Another Week: 1/19/15

 Well, this week has been good, but a little crazy. Last P-day we switched apartments because the old one´s contract ran out. The apartment couple helped us move and the district leader and his companion were super nice and gave up most of their P-day to help us move. Luckily nothing was too heavy or hard to move. We had a ton of Books of Mormon though, in lots of different languages, so those were a little harder to get out. Our new apartment is good. It´s a little further from our area, but it´s in a pretty nice area right by some water. 

     On Friday we had zone training. It was nice not to take an early train to get there. I got to have an interview with President Beckstrand before it started. It was my first interview with him since I first came to Sweden. Zone training was pretty good. The zone leaders talked about goal setting, and as an example they talked about Elder Held´s weight lifting training. Apparently he was the number one weight lifter in Denmark, and second in Scandinavia. They showed us a video of him lifting a big dumbbell, which was pretty cool. After zone training we all went to pizza hut for lunch. In Sweden pizza hut is like a nice place to go to, which is funny. 

     Also after pizza hut, we were standing outside of the YSA center and talking, and a lady called to us out of her car and asked if we came from Utah. We went over to talk to her and tell her actually none of us were from Utah, but were from the US. She actually was born in Utah though and is an inactive member. So that was a pretty cool experience. We were having a good conversation with her, but then a van in a big hurry pulled up behind her so she had to drive away before we could give her a card or anything. 

     This week my hair got pretty long, but getting your hair cut here is expensive, so I decided to cut it myself. When we were cleaning out our old apartment I found a pretty nice clipper set, so I used that. It was a little scary, because just last week I had a dream where I was shaving the hair on the back of my head, but cut it lopsided, so I kept over-correcting and cutting off way too much hair. But it went well, haha. I think it looks pretty normal for the most part. At the end I was trying to make the transitions from the side to the top a bit better, but I decided I better not push my luck so I just left it. 

     For my spiritual thought this week I want to share a message that we shared with a new convert family that we visited this week. We showed them the Mormon Message about President Monson when he was in the Navy. The petty officer told all the Catholics to go to church in one area, and Jews in another, and then Protestants in another. That left President Monson standing there. He relates that at that moment he felt absolutely alone. But then he realized that there were others standing beside and behind him, and that he really wasn´t alone. He goes on to say how we as God´s children we are never truly alone. At times we may have to make choices that are not popular, and that make us feel isolated. But when we choose the right our Heavenly Father will always support our decision and we will never be alone. I just really like that message.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Viewer discretion: It´s a pile of my old hair.

2) Here is my much nicer to look at new hair