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.
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| 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.
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