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.

One of the pictures is of Mat's pillow that he sits on at church.

A member from the high council came to Växjö on Wednesday and was with us on a lesson with both Mats and Ilir. It was amazing. We had all read Moroni chapter 10 as preparation for the lesson and talked about the chapter together. It is so thrilling to see the progress that both Mats and Ilir have been making. We had another lesson with Ilir on Saturday and invited him to be baptized on the 29th of June. He accepted the invitation with enthusiasm!! Please continue praying for these two good men.

Yesterday, Elder Olson and I got to the church and Mats came right after we got there. We were so happy to see him in a white shirt with a nice suit jacket! He brought a fancy red tie with him and asked me to tie it for him. Mats looked fabulous. See picture below. Guess what else?? Mats bore his testimony in church! After Elder Olson and I had gotten up to bear our testimonies, Mats leaned over to me and said that he wanted to get up but didn't know what to share. I whispered to him that he could simply go up and share his conviction about Jesus Christ's reality. Mats stood up with no hesitation after that and he bore a very sincere, sweet testimony. He said that he has experienced a change over the past few weeks and that he is very thankful that he has been able to learn about the church.

Elder Olson and I have had an exciting preparation day!

We went to a nature reserve near Växjö and hiked around for about an hour. We took so many pictures! I was thrilled with how meticulous the forest was. From the powerful trees to the tiniest flower, it was beautiful. At the end of our hike, we came to a castle called Teleborgslottet. It has been turned into a hotel and was a fun end to our journey. Ending with the castle reminded me of a book that my seminary teacher read to our class in ninth grade. It was about a knight going on a journey through a forest and coming to a castle at the end. The knight faced a variety of interesting challenges along the way, and our seminary teacher made tons of connections to how the knight's jouney to the castle relates to our journey back to our Heavenly Home. At the end of his April 2013 General Conference address, Elder Uchtdorf said this: "Dear young friends, as an Apostle of the Lord I leave you a blessing that you will find your way on this journey home and that you will be an inspiration to your fellow travelers. It is also my promise and prayer that as you honor and live true to the covenants, the principles, and the values of the gospel of Jesus Christ, at the end of your journey Heavenly Father will be there. He will embrace you, and you will know once and for all that you have made it home safely."