April 18, 2016

Hello to the people. I'm doing well.
Things in Utby are super good! It's a giant ward here, so that's new. Haven't had something so big since Jönköping, and I think this is bigger. It should be pretty fun! My companion is super awesome, so that's always a plus. His name is Samuel Halterman. He is from Minnesota, we've really enjoyed the last few days... it'll be good.  We do fun things together. Like really random things, for example talking in a weird voice as we roll play to each other.  We also have the tendency to spontaneously turn hymns into beat box hip hop songs. And mash up other songs into those. It's fun.

Our apartment is really small, we live with a member family, but we don't really ever see them. The apartment is not really a part of the house even though it's connected to it. And I have a car now.

We were teaching a guy named Jeff this week and we taught him the word of wisdom. Right now, he smokes about 5 cigarettes a day. (used to be a pack a day). I challenged him to let that pack in his hand be the last one he ever buys. Then asked for two of the cigarettes. They are currently in our car.

Here is a fun story about Swedish history:
Once upon a time, King Gustolf Adolf of Sweden wanted the mightiest war ship in the world. So they commenced building it. Gustolf oversaw the construction, but half way through decided he wanted it longer, so they changed the width without changing the height. Then he decided he wanted another gun deck up on top. And then he decided he wanted those guns to be the heaviest guns.
All of the engineers knew that it would be way too top heavy, but no one dared tell the king. So they did it. The day came for the bouyancy test (they put it in water and run back and forth from one side of the deck to the other to see how much the boat rocks). It failed the test, but no one dared tell the king.
Then they decided to put it to sea. The Vasa lasted total of 4200ft before it sank.
So don't be afraid to tell people that changes need to be made. Be bold sometimes.

When boldness is coupled with love, and a sincere desire to bless the life of the one being taught. It will be received and can ultimately change the life of the learner. God answers those people that search for him.

But yeah! I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Heiner

PS  Thank you to Elder Halterman for half of the words I typed. I have no time.

Sad to say that all the picture attachments came through blank today...