Växjö Week 6 - February 25, 2019

Greetings! 

Another fantastic week in Växjö, Sweden...

We were able to visit three returning members in our branch this week! Elder Buckley and I have been trying to reach out to less active members over the whole transfer, and this week things really worked out. We were able to have really good, uplifting meetings with these three people. It was great to meet them and I think that they are on their way back to the safety of the fold. 

Yesterday was a Sunday of miracles! After our branch council, we were able to visit one of the returning member with a member of the branch presidency. After that, we walked to a bus stop on our way to our next appointment but we saw that we had missed the bus! And another one wasn't coming for 25 minutes! While we were trying to decide what to do instead, we saw a man walking up to us who we recognized. It was a referral that we received about a month ago, the one that lives pretty far away from Växjö. He was here in town on a visit and we just "happened" to run in to each other at the most random bus stop ever. It was his last day in Växjö yesterday before his 48 hour travel to New Zealand. We had a great conversation with him and were able to follow up with the Book of Mormon that we left with him on the last visit.

Växjö Week 5 - February 18, 2019

This week was great!

I was on splits with Elder Callor and it was amazing. We were on splits almost exaclty a year ago up in Boden!

An extremely cool thing that happened on splits was that a prayer we offered was answered. Elder Callor and I prayed specifically a few times that we would recognize people we talked to and that people we talked to would recognized us throughout the day. Elder Buckley and I had also prayed previously in the morning that we would be able to talk again to people that we had talked to before. As Elder Callor and I approached one bus stop, I saw a man that I had had a great conversation with on the bus two weeks ago. Elder Callor and I began talking with him on this bus and had an even better conversation this time. This man loved hearing us talk about the Plan of Salvation and said that he was interested in meeting us! 

Växjö Week 4 - February 11, 2019

Hello again!

Well this week went by fast! 

We taught the referral we received last week!. We were able to teach him twice, both times were really cool experiences. This referral has had a life full of suffering and is looking for peace and for answers. I hope that he progresses. As we prepared for the second lesson, Elder Buckley and I read through a scripture we were planning on studying with him. We felt like he would have a specific question about the scripture and we prepared to answer the question we felt that he would have. He asked the exact question during the lesson! It was good to be able to use what we had prepared to help him understand what the scripture was saying. This referral lives super close to our apartment, and it's been fun for Elder Buckley and I to think about how there are prepared people all around us, just waiting for us to meet them at the right time!

Another cool experience happened when Elder Buckley and I were attempting to visit a member family that hasn't been to church for a while. We were able to talk with them for a few minutes and then had time to visit some other people in the area that we were hoping on teaching. I received a clear prompting as we were walking away from the member's home that we needed to knock the doors of the top floor of a building we were walking by. I told Elder Buckley and we entered the building and took the elevator to the top floor. The first door that answered was a man that has read from the Book of Mormon before. We taught him at the doorstep and he was really interested. He said that we could return the following day, which we did, and we were able to teach about the Restoration! We'll be meeting him again tomorrow, he seems really open to our message! 

A final cool/unique experience from this week is that we got to visit one of our friends who lives in a psychiatric facility. He began meeting with missionaries about a year ago after having dreams about Joseph Smith. We have talked with him on the phone a few times, and it was great to meet him in person. He has really turned his life around and has a strong desire to live the Gospel, he just has to wait in jail for a while before he can be baptized and start coming to church!   

A member in the branch gave Elder Buckley and I each our very own shoe horn yesterday! We both felt super happy about that. For some reason it felt like a very meaningful gift to both of us. Shoe horns are super common in Sweden and Elder Buckley and I were both planning on getting one before going home. Now we don't have to! I have been thinking about gifts since then, and a quote from Elder Eyring came to my mind. After speaking about giving gifts, he said the following: "And that, I suppose, is the nicest effect of receiving great gifts. It makes us want to give, and give well. I’ve been blessed all my life by such gifts. I acknowledge that. I’m sure you do, too. " Maybe it sounds silly, but my desire to share the Gospel grew when Elder Buckley and I received those shoe horns yesterday! I want people to receive the good gifts we receive from God for our righteous living. We have so many of them!

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Francis

Växjö Week 3 - February 4, 2019

Another awesome week! 

We had the privilege of visiting Göteborg this week for zone conference! We were in a combined conference with the Göteborg zone. About once a year, each mission gets a visit from a church leader who comes to a zone conference and teaches the mission. 

Äldste Massimo De Feo was the member of the 70 who we got to learn from. He gave a conference talk last April called Pure Love: The True Sign of Every True Disciple of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to study it (here), it has become one of my all time favorite conference talks. Äldste De Feo talked a lot about how the people we teach need to feel both the love that we have for them and understand our expectations for them. High love, high expectations. Äldste Buckley and I have referred to that principle countless times in the past week, I'm grateful for that inspiration received from Äldste De Feo! There were so many other things that he taught that I loved and that have already had a positive impact on the work here.