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
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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
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
Monday, November 22, 2010
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
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
Monday, November 15, 2010
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
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
Monday, November 8, 2010
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
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
Monday, November 1, 2010
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)