Short Email: 2/29/16

Hej!

     So the computer wasn't working, then I finally got it working but it's really slow so I'm just going to send a short email this week.

     This week was good! We got transfer calls. I will be going to Väster Haninge, which is in Southern Stockholm and right where the temple is so that will be cool. I'll be taking a train on Wednesday.

     Other than that it was a pretty normal week.

     This week I had a talk in church, and as I was preparing I looked over lesson 4 in the teachings of President Hunter book. I like the quote where he basically says "I am grateful that all the Lord asks of us is to be obedient and willing. We can all be obedient and willing." The Lord does not expect more from us than what we can do. He does expect us to do what we can though. I know that Heavenly Father knows and loves each of us and will help us with whatever trials or challenges we face in life.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!

1) Next year's Sunday school book? (a member sent us this picture)

2) Beware of the cat

3) Last night we were out around sunset, and were near a lookout point so we ran up to it. Unfortunately there were trees in the way so it doesn't look so good in the picture but there's also a lake there that the sunset was reflecting off of.

Archipelago: 2/22/16

Hej!

     So this will be a shorter email since the other computer isn't working so I'm trying to finish quick so Elder Dean can email.

     This week was good! On P-day we went to visit a few islands in the archipelago by Göteborg. Most of them are very rocky with some smallish trees, but we were there kinda around sunset so it was pretty cool. It took a lot more time than I had anticipated. 

     The other big news of the week was that we did companion exchanges on Wednesday. It's the first time we've done real exchanges since I came to Alingsås, like 4 months ago. I went to an area called Utby near Göteborg, so it was fun to be in an area that is in the city. 

     This week we had the most effective tracting experience of my life, haha. We tried doing a few swingbys but no one was home so we decided to tract. The first door no one answered, but the second door was a guy from Congo who let us in and we taught him about the Restoration! So that was a pretty cool experience.

    This week as a district we have been reading the talk "Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet" by Elder Holland from April 2015 conference, and it is about the Atonement. Yesterday we had a super good sarament meeting where the theme was brotherhood, and one of the speakers talked about Christ's brotherly love for us, that He suffered all of our pain and even died for us. I am so grateful for the Atonement and for the gospel, that we have the gift of the ability to return to our Father in Heaven when we do what is right.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

Pictures!!!

1) windmills

2) docks

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.