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! 

Boden Week 13 - November 27, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another great week! Here we go...

We had dinner with the Näslunds on Monday evening! It was spaghetti with bacon chunks in it. We then made a 'member mission plan' with the Näslunds. President Näslund drove us back to our apartment and on the way we were able to visit a less active member in the branch with him! President Näslund is such a great man.

Boden Week 12 - November 20, 2017

Transfer calls! Elder Harris and I will be spending another 6 weeks here in Boden together! 
You will meet him on Skype! It is rare to have a trainer stay 3 transfers but President Youngberg is having it happen more often. I am really happy about it. Elder Harris and I have become best friends.

I went to Skellefteå for splits with Elder Callor on Wednesday! We have both been out for 12 weeks now! We contacted and taught all by ourselves. It was a good growing experience and so fun to be with Elder Callor again.

Boden Week 11 - November 13, 2017

Hello Family and Friends!

On Friday, Elder Harris and I had 2 lessons that ended up not working out. Our backup plan was contacting. We were both feeling like not contacting. Its hard sometimes!! So we said a prayer that we could receive strength and comfort.

During the contacting stund, we saw one of our investigators, the mother in the Mongolian family we teach! She was so happy to see us and it was comforting for us to see someone who was happy to see the missionaries! She needed a phone to call her husband so it worked out very nicely that we ran into each other. I know that Heavenly Father puts the right people in our path and that he can give us the strength we need.

And now for the paragraph of things I want to tell you but I don't have time to write a paragraph about them all... We met with Gonzolo again this week! Super friendly guy and a really fun dad. We had dinner at Fern's house! The power went out but we got figured out! We missed the bus to Distrikt Meeting and the car wouldn't start for the systers! But we had distrikt meeting eventually. We saw the Northern LIghts SO GOOD this week! They were huge and covered the sky. Sorry we don't have pics for you :(  They were so pretty :)