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.

Växjö Week 2 - January 28, 2019

Hello!

We had the awesome opportunity to travel down to Malmö for our transferly in-person district council and splits with the zone leaders this week! It was another amazing train ride. I was with Elder Jarmin and Elder Buckley was with Elder Callor. It felt cool to be so close to Denmark where Ben was serving just two years ago. An interesting fact is that Elder Callor and I spent our first six months together in the highest district in the mission and now we are in the lowest district together. I have also been in the same district as Elder Jarmin before, he was in the Jakobsberg district before moving up to Boden.

The branch here used to be a little bigger, and this is the old church building!

Elder Buckley and I were both under the impression that we would be eating potatoes and meatballs for most of our meals while in Sweden. While that hasn't proven true, we both have developed an affection for potatis med köttbullar and it has become a staple in our home. 

Växjö Week 1 - January 21, 2019

A new area and companion! This week has been extremely exciting. 

I spent a lot of Monday and Tuesday saying farewell to some fast friends in Haninge. Elder Burns and I had our weekly language study with a young man in the ward, Jacob, whom we have become close with. It was strange to be saying hej då to another wonderful area! On Tuesday evening, another member came by and dropped off American fishy crackers and root beer. So many people to miss! I left the Vendelsö apartment for the last time on Wednesday morning. It was sad to leave the washer and dryer, the cool second floor loft, and all of the nice member meals. 

I took the pendeltåg to Stockholm (another last) and then caught another train. It took about four and a half hours to travel down to Växjö. The journey was magical. Our train rushed through miles of frosty forest, past picturesque lakes and towns, and gave me a glimpse of some of God's greatest handiwork. According to the man in the seat next to me, I saw the most beautiful scenes that Sweden has to offer. I believe him! 

Haninge Week 18 - January 14, 2019

Hello!

A great week here in Haninge. A great last week! Whaaaat??? Yep, transfer calls were yesterday. I am leaving! After almost a year of living here in the greater Stockholm area, I'll be headed down to Växjö. My new companion is Elder Buckley, I actually replaced him here in Haninge three transfers ago. More details to come next week!

We started teaching a new lady this week! The sisters in Gubbängen sent us a referral of a lady they talked to who lives in our area. We set up a lesson with her and taught her with one of our good member friends. It was a great lesson about the Restoration. The lady had a four month old baby and she held it on a special sling connected to her back. It was hilarious (and a little distracting) to be teaching and then see the cute little baby peeking around the corner of his mom's back! 

Also, our friend Reza came to church again! Elder Burns and I were worried that we'd lost him because he stopped responding to our messages. He came in a really nice suit and tie and seemed really excited to be back at the church. 

The Vendelsö ward had a party on Saturday. We went for a few minutes, it was a "Christmas tree un-decorating then throwing away" party. It's apparently a tradition here to take down the Christmas tree about 20 days after Christmas. It was fun to be with the members. Elder Burns and I have some special friendships with some of the kids in the ward. At the end of the ward party one of the moms walked up with her daughter behind her leg and explained that the daughter wanted to say hi to us but she was feeling shy. It was funny to see how timid she was to talk to us! I have definitely been the shy one before.

Haninge Week 17 - January 7, 2019

Hello!

Happy 2019! This is going to be a great year! Elder Burns and I saw and heard so many fireworks from our apartment. President said that we could stay up until midnight. That felt cool! 

This email will be about 10 times shorter than last week. One cool experience that I'll share happened on Wednesday. We were headed out to an area where we swung by a potential person to teach and knocked some doors. Elder Burns and I had the idea to ask the people we talked to if we could film the conversation we had with them. It seemed like a good conversation starter and a fun way to get people interested. The time we had knocking doors was ok, but at the end of our time there we weren't really feeling excited anymore, plus it started raining onto the icy roads. But then we ended up talking to a cool person! On the last door we knocked, the man that answered said we could film the conversation, he also said that he wanted to change into different clothes before the movie-making began. We had a great conversation with him about God's love. At the end, we even found out that he is really good friends with a member in the ward!