Växjö Week 10 - March 25, 2019

Another awesome week! Another fast week.

Elder Childs gave his first talk in Swedish yesterday. He did a great job. He spoke about missionary work and was pretty bold about asking the members to share the Gospel with those they know. One part of his talk that I really liked was when he shared a quote from President Geroge Albert Smith. President Smith talked about how we are first and foremost missionaries. For Elder Childs and I, it is pretty obvious that our first and foremost purpose right now is being missionaries, but President Smith was talking to the members as well! We have a wonderful gift in the Gospel. The speaker after Elder Childs talked about how having knowledge about the Gospel of Jesus Christ really is a gift. She explained, however, that it is not like a gift of money that we would put into a safe and guard, it is like a puzzle piece. Everyone is given a puzzle piece and we have to share so that the whole puzzle can be put together! I thought that was an intriguing idea.

We had three lessons with the branch president and his wife this week! It was a huge blessing to have them in on those lessons. They live about an hour outside of Växjö, so they don't come to the city very often. Last Sunday, they told us that they would be in town on Friday and that they would love to help out with a lesson. We were able to schedule two for them to be on. It is so good to teach with members!! Both of those lessons were highlights of my mission. One of them was with a man we have been teaching for about six weeks. He loves the Gospel and has been coming to church, meeting us, and studying on his own consistently. The lesson we had that day was about the Priesthood, and it was so cool to see as this man understood the principle. President Stokes showed him a card he had that showed that the authority we have in the church is traced directly back to Jesus Christ. The man we were teaching was so happy when he understood that.

Växjö Week 9 - March 18, 2019

Hello!

We have have another wonderful week here in Växjö.

The weather got warmer and then colder again. We had weird days with mixed rain, snow, and sun. One fun thing is that the mornings are getting light now, we wake up to the sunshine! Sweden is awesome.

One cool part of the week was that we had an awesome visit with our branch mission leader. We had a member meal (!!) with his family and then a very productive meeting where we talked about the work here in Växjö. One of our focuses recently has been reaching out to members in the branch who are returning to full activity. We have seen some good progress! We were able to visit some of theses members during the week, and you have no idea how happy I was to see one of them come to church with her son! Ahhh! They came!!!

A final cool happening from this week was that we got a text message out of the blue from the "Swedish Latter-day Saints." They are a couple from southern Sweden who run an Instagram account about being members of the Church in Sweden. Elder Childs and I met them about a month ago when they came to visit our ward. Anyways, they texted us out of the blue and asked if they could film us for their first vlog! We met up with them on Saturday afternoon for a few minutes and they filmed us as we answered questions about Växjö and being a missionary in Sweden. It was fun!

St. Patrick's Day was yesterday! It actually is not a holiday at all in Sweden which was kind of sad. I wore a green tie to church but no one else did... strange. St. Patrick's Day makes me think of the day two years ago when I got my call letter to Sweden! Crazy that 24 months have passed.

Happy Spring! Here is a cool quote relating Spring to the gospel: As marvelous as this power of renewal is in the world around us, it is even more compelling when we realize that it extends to us as well—individual human beings, sons and daughters of the same God who set the seasons in motion. He has endowed us with a promise and capacity for both physical and, more important, spiritual renewal. - Darin Cozzens, April 1993 General Conference.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Francis

Växjö Week 8 - March 11, 2019

I was on my sixth splits with Elder Callor during this week! We were in Malmö this time. We had a wonderful time proselyting and teaching together. We also went running during our morning exercise. We ran about 3.5 miles. 3.5 miles is the longest run either I or Elder Call or have done for at least 20 months. We started off briskly at our Davis Cross County pace but quickly noticed that that was taking more of a toll on us than it used to!! The run was fun, we were able to see Copenhagen, Denmark from the dock in Malmö! I learned a lot from being with Elder Callor and we had some great conversations. One thing that we discussed was prayer. Both of us agreed that prayer is one of the biggest keys to success in missionary work.

Church yesterday was uplifting! We had testimony meeting because of stake conference last week. Many of the members bore their testimony. I love this branch! The branch president and his wife here in Växjö are from England. I met them for the first time two weeks ago, and we were able to have lunch with them last Wednesday. They live in a little town outside of Växjö called Virserum. It was awesome to travel there and to see more of the beautiful Swedish forest along the way! We had a delicious taco buffet with them and even got to try a special English dessert called Knickerbocker Glory. It is made of fruit cocktail with ice cream topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. Quite glorious! 

Växjö Week 7 - March 4, 2019

It feels strange to be sitting here AGAIN to write that another week has passed. Lots to tell about! 

Transfers were on Tuesday. Elder Buckley and I spent most of our last hours here in Växjö saying good bye to people. Leaving an area is always sad, lots of people here in Växjö have really grown to love Elder Buckley. 

He was here for six months, that a long time to make a lasting impression! We were on the same train headed up to Stockholm. We had prayed before the train ride to find someone whom we could teach, and of course our prayer was answered! A nice, well dressed older gentleman sat with us and we had a pleasant conversation. He seemed pretty shocked that Elder Buckley and I were only 20 and were here as missionaries. He mentioned that he and his wife talked sometimes about what they believe, and he asked us to write a report to him at the end of our two years as missionaries in Sweden to tell him about our experiences. It was cool to talk to him.

Elder Buckley got off of the train before I did and hopped onto another one headed for Eskilstuna. The past transfer was possibly the fastest yet! It was strange to say goodbye. I traveled onward to Stockholm, and my excitement grew with every mile. We arrived at T Central and floods of memories began coming back. Meeting Elder Petersen there, the flashmob, and others. I walked to the tunnelbanas and was happy to find two of the other trainers, Elder Hansen and Elder Nelson, waiting to catch the next one to the mission office. Elder Hansen and I were shocked when we hopped onto the tunnelbana to find that Mary, one of our favorite members from the Handen ward, was sitting there! What are the chances?!? It was joyous to talk with her.

We spent the night at the mission office with the other trainers and met the new missionaries at the Täby Chapel on Wednesday. There are five new elders and four new sisters, one of them is now in Växjö! Elder Childs! He is from Taylorsville, Utah and we have had an exciting past few days. Elder Childs is a fabulous cook and has already taught me a ton about making good food. He is the oldest of five kids and I am proud to say that I know all of their names now. 

Do you remember the family we met at the bus stop last week who said that they would come to church? They came! They definitely had a unique experience because Stake Conference was yesterday! We watched the broadcast here in Växjö. Things kept going wrong with the connection, so we missed most of the first part of the conference and it was hard to hear the rest. I had to translate into English and it was a struggle to convey the messages spoken, but one lady came up to me at the end and said that she would be thinking about all of the things she learned from the conference. I know that the Holy Ghost taught her what my haphazard English translation attempt could not.

A cool experience from this week came after a companionship study with Elder Childs. We had been role playing street contacting and studying about finding work, and one part of Chapter 9 in Preach My Gospel about finding kept ringing through my head. It talks about people and goes something like this: the Lord will lead them to you or you will be lead to them. We had about 10 minutes after our study where we had a little time before our next activity and felt inspired to put into practice what we had studied. We walked outside of the church with the faith the the Lord would lead us to someone. We found that someone! We had only ten minutes but we found a man that is a true truth seeker. He has read the Book of Mormon and even met with missionaries but said that he had gotten busy and stopped meeting them. He has friends that are members of the Church and seemed excited about meeting us again! It was amazing to see our faith confirmed.

I hope that you have had a happy beginning to March!

Äldste Francis

New leadership assignment - March 2, 2019

Dear Brother and Sister Francis,

We are writing to express our appreciation for your son, Äldste Samuel Joseph Francis.   Äldste Francis has been assigned to serve as a district leader trainer in the Växjö area of the Sweden Stockolm Mission.  He is a wonderful and well prepared missionary, and this added leadership responsibility will be a blessing to him and to the mission.

He is an exemplary missionary, demonstrating the work and faith which have earned the respect and trust of the mission.  A district leader trainer is a position of sacred stewardship in the Sweden Stockholm Mission, as it can have a tremendous impact on the culture of the mission and the missionaries themselves.

Thank you for your continued love, support, and prayer on behalf of your missionary and the Sweden Stockholm Mission.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Youngberg

Michael J. Youngberg, President

Sweden Stockholm Mission