Subject: I want to touch me and you a cup of coffee
Hey all!
Time sure does fly by. We have transfer calls next week, but at our zone conference, President Anderson said he was planning on keeping me in one place for awhile. I told him I guess I'd unpack my bags now :) He also said he figured it would just be one set of sisters in Göteborg, so we can kiss the 4-woman apartment goodbye. We've had so much fun!! It's cramped, but a lot more exciting.
Well, the miracles are still flowing in. We really wanted to make our goals this week and we ended sunday one teach short. We decided to contact on the way home for weekly planning and the second person we talked to said, "I know a little about your church, but not much. What do you stand for?" We were able to give her a short first lesson there on the street. Though she wasn't interested, it was a positive interaction for her, and the Lord showing us again that He cares.
We also had a cool experience where we didn't know exactly where to go to contact on Saturday, so we just went to the spår vagn to see how we felt when we got there. We decided to take the first one that came and talk to those we felt we should. We got off at Marklandsgatan and took the first one that came again. We got off at another random stop and had 5 minutes until the next tram. We saw a few african ladies carrying a couple of kids, so we decided to talk to them in the meantime. They said they had been here for a week, were from Rwanda and on an exchange program with Gothenberg university and were looking for a doctor for the baby. Sis Lövgren asked a passing couple and we went with them to the emergency care. We sat with them for a good 3 hours and then went with them to get the prescription for the baby. He had some kind of infection. Sis Lövgren was able to give one of the ladies a Book of Mormon and teach her about the restoration and they said we could come over next week. The coolest thing was being able to help someone. It's so hard sometimes to find ways to be helpful to people here.
So, our zone got 9 baptismal dates this week! We were very excited. The saddest part about that is that one of them was ours (who really only speaks Arabic and French), but the next day he sent us a text that said "Hallo maxwell how are you i want to touch me and you a cup of coffee outside the church as possible? And at the same time i do not want to bother, and i hope that my call receptive, the spectrum of week, thank you" First of all, no coffee. Second of all, I have only met him once and he's a bit older than me. And third of all, I'm a missionary!!! We sent him a text back and said we didn't have time, but we'd like to meet next week, and had he read anything from the Book of Mormon yet? He texted back saying "Hi, i am for you and for your beauty saghere all the books and i did not asittie to sleep and i'm thinking of your beauty and the book. lol lol"
We had a good laugh over that one and so did the elders when we had to call and ask them to take our investigator. There seems to be quite the epidemic of this. Maybe it's because it's february?
Otherwise, I am happy and things are going really well. Sis Lövgren and I are starting to annoy each other by our similarities, but it's funny. We take it in stride. Well, the work goes forward. It's amazing to see. Thanks for all your prayers and support!
Love,
sys m
PS forgive the type-os! Ack!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Week 47
Subject: These boots were made for walkin’
Hejsan allihopa!
It's been quite an interesting week in preparation for Valentine's Day! With our investigator calling us 'baby' instead of sister and then the other Sisters' baptismal date expressing his love to Sis Gotberg, we've had quite enough of the Valentine's sentiment :) He told her he's going back to Africa this week, and wouldn't she like to go with him? When she said no in her usual Sis Gotberg manner (nicely and with a sense of humor) he followed up with a texted poem about his love for her. He tried calling over and over and after a lot of agonizing conversations with the rest of us told her that she wasn't practicing what she preached because Jesus wouldn't avoid people. That was mature of him. So, in the end we gave S to the other sisters and they gave M to us. We are trying to meet with M again to see what his real intentions really are and if he is interested in continuing to learn more and set up a new baptismal date.
So, it's been quite cozy with all four of us in the apartment. It seems to take forever to get out of the door in the morning, but we can run and be ready for study at 8, so that's been impressive. Otherwise, I can never find anything and all my clothes seem to be permanently wrinkled from being stuffed in half a closet. After 2 weeks, we've worked out the kinks. We haven't divided up the area at all--we just communicate to make sure we won't be at the same place at the same time. The other sisters have more responsibilities over the institute center and teach Swedish class and such. It's been really nice to have the center to teach people. No more sitting at the library! It always struck me as funny that we didn't have a good place where we could go to teach people. It feels much more professional to have a place of our own to meet (in Örebro and Sundsvall, the church was a bit out of the way).
In other news we've seen so many miracles this week. I have done this three times now it seems. Go to an area, find out there are 1-2 investigators and then spend the next two weeks working as hard as we can to try to build up the area. It seems that on that day where I just don't think I can contact one more person, the Lord blesses us so much. Last weekend we gave pass along cards to 2 people who contacted us either that night or in the next few days. We met with one man, M, 3 times last week and found a fellowshipper who clicked with him immediately! Even when I feel so inadequate, the Lord shows me that He's the one who's taking care of everything. We had another miracle. We'd had a really poopy day the day before and I was sitting on the tram pleading with the Lord to give me strength to keep going and I got the strongest impression to just get off the tram and start contacting. The first person we talked to was a man from Colombia (Spanish speaker!!) who has Mormon friends and a Book of Mormon at home! He invited us over :) These things happened over and over again this week.
Just one more really cool thing...Last night we went tracting and the first door we knocked on the lady said, 'jag vet vem ni är. kom in!' We were so shocked we didn't really know what to do at first, but we took our coats off and sat down. She gave us tea and kladkaka and we showed here the new translation of the Book of Mormon. She was really excited about it. She said she likes to open up the book at random and see what the Lord has for her that day. She demonstrated and the scripture she read at random was Alma 10:8-9. I just got chills. The Spirit was so strong, we tried to explain the story, but we don't know if she really got it. In any case, we got her number and an open invitation to come back. It was really cool. Another tender mercy was that I was feeling bad making Sis Lövgren work while she was sick. We got to have a nice chat and drink tea. Wonderful.
Well, I love Sis Lövgren. She's just fantastic. We are so similar that we laugh about our same quirks. We both have a tendency to micromanage each other. It's great. I also got to wear Sis Gotbergs new boots to stretch them out for her and she wore mine. It was nice to trade in my clunky boots for nice sleek ones for a while. They have no tread, so I would hold onto her backpack and she'd pull me along the ice. Who needs ice skating? Anyway, that's the news. Oh, Elder Olsen is my zone leader. He played football with Aaron Lee. I gave him all Aaron's letters. He was very excited. 30 seconds left! Have a great week!
Love,
Sis M
Hejsan allihopa!
It's been quite an interesting week in preparation for Valentine's Day! With our investigator calling us 'baby' instead of sister and then the other Sisters' baptismal date expressing his love to Sis Gotberg, we've had quite enough of the Valentine's sentiment :) He told her he's going back to Africa this week, and wouldn't she like to go with him? When she said no in her usual Sis Gotberg manner (nicely and with a sense of humor) he followed up with a texted poem about his love for her. He tried calling over and over and after a lot of agonizing conversations with the rest of us told her that she wasn't practicing what she preached because Jesus wouldn't avoid people. That was mature of him. So, in the end we gave S to the other sisters and they gave M to us. We are trying to meet with M again to see what his real intentions really are and if he is interested in continuing to learn more and set up a new baptismal date.
So, it's been quite cozy with all four of us in the apartment. It seems to take forever to get out of the door in the morning, but we can run and be ready for study at 8, so that's been impressive. Otherwise, I can never find anything and all my clothes seem to be permanently wrinkled from being stuffed in half a closet. After 2 weeks, we've worked out the kinks. We haven't divided up the area at all--we just communicate to make sure we won't be at the same place at the same time. The other sisters have more responsibilities over the institute center and teach Swedish class and such. It's been really nice to have the center to teach people. No more sitting at the library! It always struck me as funny that we didn't have a good place where we could go to teach people. It feels much more professional to have a place of our own to meet (in Örebro and Sundsvall, the church was a bit out of the way).
In other news we've seen so many miracles this week. I have done this three times now it seems. Go to an area, find out there are 1-2 investigators and then spend the next two weeks working as hard as we can to try to build up the area. It seems that on that day where I just don't think I can contact one more person, the Lord blesses us so much. Last weekend we gave pass along cards to 2 people who contacted us either that night or in the next few days. We met with one man, M, 3 times last week and found a fellowshipper who clicked with him immediately! Even when I feel so inadequate, the Lord shows me that He's the one who's taking care of everything. We had another miracle. We'd had a really poopy day the day before and I was sitting on the tram pleading with the Lord to give me strength to keep going and I got the strongest impression to just get off the tram and start contacting. The first person we talked to was a man from Colombia (Spanish speaker!!) who has Mormon friends and a Book of Mormon at home! He invited us over :) These things happened over and over again this week.
Just one more really cool thing...Last night we went tracting and the first door we knocked on the lady said, 'jag vet vem ni är. kom in!' We were so shocked we didn't really know what to do at first, but we took our coats off and sat down. She gave us tea and kladkaka and we showed here the new translation of the Book of Mormon. She was really excited about it. She said she likes to open up the book at random and see what the Lord has for her that day. She demonstrated and the scripture she read at random was Alma 10:8-9. I just got chills. The Spirit was so strong, we tried to explain the story, but we don't know if she really got it. In any case, we got her number and an open invitation to come back. It was really cool. Another tender mercy was that I was feeling bad making Sis Lövgren work while she was sick. We got to have a nice chat and drink tea. Wonderful.
Well, I love Sis Lövgren. She's just fantastic. We are so similar that we laugh about our same quirks. We both have a tendency to micromanage each other. It's great. I also got to wear Sis Gotbergs new boots to stretch them out for her and she wore mine. It was nice to trade in my clunky boots for nice sleek ones for a while. They have no tread, so I would hold onto her backpack and she'd pull me along the ice. Who needs ice skating? Anyway, that's the news. Oh, Elder Olsen is my zone leader. He played football with Aaron Lee. I gave him all Aaron's letters. He was very excited. 30 seconds left! Have a great week!
Love,
Sis M
Monday, February 7, 2011
Week 46
Subject: 4 girls in a 1 bedroom apartment spells trouble
Hallå
So...It's been an interesting week. We've had a few miracles and lovely weather. It's been above freezing all week and we've watched the ice slowly melting. It also rained on Tuesday, making the sidewalks and roads a slippery icy mess. It was like walking on a bumpy ice rink. I haven't fallen all winter, but fell twice in two days last week.
The other sisters let us have one of their investigators, a lady who has been in contact with the church and coming to activities for 8 years. She's very chatty and nice and just needs to read the Book of Mormon because she thinks she knows what it's about, but turns out she doesn't really.
We also met a man from Jordan who is very Catholic, in his late 50s, and quite debonaire (I have no idea how to spell that). He's met the missionaries before who gave up on him after a couple times teaching him, but he came to church on Sunday and brought a friend, so we'll see how it goes.
We also had another miracle investigator pop up. The Utby elders called us and the other sisters and we were the ones who were available. He's from Nigeria and relocated here from Denmark 2 months ago. He was introduced to the church in Romania where he went to the University and one of his friends got baptized. He's really nice and really positive, but also looking for a place to live, so we'll give him some time to see what his real interest is. I also had to have Sis Lövgren start calling him and answering his phones so he'd stop answering the phone, "Hey, Baby" or "Hey, Sweetie". I had a feeling the other sisters should teach him, but they encouraged us to keep him. Hopefully it will be ok if we always have a member when we teach him...
He absolutely loved the center for young adults when we showed it to him. And so do I! The Stockholm center is really fun, but the Göteborg center is absolutely beautiful. It's in this old building with marble stairs and an elevator straight out of the 20s. The center is on the 3rd floor and out of every window you can see all the fun, architecturally wonderful buildings around it. It's on the same street as the main building of Göteborg Universitet. Vasagatan 46 if you want to google earth it, dad. There are also all these really fun cafes along the street beside it. Sis Gotberg and I went to one of them after we renewed our visas. It was empty and dark in the day but seemed like it would be a fun place to go in the evenings.
It's been fun having Sis Lövgren as my companion. She's been teaching me Swedish and I teach her the little English she doesn't know already. She also picks up on things I wouldn't hear or don't pay attention to. For example, when we got on a bus, I heard two kids in the back say, 'Controllen!' (The people who check that everyone has valid tickets). I stopped listening after that, but Sis Lövgren said that one of the kids was freaking out trying to get his card to work, touching it to the reader over and over. His friend asked him if he was sure it was the control, and he said, "Yes! Didn't you see their nametags?" They got off the bus before us and looked back at us to figure out who we really were.
Well, the work goes on and Sis Gotberg keeps talking about when we go home. I still have a good 5 months left, so it's definitely not time to start talking about it. Oh well. I'm excited about this next week and the new people we'll find and the creative brushoffs we'll hear. Well, I love you all, and hope you are doing well. Don't forget to get your last minute letters in! I promise I'll write back now. Love you all!
Amy
PS I had one of those moments this week where someone was praying for the missionaries and it dawned on me that I'm one of those and in Sweden. Strange.
Hallå
So...It's been an interesting week. We've had a few miracles and lovely weather. It's been above freezing all week and we've watched the ice slowly melting. It also rained on Tuesday, making the sidewalks and roads a slippery icy mess. It was like walking on a bumpy ice rink. I haven't fallen all winter, but fell twice in two days last week.
The other sisters let us have one of their investigators, a lady who has been in contact with the church and coming to activities for 8 years. She's very chatty and nice and just needs to read the Book of Mormon because she thinks she knows what it's about, but turns out she doesn't really.
We also met a man from Jordan who is very Catholic, in his late 50s, and quite debonaire (I have no idea how to spell that). He's met the missionaries before who gave up on him after a couple times teaching him, but he came to church on Sunday and brought a friend, so we'll see how it goes.
We also had another miracle investigator pop up. The Utby elders called us and the other sisters and we were the ones who were available. He's from Nigeria and relocated here from Denmark 2 months ago. He was introduced to the church in Romania where he went to the University and one of his friends got baptized. He's really nice and really positive, but also looking for a place to live, so we'll give him some time to see what his real interest is. I also had to have Sis Lövgren start calling him and answering his phones so he'd stop answering the phone, "Hey, Baby" or "Hey, Sweetie". I had a feeling the other sisters should teach him, but they encouraged us to keep him. Hopefully it will be ok if we always have a member when we teach him...
He absolutely loved the center for young adults when we showed it to him. And so do I! The Stockholm center is really fun, but the Göteborg center is absolutely beautiful. It's in this old building with marble stairs and an elevator straight out of the 20s. The center is on the 3rd floor and out of every window you can see all the fun, architecturally wonderful buildings around it. It's on the same street as the main building of Göteborg Universitet. Vasagatan 46 if you want to google earth it, dad. There are also all these really fun cafes along the street beside it. Sis Gotberg and I went to one of them after we renewed our visas. It was empty and dark in the day but seemed like it would be a fun place to go in the evenings.
It's been fun having Sis Lövgren as my companion. She's been teaching me Swedish and I teach her the little English she doesn't know already. She also picks up on things I wouldn't hear or don't pay attention to. For example, when we got on a bus, I heard two kids in the back say, 'Controllen!' (The people who check that everyone has valid tickets). I stopped listening after that, but Sis Lövgren said that one of the kids was freaking out trying to get his card to work, touching it to the reader over and over. His friend asked him if he was sure it was the control, and he said, "Yes! Didn't you see their nametags?" They got off the bus before us and looked back at us to figure out who we really were.
Well, the work goes on and Sis Gotberg keeps talking about when we go home. I still have a good 5 months left, so it's definitely not time to start talking about it. Oh well. I'm excited about this next week and the new people we'll find and the creative brushoffs we'll hear. Well, I love you all, and hope you are doing well. Don't forget to get your last minute letters in! I promise I'll write back now. Love you all!
Amy
PS I had one of those moments this week where someone was praying for the missionaries and it dawned on me that I'm one of those and in Sweden. Strange.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Week 45
Subject: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east
Hello everyone!
I don't have very much time left to write today. I had to get a library card. I have a nice collection now. I have a library card from every area I've been in except Sundsvall, sadly. Well, the big news for today and the reason for the subject line from Amos is that I called president Monday night to make sure going on splits to Örebro this week instead of next week would be ok. He told me that it would be, but that he had a little wrinkle to the plan. There would be a short time missionary coming from Umeå and he wanted me to train her in Göteborg. We'd be living with the other sisters that were already there, Sis Gotberg (from my MTC group) and Sister Hedström, another short time missionary. I was of course really excited, but sad to leave Uppsala so soon, and Sister Dabb and Kiser were a excited but really nervous. They were in the MTC together and have been in Sweden about 4 months. They'll be fine, but it'll be an adventure.
So I spent Tuesday and Wednesday packing when we had free time and trying to keep my head in Uppsala for a couple more days :) On Thursday I went to Örebro to go on splits with Y, the member from El Salvador who had to come here because of problems at home and only sits at home all day because she can't speak the language and her sister works long hours. We picked her up on the way back from district meeting and I showed her how the bus system works and how to get a bus card and how to get to the church. We then went to go visit an almost investigator from El Salvador. They exchanged information and I told Y that they were now her project :) (The daughter only speaks Spanish). We met up with the other sisters and got Y back on the train. It was so much fun being with Sis Porkka again. It was like old times.
On Saturday, the sisters dropped me off in Stockholm with Sis Lundquist, the office secretary who was my companion for the day. I became the 2nd official sister secretary after Sis Wood who did the same thing before going home. It was really fun, but I was feeling really anxious to go out and work by the time I got to Göteborg with Sis Lövgren, my new companion. We stayed at the mission home the night before and that was really fun too. Sorry, this is all really vague because I have no time. We are really excited to be 4 sisters here. That never happens, especially not with two Swedish sisters, so we are excited for the next couple of months. They are both 19, and really excited to be here. Well, take care everyone, I'll tell you about the weather next week!
Sys Max
Hello everyone!
I don't have very much time left to write today. I had to get a library card. I have a nice collection now. I have a library card from every area I've been in except Sundsvall, sadly. Well, the big news for today and the reason for the subject line from Amos is that I called president Monday night to make sure going on splits to Örebro this week instead of next week would be ok. He told me that it would be, but that he had a little wrinkle to the plan. There would be a short time missionary coming from Umeå and he wanted me to train her in Göteborg. We'd be living with the other sisters that were already there, Sis Gotberg (from my MTC group) and Sister Hedström, another short time missionary. I was of course really excited, but sad to leave Uppsala so soon, and Sister Dabb and Kiser were a excited but really nervous. They were in the MTC together and have been in Sweden about 4 months. They'll be fine, but it'll be an adventure.
So I spent Tuesday and Wednesday packing when we had free time and trying to keep my head in Uppsala for a couple more days :) On Thursday I went to Örebro to go on splits with Y, the member from El Salvador who had to come here because of problems at home and only sits at home all day because she can't speak the language and her sister works long hours. We picked her up on the way back from district meeting and I showed her how the bus system works and how to get a bus card and how to get to the church. We then went to go visit an almost investigator from El Salvador. They exchanged information and I told Y that they were now her project :) (The daughter only speaks Spanish). We met up with the other sisters and got Y back on the train. It was so much fun being with Sis Porkka again. It was like old times.
On Saturday, the sisters dropped me off in Stockholm with Sis Lundquist, the office secretary who was my companion for the day. I became the 2nd official sister secretary after Sis Wood who did the same thing before going home. It was really fun, but I was feeling really anxious to go out and work by the time I got to Göteborg with Sis Lövgren, my new companion. We stayed at the mission home the night before and that was really fun too. Sorry, this is all really vague because I have no time. We are really excited to be 4 sisters here. That never happens, especially not with two Swedish sisters, so we are excited for the next couple of months. They are both 19, and really excited to be here. Well, take care everyone, I'll tell you about the weather next week!
Sys Max
Monday, January 24, 2011
Week 44
Subject: Keep Jesus in Your Heart
Dear everyone,
Well, it's been a week. Quite a week. Everything has been picking back up again and we are feeling really excited about this next week. We have a baptism on Saturday for the Mongolian orphan who just moved up to our area. 'His people' as he calls them gave him permission to come to church on his own, and he is really excited about everything. The elders who taught said that when they found him, he had already read the Book of Mormon all the way through and knew it was true. They've been mostly teaching him with the pamphlets since neither his English nor his Swedish are very good. He didn't want translation in church, though, so he must be learning Swedish quickly.
We had a couple of crazy days last week. On Friday we met with two theology students. They were very respectful and open and have recently put their studies on hold because they are exploring the concept of discipleship. We didn't get to talk long about their new plans for the future, but they aren't sure the path they were on was right. More on that next week. We went from them to another Swedish kid who grew up in the Pentecostal church. It was cool hearing him describe the Spirit as that warm feeling you get when you pray sometimes. Also open and pretty cool. Right after we had a lesson on the restoration of the gospel and half of the plan of salvation with a group of mortuary students. Also open, interested, and respectful. 3 for 3! It was great.
On Saturday we went to go visit our new investigator from Cameroon and it went ok. He needs to think about the pre-mortal existence a little more. It was a little too much to swallow. But, when we were done, there was this guy who sat down and asked us who we were and what we were talking about. (We were in the kitchen of a dorm) After we told him he was still really interested in learning more and coming to activities. He and his friend both wanted us to give them a call the next time we'd be back. It was awesome! They are both from Pakistan. Then that night we had a really powerful lesson with another Muslim from Pakistan who wanted to know more about Jesus Christ. He felt something and knew what we were saying was true.
Well, as far as funny things this week, I think the only big thing was this guy who started preaching to us by the bathrooms in the train station. He said he was impressed with us because we were wearing skirts. He asked us if we had Jesus in our hearts and when I said yes started preaching to us about how important that was and how to do it. I told him we were missionaries and we gave him our card. "Keep Jesus in your heart!" He told us. I wanted to point out that I do that literally because I was wearing a name tag with His name on it, but I didn't. We saw him the next day on a train station and he said he wanted to read us a scripture that would open my heart in a new way. It was the scripture from Matthew about a man cleaving unto his wife and them becoming one flesh. I tried to show him a scripture from the Book of Mormon and he refused to even touch the book. He started preaching to us on a train full of people about how it was evil to practice polygamy. I asked him if we could do this later and he left us alone. I didn't want to be responsible for being another example to the Swedish people to support their views that religion only causes conflict. He told us he thought it was a sign he had seen us again that he needed to save our souls. Anyway, that's probably pretty standard other places, but i haven't run into here very often.
So, basically, a great week with lots of fun people. Today I'm sitting with Sis Waite, a sister missionary whose husband is gone for the day. She fell and cracked her kneecap on the ice. I hope everyone is doing well and that I haven't forgotten anyone or anything. Love you all!
Syster Maxwell
Dear everyone,
Well, it's been a week. Quite a week. Everything has been picking back up again and we are feeling really excited about this next week. We have a baptism on Saturday for the Mongolian orphan who just moved up to our area. 'His people' as he calls them gave him permission to come to church on his own, and he is really excited about everything. The elders who taught said that when they found him, he had already read the Book of Mormon all the way through and knew it was true. They've been mostly teaching him with the pamphlets since neither his English nor his Swedish are very good. He didn't want translation in church, though, so he must be learning Swedish quickly.
We had a couple of crazy days last week. On Friday we met with two theology students. They were very respectful and open and have recently put their studies on hold because they are exploring the concept of discipleship. We didn't get to talk long about their new plans for the future, but they aren't sure the path they were on was right. More on that next week. We went from them to another Swedish kid who grew up in the Pentecostal church. It was cool hearing him describe the Spirit as that warm feeling you get when you pray sometimes. Also open and pretty cool. Right after we had a lesson on the restoration of the gospel and half of the plan of salvation with a group of mortuary students. Also open, interested, and respectful. 3 for 3! It was great.
On Saturday we went to go visit our new investigator from Cameroon and it went ok. He needs to think about the pre-mortal existence a little more. It was a little too much to swallow. But, when we were done, there was this guy who sat down and asked us who we were and what we were talking about. (We were in the kitchen of a dorm) After we told him he was still really interested in learning more and coming to activities. He and his friend both wanted us to give them a call the next time we'd be back. It was awesome! They are both from Pakistan. Then that night we had a really powerful lesson with another Muslim from Pakistan who wanted to know more about Jesus Christ. He felt something and knew what we were saying was true.
Well, as far as funny things this week, I think the only big thing was this guy who started preaching to us by the bathrooms in the train station. He said he was impressed with us because we were wearing skirts. He asked us if we had Jesus in our hearts and when I said yes started preaching to us about how important that was and how to do it. I told him we were missionaries and we gave him our card. "Keep Jesus in your heart!" He told us. I wanted to point out that I do that literally because I was wearing a name tag with His name on it, but I didn't. We saw him the next day on a train station and he said he wanted to read us a scripture that would open my heart in a new way. It was the scripture from Matthew about a man cleaving unto his wife and them becoming one flesh. I tried to show him a scripture from the Book of Mormon and he refused to even touch the book. He started preaching to us on a train full of people about how it was evil to practice polygamy. I asked him if we could do this later and he left us alone. I didn't want to be responsible for being another example to the Swedish people to support their views that religion only causes conflict. He told us he thought it was a sign he had seen us again that he needed to save our souls. Anyway, that's probably pretty standard other places, but i haven't run into here very often.
So, basically, a great week with lots of fun people. Today I'm sitting with Sis Waite, a sister missionary whose husband is gone for the day. She fell and cracked her kneecap on the ice. I hope everyone is doing well and that I haven't forgotten anyone or anything. Love you all!
Syster Maxwell
Monday, January 17, 2011
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
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
Week 42
10 January 2011
Subject: The Lord giveth…and the Lord taketh away.
Hejsan allihopa!
Don't worry, no one was injured. But, we'll get back to that later. First, the weather. It's been absolutely wonderful this week with temperatures hovering right below 0. But, that means we've gotten tons of wet snow. The only up-side is being able to throw snowballs at Sister Kiser. And that I can go hatless again without feeling like my ears are being frost bitten. Down south I hear they've been getting rain and slushy snow, like Utah, right grandma?
We almost had the first normal week of the transfer without a holiday or something bad happening. We did a lot of tracting this week. And contacting. Everyone's trying to get pumped up during the post holiday let down, so we are having a zone Book of Mormon contest to see how many Book of Mormons we can give out. We are leading right now with 8.6. The .6 is one of those mini Book of Mormons that one of our investigators wanted for her baby. We'll only count it if it means not losing :) The prize is being able to eat at zone conference if we beat the zone leaders. The also said they'd be the winners' slaves for the day. I don't know what good that would do anyone. We've talked to some really nice people who I hope the missionaries contact again or that they meet a member at some point. We also got chewed out yesterday by a lady who thinks us going around trying to change everyone's religion is absolutely despicable. There's a lot I could say about that, but I won't. I told her we just offer what we have to people because it makes us happy and it's up to them to choose to accept it or not. Sigh.
We got some sad news on Thursday. One of the elders in our district has to go home for medical reasons. He has a really big infection and is only not in pain when he's laying down. He is on the plane home today. We were very sad as was he.
On Friday I was told by a member that the lady I contacted who was really positive and I could tell felt something as we talked to her was just being nice and nothing would ever come of it. (she didn't give us her number or want to meet). Thank you for you positive support. I am aware she probably won't just show up to church next week, but you never know what might happen down the road. The lesson taken from this is please don't pop missionaries' bubbles. We take what we can get and have faith the Lord will take care of the rest. Thank you.
On Sunday we had 8 investigators in church! Two in Hudiksvall with me and 6 up in Sundsvall with Sis Kiser. She didn't know what to do with herself. It sounds like everything went really well.
I guess the big news of the week was that we wrecked the car on Saturday. I guess technically it's my fault since I was driving, but if you go by the missionary driving safety video it was both of our faults. We were driving to Hudiksvall and about 5 km outside of it we both fell asleep. I had registered that I still had my hat and scarf on and that the music was turned off and that Sis Kiser was already starting to doze off, but by the time I thought to myself, "I'm getting drowsy, I should drink some water," I was already past the point of logical thought to do anything about it. We were very lucky though. There were no cars passing on the other side and none right behind. A metal divider started right after we hit the side, so we swerved to miss it and hit the back right tire on the sign that marks where it starts. Then we pinballed back and forth between the dividers a few times until we regained control. This was all accompanied by the sound of shattering glass which was actually the bottles of frozen water in the back of the car, so the damage wasn't as bad as it sounded. The car drove straight when the wheel was pointed to about 2 o'clock and it was difficult to get it to respond. It drove well enough that we were able to take the next exit which was where we wanted to get off anyway. There was a bit of body damage, but it seemed like most of the damage was with the axels and alignment. We called the mission office and then went to our teaching appointment. The irony is we were on our way to meet a man who won't let us come visit him when it's snowing outside because his first wife died in a car accident on a snowy day. The weather on Saturday was perfectly clear. Even more ironic. We left the car at the train station and took the train back to Sundsvall. The next day we came down of course for sacrament meeting and Pres. Stegeby from the District Presidency took one look at it and decided he'd drive it back (it's an hour and a half away). When he called later that night he'd said it's been really hard to drive. Anyway, that's the sad news. I'm still trying to figure out what the lesson really is from all this. I really don't know why it happened. Oh well. I know we were protected at least. I feel really bad about it still.
So, we are back to taking the bus for awhile. Well, it's been an interesting week. Maybe next week will be normal again. Or maybe this is the new normal? I love you all and I know the Lord is taking care of us.
Syster Maxwell
Subject: The Lord giveth…and the Lord taketh away.
Hejsan allihopa!
Don't worry, no one was injured. But, we'll get back to that later. First, the weather. It's been absolutely wonderful this week with temperatures hovering right below 0. But, that means we've gotten tons of wet snow. The only up-side is being able to throw snowballs at Sister Kiser. And that I can go hatless again without feeling like my ears are being frost bitten. Down south I hear they've been getting rain and slushy snow, like Utah, right grandma?
We almost had the first normal week of the transfer without a holiday or something bad happening. We did a lot of tracting this week. And contacting. Everyone's trying to get pumped up during the post holiday let down, so we are having a zone Book of Mormon contest to see how many Book of Mormons we can give out. We are leading right now with 8.6. The .6 is one of those mini Book of Mormons that one of our investigators wanted for her baby. We'll only count it if it means not losing :) The prize is being able to eat at zone conference if we beat the zone leaders. The also said they'd be the winners' slaves for the day. I don't know what good that would do anyone. We've talked to some really nice people who I hope the missionaries contact again or that they meet a member at some point. We also got chewed out yesterday by a lady who thinks us going around trying to change everyone's religion is absolutely despicable. There's a lot I could say about that, but I won't. I told her we just offer what we have to people because it makes us happy and it's up to them to choose to accept it or not. Sigh.
We got some sad news on Thursday. One of the elders in our district has to go home for medical reasons. He has a really big infection and is only not in pain when he's laying down. He is on the plane home today. We were very sad as was he.
On Friday I was told by a member that the lady I contacted who was really positive and I could tell felt something as we talked to her was just being nice and nothing would ever come of it. (she didn't give us her number or want to meet). Thank you for you positive support. I am aware she probably won't just show up to church next week, but you never know what might happen down the road. The lesson taken from this is please don't pop missionaries' bubbles. We take what we can get and have faith the Lord will take care of the rest. Thank you.
On Sunday we had 8 investigators in church! Two in Hudiksvall with me and 6 up in Sundsvall with Sis Kiser. She didn't know what to do with herself. It sounds like everything went really well.
I guess the big news of the week was that we wrecked the car on Saturday. I guess technically it's my fault since I was driving, but if you go by the missionary driving safety video it was both of our faults. We were driving to Hudiksvall and about 5 km outside of it we both fell asleep. I had registered that I still had my hat and scarf on and that the music was turned off and that Sis Kiser was already starting to doze off, but by the time I thought to myself, "I'm getting drowsy, I should drink some water," I was already past the point of logical thought to do anything about it. We were very lucky though. There were no cars passing on the other side and none right behind. A metal divider started right after we hit the side, so we swerved to miss it and hit the back right tire on the sign that marks where it starts. Then we pinballed back and forth between the dividers a few times until we regained control. This was all accompanied by the sound of shattering glass which was actually the bottles of frozen water in the back of the car, so the damage wasn't as bad as it sounded. The car drove straight when the wheel was pointed to about 2 o'clock and it was difficult to get it to respond. It drove well enough that we were able to take the next exit which was where we wanted to get off anyway. There was a bit of body damage, but it seemed like most of the damage was with the axels and alignment. We called the mission office and then went to our teaching appointment. The irony is we were on our way to meet a man who won't let us come visit him when it's snowing outside because his first wife died in a car accident on a snowy day. The weather on Saturday was perfectly clear. Even more ironic. We left the car at the train station and took the train back to Sundsvall. The next day we came down of course for sacrament meeting and Pres. Stegeby from the District Presidency took one look at it and decided he'd drive it back (it's an hour and a half away). When he called later that night he'd said it's been really hard to drive. Anyway, that's the sad news. I'm still trying to figure out what the lesson really is from all this. I really don't know why it happened. Oh well. I know we were protected at least. I feel really bad about it still.
So, we are back to taking the bus for awhile. Well, it's been an interesting week. Maybe next week will be normal again. Or maybe this is the new normal? I love you all and I know the Lord is taking care of us.
Syster Maxwell
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