August 31, 2015

Let's see... I'm really tired, and so this might just be a pretty short rundown.
We taught quite a bit this week! We worked hard and people on the street were willing to listen for a little bit. Nobody is too interested past that. It's whatever. We all have our agency, that's kind of the point.
I did go to some government office and got my visa renewed, so that was fun. We helped some people move some couches, taught tons of people about the Book of Mormon, and did another one of those park blitzes. It was good.  Something that being a missionary has taught me is that when your life is about the gospel, talking about the gospel is pretty dang easy. I can stand there and talk about pretty much any topic pertaining to the gospel.
I love my mission! I love the Gospel! I love my Savior and my God!
Have a great week everyone!
Äldste Heiner

The biggest elevator ever!

Cool little painting in the hospital.

You're doing it wrong, Sweden!

August 24, 2015

Hello everybody in the range of the volume of this text. This has easily been my highest teaching week I've ever had, and it's all thanks to street lessons. We honestly didn't have too much planned for this week, but we did all that and then went to the park and gave out books. A lot of them. And then people wanted to know what they were for. So we told them. And then we did all the teaching stuff that missionaries like to do. So yeah.
On Monday we did pday stuff like we do. Laundry, groceries, chilling, then we played volleyball for family home evening, and a bunch of Persian people wanted to play, and so we played with them and they all got a free book too! Hopefully they read it, it's a pretty good book.
Tuesday was about the only day with appointments to keep, so we decided to keep them. We taught some things on the street on our was to this super sick Nigerian dude who is going to read the book and so that's chill. Then we met with a Syrian dude who's going to read the book, so that's chill. And then we had Awesome Tuesday. It was awesome. I love David and Ida.
Wednesday was the day we did the bulk of the park blitzing. Three hours. 15 lessons. I've taught less lessons in a week than I did in those three hours. That was the highlight of that day, so Imma move on.
Thursday was district meeting. We were out in Örebro for a good long while because summer schedules for tågs are some of the most annoying things in the world. But we had a great time. We have a fun group. Got home, did English class, got fed, I like food.
Friday was comparatively slow. We were only able to meet with Ingela, our most positive investigator, and she committed to a bunch of really important things. Like praying. And reading. That stuff is a big deal.
Saturday's highlight was a branch party. Grill fest!  It was super fun. I had a great time, and we were able to talk to a bunch of people who don't come to church very often too. So yeah.
Sunday had us in church. I translated into English for a German lady. I also babysat a one year old and a three year old for a very stressed mother. In the middle of Elders Quorum. Probably the first time in a long while small children were present in that meeting. It was super fun. We played with crayons and cut paper hearts and yeah. The priesthood thought it was the funniest thing....
Anyway. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! Thanks for all the support! Have it good!

Äldste Heiner

Grens Fest

Great Juice

Cool! The new Liahona's are here.

A map of Västerås.

Carlson with his pizza.

This is a big picture in a restaurant we were
eating at.

August 17, 2015

Dear everybody of the world, but more specifically those reading this,
I had a pretty great week this week. Prayer is a freaking awesome thing, I hope you all know that. I've gotten into this thing where I pray with everyone I can on the street, and it's been great. Pray. Pray a lot. Pray with your family. Pray with your friends. Pray by yourself. Yes.
Monday, pday  last week... While we sat at the church I played piano. I really like doing that. I have a ton of piano music.
Tuesday we were out working and praying with people and it was super good and then we went to Awesome Tuesday! It was... Awesome. Again. I love Awesome Tuesday.
Wednesday we were at the church and we were going to meet with two TU's but they both cancelled, but in really awkward timing because we couldn't leave to go do something else, we just had to sit there waiting for the next thing to happen. Eventually we taught English Class and then had Grensråd (Branch counsel). It went really well. Then we taught a couple on the street coming home, so hopefully they decide the church should be a big deal in their lives again. They left the church while they lived in Chile twenty or so years ago when a member said that the Church came to Chile to clear out communism. So. That's not true. eh..
We were doing less active swing bys all Thursday and then no one really wanted to talk to us except this super chill guy from Cameroon. And he was just a guy on the street. Prayed with him. He wants to talk about Mormons Book more. Jjjääässs......
On Friday we went to Zone Training in Eskilstuna! It was... good... but I got to see a whole lot of people I haven't seen in a really long time! It was super fun. Then when we got back we did the whole lesson thing with people. We taught a lot this week.
Saturday taught me what pain is. The Awesome Tuesday lady, Ida, she's a trainer and she invited us to one of her classes, so we had to go. It was actually really fun, but body step is really freaking hard. Have any of you ever done body step? Freak. My. Life. I'm still in pain. Then we prayed with a Catholic lady too. She was nice.
We had church yesterday, som normal. We had some less active members show up too! In the evening, we had some Persians feed us.... They make some freaking amazing food, those people.
Also, I'm out of time, so I hope you enjoyed this segment of my life! Have it good!
Äldste Heiner

Elder Carlson loves this picture of me.

Arabic.  Should have been my mission language.

Sunset from our window.  At 10:30.
It's starting to go down at least.

August 10, 2015

Okej. So. I didn't get the chance to write too much lately, so my mom thinks I've fallen off of the face of the planet, so here is a rundown of the things I've been doing. I'm sorry if you don't want all of these details of my life and that you have to scroll through all this to get to the pictures you really want to see. I'm not dumb. I've been there....
   Monday! We had pday like usual, but since Elder Erikson was transferring on Wednesday, a couple in the branch had us over for Swedish pankakor! Love those things! If you ever want Swedish pancakes, let me know. Super good stuff. I'm going to have to be in the mood though. Just test your luck, I guess... anyway, after that we went and just walked around town a bit. Ate some food. I like food. We went to FHE for the young people who don't really have an F to HE with... We had Farnaz show up. Hamid was moving and Emil was working, but we also had two young woman investigators show too, so it worked out anyway! We watched Meet the Mormons and had Fanta Exotic ice cream floats. Yes. Good stuff. I also bought a new suit. It's my last one. Unless there is a super cheap Tiger of Sweden suit around, but look up Tiger of Sweden. Not cheap. I'm not paying 8000:- for a suit. I'll pay 500:- for a really nice Dressmann, but not the original 2000:- they wanted for it. It was a good sale. I think I would just be too scared to ever wear a Tiger if I bought one anyway.
   Tuesday we were working in Valby. After we were blåsted and we had swung by a ton of people, we were a little trött. I remembered a TU that said that she would call us when she was ready to learn more, but was still super positive. We last went by when Elder Backman was here, so we went and talked to her. She is still amazing and positive and everything, but she's scared that if she reads the Mormons Book, she'll find something bad about the church. So she won't... read... it... It's a tough one. But anyway. We had Awesome Tuesday after that. And it was awesome. Love that part of the week.
   Wednesday was super weird. Transfers. Transfers make things weird. I did not transfer. Elder Carlson did not transfer. Elder Erikson transferred so we had to babysit Elder Linchenko for a while. We took him to a lesson, then we took him to English Class, and then we took him to the train station, where he picked up his new companion, Elder Brinkworth! You know him! He's been in Karlstad, our district! Anyway. After that, we went to the Hagman's for dinner. Love dinner. People feed me. I like that.
   Thursday was district meeting, went there. Saw some new faces, laughed with the old ones. Sat around and talked how to missionary better than we currently missionarying. When we got back, we didn't have anything set, so we walked around and tried to get people to talk to us. Eh. Worked alright. It was a pretty slow day, now that I think back on it more.
   On Friday we had a lot of plans. And then we made the decision to not do those plans and do different ones. And then we did it again! Then people wanted to meet with us so we changed everything one more time! My planner is crazy for that day. But that is the day we met with Ingela, who is praying about baptism. I think she can feel the spirit really strongly. I just pray she actually prays and gets the answer that she needs to come closer to Christ. We also took a bus up to Skultuna to meet with this super cool African guy. He knows the church is true, but won't be baptized because he's been baptized before. We talked a bit about Acts 19. I hope he prays about that a bit.
   On Saturday, we only entirely changed all of our plans once, so we're getting better. After we had soccer with the branch, we had a member feed us. I like food. Then we were going to do weekly planning, but then the branch president was all, "hey. I need help in my yard shoveling a big mound of dirt," and we were all "vi kommer på en gång!" and then we went and shoveled a lot of dirt. He gave us some super awesome pants for it too. I like them. And pizza.
   On Sunday, we went to church. Church is always good. I was asked to teach Sunday School. That's always fun. Then I was asked to teach the Aronic priesthood. So we read Enos together. Then we went home and ate, went out and got blåsted, came home and weekly planned.
   And this morning, I just put away my sewing kit! I was doing a ton of reparations to coats, pants, ties, and bags... not shirts. Not worth it. Too far gone.
   That's the week! I hope you enjoyed this tale of Elders Heiner and Carlson as they live the life of Swedish missionaries. What will happen next?

Äldste Heiner

Örebro.

Elders Carlson, Bradley, Heiner, Schindler, Linchenko, and
Erickson.  Shirts for Volleyball Day in Eskilstuna a
couple of weeks ago.

August 4, 2015

District Shirts.

The sky.

July 27, 2015

A few things did happen this week: I hit my year mark. I talked to everyone in my group at the same time. They are hilarious people. We all burned our worst shirt to celebrate, a tradition in our mission. I love fire. We got five new investigators at one time too. They are all 20 year old girls, so this will be an interesting one. Anyway. We went to Eskilstuna and played volleyball with the zone. That was super fun. Anyway. Have a great week!

Äldste Heiner

A door...

Selfie with investigators.

We went to this huge viking tomb, forgot to say.

One year mark.

July 20, 2015

Well people of the outside world and people of the inside world and just all the people in general who might be reading this, I want you to know: don't take time for granted because it will bite you in the butt when you realize you've been on a mission for a whole year and you have less than a year left. Because that happened to me and it was super messed up.
   On Monday we did normal pday stuff until six. We then fired up the grill for a YSA activity. We grilled so much korv. After hemafton we booked it over to the Fernströms to teach them about the church. It went super well. They're really cool people, just super forgetful.
   Tuesday had us working out in Bäckby again. Got blåsted, that's always fun. Talked to a few more people and then had a little extra time for language study, so we got haircuts to learn that aspect of the language. We have way shorter hair. Then we had AWESOME TUESDAY. Awesome Tuesday is awesome.
   Wednesday was fast. We were with a ton of members, and it was super fun. We were able to have dinner with an older man named Fred. He is super freaking awesome. He was baptized about four years ago after meeting with the missionaries for 40 years. His wife was a member for all that time, but she past away last year after 60 years of marriage. He is just an amazing man who is strong in faith and loves his God.
   We were in Rönnby on Thursday. Turns out that no one in that part of town really likes religion in any way, shape, or form. We'll work a little more on it. Really long day.
   On Friday we had a zone conference. The first half was normal, and we talked some more about how to use the Book of Mormon better in teaching and finding. But for the second half, we all went to a room where all the chairs were set up in a circle and had "family home evening" with President and Sister Beckstrand. They let us ask them any questions we wanted and they just answered and talked about their lives. At the end they told us about their experience of getting called to be the mission president and wife. It was really cool to get to know them better and see how much they really care about us.
   We met with a couple people in Sala on Saturday. One of which was a dirty old man. He needs to not think the way he thinks.  And then we also met with Molisho. He is having a really hard time in his life right now and so we read Ether 6 with him and he loved it. He was talking about how it was exactly what he was going through and I was all, "yes... YES...." But not out loud.
   Sunday was crazy too. I did a lot of things during church, including teaching lessons I knew about, lessons I had no idea about, and giving blessings. After church we found time to work more out in Bäckby. Good stuff. It was a good week.
   I hope everyone has a great week! Have a good one!

Äldste Heiner

Cool little å through town.

Sweden.  And there is no one outside to talk to. 

4 of my MTC group that are in the same zone now.

I made fried rice.

Pretty Stuff.

There was this super sketchy door in the
middle of everything.

So we knocked on it.

We had some extra time so we went in a straight
line.  Made us feel like we were serving a jungle
mission or something.