Sick People: 9/1/15

Hi!

     So for the first half of this week Elder Larson was pretty sick. There is a member who is a nurse, so she looked at him and said he probably got food poisoning or something like that. But now he´s better, so everything is okay. 

     Not too much else of note happened this week. Yesterday at church our new convert Sami passed the sacrament for the first time. I don´t know who showed him how to do it, but he did everything perfectly. He seriously looked like a professional who´d done it for years. So that was really cool to see. 

     We also have a baptismal date! One of the sisters´ investigators is being baptized this week, and when our investigator Daniel heard about it, he wanted to be baptized that day too. There´s just a few problems though, haha. We got permission to get him baptized this week IF we can teach him the rest of the lessons that he needs and get him interviewed by our district leader. So we´re going to talk to him about it and see how serious he is about being ready to be baptized this week, but if not then we will just have to wait another week or two, which is no problem. 

     This week something really weird happened. We were walking home at the end of the day, and it was DARK. I´m not used to it being dark before we´re already home, so it was a really weird experience. 

     This week our zone leaders have challenged everyone in the zone to listen to or read a talk by President Eyring called "This Day" from the April 2007 conference. I have only read through it once so far, but I´ve also seen a Mormon Message video that quotes a lot of it. I think that something really cool that I noticed in his talk is the message that even if we can´t do much, if we do all we can we will receive blessings not only for ourselves, but we will also bless others´ lives. Each day has so much potential, and I like how President Eyring words it: that each day is a gift from God. If we use the time we have been given in a good way, then I know that there are so many blessings and so much growth that we can experience.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Unfortunately, I don´t have any pictures worth sending out this week :( So hopefully next week I´ll find more exciting things to take pictures of!

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

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!