Week 91 - Goodbye Elder Tolman :'( Hello Tripan! :)

This week was busy and exciting as usual.

Tuesday we helped out a member stacking some firewood, for a bit which was fun. We also got our bikes back from the repair shop, what a relief!

Wednesday started off a little rough, it had been so warm in our apartment all night that it was hard to sleep. (Yay! No air conditioning) We pulled ourselves together though and got to work. We went and helped out at RIA again which was fun. We met Ulrika at the library but we got there early and ran into someone else that Elder Tolman had taught before so we talked with him for a bit which was fun. We had our coordination meeting with our branch mission leader and it was funny because his little 2 year old son somehow ended up wearing both Elder Tolman's watch and nametag, haha.

Thursday we had our last district meeting of the transfer which was great. We met one of our recent converts and talked about the Plan of Salvation, she's doing great! We went over and visited some other members for lunch and then we went and swung by another less active member. It was a pretty good day. One thing that kept coming up though was how with all of the heat and fires here in Sweden and across the rest of Europe that it is bringing more people together that otherwise share a number of disagreements but in a time of crisis people reach out in another's time of need which is great to see.

Friday we had an awesome lesson with someone we had never met before. We had called him earlier in the week and we gave him a tour of the church. We got to the primary room (primary is the church's program for children ages 11 and under, more or less) and it was awesome because they had posters for their themes for each month of the year with titles like "I am a child of God" or "My Heavenly Father loves me" It gave a great start for our lesson and we taught about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and he seemed to really get it. He has been really looking for something more in his life recently. It was awesome. It's experiences like this that keep missionaries going.

Saturday we had Innebandy and we also went to a family history activity that night.

Sunday we had a great day in church.  Before we got there we were waiting at a bus stop and this guy sat down next to us so we started talking to him. He was heading in the same direction and actually got off one stop before us. We talked about his life and it came up that we were Americans and that we were missionaries and we explained a little about what we do. He himself believed there was something more, that this world functions too well to have been created by chance and I paraphrased on of my favorite scriptures from the Book of Mormon and that led to a great discussion, we were able to teach and testify and even gave him a Book of Mormon and traded facebooks, it was super awesome! (see scripture down below)

At church Elder Tolman gave a talk along with a few others. I ended up translating for some Americans who were visiting while they were on a business trip. We had a great lesson in Sunday school and then the Sjökvists, for 3rd hour, which was essentially one of their devotionals on learning to listen to and recognize the Spirit that they gave at FSY(The church's equivalent of EFY here (EFY or Especially for Youth, and FSY are 6 day spiritual summer camps for youth ages 14 - 18.) They had been the couple in charge. It was really awesome. We then ate dinner with the Sjökvists and then headed home for some work we still had to do. We also got Transfer calls! I am having to say goodbye to Elder Tolman which is too bad... We were rocking it together here. But to keep me company I have Äldste Ball... and Äldste Young! We are going to be a tripan! (triple companionship -> tripanionship -> tripan) It should be great!

"40 And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only.

41 But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them? Believest thou that these things are true?" - Alma 30:40-41 

Everything that has been created is so wonderful and intricate and for me shows that there is a guiding hand in everything. I am so grateful for that and that his hand is everywhere and in our lives. It's all because of His great love for us. Have a wonderful week!

pictures: 

This is us on our way to church, it finally rained!

Elevator Selfie on our way back from doing laundry.

--Elder Ashford

Week 90 - Splits in Uppsala

This was a pretty busy week I have to say, which always feels good.

Tuesday we had splits with the Uppsala Elders so they came up to Gävle and Elder Tolman and Elder Dawson immediately caught a train to the edge of our area while Elder Jordan and I headed back on down to the good ol' Uppsala. It's a pretty city that's definitely a college town and is extremely bike friendly (some of the roundabouts straight up have a bike lane). We got to Uppsala and Elder Jordan and I had a good time running an English class at the church with the sister missionaries in Uppsala and then we went out and did some good finding work and had a great time.

Wednesday we went to the Uppsala trainstation and met up with our companions again and then Elder Tolman and I had another busy day ahead of us. We helped serve lunch at RIA again which is fun as always and then we went right after to the library to meet Ulrika and ran into 3 other members too. The library was pretty busy, probably because it is one of the few buildings in Sweden with air conditioning and it has been one of the hottest summers Sweden has seen.  After our time at the library we brought our bikes into the shop to get worked on... not having bikes and having to use only buses has been a bit of a transition haha. We have been using those things a ton.

Thursday was the good old district meeting and we did some follow up on zone conference about commandments and someone mentioned something which I thought was awesome. God gives us commandments because He loves us, and how do we show our love for him? Keep his commandments (John 14:15). We also had coordination meeting with our branch mission leader and we knocked on his door and his family had all just gotten home from vacation about 10 minutes before haha. But we had a great meeting. 

Friday we had an awesome lesson. We have been teaching this one man for the last few months, ever since I got to Gävle, and we had a quick lesson with him that went super well. At the end he even said the prayer! We have been asking him every lesson and he has never felt ready or comfortable enough to do it with us, although he does it on his own, but he finally said one and it was awesome! The Spirit was definitely there.

Saturday we had innebandy again and it rained a little bit and dropped down to 19 degrees celsius for the day so that felt really nice. We also had our Chill Kväll activity and we made spaghetti and we had about 15 people there and we played some games. Somehow I managed to win the cookie face race in about 5 seconds, how I don't know, whether it was skill or good luck I don't know either but it happened.

Sunday we had a great day in church. We had a great sacrament meeting and then it was funny because in sunday school we started with an object activity trying to describe the importance of good leadership. Elder Tolman and I were asked to stand back to back, each with an identical set of legos on the table in front of us. Elder Tolman was then to construct something and describe it and I was to try to replicate. I did my best but let's just say we didn't get the same result.

I read a really great talk by the way this week from 2014 by Elder Holland titled "The Cost—and Blessings—of Discipleship" https://www.lds.org/languages/eng/content/general-conference/2014/04/the-cost-and-blessings-of-discipleship. It really enjoyed it. He talks about how being a disciple of Christ is not and has never been easy or convenient, but the joy and blessings that come from it are so numerous. I really liked it a lot.

I wish you all a wonderful week! 

Here is a picture of a "weather station" we found while tracting. It is a remarkably technical and highly accurate apparatus with such indicators as "if rock is wet - it's raining" or "If rock is white - it's snowing" or even "if rock is gone - tornado."

-- Elder Ashford

Week 89 - Zone Conference

What a week, wow!

Monday was P-day of course and as soon as that was over we headed to the train station and caught a train to Stockholm for zone conference. We got to stay at the office and I got to see my MTC companion Elder Beveridge again! That was pretty awesome.

Tuesday was zone conference. We had a great training from our zone leaders and sister training leaders on asking inspired questions and then listening. They really do make such a difference. The Youngberg's talked about President Oaks' talk "Small and Simple Things" and about how that applies to both us as missionaries as well as those we teach. He asked the question that I think everyone should think about "Is there something small and simple in your life that you can change that will have a big impact in 20 years?" food for thought.  On our way home from zone conference we had some cool experiences as well. We were in T-central (Stockholm's main train station) and we ran into a couple members on vacation from Japan so that was pretty cool. We also got on the train home then afterwards and a member from Sundsvall sat next to us and chatted with us the whole way home.

On Wednesday we helped out serving lunch at RIA again and then met with Ulrika and read the Book of Mormon with her. We also had a lesson that night with this guy that met with the missionaries on and off for the past 3 years. He loves the branch but just never got a testimony of the Book of Mormon. We had an amazing lesson with him and really got his attention when we mentioned Ezekiel 37:15-17 and then in 1 Nephi 5 how the Book of Mormon is a fulfillment of this prophecy. People always seem to mistake the Book of Mormon for a replacement for the Bible... It's not. It is another testament and witness of Christ that goes hand in hand with the Bible. They testify of each other. Anyways, the lesson went really well and then on the bus ride home we ran into the daughter of one of the people we teach and we chatted with her on the whole bus ride home and it was really fun.

On Thursday we met with a member at the library which went well, but then we saw someone else we have taught and were able to real quick chat with him. We also have been calling people that have met with missionaries before and we have had some great success setting up some meetings.

Friday was not noteworthy but on Saturday we visited some members and had a great lesson, swung by some people and talked with some of their neighbors even, we also had an apartment inspection, we had the apartment looking nice and they gave us some ice cream! It's definitely needed as the weather has been hanging around just shy of 30 C which is about 85 F with around 50% humidity... H O T and that spells HOT!

Sunday we had a great meeting in sacrament meeting and we had dinner with the Sjökvists and even got some time to knock some doors. Missionary life is great!

Today a member took us out to Limö for P-day so that was cool. Sadly we forgot to take hardly any pictures.

I love being a missionary here in Sweden. The country is beautiful, the people are wonderful and the Gospel is true!

Pictures include from our boat ride to Limö, 

getting our apartment inspected, 

being reunited with Äldste Beveridge, 

 and we also tried a recipe recommended by the Youngbergs, we like it so much we made it twice!

--Elder Ashford

Week 88 - Heja Sverige!

What a week, wow!

Tuesday we went out and visited a member out in Lingbo again which was cool. We also had dinner with our branch president which was good.

On Wednesday we helped serve lunch at RIA again and then met with Ulrika at the library and read the Book of Mormon with her, she is seriously so funny it's great. That night we had dinner at a member's house to celebrate the Fourth of July, they had American flags up, hamburgers, and even root beer! (It's been awhile since I have had root beer, Swedes think it tastes like toothpaste so it isn't exactly popular here haha.)

On Thursday the Uppsala Elders came to us for district meeting as we went on Splits right afterwards. So Elder Dawson and I were back together here in good old Gävle. We got to help a member move a sofa out of his apartment and then bring up the replacement...it was 3 flights of stairs in a cramped stairwell...it was a bit of an adventure. They really appreciated the help though!  We also got to do some finding and then we met with one of the people we are teaching that night. We then got to finish the night off with eating some ice cream and chocolate sauce (some members showed us how to make it from scratch... it's soooo good).

On Friday we switched back from splits, and did some planning and we had dinner with a member. They told us to meet them at 5 pm outside of a funeral home... rather odd instructions until they show up and then take us to the resteraunt next door. They are funny!  We then had another lesson that night so we were cruising around town.

Saturday we played Innebandy and had a lesson with some members about following the prophet and we watched President Nelson's talk on "Seeking Revelation" (I seriously love that talk.) We then headed over to our Branch President's home because or mission president gave us permission to watch the SWEDEN VS ENGLAND GAME! So we got to watch the world cup with President Sjökvist. Sweden lost unfortunately but it was still fun to Heja Sverige.

Yesterday we had a great day in church. That great day was followed up by swinging by a less active with some banana bread, her non-member husband then said that they would maybe be able to come to church next sunday (before we even got a chance to ask), and then after we left she texted us and said to tell her ahead of time next time so she can make us food! It was more than we ever could have asked for from swinging by. We also then ate dinner with a member family and they invited their neighbor to come as well which was pretty fun.

Miracle for the week!

2 district meetings ago we talked about successfully failing and not being too scared of posting things to facebook and so we all committed to post something during the week. We decided to post something, more with a specific investigator in mind but we posted it so that others could see it too. We later saw that one of our recent converts that has gone less active saw the post and liked it. The next day she sent us a text (she initiated, not us) saying how she missed us and missed church. We texted back saying we had missed her and set up for a time to have fika (like a tea or coffee break would be the closest translation) with her (this coming thursday). Fast forward to yesterday, she came to church! We hadn't really expected her to come but she came and we were thrilled! The rest of the branch seemed pretty excited too as we haven't seen her for awhile. Facebook is such a wonderful tool and it's easy to underestimate how far reaching it is. This was not the result we had intended or expected from that post but it set off a wonderful chain of events. The Lord works through small and simple things! 

Another cool thought. We had an investigator ask us some tough questions regarding the Word of Wisdom (a sort of health code for the church that includes abstaining from alcohol, coffee, tobacco, tea, and illegal drugs) but what is interesting is in the scriptures where it is explained that in the last verse it talks about how "how the destroying angel shall pass over", in reference to the Jewish Passover when the Jews marked their doorposts. God probably would have known who was righteous and who wasn't without that physical indication but it was all about obedience. So in other words the Word of Wisdom is all about obedience and being different from the world, which is why for example they drank wine in the bible but now it is excluded. It was a really cool realization and it makes a lot more sense now as to why we follow it in addition to the other benefits and blessings I have seen in my life that come from it. God loves and cares for us in all aspects of our lives whether it be spiritually or temporally.

It's been a great week and I wish you all the best!

In addition here are some pics from the Fourth of July and the world cup game

-- Elder Ashford

Week 87 - My Bicycle orkade inte längre

Last P-day we went mini-golfing with the young man in our ward (we only have one).

On Tuesday we went to Lingbo again but it was pretty funny because on the way to the train station we ran into our investigator's 12 year old daughter Saga and she said hi and then said "You need to come over more often" haha, I think they enjoy having the missionaries over. Anyways we headed out to Lingbo and did some service and then afterwards we went by a few people and then that night we went tracting.  We hadn't been seeing much success in the area we had been in and so we were exploring some other options. We decide to start in this new area and come to the first building and start going up. Not to many answered, a few people weren't interested, but on the second or third floor up this woman answers the door and asks "Are you Jehovahs?", "no" we reply, and then she says "come in" and waves us in. We had a great lesson on the Restoration and she had some good questions and comments and seemed very interested in what we had to say. It was awesome! God really does prepare some people to hear the gospel.

On Wednesday we did service at RIA again serving lunch to people that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it and it was a good thing too, they were apparently short on kitchen staff so the were really appreciative of the extra few hands. We had a few meetings that day as well to which was nice.

On Thursday we had district meeting and we had it in person this week. It was actually really good. We talked about what we had heard in last zone conference about successfully failing and I think a lot of us having been so scared of failing or making mistakes in missionary work, especially in using our new technology capabilities, that we haven't really dared try anything.But we talked about how sometimes failure is essential to growth and we have to be willing to try new things. It was a really great meeting.  Here comes the title for the email. Swedish has the wonderful verb of "orka" which means to "have the energy to" essentially, and that is not how one would my describe my bicycle on the way home from district meeting. The chain came loose and so it fell out of place rendering all pedaling useless. This happened not once, not twice... but three times in the same trip... We got home and tightened that up first thing, it was quite the adventure. We then swung by our investigator's family and delivered banana bread (Saga loves Elder Tolmans banana bread) and then delivered a Book of Mormon to someone else. It was a really good day.

Friday wasn't too eventful but we did teach a lesson over the phone which was an interesting experience, it wasn't what we had ideally wished for but it went really well actually.

Saturday was interesting, we had Innebandy which went well, we then swung by an event a member was holding but we could only stay a half hour. We then went to the church for a missionary activity... but only our branch president showed up... whoops.

Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting. It was a really powerful meeting. I love that we have a chance every month to listen to what other feel strongly and know to be true and how they strengthened their faith. It's really awesome. We also had a member meal that night which was nice.

I have been thinking a lot about the difference between pride and humility recently. Pride is something that we are all guilty of in some way at some time. It comes from thinking of ourselves and it's interesting as we feel like we will be happier when we achieve our own selfish ambitions, but in reality it's not the case. I have noticed in my life that as I humble myself and put others first I am a lot happier. I am sure that's why missionaries love their missions so much and why I feel like a lot of church members are happy despite what we see in the world, because serve others. I am sure that is why the Savior was able to endure all the hardships He did. He loved us so much that He did everything He could for us, and that was what gave him joy. As we continue to strive to be like him and serve each other, as individuals, families, and communities, we too can feel that joy.

I wish you all a wonderful week!

I haven't had time to send pictures for a few weeks, here are 2 pictures from midsummer, our boy Ruben who went mini-golfing with us, and an obligatory elevator selfie. Also included is us chilling on our balcony at 10 PM, gotta love being the sunshine up here while it lasts, as well as a picture of our district.

---Elder Ashford