Week 8 - Merry Christmas!

It has been an interesting but an awesome week here in Sweden.

On Tuesday Äldste Murtonen and I talked to people on the street, but at one point we took a break and went and saw the Landskrona Citadel.  It is an old fort from when the Swedes and Danes were fighting over what is now southern Sweden.  It was pretty cool!  We also had dinner with a member family that night who speak Swedish but with a thick accent that you hear in the southern part of Sweden called Skånish (pronounced like  "Scone").  For someone who is trying to understand even normal Swedish it was kind of difficult.  Apparently if you can understand Skånish you can understand Swedish anywhere else because this is the hardest accent.

Landskrona Citadel

The next day my companion and I were on splits with the zone leaders in Malmö so we met them at the train station in Lund and I went with Äldste Chugg to Malmö for the day.  We started with helping a member who was moving clean out his apartment with another pair of Elders, one of whom is actually from my MTC district so it was nice to see him again.  Later, after lunch, Äldste Chugg and I did some more street contacting on the main street in Malmö.  We actually had a lot of awesome conversations with people on the street and met a lot of people coming from all over the world.  It's weird how I am in Sweden but I meet people from Palestine or Iran or somewhere else all the time.  We even found a few possible investigators that the zone leaders will follow up with later.  We then had a lesson with a recent convert on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can apply the steps of Faith, Repentence, Baptism, The Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End in our lives.

On Thursday we drove back to Landskrona to meet our companions and take them to the train station in Helsingborg where we met the Halmstad Elders for lunch so that I could go on splits AGAIN!  I went with Elder White up to Halmstad.  We ended up having three lessons that night which was awesome.  It was cool to actually have lessons. Äldste Murtonen and I don't have many people to teach and most of them went out of town for Christmas so we haven't done many lessons.

Friday Äldste White and I went back to Helsingborg.  Our district did a white elephant exchange with the 6 of us before setting up a street display on the street with snacks and hot chocolate and Julmust (a type of soda they only sell at Christmas time or Easter).  We actually had a great time, we talked to a lot of people and a few of them even came in to tour the church.  It was great!  One of the ladies we talked to was one that Äldste Murtonen and I contacted on the street a week ago!  

Saturday we met the Sister Missionaries at the church to relax, play games and eat breakfast since we weren't supposed to proselyte over Christmas.  At about 1 we headed to the Bishop's house where we spent the rest of the day.  It was really fun and we left a christmas message before we went home which was great.

Christmas day we picked up a less-active member who just moved into our ward and helped him get to the church.  It took us 10 minutes on the phone and walking around before we found him!  He was really cool though and we laughed about it.  For church we read about the birth of Christ and sang a lot of Christmas hymns which was nice.  There was a snack then after the meeting so we met with the ward.  We helped clean that up and then later we got to Skype home!  It's always nice to see family, although it's weird to think about how I won't get to do it again until mother's day.  After we all Skyped home we went to a member's home for dinner. It felt kind of weird not having to work at all for the entire weekend, but we were still tired by the time we got home.  

It's been a great week and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  Remember that Christ loves all of you.  I wish all of you a happy new year!  Don't forget to think of something to set as a goal to work towards next year.  So far on my mission I have learned a lot about how much more you can accomplish when you set goals and make plans to achieve them.  I feel like I can accomplish so much more in a day than I used to without planning.  There is always something we can do, whether it's trying to learn an instrument, remembering to read our scriptures every day, or something else entirely.  With planning and prayer, anything is possible

Happy New Year!

Weeks 6 and 7 - Good bye MTC, Hallå Sweden!

The last week and a half have been crazy but awesome!

I apologize ahead of time if this ends up being a long email but a lot has happened between my last week in the MTC and arriving here in Sweden.

Our last Friday in the MTC we had In-field Orientation pretty much all day.  So we got to learn a little bit more about what it's like to actually do work in the mission field and it was awesome!  We learned a lot of cool things and had a lot of fun with it.  Friday and Saturday were also our last days with our teachers so it was kind of sad but we were also all super excited.  On Sunday, we had Sacrament meeting and we had some awesome talks, and my district sang "How Great Thou Art" as a departure musical number, it turns out that it is actually a Swedish folk song which is really cool, and we sang parts of it in Swedish and English and the two Norwegian Elders sang a part in their language.  It was kind of sad to say goodbye to all the Finns, Äldste Domino (the visa waiter) and the Nords.  It was also kind of rough for the Nords, it turns out that they won't have to wait for their visas but they still needed to go to the Norwegian Consulate so they had to wait another week before they left.  But from what I've heard they enjoyed their last week.  They got to hear from Elder Holland on Tuesday, which of course happened just after we left, we were even joking about it before we left on Monday.  Sunday night though we had our Departure Devotional with the MTC Presidency on remembering obedience and to not be afraid to talk to people about the gospel, even though it's scary, especially in another language.  The normal Devotional afterwards was also really cool because the BYU Men's Chorus came and sang Christmas songs.  It was so cool!  It was a great way to leave the MTC.  

Provo Temple - Mountains

These two pictures are from our last temple walk the Sunday before we left.

Provo Temple - Mountains

Us and the Nords our last night before we left (plus an extra elder who decided to jump in.)

Monday we finally left.  I was really stressed that morning.  Not only were we leaving but I was the travel leader so it was kind of my job to make sure everyone made the train and all the flights.  So I was really nervous on the train because I haven't had to take them that often but everything went really smoothly!  We got to the airport just fine and got through security.  I felt a little better once we got in the airport since I've flown plenty of times before.  I got to call home from the airport which was nice.  It's weird thinking that I just talked to my family and I'll get to talk to them again soon on Christmas.  Our flight left from Salt Lake and we were in JFK, it was super nice because our next flight was leaving from the gate right next to the one we came in from so we didn't even have to walk that far.  One of the people on our flight actually knew someone who went to Sweden and she took a picture of us which was funny.  From JFK we had a 7 and a half hour flight to Amsterdam.  It felt really long.  Especially because missionaries shouldn't be watching movies on the plane so I mostly just slept, read my scriptures and resorted to playing sudoku and doing crosswords (yes, it gets that boring).  We got to Amsterdam, and it was a little interesting getting around the airport and we had to switch from the international terminal to another one, thankfully there are signs everything both in dutch in English.  We boarded our last plane and finally landed in Sweden at 9 am local time.

 These are from as we were landing in Sweden. 

1st glimpse of Sweden

Beautiful Sunrise in Sweden

The Mission President and all of his assistants and the Elders working in the mission office picked us up.  We got some pictures and exchanged our money.  I met Äldste Halterman which was fun because I know his younger brother and he was leaving on Thursday.  So we talked a bit about Minnesota and what had changed since he's been gone the last two years.  We then drove to Stockholm City Hall for some pictures before we headed to the migration office to start getting our residency cards.  We went to the Mission office for lunch and then went our with the assistants, office elders, and some of the Stockholm missionaries to do "Greenie Contacting" where they make us new people talk to people on the street.  It was weird because it gets really dark here so it was only 4:30 yet it felt like it was 8 at night.  The third person I talked to with my contacting companion, Äldste Hawkins, we almost gave him a Book of Mormon, but instead we got his number but that was really cool still.  Most of the rest of the time we mostly just handed out the #LightTheWorld (#ettLjusförVärlden in Swedish) pass along cards the Church has for Christmas.  It's kind of rough because a lot of people don't want to listen to you but I was surprised how many good conversations we did have.  After contacting we went back to the Mission home and had dinner and met with the Mission President.  Then we finally went to bed, we were all super tired from the jet lag because we had been up for 36 hours.  The next day we got ready and headed to the Chapel and got some training from the Assistants before we found out who our trainers are and where we are assigned.  My trainer is actually Finnish, Äldste Murtonen.  We are in Helsingborg which is actually right next to Denmark.  In certain parts of the city you can actually see Denmark across the channel.

This is a picture of Helsingborg and you can see Denmark on the other side of the water.

This is our "Gingerbread men" picture.

So far we have done a lot of contacting because a lot of our investigators are busy with Christmas plans.  The ward also had a Christmas Concert on Saturday night so we sang in several of the numbers because the ward is so small.  We were actually part of a Ljusiatåg, which is a train of people who sing and hold candles.  We had hats on because we were "Gingerbread men", I'll be sure to send the picture I have.  It was really cool and a great way to celebrate Christmas.  So far the Members have been impressed with my Swedish for being brand new but so far a lot of the Swedish goes over my head.  I did get to bear my testimony on Sunday though and I could get bits and pieces.  My companion was doing English translation because there are a few Americans in our ward who don't speak Swedish.  It was cool though because the Bishop translated for his second counselor who spoke, so I got the chance to hear the English and the Swedish right next to each other and see how much I could pick out.  After church we had lunch with an American member who travels a lot.  He ended up giving us a spiritual thought that was really cool.  He talked about how in Doctrine and Covenants it says that everything points to Christ, like how a tree "dies" and "resurrects" every Winter and Spring.  It was a really cool thought and I am going to try to look for that more, especially with Christmas this week.  

I am so excited for Christmas and for the opportunity to remember our savior and all he has done for us.  I love everything that He has done for us.  Remember that while we may celebrate Christ's birth on Christmas, his birth is important because of what he went on to do and His Atonement.  So I invite all of you to take some time to ponder this Christmas about the Savior and think of how you can follow Christ's Example this Christmas.  I love the Church's Christmas Initiative and I invite you to check out some of the ideas on Mormon.org of how we can be like Christ this Christmas.  They have different ideas every day and some of the ones for this coming week are awesome.  

 A great big christmas tree in the town square by our apartment​.

I just want to finish with that I love my Savior and all he has done for me.  I know He loves me and you as well!  I wish you all a merry Christmas from Sweden!

PS My P-days are now on Mondays so that is when I will be emailing.

 I apologize that I don't have many more pictures but my SD card has not been saving all the pictures I've been taking.

1st Area: Helsingborg!

Helsingborg is a town on the coast of Sweden.  It is Sweden's closest point to Denmark.

Can't wait to hear more about it in the coming weeks!  Äldste Ashford's new P-day (aka day for emails ... and other preparations for the week) is now on Monday.

If you want to send him emails, do so on Sunday as Sweden is 7 hours ahead and he may be reading the messages while you are sleeping.

2nd Day in Sweden: Training, New Companion, New Area!

I may have spent the last couple of days stalking Facebook (a mission page and a secret one for us crazy loving and non-worrying moms 😇), the mission blog, and my email waiting to hear about where our missionary's first area will be.  The wait was over this morning.

Here is another part of the letter we received from President Beckstrand

"The next morning we began the day promptly at 6:30 a.m. with breakfast at the Mission Home. We departed the Mission Home for the nearby Täby Chapel where the Assistants, Sister Beckstrand and I provided training.  

In the second meeting of the morning, he met his new companion and trainer, Äldste Tuomo O. Murtonen. They will serve together in the Helsingborg I area of the Sweden Stockholm Mission."

And the Photos!

(Mom's Note: I have learned that his companion is from Finland and has been on his mission just over a year.)

He made it to Sweden!

On Monday morning we had a nice chat with Äldste Ashford while he was waiting for his flight to leave Salt Lake City.  They had a very early start and then took the light rail to the airport.  Spencer was assigned to be the travel leader - and he said they just gave us directions about which stops to take and then sent us off.  He was a little nervous to be in charge since he hadn't done the light rail before, but it all went great.  He was cute about ending our conversation in time to round up his group to make sure they all made the flight.  We will have to wait to get an email from him to hear how the rest of the travel went.

There were 9 elders and 1 sister missionary that traveled to Sweden.  One of the elders is still waiting on his visa and will be in California until it arrives.

We followed their flights across the globe.  They traveled from Salt Lake City, to New York (JFK), to Amsterdam, and finally to Stockholm.  They were traveling more than a day but lost a few hours in travel, they were so excited to finally arrive in Sweden.  Hopefully they were able to sleep a little bit.

We know that on this flight they sat together in 2 groups.  Not sure about the other flights, forgot to ask.

We received an email from the mission home on Tuesday:

Dear Parents,

We just wanted to let you know that your missionary arrived safely in Sweden this morning. They were in good spirits and excited to be here. We will be emailing you some more pictures in a few days and your missionary will be emailing you on Monday.

Syster ClouseCorrespondence Secretary

Also included were the following photos.  We got an email from the President Beckstrand, the mission president, this morning that detailed how their first day went.  It helps when looking at the photos.

"Upon arrival, he was taken into the city of Stockholm for immigration paperwork. He then had a glimpse of Stockholm with photo opportunities, a light lunch, instructions, training, and contacting in the streets of Stockholm with one of our exceptional, experienced missionaries. 

The mission office was his next stop with an orientation to the Sweden Stockholm Mission policies and procedures. Shortly thereafter, Sister Beckstrand and I invited your son and his MTC group to dine with us at the mission home. I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time in an interview with your son. We concluded the day’s activities with family scriptures and prayer and retired for the evening at the Mission Home."

Nope- No sign of our elder in this photo.

Not in this one either, maybe he was in the van loading the luggage?

 Photo Opportunities in Stockholm

Light Lunch.  Doesn't look very Swedish.  :)

And why are most of them still wearing their coats?
Specifically, of all of them, why is our Minnesotan still wearing his coat?

I love all of the smiles!  They all look very happy to be there.

His travel plans are finalized!

Äldste Ashford and his group are flying to Sweden on Monday!  They are leaving super early in the morning for a 9 am flight for their first leg of the journey, so start sending your packages to the Stockholm Mission Home!

We are so excited because he gets to call from the airport before that flight!

Week 5 - Photos

The first pic is the picture I mentioned of Elder Beveridge and I in our matching light up ties, 

next is Elder cook sporting Elder Beveridge's other tie.

Äldste Ashford and Äldste Beveridge

Äldste Ashford, Äldste Cook, and Äldste Beveridge

 The third one shows what happens when everyone thinks it's funny to send 

Swedish Fish to Swedish Missionaries.  

In case you were wondering, those things are way to sweet to eat through!

The last one I took from the temple steps.

I'll send another one I took of the temple itself in a sec. 

(and Bam! it has already appeared!)

Week 5 - Sweden, Here I Come

It's my last week in the MTC!  We leave on Monday, and of course we get to leave at 4:30 in the morning for a 9am flight.  It'll be great!  It's crazy to think I'm almost out of here.  I have been here for so long that I almost forget about the outside world sometimes.  I can't wait to finally fly to Sweden!

Our travel plans arrived on Friday, so that was a very exciting day.  Unfortunately one of our Elders' visa hasn't arrived yet, so he will be serving in California for a transfer since he can't leave yet.  We all feel bad for him but surprisingly he is excited, even if he does have a little longer before Sweden.  

Saturday was a pretty normal day.  We had a great discussion in class though about faith while reading out of Alma 32 (verses 26-43) about faith being like a little seed.  We have to plant it and let it grow.  It's amazing how fun talking about scriptures is in the MTC.  People seem to always think it's boring but when you really get into it with others who are also interested, it's a lot of fun and everyone learns a lot!  I also read a talk that one of the Elders gave me.  It's 'The Fourth Missionary' by James Corbridge.  It is amazing at explaining how as missionaries we need to be obedient to be effective and be able to change others' lives, but we also need to be obedient in our thoughts and heart if we want to be able to change ourselves.  If our mind and heart aren't aligned with God, then even if our might and strength are, we don't benefit because we haven't given our whole self to God's work.  It's a really good talk and I highly recommend it for anyone considering a mission.  If you can learn the principles in there early, I can guarantee you will be ready by the time you serve a mission.

Sunday was Fast Sunday!  It was an awesome day.  In Priesthood we talked about the Book of Mormon and how our entire religion rests upon it like the keystone of an arch.  Because we know it to be true, we know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that God has restored his church on the Earth, and that His priesthood power and authority have also been restored to the Earth.  It was an awesome discussion.  Fast and testimony meeting was really powerful.  The spirit was so strong.  Our whole district got up and bore our testimonies and most of the Finns did as well.  We all got up and testified of Christ, and then we all sang the 2014 Mutual theme 'Come Unto Christ'.  The Spirit was so powerful I was tingling for about a half hour.  My heart was so full.  After Sacrament meeting my district started practicing our departure song for the next sacrament meeting.  We are singing 'How Great Thou Art' which is actually originally a Swedish tune.  We are having the Nords sing a verse, we sing a verse, we all then sing a verse in English, and then the last verse we all go back to our own mission languages.  Hopefully it will go well.  That night we also watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  It had some great reminders about Christmas, such as the fact that Christmas is important because of Easter, if Christ hadn't atoned for us, His birth would not have the same importance.  He has also given us better gift than we could ever give, which is His atonement.  It was an amazing devotional, so if you have spare time I recommend watching, it should be on LDS.org.  Sunday night Elder Beveridge and I realized we got care packaged the same light up tie so I will link that down below, we totally got a picture of it.

Monday we had a great discussion in class on the importance of having investigators make commitments and then following up with them.  We actually taught ourselves because our teachers had their own devotional to go to.  Elder Beveridge and I also taught our replacement zone leaders so they can take over on Sunday.  It's crazy to think we are almost done with that assignment.  I still feel like I've only just started my assignment as zone leader.  

Tuesday we had our last Tuesday Devotional.  We got to hear from Craig C Christianson of the Presidency of the Seventy (FYI he spoke during the Christmas devotional on Sunday).  He gave an amazing talk on the importance of yoking ourselves to Christ, our companions, and members.  If we yoke ourselves it means we have to work together, but we also gain the strength to do far more than we can alone.  Tuesday night it was Vanhin Crump's Birthday (one of the Finns) so we had a bit of a celebration.  It was funny, they lifted him up in the air in a chair Bar Mitzvah style, it was hysterical.

Wednesday we had our last TRC so Elder Beveridge and I talked with Hampus from Sweden over Skype.  We had a great time talking about Christmas and the #LighttheWorld initiative the church has.  It is so much fun to be able to have great discussions with actual native speakers.

Sorry this email is so long, but it's my last one before Sweden!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy the Christmas season and take a second to ponder why we celebrate it.

Vi Ses!

-Elder Ashford

Week 5 - Preview Photo!

Here is a photo of another MN reunion at the MTC.  Tom Parkinson used to be in our ward several years ago before moving to Idaho and serving a mission in Norway.  Fun that they ran into each other at the MTC.  Thanks to Tom's mom Karen for sharing it on Facebook.  :)

Week 4 - Open Your Mouth

Hey everyone!  

It's been another great week here at the MTC, and now I only have a week and a half left.  It's Crazy!

Saturday I got to break out my sewing skills.  I got a small hole in my suit and had to stitch it up.  It might have been the first time I've sewed something since 7th grade.  (Thanks FACS class!)

Sunday definitely had a theme of obedience.  Our district meeting and devotional both covered that topic, and the video we watched that night was also in that theme.  We heard from Stephen B. Allen, the managing director of the Mission Department.  He was really funny.  He really understands what goes through missionaries thoughts.  He made a really great point of not letting Satan push our buttons.  He wants us to go home, give up, or not do our best.  His mission is to not let us live up to our potential.  We need to not let him push our buttons, and that's especially true as a missionary.  He talked about the importance of following mission rules and how they are not there to make our lives miserable.  They come from the First Presidency and nearly 200 years of Church missionary experience.  They are designed specifically to not allow Satan to take hold of us.  That same point was also referenced in the Holland Devotional recording that we watched that night.  He also mentioned that when Joseph Smith went to pray, Satan couldn't kill him, so he tried the next best thing, he bound his mouth so Joseph couldn't speak.  We can't allow him to shut our mouths.  We need to not be scared to share the truth of the Gospel with others.  When we are too scared, he has power over us.

Monday we finally got snowed that stayed!  It finally feels like winter.  One of the Elders in our district figured out our flight plans early.  We get to go through New York and Amsterdam to get to Stockholm.  It's crazy to think we only have 2 Sundays left before Sweden!  We also figured out from our teachers that the day we arrive, it should be some sort of light festival in Sweden that is supposed to be really cool.  We had a really cool day in class.  We talked about the amount of Faith that Enoch in the Bible and the Brother of Jared had in the Book of Mormon.  They must have had to have such obedience to receive the amount of power they did. It was a great discussion.  On our way back from class we took some pictures of the lights with the snow.  As we were walking back there was a huge snowball fight and we walked right through the middle of it.  It was great to see all of these missionaries having a great time.

Tuesday we heard from Jorge Zaballos of the Quorum of the Seventy.  He talked to us about making sure we teach with the Spirit.  We can't do everything for our investigators.  They need to be able to find their own answers, but we can certainly help.  Afterwards Elder Beveridge and I had leadership training since we are now zone leaders.  We talked about learning how to both administer and minister.  The phrase also popped into my head to have "love with expectations".  I really like that, especially the more I thought about it.  Whenever you are a leader to someone, they need to know you care about them.  If they know you care they will have respect and trust in you.  Then the expectations come in because that's how you encourage others to do their best.  You hold them accountable when they fall short and help them see how to improve.

Yesterday we had TRC again so we were teaching members in Swedish.  This time we Skyped a woman in Denmark who grew up in Sweden.  It was awesome!  We understood most of what she said, although her Swedish was also pretty rusty so she might have been speaking a little slower, but I won't complain.  We taught a good lesson on sharing our light with others.  We also shared a thought that we heard from Elder Zaballos that we don't say "Go to Christ", we say "Come unto Christ", implying that we need to already be near Christ before we can invite others.  It was really cool to talk to her, and it was amazing how much we came to care about her after only a 35 minute Skype call.  It's amazing how much easier it is to teach people and help them when you come to love the people you serve.  Yesterday I also got a whole bunch of cinnamon and orange rolls with some cookies in the mail.  Knowing that I wouldn't possibly be able to healthily eat them all by myself I shared them with the zone.  All the elders loved it!  Our zone has gotten really tight and we have a lot of fun together.

Today has been pretty quiet but that's not necessarily bad.  It's nice to have a brief break every once in a while.

-Elder Ashford

Elder Ashford and Elder Beveridge

MTC Campus lights with new snow

Snowball Fight!

MTC Thanksgiving Service Project News

Here is a story written by Deseret News I borrowed one photo but there are others found at the link below from the Service Project the MTC did on Thanksgiving.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865667991/MTC-missionaries-spend-Thanksgiving-packing-meals-for-the-hungry.html

PROVO — Sister Sydney Harris spent her first Thanksgiving away from her family Thursday.

"I am missing the homemade pie," she laughed, thinking of back home in Rigby, Idaho.

But Sister Harris, who will leave the Missionary Training Center to serve a mission in Riverside, California for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was in high spirits, her hair tucked beneath a red hair net as she scooped lentils into a plastic bag.

"I've never felt the spirit so strong," she said.

Around her, about 1,500 other missionaries bustled about at the MTC, spending their Thanksgiving afternoon preparing more than 350,000 meal packs for Utah children in need.

Photo by Nick Wagner, Deseret News

The missionaries stood shoulder-to-shoulder at dozens of long tables in the training center's cafeteria, some singing upbeat gospel music as they hauled bags of rice, poured food into bags and stacked boxes.

Once prepared, the meals will require only water and heat to be eaten. Each boxed meal contained bags of rice, lentils, dried vegetables and salt.

All of the meals were to be distributed to low-income families with children through various food banks throughout the state.

It's the fourth service project of its kind — what's become the MTC's Thanksgiving tradition — through a partnership with the Florida-based nonprofit Feeding Children Everywhere.

David Green, CEO of Feeding Children Everywhere, said the meals packaged Thursday brought the total number of meals prepared by missionaries to more than 1 million.
BrandView

Green called it one of the church's largest humanitarian efforts that's not related to emergency disaster response.

"I feel like there's no better way of showing selflessness," said Elder Muaau Suaalii, who was preparing to serve a mission in Apia, Samoa.

Dean R. Burgess, president of the Missionary Training Center, said the service project is meant to encourage missionaries to "follow the Savior's example by serving others."

"There are a lot of thoughts about home, because Thanksgiving is really about family," President Burgess said. "But we help them think about others, to not be so homesick or concerned about what's happening at home. It really helps them stay focused on their mission's purpose."

Elder Jared Pena, of American Fork, who was preparing to go on a Spanish-speaking mission in Neuquen, Argentina, said it was one of his best Thanksgiving Days, despite being away from his family.

"I think my parents would want me to go out and do the same thing on Thanksgiving," he said.

Elder Suaalii said the work was making him eager to get into the mission field.

"It means a lot, to know we're making so many meals for families in need. I think it's really special," he said. "This is what I want. I want to be of service to others."

Sister Harris said she "gets emotional" every time she thinks about how many people the meals will be helping.

"This is what missionary work is all about — serving others and bringing them closer to Christ," she said. "I love being a missionary, and I can't wait to do more."


Katie McKellar covers local politics and community issues on city, county and state levels for Deseret News/KSL.

@KatieMcKellar1
kmckellar@deseretnews.com

Week 3 - Bonus Post from Mom

I have joined some Facebook groups with connections to the Stockholm Sweden Mission.  In Spencer's email this week he mentioned TRC - which means Teaching Resource Center.  I already knew he had done a great job because the person he was teaching posted to one of the groups I follow.  And he included photos! Thanks John Knecht!

"Today was TRC...where these Elders and one Sister teach in Swedish for the first time. They did great. I learned about 'Enduring to the End' and the 'Free Agency" from Elders Kim Christianson Ashford and Wade Beveridge. From Elders Cook and Hartin, ETTE. I also got a couple of group shots....Enjoy...and Tag your Elder or Sister."

Elder Ashford and Beveridge

Elder Cook and Elder Hartin 

Swedish Missionaries

Week 3 - Be Thankful For Your Trials

My P-day got moved back a day because of Thanksgiving, so it feels like forever since the last time I wrote, but here goes!

Last Friday We had Teaching Resource Center (TRC), and it was an absolute blast!  We got to meet members who spoke Swedish and talk to them for 20 minutes and give them a spiritual thought, in Swedish.  It was awesome, we even got to do it twice!  It's amazing how we prepped one thought and then followed the Spirit, because the two discussions went completely differently.  Friday I also finally got the mission shirt I ordered that says Sweden Stockholm Mission 2016 - 2018 with a map of Sweden in the flag colors.  Although they originally gave me the wrong one.  I opened it up at first and noticed the country shape was wrong.  And the colors.  And the fact that it said Costa Rica.  They mixed my shirt up but they found after 10 or 15 minutes.  My shirt had accidentally been swapped.  Me and my companion were laughing though, we joked that I almost got sent to Costa Rica instead of Sweden.

Saturday was really cool.  Sister Pickett has been sick for awhile and Saturday she had absolutely no voice.  Elder Beveridge and I got to give her a blessing.  It's amazing how the Priesthood really is the power of God.  When you give bless​​ings, you end up telling people what they needed to hear, even when you had absolutely no idea what that was!  This led to my study of the Priesthood during my personal study.  I started off in Doctrine and Covenants section 20 reading about the roles of the priesthood, but I ended up studying Melchizedek and why he was the one to have the priesthood called after him.  It was really interesting and I highly recommend you study it.  

Sunday was also an interesting day.  It was the older Finns last day.  We were sad to see these friends we made leave, but we were excited and they were excited that they were finally leaving for the mission field.  But, with the Finns leaving, we were also losing our zone leaders, which leads me to something else cool.  Elder Beveridge and I are the new Zone Leaders!  We now are in charge of taking care of our zone which consists of our district and the new Finnish District.  We have a phone, but it's essentially a brick because it's a flip phone and password protected so we can't do anything but receive phone calls and call the information desk.  But it's cool.  

Monday morning we saw the old Finns off.  It feels weird that was only this week.  Unfortunately, unlike the other Swedes we won't see them in the mission field.  Monday our phone also kept buzzing a lot.  The new Finns had to fly out to the embassy in California for their visas on Tuesday so we had to send them down to the travel office to verify some info.  Monday was quiet with only one set of Finns left, and Tuesday felt like a temporary Ghost town while the others had their day trip.  Our zone went from taking 6 rooms when we came to now only 3.

Tuesday was also our Devotional.  We heard from Brent H. Neilson, who is a general seventy and the head of the Mission Department.  He gave an awesome talk about how people always say that "Oh it was better in ___ time".  He assured us that this is the best time to live and that these are our days, particularly as missionaries.  The church has never grown faster, had higher membership, had more temples, or reached as far across the world as it does now.  He also showed us the video from the Peter Whitmer farm of the growth of the church.  That video is only supposed to be shown at the farm, but he begged and received permission to show it here at the MTC this one time.  It was awesome!  I feel like a lot of the missionaries were really excited after that talk.  He also told us what Thomas S Monson always tells the General Authorities.

1: "He who the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies"

2: "Whenever you are on the Lord's errand you are entitled to His Help"

Wednesday was relatively normal, the MTC didn't get any new missionaries because of Thanksgiving, and our zone won't get any until after my district leaves.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and it was amazing.  We started with a morning devotional from Neil L Anderson.  I sang in the choir and we sang Mack Wilberg's  arrangement of 'Come thou Fount' to start the meeting.  I loved it!  Elder Anderson then gave a wonderful talk on how much we have to be thankful for.  God has given us literally everything, including our bodies and the ability to breathe and walk.  So nothing is really ours in this life, and we have so much to be thankful for.  He also told us to be thankful for our trials, as they help us grow and can be a blessing in the long run.  I believe he quoted 2 Nephi as he talked about how the Lord would consecrate our trials to our gain.  This was a great reminder to me that when we have struggles in life that there must be blessings in plenty in store down the road.  

Elder Anderson also brought a friend who quoted the title of one of Elder Anderson's talks "It’s True, Isn’t It? Then What Else Matters?".  If we have faith in God and that He is real, then what else matters.  Our afflictions become meaningless when we know that we are driven by truth.  We also had a wonderful zone review after the devotional.  The Spirit was strong as we testified of what we thought and felt during the devotional.  We then had lunch, which was our Thanksgiving meal.  

We then had another devotional about the service and the Church.  We got to see the video for the Church's new 'Light the World' service initiative a day early as it actually was launched today.  My district then watched the movie 'Ephraim's Rescue' about the people who went and saved the Martin Handcart Company.  I loved it and it's testimony of faith and enduring through hard times.  It's a great movie and I highly recommend it.  We then had dinner and did a service project, bagging food for Feeding Children Everywhere, which is a company much like Feed My Starving Children but works mostly with children in the US.  We then had a musical Thanksgiving tribute with a lot of different musical contributions from various groups in the MTC.  One was even one of those western/cowboy style bands with two string basses, two violins, several guitars, and even a mandolin and banjo!  At the end they let us walk outside and they finally turned on the Christmas lights everywhere!  It was great, we have been waiting for the last week for them to finally turn them on at night.

I am sorry this email was so long but so much has happened this week, especially with P-day being pushed back and Thanksgiving.  I am so grateful to be here at the MTC and to have this opportunity to serve the Lord after He has given me so much.  Every time we try to obey Him and make up for all the blessings he has given us, He simply blesses us more.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

-Elder Ashford

Provo Temple

Provo Temple

This is something that Swedish Elder going to Finland showed us, it's 9 different words that all sound virtually the same but mean completely different things.

Elder Beveridge and I rocking our hairnets after our service project.

Week 2 - Teach with the Spirit

I am going to have to use my journal to help me write this.  It is ridiculous how time both freezes and flies at the same time here.  The day seems forever and you can't wait until P-day and the next thing you know it's already here.

       We are learning a lot now, we are finally learning Swedish grammar instead of just chaining whatever vocabulary we know together and hoping it makes sense.  We also have been taking to go over how to teach.  A big part of that is learning how to teach with the Spirit of God.  As missionaries we aren't really the ones teaching.  God is the one who truly teaches people through their feelings and thoughts, we simply get to help.  Last night, Elder Beveridge and I tried that and didn't use a script, we simply followed an outline and said what we felt we were supposed to say.  It works so much better!  The Spirit knows what every person needs to here, so if we follow it, we can't go wrong.

       On the other hand, the Finnish missionary from Sweden has also been teaching us all sorts of funny things he can think of.  Last week he told us a lot of puns and jokes and the Swedish equivalent of 'see you later alligator' which is 'Tack och hey, leverpastej!'  (for those of you who are curious that means 'thanks and hello, liver patte')

       A lot of the days feel pretty similar here but there's always something interesting that happens.  Saturday we were outside for class and we could hear the BYU football game all the way from the stadium.  We thought it was kind of funny.

       Sunday was pretty cool.  In priesthood meeting we talked about how we always talk about repenting as if it's only for sin and is a negative thing.  But we talked about how in a lot of the languages we are learning it translates as to turn, to convert, or to improve.  So even when we don't sin seriously we can still repent as we not only try to stop doing wrong, but improve ourselves and do more right.  It doesn't have to be such a scary thing as we turn ourselves to God.  I also taught our district meeting on the Book of Mormon.  We discussed the power of the Book of Mormon and why it is that it is the keystone of our religion.  Everything comes back to whether or not the Book of Mormon is true.  It testifies of Jesus Christ and does so powerfully, our Branch President mentioned to us that if we could get Scandanaviens to actively read the Book of Mormon, they would be golden investigators.  The Book of Mormon is that central to our religion.  It was a wonderful discussion.

       Tuesday was the day we had devotional and it was by an apostle!  Gary E. Stevenson spoke, and it was amazing the spirit that an apostle brings into the room with him.  You can feel the difference.  He  went through a lot of Preach My Gospel and essentially said that every chapter was his favorite.  We also saw two pictures of the same couple, before and after they started coming to church again.  You could see the difference and the light in their eyes and I am so excited to see that in people as we teach in Sweden.  One of my favorite quotes from Elder Stevenson was when he spoke of when he was in the MTC and trying to learn Japanese and that he prayed so much for help that "I wore my knees out".  On a similar note to what we have learned in class he mentioned that it is important to have the Spirit because in the Armour of God, as we learn about in the Book of Mormon, the Spirit is our Sword.  It was an amazing experience!

       To wrap thing up, as of yesterday, our district is no longer the Greenie district in the zone.  We got 7 new Finnish missionaries and the old Finns leave on Monday.  They have 6 Elders and 1 sister, the sister in our district is excited to finally have an actual companion as she has been solo for the last two weeks.  As of Monday our district will have been here the longest and our zone will have gone from about 40 to merely 20.  I hope we get more missionaries in our Scandinavian zone in the coming weeks.

       I can't wait to share with you what happens and what I learn in the coming week, it's crazy how fast they blow by.

-Elder Ashford

Provo, UT Temple - across the street from the MTC

The picture is from this morning, it snowed for the first time last night and the temple looks absolutely beautiful.

Thanks to his district leader we also got a bonus email with some additional photos. :)  

 This is from my first Sunday.  We did a temple walk and took a picture of our zone and all of our countries.

This one is of our class, and needless to say, was not really planned, 

as evidenced by me not looking at the camera.   

 This is of our zone this last Sunday with just us and the Finns.

This is a picture of our district when the Norwegian teacher subbed for us because our teacher was sick.  

(We were kind of cramped if you couldn't tell)