Boden Week 21 - January 29, 2018

Hello!

This is gonna be short! But it was a great week, really! We had splits in Umeå with the zone leaders! I was with the amazing Elder Bringhurst. He is a great friend and a really great role model, I learned a lot from him! 

A few quick stories from the week...

One day, we came home and had about 15 minutes until 9 when we go inside. We started walking down the road and talked with Lina! She was born in Sri Lanka but moved to Sweden as an infant. After asking if we could fill the remaining 2 male roles in her feminine dance club (we gracefully declined), we told her why we are here in Boden and we switched numbers with her! 

We had an old investigator we wanted to go by, but he didn't answer. We knocked his neighbor's doors to find out if he still lived there, and a super sweet lady answered and was so helpful! She called him for us, told us his life history and how he really needed us to visit him, and told us how necessary missionaries were to Sweden! She seemed to really enjoy talking to us and we were so grateful for her help! Another friend in Boden.

Boden Week 20 - January 22, 2018

Hello!

I have been a missionary for 6 months! Crazy!

We were able to teach a lady on Tuesday named Annalee that Äldste Harris and I met on the street a few months back! She was happy to see us again, and the lesson went well. Annalee was previously neighbors with the current president of the Stockholm Sweden Temple, and she remembered that he always said no to coffee and tea! I am so grateful for his good example 20 years ago that left an impression on Annalee! You never know who is watching and remembering!

Boden Week 19 - January 15, 2018 "A Blizzard of Blessings"

Good afternoon!

Another great week in Boden, it actually warmed up a little! We are supposed to have snow every day this week so that will be exciting!

On the bus home from Luleå on Monday, I sat next to the same guy I sat next to a few weeks ago! His name is Cosmos, he's from Nigeria, and this time I gave him a Book of Mormon! (Didn't have one in English last time). He asked me how 'the ministry' was going and we had a great conversation again!

Äldste Erdman is great. We have a lot of the same interests and he has taught me some great things about missionary work! 

We were in the library on Saturday teaching a guy named Saul. During the lesson, we gave him a Book of Mormon in what we thought was his native language (Amharic) but it turns out he can only read Tegrinic. So anyways we had an Amharic Book of Mormon with us, and right after the lesson with Saul this kid named Michael started talking to us! His English was perfect but we found out that he was from Ethiopia, where they speak Amharic, so we were able to give the Book of Mormon to him! Michael seemed really happy to see us, he said he had cousins in the US who had told him about Mormon missionaries! It was cool to be in the right place at the right time and know it!

I was able to give a talk in church this week! It was on charity. I think that talk was fine but the best part was that I learned so much about charity myself in preparation for it! 

Have a great week!

Äldste Francis

To my family...

WHAT A WEEK!

A car, passed exams, President Monson's funeral, and Jazz tickets! Wow!!

About the car... CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT LOOKS SO NICE! I AM SO HAPPY FOR ALL OF YOU! HOW DID YOU FIND THAT? Mama, that car is perfect. It reminds me of us finding the red van! Heavenly Father knew we needed a car, and we found the perfect one after being patient! Both times! I wish I could ride in it or drive it! Have so much fun with the Bluetooth and sunroof and heated seats and hitch and everything else!!!! I am so happy about that!

I am so grateful that Uncle Joe passed, I have been praying for him and I actually asked Äldste Harris to pray with me one time when I thought of him as we were walking to a bus stop. 

Elder Erdman is great, we have become good friends this week. To shovel the snow in Boden, they use construction equipment. They are super efficient, so the roads are never super bad. Sweden takes some of the jobs that either go undone in the US or are done by volunteers in the US and turns them into jobs for people, so there are big teams of people working on the snow after every storm.

Thank you for the email! I am so glad to hear that all is well! The Francis family has received a blizzard of blessings!

Love,

Sam

Boden Week 18 - January 8, 2018

Hur är det?? 

Another fantastic week here in Sweden! 

Äldste Harris and I had a great last day together on Tuesday. While contacting, we were able to see an old investigator and set up a time to meet for next week! Throughout the rest of the day, Äldste Harris said hej då to many people that we have become great friends with. 

Elder Harris is the friendliest person I know, it's no wonder that so many were sad to see him leave. He will do so well in Karlskrona! On Tuesday evening, we had a dinner with a potential investigator named Brit and her son Martin! We got to eat reindeer meat! 

After the dinner, we drove to the airport and picked up Äldste Erdman! He is from Arkansas, he has been in Sweden for 18 months, he is super good at soccer, and he can cut hair! Äldste Harris, Äldste Erdman, and I became a trio from Tuesday night until Wednesday morning when Äldste Harris left. 

Boden Week 17 - January 1, 2018

Gott Nytt År!! Happy 2018!! 

The past two weeks have been really exciting! I will start by telling about the Thursday before Christmas, where us and the Luleå sisters got to help with a service project at the church. We loaded up food bags with traditional Swedish Christmas food! There was ham, Julmust, meatballs, and much more! We had a great time preparing the 120 bags of food for people in the area to have a nice Christmas! Oh yeah! That day was the shortest day of the year! The sun was up at 10:03 and set at 12:59, which was so cool to experience. We get more and more sunlight each day now!

The day after the service project, we had dinner with a member in the branch here named Syster Ulander! Two recent converts, DJ Tosin and Precious Johnson, came with their investigator friend Alula. It was a really great dinner, and we got to watch 'The Restoration' with Alula. He has been to church twice now and has a copy of the Book of Mormon in his native language, Amharic (He is from Ethiopia).