Jakobsberg Week 22 - July 17, 2018

Here it is... the year mark email! I was dropped of at the MTC almost exactly a year ago from today. The time has flown! 

Zone Conference was last week on Tuesday! It was wonderful. Half of the fun is seeing all of the missionaries. I looked around and realized that I knew everyone at the conference pretty well besides the newest missionaries. It is so strange to have been out a year! The conferences are always really spiritually uplifting. This one was based on the talk 'Small and Simple Things' from a recent conference. It was focused on personal conversion, making sure to do the small and simple things.We were asked to read the talk "Small and Simple Things" in preparation. So many things were discussed! I think that my two biggest takeaways, though, are that I want to be better at asking inspires questions while teaching and I want to be better at doing the "small" things. Two specific things I am working on are intentionally following the counsel of our prophet and praying. 

Jakobsberg Week 21 - July 9, 2018

What a great week!

For the Tuesday night activity, we had a Fourth of July fest. It was fun seeing people from all over the world eating 'American' hamburgers, racing in a three legged race, and line dancing. I am proud to be an American! 

The next day, I was on splits with the new assistant, Elder Beveridge. We had a great day of tracting, contacting, and going to another Fourth of July celebration! Elder Gordon was here in Jakobsberg with Elder Harden. 

Jakobsberg Week 20 - July 2, 2018

Hälsningar från Sverige!

Did June feel short for anyone else? I can't believe it's July 2018! I hope that you are all doing well.

Each Tuesday evening, we have an activity at the church. This week, it was really well attended. Bishop Fhors gave a presentation about 'putting God first,' he is a really good public speaker. It was based on the scripture in Matthew 11:6. After the presentation, we played a fun Scandinavian game called kubb- look it up!

Jakobsberg Week 19 - June 25, 2018

Glad Midsommar! 

Elder Gordon and I got up at midnight on the longest day of the year, the plan was to take a picture of how bright it was outside. We ended up just looking out the window and then getting back to bed. But yes, it was light out at midnight!

This week was awesome! We have some great transfer goals set up and Elder Gordon and I are looking forward to the next six weeks.

Jakobsberg Week 18 - June 18, 2018

Hello!

Another great few days here in Sweden!

Most of the missionaries in the Stockholm and Stockholm South Zones planted flowers at the temple together on Thursday! I saw so many great friends and we had a great time catching up. I talked a ton to my MTC companion Elder Wayment, it is hard for both of us to believe that it was 11 months ago that we started this great adventure! The flowers at the temple ended up looking super nice. Our job as missionaries was just to plant the flowers, they had already been laid out in intricate patterns. I didn't realize that as I was placing each plant into the soil, it was after the job was done that I recognized that the patterns were there. This was an interesting insight into missionary work and life in general for me. 

Jakobsberg Week 17 - June 11, 2018

Hello! 

This week went by quickly as usual and lots of great things happened as usual!

Elder Gordon and I got to help clean the temple on Friday! We were there for about 3 hours. It was wonderful to be in the Lord's House again. They are doing some pretty big renovations inside and out, the Temple is well cared for! 

The ward had a "Grillfest" on Saturday. It was super fun! None of the missionaries knew that you were supposed to bring your own meat, but it didn't end up being a problem since 3 families brought extra "for the missionaries." The fest was on the lawn outside of the church and it felt like home! Two of our investigators, Simeon and Sajad, were able to come. 

Tracting lately has been really fun! We have been working closer to where we live and focusing on having better conversations with people. In the area we are currently working, there have been about 10 people that have been willing to have us come back and talk more with them. That is pretty unusual for both Elder Gordon and I! One cool conversation that we had was with a teenage boy who moved here with his family from China a few years ago. Somehow, we ended up showing him the "Mormon Beliefs" video about life after death. (You can see the video here.) At the end of the video, he was super excited and said, "it's 100% positive!" That was the most true thing I heard all week! The Plan of Salvation is 100% positive, and it was cool to see that even someone who is not a member of the Church recognized the happiness in God's great plan. 

Have a happy week!

Äldste Francis

Jakobsberg Week 16 - June 4, 2018

Hejsan! 

It was pretty hot again this week, unheard of for Sweden in May! There was a huge downpour tracting last night, it was a good relief from the sun. This week has been full of great experiences, being a missionary is the best!

Zone conference was this week. It was cool to see Elder Petersen again, it was strange having him there and not being his companion! It sounds like he is doing great up in Borlänge. Zone conference  is always a boost, my favorite part was when we discused the talk that Elder Renlund gave to Sweden a few weeks ago about doubt and faith.