These past two weeks have been huge!
Do you remember Nathalie from Jakobsberg? She is a lady that Elder Gordon and I talked to on his last day there. We met her at a bus station and set up a time to give her a church tour. Elder Barney replaced Elder Gordon and we gave Nathalie the church tour on one of our first days together. I wrote this about the church tour in my weekly email home in August: "We tried to make it interesting, one of the things we did was play a hymn on the piano for her and and her two kids. At District Council right before the tour we had talked a lot about being bold, and Elder Barney and I had decided to ask Nathalie to be baptized during the tour as an act of boldness! We asked her, and while she didn't say 'yes' we were able to get a better grasp on the things we can teach her to help her progress. We met with her again on Saturday and have another lesson for tomorrow. Miracles happening here!" Elder Barney and I taught Nathalie at least twice a week during our transfer in Jakobsberg together, and she came to church every week. Nathalie has continued to progress over the past few months, and guess what happened?? She was baptized!! She became a member of the church on the Saturday before Christmas.
Elder Burns and I have been praying for new people to teach, and we are seeing some miracles! One of them is named Reza. We met him on the way home from a member meal and he was so happy to talk to us! He came to church and seemed excited to become a part of the ward. He has lived in Sweden for 10 years but just recently got a job here in Stockholm so he says that he hasn't really found any friends yet. The church community is just what he needs! Another person that has been an answer to our prayers is Roman. He has been attending church for about the past two months but hasn't shown interest in anything other than coming to sacrament meeting. On Friday, Elder Burns and I had a lesson at the church but the man we were hoping to meet didn't show up. Roman texted us right then and said that he was close to the church and wondered if we could meet him. Of course, Roman! We ended up having a really good conversation and Roman asked a ton of questions that show his growing curiosity and interest. It was awesome. To top it off, he gave us a ride home in his cool Range Rover so that we didn't have to wait for the bus.
The week before Christmas, I was on splits with Elder Bills! We have developed a great friendship, this is our third transfer of being in the same district. Elder Bill is a hilarious, hard working missionary. We had two lessons set up for the splits and even had members coming to both lessons. Both of the members came to the lessons, and both of the people we were hoping to teach didn't show up. It was disappointing, but Elder Bills had a great idea! We ended up doing "role plays" with the members instead. It was great because we were able to get helpful Swedish tips, practice teaching, and build stronger member relationships. One of the members even posted a picture of us on SnapChat and invited his friends to call us if they wanted to learn more about God! See screenshot below.
After splits with Elder Bills was the long awaited Christmas Zone Conference! SO SO SO fun. The first half was very spiritually uplifting, we focused on Christlike attributes and on using "Gospel power statements" when talking to people we meet. The second half of the conference was unforgettable. Like last year, we joined President and Sister Youngberg in some Youngberg Christmas traditions. They played a piano duet, we sang Christmas Carols, and we watched It's a Wonderful Life. I absolutely love that movie now. I love it. I was sitting next to Elder Butler, just like at last year's Christmas conference, and during the movie I thought all about the past year and how wonderful it has been.
It was sad when Christmas conference came to an end, but I could hardly contain my excitement for what was coming next: splits with Elder Butler! I may have waited 12 months for Christmas, but I had been waiting for about two years to go on splits with Elder Butler! I think it's safe to say that we had been hoping to be companions ever since we were both called to Sweden in March 2017. I am so grateful that it finally happened! We had so many unforgettable experiences during our time together. We met some cool people tracting and talked a ton about how things have changed and how they have stayed the same. We also ate dinner at a member's house and they showed us their cute pet rats! Elder Butler is an excellent zone leader and he was able to give me some helpful advice. At the end of our time together, we both agreed that we had kind of gone back into our pre-mission personalities during the splits. It was fun to remember how it felt to be Sam and Justin.
This weekly email has already become my longest yet, and I still haven't said anything about our incredible Christmas here in Haninge! I could probably write ten more paragraphs about everything that we did and all of it but I will try to condense it all into a few sentences. We spent time with four families during the Christmas days (Christmas Eve, the big celebration day in Sweden, and Christmas Day). We started off by eating breakfast at Mary's house with another member named Promise. Some of you know who Mary is, she is a member in the Handen ward who was baptized recently. Suffice it to say that Mary is probably the easiest person to be friends with EVER and she is, as my MTC companion Äldste Wayment once said, "just the best." We had a great Christmas Eve morning with her eating American pancakes and fried eggs. It was so fun, I hope you can all meet Mary someday.
We then headed to familjen Karumo in the Vendelsö ward. It was arguably the coolest Christmas Eve I have ever experienced. We watched The Incredibles II (!!!) and had a great time eating all of the traditional Swedish Christmas foods. I realized that I love one dish called sill. Simply said, it is fish with mustard. I think. Way good! The way it works her in Sweden is that Jultomten (Santa Claus) comes on Christmas Eve. I think it gives him time to deliver presents to the children in America later on Christmas Eve. Guess what?? He came to the Karumos and had gifts for Elder Burns and I! He came while we were eating and gave us American Kraft macaroni and cheese and root beer and cream soda! We were so surprised! It was cool to see Santa.
On Christmas morning, Elder Burns and I had a fun time together opening our packages from home. Christmas morning has a distinct feeling to it, even when you're away from you family celebrating in a different land! It was magical. After that, we headed to familjen Brändh in the Vendelsö ward. They had also invited an older missionary couple (the Johnsons) as well as the branch president and his wife from the branch on Sweden's island, Gotland (they were here on the mainland during Christmas). We had a fun brunch (somehow I ate two bowls of rice pudding. I love rice pudding now! When I ate it last year on Christmas I thought that it was a little weird but now it is one of my favorites!). We also had a really spiritually uplifting conversation. The Brändhs are strong strong members, and I'll never forget sitting in their living room on Christmas morning and feeling that the Gospel is really true as we all sat and talked about the Savior.
After our time with the Brändhs came the best hour of the whole Christmas season! The Skype call home! Ahhhh it felt so short but it was SO SO SO good to see everyone and talk in real time. It was sad to end the call but fun to think that the next time I hang up from a Skype call home I'll have just a few weeks left until we can talk in person! After Skyping, we visited familjen Kuehn. We had another fun Christmas dinner with them. And a miracle happened because of it! A while back, we tracted the Kuehn's neighbor's houses and taught one of the neighbors the Restoration, a couple named Jens and Valentyna (remember them?). This specific couple has been on my mind constantly. We have been wanting and trying to teach them but have had a hard time catching them at the right time. We also want to teach them with the Kuehn family present, but Jens and Valentyna don't know that we know their neighbors the Kuehns and they don't know that their neighbors are members of the Church. This problem was solved in an interesting, miraculous way! Sister Kuehn posted on her Facebook page that we had been over for Christmas and included pictures of us in the post. Valentyna, who is Facebook friends with Sister Kuehn, saw the post and commented on it that she "recognized those faces." Now Valentyna knows that we know her neighbors and that they are members of the Church! I hope that this is just the beginning to another miracle. Christmas was amazing, I really really hope that I get to spend another one here in Sweden someday. I definitely have started some traditions that I will continue when I get home!
After our time with the Brändhs came the best hour of the whole Christmas season! The Skype call home! Ahhhh it felt so short but it was SO SO SO good to see everyone and talk in real time. It was sad to end the call but fun to think that the next time I hang up from a Skype call home I'll have just a few weeks left until we can talk in person! After Skyping, we visited familjen Kuehn. We had another fun Christmas dinner with them. And a miracle happened because of it! A while back, we tracted the Kuehn's neighbor's houses and taught one of the neighbors the Restoration, a couple named Jens and Valentyna (remember them?). This specific couple has been on my mind constantly. We have been wanting and trying to teach them but have had a hard time catching them at the right time. We also want to teach them with the Kuehn family present, but Jens and Valentyna don't know that we know their neighbors the Kuehns and they don't know that their neighbors are members of the Church. This problem was solved in an interesting, miraculous way! Sister Kuehn posted on her Facebook page that we had been over for Christmas and included pictures of us in the post. Valentyna, who is Facebook friends with Sister Kuehn, saw the post and commented on it that she "recognized those faces." Now Valentyna knows that we know her neighbors and that they are members of the Church! I hope that this is just the beginning to another miracle. Christmas was amazing, I really really hope that I get to spend another one here in Sweden someday. I definitely have started some traditions that I will continue when I get home!
A few more things... First, we had an awesome lesson with our friend Rudy last night. Rudy is the wife of Blanchard, a convert of tow years who has not been active for a while. We had the lesson with the member that fellowshipped Blanchard two years ago when he was baptized. This member, Nico, gave us so many good tips before and after the lesson. He served a mission in Utah and has some really good teaching experience. Like I said, the lesson went really well. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rudy had wonderful questions and while she didn't accept our baptismal invitation it is clear that she will accept a date soon. Rudy and Blanchard both committed to coming to church next Sunday. This is so amazing!! Blanchard is on his way back to the path and Rudy is on her way to the gate.
The day after Christmas last year, Elder Harris and I street contacted a Filipino man named Gerald. I felt a special connection with him because that is where my dad served his mission and I wrote about Gerald in my journal. I read my journal entry from the previous year each night, and on the day after Christmas I was reminded about Gerald. I remembered him saying that he lived in Umeå, and I even remembered that the address was near the zone leaders in Umeå. After a quick search on Sweden's version of the white pages, I found Gerald's address and referred him to the elders in Umeå. Read the text in the picture below to find out what happened!
The day after Christmas last year, Elder Harris and I street contacted a Filipino man named Gerald. I felt a special connection with him because that is where my dad served his mission and I wrote about Gerald in my journal. I read my journal entry from the previous year each night, and on the day after Christmas I was reminded about Gerald. I remembered him saying that he lived in Umeå, and I even remembered that the address was near the zone leaders in Umeå. After a quick search on Sweden's version of the white pages, I found Gerald's address and referred him to the elders in Umeå. Read the text in the picture below to find out what happened!
Miracles are happening here and all throughout the Lord's vineyard! President Nelson challenged the sisters of the Church to read the Book of Mormon before the end of 2018, and he promised that they would "begin to see miracles as they did so." I'm not a sister but when President Nelson gave that promise I wanted to be in on it. I completed the Book of Mormon earlier today after starting during the week of General Conference and I can testify that miracles have truly begun to happen in my life, in our area, with my testimony. It has been amazing.
I was almost positive that President Youngberg would challenge us to read the Book of Mormon between Christmas and New Years as he did last year, and I was excited for that. I was more excited, however, when I learned that we would be doing a different challenge, the Jesus Christ Topical Guide Study challenge. The challenge is to read all of the scriptures in the Jesus Christ section of the topical guide. This is a challenge from President Nelson that I started at the beginning of my time here in Sweden, and during the past week we have had a few extra hours to focus on studying. I had gotten through perhaps the first quarter of the scriptures during the last year and a half but I will have finished reading and marking them all by the end of today. This study has been very insightful and fulfilling. I have loved reading scriptures about the Savior that I didn't know existed before. My knowledge has definitely grown over this past week as I have finished reading the Book of Mormon and completing the Jesus Christ challenge. I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!
I love all of you! Happy New Year!
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