, and they come from Syria, although they've been here three years, speak good Swedish, and he works as a teacher. After giving a brief summary of our message and what we do, we asked if we could come back the next day to teach them more and they happily agreed. We went back the next morning and were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon and how they can come to know it's message by reading. They were very interested, so we got them started reading and look forward to meeting them again and teaching them further.

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We went to visit Jesper, and it turns 

out they have Blackberry bushes 

with the biggest, sweetest berries 

you have ever seen. 

It was seriously amazing.

This is my favorite dog in all of 

Stockholm. His name is Timmy. 

We see him often, and have to pet 

him every time because he's so cute.

There are apple trees everywhere here, so you never go hungry while tracting!

August 27, 2018 Let the Spirit Guide

Stockholm!

On Tuesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Ahonen, who comes from Finland! He is only one of two non-American elders in the mission, so it was pretty cool to get to talk to him about what it's like to grow up in Scandinavia. I've also discovered that he's really good at innebandy (floor hockey),

Splits with Elder Ahonen

because it's such a popular sport here, so you definitely want him on your team if your going to play. He's been out a year now, and funny enough, his Swedish actually has an American accent... Looks like he's been hanging out with us a little too long :)

This week we had several experiences that confirmed for me just how willing God is to guide our path. It's something I've seen many times before, but every time I get to the end of the day and think about what happened that day, I realize that there is absolutely no way it could be by chance or any amount of human planning.

One example of such guidance we received this week was on Thursday as we were traveling on the train to visit several people that evening. We realized we didn't have time to visit them all, so we prayed and listened for the guidance of the spirit. It finally came as a small prompting, just a subtle feeling, that we should visit Jeremie and Daisy, a couple who was baptized in January. We didn't have anything official set up, we were just swinging by, so Jeremie was completely shocked when we knocked on the door and he opened. Jeremie was the only one home, but he invited us in and we shared a short message about prayer with him. He shared with us that they had been on vacation and unable to attend church on Sunday, so he wanted us to come by for a spiritual boost, but had been too busy to give us a call, and couldn't believe that we had shown up anyway. He continued on to tell us that just that morning he had had a miraculous answer to his prayers, and was even more amazed that our message was about exactly that. As we talked with each other, we came to understand why we had received the prompting and how the spirit had spoken to us. As we learn in the scriptures, the spirit is a still, small voice that will press just firmly enough for us to hear if we pay it heed. We may not know why we receive the promptings we do, but as Moroni teaches us, we receive a witness after the trial of our faith. As we act on promptings in faith, the Lord will go before us and prepare our way so that all things might work together for our good.

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Elder Bills and I found an outdoor clothing 

store called Norrona. They have a chamber that 

goes down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit with a fan

that simulates a strong wind so you can try their

 clothing. We couldn't resist...

We visited a member family to teach them 

about missionary work. The kids were eager 

to take our tags, so it looks like it worked!