Boden Week 19 - January 15, 2018 "A Blizzard of Blessings"

Good afternoon!

Another great week in Boden, it actually warmed up a little! We are supposed to have snow every day this week so that will be exciting!

On the bus home from Luleå on Monday, I sat next to the same guy I sat next to a few weeks ago! His name is Cosmos, he's from Nigeria, and this time I gave him a Book of Mormon! (Didn't have one in English last time). He asked me how 'the ministry' was going and we had a great conversation again!

Äldste Erdman is great. We have a lot of the same interests and he has taught me some great things about missionary work! 

We were in the library on Saturday teaching a guy named Saul. During the lesson, we gave him a Book of Mormon in what we thought was his native language (Amharic) but it turns out he can only read Tegrinic. So anyways we had an Amharic Book of Mormon with us, and right after the lesson with Saul this kid named Michael started talking to us! His English was perfect but we found out that he was from Ethiopia, where they speak Amharic, so we were able to give the Book of Mormon to him! Michael seemed really happy to see us, he said he had cousins in the US who had told him about Mormon missionaries! It was cool to be in the right place at the right time and know it!

I was able to give a talk in church this week! It was on charity. I think that talk was fine but the best part was that I learned so much about charity myself in preparation for it! 

Have a great week!

Äldste Francis

To my family...

WHAT A WEEK!

A car, passed exams, President Monson's funeral, and Jazz tickets! Wow!!

About the car... CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT LOOKS SO NICE! I AM SO HAPPY FOR ALL OF YOU! HOW DID YOU FIND THAT? Mama, that car is perfect. It reminds me of us finding the red van! Heavenly Father knew we needed a car, and we found the perfect one after being patient! Both times! I wish I could ride in it or drive it! Have so much fun with the Bluetooth and sunroof and heated seats and hitch and everything else!!!! I am so happy about that!

I am so grateful that Uncle Joe passed, I have been praying for him and I actually asked Äldste Harris to pray with me one time when I thought of him as we were walking to a bus stop. 

Elder Erdman is great, we have become good friends this week. To shovel the snow in Boden, they use construction equipment. They are super efficient, so the roads are never super bad. Sweden takes some of the jobs that either go undone in the US or are done by volunteers in the US and turns them into jobs for people, so there are big teams of people working on the snow after every storm.

Thank you for the email! I am so glad to hear that all is well! The Francis family has received a blizzard of blessings!

Love,

Sam

Boden Week 18 - January 8, 2018

Hur är det?? 

Another fantastic week here in Sweden! 

Äldste Harris and I had a great last day together on Tuesday. While contacting, we were able to see an old investigator and set up a time to meet for next week! Throughout the rest of the day, Äldste Harris said hej då to many people that we have become great friends with. 

Elder Harris is the friendliest person I know, it's no wonder that so many were sad to see him leave. He will do so well in Karlskrona! On Tuesday evening, we had a dinner with a potential investigator named Brit and her son Martin! We got to eat reindeer meat! 

After the dinner, we drove to the airport and picked up Äldste Erdman! He is from Arkansas, he has been in Sweden for 18 months, he is super good at soccer, and he can cut hair! Äldste Harris, Äldste Erdman, and I became a trio from Tuesday night until Wednesday morning when Äldste Harris left. 

Boden Week 17 - January 1, 2018

Gott Nytt År!! Happy 2018!! 

The past two weeks have been really exciting! I will start by telling about the Thursday before Christmas, where us and the Luleå sisters got to help with a service project at the church. We loaded up food bags with traditional Swedish Christmas food! There was ham, Julmust, meatballs, and much more! We had a great time preparing the 120 bags of food for people in the area to have a nice Christmas! Oh yeah! That day was the shortest day of the year! The sun was up at 10:03 and set at 12:59, which was so cool to experience. We get more and more sunlight each day now!

The day after the service project, we had dinner with a member in the branch here named Syster Ulander! Two recent converts, DJ Tosin and Precious Johnson, came with their investigator friend Alula. It was a really great dinner, and we got to watch 'The Restoration' with Alula. He has been to church twice now and has a copy of the Book of Mormon in his native language, Amharic (He is from Ethiopia).

A Christmas Call - December 25, 2017

Elder Sam called us at 7am on Christmas Day! The minute we saw his face on the screen a huge cheer erupted from the family! It was so good to see him. He absolutely glowed through the screen. We briefly met Elder Harris as well and it was good to see his companion in person. He has been such an amazing trainer and now best friend to Sam.

Sam told us he only had 40 minutes to speak! We were sad but glad that he is so obedient. :)

We took a few minutes to ask him some questions and discovered that he and Elder Harris take turns: each day one of them drives the car and one of them carries the phone. Sam also told us that Boden is quite small, so right now they walk to appointments or to go tracting unless they have the car that half of the week. They don't ride their bikes in the cold and snow. He sees President Youngberg once a transfer and also meets with the other district members in person once a transfer. Otherwise they hold district meeting via Skype. He reported that the plane flight to Stockholm is about an hour. We had so many other questions to ask but the time flew by!

Boden Week 16 - December 18, 2017

God Jul!

What a great week! 

As part of the #LightTheWorld initiative, Elder Harris and I have been handing out #EttLjusFörVärlden cards! We still have a ton left that need to be handed out before Christmas, so we are planning to contact like crazy this week! The cards are a great way to talk to people because we can talk about anything with them and then have a great way for them to be introduced to the Gospel- through service! 

Zone Conference was in the Handen chapel, near Stockholm, on Friday! So uplifting!  I saw Elder Butler. It was much lighter down there. The plane ride was fun, but it was too dark to see anything.

Boden Week 15 - December 10, 2017

Another fantastic week! We received a few more inches of snow, and it actually warmed up a little! 

Our apartment is very warm! There is a heater in every room and we have an extra in the study room.

We don't ride bikes anymore... We could, if we needed to. We just go to the far places when we have the car and stay closer to the apartment when we don't.

My coat is warm enough! I have purchased one small jacket and one bigger coat. There was a huge parka left in the apartment that I use on the cold, cold days.

We go tracting everyday! We aren't allowed to after 8 pm. It gets dark much earlier than that but we kämpa på!

Boden Week 14 - December 4, 2017

Wow! I am so glad that you have received some snow! We have about 1.5 feet here now. It snows every day, but not all day. How cold is it now in Kaysville? Wednesday was the coldest day for us, it was -23 in the morning and then stayed at around -18 for the rest of the day (Celsius). 

I'm not sure what it is in Fahrenheit. 

I just had my interview with President Youngberg, he is up here in Luleå today!