Week 59 - Last Week Until Christmas!

I know this is a day later than usual but we moved our P-day to go to the temple.

We had a crazy week so let's get started!

Tuesday we went to the senior center again. It was kind of cool because I got to talk to someone who is from Landskrona which is where I lived when I was in Helsingborg so that is super cool! 

Wednesday we went to Sankta Lucia. They have a choir in the Swedish church that sings while holding candles and it was super awesome. You can probably look it up online if you want to. We had a pretty fun member meal that night as well.

Thursday we met with Josefina, one of our recent converts, and had a really awesome lesson with her. We also did some finding and then came home and made a big dinner because we had the 4 Sundsvall Elders staying with us. We had a pretty fun time trying to squeeze into our apartment. 

Friday was Christmas zone conference and it was Norrland and Stockholm South zones combined, hence why Sundsvall stayed the night with us. Zone Conference was fantastic! We had some great training and President Youngberg wants us to read the entire Book of Mormon between Christmas and New Year's so for a whole week we are to spend 3-4 hours a day reading. It's going to be awesome! The second half of zone conference was participating in some of the Youngberg's Christmas traditions so we got to watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' and read a Christmas story so that was really cool. We also went to the Musical but the mission has gone through all of the Book of Mormons they had so we were forced to simply offer to deliver. (To give you an idea, the mission ordered 10,000 copies just for the musical for this fall.) 

Saturday we helped a member rearrange some furniture and had lunch with them. We also had our Christmas Concert so we were there for that. They had a fika afterwards which is a swedish word for essentially snack time. They had some rolls and julmust for people to eat. They had a lot of rolls left over so we got sent home with an entire bag.  We then also went to the musical late that night again.

Sunday we had a great day in church. We had a great sacrament meeting. We tried calling a bunch of people and tried to get some stuff set up for the week as well as a bit of finding.

Yesterday we did not have P-day so we went out working. We visited the Senior center. We had a quick lesson at a member home that went really well so that was awesome. We went straight from there to meet a potential investigator. We asked the family to pray for us and for the lesson to go well and it did! It was super awesome!

Today we had our P-day and we visited the temple. It was really great. I love the temple. It is such a peaceful place.

Christmas is less than a week away. I am so grateful for the Savior and this time of year to celebrate his birth. God Jul!

--Elder Ashford

Pictures are at the temple, 

our Christmas tree with ornaments we got at zone conference that look like name tags, 

the temple again, 

 and this crazy car we saw on our way to the musical just driving around Stockholm blasting Christmas music. 

The guys inside were dressed like Santa Claus.

Here are some pictures we took last week with all of the snow. (The snow has since melted away)

Week 58 - Exchanges

Monday was a pretty relaxed P-day and then we went on exchanges that night with with the Elders in Hägersten so I went there with Elder Lee.

Tuesday I was in Hägersten so we were working there. We gave out 3 Book of Mormons so that was awesome. We also had a lesson with one of their previous investigators and it went pretty well. It was mostly just answering their questions.  We also had a lesson with one of their baptismal dates and it was awesome.

Wednesday we watched the First Presidency Christmas message.  We also got to help clean the temple this week as they were doing a deep clean of it all week and asked for missionaries to help.

Thursday we had District meeting and that was cool. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We also had a senior couple come and inspect our apartment and they gave us a quick thought which was pretty cool.

Friday we went to Stockholm so that Elder Langford could file with the tax agency so that was our little adventure for the week. We also had weekly planning and visited a man who's sister is a member in Norrköping.

Saturday was just a bunch of finding and calling people although we did have a member lesson so that was fun.

Sunday we had a really good fast and testimony meeting in church.  We then had dinner with a member and had a great lesson. We then finished by knocking doors while it was snowing like crazy.

The pictures didn't load but I promise I had pictures this week. Maybe I'll send it next week.

--Elder Ashford

Week 57 - Do You Believe in Miracles!?

So much has happened this week... Oh my goodness...

Last P-day we went to Stockholm and that was pretty fun. We ran into the assistants not once but twice so that was kind of funny. There was also a couple visiting from the US (he served his mission in Sweden about 30-40 years ago) so we talked to them. We also did some finding work and we showed one guy the Christmas initiative video for #LIGHTtheWORLD and he really liked it and said he would check it out along with the advent calendar. (go check it out on https://www.mormon.org/)

Tuesday I accidentally bumped our door alarm and we didn't know the code so it just kept making noise. We ended up just leaving it but our landlord turned it off for us later so that was awesome.  We went to the Senior Center again which was fun and Elder Langford even got in on a few games of pool. We also went to a member's home and did a practice lesson.  We talked about faith and repentance and we tied Ether 12:27 to repentance which is something I have never done before but it was super cool. The Spirit was super strong and when we invited them to write down 5 names of people to reach out to about the Gospel or to invite to the Christmas concert they had 10 names within about 2 minutes. It was so cool!

Wednesday we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders so I was here in Vendelsö with Elder Malone. We swung by a previous investigator and we talked with him about the Christmas Initiative and he really opened up to us. We managed to get inside and just talk for about 15 minutes but it was super cool. We even invited him to our ward Christmas concert and he said he might come. We also did a lot of finding with some good success.

Thursday we had district meeting and that was pretty fun. We had a good discussion on where all of our areas are at right now. We then went home and we visited a less active and read Alma 7 with him which was pretty fun.  We then went out contacting. We had been out contacting for a bit and there was a member family that lived nearby. We decided to real quick stop by, knock on there door, say hi, and then tell them we were working in the area and ask if they would pray for us. We did so and their two teenagers opened the door and gladly accepted! We then started walking again to find people and a few streets over not even 5 minutes later there is a lady and a young girl coming towards us and the woman said hello to us from about 50 meters away. It was one of our previous investigators we have been trying to reconnect with! She seemed happy to see us and even said she might come to church soon and was very interested in the upcoming Christmas Concert. It was awesome!

Friday we had a lesson with one of our recent converts and we went through the sacrament prayers in Moroni and discussed what they mean and it was a really awesome experience to see her understand more of what it talks about. We then started off Christmas initiative strong by writing thank you letters to our ward mission leader and bishopric and delivering them. We also had another practice lesson with a member family and it went super well.

Saturday we did some finding and ran into that same guy that we have run into twice now (we now know that his name is Kennith) and we talked for a little bit so that was good. We also had the adult session of Stake Conference that we attended and that was super cool. Elder Phillips of the Seventy was there and spoke along with our mission president. After we got back from stake conference, had enough time to eat dinner, and then left to go to The Book of Mormon Musical for the late night showing to pass out copies of the Book of Mormon. We were waiting at the bus stop and this lady comes up and sits down on the bench. I asked her where she was going and she said she was on her way to go salsa dancing which started a fun conversation. Pretty quickly it came up that we were missionaries and we started talking a little bit. She got onto the same bus as us although we didn't sit next to each other but she also got onto the same tunnelbana (subway) and was even headed to the same stop. We started our conversation again, this time talking about her plans for Christmas and we invited her to our upcoming Christmas concert and gave her our card with the time written on it. She asked a little bit further about what was different about our church and I pulled out a Book of Mormon and used the pictures to explain about it, we even got off in the midst of the explanation and walked out of the station with her. We offered her the book and she accepted! We didn't get her number but we were definitely there at the right time and place and we are hoping to see her at the Christmas concert! 

Sunday we had Stake Conference and we got there early to practice for the stake choir. We had a great stake conference! A topic that was brought up a lot was in reference to Elder Ballard's broadcast to Europe from about 2 months ago that encouraged us to believe in miracles and help make them happen.  We then got to go to the musical again as well and between that and travel it took up a lot of our day.

It's has been an awesome week and next week looks to be a good one too!

The pictures are of Stockholm at about 4:30pm.

--Elder Ashford

Week 56 - Thanksgiving

I don't know how many of you noticed but I sent out 2 week 54 emails in a row so we will just pretend 55 doesn't exist and move one to week 56.

Monday we went to and played basketball again in Gubbängen. Our mission president even came and played with us for a while so that was pretty fun. 

Tuesday we went to the Senior center and talked with people there. Apparently there is this group of men that are retired that pretty much all they do every day is come to the center and play pool for as long as it's open.

Wednesday we baked cookies for one of our former investigators and wrote a card inviting her to check out the Chrismas Initiative. We left the box on her doorstep and we got a text an hour or two later thanking us for the cookies so that was awesome.

Thursday we had a really good district meeting on how to use the Book of Mormon in lessons and making sure to help people actually read it and understand what they are reading. I am currently the oldest missionary in the district at just over a year. The other members of the district are all at 6 months or less... So that's pretty interesting. After district meeting we had thanksgiving with a bunch of missionaries. One of the Senior couples made the dinner and it was a lot of fun. 

Friday there was a district leader conference video call so I got some training from President Youngberg along with the other district leaders in the mission and that was pretty cool. I definitely learned some good things from that. We also were able to give someone a Plan of Salvation pamphlet so that was super cool.

Saturday we ran into that guy we ran into last week that we talked with for awhile, his name is Kennith. We got to talk to him for a few minutes, he didn't want to give us his number but he did ask us for a Book of Mormon so hopefully we'll hear from him soon about it.

Yesterday we had a good day in church and then we had a member meal later that day and then that night we had stake choir practice since we have stake conference next week so that was really fun too.

This next week should be another busy week so it should be pretty exciting!

Have a great week!

The picture is of the massive box of cookies we gave to our investigator (there are 45 cookies in there).

--Elder Ashford

Week 55 - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This week has been pretty great!

Tuesday we went to the church and did the church's technology safeguard course and a questionaire for our mission tour in a few months. Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention last week that we are approved to become a technology mission, I still don't have all the details on that but we are getting new phones in the near future.  We did a lot of finding work for most of the day and then we had a dinner with a part member family too and that was fun.

Wednesday we went to do some service by talking to people at the senior center and we walked in and realized that we had forgotten that Wednesday was bingo day. Everyone there was pretty excited for it and people kept asking us if we were going to play bingo so we stayed and played bingo with them (although we didn't play for prizes) and it was a lot of fun. I think a lot of people enjoyed seeing us there even if we didn't get to talk to so many of them.

Thursday we had district meeting which was pretty fun. We just had a new senior couple added to our district so that was cool. We got to know them a little bit and we had a really good discussion on how the Book of Mormon answers the questions of the soul. Or in other words how the Book of Mormon answers people's questions such as "is there a God?", "Does God know me?", "Why do I have weaknesses?" and so many others. It was really awesome. We also had a mission-wide video conference call about the upcoming Christmas initiative. They are doing #LightTheWorld again which will be super fun to try to do service again during Christmas time. Go check it out on mormon.org!

Friday we had our usual weekly planning and we had a lesson with one of our recent converts. She is like 15 and we had a super good lesson with her. We then went to knock doors later that night and we were going to try this one area but upon arrival we realized that we didn't have the tracting records for that area. We started in another area nearby that we did have records for but received a pretty cold reception at several of the first houses. I kept feeling like we should try contacting and considering that knocking doors wasn't feeling successful we figured we would try it. We went into Brandbergens small centrum and it was pretty empty but we did stop this one man, or rather we said hello and he recognized who we were and started the conversation for us. It was clear he understood the apostasy. He was hesitant to join any specific religion because there were so many christian churches and they didn't understand the Bible the same and he didn't understand why. He said he had talked to missionaries on a tunnelbana before and so he knew that we also had the Book of Mormon. He was on his way home and Elder Langford asked if we could walk with him. He hesitated for a second and then said sure and we continued the conversation although we mostly just listened, I kept trying to think of something to teach or testify of but nothing seemed very concrete. We didn't get his number or even his name but he appreciated that we listened to him and he said we would probably run across him again on the street sometime. As we continued walking around afterward I knew that we had been there to talk to this man. That was why we were there that night and that was pretty cool that the Spirit was able to lead us there at that time.

Saturday was a pretty slow day for the most part but we had a good time.

Sunday was a great, as usual. We had some great talks in Sacrament meeting about having spiritual experiences, receiving personal revelation, seeing the Lord's hand in our lives, and applying Christ's Atonement to our lives. It was awesome. We also got to help teach the lesson in primary, the kid's class" because the topic was how they could prepare to be missionaries so that was a lot of fun. We also got to hand out Books fo Mormon at the musical again and that was fun. We then got home and got our transfer calls (we are both staying) and then went to stake choir so that was fun.

Today it snowed! It has kind snowed for the last week but today it finally stuck so that is pretty exciting.

--Elder Ashford

Week 54 - Exchanges

We had a pretty good week this week.

Monday we went bowling with the Hägersten Elders which was pretty fun. The place we went to though was a pretty cool. It was themed like a fifties diner. The bowling though was a little bit off because the pins were attached to ropes so they were easier to reset but the pins didn't fly around like they typically do so I think we are looking to try bowling again somewhere else.

Tuesday we went and visited the Senior Center in Brandbergen. We are planning to do some weekly service there by coming and talking to people there for an hour or two every week. We were there for about an hour but it was pretty fun and it will be good language practice for Elder Langford ;)  We also visited a less active and ate dinner with some members which was fun.

Wednesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders so I was with Elder Pack in Södertälje. We got there and the first thing we did was visit a less active. We then came home for a little bit of lunch and studies before doing some finding. We went out contacting there which was cool and we met a guy at the library. Later that night we had an interesting time tracting. The few people that answered didn't speak much English or Swedish with the exception of the previous investigator and less active that we had no idea lived there. The less active let us in and we talked for a while which was pretty cool.

Thursday we had district meeting and we focused on the Book of Mormon and it seemed to go really well. We tried some role plays and that was great. We then went to Pizza Hut afterwards and Elder Pack challenged the Elders to a pizza eating contest. There was a tie of 20 pieces between Elder Lee and Elder Pack because we had a time constraint (I however was perfectly content with my 8 pieces). That night we also had a member meal followed by ward mission coordination meeting and ward council. So that was a pretty busy night.

Friday we had weekly planning and we also met with one of our recent converts so that was fun. We went over following the prophet and watched a general conference talk with her so that was good.

Saturday was a pretty normal day. We had a member meal and knocked doors in that area for a while.We also got a call and found out that we now have a senior couple that will be joining our district so we are looking forward to that.

Sunday was awesome! First of all it was Father's day so that was cool. Our investigator, Maria, and her son Andre came to the last 15 minutes of sacrament meeting. A lot of members in the ward said hello to her so that was awesome. The primary kids also went around after sacrament meeting and gave out chocolate to all the adult men in the ward which I feel is pretty common in most wards. What was weird was that I got one this time! Me and Elder Langford both that it was cool but at the same time super strange that we have reached the point of getting father's day gifts. We then had sunday school and priesthood and the lessons were both on member missionary work which is hard not to be excited about as a missionary. I feel like the members got kind of excited and I actually learned some things from them too. We went home after church and had a really good companionship study before turning around and going back to the church because one of the kids in the ward was getting baptized. None of our investigators showed up but it was cool to be there anyways and interact more with the members.  We then went straight from there to a member meal before going home and finally getting to our language study.

It has been a wonderful week and I can't wait to see what this next one will bring! Ha det så bra!

--Elder Ashford

Week 53 - Zone Conference

This week was actually fairly busy so that was cool.

Monday we went to Gubbängen again and played some basketball. 

Tuesday we had to take Elder Langford to immigration because he hadn't gotten there yet so we traveled all the way to Solna and took care of that. They took his picture and finger prints so he should be all good to go now. 

Wednesday we had zone conference which was fun. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon. President Youngberg also did a fun activity that showed that most of the questions that people ask us on the street can all be related either to revelation or the Plan of Salvation. Most people's questions about life or about God can be related to one of those things. That was pretty cool to see. We came back from the conference and had dinner with a member so that was fun.

Thursday was my official year mark which was very strange. We knocked a bunch of doors and rant into this like 90 year old man that could be interested so that was cool. He was telling us that he has 4 kids and 3 of them are retired already... When I looked at him I would have guessed that he was maybe 70 if even that.

Friday we did a lot of finding and some weekly planning.

Saturday was pretty busy. We swung by a few people that said we could try again later. We then had a dinner with a young family that just moved into the ward about 2 months ago.  We then went to Hägersten where I did my first baptismal interview so that was exciting! We then straight from there to the musical and there were some people that actually talked with us for quite a while so that was fun.

Sunday we had church and it was Fast and Testimony meeting which is awesome! I loved it. We did some studies real quick at home before going to eat dinner with a member family and then going to the musical again.

--Elder Ashford

Here are some pictures from the temple service project last week.

Week 52 - One Year Down...that's weird

Monday was an eventful day... I lost my wallet and despite our efforts did not succeed in finding it. So that's been fun. We did go to Gubbängen and played some basketball up there so that was fun.

Tuesday was awesome. We got to help plant the Autumn flowers at the temple! Most of the missionaries from around Stockholm were there. It was so much fun and the temple looks wonderful afterwards. I forgot to take pictures but I know others took some so those might show up in next week's email.

Wednesday was wet... It rained all day. We did a lot of finding work, knocking on people's doors and such.

Thursday we had district meeting and President Youngberg dropped in. He hadn't gotten a few people for interviews including Elder Langford and I so we took care of those.  We also had our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader talking about how the work was going and then ward council afterwards.

Friday we did some weekly planning and had some members take us out to lunch. They had some delicious hamburgers...seriously, so good.  We also swung by someone we have been in contact with and she is still super positive, we set up an appointment for the next day and everything.  We also did some door knocking and we ran into this guy who was willing to listen for a bit, took a copy of the Book of Mormon, and was okay with us coming back later at some point so that was awesome!

Saturday we helped out a little bit with a move. Our appointment ended up getting moved to sunday but we still had a good day. We did some more finding and had dinner with a member family that was a lot of fun. 

Sunday we had a great day in church and we got to meet with the lady we talked to on Friday. She wants to be baptized! It's so cool. The Spirit was there and she really is open to the church so that was awesome to see! We also had dinner with an awesome african family in the ward so that was pretty cool too.

It's been kind of weird because I have been out on my mission for about a year at this point... I'm halfway done. So weird...  Have a wonderful week everyone!

--Elder Ashford

Week 51 - The story of the lost Finnish JW woman

Monday we headed into Stockholm for P-day which was pretty fun and we did some shopping. 

Tuesday we went out and did some finding. We knocked on some doors including one guy that threatened to call the police on us so you know, normal day's work in the life of a missionary right?

Wednesday we had exchanges so Elder Lee from Hägersten and I were together here in Vendelsö. We knocked some doors and there was one pretty cute kid who knocked back on the window of the door so that was fun.

Thursday we had district meeting and then had lunch and got Elder Langford his first kebab (many missionaries refer to this first kebab eating experienced as being k-baptized). We did a few swing bys then. One old guy wanted to talk and discuss beliefs but wasn't actually interested in the church. We then tried to swing by someone else but he wasn't home but we had a back up plan to go knock doors in a different area so we went there. On our way though we got stopped by this old lady in her car. She was lost and was trying to get to Handen (which is 5 minutes away but out of our area) but she didn't speak any English and only a few words in Swedish and could only speak Finnish. We tried to explain how to get there but that almost stressed her out even more. She almost burst into tears a few times. She then insisted that we simply get in the car and come with her. We tried to call the Assistants and the mission president but neither of them answered but then we remembered that there was a member that lived about 100 yards away. We gave him a call and he drove up a few minutes later and his mom speaks Finnish so he was able to call her and get her to translate and we were able to help this lost Finnish JW lady. She just followed our member to Handen.

Friday we did weekly planning and some finding work. We also had a member meal and the wife was concerned that we didn't have any reflectors so she brought those as early Christmas presents at church on Sunday.

Saturday had a lesson which was fun. We did some studies and finding and had the musical that night. We gave out every single one of our 250 Book of Mormons. We also walked by the building where the term Stockholm Syndrome comes from as it is just across the street so that was interesting.

Sunday we had the Primary program which was a lot of fun to watch and we also were at the musical again.

It's been a great week and I look forward to writing next week!

--Elder Ashford

Pictures are of the district at lunch and then Elder Langford and I about to head out one day (he doesn't fit very well in our entry way).

Other pictures of Sweden courtesy of Elder Langford.

Week 50 - Elder Langford

Monday was a pretty relaxed P-day. Elder Anthon was packing as he prepared to move down to Malmö.

Tuesday we did a bunch of finding work. We actually ran into one of our potential investigators so that was pretty fun. We only had her phone number before but it was super good. We explained a little bit more about the Book of Mormon and then had to leave to go have dinner with some members. We had Flygande Jakob (Flying Jacob) which is delicious. It's a pretty common Swedish dish.

Photo found for Flygande Jacob 

Wednesday we went to the Gubbängen chapel for when the trainees meet their trainers, the three of us trainers who were waiting for our missionaries got sit through the training they gave while we wait for our new missionaries as their plane didn't arrive until about noon. After the larger group that arrived the day before all got their trainers, received a little bit of training, had lunch, and then left for their new areas we were left until our new missionaries came from the airport. A little while later they came and we got a shortened version of what the other missionaries had of meeting their trainers and everything which was exciting. My new companion is Elder Langford from Midland, Texas. After that quick orientation we went home to Vendelsö and got to work. Elder Langford is great, it's been fun to work with him. He's also a solid foot taller than I am so that's interesting, especially since our apartment has low ceilings in some parts so he's been a little cramped at times.

Thursday I led my first district meeting, it went pretty well but it was definitely my first district meeting so I'm still getting the hang of things. We had Elder Lanford's first member dinner so that was fun as he hadn't had much experience to actual Swedes yet.

Friday we did some service for a member of the ward. We dug out around his garage for him and then helped do some landscaping in his back yard. We found this giant cement block in a pile of dirt, it was probably 18"x36"x8". It probably weighed somewhere around 250 pounds. We managed to load it onto a trailer along with a bunch of other stuff to take to the recycling center. We then had dinner with another member family that night and knocked some doors nearby.

On Saturday we did weekly planning and a lot of knocking doors. There was this one lady that we were just standing outside her door about to move on when she came out for a smoke. She hadn't seen us and so I said hello and she more or less jumped she was so startled. After her initial shock she smiled about it. It was pretty funny.

Sunday was pretty awesome. We had a Stake Conference and L Whitney Clayton of the presidency of the seventy was there. It was a really cool conference. There were a few speakers but there was a lot of stuff that was really applicable to life. He talked about the story of Lehi's vision as well as tying it to the story from a general conference talk that related it to how a plane has to be exactly on course or else a miscalculation of even the slightest degree can have a massive impact on the trajectory of the plane. We got home from that and then we had some time. We met a guy and talked with him for a while, but he wasn't interested in the church other than to know a little more about it. We then traveled to Västerhaninge's chapel to see a broadcast from Elder Ballard to the Europe area.  IT WAS AMAZING! I loved it. He talked about how we need to believe in miracles and believe that we can make miracles happen. 

Have a great week!

-Elder Ashford

Week 49 - It Came! It Finally Came!

Good job to all of you who correctly guessed that as a Toy Story reference, I'll explain that one in a minute.

Last Monday we went out proselyting for while, we went tracting and we tried to swing by this one lady that said to try again later. We knocked on the door and a man answered and we asked if he was familiar with our church. He said he was and then followed it up by telling one of the kids "Hämta morfar" or "Go get Grandpa". We continue talking and then next thing we know our ward mission leader comes up! That was a surprise. It was his granddaughter's birthday party that we accidentally tracted into. It was quite the surprise but we all laughed about it.

Tuesday we mostly just did more knocking on doors and talking to people on the street.

Wednesday we did our weekly planning early because the rest of the week was going to be very busy.

Thursday we had District meeting which was fun as always. We talked about better planning and goal setting which was awesome. We also had a couple meetings that night with the ward.

Friday we had our 'train the trainers' meeting (again). We traveled into Stockholm and had our training which went really well. We were the last ones home though pretty much since we didn't have any appointments and we had bus cards so we waited while everyone else who had to catch trains or even planes to get back to their areas were shuttled to the station so we didn't get home until dinner time.

Saturday was interesting. We got rained on (again... it's been raining all week) but I didn't bring a jacket with a hood or my umbrella because I guessed that it wouldn't rain... I was wrong. We also got a call from President Youngberg. I am going to be a district leader! Our current district is way too big so we are splitting it so I will now be the District leader for the Vendelsö-Hägersten district. It's going to be pretty exciting! We also went to the musical again in Stockholm to hand out books and that was pretty fun, we didn't have the late night shift this time so that was nice.

Sunday we had a really great fast and testimony meeting. I love Testimony meeting because everyone who wants to share their testimony of what they know to be true can share their thoughts. It was a great meeting, especially with everyone having General Conference fresh on their mind. After church we had dinner at a member's home before then taking one of the members with us to a lesson at the church really fast. We missed the bus that we needed to take to get to the musical again in Stockholm so we had the member drive us to the train station so we could catch a train instead and it all worked out great, we even got to the musical a bit early! We gave out all 220 Book of Mormons that were brought and there were still a few people that wanted one. It was super cool.

This week looks like it will be exciting, I'll let you know all about my new companion next week.  

The pictures are of a very wet Elder Anthon and I as well as the fact that Julmust is already back!? (Julmust is a Christmas soft drink here in Sweden... the date today is October 9... what is going on)

-Elder Ashford

Week 48 - General Conference!

It's been a pretty awesome week so here we go!

On Monday we went to Stockholm for P-day. We went and walked around a bit and helped Elder Jackson pick out some new suits for his birthday. We then went to Västerhaninge where we met one of our investigators with the missionaries in Västerhaninge because unfortunately she lives in their ward boundaries not ours... But the lesson went super well and the missionaries there will do a great job.  We started on our way home but swung through Brandbergen to briefly talk to some people and we managed to get a hold of 2 people we had talked to previously and set up a meeting and played some basketball with one of our investigators for about 5 minutes before we ran for a bus. Elder Anthon and I did not represent America well as it was clear neither of us really played back home and we were also pretty rusty so the hand coordination was almost non-existent.

Tuesday we went and met one of the people we talked to Monday night but he wasn't super positive and then our other appointment canceled so we did some more finding work.

Wednesday we met with one of our recent converts again and talked about the Plan of Salvation. It was awesome! I really love the Plan of Salvation. It really shows to me that God loves us. There is a purpose and a goal in this life and we have potential that He wants to help us reach!  We also went and ate dinner with some members but beforehand we helped them out for a bit because they are redoing the ceiling in on of their rooms so they needed a hand. That was pretty fun. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I picked up a drill.

Thursday was District meeting which was great as always. I always learn something new and I love it. We knocked some doors which went pretty well.

Friday we planned for the week and then tried to find a member that we could bring an investigator to to watch General Conference, we called about half the ward but they were all sick or already had plans. 

By Saturday we found a solution... only to find out the person who we were hoping could come got called into work... that was a bit of a bummer. We went with a member on a hometeaching lesson to visit an older lady in the ward so that was fun. We then got to see the first session of General Conference! General Conference is the best. We get to sit and listen to our prophet and apostles speak to us every six months and the guidance they give is always super helpful. We watched the Saturday morning session (it started at 6 pm here) and I felt like so much of what was said was extremely helpful and applicable to me and the things I have been thinking about. If you haven't checked it out yet on lds.org I would recommend you do so.  We were watching and writing notes while eating candy. Missionaries like to buy "Conference Godis". Godis is candy but in Sweden one buys candy buy taking a scoop, scooping whatever candy you want out of a wide assortment and then paying by the weight. (You can literally buy by the kilo and it is ridiculous)

Sunday we watched 3 sessions of Conference so that was most of our day but it was absolutely fantastic. I am so grateful that we have prophets and apostles in our day who speak to us and help us with the concerns of our day!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

--Elder Ashford

This week's photos:

First picture is of a funny sign on a mailbox. It says "No advertisements, but absolutely lots of love letters." The next one is of Stockholm.

Week 47 - Ja Man Han Lever!

This was quite the week I must say.

P-day was pretty relaxed. We hung out with the Handen Elders for awhile. We also got a haircut and one of the members in Handen's ward was there and he bought our haircuts for us so that was awesome!

Tuesday We had a lesson with a girl and she was pretty positive so that was cool. It turns out that she actually lives in Nynäshamn which is in Västerhaninge's ward so we will be introducing her to the missionaries there. We then had a meal with some members in the ward but they actually forgot that they were feeding us. Thankfully they had simply made Swedish pancakes (It's a little thicker than a crepe) so they just made a few more and we still got to eat. We all kind of laughed at the situation.

Wednesday we had Zone Conference. That was fun especially since it was my birthday. As far as mission birthdays go, zone conference is nothing to complain about. We got to see a whole bunch of old friends and we had some great training as well. I got a lot of answers to questions and ideas to solve things I've been trying to figure out for a while now so that was awesome. When we prepare spiritually and search for answers, God will give us what we need to know. During lunch they sang the Swedish version of happy birthday to everyone that had a birthday since last zone conference. The Swedish birthday song is so epic, I still can't get over it. The first line is either "Ja man han lever" or "Ja man han leva" if you want to try to find a clip of it on YouTube or something. After Zone Conference we got to go have dinner with a member family before going back to the church to have interviews with President Youngberg. Interviews are always a highlight. We have about 5 to ten minutes 1 on 1 with the mission president, it's great.

Mom's Note: Blog Link to the Swedish Birthday Song. These are the lyrics:

Ja, må han leva!

Ja, må han leva!

Ja, må han leva uti hundrade år!

Javisst ska han leva!

Javisst ska han leva!

Javisst ska han leva uti hundrade år!

In English:

Yes, may he live!

Yes, may he live!

Yes, may he live for a hundred years!

Of course he will live!

Of course he will live!

Of course he will live for a hundred years!

The song usually ends with four repetitions of “Hurra!” 

Thursday we had a lesson with one of our recent converts which was a lot of fun. Her testimony is super solid which is awesome to see. She loves the Gospel and just wants to know more. We also did quite a bit of finding work and we somehow we exchanged numbers with a Polish man. He could only speak a few phrases of English and Swedish so in addition to that we communicated through google translate and charades but it worked! We promised to bring him a Book of Mormon in Polish and he seemed to be looking forward to it.

Friday we had weekly planning. We also used google translate to set up a meeting with our new found Polish friend so that we could give him his copy of The Book of Mormon. Speaking of The Book of Mormon we got to go to Stockholm and we passed out copies of the Book of Mormon to people walking out of the Book of Mormon Musical there. We probably gave out 150 to 200 copies that night. We didn't go to bed until about 11:40 at night because we were passing out the books from about 10:15 to 10:35 and then had to travel home after that. It was cool though. A lot of people are impressed that we are there. At first some of them think we are with the play and then they realize we are the real deal and are amazed that we would show up on the doorstep to a play making fun of us, but there we are! 

Saturday we talked with people on the street. We also went to a ward activity. Our chapel was built about a year ago so they were celebrating. We were there for a little bit but none of the investigators we invited were there and so we left after a little bit only to find out later that one of our investigators actually came after we left. We went back to the play again that night as well to give out Book of Mormons and it went well, I think we gave out more than on Friday night. We then returned home and once again went to bed around 11:40... that was brutal.

Sunday we had church which went well. One of our members brought a friend so we taught him a little bit. That was super cool. We also had to take care of Handen's investigators because the Handen Elders were doing exchanges with the Elders on Gotland (the big island of the coast of Sweden) and they weren't getting back until that night. So we actually went to Sacrament meeting twice. We went home for lunch and then came back that night because in addition to the party the day before the ward was also celebrating with a concert. It was awesome! They had a lot of really great songs, including one that mixed some church song with the Na Na Na Hey Ya Na part from the movie Frozen. That was unexpected but it was pretty cool. Learning from our mistake on Saturday we stayed at the concert despite not seeing our investigators come and one of the members introduced us to one of her friends that came that is interested in the church so that was exciting!

Hope you all have a wonderful week! General Conference is coming up this next weekend where the Prophet and Apostles will speak to us and I can't wait to hear what guidance they have in store! 

--Elder Ashford

Pictures are of Me and Sister Hill at Zone Conference (We both started our missions in Helsingborg.)

Then there was a few of us using the party favors my mom care packaged me for my birthday.

Then there is me and Elder Anthon at the musical.