Welcome Home Äldste Francis! - July 12, 2019

Äldste Samuel Francis returned to Salt Lake City on Friday, July 12th!

His younger siblings and grandparents were there to welcome him home!

It was a special and sacred time. After hugging and talking at the airport for a while, we all drove to Kaysville and enjoyed a lovely dinner made by Aunt Debra.

Twelve people in one car again!

Picking up Äldste Sam Francis! July 4, 2019

On the morning of July 4, 2019, Mark, Nettie and Ben picked up Elder Sam Francis at the Sweden Stockholm Mission Home. 

It was a cool day with pockets of rain, the mission home was absolutely lovely, and the emotions we all felt were sacred! It was better than Christmas morning.

We spent over an hour at the mission home visiting with the other parents and missionaries going home and with President and Sister Youngberg.

We left the mission home and drove to the Stockholm Temple where we did a session - in Norwegian!

We then took the train all together back into downtown Stockholm and took a canal tour through the islands of the city. It was so much fun and very informative! After a dinner indowntown Gamlastan, we rode back to the car (parked at the temple) and drove south to Vastervik where we stayed for the night.

We spent the next 5 days traveling with Sam through Vaxjo, Stockholm, Lulea, Jakobsberg, Haninge, and Boden before we flew out of Copenhagen on July 11th.

A memory we will always treasure!

Växjö Week 24 - July 1, 2019

With President Peter Stokes, his wife, Glenda, and Elder Olson

Hello Everyone!

This has been a wonderful week! This will probably be the shortest email I have sent over the past two years, I am sorry about that.

With Thomas and Ewa Carlson and their daughter Jessica and grandson Vincent

I blessed the sacrament in Swedish for perhaps the last time yesterday. I really love the words of the sacrament prayer in English and Swedish, and I am glad that taking the sacrament is one thing that will not change when I return home. I got to give a talk on commandments in sacrament meeting yesterday and I was also able to bear my testimony to this wonderful branch.

We had the funnest fika ever after church and I took pictures with some of the branch memebers. Also! Elder Olson and I sang "Peace in Christ" in Swedish during sacrament meeting with a friend of ours named Diego.

Växjö Week 23 - June 24, 2019

Hello!

Another fun week in Växjö! 

Elder Olson and I had our last train ride to Malmö together for my last zone conference. We arrived the night before the conference and I had my exit interview with President Youngberg. It was surreal to meet with him for the last time and to talk about my plan for when I return home! President gave me some really helpful, exciting advice.

Elder Olson and I stayed at the Malmö zone leader's apartment that night with two other sets of elders. Zone conference the next morning was inspiring as usual. We focused on finding answers to common responses that we get from people. I got to bear my testimony to the zone at the end of the conference for the last time. It felt good to testify of things that I know and to reflect on how my testimony has truly strengthened in amazing ways over the past two years!

I said goodbye to a few missionaries that I won't be seeing (at least for a while now) including Elder Burns and Elder Childs. So many people and places that I love! Elder Olson and I felt very refreshed on the train ride back to Växjö and had great conversations with three different people. 

On Saturday morning during planning, Elder Olson and I decided to use our time in the morning to go out and simply walk around the area of our apartment to talk to everyone. We had a goal to "find the one." It was interesting because there were significantly less people outside than we had thought would be. We actually only ended up talking to a few people, but one of those people seems quite promising! She is an older lady who was on her way to visit a big church in Växjö. She met the missionaries in Växjö about 10 years ago and told us that she even attended church with them. We invited her to come again, and she did! It was awesome because she sat down next to a member who was able to answer all of her questions. Hopefully we can teach this lady this week. We found the one!

At our branch sports activity later on Saturday, one of the members brought a friend. We became good friends with this member's friend and invited him to attend church with us. He also came yesterday! We are meeting him this evening at 6 pm, please pray that it goes well!  

I celebrated midsommar for the second time on Friday! Elder Olson and I biked to a beautiful park called Evedal by a lake and met up with other branch members there. We had a fun fika and watched professional dancers dance around the midsummer pole. After spending some time with the branch members, we decided to go around and talk to other people that came to the celebration. Elder Olson and I were surprised when we met a man whom we had street contacted the day before! We did not recognize him at first, but as we walked up he smiled and pulled the contacting card we had given him the day before out of his pocket. It was cool to see that we had been led back to a prepared man. We got to meet his two young daughters who were with him at the midsommar festival, and we were also able to get his contact information. The Lord knows where we need to be!

I hope your week of summer has been fabulous!

Love you all!

Äldste Francis

Växjö Week 22 - June 17, 2019

Wow! Växjö week 22!

It's been another awesome week. I'll just give a few quick highlights:

We had Family Home Evening at a member's house! We were there with two of the people we are teaching, and it was a fabulous way for them to build connections with members. Part of the evening was a lesson led by Elder Olson and I, and we had everyone turn to the scriptures to read a few verses as part of it. It felt really special to be in the living room at a member's house with people we are teaching reading from the scriptures. It just seemed like a classic missionary moment that I won't always get to be a part of in the same way!

I was on splits for my last time as a missionary! I was with Elder Callor here in Växjö. This was so cool because we were on splits together many times as new missionaries up in Skellefteå and Boden, so it was crazy to reminisce on how things have changed. We had a truly great day of finding and teaching. 

Elder Olson and I met a great lady named Anna-Grete! We talked to her at her door early in the week and then were able to go back to her house on Friday to talk more. She has so many questions about what we believe, she is truly seeking for truth herself and it's great to see her sincerity. Please pray for her!

We got to teach Björn again! He had read in 2 Nephi 2 and was fascinated with verse 11. We tied it in to the Plan of Salvation which seemed to work out well. He mentioned that he found the pamphlet "For the Strength of Youth" on the Church's website. Elder Olson happened to have a copy in Swedish with him, so we were able to give it to Björn. I've never met someone who was so happy to get a copy of that book! He said that the values in the book were exactly what he wanted his kids to follow, and he said that they apply to everyone regardless of age. Björn seems to love everything he learns about the church. It's inspiring to see.

Elder Olson and I set up two or three daily goals each day, and yesterday we felt that we should set the goal to "find the one" during a block of time where we would be focused on finding people to teach while on the bus. We definitely found the one! We started talking to a man at the bus stop and then ended up riding the same bus as he did. After talking about the Gospel and testifying to him he started crying. He explained that a few years ago, his mother and father had both passed away within two weeks of each other. Elder Olson and I were able to testify about God's plan of happiness for us after he said that, and it was another really special missionary moment.

Have a great week!

Äldste Francis

Växjö Week 21 - June 10, 2019

A great week!

We experienced a cool miracle during our proselyting time last Monday evening. Elder Olson wrote about it to our mission Facebook page, so I will just copy and post his post here: "We have a quick miracle to tell y'all tonight! We have a goal this transfer to pray specifically to find people who recently started believing in God. We have found many people throughout this transfer already that have answered that prayer. In fact we experience this almost daily. When we find these people we turn to each other and shake our heads in amazement! We have found that people that have recently started believing in God are more receptive to our message! 

Our prayer was answered again today in a miraculous way. We were walking to an area instead of taking the bus and started talking with this older lady from the U.S....long story short she almost died 6 weeks ago and miraculously lived and made it to Sweden. It was because of this 25 minute conversation we were delayed enough to meet another man. Within a minute we found out that he recently started to believe in God about 2 months ago! Elder Francis almost turned to me and laughed. We were able to testify to him that this life is not just happenstance and we are going to meet him this week! We just wanted to invite y'all to pray for those opportunities to find those who recently began believing! We know this to be the Lords church and it is truly his work!" 

Parent Pick Up From the Mission Home - June 6, 2019

Dear Brother and Sister Francis,

The time is swiftly approaching when you will be here in Stockholm to pick up your missionary!  President Youngberg has asked that you please contact me by telephone or text when you arrive in Stockholm to confirm that you are here. 

Your missionary should be picked up at the mission home on Thursday, July 4, 2019 at 9:30 a.m.  The address is:   

Vilans Väg 38

182 39 Danderyd

Sweden

Please email your cell phone number to me so that we can contact you if there will be a delay in the 9:30 a.m. pick-up time on our part.   If you need any further information, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Sister Bailey

President Youngberg letter - June 5, 2019

 June 5, 2019

Dear Brother and Sister Francis,

Sister Youngberg and I consider it a great blessing to have associated with your son, Elder Samuel Joseph Francis, as we have worked shoulder to shoulder in inviting the people of Sweden to come unto Christ. His work and service in this great land will conclude on       July 4, 2019.

Elder Francis’ mission has been a success as he has worked valiantly in hastening the “Second Harvest” by helping others live the ‘Doctrine of Christ’ here in Sweden. He has seen the reality of prophetic vision fulfilled.  He has served faithfully in his assignments with great diligence and obedience. I think of your son with great respect, admiration and love.  You can be proud of him, his achievements, and his growth while serving in the Sweden Stockholm Mission.

A missionary is released after an interview with his stake president. We have found it helpful if you schedule this appointment so it takes place shortly after your missionary returns home. At the conclusion of the interview, the stake president will present a “Certificate of Release” to your son. Please inform your bishop of your son’s return date so an invitation to speak in sacrament meeting can be arranged.

Thank you for your faith and prayers on behalf of your son and the work of the Lord here in Sweden. We appreciate everything you have done, and we know you will recognize the blessings of increased spirituality, maturity, and personal development in your son.


Sincerely,

Michael J. Youngberg, President
SWEDEN STOCKHOLM MISSION

Växjö Week 20 - June 3, 2019

Hallåååååå! Happy June!

One of our companionship goals this transfer has been to "pray to find people who have recently began believing in God." It has been humbling to see the experiences Elder Olson and I had this week because of that! On the way home from family home evening last Monday, we stopped to take pictures of a huge double rainbow. After taking the pictures, we stopped to talk with two ladies who were also looking at the rainbow. It was one of the best conversations we had all week! One of the ladies has recently started believing in God (!), and she and her friend were both excited to accept copies of the Book of Mormon! On Tuesday, we were waiting at a bus stop and a lady walked up to wait at the same stop. We started talking to her and found out that she also recently started believing in God! We had another fantastic conversation with her. I know that the Lord is answering our prayers!  

After district council in Malmö this week, I was on exchanges with Elder Burns!! It is always memorable to be together. During the splits, we were able to teach a person named Chris. I met Chris last week when Elder Olson conducted his baptismal interview. The lesson we had with Chris was the last one before his baptism last Saturday! Elder Burns and I mostly went through details with him about how the baptismal service would play out. We read in 3 Nephi 11 towards the end, and I testified to him that I had felt the Holy Spirit as we read. Chris asked me how it felt when I felt the Spirit. I described the feeling I had as a calm assurance that the person who had written the words we read had written the truth. The member that was with us on the lesson then asked Chris how he felt when he felt the Holy Ghost. He said, "det är så här att allt rädslor försvinner och allt blir tyst i sinnet." I was shocked with Chris' description of the Holy Ghost! I have pondered it over the past few days and love how true his description is.

This is of a white copy of Mormons bok. Elder Callor and I talked with a man a few weeks ago who said he had one but couldn't find it. When Elder Olson and I returned this week he showed it to us! 

We went by Love (LOW-vey) again this week. We got to his house right as his mom pulled up in the driveway. She was just as friendly as Love and as Love's dad, and it turns out that she visited the Church's old chapel here in Växjö when she was studying religion in college! We will go by again this coming week.