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