March 30, 2015

Okay…  I don't have too much time left, I had to deal with some other things, but here's a basic rundown of the week... Met with a bunch of investigators and had a great time. I went on splits with Elder Allen, and we did a lot of good work. Elder Allen is an awesome hard working missionary. We were asked to help out with a few things by members this week, blessings, home teaching, that kind of thing. Missionary work really goes a lot better when the members help out. I had a really good week. I hope you all had one too, and have an even better one this round. I'm just going to close with some thank you notes...

Thank you snow for coming back. How did you know that we really wanted you to come back and that it's opposite day?

Thank you little tiny car that we get as missionaries for just being the king of the road. Just hear those hamsters purr under the hood when you floor the gas pedal.

I hope you all have a great week!

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Elder Allen and I.

Chilling out at a cool church.

You should just go ahead and be jealous of where I live.

An amazing shot of Sundsvall.

Snow. Again.

We did a "heart attack" for a member of the branch
who had heart surgery.  It was fun.  He liked it.

March 23, 2015

Hej all you people out there... how ya doing? Well, I hope. I'm doing pretty great. Let me tell you about this week, can I? It was pretty fun.
   Let's start with Monday. We got up pretty early and went to do emailing. Tried to get through that as fast as we could so we could go and do grocery shopping. I bought 600:- of food and Elder Steen got 400:- for us. I'll tell you why. After we got home, me made sure our apartment was spotless, and put all the food away. Then the Tolley's showed up with their family! Yay! The Tolley's! I love the Tolley's. With all of this food, I helped Syster Tolley make a ridiculous amount of food. I mean... we fed ten people, including five elders, and still had leftovers. It was a lot. Syster Tolley made American Panda Express. Like. Yes. Orange chicken, chow mien. Everything. It was so good. So we just ate and hung out all day.
   On Tuesday, we met with a few people including a young man who is our age that we are trying to get to go on a mission after high school. I would be really good for him, and would set a good example in his family. After that a really nice older couple fed us. Great people. We went to branch counsel in the evening to take a picture for the office that they've been bugging us about for weeks now.
   Onsdag was a whole lot of work, which was good. I had a really good time. Trackting these huge apartment buildings. I don't think I have too many funny stories for that one, but I have some pictures!
   On Thursday, we had district meeting, that was good. Had lunch and then rolled out to see some folks. More work you wouldn't find fun listening to. In the evening a Finish dude fed us! He was cool. He said he could have us over because his wife wasn't home. We trust him. He can't really speak Swedish amazingly (finns are like that), but he is a super funny dude.
   Friday was splits with Elder Dickson! I had a really good time. He is a good hardworking missionary. We had a good time just talking to each other while we just knocked doors and stuff.
   Saturday was a bit of a surprise. President showed up and said it was time for interviews, so we all kind of just met up at the church. It was really good to be able to talk to President. I truly enjoy those meetings. Afterwards, we went to Sports Saturday with a bunch of the youth. Played innebandy. Love that game. After a few other things went down, we met with David, who gave us a big old motivational speech, because that's his job and he wanted to know what we thought.
   And yesterday was full of translating in church, teaching lessons, and going to a baptism. Fun stuff!  We have plans to hike a mountain today. Speaking of which, I probably won't be able to write my thank you notes if I don't do that right now, I hope you don't mind!

Thank you printers in the church for not living up to your name. I guess I WON'T be updating the area book.

Thank you GPS for being fully updated and still not having half of Sundavall. According to you, I can fly, but only in a certain spot. (There's really a bridge there.)

That's it from me! Have a great week!

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The eclipse.  Basically looks like a zombie filter
over everything.

Down under the smoke.

Steen with the fence.

This says we are on the party floor.

The view.

Påskmust.  It's exactly like Julmust but for
 Easter this time.

We had fun in Timrå.

March 16, 2015

Hej allihopa!
   Hope you all are doing well, I hope you had a wonderful week and all that. I had a pretty great week, I think. In my opinion. It was short, but what else is new? I wasn't sick this week, and neither was Elder Steen, so I guess that was something. Let's just jump into it then....
   Monday! Pday! I don't remember what happened! Probably nothing too huge! I know we went to Max Burger, but other than that....
   Tuesday was a day. We started out by just going to stan and contacting people, but they weren't really having it, so we went home for lunch and then back to stan to the library to practice a lesson with one of the young men in the ward. After that, we received a distress text from the systers. They were in a meeting with a man who was trying to convert them to Islam, and going way over time and they couldn't leave. So we went over there and jumped into the middle of the lesson so they could get to another appointment. Then we went to see a man in the ward to get to know him better. Roland is his name. He was baptized about four years ago and has one of the most crazy conversion stories ever. He died one day, and they took him to the hospital and he stayed dead for half an hour. No pulse, brain activity, anything. Then he woke up and freaked everyone out because they thought he was dead. He had a spiritual experience and searched for two years to find a church that could give him that feeling again. He heard of the church, prayed that missionaries would find him and the next day, they did. He was baptized just a few weeks later, super strong and amazing man. He has no side effects from being dead. Cool guy.
    On Wednesday, we walked forever. We walked to another city and did swing bys there and then walked back. Then we called a ton of people. In the evening, we practiced a lesson with a young man in the ward. Came home and did some prep for the next day, because it was a little crazy too. The zone leaders came in because we were doing work overs the next day.
   On Thursday, I went with Elder Sahlin, one of the coolest guys ever. And he's Swedish, so that makes him even cooler. We had district meeting, which went really well. I like it when we all talk and participate. After that, Elder Sahlin and I drove up to Härnösand to meet with a tu. Halfway through the meeting, we find out that she is a less active member! It was a little bit weird to figure that one out. Anyway, after that meeting, we did a bunch of swing bys and other things up there. After a bit, we drove back down to get to a baptism in the ward. It went really well. I love it when people decide to be baptized.
   Friday. Oh dear. Yes. I forgot this was in this week. I organized the district into all taking a tåg out to a small city that used to have a branch. We split it up and did all the swing bys and work we could possibly do while we were there. It was a good day, but it was hard, and 6 hours on a tåg.
   Lördag we did weekly planning in the morning. Afterwards, we went out to a school to play innebandy with a bunch of the kids in the branch. I love that game. I wish I had the time to get good at it. And I wish it was a thing in the US. Bummer. After that, we went up to a less active family in Timrå. They invited us to dinner. During the dinner, their nine year old son asked us if we would help him be baptized. So we said yes, I guess we could do that. The parents are down with it, so hopefully they will stay on board. We're excited to be able to be a part of it.
   And finally, Sunday. Church was good. Had a good time. The systers ended up feeding us and the other elders after church, so that was fun. I like it when I don't have to make food. Always seems to turn out better too. After that, we did some work, got home, and cleaned the apartment hardcore. So yeah. Good week. I had a great time.
   And now I'm going to have to write some thank you notes real quick, I seriously won't have time to do it any other moment today.

Thank you apartment couple, for texting us last night that you would be doing apartment checks today. I guess we can do some cleaning.... I wonder if we have a vacuum?

Thank you Persian guy that I used the phone to translate with. You would reply back to me in Farsi though.... My phone knows Farsi. Not me.

That's it for me! Have a great week you all!
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Sorry, I don't have time to caption pictures today.  You'll just have to figure them out.

March 9, 2015

This week was way better from my end! Not sick, so that helped a bit. My companion got sick though, so... All in all, the week was super quick and I don't really know where the time went. It's chill. I'm used to it at this point. On the other hand, it got up to 13 degrees here. That's somewhere around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I just about died of heat stroke.
   On Monday, we climbed the Swedish version of a mountain. Basically, a perty large hill with a path to the top and a ton of trees. It was fun. Got some cool pictures. That evening, we all got onto a PLANE and flew to Stockholm. Half hour flight, baby. Anyway, we did that because there was this meeting thing the next day. Elder Donaldson of the Seventy came to talk to us and see what it would be like to be a mission president, because he just got called to be a mission president. Ireland, I think. It was pretty good. I liked listening to him. But I also got to see a couple people from my MTC group! It was awesome! I love those guys. After all that meeting and stuff, we had five hours until our flight, so we went and hung out in gamal stan. Saw the castle, went down some old streets. It was fun.
   On Wednesday, no one wanted to talk to us.
   Thursday, people did wanted to talk to us, so we went and talked to them. It was good we also prepared for Friday, which was Syster Johanson's birthday. We picked up some presents (I got a cat pun poster), made a cake, we decorated the syster's apartment building hallway. It was fun.
   On her birthday, we had a distrikt meeting, with the activity being cake and ice cream. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. It was my first cake I ever baked, and it turned out pretty good too. A member had all six of us over right after, so we all just finished up in distrikt meeting and went over. It was a pretty fun day. Got quite a bit of work in too, so it was good.
   On Saturday, Elder Steen wasn't feeling too great, so after an activity thing we held, he and Elder Dickson, who was also feeling lousy, went home to sleep. Elder Allen and I went out and trackted and found a guy who was super interested. I'm super excited to see where he goes.
   Had a pretty normal Sunday. Went to church. It was really good. We planned a distrikt blitz for Friday. I'll tell you about it next week once it happens.
   Anyway, today is Monday, and that's when I get time to do my personal things. I write my mother, I buy groceries, and I write my thank you notes. I'm running a bit late, so I'm just going to have to do those here.

Thank you weather for melting me at 50 degrees. Wow, I feel weak.

Thank you office elders, for booking us to fly to Stockholm and not a train. I am a little disappointed I wouldn't get to be on a train for ten more hours, but oh well...

I hope you all have a great week!
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Pictures from the top of the mountain,

The huge freaking escelator going from the
plane to the train.

Mission conference.

Me and Smith from the MTC

These next few were from our time in
Gamla Stan.

I played King Benjamin in Primary.

March 2, 2015

Well.... this was a rough week. I'm just going to give you a few details. I got a bit sick at the beginning of this week and couldn't really sleep. I went to Stockholm on Tuesday, which was ten hours of travel that day. Train delays, Gotta love 'em. Then I traveled to Umeå. Six more hours of travel.  We had to pick up some elders at one in the morning who locked themselves out of their apartment. That’s over 20 hours clocked on the train this week! 

Other things happened too, good things but I'm just going to write some thank you notes and call it a week.

Thank you broken down trains. I love to sit on snabbtågs that aren't moving. Irony.

Thank you Sweden, for paving certain roads in ice. It doesn't seem to be the best road material.

Have a good week!

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