Another Week: 8/24/15

Hej!

     So this week was not really very exciting at all, but it was still a good week. On Monday we spent a lot of time in H&M because Elder Larson needed to buy new slacks. One day we went to the town center to contact, but we only had a little time because something came up. We ended up not contacting anyone, but we got contacted by lots of people. First we got stopped by three teenage girls. They asked who we are and what we do. When we told them we were Americans they were super surprised because they said Sweden is boring, haha. Then a man came up and talked to us. He has been to Salt Lake I think, and was not super interested in investigating, but asked us to pray for him and his wife. As we were praying with him another man came up to us and asked if we could pray for him as well. He was super grateful afterwards, and when he was shaking our hands, he leaned down and kissed us each on the hand. It was a little strange but we were glad to help him.

     On Wednesday we and the sisters had a member dinner. The members lived pretty far away so we spent a while on the buses. It is a family that is originally Swedish but now live in Luxembourg and have a Summer house here. They were very nice. 

     On Thursday we had district meeting, and then we all went out to a pizza buffet for lunch. I got a random bloody nose, but luckily it wasn´t a bad one. During district meeting an elder and a sister companionship each did a skit of examples of a bad and a good companionship study session. They were actually super well-done skits. 

     Yesterday we had a member dinner with a family named the Berglunds. They always try to get us to try new foods when we go over. This time they had us try a super salty black licorice candy. I actually thought it was okay, and Elder Larson finished his but both of the sisters spit theirs out, haha. 

     This week we have been challenged by our zone leaders to listen to or read Elder Bruce R. McConkie´s last conference talk, titled The Purifying Power of Gethsemane. I thought that it was much better to listen to it, because Elder McConkie expressed so much emotion as he spoke. Something that stuck out to me was realizing how much the Savior suffered for me and for all of us. When He has done so much for me, it seems like I have been asked to do relatively very little in return. I feel like I have come a little closer to understanding how much love our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ have for me. I hope that someday I can be able to witness of them with the same conviction as Elder Bruce R. McConkie.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) A hot air balloon!

2) We got 60 Books of Mormon (Mormons Böcker) this week in the mail.

3) We actually didn´t take many pictures this week, so I just have two :/

750 Years: 8/17/15

Hej!

     So all of this week Örebro has been celebrating its 750th anniversary. It is very old. They have had different party things going on all week, so there were always tons of people in town but unfortunately it wasn´t a situation where we could really talk to any of them. 

     Last Monday we just walked around town a bit with the sisters, and later we made milkshakes at the church. Elder Larson and I brought a blender from our apartment. It was a funny blender. It doesn´t have any buttons, but it starts blending as soon as you plug it in. We also forgot to bring the lid, so Elder Larson held a paper bowl over the top and I would plug it in until it looked mixed. Despite the difficulties the milkshakes turned out pretty good. 

     On Thursday we went to a town called Nora to teach one of our investigators named Daniel. Nora is kind of a touristy town, but it is very small. Right by the bus station there was a very pretty lake with forest all around it. Daniel is 19 and comes from Uganda. He is in Sweden playing some sort of semi-professional soccer. He says that he wants to get baptized, but he´s just waiting until he feels like it is time. He wants to be a missionary too.

     On Friday we had zone training in a city called Eskilstuna. After the meeting we went to get pizza. On the way to Eskilstuna a guy on the train started asking Elder Larson and me lots of questions about the Church. We tried giving him a Book of Mormon when we got off, but he refused and said he´d just read it on the internet so that he wouldn´t need to take something that costs money, even if it is free for him. I wasn´t sure what to think of it. Even though online scriptures are great it´s still important to have a physical copy somewhere I think.

     On Saturday Elder Larson and I went to a soccer activity. The ward does soccer every Saturday as a fellowshipping activity, but we don´t go very often because none of our investigators want to go and it´s a pretty big time commitment. We played for about two hours, then came back to the apartment to shower and eat lunch. We both got sunburned and were sore all day, haha. It was fun though.

     Lately I have been trying to get better at recognizing the promptings of the Spirit. I feel like because of the scriptures I often expect the Spirit to be very direct or discernible, like a big revelation. But the Spirit can witness to or guide us in even the simplest and smallest of things. Even just having a feeling of calm while reading scriptures can be evidence that the Spirit is there. I have learned a lot on my mission so far about different ways the Spirit can speak to us. I know that as we pray for help and do all we can to follow the Spirit then we can become more spiritually sensitive and learn to follow its promptings.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Me and Elder Larson

2) The lake by Nora

3) Hedgehog! By the grocery store

4) This is a portrait that an 8 year-old member girl drew of me yesterday after church. She kept looking at me as she drew, then she said "You have a mustache. Perfect!" I shaved that morning, but I guess it wasn´t good enough, haha.

Newspaper: 8/10/15

Hej!

     Last Monday was pretty busy. After emailing we went to a member family´s house for lunch. Afterwards Filip, our ward mission leader, gave Elder Williams a haircut. They phone can do time-lapse videos, so I videod the entire haircut. It´s a pretty fun video to watch. After that we bought groceries, then a member picked us up to go have a picnic with their family at a hiking place out in the forest. We cooked hot dogs over the fire, then went for a short hike in the woods. There were huge boulders everywhere that we had to climb over and around. It was pretty fun. Then at the top of a big hill there were lots of rocks that are all that is left of an ancient fortress that used to be there about a thousand years ago. It was really cool to see, and there was a great view from on top of the hill. 

     Most of Tuesday was spent visiting members and investigators so that Elder Williams could say goodbye. We were going to swing by an investigator that lives pretty far away, but I saw him in the city when we were on the bus, so we kinda followed him for a few blocks then talked to him once we caught up. On Wednesday my new companion, Elder Larson got to Örebro. Elder Williams´ train left about ten minutes later, so the timing was perfect. It turns out Elder Larson is not half Swedish, so what I was told was false haha. But his dad and brother have both served missions in Sweden, and his dad actually served in Örebro so there are some members that remember him. 

     On Thursday we had district meeting. About half of the district changed this transfer, so things are pretty different than they were last week. Everyone is very fun and energetic, so it will be an interesting transfer. Also, on Thursday morning I was in the newspaper! Some members texted us and said we were in there. The journalist that interviewed us last week finished her article. We are right on the second page. I went to a few stores trying to find the newspaper because it would be fun to have, but we couldn´t find it anywhere. But some members sent us a picture of it so at least I have that. 

     Besides that this week has not been the most exciting. We have been doing a lot of finding work lately, because we don´t have many investigators that are able to meet right now. But on the bright side, it is sunny every day now. Everyone is saying that "real" summer is finally here, haha. I´m just grateful not to need an umbrella anymore.

     This week I was reading in Revelation, and was thinking about how it will be in the last-last-days. I realized that in order to withstand all of the trials that will face the world, we need to prepare now. We know that we will need to be ready to stand up for what is right and make sure that we have the "whole armor of God". In Alma 13:27 it says to "not procrastinate the day of your repentance." To me, repentance means to change our hearts and become more like Christ. If we are repenting now, then we will be able to have a stronger testimony and increase our faith in Christ so that we will be prepared for whatever trials we may face.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Swedish forest at the top of the hill. If you look closely you´ll see the members´ eight year-old daughter taking a rest, haha.

2) Elder Williams took secret pictures of me while I mowed the lawn at the church

3) The newspaper article. The quotes are not 100% accurate but they are still okay

Rainy Days: 8/3/15

Hej!

     Last Monday we had a zone volleyball tournament! We all went to a town called Eskilstuna and played on a sand volleyball court in a park. The P-day before that Elder Williams and I went to H&M and found the craziest shirt we could so we could be matching for the volleyball tournament. We ended up picking one that is a picture of a beach, with the beach on top and the ocean towards the bottom (I know that´s not a great description but there will be pictures). So we showed up to volleyball about an hour late because that´s the train that the office elders booked for us. Then some of the other elders in our district showed up about 10 minutes later, and all four of them had the exact same beach shirt as Elder Williams and me. After playing volleyball we all went to eat pizza, then went back to our areas.

     On Wednesday we didn´t have much to do, so Elder Williams and I traveled out to a town called Hallsberg to swing by some less-actives that haven´t been visited in a while. On the train there our phone ran out of data for the month, so we had no GPS, and then it started raining. It was some of the hardest rain I´ve ever had to be in. We managed to find the less-actives´ houses, but we weren´t able to meet with anyone. We got some good videos of it raining really hard though.

     On Thursday we had district meeting, then had a funeral for Elder Williams and for Elder Schindler. We had some eulogies, and I got to play a song as a musical number. Afterwards we made chocolate chip pancakes. 

     On Friday Elder Williams and I got interviewed by a journalist woman for the newspaper. She writes a column on life in Örebro, and said we are part of the life here too. She was a foreign exchange student in Utah when she was in high school, so she knew a bit about missionaries and the church. She interviewed us, and then took a picture of us contacting someone on the street. We met her at the library, and the sisters happened to be there too so we took a picture with all four of us. 

     On Saturday morning we had a zone phone call to find out about transfers. I will be staying in Örebro, and my new companion´s name is Elder Larsson. I don´t know too much about him except that he was in the National Guard and is half Swedish. 

     Last night we went out tracting for an hour before it was time to go back to the apartment. It was supposed to be clear and sunny, but it got cloudy and then started raining. I didn´t have a coat or umbrella, so I just hoped it wouldn´t last too long. I got pretty wet, but luckily everything I was wearing was okay to get wet. After it stopped raining (a few minutes after it started) there was a whole rainbow, and most of a double rainbow with it. So that was fun to see.

     Yesterday in Priesthood meeting we talked about the prophet Joseph Smith. We talked about how there are so many good things said about him as well as so many negative things. I am grateful for everything that Joseph Smith did to bring forth the gospel, even though I know that he had some faults. For me it is important to know that even though he made some mistakes I cannot deny that he was a real prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. None of the other stuff matters when I know this. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) This was in the house of a guy we tracted into. I think it was once a real cat

2) Rainbow

3) Cool sky

4) I´m the guy in the beach shirt...farthest to the right