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
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