June 29, 2015

Okay, so we went to Stockholm for a surprise birthday party for President, Elder Treat, and Syster Gardner, so I hope you guys don't mind, I can't give my mother all the details.

   HIGHLIGHTS!

   Wednesday morning I said goodbye to Elder Backman at the train station as I hopped onto a SJ tåg out to Stockholm. In Stockholm I got lost because that town is ridiculous when it comes to public transportation, so I just started walking to Täby chapel (where I was trying to get to) and the POEs picked me up somewhere in there. I met Elder Carlson there! He's my new baby boy. He's cool. I really like him. Hard working, starting to get the language already, and not scared to talk to people on the street.  He’s from Redland, CA and has 4 younger sisters.  

   Then we worked for the rest of the week.

   That was pertty much it! I guess I bought a purple backpack. I actually don't know when that was, but sometime recently. I like it.

Have a great week!

Äldste Heiner

Me and Elder Carlson.

June 22, 2015

Let's see... the week.... it was pretty dang crazy, to be quite honest. We did a ton of stuff. Preface to the week, here in Sweden, we do a thing called Midsommer. It's a big deal. Big parties, dancing around a pole, everything is shut down, people are too busy partying. So. The week!

   Monday was pday. We went to Pizza Hut, the first one I've seen in Sweden. We had a pizza buffet and it was super good. I really like Pizza. And buffets are pretty great. And then, PIZZA BUFFET. I can't eat as much as the rest of these guys, but I can hold my own and it was amazing. That evening, we went out to play mini golf with the YSAs! Mini golf! It was super fun.

   Tuesday, we went out to Hamid and his pizza place. He made us pizza. The thing that Pizza Hut is missing is kebab. Hamid was not missing kebab. The visit worked out really well. When we got back into town from that, we went to another investigator, RM. She is reading and praying and it's going super well! After that, we jumped on a Tåg to Södertäjle where we stayed the night with the zone leaders.

   On Wednesday, I came back to Västerås with Elder Schilndler. We worked the day together. That morning, all our plans cancelled, so we just found people to teach instead. And we found a bunch of people to teach. It was super good. That evening we made cookies. Splits are special.

   Thursday we had district meeting and that was super good. Gotta love meetings. Just love them. We got home to teach a bit, but everybody was prepping for midsommer the next day.

(I don't know if you can tell, but I'm running out of time)

   Friday. Midsommer. Rained a ton. It was still super fun, but just keep in mind that it's dumping buckets through all this. We get up early and hop on a train into Stockholm. We get there and then we get on a tunnelbana to Handen, and that's where we get on a bus to the big party the church is putting on. At the party we wear a bunch of flowers, decorate and put up a big pole, then we dance around it and make animal noises at it and bow to it... I'm surprised we didn't pray to it, but it still felt pagan. Super fun though. We ran around, danced and had a great time. We found a way through Stockholm and made it to a great burger joint then we went to Gubbängen to play games with a bunch of other missionaries. It was fun. We packed up and went home. There's a lot more to that, but you're just going to have to ask me in person.

   Saturday was half non proselyting, so we spent a bunch of time in stan with the other guys. Then we taught the really cool family in the evening.

   Yesterday, church. And work. Welcome to missionary life.

TRANSFER NEWS: Elder Backman, who has been here for six months, is going to Lund, and I'll be training a brand new missionary here in Västerås. It's going to be crazy!

Have a great week!

District Pic

Pirate Mini Golf!

We took some pictures as we went through Stockholm.

Living in Sweden.

Those flirty Starbucks girls don't realize their
numbers might be sent as referrals...

These next several are Midsommer Pics...

Håbo sounds like Hobo.  And if Håbo meant Hobo then this
would say Hobo County.  

June 15, 2015

Alrighty folks, this week was super busy and I don't have too much time to tell you all about it, so if you're in for the nitty gritty details, this ain't the week for you. If you hate it when I write three pages, congrats!
   On Monday we were having a fine pday when a less active member called and said he was in town (He lives a few hours away) and said we could meet in the available 45 minutes he had. So we slammed on proselyting clothing and hauled to him and had a good lesson. After that we went and taught a really cool family we found last week.
   Tuesday was super busy. We met with a TU, now an investigator, in the morning and then a member. After getting blåsted at the church, we went and tracted on the other side of town and had a good amount of success, getting a couple lessons set up. That evening we met with a lady in Valby and then taught a lesson on the bus on the way back home.
   Wednesday had us teaching a family we found the day before and we taught a couple older ladies more English 'cause we do that every week. Then Emil, a new convert, taught us more Swedish. It was fun. That evening we went out to a less active family and taught them the restoration. They wanted to hear the missionary lessons again. It was good.
   Thursday district meeting. When we got home from Örebro for that, we gave a blessing to a woman in the ward and then took a bus up to Skultuna. yay. It actually went really well. We met with an investigator up there.
   Friday was a day of weekly planning. I made a huge batch of Orange Chicken to feed ten people and Elder Backman and I put it all down. So that was good. More teaching though, lots of teaching.
   Saturday, we played soccer, and after soccer we taught some of the investigators that came. While tracting we taught a few more people. In the evening we taught that really cool family again.
   Yesterday was pretty on the down low. We just had sacrament meeting and all that. I translated for a German lady. To English, not to German. I wish to German, I would be super impressed with me. And then we tracted a bunch in the evening.
   That was the week! If you want, you can ask me questions and I can answer them, just let me know.
Have a great week!
Äldste Heiner

I made orange chicken.

Some pretty flowers here.

Some cool Iranians in the branch and all of us missionaries.

Sunset.

June 8, 2015

   Hey everybody! Hope you're all have a grand old time today, I know I'm having a pretty fantabulous time out here in Sweden. Everything is bright (the sun doesn't go down), everything is green (or so I'm told), and everyone is happy. But let's talk about my week because we all know you just love hearing about me. Actually, I'm super surprised you want to read this, but alright, here you are.
   First of all, highlights from last week... We found a new Egyptian investigator that we're super excited about!  Been here five months and super happy to have found some nice people. It was pretty funny. We were in Karlstad for workovers that week too. We were planning on being there for a day and a half, but due to bus delays, train tickets not coming in, train delays, train cancellations, being stuck in Katrineholm for a few hours, we were out of our area for three days. It was pretty crazy.
   Anyway, this week! On Monday we went to this old Swedish town that was pretty cool. It's called an open air museum, they keep animals there and stuff. It was fun. In the evening we started up a YSA family home evening. We played ultimate Frisbee and had floats using Fanta Exotic (a flavor not in the US, which sucks). The floats we really good, much to the Swedes surprise. They had never even had the idea of floats cross their minds before.
   Tuesday was a tad bit hectic. We started the morning by going by an elderly couples home to spend some time with them. It went really well, they really like us now. It just takes a visit to make some people happy. I like those people. We then went out to help a member with a flagpole he was trying to put up in his yard, and wanted our help over his 13 year old daughters help. Weird, eh? He was only welding and carrying this half ton chunk of metal across the world. Then Elder George and I were going to sing a special musical number for combined zone conference the next day, so we decided to practice the piece instead of going in blind.
   Wednesday had a zone conference in it, so we went to Stockholm for that. It was pretty fun. I enjoyed it. The song went really well, people liked it. That pretty much took up the entire day.
   Thursday was pretty crazy. We went up to Sala, then from Sala to the middle of nowhere, Sweden, and had a meeting with a less active woman. She was super cool. I really like meeting with her. Came come from nowhere, and went to teach English to a couple older women. It's fun. We went to Valby to work for a bit, but came back to the church pretty quick to have a lesson with a recent convert. That evening, we met with a less active family and they want to work on coming back to church! So that will be good.
   On Friday I went on splits with Elder Erikson. Dude's super cool and fun to be around. We got out and went to work. We had a great time together. Then we swung by a less active woman and got stuck in the middle of somewhere for a while before another bus came around. But it's fine because we found a hedgehog and played with it. Those things are freakin' cute.
   Saturday was a really good day for finding. We didn't think it would be, but God decided we would have success, so that was super cool. We started by playing soccer with some people in the ward, and we had a couple investigators come! Investigators love soccer. Then we helped an older woman plant flowers, but there wasn't enough room on the balcony for four elders, so I made Swedish pancakes with her. So now I know how to make Swedish pancakes. Ladies...... höhöhö... that was a joke. I have more than a year left. Back off. We had a good stund to tract, but nothing was happening. It was a holiday, so few people were home, we were gonna knock one more and call it a day to go home for weekly planning. And then there was this super humble family that lived in the last door. So we taught them about the Book of Mormon. I love it when things like that happen.
   Yesterday we were supposed to go to Örebro for a broadcast from Scotland but there weren't any trains that went there Sunday morning. So we just decided that we would go to Stockholm instead. That was an interesting morning. But the conference was super good. Elder Holland spoke and it was amazing.
   Anyway, nu har vi idag. I don't know what we're going to do. We'll see.

Thank you "vanilla flavored ice desert" for being honest enough to not call yourself ice cream.

Have a great week everyone!

Äldste Heiner

The Friluftsmuseum.

These are binkies they tie in the tree to signify growing up.

We saw the Stockholm Temple!
It was closed for cleaning...

These three girls (the other one is hiding) tracted with us for
a good hour and a half.  It was super funny.

Double Rainbow.

Held a hedgehog!!!!!

June 1, 2015

I gauged my time really really badly and I have to get off in about twenty seconds. Pictures!!!!!!!!!!

They're super pretty so I hope you find that satisfactory.