Week 16 - Serve With Your Heart

This week was great!

Tuesday we did a lot of contacting again.  Our appointment canceled so we had extra time to call people and contact.  Their were flower hearts and other displays all over the city for Valentine's day. It's called Alla Hjartans Dag in Sweden which translates to "All Hearts' Day".

Wednesday was interesting.  We had splits with the Halmstad Elders so I went with Elder Groberg who actually trained in my area.  We ran into some interesting people.  One guy tried to convince us that Islam was right, there was another guy who was really high... that was interesting...  We had some good meetings with some of the people in the ward though so that was good.

Thursday we had district meeting and had a good discussion of how to help people with baptismal dates follow through. Afterwards we had Indian food for lunch which was really good.  Äldste Murtonen and I then went about 40 minutes away to Höganäs for a lesson.  It was a Persian Lady and we used a translator but the speaker in our phone doesn't work and the translator didn't have a lot of time so we ended up giving our potential investigator the phone.  The translator gave her some basics on Christianity and then we scheduled a return appointment because she was still interested in learning more.  We have a new Investigator!  I remember just sitting there and praying that it would go well because I didn't know what else to do and just feeling the Spirit.  We did everything that we could do and we just had to leave it to the Lord.  It was a really cool experience.  We then also had a member meal that night so it was a really good day.

Friday we went and visited a member for lunch and then met a potential investigator.  We aren't sure how interested he is but we will see what we can do.  We have started to get really busy so that is nice.

Saturday we had another member lunch and then we went to go meet with a less active.  We didn't have a lot of time but we walked in and it turns out he had a friend staying with him!  What was going to be a lesson to a member ended up being a member present lesson.  It was awesome!  We are going to try to meet with them this week again.  The guy even took a Book of Mormon.  We only had like 15 minutes to teach though because we had to catch a train to Malmö for stake conference.  We had a really good meeting and then all the missionaries went out for kebab since none of us had had dinner.  We then went back home for the night.

Sunday we had the other half of stake conference.  We had to take the train again but they were working on the tracks between Lund and Malmö so we had to take a bus.  The Lund station was madness with everyone trying to catch the buses.  We still made it in time though.  Sister Beckstrand, our mission president's wife, gave a really good talk on serving with a willing heart.  God asks us to serve not only with our might and strength but also our heart and mind. (D&C 59:5)  After Stake Conference we went back home.  We have been so busy that we had yet to actually do weekly planning.

Today was P-day and we went to this mansion on the outskirts of Helsingborg with the Halmstad Elders.  It was a lot of fun and really pretty.

---Elder Ashford

The pictures are from the mansion, apparently dragons are popular in the playground.

Week 15 - Simple but Profound

Today has been an interesting week.

Monday night the Sister Missionaries left their keys in their apartment so that was interesting waiting for them to make a few phone calls to figure out how to get back in.  

Tuesday we did some contacting and found some potential places to knock doors some later time.  We also met with the ward council and the ward mission leader explained his new ward mission plan so I am excited to see how the ward responds.

Wednesday we tried to swing by a less active but he wasn't home but it turns out his entire complex isn't locked during the day so we might try to come back and knock on some doors.  We also visited a member family and had a lesson from 2 Nephi 31 and talked about how do we feast on the words of Christ.  The Halmstad Elders then came and stayed the night with us because we had zone training in Malmö on Thursday.

Thursday we had the training and it was a lot about effective planning.  Our new missionary schedule and the change in what key indicators we report really makes it important that we are accountable to ourselves and the Lord and that we try to plan effectively.  We also had interviews with President Beckstrand afterwards so that was nice.

Friday we cleaned up around the church but we are kind of running out of things to do so we might have to look for other opportunities.  We went up to Höganäs to visit a member who hasn't been able to come to church for a while.  We talked to someone on our way back and she took a Book of Mormon in Persian so hopefully we will be able to meet with her soon.  

Saturday we tried to contact some people and we got a referral so that was cool.  We visited an older lady in Landskrona and then we had a member meal right after.  For the member meal we had a great discussion about keeping the Sabbath day holy and the blessings that come from doing that.

Sunday we had an awesome day at church.  We had a really good sacrament meeting about scripture study and then we had our second hour class which is taught in English.  We covered the Adam and Eve and the Fall and I actually learned a lot.  What was different was that the teacher wanted to follow Nephi's idea to "liken" the scriptures to ourselves.  We read excerpts from "I am a Mormon because I am a Feminist" by Valerie Hudson Cassier.  It really simply but profoundly explained how we believe that man and woman are equal despite having different roles and explained it through the story of Adam and Eve.  It was super cool!  I highly recommend you look it up.  The same teacher then also taught in Priesthood too and lead the discussion from the Teachings of President Hinckley.  This week's subject was how to be happy and optimistic.  Both are a choice.  We can always look for the good in the world, we can choose to be happy.  That does not mean that life will always be easy but we can always choose to have a good attitude anyways.  It reminds me of the people of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon.  They were enslaved by the Lamanites and yet they found a way to be happy and as they turned to the Lord their burdens were made light.  

We then had a member meal afterwards and we ate a local Swedish delicacy called surströmming.  I'll explain more of what it is with the picture of the can down below.  It tastes pretty salty but it's pretty good because you only put a little bit on a flat bread with potatoes.  Apparently most missionaries don't like but I thought it tasted good.  

At the end we had a really good lesson with them about the importance of the Sacrament and I feel like it really brought the Spirit.  One thing I realized during Sunday was that the Gospel really isn't that complicated at it's base, and yet it is so profound.  There is a reason why we talk about the same topics over and over and go to church every single week.  The Gospel is not complicated but it is profound and the more you dive into it the more you find and the more it can blow your mind.

Then today is our P-day and we went bowling so that will be some of the pictures I will be including in the massive picture blast you are all about to receive. (sorry)

--Elder Ashford

PS The 3rd pic (Mom's edit - it is pictured above) is the can of Surströmming.  If you look carefully you will notice the can lid is popped up.  On most foods this is a bad sign and you aren't supposed to eat it.  This actually means that Surströmming is ready because it is fermented herring.  You actually have to open the can under water and preferably outside because the can is under a lot of pressure and really smelly fish juice would otherwise go everywhere.  Unfortunately I can't send any home because it is notorious for exploding in luggage on airplanes and basically just ruining everything.  That concludes your lesson on traditional Swedish Cuisine for the week.

Week 14 - A New Transfer

This last week has been an odd mix of new changes yet business as usual... That might seem like an odd description but that's the best way I can describe it.

Monday after I sent my last email we went to the YSA center in Lund and met some other missionaries there.  There was a foosball table and a ping pong table so we had some fun before we had to get back to Landskrona.

On Tuesday we had no appointments so we just went and contacted the entire day.  It was actually really good because we gave out 3 different copies of the Book of Mormon.  That night we had dinner with a family in the ward that was really good.  We then took some pictures that night because Syster Eldridge was transferring so it was her last day in Helsingborg.

Wednesday we did some contacting and family history.  At one point we took a break to get some semlor which are really good.  It's like a sweet kind of bread with cream in the middle (They're really good.)

Thursday we had a great district meeting about setting goals for the transfer and accountability.  We also shared a message with a member.  As we walked back to the station we contacted and handed out both of our Swedish copies of the Book of Mormon which is an unusual experience for us so that was really exciting.  Those 2 made 6 copies that we had handed out in the space of a week so I was super excited about that!  We then had an awesome meal with some members and had a wonderful lesson afterwards.

Friday we did some service at the church with the Sisters that are also in our ward.  We spent an our just cleaning up trash.  It's so sad to see people on the street just tossing small pieces of garbage on the ground like that but it felt awesome to just pick it all up and see the building look the way it should.  We actually ran into one of our investigators on the street later so that was good to really quickly check in with him on the street.  We also had a lesson with an investigator.  It's been hard to get him to really commit to anything.  I had a couple times where it was really hard for me this week and this was one of them.  I ended up just praying once we got back to the apartment and just opening up my heart to my Heavenly Father to just help me understand what I could do, what can I do to be better.  I ended up reading in Preach My Gospel after that and I read in the Christlike Attribute section.  I found the section on patience which stuck out to me as an answer to my prayer.  Here is a great quote from it that was a great reminder for me.

“Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required.” 

–President Thomas S. Monson

I realized that I was wanting instantaneous results so this was quite the wake up call for me but it was exactly what I needed to hear.

Saturday we did more contacting on the street and we actually got a couple of potential investigators and set an appointment for one of them right there on the street!  We had a lot of great discussions as well.  People were unusually receptive so that was really nice.  

Yesterday we had a really powerful Fast and Testimony meeting in church and the spirit was really strong there.  The Sisters even had 2 of their investigators at church which is super cool.  

To close I just want to review that message of patience.  This life is meant to be challenging and give us experiences to learn and grow from.  Have patience in your trials and don't forget that you can always pray to your Father in Heaven for help.  He hears you and is waiting to help you, but you have to be willing to act.  We have to be willing to pray and then act on thoughts or feelings we receive for how we work through it all, but if we do that I know that He will help us.  You are not forgotten.

PS  These are some more pictures from the coast that we took today.

I would send more but the computer is having some issues, I apologize ahead of time for the massive number of pictures I will probably be sending next week.

-Elder Ashford