Week 43

Subject: The new normal

Hejsan allihopa!

Well, remember last week when I said we were looking forward to a normal week? Nope. We actually got a call that night from president asking us to pack our things and move to Uppsala. There were two sisters going home mid-transfer. One of them had been in a trio in Göteborg, but the other one would be leaving her companion, well, companion-less. I don't think having us double out of Sundsvall and have Elders come instead was really his plan until last minute. The assistants told the Uppsala sisters on Monday-day that Uppsala would probably be closing and Sis Dabb would be moving elsewhere. But last minute moves by a kid who has a date to be baptized may have helped him rethink the decision. Based on the miracles we've seen in the last couple of days, we think the Lord's hand was in it to keep the area open. I'm not going to lie, I never felt totally settled in to Sundsvall. I would absolutely love to go back there, but our first day in Uppsala felt like coming home. I'm back in the Stockholm district and have actually been here a couple times. Unfortunately we missed both the Stockholm and Norrland zone conferences, but President let us listen the afternoon hours of the Norrland zone conference on Saturday via speaker phone. It worked out really well and was so much better than nothing.

So, some awesome things about Uppsala...Swedish class! I love teaching Swedish class and they actually have people who come. Sister Dabb! She was MTC companions with Sister Kiser and is just top notch. 2 Baptismal dates! They had this really awesome kid walk into church on Sunday and ask how he could become a member :) The other one is a Mongolian orphan who was living in Hägersten and then moved up here. We haven't met him yet, but he sounds really nice. The Waites! They are a older missionary couple in charge of the missionary apartments and are living here in Uppsala. They are fantastic. Elder Waite knows a ton about Swedish history, so he offered to take us on a tour one day. Stockholm!!! I'm really excited to be back :) We live about an hour away. The sun! It was shining until 2:30 when we got here!

Anyway, double transferring out was really hectic. Sister Kiser hadn't moved up to this point, so packing took her all day. I packed and took care of everything else for the new elders coming in. I left as much info about the area the people we were working with as I could, but it seemed like we were missing something. It seems like they are getting along alright, though. One of them is Äldste Codling from my MTC group, so that's been fun. A couple in our ward were nice enough to come pick us up at 5:30 in the morning and help us onto the train at 6. The news was so unexpected that most people didn't find out. We went straight to Uppsala and then sent Sister Smith on the train to Stockholm. We've got a lot of work to do here still, but things to do and people to see are just popping up. Sis Dabb is excited to start over and find new people. Anyway. I am so happy to be here. We are going to have so much fun and do good work. I love you all and I know Heavenly Father is mindful of each of his children. His plan is perfect and he orchestrates everything to our best. I have seen that these past few weeks. Take care, everyone!

Sys M