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.