Week 30 - Happy Mother's Day! (again)

I realized I mislabeled my email last week, I did not travel back in time to week 19, that was week 29, which is really getting crazy for me because this week I'm now in the 30s... Time moves by so fast!

Last Monday after we were done emailing we met with one of our members.  We had a good lesson and then just for fun we watched the new Mormon Message that just came out on LDS.org called "The Music of the Gospel".  It's actually really good.  It's all about how in the Gospel there is a difference between doing the steps of the dance and hearing the music and how while we can teach the steps, we can't really teach how to feel the music.  It's super good, I definitely recommend it if you want something to think about for the day.

Tuesday we met with a several members which was fun.  Our Zone Leaders have also been giving us Christlike attributes from Preach My Gospel to focus on every week so we started studying and applying Diligence this week with the challenge to push ourselves a little farther.  Everyone runs into that point where they don't want to go any further but the challenge was to go out and go a little farther, tract that one last row of houses, call those last couple of people, etc... and show the Lord our love for Him through our work.  It was a really good challenge that I definitely enjoyed doing through out the week.

Wednesday we had a few lessons with investigators which was really fun and then we also met with Nils-Erik.  He's doing really good still after the baptism.  He's just awesome.  We reviewed the Restoration with him and when we got to the part with Joseph Smith we watched the Restoration movie online and he loved it!  He even said he was going to show it to his family.  His excitement for the Gospel has continued to grow and it's awesome to see him with this new light in his life.

On Thursday we had a great district meeting on diligence and really dedicating our missions.  This is our time to for two years go and do something greater than just for ourselves.  It was really inspiring.  We also met with Ahed, one of our investigators that continues to just amaze us.  We're really excited to see him continue to understand the Gospel.  

On Friday we met with a few investigators, we taught one of them the Restoration and she had given us oranges before and I suddenly got the idea to try to use the orange to help explain.  As I got into it it totally worked... she just didn't understand for other reasons.  But it something I might try to remember for later.  

Christ's church is like an orange.  When it was first on the Earth it was whole.  Then when Christ died the peel was removed.  The slices all still held together without Christ directly there but they didn't have the same guidance as before.  Then the Apostles were killed and people started understanding Christ's teachings differently which is like the orange slices being separated.  Once their separated they don't have that same ability to stick together again to make a whole orange which is why a Restoration was needed to bring people back to the fullness of the Gospel or the whole orange.  If you couldn't tell I was thoroughly entertained by that analogy.

We also had apartment inspections by one of the senior missionary couples which was fun. They liked our pump organ and then afterwards bought us lunch so that was nice. We then met with an investigator and then visited a member out in Nyköping so that was fun.  When we got back we went and visited a restaurant.  Nils-Erik is a musician and was playing there so we went to go support him and say hi and then he actually got us free food!  We hadn't even eaten dinner yet so that was cool.

Saturday we helped a member out.  She needed help spreading out all her Persian carpets but she can't really lift anything so we were just going around laying them all out.  They are really cool though.  She was saying that in Iran apparently the tradition is that the entire floor is supposed to be covered by these rugs.  She was saying that doesn't really work here in Sweden but she still had about 10 or 15 so there was quite a bit.  We then also had a few other lessons during the day.

On Sunday we had church which was great as always.  In Sunday School we watched the video "Only a Stonecutter" which is a really great video about one of the pioneers.  He made it all the way across the plains and then when they got to Salt Lake He was called to be a stonecutter for the Salt Lake Temple.  For 20 years he would get up Monday morning at 2 in the morning, walk the 20 miles to Salt Lake and arrive when all the other workers got there, stay the week there, and then walk all the way back on Friday before doing all the chores around the house that needed to be done on Saturday.  That alone is amazing.  Then his leg gets broken and they have to amputate it.  After he recovered and after he makes himself a wooden leg, he then continues to walk to Salt Lake to continue work on the temple.  The video and the message is inspiring and my writing certainly doesn't do it justice so go check it out.  It should be about 15 minutes long.  Sunday was also Swedish Mother's Day so Happy Mother's Day everyone!

-Elder Ashford

Photos from the week:

The first several pictures are from the fields of rapeseed everywhere.  Apparently they make cooking oil from it but it blooms this time of year and the fields just turn yellow.  I love it!

There also a few pictures of Nils-Erik singing and his poster, he's actually pretty good so that was a lot of fun.  The picture of the wagon is from this street theater festival that went on this weekend.  All throughout the city they just had a bunch of free theater stuff so there were people everywhere just watching.

 

Week 29 - Baptism!

This week has been really great!

Last week after emailing we met with one of the members in the ward, he was baptized last August. We had a great lesson about missionary work.  We ended up watching Elder Bednar's talk "Come and See" from October 2014 General Conference and it is actually addressed to people who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The talk is about why our church does so much missionary work.  It is fantastic!  I highly recommend it to everyone, it's quite funny and explains beautifully why go out and try to talk to everyone about our church.

Tuesday we met with a few investigators including Nils-Erik, we had a great lesson with him and prepared a little more for his baptism.

Wednesday we had splits so Elder Dawson and I were here in Norrköping.  It was a lot of fun, we were in the same group in the MTC so that was kind of exciting.  We visited a few members and helped one of them move some things around her house.  We also had a lesson with a man that I contacted last week with one of the Assistants when they stopped by.  We then went out home teaching with one of the members and got dinner out of it too!  We talked about the blessings of the Restoration and everything that we can benefit from now because of it.  Such things as the Book of Mormon, the Priesthood, temples, and more.  As we were leaving we the husband also asked us to teach him how to tie a tie which was pretty fun.  (He had his tie tied on Sunday and it looked great!  He was quite pleased with himself)

Thursday we had a district meeting about "knowing your story".  Whether that story be your own personal experiences with the Gospel or knowing the story of the Gospel.  It was a great time to remember why we teach what we do and what is our own personal experiences with what we teach.  After district meeting we met with Nils-Erik one last time before the baptism on Saturday.  We then called one of the people that we had recently contacted on the street but hadn't met with yet.  We got a hold of him and agreed to meet a half hour later.  We actually met him on the spårvagn (A tram essentially) on the way to his house.  We sat down outside and taught the Restoration, applying some of what we had talked about in district meeting.  We felt the Spirit pretty strongly as we testified of the beginning of the Church.  At the end he said that "some of the things you said really touched me".  He had felt the Spirit too!  It was really cool to see that he could feel that.  The Holy Ghost is there as we testify of truth and speaks to people through their thoughts and in their heart.  It was awesome to see that in the lesson.

Friday we had a lesson with a member and then had a member meal.  The member we ate with was actually a missionary under Elder Rasband in the New York, New York South Mission so that was really cool.

Saturday was the baptism!  We had a great turnout and it went super smoothly, there were virtually no problems during the entire process.  It was awesome!  We then had a lesson with an investigator before meeting a member.  We watched Elder Holland's talk from this most recent General Conference.  It's a really great talk and one of my favorite quotes from conference comes from this talk.  “Come as you are,” a loving Father says to each of us, but He adds, “Don’t plan to stay as you are.”

I love this quote so much.  Heavenly Father will always love us no matter what, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't want us to grow or progress.  He helps us to reach our own greater potential.

Sunday was great!  We had a really full sacrament meeting and even had 4 investigators there!  It was crazy!  Nils-Erik was also confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost which was awesome!  After church we had 'dinner' with a member family at around 2 o'clock because it was right after church.  It was a lot of fun.  We then went home and called some people.  Then we went out and knocked some doors.

This week has been super amazing.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to learn and grow as we get to know all of these wonderful people.  It is inspiring to meet remarkable people and to see how the Gospel works in their lives.  I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Enjoy the sunshine (although you probably don't have as much as we have all the way up here)!

-- Elder Ashford

The first picture is us biking at about 9 o'clock at night.  Then is our picture at Nils-Erik's baptism. The last picture was our bikes in the morning.  The trees have been releasing this yellow stuff that is apparently not pollen but it gets literally everywhere.  Our bikes our in a little courtyard without a tree in sight and they were still covered.

Week 28 - Mother's Day

What a week! It was jam packed but a blast.

Monday after the pump organ incident (see previous email) we had a few lessons and ended up playing a ridiculous game of telephone tag with the Assistants to the mission president.

Tuesday we finally got a hold of the assistants.  They were driving down to Malmö and wanted to drive through Norrköping and do some mini exchanges and go contacting for an hour so we did that and it was great!  It was a lot of fun!  We then met with a couple people including one guy named Ahed, he's from Syria and is pretty cool!  

Wednesday was a little interesting.  One of our investigators is this older lady who loves church and basically spends her whole day walking around between all the Swedish churches in town.  We had tried to meet her at her apartment but she wasn't there so we called and she was at one of the other churches for this little coffee and social thing they do in the morning.  We went over there to try to meet her and go out and find somewhere else to sit but then she insists that we join her inside.  We ended up going in and needless to say we did not end up teaching the lesson we had planned.  We went out later in the day and knocked some doors and then visited one of the members in the ward.

Thursday we had district meeting which was fun.  We talked about finding work and we focused a lot on the story where Jesus tells Peter "Feed My Sheep".  It was really good.  We also got to deliver a Book of Mormon to someone who had requested one online so that was fun.

Friday was also quite the adventure.  Our investigator who we have been preparing for baptism, Nils-Erik, had his interview and passed!  Right now the plan is he will be baptized this Saturday so I'll keep you all posted.  We also went and had a member meal out in Nyköping.  We took the train out there and got to the member meal and it was great.  We then realized that our train was coming soon and so we rushed out the door and the husband drove us and we got to the station parking lot right as the train started moving... The next train didn't leave for another hour so the member ended up showing us a few things around Nyköping a little bit but that was cool.

Saturday we had a couple of lessons and we started putting together the baptismal program for Nils-Erik.  We also did some weekly planning.  Elder Olson has also been home-growing yeast to try and make homemade bread and so we tried that.  We didn't make the leaven right though so it didn't rise enough and the bread ended up being basically like a giant, dense, biscuit.  We're probably going to try it again some other time.

Sunday both Ahed and Nils-Erik were at church so we were super excited about that.  We also went and had a lesson.  Then because it was Mother's Day in the US (In Sweden it's like two weeks later)  so we got to skype home to our families!  That was super fun!  Being away from home has made me really appreciate my family.  They aren't just one-click away anymore so it was really nice to be able to talk to them.  One thing that I have come to understand on the mission is just how important and how great families are.  Especially when we remember that God is our Heavenly Father and our families here on Earth give us a small idea of what our heavenly family looks like.

Today we went out hiking and it was pretty cool.

I wish you all a wonderful week!

Pictures are of us hiking, then are "bread", and then the Swedish equivalent of the "slow, children playing" sign that we walked by today

Week 27 - 6 Months!

Tuesday I hit my 6 month mark! That's crazy! It was a pretty busy day we met with several investigators and we had a really good member meal. We were biking everywhere and Elder Olson guesses we probably went about 10 km by the end. We were out all day but it was awesome. We didn't really have time to celebrate much though.

Wednesday we visited some members out in Nyköping which was fun. One family had their cousin there so we taught the Restoration to him. He wasn't super interested but we invited him to try reading the Book of Mormon and he agreed to it.

Thursday we had Zone Training in Eskilstuna which was great! We focused a lot on trying to set baptismal dates with our investigators, but specifically making sure that they are serious about them and that we make those invitations out of love. Those invitations aren't very meaningful if we or our investigators can't feel that they are important and that we do it because we really do want them to be able to come closer to their Heavenly Father.

 The Sister Training Leaders also did a segment about the traps and snares in our missionary work. The idea was for everyone to think about what is it that they do that holds them back in their missionary work. Maybe it's their attitude about the area, maybe it's their way of thinking, there are things for all of us that we trip ourselves up with. So we had a really good discussion as a zone as to what some of those were and the benefits of trying to overcome them. It was a really good thing to think about. 

As we were on our way back a lot of us had trains that left roughly the same time so we all went to the station together. We watched the Västeros elders get on a train and then someone noticed it was the wrong one. It was funny as we got them off the train and then saw them run to go catch their actual one. Thankfully they made it. 

We got home and we went to go meet with one of our investigators but he ended up not coming. Elder Olson felt like we should maybe try to swing by a less active member. We went and as we finished unlocking our bikes he actually walked by on his way home. He invited us in and we met with him for a while. It went pretty well. As we were biking home me and Elder Olson both agreed that God must of had a hand in this because it seemed coincidental that we were at the right place at the right time. Unfortunately the man didn't seem to interested to come back to church right now but for whatever reason we were meant to be there that night.

Friday we helped a lady in the ward with her computer, she is older and technology is a little complicated but she really wants to be able to do family history so we found a way to make it easier for her to get to familysearch.org. We then went and contacted out on the street for a while. We met with an investigator and did some weekly planning for the night.

Saturday we contacted in the morning and then had lunch and tried to call people and set up meetings for this week. We then had dinner with a member so that was nice.

Sunday was awesome. Our investigator with a baptismal date came to church and we were able to start planning some stuff for that. We also had a really good Fast and Testimony meeting as well. They had kind of a short talk about home and visiting teaching and that kind of set the tone for when everyone else bore their testimonies. A lot of people talked about the blessings they have received or seen in others' lives as they did their visits. It great that in the church we have a system where we can look after each other in the ward to make sure everyone is taken care of temporally and spiritually. We then had an investigator come right after sacrament meeting. He had thought that church started an hour later but it was awesome to see him there anyways and he stayed for Sunday School. We then had 3rd hour and in priesthood we talked about home teaching again. It was a really good discussion. 

Afterwards we went and visited one of the members and we talked about missionary work. It was amazing! We talked about the blessings that all of us have received from the Gospel and then we talked about how we can then help others find those same blessing by talking about the Gospel with others. Sharing the Gospel doesn't have to be scary. You don't have to go out and share a lesson with a stranger on the street. It could be as simple as saying you went to church when someone asks you about your weekend. Or if someone asks what you've been up to you can share something that you read from your scriptures that day that you've been thinking about. He is kind of a quiet guy but he seemed to light up a bit when he realized that it doesn't have to be such a big deal to share the Gospel with others.

Today was P-day and uh... We bought a pump organ! We went shopping at a second hand store and we walked by this pump organ. It works almost perfectly and the price was 100 crowns which is a little bit more than 10 dollars. Elder Olson got super excited and decided we were getting it. We went and did some grocery shopping and called some other missionaries for help and then came back later and bought it. We then carried it a few hundred feet to out apartment and got it in. So yeah... instead of the usual guitar or piano you find in a missionary apartment we have a pump organ.

It's been an awesome week and I hope you all have a wonderful week. Happy Mother's Day this week!

(First two pictures are with the pump organ and then the last is a picture of an upcoming music festival that is coming to Norrköping next month. We will likely be rocking out to Mormon Tabernacle Choir and our new organ instead)

Week 26 - Valborg and Fire!

It's been quite an interesting week but totally awesome!

Tuesday we had a lesson and called some people.  We met with one of our investigators later and it was super cool.  He had had a baptismal date before but hasn't for awhile and we were planning on talking to him about baptism and trying to get him to commit but then we met him at the church and one of the first things he says more or less is "I want to get baptized"!  We weren't fully prepared for that response but it was exciting none the less.  He didn't have a specific date yet but he said he would get back to us on Sunday.  Since that was basically our whole lesson plan already taken care of we ended up just talking to him about baptism for a little bit and read out of the Book of Mormon.  It was super cool to hear his testimony though of how he has changed as a person.  He used to have problems with his temper but since he started investigating the church and reading the Book of Mormon, he has changed into a different person and others notice too.  It was a super cool experience to just listen to his testimony of it!

Wednesday was the day Elder Olson woke up with what we later determined to be a migraine so we weren't able to do much at first.  I took some time to study but then I was also able to spend a lot of time doing paperwork in our area book so it was still productive, I'm not sure we would've taken the time to do it if he hadn't been feeling well.  He felt better though in the afternoon and so we went to visit a recent convert that neither of us had met yet.  He was super awesome though and he even invited a friend to come with so it was amazing.  The lesson went really well.

Thursday we had district meeting and the Zone leaders came and visited.  We talked a lot about the importance inviting and helping people to church and did a few really fun role plays.  We later tried to meet with someone but he didn't have time so we went and swung by someone that we only had an address for.  He didn't have time either but we set up a return appointment and got his phone number.  We then tracted around for a little while.  (The man we got the phone number for was from Gambia and at last check I believe I am now at about 46 countries of people I have met here in Sweden.)

Friday we had exchanges so I went to Linköping with Äldste Wilson.  We contacted a lot of people on the street including a religious teacher who we had a long but very interesting discussion with.  We also had a lesson that night.

Saturday we came back from splits in the morning and then Äldste Olson and I had a lesson with a member and then we took an hour bus ride to meet an investigator.  The town was small but pretty cool there in Valdemarsvik.

Map with the towns mentioned in this email.

Sunday was awesome!  It was stake conference but it's kind of far away for our ward so they broadcast it to our chapel.  We had 4 investigators come!  It was fantastic!  It was a good conference but we did have some technical difficulties.  We would get the video just fine but sometimes the audio would have problems and raise the pitch significantly which unfortunately leaves the speakers sounding like Alvin and the Chipmunks.  It was kind of funny the first few times though.  After the conference our investigator that we met with on Tuesday told us he wants to be baptized on May 20 so that was great!

[Mom's Note: Stake Conference is a meeting that includes several congregations in an area. A time for area leaders to share council with all of these congregations at a single meeting.]

After church we had lunch with a member family which was a lot of fun and then we went and met an investigator.  Afterwards we got to join in on some Valborg celebrations!  When Swedes have holidays they take them seriously.  We were walking to the park for the celebrations and heard music playing from a nearby church.  We walked in and ended up listening to the end of a Gospel Choir concert by a Norwegian choir here in Sweden... It was an odd spectacle but awesome none the less.  The big event though was in the park.  Valborg is all about welcoming in the Spring and Swedes apparently do it by playing music, lighting a massive fire, and having fireworks! 

Today is obviously P-day but Swedes like their holidays so typically the day after there is always something going on.  Today we saw essentially a parade with a massive line of American muscle cars and really cool cars from the 90s or some even from the 60s.  We got to watch that for a little bit as well.

It's been an awesome week.  It's been a lot of fun and at the same time it has been really cool to see the Lord's work progressing.  I've  learned a lot on my mission and I learn more every day.  I can't believe I've been out for 6 months already!  I am so grateful for my time here to serve the Lord and to meet the people of Sweden.  Happy Spring everyone!

The pictures show the wood pile and the fire, at full height my guess is that the pile was around 15 - 20 feet tall and the flames went up another 30 to 40 past that.

 

Week 25 - Norrköping!

What a week!

On Monday some members made dinner for us at the church because they wanted to see us one last time before three of the four missionaries left so we had a fun time with that. 

On Tuesday we went around trying to meet with some people one last time and taking care of things before we left.  We met with a few members and got some pictures with some of them.  I then had to also spend quite a bit of time packing as I had not gotten to it yet.

On Wednesday we had to get up early because Äldste Stapley had to catch a 6:50 train so of course we needed to be up by 5 to make sure we both of us had everything.  My train left about 20 minutes later and I then had to switch trains in Lund before heading up to Norrköping which is an interesting challenge considering I was one person with 2 hands and 3 suit cases but I got it to work so it's all good.  My new companion Elder Olson met me at the train station and we got my luggage off and back to the apartment.  After that we spent some time catching me up on the area before we went out for the day.  We also had the interesting situation of needing one of the Elders going to Helsingborg needed to sign a baptismal form that we had and his train was stopping in Norrköping so we had to stop at the train station, find his train and then as soon as it stopped, he hopped off, he signed the paper, and then he got back on the train and it left, the whole affair was kind of funny.  Tip of the week for those of you who ever end up needing to do any paper work, remember to check where all the signature lines are and get those people to sign it, you never know, the next opportunity to get it just might be a 3 minute window before a train leaves.  We then went back out talking to people and met with a member which was fun.

Thursday was district meeting and it was super good.  It's a little weird though because 1. it's a small district 2. it's all elders 3. Most of us are relatively new in the mission.  Our district leader has been out the longest at 18 months but then you have me and one other elder from my group, there are 2 from the group ahead of us, and then the last one is in the group ahead of them.  So probably 5 out of 6 of us have been in Sweden for less than 8 months.  It's going to be great!  Our district meeting was about setting goals for the upcoming transfer which is always great.  I didn't used to like goals that much before my mission but now I love having a plan for what I want to work towards, it helps me have something to focus on.  We also met with some of our investigators later in the day and it went well so that was good.

Friday we taught someone else and then after lunch and studies we went out to Nyköping to meet with some members that we can only really see about one day a week because the travel is tricky to get out there.  After we got back we had a member meal here in Norrköping so we figured we would just bike and it was okay at first but then of course it starts raining about halfway through and by the time we are locking our bikes up it started to hail a little bit.  So that was quite the adventure.  After the meal we then had to bike back... and it was still raining... that was fun.

Saturday we had a pretty solid first lesson with someone so we are pretty excited to see where it goes.  We also met with one of our other investigators and it went pretty well.  He doesn't speak English much and he's still learning Swedish, he recently came from Syria, so we just have to take our time to make sure he gets what we are saying.  It worked out pretty well though.  

Sunday was church of course so that was a lot of fun.  There are a lot of kids in this ward which was fun to see, Helsingborg didn't have very many.  It was also kind of funny because we had almost nothing planned for next week and then by the time church was over half our week was booked already.  We went home afterwards and did some of the studies we didn't have time to do in the morning before going to the Bishop's for dinner.

My big takeaway from church and my personal study yesterday was that we we need to listen.  For Sunday School they based it on the communication section of the Church's My Foundation, which is a program for teaching self-reliance.  It was really good though because people appreciate it when they know the listen to you.  Sometimes it's really easy to not listen to people because you are too busy thinking about what you want to say.  What was cool was that the same principle applies to prayer.  Prayer is an opportunity to communicate with God, but how good are we at listening?  It's really easy to just say what we're thankful for, what we want, and then 'hang up' without waiting for a response.  How long do you spend just sitting there, listening for God's response.  How long do you spend trying to feel the Spirit or searching your thoughts and feelings for an answer after you ask a question?  Probably most of us would answer with not much.  Try it this week, try saying a prayer for an entire 5 or even 10 minutes and see the difference it makes.  I promise God wants to answer you but you need to be willing to listen.

Have a great week everyone!

Pictures are 

 1. Elder Olson and I 

 2. Helsingborg missionaries with the Malmsten Family

3. Helsingborg missionaries and the Ocasio and Rexeus families