Tuesday was a busy day. We went and bought a third bus card for my third companion. We also had lunch with a member, then we had met in our branch mission leader and had fika, and then we had dinner with our branch president.
Wednesday was interesting, we got Elder Tolman all ready to go and then headed down to the train station where we picked up Äldste Balls, and we were with a member who drove us back to the apartment with the luggage, from there we then loaded all of Elder Tolman's luggage into the car and brought it back to the train station. We then waited about 45 minutes or so for Äldste Young to arrive and then we finally saw his train pull in and we were all ready to help him with his bags... And he wasn't there. We went and checked another train that came in at the same time, he wasn't there either. Now all of us are very confused so we send a message over messenger and then the Uppsala missionaries call us and it's Äldste Young! Apparently some missionaries that had been stuck in the states waiting for their visas finally got them and were on their way so there were some last minute changes and Elder Young ended up going to Uppsala instead of coming up to Gävle with us... But somehow no one ever told us. So much for my dreams of a tripan.
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Anyways, the two of us later had an appointment soon after and we even had another lesson that night so we got off to a quick start.
Thursday was district meeting which was great, we got to see our would-be companion Elder Young on the other side of the screen so that was good. We later went out to go knock some doors and we dropped some food off for a less active, while we were nearby we thought to try to swing by another less active nearby named Niklas that we have been trying to get a hold of for a while but it has been a struggle to get a hold of him. We swung by and called on his portcode and we got a hold of him! He wasn't home right then but said he would be soon and that we could call him. In the meantime we went and started knocking on some doors in this new area. At the very first door we start talking with this guy and he offers us water. We talk for awhile and he talked about how while he didn't believe in God he has a ton of respect for us and what we do. We shared a message and the Spirit was there but he still turned down the offer of a Book of Mormon. He said if we ever needed anything though we could come to him, even a place to sleep haha. In the meantime Niklas called us back and so we got to go get to know him real quick for 5-10 minutes and leave with a prayer, it was an awesome evening!
Friday had the good ol' weekly planning, first one of the transfer with a new companion is always a good one. Elder Balls wanted to start setting some goals for the transfer and it turned into this full-on grid with color coordination and everything. We also had a member meal and went and knocking and ran into our friend Anders, the guy we had met the day before. He introduced us to his brother and then we left. He told us to knock on his neighbor and say that "Anders says hi" but they weren't home so we continued on. On our way back we see the neighbor out playing guitar and singing and so we start talking with him and then Anders joins us too. We chatted for about 10 minutes or so, neither of them are really interested but maybe one day, who knows.
Saturday we rocked the usual innebandy in the morning. Something else happened that has never happened before on my mission. We were just wrapping up dinner when we get this call from this young woman asking us details of how to get to the church. She wasn't a member, had just moved here 2 days before, and found our number through mormon.org and then called us! After we sort of recovered from the shock of what just happened we pulled ourselves together and went out again.
Sunday was an awesome day in church. The missionary that baptized one of the older members of the branch who has a number of kids and grandkids in the branch was there and the man he baptized bore a powerful testimony, and that got everything started. We also had visitors from the US, the wife grew up here and then married and moved to Utah but they were there visiting. People were bearing the testimonies about how they came to the church as well and the Spirit was super strong. It might have been one of the most powerful fast and testimony meetings I have ever been too. There was just a feeling of love and peace in the room. In the midst of this the woman that had called us the day before was there and we were able to meet with her during sunday school. It was really funny because a lot of the members didn't realize this was her first time at one of our chapels because she seemed to fit right in. After church we had dinner with the Sjökvists and then met with Juhani that night. We shared a thought from Alma 32. I just love Alma's analogy of a seed. Faith has to be fostered and allowed to grow before you can really see the result. You have to be willing to try and be patient enough to let it grow before you see the result.
This week has been fantastic with several miracles and the Lord's work is going forward here in Sweden! Love you all!
--Elder Ashford
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