Almost Spring: 2/15/16

Hej!

     This week was pretty good. On Monday we went to Göteborg, but no one really planned anything so we just hung out with other missionaries in the YSA center.

     In the beginning of this week it was pretty sunny, but cold. Then we had one day that was actually kinda warm almost, so everyone was talking about how it's starting to turn into Springtime. And then, the next day we got about two inches of snow, haha. The sun is out again though so it's still good :)

     On Thursday we had a specialized zone training in Göteborg. President and Sister Beckstrand came down from Stockholm. We talked about working with members and a few other things. Then after lunch we did a sort of family home evening. We passed around a bowl of M&Ms and everyone took a handful. Then we went around and everyone had to say one thing about themselves that no one else knows for each brown M&M they had. Some people had one or two, and others had 20, so it was interesting, haha. It was a fun way to end zone training.

     A cool experience this week was that on Saturday Elder Dean and I had just done a swing by, and were walking to town, but we took a different way than how we usually walk there. As we were walking a woman at a parked car near by waved us over. It turned out she was a member from a nearby town on her way to the baptism of an 8 year-old in our ward, and she couldn't find the chapel. So we gave her directions and she left. I think it is amazing how even without realizing it, sometimes we can be led by the Lord to help people, or to receive help. We almost never walk that way to town, but we just happened to be there at the exact same time as the member.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Well this is super boring but I only have one picture to attach this week! This is my rubiks cube, after I discovered that I could take off the pieces. I managed to put it back together later luckily. 

Rain: 2/8/16

Hi!

     This week it has been pretty rainy and windy, so we have been doing some more tracting than usual :) It was a good week though. On Monday we stayed in Alingsås. We went to a couple stores, and Elder Dean got his first haircut in Sweden. 

     One of the YSAs in our ward got his mission call this week! He is going to the California Modesto Mission, speaking English. It was exactly what he wanted so it's pretty cool. 

     Besides that it was just a normal week for the most part.

     This week I have been reading a lot in the end of the Book of Mormon, when all of the Nephites have gone from super righteous to very wicked and rebelling against God. I think it is amazing how when the people were so wicked that they were ready for destruction that the Lord commands Mormon to preach to the people that if they repent, they will survive. 2 Nephi 26:25 says: "Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price."  No matter who we are or what we have done, our Heavenly Father loves us and only wants us to come unto Him, and I know that that is true.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Sunset

2) I like the Swedish forests

3) Another sunset (I wasn't so good at taking a lot of pictures this week)

Found It!: 2/1/16

Hi!

     This week was good. One of the missionaries who went home last week, Elder Sahlin, invited all of the Göteborg missionaries over to his house for lunch on Monday since he lives in Göteborg. It was weird to see him as a normal person, haha. 

     On Friday we had a zone training in Göteborg. It was super good. We found out that we are changing a few of our standard goals. The best one (in my opinion) is that we are switching from 15 unplanned contacts a day to 30 total contacts a day. Before we always had to "plan unplanned contacts", so like planning to walk through town on our way to planned activities so we could talk to people. It wasn't a bad thing, but it got stressful sometimes to plan for unplanned finding opportunities, so now it is a lot more straight-forward.

     This week we were walking down a sidewalk that we walk on all the time, but I looked at the ground and noticed something in the grass to the side. It was my nametag!!! I lost it like two or three weeks ago in the snow, but now all the snow has melted and it was just sitting there. It was a good example of prayers being answered in ways other than the way we expect. I prayed for help to find it back when I lost it, and it worked! It just took a little longer than expected. But it still works just fine. It was a pin tag, so the pin part is a little rusty but not broken. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) A weird kind of bird that hangs out with the ducks and pretty much acts exactly like a duck, but it's not a duck.

2) Swedish forest

3) Nametag!

Slush: 1/25/16

Hi!

     Not so much happened this week, haha. On Monday we went to Göteborg, but there weren't many other missionaries around for some reason, so we mostly just stayed in the YSA center.

     On Tuesday we had a lesson with a woman named Mona Lycka. Last time we taught her she was talking to us about how she's in a community choir and loves to sing, so we decided we should sing together, and maybe Elder Dean could play violin. So this time Elder Dean brought his violin and after the lesson we sang/played How Great Thou Art together, all 8 verses in Swedish. It was fun :)

     On Wednesday there was a global missionary broadcast, the first one in over a decade they said. So that was pretty cool. Most of it was about how we can teach more effectively, such as by learning how to work better with the Spirit. Something I thought was super interesting was in a video of Elder Bednar talking with a small group of missionaries about the role of the Spirit in lessons. The gist of it was that we typically think of the Spirit being our main tool in converting people. But really, we are the tools and the Spirit is in charge. It's our job to invite the Spirit, and then not get in the way. It is a totally different way of thinking about it and I think it is very true. Without the Spirit we can't do any of the work we do.

     The rest of the week was just normal. It's started getting a little warmer than freezing outside! So now we are getting a little rain, but hopefully it won't be icy on the ground anymore at least. I hit my official 18 month mark on Saturday, so that was kinda weird. 

     This week I have been reading in Acts in the New Testament, and I read the story of the time that Peter and John were teaching, then were thrown in jail. They were miraculously led out of the jail, and were commanded to keep teaching in the temple, which they did. They were taken again, beaten, and let go. Instead of being upset that they had just spent time in prison and were beaten, it says that they rejoiced "that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." They had a truly eternal perspective, and instead of focusing on their current discomforts and trials, they realized that they would be blessed for their faith and obedience.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Lots of bikes covered in snow

2) Fog on the frozen lake

3) We didn't take out the trash in time, so I made a trap for the fruit flies. This was after less than a day of it being out. I got the rest of the flies with the vacuum :)

Swedish: 1/18/16

Hi!

     This week has been really good! It has been a little weird because we had the opposite problem we had last week. Last week we talked to a lot of people, but didn't get to teach many of them. This week we weren't able to talk to as many people, but we taught a lot more, so it's a good problem to have :) I have definitely been able to see the Lord's hand in the work, because we have not really been doing much different, but we have been running into a lot more people who are willing to listen to us. 

     Last P-day we mostly just stayed in the YSA center in Göteborg and played card games and ping pong with the other missionaries, so that was pretty fun. On Wednesday President and Sister Beckstrand came to Göteborg so President could do interviews with everyone. I had a really good interview and got some good advice. On Thursday we had district meeting, and afterwards we had lunch with the other district in Göteborg so that was fun too. It was the last district meeting of the transfer. 

     Yesterday in church somehow there was a satellite broadcast playing over the audio during sacrament meeting, so there was music playing in the background. Someone went to the controls to fix it, but it didn't work all the way, so there was a computer voice that kept saying "Swedish........Swedish...........Swedish". It happened during a prayer too. But after that it got fixed so it turned out okay. 

     This week I was reading in Helaman about the prophets Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman. Something I didn't notice so much before but that I think is cool is how even when almost everyone around them was wicked, Nephi and Lehi were righteous to the point where they could be encircled by fire and speak to angels, and Nephi got great power from God as well. They didn't let their surroundings change who they were or their devotion to the gospel. I think it is a great example for us today, how we can choose to maintain our values and be a righteous example no matter what our surroundings are like.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Selfie! There was tons of slush everywhere, and then it froze so all the ice was bumpy.

2) Crazy people out on the ice. It looked like they were using four wheelers to smooth out the ice for skating or something.

3) All the ducks have to crowd together into the water that hasn't frozen. I have no idea how they are surviving the below-freezing temperatures.

It's Cold Outside: 1/11/16

Hej!

     So this week it started getting super cold. Up til now it's kind of hovered right around freezing temperatures, but this week it got down to about -10 celsius. So I've been forced to give in and start wearing my hat and earmuffs. I feel silly wearing them still but it's too cold not to.

     So last Sunday we had some visitors at church. It was a member man from Holland who brought his brother's sister and son to church for the first time. The woman and her son have lived in Sweden one year, and are from Croatia so the son knew a little Swedish. So I ended up translating for the man, who then sometimes translated and explained things to the others in their native language. It was fun. It was my first time translating church for anyone and I think it went well.

     On P-day we just went to Göteborg and spent a lot of time with other missionaries. Nobody could think of a fun activity to do, so we ended up just visiting a lot of stores.

     One either Tuesday or Wednesday, the lake by where we live completely froze over. There were some smaller ponds that froze over too so we walked a little on those, but didn't dare on the lake haha. We threw rocks over the ice, and they made a cool reverberating sound.

     This week we really tried to find new people to teach, so we talked with tons of people, but unfortunately fewer people were willing to stop and talk to us. I'm guessing the cold weather has something to do with it, haha. 

     On Thursday we had district meeting in Göteborg. Afterwards we all went to lunch at a burrito place, and it was pretty good. Mexican food is pretty rare in restaurants here. We got back to Alingsås, and it was super snowy. At first I kind of had a bad attitude about it since I didn't have a coat with a hood and the wind tended to blow snowflakes right into my eyes. But then I decided to just choose to be happy about it, and it made contacting people a lot more fun. We went to go tracting, and I realized my nametag was gone. It is the first nametag I've ever lost, so I was disappointed. We walked back the way we had come from, but couldn't see it. But we did end up talking to a guy while we were looking for it, and had a good discussion with him.

     Yesterday in church we were visited by Per G. Malm, of the Seventy. The chapel has one of those foldable walls that separates it from the cultural hall, and it got stuck so it was only open about a third of the way. So everyone who sat behind it had to squeeze into the part with a view of the stand. It was a good meeting though.

     Sometime earlier this week I was reading a general conference talk, and I really can't remember what it said exactly but it was basically something like: If there's a kind of person that you want to be someday, then the way you do it is by choosing to be that person today. So it is the message that today is the day to act. If I want to be more grateful, the best way to become a more grateful person is by being more grateful for things today. I won't just suddenly become that person if I don't make a conscious effort to change. So that is something that has helped me a lot this week with trying to improve on things.

     I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) it's a frozen heart!

2) Okay, I dared to stand on the lake once

3) wearing a hat :P

A New Year: 1/1/16

Hejsan Allihopa!

     This has been a good week. Last Saturday after emailing we didn't do too much. A member family invited us over for dinner, and they had cooked a giant turkey. Turkey here is usually pretty small, but this one was as big or bigger than ones I've seen in the US. It tasted good :)

     On Sunday the bishop announced that they will be changing the order of the meetings at church, so now we will be having Sacrament meeting first, then Sunday school, then Priesthood and Relief Society. I think it will be a good change.

     Lately we have had a problem with fruit flies in our kitchen. I have no idea now, since it is freezing outside and we don't really have any fruit sitting around. But it had been like a week since we took out the garbage, and suddenly there were swarms of fruit flies in the kitchen. On Sunday morning I made a trap for them by putting apple cider vinegar in a cup and mixing in just a little dish soap. Every missionary apartment has a list of useful recipes and mixtures so that's how I found out about it. The flies are drawn in by the vinegar, then are poisoned by the dish soap. So we caught maybe 30 flies with that one, but there were still more, so I made a second cup with a little more concentration of vinegar to hopefully draw in the rest of the flies.

     The next day there were maybe 20 flies in the second cup, and some more in the first cup. I got impatient and took out the vacuum. I got a lot of flies. 

     Besides that most of the week was pretty normal, we did tracting and swing bys and taught some lessons. Yesterday morning we had district meeting, and afterwards we went out to lunch with the other missionaries in our district and from one other district. We went to a burger place called Max. It is cool because they have touchscreen things where you can order your food and it's pretty convenient because it can show you more options, like that for 3 more crowns you can get a bigger thing of fries.

     Last night we went over to a part member family's house. We didn't really do any of the typical New Year's stuff though, we just talked. It was still fun though. We got home at 9:30pm and just stayed in the apartment. I was able to see quite a few fireworks just by looking out the window though, so that was fun. 

     This week we also got real snow! It snowed on Saturday night, and we ended up with a few inches. By the end of the day it all turned to slush, and then it got cold over night so now there's ice everywhere, but it's still kind of white. Most of it has melted by now though.

     This week I was reading in the new Liahona, and I really liked the article about the Godhead. It was funny because I was reading it in Swedish and I was thinking how it seemed pretty powerful and bold, so I wondered who it was by and of course it was Elder Holland. I thought it was really good how he points out that we need to make sure that we and that investigators understand who God the Father really is before we can really understand the rest of the gospel. That is something that I have not payed enough attention to while teaching, or in my own understanding of the gospel. I know that God is literally our Heavenly Father and that He loves each and every one of us because we are His children.

I hope everyone has a great 2016!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Snowy sunset

2) Looking at the moon right before personal study (it's the light on the top right side. The others are reflections from lights in the apartment)

3) Some snowy forest