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.
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