Week 102 - Heading into week 102...When did that happen?

This week has been going well. It's crazy to think about how time goes by so fast. 

Tuesday we managed to watch both the Women's and Sunday afternoon sessions of General Conference! Yaaay! They were fantastic. I love conference. I feel like I never fully appreciated conference for what it is before the mission. As a missionary it's pretty much the biggest event of your life every six months. It's so amazing to listen to modern day prophets and apostles that speak to us today in our time.

Wednesday was another busy day with helping serve lunch again at RIA (they love us there). We then read in the Book of Mormon with a member again and had a great meeting with our branch presidency.

Thursday was district council and we reviewed some of our zone conference discussion, specifically having to do with studies. My studies have been really awesome this last week and I think a lot of it comes from President's challenge to STUDY the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel daily. Study implies actively searching for things and the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel are our primary tools. The more effort I put into my studies the more I get out of them.

Friday someone came and fixed our balcony door so that it finally closes. Yay! We did weekly planning and did stake reports. I was finally able to pick up my bike (again...). We had a member meal and then had some time to do some finding. 

Saturday was filled with a lot of finding. We had a lot of good conversations and spent a lot of time out and about. But all of the finding we have been doing this week has had some results. This week we have been able to hand out 4 Book of Mormons. At the end of last transfer our branch mission leader gave me the suggestion to set some personal challenged and the very first one I set was was to hand out 20 Book of Mormons before the next transfer. Last week was difficult and we only gave out one the whole week but we put in an extra effort this week and gave out 4; we now we are at 17 with one week left to reach our goal. As we set inspired goals that stretch us and work towards them God will put the people in our path and make the other necessary arrangements.  

Sunday was an awesome day. We had an awesome day in church. I even got to speak! So that was fun. We also had dinner with some members again and talked about the importance of having our own testimony. At one point several of us shared our experiences of how we knew the Book of Mormon was true and you could just feel the Spirit. It was awesome. We then had a little bit of time to work with and were able to go out and knock some doors and while we weren't able to give out a Book of Mormon that night or get let in we had a good conversation with this one guy, despite only having about a half hour to be out that night.

Today we went out walking through some of the older houses in Gammal Gävle so that was kind of fun and I put some pictures down below.

I love being a missionary here in Sweden and it's crazy how fast the time has gone. I am so grateful for all that I have learned here, whether that be about the people, myself, or more importantly the Savior.

Wishing you all a great week!

--Elder Ashford

Week 101 SO MANY CONFERENCES!! YES!

This has been a busy week but it has been awesome!

Monday after taking care of all of our Pday stuff we then caught a train to Stockholm for zone conference. It was pretty crazy, we were talking with people the entire way. We talked with the two guys who shared a table with us, and one other guy that was there too. We even gave one of them a card. Then we get to Stockholm and catch a tunnelbana (the metro) and talked to another two people. It was pretty awesome.

Tuesday was my last zone conference. WHAT!? At least it was a good one. We talked a lot about becoming "Preach My Gospel Missionaries" and renewing our emphasis on studying it which was awesome. We also talked a lot about the concept of repentance. I always feel so uplifted and energized after zone conference. We then had a musical number by one of the new missionaries which was "Come Unto Christ" which was the youth mutual theme from a few years ago. Right after that we had a short testimony segment, one of the traditions is that all the missionaries heading home bear their testimony... and this time I fit that category... weird. It was awesome though because I had been pondering about what to say and during the musical number it hit me. It was one of the songs our group had sung together in a sacrament meeting in the MTC and it's essentially both what we do as missionaries and invite others to do. During my mission I have come to know my Savior so much better and understand His Gospel. It's been a wonderful opportunity to be able to then share that then with the people of Sweden.

Wednesday was our usual busy day with RIA, a member visit, and that night we had our first coordination meeting with our branch presidency since we no longer have a branch mission leader. It went pretty well.

The next day we did a lot of finding. We spent time talking to people in town. We had a member meal, and we also got some time to tract as well.,

Friday was... interesting. We had weekly planning and then met this young man that we had met last week. We were able to teach the Restoration and show him around the church and it went super well. What did not go super well however was my bike. The air in my back tire kept leaking out. We pumped it up a few times and hurried to a member meal after the lesson but by the time we got it... The Flat Tire Strikes Back. We were super far from home and there was no way we could ride that back. We take it by a member that lived nearby and borrowed his bike pump hoping to at least be able to pump it up enough to get home. We get it all nice and inflated when WHOOSH  The tire was once again completely limp, and there was no chance of revival at this point. We walked by another member to say hi real quick and then had to lock the bikes at the church and take the bus home.  

Saturday we got a whole bunch of finding in and then we got to watch the first session of General Conference! (The morning session starts at 6 PM here) What exciting changes with the change of church meeting schedules and emphasizing studies at home. I think it will be a really great adjustment. And the talks were all fantastic.

On Sunday General Conference continued and every talk seemed great, and just when you think it couldn't get better, the next talk brought a whole new flood of inspiration and insight. It was a fantastic conference experience. In addition we had about 2 hours in between sessions of general conference to go out finding. We tried a neighborhood that we had walked through at one point heading home on Friday night and thought "maybe this would be a good place to try sometime". It proved to be a challenging area. Not many people answered and few gave us much of a chance to speak. We decided our time might be more effective trying to swing by some people on our way back to watch the last session and we had done the entire inside of a ring. However, the thought came "why not just knock a few last houses that were on the other side of the street on the way out of the neighborhood?" So we did. The first of the two houses answered and we started talking to this man about his family and he mentioned that his family, especially his parents, were fairly religious and suggested we come by when his parents were home as they were returning home from a trip that evening. We gladly accepted and gave him a Book of Mormon and said that we could explain more when we came by to visit. We are going by tonight!  

It's amazing to be able to see the work going on here in Sweden and to be able serve the Lord. It is an amazing privilege to have modern day prophets and apostles who speak to us today. The Lord is hastening His work, the only question is are we ready to keep up?

Have a great week everyone!

--Elder Ashford

Week 100 - It's a Sunday miracle, Charlie Brown!

This week has been pretty awesome. 

Tuesday we had an apartment inspection from our new apartment couple Elder and Sister Clouse and Elder Clouse's brother was visiting too, and their brother used to be The office couple with his wife just over a year ago, so I guess I have now met 3 of the 5 Clouse brothers. Very random but kind of fun. That night we started tracting in an area we haven't worked in before but Elder Balls felt like we should try. The last door of the night we talked to a teenager and his mother and had an excellent conversation and were able to give them a Book of Mormon. The mom even asked the son if he wanted to take it and he said yes! 

Wednesday we were able to have lessons with President which are always a great experience. 

Thursday was another good district council. We had a great discussion about the authority of our calling as a missionary. 

Friday we had exchanges with Borlänge so I was in Borlänge with Elder Petersen. We had a busy day and it was amazing because a whole sequence of events played out that we actually managed to catch several people at just the right time to be able to talk to them so that was awesome. We even got to help the youth with a family history activity. 

Saturday we got back and Elder Balls and I went to Innebandy one last time because we aren't going to be able keep playing at the place we've been at. We got a whole bunch of people there though so that was awesome. We also had Chill Kväll, some members provided some Kurdish food and we had a great turn out. 

Sunday was amazing! We had a great fast and testimony meeting (it's always a favorite of mine) and a great 3rd hour discussion on the meaning of the 13th Article of Faith. We also had an absolute miracle. In the morning we had set a bold goal to pass out the 2 Book of Mormons we needed to reach our goal for the week. We had church in the morning and this lady and her cute 3 little kids just shows up during sacrament meeting. We talked to her for a bit afterwards and she says she just likes to go to church sometimes, saw the sign outside and that it said Jesu Kristi Kyrka, and decided to just come see. She was a little curious after sitting during sacrament meeting and wondered if we had any brochures or anything. We gave her a Book of Mormon which she appreciated, were able to exchange telephone numbers, and then we invited her to general conference and she said she would come! The miracle continues when after dinner and travel we only had at most an hour to go finding. Elder Balls and I both had a few people come to mind to swing by. We swing by all of them with no success, meanwhile I had been wanting to call it a night since it was getting so dark but there was still this feeling that we needed to keep going but I wasn't sure where, so we kept knocking around the people we swung by, not much success, with maybe 5-10 minutes left before we decided we just needed to head back we decided to go up the street and keep knocking. At the very next house we met this very nice older woman who accepted a Book of Mormon. Book of Mormon number 2! The Spirit truly does lead us to those God has prepared and helps us fulfill our goals, but he also leads others to us, it truly is miraculous!

It's been an awesome week and I am so grateful to be a missionary! 

--Elder Ashford

Week 99 - Birthday!

It's been a crazy week and I have virtually no time to email, aaaaah!

Well, I have been fighting a cold all week, it is unfortunately that time of the year, but I think I'm about over it now. So that is always a good feeling.

Wednesday was our usual busy day with RIA, reading the Book of Mormon with a member, and then later we had our coordination meeting.  we had about 20 minutes to go contacting before our meeting though. We had set a goal to contact a man that day who was maybe university age or a bit older. That was who we felt we needed to find. 10 or 15 minutes went by and we hadn't had any success but we decided to at least turn back and go talk to people along the way. As soon as we turn around we started talking to this man that matched exactly what we had felt impressed to look for. It turned out he was the grandson of a member although his family aren't members but it was still good to have contact with him. We then had Branch council that night and were even able to testify of the power of inspired goal settings. It was pretty awesome!

Thursday was in person district meeting and my birthday so that was great. We all went and got pizza together after. We also taught someone a lesson about the restoration and it was awesome! Not much more you can ask for on your birthday here in the mission field.

Friday we had lunch with a member and she even had a cake for me. We then went out and did some finding and then our young man (singular) had just turned 15 like a week ago so him and the YM leader invited us to go get burgers with them during our dinner hour so that was cool. The burgers there were sooo good.

Saturday we swung by a few members which went well and then we went tracting. However, as we were getting ready to then swing by someone on our way home we discovered that my back tire was completely flat... so we got to walk an hour home, talk about companionship bonding time...

Sunday we had a great day in church. The stake President was there visiting and spoke and we had some awesome talks about repentance. We then got to help out in Primary again. So it was all pretty great. 

It's been a super awesome week. I read through a talk by Ezra Taft Benson today called "The Book of Mormon - The Keystone of Our Religion". It is phenomenal. I already loved the Book of Mormon and after reading that I appreciate it so much more.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

--Elder Ashford

Week 98 - Never have I ever... eaten a Vietnamese dinner before.

Monday was pretty interesting. While we were emailing the rain was just pouring down from the sky. Thankfully it cleared up in time for us to go out for the night. We swung by this one guy that we have had a bit of contact with and he just invites us in to eat with him and his family... We had like a legitimate Vietnamese dinner, on the floor and everything, definitely a first on my mission haha. We also managed to swing by someone else we have had contact with and challenged him to try the Book of Mormon challenge and read from the Book of Mormon and he seemed interested to try it.

On Tuesday we had a feeling that we should try going out to this area we had never been to before and so we tried it and the second door we knocked on took a Book of Mormon so that was cool!

Wednesday was our usual busy day with helping serve lunch at RIA, reading with Ulrika and coordination meeting. It was awesome though because after coordination meeting and dinner we were able to teach this one older lady we started teaching about the restoration and it went really well!

Thursday was the first district council of the transfer. It's pretty interesting because when I first got to Gävle we had a lot of missionaries that have been out for awhile but now we have a few more that are still pretty new to Sweden so that's exciting. I also shared a thought  from a great talk from Dieter F Uchtdorf from October 2012 titled "Of Regrets and Resolutions". I felt like it had a great application to missionaries but I think it's a good reminder for us all to make the most of what we have before it's too late.

Friday was a really busy day. We had a lesson in the morning with one recent convert that we have been working with. Went home and squeezed in lunch weekly planning before heading out for a member meal. We then came home for some more planning and prep for 2 more lessons that we had that night. It was busy but super awesome!

By Saturday night I was exhausted. We had Innebandy in the morning and then helped a member move in to the branch. It was interesting because he was moving in from Norrköping so I already knew him and the two other guys that helped to drive the truck and unload so that was a pretty fun reunion. We also had a chance to get some good finding work in.

Sunday was pretty great. We had a good Sacrament meeting and had someone from the stake come to speak. We also had sort of a linger longer meal after church so that was good. After church we came home and I hadn't been feeling the best. I felt pretty tired but we went out and did some finding anyways. It was nice because as we went out I had the energy I needed to be able to get through it and we were able to reach our weekly goal by handing out 2 Book of Mormons within the hour and a half we had and one was even okay with us coming back to see what he had read. It was awesome!

Pictures are of us being totally soaked from the rain one day, 

as well as out Vietnamese dinner, 

a sign that says "Warning: Spoiled grandchildren" 

and us rocking some sunglasses we got from our member meal on Friday.

--Elder Ashford

Week 97 - It's official...

It's official, we found out last night that I'll be staying here in Gävle for my last transfer with Äldste Balls to keep me company... wow does time fly!

I recovered pretty quickly from being sick last P-day so we were able to get to work this week and we even got my bike fixed and ready to go!

Tuesday we did some finding and met with a member about the Book of Mormon Initiative we have going on right now. We also went by someone else that we have been trying to have more contact with. It was really cool because we said a prayer and then called through the portcode but no one answered but Elder Balls started talking with these people that were walking behind us and while we were talking this other couple walks into the building we were trying to get in so we got in and were able to invite our friend to try the Book of Mormon challenge so that was really cool.

Wednesday we had a few lessons. One of them was the first time with this one lady that we were just teaching for the first time and she kept asking us how we know that God is there and "Don't you have doubts sometimes?". She wants to know that God exists but just isn't always sure. I am so grateful for the Spirit and how it has testified to me in my life that the Gospel is true and that God not only exists but is thoroughly involved in our lives if we look for it and if we seek His help.  We also were able to use an analogy that really helped. Much like with a car, we can't expect to move forward with our faith if we have our foot on the brakes the whole time. Questions are okay, but sometimes we need to set our doubts to the side, let of the brake, and then use faith and ease on the gas until we are comfortable that we can continue forward.

Thursday we had a great district meeting and focused on the Christ-like attributes of faith, charity, and obedience. They are 3 things that really unlock the blessings of heaven and allow God's hand to enter into our lives. We also had dinner with some members and it was really funny because they actually know someone who grew up in my homeward during his mission in England so that was really cool! It's a small world!

Friday was a pretty normal day, nothing super eventful and Saturday was interesting.

On Saturday we had hoped to be able to teach some people but virtually all of our plans didn't work out which left us with a very empty schedule. We have been going through this one area for quite awhile and we were starting to think that maybe we need to look somewhere else but we couldn't think of anywhere at the time. It was more or less a "stupor of thought". We had already been out for 3 or hours total during various parts of the day trying to find but we went out again and continued and in that last hour and a half and were able to give out 2 Book of Mormons that night. That was more than we had given out the rest of the week! God truly does test our faith before he shows us the blessings but they do come. 

Yesterday we had a great day in church. We had an awesome Sacrament meeting and then we helped out in primary because Elder Balls can play the piano and they are practicing for their primary program in a few months. It was even better because one of the members brought her friend and friend's husband to church with her and so we invited them to come see what primary was like and they loved it. They were singing and even doing some of the actions along with the kids. It was awesome!

It's been another awesome week and it's always wonderful to see the Lord's hand in our lives and know that he does care about each and every one of his children!  Have a great week!

1 picture: a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Sweden

2-3: So the first is actually an old one. My mission bucket list item of getting ice cream from the ice cream truck was finally achieved, I don't know how many I have heard their jingle but now I finally got it. Number 2 is from when we then got more last Tuesday because it showed up in our neighborhood while we were eating dinner... we may or may not be hooked, it's a problem.

--Elder Ashford

Week 96

Today might be kind of short, woke up with a sick stomach so we shall see how much makes it in.

On Monday I finished the Book of Mormon again! That makes the 3rd time front to back on my mission. I learn stuff from it every single time. I am so thankful for the blessing it has been in my life and how it has helped me grow and strengthen my testimony as well as help me answer life's questions and face life's trials. 

Tuesday was kind of a tough day with doing a lot of finding that didn't really seem to go anywhere but it ended well with a great lesson with Juhani about prayer. 

Wednesday was interesting. We went to the train station where we met the Uppsala elders so they could give us materials for the new Book of Mormon initiative this week in Europe! We also ran into our young men's president which was funny. Right after the Uppsala elders left then the Borlänge Elders arrived for exchanges. Elder Peterson and I stayed in Gävle. We helped out at RIA again and met with Ulrika. We even had time to go finding with the new initiative calendars and it was super awesome. The initiative has been really great. There is a question for every day to ponder and a selected scripture passage from The Book of Mormon that relates to the question. I will put the link below and I highly recommend it. It has really strengthened my testimony and I have learned a lot in just the first 3 days. 

lds.org.uk/the-book-of-mormon

Thursday Elder Petersen and I ran Late to District Council because our train got delayed by an hour. So that was an adventure. That night we also had another awesome lesson with Juhani, he is making progress and it is wonderful to see! 

On Friday we were running late to a lesson, we got on our bikes, but it had rained the night before. I hit this wooden bridge and started to slide and in the process popped my tire. So that was rather difficult. We were able to swing by a few people later though, and we got some lessons set up for this next week so it should be awesome!

Saturday I started the Book of Mormon Challenge, and it's was great. Definitely one of my better personal studies. the first question asked "does God exist?" As I read I gained a greater testimony of God and his love, especially as I continue to ponder what I read. We went on a ministering visit and we're able to meet someone who's been going through a hard time. With our Branch Mission leader we were able to give her a blessing and it really seemed to help. We also had a member come with to visit Juhani and the lesson went great again! The spirit was there and we even helped him start the Book of Mormon challenge. 

Sunday Juhani came to church and seemed to fit right in. He even offered to help out with an upcoming move. After church we had an interesting experience. We were on our way to dinner yesterday with some members. However the bus we got on came late so we missed the other bus we needed to take so now we were stuck for about 40 minutes. My companion suggested that we hop off early and swing by a few people and so we got off. As we are crossing the street this young man who got off at the same time is also crossing so Elder Balls starts talking to him. The conversation quickly moves past the usual introduction so we keep walking with him and explain what we do. He does not actively follow any religion but feels like there must be something. We were able to trade numbers and then walk back to stan and caught our next bus. 

I wish you all a wonderful week! 

--Elder Ashford