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.
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