Växjö Week 2 - January 28, 2019

Hello!

We had the awesome opportunity to travel down to Malmö for our transferly in-person district council and splits with the zone leaders this week! It was another amazing train ride. I was with Elder Jarmin and Elder Buckley was with Elder Callor. It felt cool to be so close to Denmark where Ben was serving just two years ago. An interesting fact is that Elder Callor and I spent our first six months together in the highest district in the mission and now we are in the lowest district together. I have also been in the same district as Elder Jarmin before, he was in the Jakobsberg district before moving up to Boden.

The branch here used to be a little bigger, and this is the old church building!

Elder Buckley and I were both under the impression that we would be eating potatoes and meatballs for most of our meals while in Sweden. While that hasn't proven true, we both have developed an affection for potatis med köttbullar and it has become a staple in our home. 

Växjö Week 1 - January 21, 2019

A new area and companion! This week has been extremely exciting. 

I spent a lot of Monday and Tuesday saying farewell to some fast friends in Haninge. Elder Burns and I had our weekly language study with a young man in the ward, Jacob, whom we have become close with. It was strange to be saying hej då to another wonderful area! On Tuesday evening, another member came by and dropped off American fishy crackers and root beer. So many people to miss! I left the Vendelsö apartment for the last time on Wednesday morning. It was sad to leave the washer and dryer, the cool second floor loft, and all of the nice member meals. 

I took the pendeltåg to Stockholm (another last) and then caught another train. It took about four and a half hours to travel down to Växjö. The journey was magical. Our train rushed through miles of frosty forest, past picturesque lakes and towns, and gave me a glimpse of some of God's greatest handiwork. According to the man in the seat next to me, I saw the most beautiful scenes that Sweden has to offer. I believe him! 

Haninge Week 18 - January 14, 2019

Hello!

A great week here in Haninge. A great last week! Whaaaat??? Yep, transfer calls were yesterday. I am leaving! After almost a year of living here in the greater Stockholm area, I'll be headed down to Växjö. My new companion is Elder Buckley, I actually replaced him here in Haninge three transfers ago. More details to come next week!

We started teaching a new lady this week! The sisters in Gubbängen sent us a referral of a lady they talked to who lives in our area. We set up a lesson with her and taught her with one of our good member friends. It was a great lesson about the Restoration. The lady had a four month old baby and she held it on a special sling connected to her back. It was hilarious (and a little distracting) to be teaching and then see the cute little baby peeking around the corner of his mom's back! 

Also, our friend Reza came to church again! Elder Burns and I were worried that we'd lost him because he stopped responding to our messages. He came in a really nice suit and tie and seemed really excited to be back at the church. 

The Vendelsö ward had a party on Saturday. We went for a few minutes, it was a "Christmas tree un-decorating then throwing away" party. It's apparently a tradition here to take down the Christmas tree about 20 days after Christmas. It was fun to be with the members. Elder Burns and I have some special friendships with some of the kids in the ward. At the end of the ward party one of the moms walked up with her daughter behind her leg and explained that the daughter wanted to say hi to us but she was feeling shy. It was funny to see how timid she was to talk to us! I have definitely been the shy one before.

Haninge Week 17 - January 7, 2019

Hello!

Happy 2019! This is going to be a great year! Elder Burns and I saw and heard so many fireworks from our apartment. President said that we could stay up until midnight. That felt cool! 

This email will be about 10 times shorter than last week. One cool experience that I'll share happened on Wednesday. We were headed out to an area where we swung by a potential person to teach and knocked some doors. Elder Burns and I had the idea to ask the people we talked to if we could film the conversation we had with them. It seemed like a good conversation starter and a fun way to get people interested. The time we had knocking doors was ok, but at the end of our time there we weren't really feeling excited anymore, plus it started raining onto the icy roads. But then we ended up talking to a cool person! On the last door we knocked, the man that answered said we could film the conversation, he also said that he wanted to change into different clothes before the movie-making began. We had a great conversation with him about God's love. At the end, we even found out that he is really good friends with a member in the ward!