Week 9

Hejsan allihopa,

Well, we've made it to the end of my first transfer. They say the first one is the longest. This wasn't all that bad, so I'm not too worried about time feeling like it's dragging by. We have P-Day on Wednesday during the last day of transfers here, and our transfers are 9 weeks long. I'll be staying in Jakobsberg and Sis Wood will be transferring up to Uppsala with Sis Virkemäki who is staying there. Sister Swenson who was in Uppsala will be transferring down here with me. Uppsala is in our district, so the Sisters will be staying the same. It's just an extended exchange or split. It's funny how exciting transfers are. Transfer predictions weeks before and mad texting the morning of the phone calls to see where everyone else will be. Tomorrow we will all be gathering at "the ring" (a big gold handrail which encircles a hole looking down to the lower level) in the Stockholm Central Station to go to our respective places. All of the luggage and missionaries makes for quite a spectacle. It's a big deal.

We actually went up to Uppsala last week for district meeting and did splits for a finding activity and I went with sister Swenson. She's fairly aggressive when it comes to talking to people. Not like she corners them or anything, but she just has a different style than I do. She'll probably teach me a lot and it will probably be an adjustment. I just need to stay humble.

Also, the PO Box address isn't going to be used anymore, even for letters, so all mail that is sent to me should go to:

Sister Amy C. Maxwell
Enebybergsvägen 38
SE-182 46 Enebyberg
Sweden

Oh, and Happy Birthday to everyone... Miles (1!), Lindsay (25!! Ack! What's happening to us?), and...anyone I forgot.

So, we had another Music Night on Sunday. It turned out really nice even though it was really thrown together. We hadn't rehearsed most of the numbers more than twice and some we hadn't gone through at all, but the Bishop said he thought it was the best one yet and a lot of people were really touched by some of the numbers. Sister Wood and Elder White did "Homeward Bound", not Simon and Garfunkel, Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He figured out the tabs for it on the guitar and it was really good. I did Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring with him which was pretty. Sis Wood and I sang The King of Love My Shepherd Is, which was one of those ones we hadn't rehearsed at all. It was going about half the tempo it should have and I missed an entrance, but we actually had someone say it was the best number! Miracle :) We had a few non-members there and our entire Swedish class came! All 4 of them :) I actually knew that Sister Wood was getting transferred because I had the feeling that we needed to sing The King of Love this time or I wouldn't get the chance. There's no one else here who comfortably gets up to a high A.

With spring have come the slugs and the snails. They are huge and everywhere. The snail shells are about 2 inches in diameter and they are long and white. I've seen bigger slugs back home, but not in such an abundance. Their remains are strewn across the sidewalks. It's gross and Sis Wood says there are even more later in the summer... Yum! I helped a lady get the snails out of her yard the other day. I threw about 30 into the woods. The first one I threw I accidentally hit a tree. I felt terrible! But then Elder Blackhurst told me he used to use the snails in his grandmother's yard for batting practice. Gross. That service activity was supposed to be us helping this lady wash her house to be painted, but in the end, we stood around while she stressed about lunch and how to put plastic down, so though we were there 2.5 hours, we only worked about 30 minutes.

Another funny thing. We went to a lady's house that we've been meeting with. She’s from Belarus and loves to chat and drink tea. This time she continually praised Sis Wood for her musical ability, and her blue eyes, and said that they would be friends for life. She looked at me and said nothing. Later I was teaching about the celestial kingdom and she asked if I had come in contact with a dog because I smelled like one. (I didn't. We checked later.) Some of the things she said made me think that maybe I had been coming off as condescending while I was explaining things. I feel bad if that's the reason she has taken to putting me down, so I'll work on that. I knew she liked Sis Wood more than me – most people do, but it was just so funny how obvious she made it. I'll try to work on being more demonstrative too I guess... Well, life goes on and we'll see what happens when Sis Wood leaves the area. She's been a great friend to me, so I'm glad she'll be close by. Oh, and her mom met Brian. She said that she saw two missionaries on the street, so she pulled the car over and hopped out and asked if one of them was Elder Maxwell. She said he seemed like a nice kid.

This email is way too long. Sorry. Well, the Book of Mormon is fantastic and the saints here are amazing (those that come. I bet some of the ones that don't are great too, but they don't come). Love you all! Thanks for the letters Berkeley-ites! They made me so happy. I'll try to write back sometime soon!

Much love,
Syster Maxwell