Week 40

Subject: Red Beet Salad and Meat Jello

God Jul!

It's been a fine week. Just like the US a couple of weeks ago, we had
some extreme weather swings here as well. After the snow cleared up, the temperature dropped to -25 C and then the next day was -30. (the 23rd and 24th). It was crazy! We were really excited to take pictures of that formidable -30 on the car thermometer, but not so excited to be out in it. I decided that -25 is just too cold to go out contacting. Maybe -20, but I reached my limit at -25. Plus Sis Kiser doesn't have any proper tights, so she just curls up in her jacket and disappears at that temperature. We are also really excited about the fact that it hasn't been this cold before Christmas in 150 years! Yay!

They are expecting -40 C in January, February. Yay! (I actually am excited about that). It's a balmy -7 today. With the heavy snow on Tuesday and then the Christmas weekend and everyone going out of town, we didn't have very many appointments this week. We are teaching E, this really cool Pentacostal guy from Nigeria. He is open to reading the Book of Mormon though he won't accept that it could be scripture. He did say after we read Moroni 10 that he likes it better than the Book of the Maccabees or the Apocrypha, so there's something.

Christmas Eve was the big day, so we went over to the Stegeby's for the whole afternoon. They had almost all their family over and another family from church, so the house was just packed. I must admit that most everything I've eaten in Sweden to this point has been fairly standard. If reindeer sandwiches are standard. But, the Jul Bord was definitely an experience. I love the pickled herring and the rice pudding with fruit and juice on top. And red beet salad was already a favorite. But I must say the jello-y meat stuff that I still don't know what it was is interesting. Probably won't make that part of my Christmas tradition. After dinner we watched Kalle Anka, which is little clips from Disney cartoons (it's tradition!) and then had a little Christmas program. Then jul tomten came! It was the Norwegian son-in-law. They were making jokes about him putting on a Finnish accent so that they kids wouldn't recognize him, but sure enough, one of the older boys knew immediately because of his particular way of speaking. The kid almost spoiled it for everybody. It was funny, though. He gave out gifts to the expectant kids, and I even got a present from him too! It was a fun day. Freezing cold, but fun.

Christmas was slow. We baked and got plates of goodies for our neighbors together which we gave out the next day. They were all very surprised and appreciative (I'm pretty sure Swedes don't do that). Talked to the family. That was wonderful. And then we went to dinner at a part Scottish family. We did the popper tradition thing (see Harry Potter?) and had turkey and cranberry sauce and and brussel sprouts and chutney! It was delicious!

Oh, yes, we opened presents as well. Thanks everybody for everything. I'll get thank you cards out in February probably ;)

In church yesterday we had a musical Christmas program as usual and I got to play the flute. There were some glitches, but it was still a lot of fun.

Both Sister Kiser and I have colds which makes life fun. Especially the foot of snow we found in the church parking lot when we got here today. Yay shoveling snow! We could only get halfway up the drive with what we'd done, so we hope the plow doesn't come while we are in here. If not, we have a lot of work to do before Sunday...

Well, I think that's it for this week. We are hoping everything will pick up again with the new year. It should be fantastic. Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 39

Hejsan Allihopa!
One more day! It's 2:45 now and almost dark. It's been snowing the last few days, so the snow is about 2 ft deep now I think. Or maybe more. It's hard to tell. It might be up to my hips, actually, so that's deeper.

So last Tuesday we had a miracle day. Everything we planned happened, and we were on time to everything. This included a really positive teach with a girl who missed her baptismal date last year, but still wants to be baptized :) Wednesday we drove to Hudiksvall, about an hour and a half away to teach S & E, a couple who the missionaries have been teaching pretty consistently for the last 3 years. S has been in contact with the church for 40 years, since his first wife passed away. It's really hard. He's so ready and knows everything. Just stubborn. We of course have that faith that all new missionaries to an area do that we can be led to say something that will change his heart, but it comes down to his agency. He has to choose.

So from there we drove back to Sundsvall and caught the train to Stockholm for the combined zone conference/Christmas party. Our train was delayed because of a wreck, so we didn't get in until 10:18, so that made for a late night. We stayed at the mission home with all the other sisters, so it was a party :) It was great catching up on how the work in Örebro is going. It hasn't been long, but everyone is doing great and RR was baptized on Saturday. Yay!

The conference was fun. We sang and played and learned. We had a gift exchange and I got a Santa beard and hat. It was very exciting :) Another highlight from the week was Saturday when we met with a recent convert who just moved up here and his non-member friend. They are from Africa and came to Sundsvall to look for work. They were living in the train station here, but someone found out and hotels in the community offered them a place to stay for the short term. The branch offered them help getting to church and made sure they were ok, and they said, thanks but no thanks. We've seen them off and on and this time went and read Mosiah 24 with them to help them feel comforted.

The Spirit was so strong, but after we had borne testimony, the friend started a rant about how what we give him does him no good and he needs something tangible. He'll go to a church that can help him. We listened to him rail on white people for a good 15 minutes. He blamed our ancestors for his misfortune and said if his friend was American, the Church would have helped them a long time ago. I let him know that they had said no to our offers of help. Once he realized that he was nice again and they both said that had been a miscommunication and they did want a place to stay and help from us. It was sad to hear him talk about Europeans in such a derogatory way. A lot of what he said was true, but there was much that wasn't. He said a lot of things I could comment on (which technically I'm not supposed to), but in the end, their situation is really sad, and I wish I could do something to help, but all I have is my testimony and the scriptures, so that has to be help enough for now.

Well, in lighter news, I get to play the flute in church on Sunday, and we had a really yummy dinner with the Muslim couple we visited last Sunday. They are so nice and I wish we could be their friends...

Well, it's 3:15 and dark outside. Just going to get better from here!

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas! It's such a great time to remember our Savior and share that good news with those we love. As the advertisement in the window of Lindex says, "Do good. Feel good. Look good." Not in that order. I love you all!

Syster Maxwell

P.S. Thanks Mike and Shelley for the Christmas package. We were very excited to get all your greetings and treats!

Week 38

Subject: Christmas time is here!

Hey everybody!

Just 8 days until the winter equinox! It's a nice -15 C out today and gray. I christened my long down coat yesterday. It was wonderful! I love it even though it looks like a sack.

I finally saw the driver's safety video, so Sis Kiser is allowing me to drive :) I'm finally getting used to sliding around the round abouts.

The work this week has been slow. We have a lot of finding to do! We also are going to really try and work double hard to get us through the winter.

We went caroling on Thursday as a district. It was really fun and we only got made fun of by 2 kids :) and we got a phone number! Elder Argyle is our zone leader and he's really fun. He whooped and hollered Merry Christmas after every set and just loved it :)

Last night we visited a lady who is Swedish but converted to Islam. There was another couple visiting them. The wife was also a converted Muslim. It was weird to come upstairs and see a Christmas tree and two veiled women making Christmas ginger cookies with their kids :) After that we had Christmas rice pudding with the ward and watched the rebroadcast of the Christmas devotional. It was lovely.

Well, I have to go. We have to cut P-day short to drive out to Bräcke. I love you all. Your prayers and letters as so appreciated. When I finally get my grad school stuff written (very slow process), I promise I'll write. Love you!
Syster M

Week 37

Subject: Laundry day...

Hey everyone.
I don't like being transferred. It's really fun to have new adventures, but I think I've decided I don't actually like change. New people and adventures, yes. An overhaul of everyone and everything that's familiar. Not really, no. It's amazing what a difference the light makes. Even being in a dark car instead of a lighted bus for a lot of the day is more depressing. Only two more weeks until the winter solstice! It'll just get better from there. It actually doesn't feel as cold as Örebro here either, so that's nice. It's a balmy -5 C today.

My new companion is Sister Kiser from West Virginia. This is her second transfer and she's already a pro. She still struggles with the Swedish a little, so it puts the pressure on me a bit. I actually have to closely pay attention to everything now. It was strange how much I already knew about Sundsvall from Sis Robinson and Sis Porkka. I've had 4 months of reminiscing about Sundsvall. Like Dad said, it's picturesque...in the summer. We'll see if I stay that long. I might. This transfer lasts until the first week in March, and if I stay one more, I'll get to see it at almost spring (end of April).

The people in the branch here are great. Lots of faithful members. There are about 70 people that attend every week, so smaller than Örebro, but larger than Jakobsberg. But, going back. Thursday was transfer day. My newly attached wheels held up just fine except for the fact that they only roll straight when the suitcase is at a 30 degree angle and pushed. I think they might have helped support the other wheels a little at least. I was always bad at that part of physics, they whole visualizing the angle things move.

Funny thing happened on Wednesday. As we were finishing up emailing, Sis Porkka was reading the travel plans that they zone leaders get. She has them forward them to her because they have funny comments. She looked at the Lund sister's plans and said, "What?!" Turns out they were coming to our place to stay the night in about an hour. We thought maybe plans had changed or it was a mistake, but sure enough, we called them and they were on their way. They missed their train, though and came a little later, so that gave us time for the dinner and lesson we had scheduled. We were at the teach for-e-ver, so we found the poor sisters sleeping on our stairs when we got back. It was eyelash freezing cold that night, so luckily they were inside the building. The next day we were up at 5 to catch the train to Stockholm. I was at the ring for 5 and a half hours. It was ok. Then sister Kiser came and we left for our 3 and a half hour train ride up to Sundsvall with a couple of elders who were also going up to Norrland.

The last weekend has been weird and I feel like my mind is mush. We've met a number of people and I think after some time I'll like it here. The apartment is beautiful and the kitchen is well stocked. And there are plants! I was sad to leave my little guy behind, but I've still got some green this winter. One of them has grown up against the window in a position that looks like he's screaming, "Let me out! Let me out!" or "Come back sun!" I'll have to forward the picture next time.

Well, that's it for now. I'm excited about Christmas. It's such a wonderful season to remember our Savior. I hope you all can do that amidst all the chaos :) Yay for being a missionary!

Love,
Syster Maxwell

PS Laundry here stinks!!! Literally.

Week 36

Subject: It’s Cold Up Here!

So this week has been crazy. There is so much to tell and I have no time. First of all, responses to people. Grandma, can you please tell the lady in your ward that the hat, mittens, and scarf have been absolutely wonderful. You can tell her 'tack så hemskt mycket' (roughly said tahk so hemskt micket) from me. :) Also, Sis Lee, the snow looked like it would melt that first day. The temperatures got up to 8 degrees, but then this last week it snowed the entire week. We didn't see the sun until Saturday. It was lovely though. It was like living in a snow globe. But, now, there is about a foot of snow, so I think it's here to stay. Today and yesterday have been nose-hair freezing cold. It's beginning!

The big news is that I'm getting transferred to Sundsvall, so it looks like you were in inspired to buy me that awesome winter coat after all, Mom, since I'll be able to use it. I might even get to see the northern lights if I'm lucky. I hope so! Sister Porkka will be training here in Örebro. The irony is that each of us got what the other one wanted, but I've wanted to go to Sundsvall since I came, but not in winter... We will have a car though and I'll have some bragging rights when I get back.

It's hard to describe the last week and a half. We've have some really cool teaches with amazing people. We had a little miracle this last week. We got back from Nora and had 15 minutes before our bus came to go to another teach. I really felt like we should go contacting. We got to the intersection, and I felt like we needed to go around the building to the right. I pointed to that direction and said, "We need to go that way and we are going to find someone to teach." We walked a block and contacted the lady coming. She is Iranian and has been here 5 years and thought it would be ok for us to come over. She gave us a typical Muslim reply about liking all religions, so I was just grateful for the appointment. Turns out she really likes Jesus and one of her daughters is even Christian in the US. The teach with her was great even though her Swedish is rough. That probably sounds run of the mill, but that hasn't really happened that often on my mission.

Last district meeting was really weird. There was a new convert that came to go with the elders to a baptismal interview who is trained in Russian Martial Arts. He taught us how to punch with impact and how to take punches, so we spent the last part of our time together practicing on each other. It was a great unity building activity and would have seemed very strange to an onlooker, but it was awesome. That was Thanksgiving. It was the lamest thanksgiving ever. My district leader did try to make it nice by buying ginger ale and cranberry juice, but really it was a blip. We shared a spiritual thought about thanksgiving, then he said, 'Well, Thanksgivings over. Now on to Christmas!' and then talked about our mission goals for December. I celebrated properly by making a sweet potato pie last night. They don't really sell canned pumpkin here.

Well, I'm out of time. I'll report next time from Norrland! Oh, and, Mom, it was probably good I didn't get the packages because then I don't have to move them too! It all worked out! Thanksgiving at home sounded really fun! Have a great week everyone!

Sys M

Week 35

Subject: Well, I’m still here.

Hello everyone!

I like my mission. It's nice. I came to that conclusion this week. It gets dark now by 4 pm. And isn't fully light until after 8 sometime. It's hard to tell because it's been cloudy the whole week. It's been snowing again. I was surprised when Dad said you all are still enjoying the fall colors. At least the people in Utah understand. This week we woke up one morning and the air was thick with frozen mist. I guess it's comparable to being in a freezer. Over the course of the morning, everything grew icy, spikey hair. It was crazy! The bikes even looked like they'd turned punk. There were little spikes all over the seats, handle bars, and wheels. I've never seen anything like it before. Sis Porkka thought it was really cool and rare as well, so that's saying something. Most winter things are ho hum for her.

Anyway, this has been a good week. We had sharpening on Tuesday, which was fun. Sis Porkka finally got her birthday packages, so she knows her mother loves her after all and Elder Shear got a 30 lb Christmas package. He started opening his Christmas presents right there. I think he would have eaten the marshmallow (that's a reference to Elder Uchtdorf's Continue in Patience talk).

On Wednesday we met with JC, the one who got baptized in March, and reconfirmed that he doesn't have a testimony of the restored gospel. At all. I kept wanting to ask him why he got baptized, but I already knew the answer. The sisters who found him were both very pretty and he's proposed to a lot of the sisters who have been here. We've escaped the topic until now, but he asked us at the end of the lesson what we are looking for in a man. We both emphasized being a good priesthood holder and having a testimony. I wish he would just understand that if he followed what we taught him, he'd be someone a good Mormon girl would want to marry. Sigh.

On Thursday we told A we weren't going to meet with him anymore, but he's very welcome to come to activities and such. He didn't seem so broken up about it, surprisingly.

On Friday we went up to the middle of nowhere to visit R and Al. Then we had to walk back. Al came with us, so it was enjoyable, but took an hour to get to civilization again. Never again.

On Saturday we had 7 people at our Swedish class!! Hooray! They are all from Pakistan and so very nice. The next day was Stake Conference, so we went that night and stayed at the mission home because there are no trains in the morning. It was lovely to sit around and talk with President and Sister Anderson and the Rasmussens, a new older couple who just got here. Stake Conference was nice. We sang in the choir. On the way back we got a ride with the Keanns. A half American family who drive their RV around to such events. They are fascinating to me. I've never met anyone like Brother Keann. I'm sure other people in his situation exist, but I just don't know. It's fascinating because he's American. His wife understands and can speak English. His children can speak English, but they speak Swedish at home. He speaks only Swedish to us. He just seems Swedish now. This probably betrays how terribly...um...something I am, but I would just have assumed they would make English their lingua franca. I don't know. It's not a big deal, but I just think it's interesting.

Anyway, after that we visited B about an hour out of Örebro and missed our bus because of the Latvian-Estonian-German-Russian 77 year old man who talked nonstop for an hour. He kept making lewd comments I didn't understand, so I had to be careful what I smiled and nodded about. He was there with his Finnish wife who can barely walk and seemed to be in pain and on the verge of tears the whole time. He was talking the whole time about his wives over the years and his escapades as a sailor. Sis Porkka described the whole experience as being in a Russian novel or a Samuel Beckett play and was existentialism embodied. Especially missing the bus. The next one came two hours later, so we went back to B's and ended up talking about why she left the church, her desires to come back, her illnesses and her fear of water. It turned out ok.

Well, another P-day almost over. I tried fixing my suitcase this morning. It might work, but I'm in the process of failing at the moment. I'll let you know how it went. This letter is always too long! I hope you all have a great week. Happy Thanksgiving! The church is true.

Syster Maxwell

Week 34

Subject: Boots!

Hey all,

So, I've just spent 40 minutes trying to get grad school stuff organized, so I'll keep this brief. It's strange to have to think about things like "cover letter", "writing sample", and "resume". Ick!!! That's why I came on a mission--to get away from all that! Just kidding. I came because I had nothing better to do. Oh, no, it was because that's what the Lord wanted me to do and I have a testimony. That's right... I'm such a missionary. I can't believe it. :D

Well, the most exciting thing that happened this week was probably getting a decimeter of snow this week. All on Tuesday. During the day. Luckily I wore my boots (I found them in the apartment. They are warm and woolly and wonderful!), but we had sadly decided on biking. We couldn't ride home because the pelting snow made it impossible for Sis Porkka to see (she wears glasses) and difficult for either of us to want to keep going. I rode around a little and had fun slipping in the snow, but mostly we just walked the whole way home from downtown. I think the best part was going into a few Pressbyråns looking to buy a bus card. The first ones didn't have the ones we needed, but we finally got them at the last one. We laughed about the two drenched, mascara smeared missionaries walking into the store carrying bike helmets to buy bus cards. I had mascara all over my face the whole day. Learned me a lesson! Go with the water-proof in the winter.

On Wednesday we had a teach with our new investigator who is schizophrenic. She is really sweet and doing really well right now, but we are not quite sure how to help her understand that the founding of our church didn't happen because of a scheme by aliens. It's a work in progress, and we are taking it slow.

Also, on Saturday, we finally had two guys show up to Swedish class who aren't members and are planning on coming regularly! We had given up hope and were unlocking our bikes to leave when they came walking up and said, "are we in the right place for Swedish class?" Yay! They are from Pakistan and are really nice. I hope they come back!

Anyway, it's been a good week other than losing most of Tuesday to the snow. I don't have any money on my card because I used it all to pay for the bus card. We're hoping the advance (little late now) comes in soon! Sorry, not important for you all to know. I've been reading in Our Heritage this week. It's like a condensed version of The Work and the Glory. Or rather...the Joseph Smith movie. Or maybe history. But the examples of the early saints are really inspiring and it's been enjoyable. Have a great week!

Love,

Syster Maxwell

Week 33

Subject: Sick and tired of being sick and tired…

Hi!

So, the weather warmed up a bit early last week and the temperatures got up to about 10C every day, but we're back to a cold snap. It was -12 degrees Celsius this morning and the frost was still thick at noon. It's amazing! It's November! We were looking at a globe yesterday with a few new members at a family´s house yesterday. I was amazed at how high up Sweden was. I'm on top of the world! Ok, that's terrible...But, it's good to look at a globe every now and then so you can remember how ridiculously out of proportion maps on paper are. Speaking of terrible, my friend, Reid, told me once that I would listen to and enjoy EFY-type music because that's all you've got. I never thought it possible. My fears became reality this week when listening to Michael McLean's song, 'Sick and Tired' from his Mission2BeHappy CD (it's on a sampler we have in the apartment), a rock-a-billy tribute to feeling old and out of shape, and actually thinking to myself, 'Ok, maybe this is alright. It's kind of catchy...' Oh dear. I blame Sis Porkka.

Anyway, this week was long. I don't feel like we did very much. We are going down in people we teach, but can't seem to fill in the gaps yet. We've also been spending a lot of time with A, who still doesn't want to be baptized, but basically wants to be a missionary. We've tried to explain to him he's too old, not baptized, and doesn't even believe in our message... It's very strange. He wants to do something, but won't even come to church! We're going to have to have a serious DTR (define the relationship) this week.

Yesterday was Sis Porkka's birthday, so I made her a freezer cheesecake. She wanted regular cheesecake, but I didn't get the recipe until yesterday. So I'll have to make that some other time. I made her a big sign out of an old sheet which also doubles as a door to our closet now. Door for your birthday! She was excited :) And we put up Christmas lights. It was great :) We then had a surprise dinner with the Svenssons after church and it was lovely. We sang to her in three languages, English, Swedish and Finnish because their son served a mission in Finnish and taught us all. We finished off the day tracting. Hooray!

Well, the elders are here, and we have to go roast sausages over a fire :) We got up this morning and collected wood from the woods and took it back to apartment to melt and dry off. Actually, we took it from huge piles of wood by our apartment building that have been there since I got here. Probably for public use, right? I've heard so many stories from Elders about them getting yelled at for doing un-socially acceptable things that I expected someone to come out of no where and give us a hard time. Nope! It was great. I'll tell you how it went next week if I remember :) Oh! RR set a baptismal date! She is absolutely fantastic!!! Have a great week everyone! Love you all.

Syster Maxwell

Week 32

Subject: Up an hour of sleep and feeling great!

Hejsan,

Nothing funny happened this week, but it was an ok week as far as I remember. We've started trying to take A to families' houses so he can actually feel the Spirit. Last week was wonderful. We took him to Family Home Evening at the Svenssons last minute and it was fantastic. We actually invited him to come before we had anyone lined up to host us, so we were kind of nervous about the whole thing. We finally got a hold of Brother Svensson at about 5:30 and A was already on his way towards the church. I kept thinking about mom's story about grandpa and not being able to sleep over because she didn't ask him first. But, the only problem we had was we had told him an hour earlier than they would be ready for us, so we went to eat something before. He paid for us and it felt oddly like a date. FHE was great though and he was really impressed by their family and actually stayed longer than half an hour :)

On Tuesday we had zone conference. It was marvelous. I sliced 6 bell peppers and my team won General Conference Jeopardy :) Pres Anderson ok'd applying to grad school, so I'll try to get that done as soon as I can.

Wednesday was a good day, but left a bad taste in our mouths. Thursday was also kind of blah, but we had a couple of teaches and got the Swedish Class flyers in Swedish done and printed out. Now we just have to get people to come.

Friday was just fine. We had a teach with H from Nigeria who also came to church yesterday. He's really interested but feels too nervous to study the Book of Mormon. He's trying to learn Swedish and has been waiting a year to receive a response about his status in the country. He hasn't heard anything yet.

On Saturday we went to Arboga to meet the member from El Salvador who, turns out, is running away from gang violence that she accidently and innocently got swept up in. She was so active in the church back home and had her mission papers all done except for the medical part. There are a couple of nurses in the ward here that we hope can help with that, but the bishop isn't sure about sending her out from here. She probably could leave from El Salvador if she just went for a weekend and then left again. Right now she is just sitting at home during the day doing nothing. We thought it would be so fun to have her come and stay with us for awhile and be like our full time ward missionary. Only problem is she only speaks Spanish, but we could teach her Swedish or English real fast...maybe :)

Yesterday we went to an awkward dinner with 4 young adults at one of their parents’ house. The mom is no longer a member of the Church and two of his sisters who aren't members anymore either came with a boyfriend. They were all lovely people, but we got stuck there longer than we'd planned and really had nothing to say to anyone except the mom who is studying Somalian and loves foreign grammar. I told her a little about K'iche' and that was the extent of my contribution to any conversation except to confirm or deny details about American culture. It was Halloween yesterday and they don't really celebrate it here, but there are some that have tried to get it going. They have parties and some kids try trick or treating. It was so funny to hear them tell about trying to explain to people what they were doing! They would say trick or treat (in Swedish) and no one would get it. "What do you all want?" They said that one guy actually said trick and so they pulled a tame trick on him and he got mad. Anyway, you had to be there, but it was funny.

Also, there is a missionary from Örebro going to the Pocatello, ID mission next week if he gets his visa. I wasn't sure if the Lee's actually live in that mission or not, but I gave him their info just in case. If you meet an Elder Edvinsson, take good care of him! He's really cool and reminds me a little of Brian. I think it's his hair (think pre-mission). Also, there is an Elder Lindquist who is in the MTC right now and will be in the Salt Lake City mission. Again, I have no idea what that entails as far as boundaries go, but if any of you Salt Lake people happen to see him ever, tell him hi and that he's awesome!

Anyway, that's the news. I'm working on patience this week. Turns out I still don't have any. Sigh. Daylight savings ended this week (or rather summer time), so it's dark at 5 now. We are looking forward to Guy Fawkes Day and Sis Porkka's birthday this week. We'll probably have to burn something. It's tradition! (Not in Sweden...)

Love you all!
Syster Maxwell

Week 31

Subject: Chocolate Croissants Make Any Day Better

Hello family,

The weather is good today. Sunny and chilly. It snowed twice this week. Once on Thursday night and on Sunday morning, but the snow all melted by the end of the day. The ground and roads have a layer of icy frost every morning and Sis Porkka is starting to complain that it's getting too slippery for us to be riding bikes still, but I'm holding firm. I'm not ready to give up the bikes. Not until the snow really comes.

This week we broke up with the 7th day Adventists. They said it's been nice, but our beliefs are just too different. Oh well. It was mutual at least. He plays the mandolin and let me play twinkle twinkle little star on it.   :)   Thanks mom!

I also went to IKEA for the first time ever this week. It was very exciting. We got the 16 SEK plate of potatoes and meatballs with a member who took us to a teach. It was everything I'd ever dreamed of.

It's been really interesting being able to watch the immigration process from this end. We found out that one of our recent converts got a negative response to his application last week. He was kicked out of Swedish classes, but is still looking for work. He had approval for that before, but we can't tell if he still has approval for that or not. He won't really tell us. All he said was that he was going to be doing this whole thing a different way. He'd look for work and then be able to apply again in 4 years. But, without Swedish, he won't be able to get a job very easily, so we'll see how that goes down.

We had a few first lessons with people this week--one with a Swedish lady who has had a number of run ins with spirits and things which has made her feel crazy. We tried to assure her that there are other things that exist out there (things unseen), so she doesn't need to be so worried and instead accept the gospel :) That probably sounds weird, but I guess you had to be there. We also had a first lesson in Spanish with a girl who really didn't know why we were coming. She's from El Salvador. We've had so many run ins with people from El Salvador in the past couple of weeks it's starting to seem like it's not a coincidence. It makes me thing of Gerhardt and how we are all working together as missionaries. It doesn't matter if you are in Sweden or El Salvador. It's all connected.

We also had a really cool teach with A, the one trying to quit snus, at the bishop's house. We watched the restoration and he said that he believed that it happened and it just went straight to his heart. We explained that was the Holy Ghost and tried to get him to see that since he believed it was true he should do something about it. He didn't get it (coughbaptismcough). Guess we should have been more clear. Whoops! I'm still working on that.

On Thursday we missed two trains and a bus. One was my fault, the other was Sis Porkka's, so we're even. Not such a happy day except for a chocolate croissant and Pizza Hut.

Friday and the weekend were lovely! On Friday we had a teach with D and got him ready for his baptism. Then we had a teach with E, a recent convert who is having a really hard time right now, but is hanging onto the gospel as much as he can. He is from Sierra Leone and has been a great friend to the Africans that have been getting baptized. We asked him to baptize D last Sunday and he was so honored! And the teach on Friday was so sweet! The Spirit was so strong as he bore testimony that he felt worthy and ready to perform the ordinance and was still so honored. I can't really do it justice to describe how wonderful it was to be there and then to see them both in white. It was a beautiful baptism and he did a great job. Everyone thought it was great.

Sunday went well too and I baked bread for an investigator who basically said, don't call me, I'll call you, but I like her as a friend, so I wasn't willing to accept that :) The bread was an experiment, but it turned out nicely. We attached a nice note and an excerpt from the last general relief society meeting. Hope she liked it!

Well, I think that's it. I found out this week that it's tradition to eat pea soup and pancakes on Thursdays in Sweden.

Have a good week!

Syster Maxwell

Week 30

Subject: And really bad eggs!

Family!
So, this week has gone by faster. Sis Porkka is starting to adjust and get to know everyone, but she still doesn't know the way around which I keep forgetting and give her a hard time and then I realize she's only been here a little over two weeks and has only been to the place we are going once. Oops! It's ok. She's lived in England forever so she doesn't get offended by teasing. :) Many of the African investigators and new members have complained that I don't speak very clearly, so Sis Porkka is teaching me to talk proper. For example, we were practicing the phrase, "I cahn't get the bottle from the attic. It's hahlf pahst," with all the t's properly. It reminds me of those days I used to pronounce the t's in the word button. I don't remember why I did that.

Sis Porkka always has a blank CD, a plastic bag, and a bar of chocolate in her bag. She's prepared for all types of emergencies.

Well, the fall is starting to draw to a close. I don't know if I mentioned going to Svampen last week. It's a mushroom-shaped water tower in Örebro which has a restaurant and deck up top. We went and took pictures of the terribly disappointing fall colors. It was exciting.

Everything went as normal this week. We got the mission standard this week with 21 teaches and 10 of those being with a member. That was exciting. We made our pie extra buttery to celebrate. Don't worry, I also found this week that I weigh less than when I was a junior in high school, so no worries there (for now). Anyway, one of those teaches with a member was with the wife of an inactive lawyer. She speaks mostly French and a little Swedish, so we decided to read from the gospel principles book. We randomly selected a chapter number, and it happened to be honesty that we prepared that morning for them. He actually decided to sit in and defensively asked if his profession was breaking the commandments because they tell people to not tell the whole truth so they can win. I can't remember what we said, but we just repeated what it said in the book. He left a few minutes later saying he felt sick. Oh well, she liked the lesson at least! Luckily I don't think very quickly in situations like that else I might have started in on how his job is to help deal justice and correctly represent a person, etc, etc, etc.

The other teaches with a member worth writing about are two we had on Saturday with the recent convert who is notorious for liking the sisters and doesn't fully grasp the concept of restored gospel and has a new concern every time we teach him. We couldn't get anyone else to go with us, so we had to turn to him. The first teach we had he seemed bent on sabotaging us. He broke the word of wisdom in front of us and started a whole conversation about the benefits of substances we don't use with a man who we've only taught the first lesson. Argh! Then he went off on how the Garden of Eden has been proven to be in Iran. We were short on time, so we had to cut him off. It was so sad! He enjoyed the whole experience though :) In the second teach he wasn't so bad and only invited someone who is clearly too old to go to young single adult activities to come and be with. Oh well!

Well, we're all set for the baptism this week. There is a sad lack of enthusiasm from the ward, but hopefully people will come. Well, that's it for today. We have to run off to a teach. There have been a number of rapes in the area of late, so our investigator wants us to come visit her and get home before dark. Hope everyone is well! Love you!

Syster Maxwell

Week 29

Subject: The Joy of Missionary Work

Hello friends and family.

I am well. This was an incredibly long week.

Love,

Syster Maxwell

(next email)
Subject: PS

No really...Tuesday feels like an eternity ago. I do remember that it was a really long day, but it was busy and fun. I introduced Sis Porkka to all of our favorites and we had a teach with RR, our Chinese investigator who studies at the University and her friend G. People kept poking their heads in and once they saw we were reading the scriptures, G would invite them in. At one point there were 6 people besides us. It was quite the party. It's hard to teach to a person's needs when they are all from different religious backgrounds and cultures. RR loves the Book of Mormon, though and came to church on Sunday! She's always so happy and it was fun to have her with us in Relief Society. She's our age, so she's also a good friend.

On Wednesday we cajoled A to fast with us on Sunday. We told him we would all start at 6 and go until 6 the next day. "Without anything?!" he said. "And what time is church, 6 pm?" "No, 11am," we replied. "You all are going to kill me!" was his perplexed reply. He did it, though, but he didn't come to church. He tried to come to the recent convert/investigator dinner afterwards, but Sis Porkka was in a bad mood and wouldn't tell him how to get there. No church, no dinner! He has already cut back more than planned for on the snus, so he's doing great. We just have to get him to activities before 2 pm.

After that we tried to get to the 7th Day Adventists' house. I'd never led the way there before, so that was an adventure. I got us completely turned around and she had to come get us. But on the way we asked a few people for directions. The first people were three people who we saw walking out of the park. I could tell they were drunk and told Sis Porkka not to ask them. She obviously didn't hear me because she immediately asked them for directions. While the two ladies were trying to direct us toward the street, the older gentleman came up to me and tried to grab me. I protested and he told me to hold still. I did so he would stop making a fuss, and I could get away, but he tried to grab my face and give me a kiss. I think he was going for my cheek, but still.... I pulled away, and Sis Porkka also immediately came to the rescue and scolded him, "No, no, no!!!" He was wondering what the big deal was and one of the ladies said, "Not them. They're Mormons!" or something to that effect. It was pretty funny and silly. I wouldn't like that as a non-missionary either.

The teach with the 7th Day Adventists was interesting. They basically said that they can't accept the Book of Mormon because the Bible makes no mention anywhere of a person being both a spirit and a body. We gave them as much evidence as we could think of, but he always said the words meant something else. Typical. So, we thought that was over. We read parts of 2 Nephi 33 together and bore testimony of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon and left expecting that to be that, but they called a couple days later to set up an appointment! Sis Porkka has taught 7th Day Adventists before and just doesn't know what to do with them. We'll see how it goes.

We keep finding English speakers to teach. On Sunday the English speakers outnumbered the Swedish speakers in the Gospel Principles class. There were five of them and there was one more that meant to come, but got lost on the way. It was ridiculous.

Anyway, the rest is just the same, finding, teaching, seeing them slip away or being frustrated by lack of progress. It's hard to understand why some people keep meeting with us even though they don't want to read, pray, or go to church.

Well, it's getting colder, so we've switched to long underwear, socks and tights already. The Jul Must (a popular Christmas soda) is already in stores and some people have started putting lights in their windows. I also have found that a person can't get Jimmy Dean sausage here, meaning the kind that you can fry up. Also, there is no vanilla extract, only vanilla sugar which is basically powdered sugar with vanilla flavoring. Also, Sister Porkka said that inviting yourself over for dinner isn't a weird thing, but just dropping by to visit is. You can drop by, but don't take your shoes off and expect to stay. I'm trying to remember cultural things I haven't shared thus far. Anything anyone wants to know about? Well, have a great week. Hope you all are doing what you should be.

Love,

Syster Maxwell

Week 28

Subject: The Moose are Everywhere!

Hello everyone,

So, we finally got Sis Robinson settled, packed, and saying her goodbyes. We are supposed to make a transition report every transfer with appointments for the next 10 days all lined up, but it was hard to make appointments with people and give them commitments to follow up with next time when Sis Robinson was lining up appointments for when her and her family came through. We had general conference this weekend, though, so we were able to make it over the hump.

Going back to Wednesday afternoon, we started cleaning and planted tulips in the back yard. We really hope we planted them not too deep and not too shallow so that they actually come up next spring. We thought it was a nice touch to finish off our garden-themed transfer which ended up consisting of getting stung by a lot of stinging nettle, making a lot of raspberry pies, adventures in composting, and then buying a house plant. We finished off P-Day by going into downtown and going to a lot of different shops to try to find scrapbooking things for Sis Robinson. We visited a couple more people that evening and then finished up the night cleaning. We got in bed at 11:15 and got up at 4:45. Yuck. We took the 6 am train to Stockholm because Sis Robinson wanted to go to the temple one last time without her family there. We missed the 9am session we were aiming for, so we had to wait until the 10am, but a couple of the elders who were also going home joined it, so that was fun. We spent a couple hours at the ring afterwards. It really seems like someone official would tell us we needed to disperse. There are a lot of missionaries there and we were right in the way of a huge Levi's display/advertisement. Sorry travelers of Stockholm! How will you get your jeans now? There were a lot of new missionaries and my MTC companion, Sis Page, is training one of the new sisters. Elders Gardner and Bloomfield who were also in the MTC with me will be training as well. That's weird.

Anyway, it's me and Sis Porkka now. She's a lot of fun and quite different from Sis Robinson, and more like me in certain ways. We think the same about a number of things particularly household things and cultural (and pop culture) references. It's lovely. I think the transfer is going to be grand. I hope we continue to see the miracles we saw last transfer.

On Friday we met with D, our next baptismal candidate and taught him chess in our extra time before we had to catch the bus. Then we met A, who has the tobacco addiction and got him to make a plan for quitting. He was excited about it, but basically refused to live the rest of the Word of Wisdom in the process despite our promises that he would have extra strength as he tried to live a commandment of the Lord. I had actually wanted to stop teaching him if he hadn't wanted to do the program, but he set up his own program which will last for 6 weeks. Oh dear! We decided that maybe helping him stop snusing will be our community service for the month, if anything. He came to General Conference though, but just doesn't seem to be soaking anything in. He often buys us yummy nectar-y stuff made with goijy or something, (some super fruit), so that's a plus.

We had a cool thing happen on Friday before that teach. We were walking down the street, and this guy stopped us and asked us in English if we knew the place he was going to buy good boots. Uh....no idea. Turns out he's a trucker from everywhere and nowhere and drives from Denmark to Sweden all the time. He had hit a moose the day before and was getting his truck repaired. He described in great detail the demise of the poor creature. It was really sad. But...he's also a former member of the church. Got kicked out, he said. We told him that general conference was this weekend and he said he'd come if he could. Turned out he could! After the Relief Society session, we biked to a nearby store to meet him. He came rolling up in his head tractor and we showed him the way to the church on our bikes. That was the first time I've had to outbike a big rig. It was so funny, seeing him pull his cab into the church parking lot. It was great! He really liked the conference and seems to want to make steps back.

Anyway, conference was fantastic. I think I got the most out of it than any other one I've seen before because I actually wrote down my questions and studied my notes after. Imagine that! Well, I hope you all enjoyed it too. We are going to watch the last session now. Also, we bought horse and moose sandwich meat today at the store. It's hunting season! Funny thing about the horse meat is that it's labeled 'hamburger meat', but if you look at the label, it's definitely horse. Sad! It was good though. And the moose was terrifically tender. Mmmm! Well, I love you all! Have a good week!

Sys Max

Week 27

Subject: Raindrops on Roses

Hej på er,

So, it's been a long week, but not so gut wrenching as other transfer weeks have been. It's really nice to have a dying companion because I was fairly positive I would be staying and she would be going. The week was spent loaded with appointments and trying to make the transition to next transfer. Sister Robinson was finally breaking the news to everyone that she was leaving this week. We had more than one teach that ended with, "Well, I'm leaving this week..." followed by shock from those we were teaching. Some of the outbursts of emotion surprised both of us, but it's nice to know people care. President had to go pick up the new missionaries from the airport, so he didn't call us until almost 1. We were one of the last ones to know, but I'm staying as expected, and sister Porkka, a Finnish sister who I did splits with once and also loves This American Life is coming to be my companion. I hope we have a lot of fun together and get along well.

I'm keeping this short because we have A LOT to do this afternoon and we are going to be taking the 5:55 train to Stockholm tomorrow so we can go to the temple, so it would be nice to go to bed early. I guess we'll just hit the highlights of this week. First, the Word of Wisdom lesson with A who is addicted to snus, a popular kind of chewing tobacco here. His family kept coming in and out and he would go off on tangents on how important it is to take care of our bodies and how he knows all about the body and how the woman's body is especially a temple of God because she carries children, etc. Then his dear, sweet sister came in who is very sick and takes lots of medicines which affect how clearly she thinks. Her Swedish is only ok, so she often misunderstood what we were talking about. It was almost funny, our attempts to keep the lesson going so we could get home on time, but being sidetracked by her random comments about us and what we were teaching and then A replying and commenting on them too. For example, we went to the teach fasting, and she just couldn't understand why we didn't want anything to drink, so she kept asking over and over if she could get us something and then insisting that we needed to eat. I wish I could better describe it, but the long and short of it is that we got home really late, but they invited us back to eat food :)

On Sunday we took our recent new convert (R) to meet a lawyer who is an inactive member of the church and, frankly, isn't living the commandments. R needs help with his application to stay in Sweden and specifically needs a lawyer, and this man was the only way we could think of to be of assistance. He was willing to see him and gave him some good advice, helped him to understand the situation better, but we had to do some serious damage control afterwards. Basically, honesty. Always honesty. Something else that is very common here is for people to find a sambo, or live-in girlfriend, so they can stay. It's like getting married to get a green card in the US. We had to discourage that one too.

We had a really sad teach with a guy who is a member but has lost his faith and isn't really willing to take the steps to get it back again. He's willing to keep meeting, but isn't really planning on doing anything on his own until the desire hits him again.

Well, I'm off. Thanks for all your letters and prayers. Love you all!

Syster M

Week 26

Subject: Baptism Week

Hello everyone,

Still here. This was an interesting week. We took a lot of long bus rides through the grey countryside. We only got soaked once though. The highlight was the fact that the fields are really green from all the rain and we saw a few late blooming lupines and lavender. The weather has taken to being a little warmer this week when it's not raining. We're back to wearing tights though. It's just too cold now for footies. Yesterday was beautiful. The air was just slightly crisp and smells like apples. There are apples everywhere. It seems like everyone (who has a house) has an apple tree and rotting apples litter their yards. We've had quite a few dinners with the members this week and almost all of them gave us a bag up apples to take home. We are rolling in fruit! I also discovered last week that the brown paper bags under the sink are for compost. No more burying my own compost in the back yard! There is a little place to put it next to the garbage depository. It's so convenient. Oh, we finally bought some bulbs which we'll be planting in the back yard. We've decided it's symbolic for not seeing the fruits of all our labors here in Örebro since neither of us will still be here when they come up (I hope--that would be a long time here!)

The big news this week was that R got baptized. His was the second baptism I've attended since I've been here. He also was denied his asylum seeking status and was said that he had two months until he had to leave Sweden. He's going to appeal and we hope the best for him. It was really hard to hear. He's so humble and good we hope the Lord will guide him to the place where he can feel settled and build a new life. AW, his roommate and the one who introduced him to the church when he was baptized a couple months ago, got his approval to start language classes. It looks like he'll probably be able to stay then. The baptism itself was lovely. We had it right after church, so many from the ward stayed. Sis R and I sang, but it was only ok because I got nervous as usual. We only had a slight glitch in that R's pants were too big. They couldn't find any belts, so they held them up with a tie :) He's very shy, but he got up and said a few words afterwards. He just thanked everybody and said that he would never forget this day. It was very sweet. Sadly, they all had to run and catch the bus right after, but we snuck some cakes into a bag for them. D is getting baptized next month, and the baptism made him really excited about it. Hopefully having all three of them come into the church around the same time will help them keep coming. We made apple pie and apple cake for the baptism. The apple cake called for 4 cups of grated apple, so we got rid of all the nasty ones :) I also had orange fingers the rest of the day.

Now for the rest of the story... We went to Nora again and the ice cream place is closed for the season!!! We had no idea how much of a tender mercy our getting the ice cream that one time was.

Sis R is going home in like 10 days now and she's trying really hard just to stay with it. I think she's doing great, but the district leader and his companion think it's funny to try to get her trunky. I think it just makes us all feel bad. Well, gots to go. I love what I'm doing and you all are in my prayers!

Love,

Sys Maxwell

Week 25

Subject: I dry vegetables on the dish rack

Hello all!

So, this week has been fantastic! Or, at least interesting. I was feeling quite distraught about the weather in August and the season quickly turning to the dark side, but the words of an older ward member a couple weeks ago were prophetic. He said that sometimes in September there is a short 'second summer'. Ta da! It's been lovely this week! We're still holding out on the nylons as long as possible.

So, on to the week. On Tuesday, we got up early to be out the door by 6:30 to catch a 6:55 train to Stockholm for Zone Conference. We got everything ready the night before and were out the door by 6:35. Sis Robinson stopped dead in her tracks just staring at the bikes. We were in a hurry so I pushed her a little and said, "Come on! What are you waiting for?" "Look!" she said, pointing in the direction of the bike rack. I looked, and there was only one bike. We went and checked it out and found that someone has cut the wire. Oh the irony. I had been so careful about locking the bike securely. Sis Robinson thought I was paranoid at first. Nope. They didn't take my bike probably because it's not a very good bike and the back tire was locked. We quickly ran through our options. Couldn't take the bus, we'd missed it. We decided to just both go on the one bike. We grabbed another lock from inside and started off with 15 minutes to make it to the train station with a double loaded bike. I drove and Sis Robinson sat on the back trying not to let her feet drag. We get stared at a lot on any normal day, but today, everyone that passed us did a double take. We were crawling along two grown women, helmets on, in suits and tights, sweat streaming down my face, and can't forget the name tags. Needless to say, we didn't make the train. We got to the station, mascara all over my face, and 10 minutes too late. We talked to the lady at the desk and our only options were to take the really expensive, fast train, or to wait and hour and 15 minutes. Pres. Anderson asked if we could just come tomorrow to Stockholm South's zone conference. We decided to just wait for the next train because we had a lot of appointments the next day and this was Sis Robinson's last conference. We had prayed for a miracle, but thought it hadn't come. We had been on the train 15 minutes when we got a phone call from the district leader. The power in the Gubbangen chapel was out, no explanation, so we would be holding the conference in the institute in Stockholm which cut 30 minutes off our trip, and allowed us to get there just in time. Wonderful! We got sis Robinson's brand new, shiny bike yesterday. Our saintly mission leader bought it and had his son put it together. Yay!

We bought a plant today. If I get transferred in a few weeks, I'm taking it with me. It will be my friend during the winter. We also have been trying to germinate avocado seeds. They germinate rather slowly, but they are making progress. I think I'll take those too.

Sis Robinson and I were discussing the quirks of having a companion and how you have to adjust to each person's peculiarities each time you work with someone new. She leaves the bathroom cabinet door open all the time. I don't like to step onto a wet bathmat (Brian's fault--he doesn't like it either). Sis Robinson had a companion that demanded that the toilet seat be left down. She said that after that transfer, she missed putting the toilet seat down. Today, I put a carrot in the dish rack to dry after rinsing it. Sis Robinson said when she saw it later, "What's that carrot doing in the dish rack!?" I said, "Drying off. What do you think?" That was very strange to her. I didn't think it was so strange. Things like that. It's like getting married every two months. Or so I've heard. I'm not sure if Elder's really deal with that or not because I have shopped and cooked with each of my companions as well. Also interesting.

Anyway, yesterday was amazing. We've had almost no one come to church all transfer. We had 10 non-members come in and out of church yesterday. Some were there the last half, some only the first half, but they all came! It was crazy. We had a lady with her two kids come yesterday. Everyone was really excited about that, but we aren't sure if she'll come back or not. She goes to the Syrian orthodox church, so our church was rather strange to her. She's great though!

Well, I am trying to keep Sis Robinson's head on. She goes home in 3 weeks and is starting to get tired. She says she's losing her mind. That might be true. She never knows what I'm talking about. But she's not trunky, just crazy.

Let me conclude by saying the Lord is mindful of His missionaries. We see miracles (though usually small) every day. I love you all! Thanks for your prayers and support.

Love,

Syster M



                           Syster Birthday Princess

Week 24

Subject: Blackmailed!

Hejsan allihopa!

So it's been a big week this week. Mother, I'm going to be making big tortellini soup this week. I'm very excited. I was even more excited when, after looking for sausage a couple of weeks ago and finding the selection slim by the deli meats, we found the real sausage/hot dog section this week! It was beautiful!

On Tuesday we went to a little tourist town, which according to Lonely Planet, was supposed to charm the pants off us. We had an appointment with a friend of the man who is getting baptized in a couple of weeks. When we got there, he wasn't at the library, and his phone was busy. We had an hour until our bus left, so we made phone calls. About the time we had to go, a man I recognized as a visitor in church last week came up to us and said, "I have a picture I'm going to send to your mission president unless you give me $50...Blackmail, an American tradition! Are you supposed to be here?" Busted! We were supposed to be there, but it looked rather suspicious, us sitting in the sun by the quaint plaza. We explained, he and his family bought us ice cream, and then we had to run to the bus. They were really nice, and I hope they don't think we were slacking. It was fantastic ice cream. If you are ever in Nora, get the ice cream!

We had a fun little miracle on Wednesday. We went to Storå to teach our investigator with the baptismal date. It was rainy and cold and the library was unfortunately closed. We were sitting waiting for him to come when a man passed by us and said, "Hello! Praise the Lord!" He stopped to talk to us and said he is from India and was a preacher, but had to leave because his life was in danger. He preached a little too much for some people's liking. Or maybe it was what he preached. We don't know. He then told us that he had gotten baptized into our church a year ago. We will be getting a Hindi Book of Mormon this week, so we'll be able to take it to him. We were happy he found us.

This week I also agreed to buy a sewing machine from a man we taught a first lesson to. Oops. Turns out just nodding and saying ok to everything you don't quite understand is not always a good idea. Otherwise, the language is going well. I still have a horrendous accent, but most missionaries do.

Anyway, the rest of the week was filled with teaches with lots of great people, crazy train schedules, and trying to pack everything into 4 days. We went to Stockholm on Friday evening for preparation for our meetings with Elder Nelson and the area presidency the next day. We got to the mission home a little after 9 and found out that Elder Nelson had just left at 8:30ish. He'd been there to have dinner. Just missed him! We got to meet him the next day, though. I also got to meet Elder Kopischke who served with Dad in the office in Germany on his mission. That was fun! We took a picture. The missionary meeting was awesome, and the conference the next day was great! Also, spending the evenings at the mission home and with Sister Anderson was really fun and we went on splits in Uppsala with the sisters serving there. We have sharpening tomorrow, so we are going back to Stockholm bright and early. Mixed feelings on that one. Anyway, the church is true. This is the Lord's work, and I am happy to be on His errand. Have a great week!

Love you all,

Amy

Week 23

Subject: A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Hey you guys!

So last week, I thought the fall weather would go away and it would be summer for just a little bit more. Nope. It's been raining all week and getting colder and colder. The sun penetrates the forest in the mornings less and less. Normally I wouldn't be so obsessed with the position of the sun and the temperature in the mornings, but the fact that EVERYONE who isn't Swedish automatically goes on what Sis Robinson terms 'a winter rant' as soon as one mentions snow or winter makes me nervous for the coming 6 months. Oh well. They say I'll make it through. It's still light when we get up and just getting dark at 9, so I still have some time, but all the geese are flying south. It's weird seeing them so early, but they have a long way to go. It's understandable. There are also huge flocks of black birds that come and hang out in the winter, and they are already starting to trickle in. No good.

The irony is the only beautiful day we had was Monday, and we decided to make it a nap day. It was much needed. As a result, Sis Robinson can now run twice as fast in the morning. Tell me how that works. Still sad about missing the sun, though.

We taught the two Spanish speakers we met last week on Tuesday. One of them had a 14 month old baby who was hilarious! He kept slipping around on his little socks and rolling all over the floor. Nice for laughing, not nice for teaching. They also think I'm a ditz.

The rest of the week we put up flyers for a Swedish class we want to start here. We realized after we'd put them all up that we can be there the first time, but the next two times, we will be in Stockholm. Oops! This weekend is our big meeting with Elder Nelson and then we have sharpening which is zone conference pt II the next time we have class. After that there are only like 3 weeks until the transfer ends.

One of our investigators moved back to Uganda this week. He finished school and went back home. That was sad. We liked him.

Also, we've been teaching our baptismal date a little more. He lives way out in the middle of nowhere and the train rides there are beautiful! We got off at Storå on Friday to meet him and there was nothing there when we got off! Just a little shelter, time table, and cement. We went down the hill a ways and found a small little town on the edge of a lake. We took lots of pictures. Oh, and I saw my first Swedish moose! It was a girl moose. I missed the boy moose because I was sleeping. Too bad!

We also played in the first game in the stake soccer tournament on Saturday. Rather, I played until someone better came. It was fun, but one of those, "people care about you because you’re the missionaries, but don't really want to spend too much time with you because they have real friends" thing. They appreciated that we played, though and I'm starting to be able to tell the difference between all the tall, blond young men.

We made lunch for the district on Thursday. We made this delicious Hungarian soup called Lesco I think. Meat, peppers, tomatoes, onions. Served with lots of bread! We made the bread and baked it during the meeting. It was all so good! Our District Leader has been sick recently and keeps going to Stockholm to figure out what’s wrong with him. He had a weird rash thing and then just felt horrible. They told him he must have ulcers, so we thought having him eat lots of bread would be a good thing. Turns out it wasn't. We got a text on Saturday that said, "Was there basil in the food on Thursday?" (He's also allergic to basil) Nope! He said that he thinks he has a gluten allergy, then. It runs in the family, he says. Celiac's strikes again! We were very sorry for him, but even more sorry that we were the ones that helped him realize that :( In other food adventures, we made a beet, mango, tomato, hot dog pizza on Saturday. We liked it much better than the cucumber, zuccini, tomato, onion, banana pizza we made a couple of weeks ago. The beets were good, I think. It was Sis R's first time not eating beets pickled. She thought they were ok.

Anyway, I think that's it.

Love you all,

Syster Maxwell

Week 22

Subject: They do exist

Hejsan allihoppa!

So this week was back to normal and filled with little miracles and awkward moments. Monday was a stressful P-Day. I'm glad it's not Monday anymore. Or rather, that Monday anymore. We went shopping for Sis Robinson's going home presents for her family (don't expect any from me, people). I did get to take a nap, though.

Tuesday we set a baptismal date with a guy from Uganda who is seeking asylum here. He doesn't have any paperwork, so I'm afraid he won't get approved. We'll see. The recent convert who is actually the other guy's roommate thought ahead and made a clean exit from his country. Sure, he only had a small bag and the clothes on his back, but he has good proof about why he needed to leave his country. They won't just take your word for it. Something I'd never talked to people about before. It's interesting. Well, we were very excited about the first man's desire to be baptized, but the problem is that he lives an hour or so out of Örebro and is currently dirt poor. The people who would be able to give him a ride can't right now or ever in the near future because they have a puppy who has separation anxiety, so they have to take him to church with them. They train sled dogs. It's a big puppy. So the puppy goes to church and the man with the good heart stays home....

Wednesday was one of those strange days. We had a kid teaching with us who is going on a mission to Salt Lake Central? North? in a month or so. Sadly, both were strange teaches where we dealt with a lot of concerns, so he didn't get to say much. Needless to say, he was out of there as soon as possible. He didn't even stick around for the fish pies we were given from another Ugandan friend. We ate them, though, after we had pulled up to the nearest patch of rugged wilderness. The ground around here is rocky and flatish for the most part. It's also very lake-y country. Is that glacial, Scott? Anyway, we had a nice lunch where we were attacked by mosquitoes and then angry yellow jackets. It was strange. For the most part they were normal--annoying and all over the food, but one of them got aggressive and came up and dive-bombed my face, commandeered my sandwich, and right in front of me while I was still holding my open-faced, vegetable-laden turkey sandwich, did a little dance in a circle and came away with a perfect little circle of meat which he rolled up and took away, almost crashing from the weight, but he managed. It was incredible. We started holding out little bits of apple and then when they were found acceptable by the nearest yellow jacket, we set them down on the ground and continued eating. Sis Robinson dubbed me the Wasp Whisperer and likes to call me Dubb Dubb from time to time. It was funny, but maybe you had to be there. And that's all I've got. Nothing else funny happened this week.

Well, that evening we were talked to by the Jehovah's Witness family who were all very frustrated that their logic and telling us over and over again that the Bible was complete didn't seem to stir us or sway us in the least. Sis Robinson is experienced at offering proof from the Bible, or what maybe could be termed by some 'Bible Bashing', but we didn't even want to go there. They asked for the evidence though, and promised that they were open and ready to learn, so she gave it to them. They could offer no logical response, and were obviously not open for rational discussion. They also completely misread Hebrews 11:1, but I can see why. Oh, well.

Well, I'm getting better at soccer (sort of), and we are going to teach a former investigator that doesn't want to be baptized, but her husband is basically making her (and making us teach her). The story is that there was a missionary here last year who came back for a visit. They actually named their baby after her and love her, so that's what prompted the change, it seems. We'll see how long that lasts, but we are being positive. Always positive. We met a really cool girl from China who when we set up the appointment said, "I'm Buddhist. Is that going to be a complication?" She's really cute.

I spoke in church on Sunday which is always interesting, but it went ok. We also found three Spanish speakers we will be meeting this next week. Yay! They do exist! We also talked to a guy who grew up Orthodox in Turkey. Hasn't really read the Bible, but he is sure that Jesus was born out of the left side of Mary, not in the normal manner because that is what has always been preached. Anybody know where that comes from? We also almost saw the king this week, but we got there late because we were teaching. Too bad! We stalked the castle a little and then went home for weekly planning. :)

Anyway, I hope my letters aren't becoming boring. It's a lot of the same. But Sweden is beautiful. It already feels like fall. I love what we have and I hope to continue understanding more. Have a good week and don't forget to write!

Syster Maxwell

Week 21

Subject: If you want to destroy my sweater...

Hej på er!

So this has been an...interesting week. Don't worry, there is a happy ending, so don't be distraught. We had a 80% blåst rate this week; only 3 of our appointments went through, and two of those were with recent converts who meet with us every week. Blåsa in Swedish means to blow, so missionaries use it in the sense of to be blown off, but I'm pretty sure that normal Swedes don't say that.

So Monday started with us emailing, doing laundry, getting ready, personal study, cleaning, buying food, packing, and catching a train all before 11am. It was slightly intense. We did an abbreviated companionship study on the train which consisted of me reading to Sis Robinson from Preach My Gospel because she gets sick if she reads. We were in Stockholm by 1 pm and spent the day getting souvenirs she wanted, taking pictures, touring Stor Kyrka (the big cathedral where the princess just got married. It costs money now. Too bad.), and waiting for a lot of other missionaries to show up and to decide what they were doing. We went to Vällingby that evening which was weird, but fun.

Tuesday was zone conference which was fantastic. They are doing new infield training which I like. I think it will be really beneficial and backs up some of the opinions I've had but have never felt justified in expressing. It also means doing more things that are uncomfortable. But, I think it will be fun especially because of the training videos. They are fun, and I could relate.

Wednesday was one of those typical missionary days that they like to scare people with. It was lovely though. We had 4 scheduled appointments and only the one with a recent convert went. Our back up plans weren't home and no one was especially interested. We ended up eating fast food (not our first choice) at the place where we were most recently stood up and then headed off on our bikes to tract the night away. Only problem was that it was pouring rain. Imagine trying to carry a side bag, an umbrella, and keep your skirt from flying up while riding a bike. It was slightly ridiculous. We got to the point where we had to cross the rail road tracks and then take a sharp turn down a ramp. Sis Robinson already has a hard time with tight spaces. Needless to say, we both crashed. She actually got across the tracks to the other side and then crashed hard into the railing. I did a sympathy bail right after the tracks and into the stinging nettle. Very wet, but not so stingy. It kept raining the whole time we were tracting, and we even taught a guy a first lesson. Problem was that he was Muslim but didn't believe in any prophets, ever. They are all after their own gain, he said. Problematic for people trying to share that God called another prophet. :) On the way back, we biked out of our way to talk to a lady and her daughter who told us she was in no mood for discussing religion because she had just gotten back from Göteborg, so leave them alone! Sad, wet, and bruised, we started on our way home. I saw a guy who I felt like I should talk to, so I stopped and talked to him. We have a system where we ring the bell if our companion is ahead of us. I rang the bell, and went to talk to the guy. I talked to him for a good while always expecting Sis Robinson to come back, but she never did. He was really nice and curious about our message, so I got his number and wrapped up quick, because my companion was gone. I biked and biked expecting to see her coming back any minute. I biked for a good 10 minutes before I found her. She had gotten almost all the way home and was freaking out when I found her. Oops!

Friday and Saturday passed with not so much happening. We did go to Karlskoga to search for some less actives to teach, and had a fun little "teach" outside an apartment building we visited with a Kurdish speaking family from Iraq whose son (our age-ish) kept asking us if we wanted to convert to Islam. The mother was fasting for Ramadan which is really hard in Sweden since they have to eat after 9 and before 3 right now. They were really fun and really brightened up our week. Tender mercy. One of the son-in-laws said that he has a sister and brother-in-law who live in NC, Raleigh area. He asked if I knew Manhatten Bakery. I assumed he meant Manhatten Bagel (Manhatten Bageri in Swedish) and told him we had gone there almost every morning! He said they had had a deli in NY, but then moved to NC. Isn't that the story of the Manhatten Bagel people, Dad? They thought that was really cool. I didn't tell them I hadn't ever really met them but once though because I'd always wait in the car. Yes, Ted, that was that time of my life when Dad drove me to school every morning. See how important it was?

Anyway on Sunday we had our miracles. We set up two appointments for next week and talked to the first really interested people we'd talked to in a week. Great conversations. Lots of laughs. 5 new investigators. We tracted into a Jehovah's Witness family. They are awesome, but out to convert us as well. We didn't want to go in really, but we did anyway. Don't worry, they threw scriptures all over us, but we just bore testimony and didn't succumb to fighting about it. I had some great logical arguments which they kept asking for, but decided not to pursue it so much. They really wanted us to come back, so we agreed to it because they were so nice. So, we got three new investigators, and they got two. :)

Anyway, again, this was far too long, but there was lots to tell. Last Monday I ruined my favorite white sweater and the pajama shirt that I got from Mike and Shelley for Christmas last year. They didn't react too well to the boiling hot white wash. :( A very sad day. I also don't think I ever told about trying your eggplant recipe, Mom. It was delicious except for the nutmeg that we put in that tasted like pine sol. Unfortunate. We will try again with nutmeg we can trust.

Well, it's weird that Brian's going home this week. I'm still here, and it's great. Love you all! I love the Spirit! It's really nice.

mvh,
Syster Maxwell

PS Here's Sister Robinson's take on the whole experience:

So we kept going. I was pretty tired by then. And we had to get home. So home we went. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure Syster Maxwell was behind me. And we were nearly home when the biker I THOUGHT was Syster Maxwell passed me and...well, didn't end up being a sister at all. I thought, "Wait...where's my companion?" I turned around - and she was NO WHERE in sight. I panicked! I'd lost my companion! I started biking back in a frenzy, praying out loud in the rain. What happened? She get hit by a car? She get kidnapped? Did she just give up on Örebro and make a break for it? Should I call President? I biked back a ways and saw NOTHING. Oh no! Worst thing you can possibly do - lose your companion. Oh no! But five minutes later she came riding up, big smile on her face as though nothing was wrong. "Hej," she said and kept biking towards home. I was like, "What do you mean Hej? I thought you were dead!" Turns out she'd stopped to talk to one more person and thought I'd have seen it. Well, with her being behind me and it being dark and rainy and me being half blind anyway - didn't happen. But she got their number. Later, upon calling them, they didn't seem too positive though. But that was the kind of night that missionaries live for. That is just a hard core missionary night. And you know what? Sometimes when the opposition is thrown at you, it's a test to see what you'll do - if you'll keep going, if you'll talk to that last person, if you'll still trust in the Lord. It was awesome.

Week 20

Subject: Brännesla Nätel? No idea how to spell that

Hello all!

What a terribly strange week! We spent a gazillion krona at the grocery store because Sis Robinson's bike tire was still flat and we had to go to the expensive one. Then we spent most of the afternoon fighting stinging nettles and mushy weeds, trying not to destroy the raspberries. Now we are experts at identifying stinging nettles by sight, sound, smell, taste and feel. Not very pleasant. Sis R got some nice welts on her arm. Ok. Not really by taste. They are all over the place here, turns out, lining the bike trails. Dangerous. We also had some of the young men from the ward come over and fix Sis R's bike tire. It had five holes in it, they said. They did a really good job patching it up, but the next morning it was half flat. Slow leak! So we just carried the bike pump with us everywhere and pumped it up every time we had to go somewhere new. I liked to tell people it was my night stick or billy club when they asked. Don't worry, we just decided to change the inner tube on Saturday, and we did it ourselves. Our apartment is swimming in tools! So exciting!

So, we had a lot of appointments fall through this week. That's been depressing. A run down of what we've been doing: Bike contacting. Very interesting. You have to get over any geek complexes pretty quickly. Helping an investigator quit smoking. Challenging a family to baptism who Sis R felt like she stayed here for. Getting our challenged laughed at by said family (we are not deterred!). The daughter really wants to be baptized, actually, and we'd love for them to be baptized all together, but they've already been baptized. So they don't feel like they need to again. I have many thoughts on that one, but I will spare you all, and I only have 10 minutes left. We are going to Stockholm today and have only a little time.

We also had a cool experience (I hope) where we had a guy come up to us and start talking about the church. We set up an appointment with him and got his address. Then, later in the week, we called the guy that I had talked to in the train station on Saturday. We set up an appointment with him and got his address. We set them up one after each other and turns out they lived in the same street! We felt like the Lord was telling us something. We still don't know who we might find there, but when we got there it was student housing! We've been looking for some way to talk to the students from the university here! We'll see how it goes. We actually had a great teach with two graduated students from Africa (Ghana and Uganda). They know the bible really well and are very smart. We went back last night to tract and at 1A we got caught in what Sis R terms "an old man trap". An 65 year old man answered the door in nothing but his briefs and proceeded to talk to us for 45 minutes. We tried to get away, we promise! But neither Sis R nor I are bold enough just to say, "ok! See ya!" and close the door. He chatted with us about how he'd already lost 30 kilo and wanted to go down 20 more by just eating pita bread and vegetables and how we needed to only read the Bible. Not even commentaries. It was really a non-stop stream with no break. Amazing! Well, we'll try again some other day.

Love you all! No time left! Laundry to switch!

Syster Maxwell

Week 19

Subject: The Garden State
Hello Beloved Family,

Well, I'm in Örebro. Transfers went nice and smoothly. I was packed and ready to go by 3:00 the day before and we could just take it easy the rest of the time. The day of transfers we had our studies, finished tidying up and decorated our planners with the flowers we'd been collecting and drying the whole transfer. I put lavender on mine, so now it smells delicious! I'll just try not to smell it in public. We took both of my overloaded suitcases on the bus to Vällingby first to meet IA. That was great! He still wants to get baptized and come to church, so we gave him the number of a Spanish speaking ward missionary and my number in Örebro. The only question is, why did he avoid us for 2 weeks if he's still excited about everything? I don't know.

So then it was off to the ring to meet all the other missionaries. Sis Wood got tranferred down to Lund for her last transfer which is an answer to prayer. She really wanted to get out and see something different since she's basically been in Stockholm her entire mission. Only trouble is that they speak a different dialect of Swedish down there which is hard to understand. I'm sure she'll have fun with it though. Elders Gardner, Bush, Wood, and Dean were at the ring too. They were in my MTC district and are basically switching places too. Elder Bush didn't think too highly of us sisters in the MTC and now sister Page is in his district. Hope he's gotten over that since she was the rowdiest of the group... The sisters all went out to eat at a café we would eat at for district meetings. It was pouring rain on the way back, so our shoes got slightly soaked. Quick goodbyes and off to catch my train. My first real train in Sweden! None of this commuter train stuff. I said goodbye as we passed by all my old haunts and then off to the west. We're still in the Stockholm stake, but we are two hours out, so there will be no more Stockholm trips which I'll miss, but I already like Örebro, so I'll think I'll stick around.

It's been raining basically since I got here. Hard to take after our rainless, hot July. So getting transferred out of my first area felt like moving away from home. I keep feeling like I'll be going back sometime. I even find myself thinking, "back home our shower..." and then I remember how ridiculous that is and it's not my home. The whole mission slang with 'being born', 'dying', having a 'mom' or 'sisters' or a 'grandma' is making a little more sense to me now. Also it's so much easier to say you are going to 'kill' someone than saying 'I'm going to be their last companion before they going home' or even 'they are going home thing transfer'. Rather, 'she's dying' or 'I'm going to kill her.' So much simpler... or maybe it's still just ridiculous.

Anyway, they had a baptism here last week and he was confirmed in church on Sunday, so as happens after a baptism, there is a void in the people for us to teach (because not so much energy is focused on teaching the baptismal candidate even though we still teach him once a week), so we'll be doing a lot of finding work. My favorite! Örebro is like an actual city and the castle is right in the middle of it, so we pass by it to go contacting. We bike everywhere which is awesome, but we need to buy baskets. I just can't live without a basket for my bike. I was being silly, but they are nice, and it's so Swedish!

So, Sis Robinson tells me I've come to Zion. Örebro is an actually functioning ward with the sacrament actually being passed by youth, about 20 young single adults, and 100 active members. Crazy! Our ward mission leader is AWESOME. He is starting a program to have members of the ward bring people into their homes to be taught. Not people we find, people they invite. When people get baptized, the members take care of them. They've had five baptisms within the last year and 4 our of 5 of those is still coming to church (5 if you count the man baptized last week). It's so wonderful. I hope we can really do some good work here.

The best thing about this week is (maybe not the best...most ironic) that when sister Robinson told me we were on the bottom floor, I got excited and asked her if we had a little yard, then. (Most of the bottom floor apartments here have little yards that people like to dress up and actually put money into even though they are just renting. It's a different mentality). It was a "yard" she said, but there was no way we could go out in it since it was covered in very tall weeds. When I saw it, I got excited about cutting everything down and making it look nice. She was not so enthused, so I figured I'd just do it on my own for therapeutic reasons. So on Friday, we get a knock on the door and the community people tell us we have to clear our weeds within a week else, they will come in and do it for us and then send us the bill. Sis Robinson said, "well, I guess you get to have your garden after all" Yay!! It's raining today, but we are going to clip as much as possible. Our mission leader brought us some small clippers from the church, but after he got a look at it he went and got us bigger clippers and said, "You're gonna need these." Fun times! So Sis Robinson is also into transfer themes, so we decided to make the theme "The Garden" and relate it all back to Jesus Christ. We will be studying different aspects of garden symbolism as relating to the plan of salvation and atonement each week as a companionship. Her favorite CD is also "the Garden", that musical production that came out a while ago. Didn't they do that in Apex or somewhere? So, it all ties nicely together and would make for a nice seminary video.

Well, I'm really excited about this transfer. Sis Robinson is really sweet. She is from Palmdale, CA, studying to be an English teacher at BYU, and is more soft spoken upon first meeting people than I am. Weird. She's fun and open to new things, so that's nice. We also have a dryer now, so I don't have to have a stinky towel anymore!!!

Well, that's all for this week. I hope everyone is doing fantastically well and enjoying August. I love this work. It is the Lord's. I know we will see miracles this transfer as long as we truly desire it and stick with it. I discovered Helaman 3:24-30 this week. Love it!

Love,
Syster Maxwell

Week 18

28 July 2010

Subject: Missionary’s first transfer

Hej på er!

So, transfers are this week. Hence, the late email. I'm getting transferred to Örebro and Sis Robinson will be my new companion. I'm really sad to be leaving, actually partially because Stockholm is really fun. It's fun to be able to go there for P-Day and District meeting and there are so many missionaries around. I also love the people here. That was my first reason not to leave, but really, it feels like the right time. IA disappeared on us. No explanation. And the Spanish lady I felt like I wanted to stick around to support is going back to Chile until February in September anyway. Sadly, they decided to put an end to the Spanish Sunday School class on a Stake level. I had a hard time with that one, not going to lie, because it was a draw to Spanish speakers that we meet and was keeping some people active because they had at least one class where they could fully express themselves and understand. Of course the reasons, were the usual ones, unity, the ward is small anyway, so giving the other Sunday school class more numbers. I see both sides, but if they can't have their class, why is it ok for us to have our English Investigator class? It's hard for me to get coming from the US where we have Spanish, Chinese, Tongan, even Cambodian branches in some areas. We want everyone to hear the gospel in their own language, but we also want to be a unified body. Difficult.

Something else difficult from this week is that our investigator who has been trying to kick his coffee habit and actually threw away the coffee he had, chatted with some guy from Utah this week who told him that he's Mormon and he drinks coffee and some Mormons do too. It's ok! No big deal! Don't kick your habit! That made me so mad! It's just like Swedish, for every rule, there's always a list of exceptions a mile long. One thing I've realized is you don't teach people the exceptions because they will live by them and not the rule. They'll pick up the exceptions along the way and find their own ways to rationalize things away just like we all do (I'm not condoning that, I'm just saying that). I've also found it difficult with teaching the Sabbath Day because that is such a widely interpreted law itself. We try to stick with what the prophets say, but some of the things don't apply here to the people we are talking to. But it's hard to draw the line between culture and doctrine. But don't worry, we teach them correct principles.

Well, yesterday we helped one of our investigators move from Kista to Husby. He didn't have anything to pack his stuff up in, so we took over our empty suitcases to help him pack and move. I discovered in the hour of rolling our suitcases all over the place that one of the wheels on my gray suitcase is bent and rubs against the plastic casing. Problematic since I have to move 60 pounds of stuff in it tomorrow. Moral of the story: don't buy cheap luggage? Or maybe don't overpack your suitcase? Probably the latter. Last week we bought 170 SEK worth of fruit. It was two huge bags and we've been eating it slowly with bread, cheese, and vegetables mostly. Yay for the summer!

On Sunday, we went to Jenny Kempler's house and made phone calls while she made lunch (I helped). We ate a very red lunch. We had boiled beets with salt and goat cheese, fried herring with lingon jam, potatoes and carrots and cherry juice that she made herself which was thick and tart. It was delicious!! She ended up coming out with us for the two teaches we had that evening and it was really nice having a ride everywhere and her awesome testimony. Every time she opened her mouth, the Spirit was overwhelming. It was amazing! We've been averaging about 4 member teaches a week which is really bad. That's July in Sweden for you.

I bought some (tame) leopard print footies because that was better than the electric blue or orange that they had (end of the summer selection, you know). I thought it would be ok because no one would see them in my shoes. I forgot we have to take our shoes off at people's homes. Oops. It's been ok so far.

On Friday last week we were sitting in Bro waiting for someone who didn't show up, but another guy came up to us and said hey and walked past and sat down on the bench right behind and to the side of us. Sis Swenson had her triple out and when he'd almost finished his cigarette, he asked us what the book was. We talked to him for awhile about it and the church and then he told us all about his history and how he'd seen God while he was on drugs, but he wasn't sure if it was real because he was on drugs, ya know. He doesn't do drugs anymore, and wanted to talk more sometime, but we haven't been able to yet.

Well, I can't think of anything else right now. There was something...nope. Not coming. Anyway, Sweden is an interesting place. So many people and so many interesting issues. Do your home and visiting teaching. Love your families. No excuses.

Syster Maxwell

Week 17

19 July 2010

Subject: An outside perspective

Well, I'm still here. We are just plugging along. This week was weird because we taught about 6 Swedes. That is more than usual. I have also been sharply reminded about how bad my Swedish is. I don't feel so bad about it when we teach people who also don't come from Sweden. I also heard a lot more swearing than usual this week.

Our French-only speaking investigator is back in town for awhile, so that's been exciting. On Sunday one of our less active ladies, who only doesn't come every week because her husband won't always let her, came up to him and started speaking French! We were so surprised, but it makes sense since we met and taught her sister this week who lives in Switzerland and also speaks French. Turns out they went to a French school growing up. It was a real blessing because we were actually able to communicate with him during our lesson during Sunday School. She said she had been able to come to church last minute. Miracle for the week.

We had another lesson with the Jehovah's Witnesses who are very nice. It was really fun because we were able to ask them questions about their church and beliefs and there was no argument. It was just a normal exchange of ideas. They kept asking us questions about the resurrection and the timing of everything with the second coming. I think it's been years since I thought about it, strangely enough, so we had to get back to them on that one.

We also had a little mishap where we were offered either rice and sauce or rice and strawberry filmjölk which is like thick yoghurty milk, but not so good. But I didn't know that and thought I would try it. Sadly, it was hard to choke down the entire bowl and the man who gave it to us is quite poor.

We also talked to this guy in Vällingby who was English speaking and told us he doesn't share his thoughts with anyone because the powers that be will steal it. Then he went off for five minutes on how terrible the world is, especially the United States Government and what would he termed 'big business'. He must have known we were Americans, but maybe not.

Also, there is a couple that we go eat food at their house sometimes. They have a garage that they did up with a couple of couches and a table and the husband's music and stereo and such. It's a really cute little gathering place. When some of the other guests were commenting on it this last time, they mentioned how uncommon it was, but the wife turned to us and said that this type of thing was common in the US, right? We responded with blank stares and uh....'s. Then she said that it was on TV at least. The King of Queens? Anything else? Seems like it, but I really struggled to find a real life example of that. Maybe they were thinking of basements? That makes more sense.

Well, the only other exciting thing is that we went to a few fun museums the last couple of P-Days in Stockholm including the Dance Museum and the Ethnographic Museum. It's weird to go to museums as a missionary. We also ate lunch today in a tower that over looks all of Stockholm. Fun!

Well, that's all I can squeeze out this week. The church is true and the work moves on even if it is at a slower pace than we'd want. Take care. Love you all.

Amy