Week 8

Subject: Sweden has decided it's time...

....for Spring! It was in the 60s and 70s most of this week with scattered sun. The country just exploded into green. In my neighborhood, the streets are lined with nicely manicured yards full of flowering trees and scattered wildflowers and tulips in the grass. Yummy!

We exchanged our tights for footies this week which was permitted after April general conference, but it was still too cold. Sis Wood kept telling me that was the protocol, but it was never officially mentioned. Then, at zone conference in April, Sis Anderson came over to us sisters and explained the rule just as Sis Wood had. She said they don't announce it generally in newsletters or in meetings because they don't want the elders checking :)

Also, this week, I found out that Sis Swenson who is in my zone's dad was the California Arcadia mission president from 2005-2008 or so. Did that overlap with you at all, Ted? I might have accidentally spilled the beans that you didn't think your mission president liked you very much. Hope that's not him! :)

And in Brian Peterson's letter home he said something about Mitch having big news. What happened!?

I forgot to mention my conversation with the Queen of Sweden. So, last Sunday we wanted to see if Drottningholm would be open the next day, so we called the number in our guide book to see if they had the hours in a message (it was 10:00 at night). It rang and rang and while it was ringing I was making jokes about disturbing the royal family and what if they pick up? Suddenly a woman picks up on the other end of the phone. I was so surprised that I couldn't even form a proper question. "Är öppet imorgon?" I said (Is open tomorrow?). Then she said yes in a way I didn't understand and gave me the hours and then I repeated myself just to confirm and she said yes. That is a fairly typical conversation on the phone for me and why I don't call people that aren't in the ward and don't also speak english very often. Anyway, I am just positive I spoke to the Queen of Sweden who I disturbed as she was watching the nightly news. It was very exciting :)

We did a lot of less active work this week. We are going to try to keep meeting with a lot of them next week and keep asking for referrals. We'll see how that goes. We went to visit one lady this week who has had it rough. She doesn't like Swedish women in the least because "they stole her husband and her son and always take what isn't theirs." Sad. She also had a living room full of latin-style artwork that made us blush. Not something i would choose to display.

Oh! I also had my first attempted conversion/Bible bashing experience this week. We met a guy who Sis Wood and her last comp had taught the Restoration to. He is very active in his own church and when we invited him to the music concert we had last month by text, he responded, "Come to Arken. It's nice." We didn't, but he texted us this week and said we could meet again. We were a little wary, but planned for teach the Plan of Salvation just in case. We knew when he turned up with another man from his church that we weren't going to be talking about the gospel. The man had an incredible story about being healed from his life threatening illnesses by a miracle and being brought back to life basically. He was healed immediately when he got baptized and they have a strong belief in the laying on of hands for healing. We tried to explain that we believe in that too, but they would have none of it because we believe that sometimes it's not the will of the Lord that we be immediately healed. Sometimes it is and miracles happen. Nope. Not good enough for them. They tried to convince us our religion was false for about half an hour. We were just very nice and I sincerely said thank you because they read us some nice passages from the New Testament. Then they asked if they could take our hands and pray for us like they do in their church. We declined, but let them pray for us. Sister Missionaries don't hold hands with men. Sorry. Well, that was probably too much detail, but it was interesting and frustrating.

Well, I hope all is well at home. We have another music night this sunday. Not really sure how it's going to go.... Grandma Win, thanks for making me feel ok comparing myself to Ms. Hepburn ;)

Well, keep reading and praying, teach your children, and go to church.

Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

PS I forgot my birthday! Thanks for the Disney Princess party in a box, mom! I put the rest in the closet for sis Wood's birthday (if she doesn't get transfered). Also, the deodorant was perfect. And the Happy Birthday sign was missing a Y. Happy Birthda! It was funny. Sis Wood had her mom send out a yellow cake mix, so I got American cake with chocolate frosting. Yay! We also went out to lunch at a little Chilean place. Yay, Spanish! Yay, dulce de leche! We got a discount and a free dessert. We even went back for Ceviche on Saturday.