Jakobsberg Week 26 - August 13, 2018

Another awesome week! Here are a few quick highlights...

I went on splits with the new assistant, Äldste Derr! We went to high school together (Go Darts!!) and it was such an awesome experience to be companions for a day. Elder Derr has a ton of energy and a tangible excitement for missionary work! I learned a lot from him. A few people we talked to recognized us as the Mormons and asked if we were from Salt Lake. Elder Derr and I just turned to each other, smiled, and said "yep!" We are the stereotype. Go Kaysville! Go Darts! Go Mormons!

Guess what happened? Last Sunday, the missionaries in an area called Skövde called and told us about two people they are teaching who actually live in Jakobsberg's ward. The two men, Mark from Hungary and Tommy from northern Sweden, will be getting baptized sometime in September.  Elder Barney and I will get to help teach them through Skype!  These guys came to our ward yesterday and they are awesome. They have been taught by the missionaries in Skövde for about two weeks, and before that they had already learned a ton about the Church and even started listening to Mormon Channel Radio and watching KSL. Miracles happening here!

Jakobsberg Week 25 - August 6, 2018

The first week of a new transfer! To be honest, I think that my love for Jakobsberg just about doubled this week! At first, I was a little unsure of how to feel about staying for a fifth transfer. Plus, it was hard to say hej då to Elder Gordon, we have been working super well together. But it turns out that Elder Barney and I work splendidly together as well, we have had some pretty amazing experiences the past few days!!

First, there is a lady named Nathalie that Elder Gordon and I met on a bus a few weeks ago. We set up a tour of the chapel with her, and Elder Barney and I gave the tour on Thursday. We tried to make it interesting, one of the things we did was play a hymn on the piano for her and and her two kids. At District Council right before the tour we had talked a lot about being bold, and Elder Barney and I had decided to ask Nathalie to be baptized during the tour as an act of boldness! We asked her, and while she didn't say 'yes' we were able to get a better grasp on the things we can teach her to help her progress. We met with her again on Saturday and have another lesson for tomorrow. Miracles happening here!

DISTRICT LEADER ~ July 31, 2018

DISTRICT LEADER

Dear Brother & Sister Francis,

We are writing to express our appreciation for your son, Äldste Francis.  Äldste Francis has been assigned to serve as a district leader in the Jakobsberg II area of the Sweden Stockholm Mission. He is a wonderful and well-prepared missionary, and this added leadership responsibility will be a blessing to him and to the mission.

A district leader is a position of sacred stewardship in the Sweden Stockholm Mission as it can have a tremendous impact on the culture of the mission and the missionaries themselves.

Thank you for your continued love, support, and prayer on behalf of your missionary and the Sweden Stockholm Mission.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Youngberg

Michael J. Youngberg, President

SWEDEN STOCKHOLM MISSION

Jakobsberg Week 24 - July 30, 2018

Hej hej!

This week was awesome!

We had two sets of splits this week, one with the zone leaders and one with the assistants! I was with Elder Craun in Gubbängen for the first one and then with Elder Harden here in Jakobsberg for the second. It was my fifth time being on exchanges with Elder Harden, I feel blessed to have served around him. He'll be headed home on Thursday, it's unbelievable how quickly the time has passed! 

-Here are some berries from where we did yard work (goosberries, yum!)

On Monday, we were able to do some service at the home with one of the people we are teaching! He is building a fence around his yard so that his son can play safely without running away. My job was to trim back an evergreen tree so that it wouldn't be in the way of the fence. It's been kind of a long time since I've done yard work, and I have definitely missed it! Elder Harden and I helped with the project again while on splits. We were able to talk with the man we teach about some good gospel topics, he has really good questions.

I got a flat tire on my bike a few days ago. It made it so that Elder Gordon and I had to take a few more buses than usual, but that was a blessing because we talked to some cool people and even became friends with one of our neighbors! Our bishop is really big into biking and he'll be helping us with the flat on Tuesday.

Jakobsberg Week 23 - July 23, 2018

Hello Again! 

It hasn't rained here basically the whole summer. I guess the skies were saving up, though, because on Saturday it poured on us on the way home! We began biking right as the storm started and we were soaked all the way through to the end. It was awesome!

On Friday, we headed to one of the cities in our area called Barkarby. We went by the home of a member in the ward but they must have been gone, and we had about 30 minutes until our bus came. We decided to start walking and contacting people for 15 minutes and then to turn around and contact 15 minutes back to the bus. A car had stalled in the middle of the road, so we were able to help push it to the side of the road. After that, Elder Gordon and I felt like we had done what we needed to do in Barkarby. 

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.