Running: 11/9/15

Hi!

     This week was pretty good! On Monday we went to Gothenburg and hung out with some of the other missionaries. We hiked up a big hill to an old fort with a great view of the city. Elder Roosendaal and I found some sweaters on a sale rack in a store, so now we have matching Christmas sweaters. In the evening a member took us out to pizza so he could "interrogate" me. He has a set of questions that he always asked new missionaries. 

     On Tuesday it was my birthday! In the morning we ran 5 and a half kilometers with a member. We ran around a lake that is right next to our apartment. I haven't run much in a while, so it was pretty hard but we did it in 33 minutes. Besides that it was kind of a normal day. A member made a sugar cake for us.

     On Friday we had a zone training. We talked about Christlike attributes and how we can receive guidance on what we can do to be better missionaries. It was pretty good. On Saturday we helped a member clean the chapel. That evening we had dinner with our ward mission leader and his friend. His friend ordered Chinese food for everyone, and we had giant spring rolls.

     Yesterday was Father's day in Sweden, so there was a primary program. It was funny, but super good too. I was also asked to give a talk next week. It will be my first talk in a sacrament meeting on my mission.

     As part of preparation for zone training this week the zone leaders asked everyone to read the talk "What Lack I Yet?" from the most recent general conference. I thought it was super good. It helped me realize that we can each receive very personal and useful revelation when we ask for it. It may not always be the answer we expect, but the Lord knows what is best for us and what we can handle.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Elder Roosendaal and me and Gothenburg in the background

2) kebab pizza with french fries on it

New Area: 10/2/15

Hej!

     Last P-day I didn't do too much. We went out to lunch as a district and then played a card game called Munchkin at the church. After that I just packed all my stuff. On Tuesday I finished some last minute packing, and my first train left at two. It was about an hour long, then I had a 20 minute wait and took another hour long train. Then another 20 minute wait and an hour long train. Everything went pretty smoothly with switching trains and all that. At the train station in Alingsås the elders here showed up with a member, and Elder Päärkä got on a train to his new area, and we loaded my stuff into the ward mission leader's car and dropped it off at the apartment. Then we had a dinner appointment. 

     I have had a lot of member dinners here so far. We've had member meals maybe 5 out of 6 nights that I've been here, so that's kind of amazing haha. This is my first area where we actually ride bikes everywhere. We have bus cards, but the buses don't go super often so usually it's quicker to bike. It's a little cold, but it's not too bad. Alingsås is a kind of small town so we get around easily.

     On Thursday we helped build a spooky tunnel for a primary trunk or treat activity. We were supposed to help three primary boys set it up, but we pretty much ended up doing it haha. We used chairs and garbage bags to make a tunnel. On Friday we took a 40 minute train to Göteborg (Gothenburg) for district meeting at a YSA center. It was pretty fun. My companion is the district leader. We only have three companionships in our district right now: us, the zone leaders, and a sister companionship. Each companionship is in a different ward, so that's interesting.

     My new companion is Elder Roosendaal. His dad is Dutch, his mom is from the Philippines, and he's lived in London half his life so he has a British accent. He's a pretty fun guy. 

     On Saturday we helped out with the primary's trunk or treat activity, and that was pretty fun. Other than that we didn't really celebrate Halloween. Yesterday was my first week of church here. There was a couple from Örebro there visiting, so it was fun to talk to them and see how things are going in my old area. There are a ton of families in the ward here, so it's really fun. 

     I am really grateful for the Holy Ghost, and especially for the gift of the Holy Ghost. As a missionary, there are a lot of things we have to remember, and usually in a different language, so there have been a lot of times when I have had no idea what to say to people in lessons or talking to them on the street. But I have realized a lot of times where I was able to think of something, or my companion was, that were helpful to that person. So I know that we can have the companionship and help of the Holy Ghost when we are worthy and seeking after it.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Elder Roosendaal, Me, and Lennart (ward mission leader) at the train station

2) Selfie

3) Riding bikes

Into the West: 10/26/15

Hej!

     This has been an interesting week. Last P-day we were looking around a store with the other Linköping elders, and President Beckstrand called. He told Elder Backman that he will be training next transfer. 

     On Friday Elder Backman went to Stockholm with all of the other future trainers for a meeting at the mission home, so I was in a tripan with the other Linköping elders all day. Honestly it wasn't so different from a normal day, since we share an apartment and I already see them pretty often. Contacting people felt kind of weird though, three on one seems like it might intimidate people pretty bad, haha. 

     On Saturday Elder Backman and I decided to visit a part of our area that's a little farther away called Motala. It's right by a big lake, so there were some cool sights. We swung by some less-active members and got to teach one of them. 

     On Saturday morning we did a group phone call with the zone and the zone leaders said where everyone is transferring. I will be transferring out of Linköping after only six weeks, and I'm going to a town called Alingsås. It is right by Göteborg (Gothenburg) so there will be a lot of other missionaries close by, although I've heard that Alingsås is a branch. My new companion is named Elder Roosendahl, and he finishes his mission after this transfer so I will be his last companion. It should be fun.

     Something interesting is that of the 12 new missionaries that were supposed to come in from the MTC, only one of them got a visa so the rest are being temporarily reassigned. Since we are missing so many elders there are 5 areas that will be closed until they get here, and one of them is my current area. Elder Backman will be companions with another elder in our district who is supposed to train, and when their greenies come they will go back to their own areas again. Another interesting thing: All of my companions who are still in the mission have either just finished training, are currently training, or are about to train.

     We had daylight savings yesterday, so now the sun comes up an hour earlier. Unfortunately, this also means that the sun goes down an hour earlier. So now the sunset is at 4:24 pm. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) This was a door we tracted this week

2) This was near a swing by we did

3) A healthy missionary meal: hot dog meat, and green-dyed rice

4) These are some swans in a stream right by our apartment

This Week: 10/19/15

Hej!

     This week was pretty good. Last P-day we didn't do too much, we just went to the mall after doing grocery shopping and emailing. On Wednesday we helped a member do some yard work. She lives a little ways outside of town so it was a really pretty area with trees that are in all the Fall colors. 

     We did district meeting on Friday in Norrköping (the other ward in our district), and that was fun. Afterwards we went to a Chinese buffet. There weren't many tables open when we got there so we tried fitting six elders in a four-person booth and that didn't work so well. Luckily a table opened up so we moved to that. 

     On Saturday we did exchanges, so I had Elder Williams in my area. He has been in Sweden for about 5 weeks now so he's still pretty new. It went pretty well. We got to do the second hour of companion study that greenies do when they're being trained, so we watched some of the District. Then we didn't really have any set appointments so we walked around a lot and swung by some potential investigators. 

     Yesterday we had church. Our branch president's parents visited from Denmark, and in Priesthood his dad got up and introduced himself. Danish is pretty similar to Swedish, but it's pronounced differently and has a few different words. So I could kind of understand the gist of what he was saying, but it was still really hard to understand. 

     After church we did a lot of walking again. Elder Backman and I found a cool park on a little river, and there was a place with locks (I think that's what they're called. The things where there are a few gates that an fill up with water or be emptied so that boats can get through). At one point we stopped at another park to rest for a few minutes, and there was a huge flock of birds right above us. I don't know why, but every evening right before sunset, these birds will come together into huge flocks and just fly back and forth over town. We were able to get them on video.

     This week I started my career as a barber. Elder Williams needed a hair cut, but the hair cut places in Sweden are really expensive. They are about 20 dollars at the cheapest places. I think his haircut turned out pretty well, I pretty much just used hair clippers and followed the directions that came with them. I also cut my own hair last week and I think it looks alright, especially now that it's been a week so it could grow out a bit, haha.

     This week I was pondering a lot about how to help people understand the purpose of the Book of Mormon, and why it is not out of the question that God would give us more scripture than the Bible. A few days ago I was reading in 2 Nephi 29 and found a good answer. I was trying to decide which verse is best, but the whole chapter seems pretty good. But basically the main message is: God reveals His word to all of His children, and it is the same word. The witnesses of multiple nations create a stronger testimony of the Father. Since God has revealed His word, who are we to say He cannot reveal more? I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon and for modern revelation, that can answer questions we have about the gospel and continue to give us direction and inspiration. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that through prophets we can continue to learn more about the gospel.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Swedish nature!

2) This was on the ceiling of the Chinese buffet. It looks just like the dragon head from the movie Kung Fu Panda, but it's hard to see.

3) Elder Williams and me at the library. We had a goal that day to find a good selfie. We found this statue.

4) A rare drinking fountain! This is literally the first one that I've seen in a public place since I got to Sweden. Unfortunately it was turned off :/

Bowling: 10/12/15

Hej!

     Last Monday it was the birthday of Elder Jones, who is in our district, so we all went out bowling! It´s been a while since I bowled, so I was a little out of practice but still did okay. After that we went to a store called Clas Ohlson and Elder Backman and Elder Williams both got Rubiks cubes, so after that I taught them how to solve them. They both learned pretty fast.

     On Tuesday the other Linköping elders had a baptism! We don´t have a baptismal font here in Linköping so we went to the Norrköping chapel, which is about a 40 minute bus ride away. It was super good. There were members from our branch and the Norrköping ward, and even some other members from farther away that came. 

     This week it has started getting a little colder and darker, but luckily it has been super good weather lately otherwise. No rain :)

     Without planning it, this week in my studies I read three different accounts of the creation. One was in Genesis, one in Moses, and another in Abraham. I am so grateful that we know about the Plan of Salvation, why we are here and what our goals are for this life. When we talk to people on the street one of the questions we like to ask is what people think about the meaning of life, and often people aren´t really sure. But our Heavenly Father has revealed His plan to us, so that we can have direction and so that we can know how to return to Him. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Elder Kiikko bowling

2) Persian rice and sauce made for us by an investigator

3) A big water tower by our apartment at night. It is lit up to be pink. The bottom part is its reflection on a stream. Sorry it´s not great quality, the camera didn´t focus so well in the dark.

Conference: 10/5/15

Hi!

     There´s not so much to write about this week so I´ll keep it pretty short :) The first part of the week was pretty normal. The zone leaders stayed the night last Monday because they were doing workovers with Elder Kiikko  (the district leader) and Elder Williams on Tuesday. We had district meeting on Tuesday so the zone leaders could be there, and it went pretty well. We talked about how we can work better with members and involve them better in missionary work. Afterwards we all went out for pizza. 

     We have an investigator!!! We met with a man this week who we met either last week or the week before, so now he is an investigator. He is from Albania, and has a belief in God but isn´t sure if Islam or Christianity are true, so he is very open. We also have a few other lessons set up for this week so we are hoping things will start getting a little busier now. 

     This weekend it was conference! We got to watch Priesthood session at the church, but the connection was not so good so it took a long time to try and get the video playing again. But otherwise, it was super good. We watched Saturday morning andSunday morning sessions both at a member family´s house on Saturday and Sunday evening (time difference). They were super nice and made us dinner both nights as well. As much as I like Swedish, it was super nice to get to watch all of the sessions in English so I could understand everything better. 

     One of the things that I learned from conference this time was the importance of keeping it simple. The gospel can be one of the most complicated subjects, but also the most simple. I liked how President Thomas S. Monson began his talk by saying to "keep the commandments." It can be as simple as that. When we take the simple steps, our faith grows and we prepare ourselves to take on some of the more difficult challenges. I know that the words spoken at general conference come by revelation from our Heavenly Father, and that if we follow them they can help us to come closer to Him and deepen our faith.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) This is a cool lighthouse thing in the middle of an apartment complex

2) Finnish chocolate at the grocery store. It´s popcorn flavored

3) The sunset

Fall Is Coming!- 9/28/15

Hej!

     This week was pretty good. Last P-day we went to a big shopping center area and went to an outlet store. We pretty much spent all of P-day going to different stores in town, haha. 

     On Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Kiikko, our district leader. It was kind of funny because we live in the same apartment so it didn´t feel like it was really any different from a normal day until we went out. We had a pretty good day together. We went out to swing by a less-active but they weren´t home so we tracted a while. We also talked to a bunch of people in town. We found out that Elder Richard G. Scott had died, so we watched the video about him on lds.org. Then we had family home evening with the YSA, and watched the video again. As we were playing a card game for FHE, some members came to the church for branch council. We were either not informed about it or Elder Kiikko maybe forgot, but we went to the meeting pretty unprepared, haha. But it went well. We watched the video about Elder Scott again.

     On Friday we went to Södertälje (near Stockholm) for zone training. President and Sister Beckstrand were there as well as the assistants. I got an interview with President Beckstrand and it went well. Our zone training was mostly about chapter 13 in Preach My Gospel, how we can help investigators to feel comfortable and prepared in church and how we can work better with members.

     On Saturday we went out to a small town in our area to help a member work on an extension he is making to his house. It was hard work, but it was pretty fun. It was a super nice day. Most of the time I was nailing boards to the side of the extension. After we were done working the member took us to this big hill that overlooks the town, and it was a super cool view. Then he took us to a pizza place for lunch.

     Something that I really liked from the video about Elder Scott was how he had a great perspective on eternity. Even after his wife passed away, he continued on without a doubt in his mind that he would see her again. This is something that I want to emulate. Things in this life do not always go as we plan, and sometimes bad things happen. But our Heavenly Father knows us and is looking out for us, so everything will work out in the life to come. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!!!

1) Double rainbow!

2) The town of Kisa

3) Elder Backman and me