Reunited: 6/29/15

Hej!

     This week was pretty busy, which was really nice. On Monday we went to H&M and I saw a shirt that I liked a few months ago, but now it was on sale so I got it. It has a bunch of green, red, and blue turtles all over it. Unfortunately I can´t really wear it outside of the apartment very often haha. While Elder Williams and I were grocery shopping, we found some Axe that was "Africa" scented, and it was super cheap so we both got a can haha. So our apartment has been smelling pretty nice lately.

     On Tuesday we helped a member family with their roof some more. I didn´t end up going on the roof this time because there wasn´t that much room so I just cleaned up stuff that got thrown down to the ground. 

     We had transfers this week. I am staying in Örebro and this is Elder Williams´ last transfer so I will be "killing" him. Our new district leader is Elder Bradley, who is from my MTC group and also from Oregon. So with Elder Heiner that makes three of us from our MTC group together in the district and we are all from Oregon. Our backpacks even matched. I think it is pretty cool, because I´ve almost never even been in the same zone as anyone from my group. 

     This week we traveled out to a little village called Fellingsbro where a potential investigator lives. Elder Williams met him on a train about a month ago, and we just got time to go out there. We met with him and two of his friends. They have been searching for a new church, but because they live pretty out of the way they can´t really travel much. They all had super good questions and were some of the nicest guys I´ve met. Unfortunately there are no busses or trains that leave their village on Saturday or Sunday, so getting them to church is super, super hard. But hopefully one day we can figure it out. 

     This week I have definitely been able to see the Lord´s hand in the work. For the past few weeks we have been doing tons of tracting, swing-bys, and street contacting. But this week we have run into a bunch of people who are positive and want to learn about the gospel. This week we were able to actually spend a lot of time teaching people rather than finding people to teach. The funny thing is that we haven´t really been doing much differently this week or last week. We are still working just as hard, but we are seeing more success than in previous weeks. I know that when we strive to do what is right then we are blessed. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) I love the clouds here

2) The forest! I took this while on the bus so it´s not the greatest quality

3) Elder Williams mopping. He spilled some milk, and then while mopping the bucket of water tipped over. It was one of those days, haha

Midsommar: 6/22/15

This week there were a few fun things that happened. Last Monday, we were walking home, and heard something in the bushes. It was a hedgehog! We had been looking all over for one for around a week. The hedgehog was in some pretty thick bushes and wouldn´t come out. Elder Williams tried poking it with a stick and I shook some of the bushes to try to scare it out. But it wouldn´t budge. So eventually I just reached in, scooped my hand under it, and pulled him out. They are spiky on top but the fur underneath them is pretty soft. So we took turns holding it and took lots of pictures. It was pretty awesome, haha.

     On Friday we had Midsommar! We took a bus out to the area where the bishop´s family lives, because they invited the whole ward over for a party. We helped to decorate the Midsommar pole. We used flowers that came from the woods nearby. In Sweden there are tons of flowers that grow in the wild. We had extra flowers afterwards, so the sisters and I tried making flower crowns out of them because that is something people wear at Midsommar usually I think. Only Sister Bourelle and I were successful in getting the flowers to stick in a circle shape. I will attach a picture of mine. The midsommar pole we had was only like 4 feet tall, but it was still good. We got to dance around the midsommar pole to the special music they play for it. It was like fifteen minutes of running and dancing around the pole. It was pretty funny. 

     Everyone says there is a tradition at Midsommar that it is always rainy, and I guess it´s true because it started raining right as we finished dancing. So we went inside and played a few party games. We tried playing telephone, the game where you whisper down a line and see if the message comes out the same, but it didn´t work. The first time the message switched from English to Swedish and was nowhere near the original words haha. 

     On Saturday we helped a member family work on their roof. They set up a slide so they could just slide down the old roof tiles, and we stacked them up. We will be going back tomorrow to help put up the new roof tiles. 

     Yesterday our investigator Alexander came to church! It was his first week of a normal church schedule. It was kind of funny, because all the young men were out of town this week so we just taught him a lesson with the young men´s president during that hour. After church we were walking around the big castle in the middle of town, and talked to a couple from Texas. They are here as part of a TV show called Alltför Sverige, where Americans with Swedish ancestry learn about their heritage and compete to get to see their living Swedish relatives. So that was pretty cool. We may be in the background of some of the shots, haha. 

     This week I just want to share my testimony of the Liahona and other church magazines. Before my mission I hardly ever read in them, because they seemed sort of boring and I thought it would take a lot of time to read through them. But there are so many great stories and counsel that can help us. I read the new Liahona for July right after we got it in the mail, and I honestly felt like a lot of articles applied to things I am working on right now. These magazines can be a way for us to get the words of the living prophets in a way besides just reading scriptures or listening to general conference. I have definitely come to appreciate them a lot more during my time on the mission.

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) hedgehog selfie

2) Hedgehog selfie #2

3) My flower crown

4) Dancing around the midsommar pole

Too Much Sun: 6/15/15

Hej!

     So this week it was sunny and warm the entire week pretty much. This was a really good thing, not only because we got to go outside without coats for the first time in a while, but there were lots of people outside who we could talk to! Almost all of our lessons this week were on the street. 

     Besides walking around and talking to people though, we didn´t do too much this week. On Tuesday we were playing innebandy, and a guy on the other team was going for the goal so I ran really hard to try to pass him. But unfortunately the shoes I was wearing had no padding at all so while I was running my foot hit the ground really hard. So now the bottom of my foot right under my heel is pretty sore. It was pretty bad timing since we have been walking around all day everyday this week, so I´ve been kind of limping everywhere, haha. It hasn´t been too bad, but I´m definitely ready for it to get better.

     This week was the end of the school year, so there were hundreds of high school students walking around town. We tried getting on the bus kind of nearby a school, and we had to wait a while because two busses just kept driving by and didn´t stop because they were so full of people. It was pretty crazy.

     This week it was super warm. We were really uncomfortable in 25 degrees Celsius, which is about 75 degrees farenheit, haha. I´ve been getting a pretty good missionary tan lately. My face and the upper half of my neck look pretty good, haha. I´m glad I haven´t burned yet, because we´ve been outside all the time. 

     I just remembered something else I did this week. I finished reading the Old Testament! Now I have read all of the standard works on my mission. Now I´m moving onto the New Testament in Swedish :)

     This week I have to admit that I was feeling a little bit frustrated about always having to be busy with things, especially in church. Last Sunday we got to see a satellite broadcast of Elder Holland speaking, but I felt like I
didn´t get as much out of it because we had to leave during the meeting to pick up an investigator to bring him to church. Sometimes I wish I could just be a "normal" member and just sit and enjoy church. But then I had the thought that that is not the way it is supposed to be. Life never really gives us breaks, and even when we have fewer responsibilities there is still so much to do. I am reminded of Alma 34:32 which says: "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." We are here to do things. If we sit back and watch then we will miss out on opportunities to learn and grow. It isn´t easy, but that´s how we improve.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) It´s too sunny!

2) This is a rabbit we found while walking somewhere. Elder Williams went running after it so it started running away, towards me. I cut it off, so it just stopped for a second. Then we made a move for it and it got away.

3) There are so many of these robot lawnmowers. They´re kind of creepy

National Pride: 6/8/15

This week was pretty eventful. On Monday we went with the sisters to a place called Svampen (translated to English it means "the mushroom"), which is a water tower turned into a restaurant. It was a pretty good view. In the evening we helped a member couple move. They had a dog that got outside and was super excited. We were trying to catch her but she was really, really fast so it took forever, haha.

     On Tuesday we took a train to the Stockholm area because we needed to stay the night before zone conference. We stayed with the zone leaders for the Stockholm South zone. When we got to their building they threw down the keys from the third floor so we could get into the building. Neither of us could catch the keys, but I stretched out my foot to at least keep them from just hitting the pavement. But, I was too slow. So what happened was the keys hit the ground and then my foot kicked them, right into some bushes. I thought it was pretty funny. 

     The next morning we needed to walk half an hour to the chapel where we were having zone conference, because we didn´t have bus cards. So us and two other elders who stayed the night had to walk. About halfway there it started raining, and we were all just in suit coats. Three of us had umbrellas though. But then it started pouring rain and it got pretty windy. So by the time we got to the church we were pretty wet. And of course, as soon as we got inside it stopped raining, haha. 

     Zone conference was good. We are starting to prepare for the day we will get ipads. 15 of the 30 West European missions have ipads now, so in the near future the rest are planned to get ipads as well. So we´ll see what happens.

     On Thursday it was a super nice day, so we went on a walk in a park to contact people. We sat on a bench to eat some pastries we had bought. I noticed two ducks really close by, so I took a picture. Then I noticed that one of the ducks was getting a little closer. So I pretended to have food in my hand and lured it closer. It came up to my hand, then suddenly stuck out its head and bit me! It didn´t hurt or anything, but it was funny. Then a lady came and sat on the bench with us and told us about some free cake around the corner. So we went and got some free cake. The area we were in was celebrating a 50 year anniversary, because it is a bunch of old preserved buildings. To celebrate they made a 50 meter long cake and were giving out free cake. 

      Saturday was Swedish National Day. We had a ward party, so we invited one of our investigators. We showed up a little late, but I don´t think we missed out on much. We walked in, and everyone was sitting quietly working on a crossword puzzle. Later that day we helped the same investigator to assemble some furniture in her new apartment. The sisters came too so it wouldn´t be just us. When we finished we carried out all the styrofoam from the packaging. But on the way to the garbage it got really windy, and pieces of styrofoam started breaking off and flying away. So we were running all over the place trying to pick up the fallen pieces without dropping any of the ones we were holding. It was very difficult. 

     Yesterday we had a satellite broadcast of Elder Holland speaking in Scotland. It was broadcasted to Great Britain and all the Scandinavian countries. He testified very strongly about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I was just a little disappointed because I listened to it with translation, so there wasn´t quite the same effect from Elder Holland getting emotional. It was still really good though. That night we taught a lesson to our investigator Amie, and she made us some African food! It was fish with spicy sauce and rice. There were a lot of bones in the fish, so it was a bit of a challenge to eat, but it tasted good. 

     This spring is apparently super cold compared to what it usually is. Also, it has been very windy lately. We´ve had a couple of really nice days though. The sun now rises at 3:47am and sets at 10:09pm. When we go to bed it´s still kind of light outside. It´s really weird. 

     This week for zone conference we were all asked to read a talk by Elder Bednar I think that was titled "Rise to Your Call". I´m not completely sure that´s the title, but it´s something like that. He talked about how we are given our callings in the church not just because the bishop or someone else thinks we´ll do well, but it literally comes from God. At times we may feel inadequate or confused about certain callings, but the Lord helps us to be magnified so that we are able to do what He has asked of us. I thought this was really cool and inspiring, especially since my calling right now as a missionary can seem pretty difficult or overwhelming at times. But I know that there is a reason I am here and that I am being strengthened to do what I need to do.

Have a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) The duck in front is the one that bit me

2) This is actually from last week but I forgot. A member took this picture when we came over for dinner. From left to right is Sister Bourelle, Sister Griffes, Elder Williams, and me

3) Behind me is Svampen. I had my eyes closed

4) This was on a door we knocked on. It says "Fill the days with life not the life with days"

A Rainy Week: 6/1/15

Hej!

     This week was pretty good, even though it rained quite a bit. On Monday we made crepes at the church with the sisters. I think they turned out pretty good. After that Sister Bourelle and I teamed up to cut Elder Williams´ hair. I used electric clippers and she used scissors. I think it turned out really well by the end, haha. 

     On Tuesday we did some yard work at the church. I got the job of mowing all the grass. It was decent weather, so it was good. Later we swung by a man that we tracted into who has met with missionaries before in another part of Sweden. Pretty much the whole time we met with him he asked us tons of questions, and right in the middle of when we were trying to answer he´d just bring up another question. He was a nice man, but we just couldn´t communicate anything to him.

     This week we met a couple of times with an investigator named Alexander. He is 15 years old. We have a baptismal date with him for the 20th of June! We realized afterwards that that day is actually Midsommar, a pretty big holiday here, so we will probably have to move it to another day that week. He is super open and said he believes the Book of Mormon is true on the second lesson. 

     On Friday we played soccer in the rain. It is kind of a ward thing, but there´s only one guy from the ward that goes. Mostly it´s a fellowshipping activity. The sisters said they had an investigator coming but they couldn´t go, so we went. It was pretty fun actually. It didn´t rain too badly while we were there. 

     All week the weather has been pretty bipolar. It will be nice and sunny, and then a short time later it will be super cloudy and rainy. On one day we were standing in a sunny spot and then suddenly it started raining from a cloud that wasn´t even above us! 

     There are wild hedgehogs here, and Elder Williams has wanted to see them his entire mission. He has seen one before Örebro, and two or three here. One night we were walking home, and Elder Williams pointed to some tall grass and talked about how that would be the perfect place for a hedgehog to be. Then I said "there´s one" because I saw one just to the side of where he was pointing. Elder Williams got really excited and started running up to it with the phone to get a picture, but I got him to stop and take a picture instead of running and scaring it away. After he took some pictures he had me hold his umbrella, because it is bright blue. I distracted the hedgehog while he snuck up on it from behind. He poked it on the back, and then it ran away. He was super happy, haha.

     This week a scripture that stuck out to me was Mosiah 2:21: "I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." At first glance this verse seems kind of depressing. We can never be profitable servants. But when we look at it from another perspective, we see that what it is telling us is that we are not here to be perfect. We are here to do our best, and learn and grow. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows my faults and is patient with them. I am far from perfect, but I hope that each day I can come a little closer.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Clouds

2) hedgehog! The picture quality isn´t great but it´s the best we got

3) Blue sky!