December 26, 2014

So. Today we have a pday, so I guess I'll do a bit of emailing before we head out and hit up the stores for ridiculous sales (I need white shirts. Mine are way to big now). We actually don't have too much time, so I'm just going to give a rundown on the last three days. Sorry if you really wanted a synopsis of the other week too. Fine. Here's one: Swedes don't talk to you if Christmas is within two weeks. Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

   On Christmas eve, we chilled out for the morning. Opened all our presents. In Sweden, you do that on Christmas eve, so it's okay. And we weren't going to have time on Christmas day, so it makes it even better. Got some really useful things. Had a good time. I guess I should send some pictures. To be honest, pictures are going to be better at telling the story than I am. Anyway, we went to the Robayos for Christmas eve, and we pretty much just hung out there. Watched Kalle Anka, which is a very Swedish thing you're just going to have to look up. We watched the Polar Express while we were there. It was fun. Later, we went home and started this huge puzzle that we should not have started, because now we have to finish it.

   Christmas day, we woke up and went to the church and had breakfast with the systers. Waffles, eggs, and bacon. That kind of thing. It was a lot of fun. Then Marcus picked us up and took us to his house to watch Frozen and play some card games for the morning. I had a really good time. In the Afternoon, we went to Alex's parent's home to have American Christmas and to Skype my family. It's a little odd to be on this end of the computer, I'll tell you that. But they're doing well, unless they all just put up a front to make it seem like they are all fine. Anyway. Lots of food, lots of fun. It was good.

   Today, we'll be going to the British home for Boxing day. It'll be fun. The only other Boxing day thing I ever did was going to the Litchfield's hockey game and getting hit in the face two or three times with the puck. This should be less painful, I think. Anyway, I should go now! Have it good!

   But first, I have some things to thank!

Thank you, Legion, the thirty elders going home in three days, for being the death of about a fourth of the serving elders. I sense a small shake up in the mission community...

Thank you, Christmas, for being a non proselyting day. Too many drunk people inside, and no sober people on the outside.

That's all for me! I have too many pictures to send, so here's just a few.

Äldste Heiner

Jul Dessert!

All the windows have these decorations.
They are cool (but didn't photograph well).

Love that the Bible is in the fact section at the bookstore.

December 15, 2014

Okay... I think I'm just going to have to get used to the fact that while on a mission, weeks consist of three or four days. Not seven. That would be ridiculous and way too consistent. But anyway. This was a good week. Full of crazy stuff. I liked it. I always do.

   Last Monday after we emailed, the systers decided they wanted to go bowling. So we went bowling because it sounded fun. Did pretty well too. After that they ran out to do syster stuff, Elder Jones and I went to a TU who had asked us to come by during Monday, and we stupidly said yes. And he blåsted. Don't schedule stuff on a divinely inspired break, okay people. It never works out. Anyway, we shifted proselyting time because of that and went to some thrift shops because that's what we do. I was good. We ended the day at Tommy's, and he's ready to try stopping tobacco again! We're going to get this guy off of everything!

   Tuesday was crazy even though we weren't really expecting it to be too busy. The morning was quite slow because we had two appointments cancelled right in a row. We had church watch and just chilled out a bit to regroup. Then we went up to Huskvarna to see Elizabeth. More on her later. We then did two swing bys that both let us in. It went really well with both of them. We were invited to dinner from a member in town, so we bussed down to Torpa from Österängen. The dinner ended up being quite nice. Afterward, we went to Juan's place again to play dress up and to take some Christmas pictures. They turned out quite funny, I think.

   Wednesday. Yes. That was a thing. Not productive in any way, shape, or form, but a thing it was. We got up and got on our normal bus 200 to Borås. Okay, that's when things fall apart. The bus was on a special route because of construction. The Systers didn't know that. So they went to their normal stop that wasn't going to get stopped at. So they missed the bus. So we're on our way, and we make it in time. The Systers, on the other hand, find their way onto a charter bus without any tickets and start to Borås as well, all the while on the phone with the bus company, trying to get tickets before the bus driver really gets frustrated with them. That doesn't happen ever because they're systers and they somehow just get to Borås with a free ride on a charter bus. Anyway, we end up just waiting for them because charter buses are pretty fast and they ended up just being half and hour late. During the meeting, we decide to put together a... something for zone conference this week. I'll say what it is later. Hopefully I'll be able to get a bit of it home too. It'll be good. We're super excited for it. Anyway, the meeting was good, but we all missed our normal bus home, so we just hopped on the next bus 200 there was. About two hours later is when we realized that the bus 200 has three different routes. Two normal ones to and from Borås and Jönköping, which we usually take.  And one from Borås to the middle of nowhere and back to Borås, which we happened to be on. So basically we were on the bus the entire time. It kind of sucked because it took so much time and we couldn't do any work what so ever.  Anyway, we got back and then we went and picked up some pizzas and took 'em to the church and the the Systers joined us. It was an end to a wacky day.

   Thursday was pretty crazy too. We found out that Elizabeth doesn’t want to meet again because she wasn't wanting to change her life. But she still believes Joseph is a prophet. And that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. You know, we’ll have to try and find out what’s going on. Anyway, we had about thirty plan changes during the day. In the evening we had Lucia! It was good. Lots of singing and candles. So I enjoyed it. The one we went to was quite modernized, so I don't think I liked it as much as I would have a traditional one, but it was still really good. We have some pictures, too. It was cool.

   Friday was lungt. We did we weekly planning, so that took up a big chunk of the day. We did some walking around, and did a lesson on our phone because we can't speak Farsi. So that's chill. In the evening, Rikki, a recent convert, led a large group of YSAs in yoga. On a completely unrelated note, my body is in pain. So yeah. Friday in short.

   Before daily planning Friday evening, Saturday was completely blank. But I called six people. And they all picked up. And they all made appointments. So our seemingly blank Saturday turned into one of the busiest days of the week. Like, I'm not even going to explain all that happened. But we met with Edwin, and it turns out that he and Paul are really good friends, and Paul just happened to be over when we met with Edwin. It went really well. Paul is really good at testifying simply and powerfully.  It was a good day. We liked it.

   Sunday was good. They always are. After church, we went to a member's place for dinner. They had really good food. And we got to help out with their Christmas trees too. It was fun. Our evening was a blåsty thing, but that's fine, really. So we went home and finished out there.

   So that was the week! I liked it. We had a good time. And now we're getting ready for zone conference. That is really going to take up the rest of our day, so I'm going to have no time to write any thank you notes if I don't do that right now. I hope you don't mind...

Thank you Swedish bus system for being as incomprehensible as a Japanese game show.

Thank you cold weather for somehow being an impassible barrier at my African investigators' front door.

Anyway... that's all for me! Hope y'all have a wonderful day!

Äldste Heiner

P-day bowling.  It was fun.

Here's me and my candy.  

Playing dress up at Juan's again.  We had a good
time.  We are thinking about using one of these
pictures and making a card that says "joined
the Lord's army" or something like that.  

See the jacket I'm wearing there?  The authentic
WWII British pilot jacket?  Juan gave it to me
because it had a tear.  I already fixed it.
It is great!

At St. Lucia

Those are all real candles.  In a church.

A little break from maturity, that's all we got here,
just a little pause.

Legitimately my favorite ad campaign ever.

December 8, 2014

Okay, whoever is in charge of the dial that determines how fast time goes, would you please just cut that out? I won't get any time on my mission if you keep this up. I've been in Sweden for just a few weeks, and I'm already over three transfers in.

   On Monday, we went thrift shopping, and found a ridiculous amount of deals. So I bought things. Like books in Swedish. They were, like, 8:- each, so that is dirt cheap. I'll send 'em home so I don't have to lug them around. But we did that for the entire day, and then realized that all the good stores weren't even open on Mondays, so we've been in the habit of taking our lunch hours in the stores that are only open, like, two days a week. We have so much good stuff. I'm almost done with all my mission shopping for the entire two years. I'm never buying anything new again. Ha.

Anyway... back to Monday, we finished the evening with Paul and Tommy. It was really good. We're beginning to see Tommy progress again, so that is really awesome. And Paul is just a bro.

   On Tuesday, we got up a bit early for Huba on the train. It was pretty good. Then the day just went down the drain. Nothing went as planned until eight in the evening. We got blåsted a ton, and then tried to talk to a bunch of people, but they weren't having it. So then we went home for dinner. Tuesday, man. That was a rough day.

   Wednesday, though, we got blåsted just as much, but we did get a meeting with Elizabeth in, so that was good. She is having a bit of a doctrine problem that we're not quite understanding. We'll get it sometime.  Hopefully soon. Then we had more area work. Took lunch in a second hand.  Got a few books that I was looking for. Then we ended the evening with Tommy and introduced a few ideas to him so that he can start thinking about approaches he wants to take with his smoking and snusing problems.

   Thursday was another day of blåsts. T'is the season, you know. So after the first two blåsts, we kind of just ditched the afternoon and did weekly planning. The relief society was finishing with their party at the church by that time, so we helped... clean up... we're so helpful. Got blåsted a few more times, then walked to a members house for dinner, and felt like we needed to check out a store. It was kind of weird. We walked in and started to look around, not really sure what we were doing in there, when we were stopped by a guy with a bunch of questions. He seemed satisfied and told us we were having a prayer together, and so we did. Right there in the middle of the store. I felt the spirit. It was kind of amazing. The we got to Juan's (the member) house for dinner. He is a really good cook. And he collects lots of really cool things. Like original presses of all the Beetle's albums. And Queen. And Kansas. And a ton more. It is really cool.  So then we went home because it was time to do so.

   On Friday we had distrikt meeting. And then everyone blåsted the rest of the day. Literally everyone. It's a hard to be a missionary during this time of year. In the evening, we would have had an activity, but no one came, so we ended up talking to Alex for a while about how it's going with him getting on a mission. Pretty well, so far.

   Saturday people were quite blåsty too. But we were able to talk to Elizabeth. Then we went and did a bunch of area work where we would have had lessons if people were there. Had a lesson with Tommy. He doesn't blåst us. But that was a day.

   Sunday was good. I always like it. I can understand essentially everything in every meeting if I pay attention to it. We got invited to the Rönndahl's after church for their now two year old's birthday party. It was really fun, and we got to leave a really good message with a bunch of people. We had to leave a little early to get blåsted just one more time this week. Then we knocked a few doors to run the week out.  Things will pick up.

      But we do have big plans for the rest of the day, so we'll be quite busy. Oh dang! I forgot! I need to write my thank you notes today! I better do them now, I won't have time any other moment. I hope you don't mind.

Thank you Apartment Couple for saying you would come around for cleaning checks and never showing up. We cleaned for nothing!

Thank you piri piri, for being so small that I think it would be fine to eat with no milk in the house. I was wrong. I just about died.

Anyway, that's it from me! Have a good week everyone!

Äldste Heiner

Juan let us play dress up.

Sweden. You know. It snows here.

December 1, 2014

This week, I had an entire two days of work in my own area! Yay! It really stinks to feel like you haven't been in your own area helping all the people you should be helping. But what are you going to do? When you have a weird transfer, zone training, and the ward Jul concert all in one week...

   Monday. I killed my father. He's gone. I got on a train with him on the way to Stockholm, and then got off in Linköping. I just felt like I was being babysat there. I was there because transfers were happening the next day, so I needed to be with someone... So I just got passed around between the companionships in Linköping. At least I got to do some work as opposed to just sitting alone in an apartment because I can't go out without a comp. Better than nothing, but that's not saying too much. After a two days in Linköping, I finally got on a train back to Jönköping. I met up with my new companion in Nässjö as he was on his way there on the same connecting train. So we got to talk for a bit. He's been in Norrland for the past few months. Once I heard this, I knew exactly what to do. We went to kebab. See... kebab is different all over Sweden. Norrland is a very nice place, but the kebab is there is the worst ever. Nasty stuff. So I got the chance to re-kebabtise him. Cool stuff. That was the end of Tuesday, so that's two days out of Jönköping.

   Wednesday we didn't really have anything planned, so we walked around and I introduced Elder Jones to the new place. It's the biggest area he's ever served in, and the only ward he's ever seen here. Did some swing bys, taught some lessons. It was the only full day of work we had.

   Thursday morning was good. We walked around town contacting people as we tried to find the Ika Maxi. We finally found it and they handed us a package with 22 Mormons Bok in it. So we carried it home. Yay. Then we walked to the church to help set up the Jul concert for an hour. Then we left the church five hours later. Lovely how things like that just suck you in and you can't... quite... leave.... because everyone else is going to be working there for four more hours, but we need to work... It was frustrating. We did some area work, so that was good that we got some of that in.

   Friday, we got up early to get to Göteborg for zone training. They introduced a new jul program for us to follow as we contact people. Except it is designed for America, and totally doesn't quite work here... oh well. We'll give it a shot.

   Next day, we got to meet with Sandra! Yay! She's doing well! After a really good lesson with her, we got (had) to stay at the church to help finish up the Jul concert stuff. Starting at two. No more work from then on. The Jul concert was good. My parts went really well. I liked how I did on them for seeing the music the first time six days before hand. A bunch of people I wanted to talk to for a long time were there, so I was able to talk to them and try to set up appointments with them. It went really well.

   Then yesterday. It was good. None of our U's came to church, but they were either sick, out of town, or... I forget the other excuse. It was legit though. Had dinner with the Rönndahl's, so it was really good. Did a bunch of area work in Lilliaholmen, så that was nice to get around to. That evening, we just talked for a long while. Got to know each other better. Anyway. Off to do things now!

Freak. I just realized that we have plans today! I won't be able to write any thank you notes if I don't do it right now. I hope you don't mind...

Thank you Marabou chocolate bars, for being Rain Forest Alliance Certified. I don't know what it means, but it makes me feel about 3.47 times better that I eat you often.

Thank you Arabs, for not celebrating Christmas. I'll see you in December!

Just as an update... I'm about 153 pounds right now. I've lost more than twenty pounds since I've out. Oops.

Love y'all! Hope you have a great week!  Äldste Heiner

Oh yeah. Got a haircut. 

Love that moment when you're a missionary,

 and a professional hairstylist cuts your hair for free because

 she's a member and super chill.

That's me, Huba, and Anderson.

 We ran for the train, because we were going 

to miss it.  If it's going to be the last train ride

 in Sweden, might as well make it worth it.

My last picture with Elder Anderson 

before he flies away...

This is what it looked like when I killed

 Elder Anderson.  I sent this to the zone, 

and I could just feel the systrar start to cry.

This is me and Elder Jones.
He's chill.

I don't know what this sign wants to tell me.
I just don't.

This is where I work. This is my workplace.

 Where I do my thing. I bet you're jealous. Be jealous.

First Casualty.

November 22, 2014

So here we have our little weird pday thing happening right now. I won't be having pday on Monday, just today. So next week, I won't have any pdays. Then we will resume our normal pday schedule. So I hope our food and our laundry last through this week. It would be bad if any of those ran out...

   As promised, I know what is happening to me! Well... not really, but I know what is going to be going on in the upcoming transfer. I am staying here in Jönköping. Äldste Anderson is not. He will be getting on a train on Monday and going to Stockholm. And then stay the night in the mission home. And then get on a plane. And then change planes a few times. And then get off a plane and out the doors in the SLC airport, where his family will be hanging out waiting for him to come down those stairs so they can talk to him again. And then he's going to his stake president's and getting released as a full time missionary. And then he's a normal (-ish) guy again. I've heard that quite a few times as this is what every single person in the ward wants to talk to him about. Eh.

   But I get a new comp! I have never heard of this guy, but Elder Miles in Borås has. Apparently he is a really awesome guy and a really hard worker, so we should be able to tear it up here in Jönköping. His name is Äldste Peter Jones. We'll see. Should be fun.

   This week was good, tror jag. We worked really hard for a few days in the beginning, but the end of the week was kind of thrown out the window because of the upcoming transfer and stuff. On Monday we had a normal pday, and... okay, it wasn't normal at all. We didn't do laundry so we could get out the doors fast, but we had just done it a few days before, so it's fine. We went to a few stores to finishing up some shopping for Anderson before he leaves Sweden for a while. After a few hours of that, we went to the church and played a game called Castle Panic. It was pretty fun. I enjoyed it. At the end of our time, we went and visited Tommy. He's moved back into his real apartment because they've finally finished fixing the water damage in his other one. It took 'em five months. Almost six. It must've been bad.

   Huba wasn't on the train the next morning even though we were. We were already past Huskvarna by the time we found out. His niece was sick, so he stayed home with her while his sister went to work. So that trip turned into a bit of a nap time. Wasn't bad. Wasn't bad at all. Went to the church later to practice a lesson with Alex, then stayed for a real lesson that was supposed to happen. And the really weird part is that it did happen! Yay! It's a referral from Sister Schelin. Her name is Sandra, and she is very positive. Sister Schelin sat in on the lesson, so it went really well. 

I am excited to be able to teach her in the future. Hung out in the church after that, got blåsted a few times. Never a good day without a blåst. We had a while after that, so we went trackting in Öxnehaga, and found some very positive people there too.

   Next day was district meeting in Borås. It was a lot of fun. The meeting was the last of many that Äldste Anderson has attended, and he prepared a speech adapted from King Benjamin's address in the beginning of Mosiah. It was quite funny.  Came home after walking around Borås as the whole district, attracting all the looks. It was funny. Went by some folks that wanted to say goodbye to Anderson. And then we had dinner with a member of the Stake Presidency. It was very kind of them, and we had a very good conversation with them.

   Torsdag was easily the craziest day on my mission so far. It would also be good to note that this was the last day of full work for Elder Anderson. We started on the train with Huba, all was well and normal. Lesson with Alex, it was good. All was normal, but we were off to a great start. We then had a lesson with Elizabeth in Huskvarna, so we went up there. She didn't show up, but it's not a real day without a blåst, so it's all good. We decided to have lunch then because we had a bit of time. On the way to the restaurant, we contacted people. Two of the people we contacted were Turkish and couldn't speak anything we could very well. At the end of the contact, they wanted us to go with them to their business to sit down, drink some coffee, and talk. We assumed they were talking about a coffee shop and they just wanted us to buy some drinks, so we were hesitant at first. We finally agreed after the third invitation. They took us to an apartment building (yes we thought that was weird too), and then down into the basement. I don't know about apartment buildings in the US, but in Sweden, the basements are freakin' sketch. The stairs down are narrow and dark, and then the actually basement is dark with a labyrinth of short hallways with about a billion doors on either side of you. This was just the same. We thought we were about to get shanked. Then we walked through one of the doors and it was this totally legit business. It was the weirdest place for it. But we sat down and taught a lesson to these three Turks. It was... odd. We left there and went to a burger joint. Burgers are not as good here, by the way. We went up to Öxnehaga again, and found two very positive families that I am excited to get to teach sometime. Then we went to the Robayo's on the other side of town for dinner. It was a good dinner, and South Americans are hilarious people when they get going. We left there and had two more members ask us to come over to say goodbye to Anderson. By the time we left the last one, we watched as the bus we HAD to take if we wanted to be home in time roll past. So we started sprinting after it. We would have caught it if it had stopped at the bus stop, but nobody was there, so it just rolled on. So we sprinted after it more. It was no use. Right as we realized we had no hope, an African lady pulls over in her car and tells us to jump in. So we do. She's all "Tvån?" And we're all "ja." So she speeds up, and catches up to the bus and we jump out and leave her with a card and we get on the bus. It was crazy and ridiculous. So everything happened that day. Lesson with a progressing investigator, member lessons, member dinner, non progressing lessons, contacting, trackting, got some TU's, got blåsted, thought we were gonna get murdered, and we got a miracle to cap it all. Good day. Good day.

   Friday was pretty ridiculous as well. Elder Anderson got to go to the Stockholm temple, but I didn't. So I was on splits in Norrköping, which is way out of Jönköping. But one of those elders was also going home, so he got to go to the temple. So I was just with one elder and still got to get in a full day of work. They didn't have too much set up for the day, but that is okay, I was a little down in my contacts for the week in my contact battle with the Borås systrar. So we tried to do swing bys as we contacted 118 people. That is a lot, by the way. We usually get about twenty or thirty. It was a fun day though. Elder Anderson had a good day at the temple.

   We have some good stuff planned for today. Like Thanksgiving dinner. We get two of them! Yay! American families are great. And haircuts! We're gonna get haircuts today! I've needed one for a month and a half now! But that's the week so far.

   Today is a weird pday, and I won't have any time to do anything on Monday because that won't be a pday. We have so much to do today, so I hope you don't mind, I have to write my thank you notes now:

Thank you Turkish guys, for not killing us when it totally would have been the right situation in any movie.

Thank you Syster Stewart for being transfered two days before the Christmas concert, and leaving me all your solos to perform. Next week. I haven't even heard these songs before!

Anyway, I'll let you know how life turns out in a week and two days. Have it good y'all!

Äldste Heiner

Our District right before transfers.

Äldste Avenius.  We tore up Norrköping.

Norrköping has this bar in their apartment.
I don't know why, I think they throw parties.

Grocery Shopping Selfie.

November 14, 2014

What a week. This last week has been a lot of work to prepare for this current week, which is going to be super weird. This is Elder Anderson's last week as a full time missionary, and today is his last pday. And then we're doing some splits with Norrköping during the week because Anderson is going to the temple with his departing group, and so is an elder in Norrköping, and it's kind of on the way, so..., and then a weird pday thing on Saturday, then lots of member visits, and then a weird transfer on Monday next week, not Wednesday. Anyway. Next time you hear from me, I should know my future, but right now, I have no freaking clue what in the world is going to happen to me, although I do know I will be a missionary in Sweden. But this week was busy and stuff too, so here we go!

   Last week we went to Visingsö! It's the big ol' island in the middle of Vättern, the big ol' lake by Jönköping, that big ol' city in the middle of Sweden. It was sick. There were castles, and we crawled through the walls to get to the dungeons, and it was crazy. And there were sleeping bags in there. We're pretty sure hobos live in there. I would if I didn't have a home. Anyway, after we were on the island for a bit, we ran out of things to do because it is winter and all the tourist stuff is closed down. So we took the ferry back to Gränna, which, by the way, is the place where they invented the candy cane. Not the cane shape, but the candy itself. So we were there, and all four of us (the systrar tagged along) were all, "we’ll probably not coming back, this is a one time shot..." So we each bought 200 crowns worth of candy. It was really good. And a lot. I haven't finished it yet. Anyway. Came home and proselyted for a bit.

   Tuesday was full and busy. We rode the train with Huba, and then rode the train back, because if we didn't, we'd be chillin' in Nässjö for a few hours, and who would want that? Plus, we had places to go, people to see. Role played with Alex, a member here prepping for a mission, and that is helpful. Had our open church time. Ate and did family history for a bit. Left the church and found a bit of extra time to do a bunch of swing bys, but we only actually had time for two, because the first two people we knocked on let us in, so that was a unexpected surprise. Then we taught a member lesson, because this nice family basically has a weekly appointment with us. Then we had a few minutes before we should have gone home, so we decided to do another swing by, and he let us in, so we were feeling pretty good about swing bys that day. Three out of three. Not bad at all. Then we went home at 9:30, and realized we hadn't eaten yet, and then we ate something and passed out.

   Wednesday was fun. We got up and went to district meeting. It was here in Jönköping, so getting there took ten minutes. After that meeting, though, Elder Miles and I went out into the streets and contacted on the way to Juneporten, then took a bus to Borås because we were on splits! It went really well. We talked to a lot of people and had dinner with the Stake President, and then hung out with their investigator who is waiting to be 18 so his parents can't stop his baptism. That evening, however, there was some communication confusion with the systrar, so we had to call them to clear some stuff up. But they were out of town because all the systers in the entire mission were in Stockholm for a systers conference. Anyway, there was a huge slumber party going on in the Täby systers apartment apparently, so I was able to say hej to Syster Allred from my MTC group. That was cool.

   Next day, we got up and caught a bus to Jönköping so we could get back together with normal comps. We had essentially nothing planned for the day, so we ended up knocking doors for six hours. We had over 75 contacts, with, like, 8 of them being TU's. That is a pretty good percentage. Not bad at all. It turned out really well. Then late that evening we went to visit a less active with a very strong testimony, but no time. He is super chill. But we were talking really late, and we missed our bus, so we got home quite late. Eh. Whatever. It was good.

   Friday was quite a bit more lungt. We took the train with Huba and came home again. Taught Alex again, then we got blåsted in Huskvarna. We had weekly planning for a few hours. Got to get the planning in. If you don't plan, nothing happens, folks. Make a plan for everything you do! Had a member dinner that evening, and that was really good. They gave us ostkaka, which is nothing like cheesecake, I don't care what the name makes you think. It was still really good, just very different. Then we had a board game activity, which was fun, but weird and would take three hours to really explain. If you ever get curious enough when I get home, ask about A. That is a really.... funny.... girl. And I'm not sure in the quite sane way...

   Saturday started with a lesson with Alex, then we took a train to Forserum to visit a less active family out there. They are less active because they have some unanswered questions. And they are very big unanswered questions. We talked for quite a while, so we missed out train home, but it was worth it. We were stuck in this little tiny town for a few hours though. So we went trackting. Lots of older people and this guy with one of the biggest freaking dogs I've ever seen. We got Marabou chocolate before we left. Got home, visited a few folks and went to a dinner with the Thörn's. It was fun. They are nice people. Then we got saddled with doing a musical number in Sakrament meeting with the systrar somehow. The next day. So we went to a piano and tried to put something together. It was... interesting how it happened.

   Sunday we got up and went to the church for a while to practice with the systrar, then we had a missionary meeting. I ended up teaching the English Sunday School class. So that was good. After church we taught Tanui about the Priesthood and got him set up to get it next week with Paul, our other recent convert. It was super cool. But we were in there long enough that we missed our chance to get invited to dinner. So we went home and got a bunch of food and brought it back, and the systers were also in a lesson, so they didn't get invited either, so we all prepared the food we brought and we had a nice meal together with Rikki, a recent convert. He's cool. That evening, we went out and talked to a bunch more people. Then we came home.

   Now it is pday, and Elder Anderson gets to choose what happens 'cause it's his last one, so I won't have time to write my thank you notes if I don't do it right now. I hope you don't mind.

Thank you, the combined efforts of the wind, hats, and a mirror, for reminding me that I haven't had a haircut in over eight weeks.

Thank you Elder Anderson, for calling all the people that are going home with you. You all are talking about your school, career, and dating plans, and I'm just sitting over in the corner like, freak. I have two more years...

   Now Elder Anderson needs to figure out what to do with his last pday. Somethings gonna happen. My future is at stake here also. This is going to be crazy! I'll keep you all updated. Hope you all have a great week!

Äldste Heiner

On the ferry.

The Castle

Me and Elder Anderson at the castle.

The next 4 are fun things on Visingso

We all took turns getting into this tree.

Svenskakyrkan selfie.

This place has won the world contest for
candy making for a few years in a row now.

The goods, lots of flavors.

Granna

A car in Forserum I thought was funny.

Dear Missionary Parents,

We had your sons and daughters over for dinner yesterday and had a lovely time. Sister L and I practised a song for the Christmas concert and afterwards the missionaries practised a hymn they sang today at sacrament meeting. They are all very musical talented!  Hope you enjoy the picture!

Warmest greetings from Sweden,  MT

November 10, 2014

This week was really short again. As Tanui, one of our recent converts (who's from Kenya!), wisely said, "I don't have the scientific proof for it yet, but I'm pretty sure time moves faster here in Sweden." That is really true. I don't even know which little pocket of the infinities the time goes, but it ain't here.

   On Monday, p-day, we went to a Thai place. It was pretty good. Actually, I changed my mind. It was really good. I really enjoyed it. I couldn't eat as much as anyone else, but it was really good. Then we went to some shops. Hit the tourist place for some things for Elder Anderson.

   Next day, we hit the train with H, talked to him a bit. He's so golden, he is just in a really rough spot in his life where he has no time to even come to sacrament meeting. It's not like he isn't willing to make time, he will literally get so behind if he lets a few hours past. He's going to try on Sunday though. We promised that the Lord will help him if he makes the sacrifice. And he will. That's one of the best things about Heavenly Father. He helps you out when you are trying to make an effort for him.

   We found another lady this week, E, a Swed who lives in Huskvarna. We meet her at the library. She had already accepted baptism, but is going to have to work for that. Which is fine. If people didn't have to work to be better, what would be the point in being here? But she was one thing that happened this week. That was really cool.

   Wednesday was different. The zone leaders were in our district meeting because we were going on splits with them afterward! Yay! I got the chance to work with a really awesome guy named Äldste Lofgren. We went to Västra Frolunda and worked there for the day. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a section of Göteborg. It's pretty small, but it was a ton of fun. Worked really hard. Then the next day, we drove back to Borås (they have a car, lucky bums) where we met up with Anderson and Gentillon. It was a good trip. Nothing too special happened the rest of Thursday. Other than it was freaking cold. And it snowed. I haven't seen snow in forever. But it happened.

   Friday was the train again with H. Weekly planning happened. Other stuff that would probably bore you right through your skull. I usually don't mention the things that are really boring. Lucky you.

   Saturday was huge. Six planned lessons, two blåsted, two rescheduled to different times, found the time to go tracting, swing bys, the works. It was a good day. Very busy. Got to keep ourselves busy.

   Yesterday was church. Gotta love church. They presented the stake mission plan in församlingsrådet. Ward council. I had to use Google for that one. Losing my English... Anyway. It was good. Chilled with the Robayo's for dinner, went to an appointment, which blåsted, then went out to Ekhagen. So that was a day.

   And that was a week. Pretty summed up. I hope you like reading this stuff. I know personally I would just skip to the end of this letter.

   Anyway. As It is Monday, and Monday is the day I get to do some personal stuff, like email to the family, hang out at home, and write some thank you notes. We're going to the island today, so I won't be able to write my thank you notes today unless I do them right now. I hope you don't mind...

Thank you Missionary Handbook, for telling us not to keep pets. I just want to know, what made that rule necessary?

Thank you Tenui, for summing up why our African investigators are always late. It went something like this, "In Africa, you could show up to a meeting two hours late and not miss anything."

Just personally, I feel the same way about most the meetings I get to attend, but they're only an hour long.

I hope everyone is doing well! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! Like hug girls. I can't do that.

Äldste Heiner

Snow selfie.

Snow in Huskvarna.

Lunch selfie.

This is Elder Lofgren.
He is actually much taller than me.

November 3,2014

The week, the week, the week... Where does it go? I guess at this point there isn't much preface to do here, so I think I'll just jump right into it.

   Last Monday, we did stuff... I we walked around and played some cards. If anyone has any ideas for pday, let me know. I'm not any good at coming up with them. Next week, though, we will go to the island to see some castles, we're thinking. We didn't do it this week because we didn't plan for it. Going to Visingsö takes a bit more planning than we had done. So yeah. We just chilled. Then after we were done with that, we rolled out and talked to people. We started to teach P. (our new convert) how to speak Swedish. I think that will really help him connect with the members here. If they see someone trying to learn their language, they get really impressed and try to help that person out. So we are working with him and trying to help him understand that as he asks God for help on this, or really anything in his life, he will find greater success.

   The next day, we were up early in the morning to catch the tåg with H. He has some great jokes. Ask me about his jokes sometime, and I'll tell you one. It's great. Also, he teaching SFE, which is basically a class for immigrants so they can learn Swedish and all about Sweden in preparation for living here. He thinks his students are so stupid, and he rips on them all the time. It is so funny. He tells us these stories of how these people don't understand even the most simple things... anyway. Fun stuff. We also had open church on Tuesday. More area book stuff. And we studied there a bit too because we were on the train in the morning, not studying. We did more stuff that evening, but I feel like you wouldn't really enjoy hearing about our crazy amazing adventures knocking on doors where people don't speak Swedish or English. But we did knock on the door with the super golden family again, but the husband, as it turns out, is not nearly as cool with the gospel as the wife, the kids, and the grandparents. He told us not to come back, so we may just be around the house sometime, hoping that one of the other one's comes out and talks to us...

   People who stop other people from learning about the gospel are annoying.

   We did go the Schelin's again to do some lesson practice. It was fun. I really like them. Cute kids, too.

   One Onsdag, we helped the Ronndahl's paint their living room. It turns out, I'm really bad at painting a wall a color it already is. Nobody else had that problem, wonder what was up? But really, it was, like, off white, and we were painting it, like, beige (whatever the heck that even means), and I just couldn't quite get where I had painted. But we worked on that for a few hours. Then we went home and showered up so that we could go proselyting, you know, do our job. We went to Österängen and knocked doors. But then we were called and asked to help give a blessing to an older woman in the ward, so we went and did that, and I did a part of it, and I had to do it in Swedish. That's a little harder than in English, but when it comes down to it, just as long as you have all the parts, and the faith, the authority, and the power, it doesn't really matter how bad your grammar is. But it went well. We then went to the Robayo's for dinner, and they make really good food. Strong family. But it was hilarious. There were times all the missionaries (the Systers were there too) and the two kids (who aren't really kids, they are 23 and 26) couldn't quite breath due to laughing, and the parents (who don't really speak Swedish or English) were all, "Jag förstår inte..." (I do not understand) which made the entire thing funnier. When we got out of there, we when to P.'s again.

  Thursday... what a day. After a morning with H. on the train, we went to Bankeryd, which is a good while into the Systrar's area, but it was okay, because a member invited us for dinner. But it was like, an hour travel from our apartment, and we went there straight from Nässjö, so that totals to three hours of travel before we had even eaten yet, and we got to her place at lunch time. So that was fun. Then we went back to the church (another hour) to get blåsted. Then we went back to our apartment (half hour) to get some bags of clothing and our overnights stuff, then back to the church (half hour). There we cleaned a little bit and the POEs, the APs, and President and Sister Beckstrand came over. YAY! The President! He is so cool! Anyway, we had our interviews with him, and mine was a little scary. He said, "I hope you're ready to train." Freak. He didn't say I was *going* to train, but he seemed quite... ominous about it... Anyway, the rest of it was great. I really like him. But after we had those interviews, we all loaded everything up into a couple cars and went for kebab! YAY! I love kebab! Then the POEs drove us down to Lund. By the way, that was a four hour drive. We stayed the night with Äldster James and Barnes, the Lund elders.

   The next day, we got up and tåged it to Malmö. We had zone conference.  It was combined with the Malmö zone, so it was quite big. The conference itself was really good. If you really want to know what it was about, talk to me in a few years. Lots of stuff to cover, but I will say that if you are obedient, you will receive blessings and guidance from heaven. I also got to see Elder Hemmingsen at the conference! He is the only one in my MTC group that I have seen so far. Me and him are the only ones in our respective zones, but the rest of the people in our MTC district have all seen each other a bunch of times... gosh. Whateves. We all be going to BYU or BYU-I after the mission anyway. We'll see each other eventually. Then we took a tåg home to Jönköping. It was the first day I really haven't moved in a long time, so I was freaking wired. The other three were really tired, but I was not. I think that kind of bugged them. In the end it turned out to be a good thing, because that night, when Anderson was asleep, and I wasn't, and it was 11 at night, and the POEs happened to call because they needed a place to stop driving and stay for the evening, I was able to get things ready for them to crash. It was... alright, I guess.

   Taught people Lördag (Saturday), a fun thing, until it got sad.  It was the holiday in the evening where everyone takes candles and lights them in the graveyard. I went and read some of the gravestones with lots of candles, which I shouldn't have done, and realized that this really was a sad day.

   Yesterday we went to the DeLima's for dinner and played with their kids for a bit. They don't get tired. Ever. I mean never. I've seen them go and go and go and go....

   

But yeah, that was a week. I really am running out of time. I think I spent a little too much time writing, so I guess I'll just have to do my thank you notes right here real quick.

Thank you missionary couple that takes care of housing for the entire mission, for telling the missionaries that we all had vacuums in our apartments. None of the elders seemed to know...

Thank you, the two elders who dressed up like Jehovah's Witnesses for Halloween/Zone conference, complete with a stack of "Lighthouse"s. You really made us all laugh, and quite impressed the Mission President too.  Made him speechless. He really couldn't say what his mind was thinking when he saw you two.

Anyway, have a great week y'all!

Äldste Heiner

Outside our apartment building.

Anderson always does this.  Always.

Selfie with the Beckstrands.

These are the Tolley's, the apartment couple.
They are really freaking cool.

At the Malmö chapel for zone conference.

Candles from the cemetary.

Hey, check out that university.
Wait no... that is an elementary school.