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

Volleyball: 7/27/15

Hej!

     So the mission office scheduled our train tickets so we actually have time to email this morning. But right after this we are going to go play volleyball with the zone :)

     Last Monday for P-day we went to a place called Wadköping, which is a place in Örebro where they have a lot of preserved old buildings. They took super old buildings from all over the area and moved them all to one place. There were a lot of gift shops there, but the buildings were pretty cool to see.

     On Tuesday we did yard work at the church with the sisters. Lately we have been taking turns making lunch for everyone after service, and this week was Elder Williams´ and my turn. We found some salmon in our freezer, so we decided to cook that. We weren´t really sure what to do, so we threw some spices on the salmon and put it in the oven. It turned out alright. We also had potatoes, so it was a very Swedish meal haha.

     On Wednesday we went out to visit a member that lives sort of far away because she had a friend that she wants us to teach. But her friend was an 80 year-old man who really, really, really likes to talk, so we didn´t get anywhere before it was time for us to catch the bus back to town. So that was an interesting experience. 

     On Thursday we taught the restoration again to our new convert Sami along with his new home teacher. Afterwards we had Sami call a man who contacted us but only speaks Arabic. Sami said the man wanted to meet, so he stayed to help translate for us. It was interesting, because Sami speaks English, the other guy speaks a little Swedish, and they both speak Arabic. It was pretty cool. 

     On Friday we had district meeting, then I went on splits with Elder Bradley, who is the district leader and is from my MTC group. His area is Karlstad, which is in the middle of nowhere and takes two and a half hours by bus to get to. We got there by 4, then went to a ward barbeque. They didn´t know about the ward barbeque until we´d already scheduled splits, haha. So we ate hot dogs and bacon (Elder Bradley brought the bacon. It was interesting to see it being grilled) and played games with some of the kids. Then we taught a woman from El Salvador, and went back to the Karlstad apartment. We figured out that we spent at least 7 hours of our splits on busses. So we had a lot of time to talk, which was fun.

     On Saturday we helped someone move into their house, and it was the quickest moving experience I have ever seen. We were done in maybe 20 minutes. There wasn´t anything too big, so it was just lots of trips carrying small boxes and bags.

     Yesterday in Gospel Principles we talked about charity, and it really made me think about what it means to have charity. Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of charity, and a definition of charity is literally "Christ-like love". I believe that if we have charity, then we are on the right track to following Jesus Christ and becoming more like Him. Someone in the class yesterday pointed out that charity is something that we can pray for. I know that when we pray specifically for things like charity, and do all we can ourselves to develop this attribute that our prayers can be answered.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Sister Bourelle feeding popcorn to some of the many, many seagulls and ducks

2) One of the best (and only) mats I´ve seen in an elevator

3) The forest right by our apartment

4) I´m not hurt. Sister Bourelle twisted her ankle running for a bus so we took some crutches from our storage unit. I was walking with them a while and we hoped people would be more willing to talk to us because they´d feel bad that I had crutches, but unfortunately that wasn´t the case :/ haha

Almost One Year!: 7/20/15

Hej!

     On Thursday I will have been on the mission for a whole year! It feels weird to think that it has been so long now. One more year to go! Next week I won´t be emailing until Tuesday I think, because on Monday we are having a mission volleyball tournament on Monday. We will be having tournaments as zones only I think, because otherwise that´s a ton of travelling just for fun. 

     This week has been pretty good. Last Monday we took a tour of the big castle that is in the middle of town. We didn´t really get to see so much of the castle on the tour, but it was still lots of fun. After that we went to a grocery store, and I saw a wall of yarn. So I bought a ball of yarn and a crochet needle! I have never seen a crochet needle anywhere else in Sweden (there are lots of knitting needles in second hand stores, but I don´t know how to knit). So now when I have a little extra time at night or on trains I crochet. On Monday evening we went to a YSA activity where we played volleyball. We invited two investigators and they brought their cousin, so that was super cool. Only two YSA showed up so it was mostly missionaries and investigators. But it was super fun.

     Tuesday was pretty normal, but on Wednesday WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!! It went super well. It was an investigator we have had named Sami. He is from Africa, and just called us one day asking if he could be baptized! He had a friend who had a Mormon.org card with some missionaries´number on it, and they gave him our number since he lives closer to us. He lives about an hour and a half bus ride from Örebro, but came here for lessons usually 4 times a week and has come to church every week since we met him. He is a super great guy and has tons of faith.

     On Wednesday morning Elder Williams and I helped some guys who were pulling up big rock tiles from a path in front of their house so they could lay fabric underneath to keep weeds out. When we finished one of the guys tried to pay us and we were like "uhh, we don´t do that. This is just service." They were nice guys. Pretty soon before the baptism a member stopped by the church to drop off refreshments she made. She made cake, but there was nothing on it. It was just plain, haha. So Elder Williams and I ran to a grocery store and tried to figure out what to put on the cake. Sweden doesn´t really have cake frosting like America, and there isn´t whipped cream in a can either. So we bought cream and the sisters helped us whip it into whipped cream before the baptism started. So that was exciting.

     On Thursday we met a big group of guys from the US who are here for some sort of soccer team. It was super weird to hear so many people speaking English with an American accent. I think it will weird me out when I go home, haha. 

     On Friday we had a zone conference. The first half was normal, and we talked some more about how to use the Book of Mormon better in teaching and finding. But for the second half, we all went to a room where all the chairs were set up in a circle and had "family home evening" with President and Sister Beckstrand. They let us ask them any questions we wanted and they just answered and talked about their lives. At the end they told us about their experience of getting called to be the mission president and wife. It was really cool to get to know them better and see how much they really care about us.

     I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the Plan of Salvation. There are so many plain and precious truths that change the entire way we look at life and our purpose here. We talk to so many people who have other faiths and views that are so very close, but lack just a few simple truths that affect everything. I know that I have a Heavenly Father who knows me personally and loves me. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that when we follow Jesus Christ´s example and keep the commandments then we will be able to live with our Father in Heaven again with our families. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Lord´s called prophet today, and that by following the words of the modern and ancient prophets we can know God´s will for us.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures! I have some good ones this week!

1) Örebro castle, with a rainbow above it! The rainbow is in the top left

2) Elder Williams on a very old toilet

3) Big spears in the castle

4) Sami´s baptism!

Hej!: 7/13/15

Hej!

     This week was pretty good overall. Last Monday we had a YSA FHE activity at a member family´s house playing board games. The family called us in the morning and asked us to invite one of our investigators who had come to church. He lives pretty far away but we invited him anyways. And he came! He drove a car there (we
didn´t even know he had a car) and seemed to have a great time.

     This week we decided to shake things up and try making a new meal. So one day for lunch we made bacon cheeseburgers. They turned out pretty good I would say. We got a lot of sauces to try on them so they tasted pretty good. 

     One day we were tracting, and the second house we knocked on was a couple that had met with missionaries for quite a while about 12 or so years ago. They met with the missionaries a lot but lost contact when they moved or something like that. The husband really, really likes to talk, so we were standing in front of their house for almost two hours, haha. We invited them to church but they didn´t come so we´ll probably swing by them soon. 

     Something interesting this week was that there was some sort of Lego convention in town, so we saw people with Lego shopping bags all over the place. I was pretty disappointed that we couldn´t go there, haha. But it´s okay.

     We went out to eat dinner with a member family and teach an investigator at a town that is a little ways west of Örebro called Karlskoga. It is apparently the town where Nobel (the Nobel prize guy) was born, so that is super cool. 

     Besides that there wasn´t too much exciting that happened this week. This week I was reading in 3 Nephi about how all the people had to join together to defend themselves against the Gadianton robbers. It says that after they had peace again there was not a single person who did not believe the words of the prophets. But only six years later the government was overthrown and the people were all wicked. It is important for us to endure to the end because it is so easy to get caught up in the things of the world.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

--Sorry! I don´t really have any pictures from this week

Too Much Heat!: 7/6/15

This week was pretty good. Last P-day I bought a lot of candy, so that was fun. In the evening we ate dinner with a member family. They always try to get us to eat Swedish foods that people don´t typically like. They gave us salt licorice, which is a very big thing here. It´s like black licorice, but it´s a hard candy that is super salty and has hot sauce sort of stuff at the center. I´ve tried it before and it was super gross but this time it wasn´t as bad haha.

     On Tuesday we helped a member family with the last of their roof. It was pretty hard because we had to carry up packets of roof tiles up the ladder. We got super close to finishing it all, but we didn´t have enough tiles. So they went to get a few more tiles and we just went home with another member because we´d been there a while. 

     On Wednesday we were contacting in the middle of nowhere, and ran into a member YSA. She followed us around and helped us contact for a little while. She was super surprised when some people were not very nice. It was kind of bad timing because we ran into a guy who was really not nice, so she might think missionary work is just really hard now. It´s not that bad though.

     There was another day where we were just completely scheduled all day, because we had to take buses all over the place. It was pretty good. Then on Friday we had zone training in a town called Södertälje, which is just south of Stockholm. President and Sister Beckstrand were there, so everyone got interviews. 

     Yesterday it was super warm all day, and we were wearing suit coats the whole time because we didn´t have time to go home and change after church. We had three investigators in church, which was super good. We were really glad when we got home and could change though, haha. 

     One day we were waiting at a bus stop, and a member and his wife drove by and gave us a ride home. They were super nice and gave us half of a watermelon that they had in the back of the car. I was not very smart though when I was cutting the watermelon. I was trying to cut out a slice, and the knife moved a lot faster than I expected, right into the tip of my thumb. It´s fine though, it´s mostly better already :) 

     I want to talk about the Book of Mormon. Yesterday we had a super good fast and testimony meeting in church. There were lots of people who got up and shared their conversion stories. Most of them mentioned how knowing that the Book of Mormon is true helped them to know that the church is true. The Book of Mormon really is the "keystone" to our religion. It holds everything together. Sometimes people on the street ask us how we can know this church is true. What is the evidence? The evidence is the Book of Mormon, and we all have received a promise that if we read and pray then we can know by the Holy Ghost that it is true. I know that the Book of Mormon comes from God and that anyone who wants to can find that out for themselves.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) The almost-finished roof

2) Örebro

3) We got a letter saying our tiny little yard would be inspected this week. It was full of weeds, so we picked them this morning and filled 21 grocery bags. Also it was pouring rain the entire time, haha.

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