2nd Day in Sweden: Training, New Companion, New Area!

I may have spent the last couple of days stalking Facebook (a mission page and a secret one for us crazy loving and non-worrying moms 😇), the mission blog, and my email waiting to hear about where our missionary's first area will be.  The wait was over this morning.

Here is another part of the letter we received from President Beckstrand

"The next morning we began the day promptly at 6:30 a.m. with breakfast at the Mission Home. We departed the Mission Home for the nearby Täby Chapel where the Assistants, Sister Beckstrand and I provided training.  

In the second meeting of the morning, he met his new companion and trainer, Äldste Tuomo O. Murtonen. They will serve together in the Helsingborg I area of the Sweden Stockholm Mission."

And the Photos!

(Mom's Note: I have learned that his companion is from Finland and has been on his mission just over a year.)

He made it to Sweden!

On Monday morning we had a nice chat with Äldste Ashford while he was waiting for his flight to leave Salt Lake City.  They had a very early start and then took the light rail to the airport.  Spencer was assigned to be the travel leader - and he said they just gave us directions about which stops to take and then sent us off.  He was a little nervous to be in charge since he hadn't done the light rail before, but it all went great.  He was cute about ending our conversation in time to round up his group to make sure they all made the flight.  We will have to wait to get an email from him to hear how the rest of the travel went.

There were 9 elders and 1 sister missionary that traveled to Sweden.  One of the elders is still waiting on his visa and will be in California until it arrives.

We followed their flights across the globe.  They traveled from Salt Lake City, to New York (JFK), to Amsterdam, and finally to Stockholm.  They were traveling more than a day but lost a few hours in travel, they were so excited to finally arrive in Sweden.  Hopefully they were able to sleep a little bit.

We know that on this flight they sat together in 2 groups.  Not sure about the other flights, forgot to ask.

We received an email from the mission home on Tuesday:

Dear Parents,

We just wanted to let you know that your missionary arrived safely in Sweden this morning. They were in good spirits and excited to be here. We will be emailing you some more pictures in a few days and your missionary will be emailing you on Monday.

Syster ClouseCorrespondence Secretary

Also included were the following photos.  We got an email from the President Beckstrand, the mission president, this morning that detailed how their first day went.  It helps when looking at the photos.

"Upon arrival, he was taken into the city of Stockholm for immigration paperwork. He then had a glimpse of Stockholm with photo opportunities, a light lunch, instructions, training, and contacting in the streets of Stockholm with one of our exceptional, experienced missionaries. 

The mission office was his next stop with an orientation to the Sweden Stockholm Mission policies and procedures. Shortly thereafter, Sister Beckstrand and I invited your son and his MTC group to dine with us at the mission home. I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time in an interview with your son. We concluded the day’s activities with family scriptures and prayer and retired for the evening at the Mission Home."

Nope- No sign of our elder in this photo.

Not in this one either, maybe he was in the van loading the luggage?

 Photo Opportunities in Stockholm

Light Lunch.  Doesn't look very Swedish.  :)

And why are most of them still wearing their coats?
Specifically, of all of them, why is our Minnesotan still wearing his coat?

I love all of the smiles!  They all look very happy to be there.

His travel plans are finalized!

Äldste Ashford and his group are flying to Sweden on Monday!  They are leaving super early in the morning for a 9 am flight for their first leg of the journey, so start sending your packages to the Stockholm Mission Home!

We are so excited because he gets to call from the airport before that flight!

Week 5 - Photos

The first pic is the picture I mentioned of Elder Beveridge and I in our matching light up ties, 

next is Elder cook sporting Elder Beveridge's other tie.

Äldste Ashford and Äldste Beveridge

Äldste Ashford, Äldste Cook, and Äldste Beveridge

 The third one shows what happens when everyone thinks it's funny to send 

Swedish Fish to Swedish Missionaries.  

In case you were wondering, those things are way to sweet to eat through!

The last one I took from the temple steps.

I'll send another one I took of the temple itself in a sec. 

(and Bam! it has already appeared!)

Week 5 - Sweden, Here I Come

It's my last week in the MTC!  We leave on Monday, and of course we get to leave at 4:30 in the morning for a 9am flight.  It'll be great!  It's crazy to think I'm almost out of here.  I have been here for so long that I almost forget about the outside world sometimes.  I can't wait to finally fly to Sweden!

Our travel plans arrived on Friday, so that was a very exciting day.  Unfortunately one of our Elders' visa hasn't arrived yet, so he will be serving in California for a transfer since he can't leave yet.  We all feel bad for him but surprisingly he is excited, even if he does have a little longer before Sweden.  

Saturday was a pretty normal day.  We had a great discussion in class though about faith while reading out of Alma 32 (verses 26-43) about faith being like a little seed.  We have to plant it and let it grow.  It's amazing how fun talking about scriptures is in the MTC.  People seem to always think it's boring but when you really get into it with others who are also interested, it's a lot of fun and everyone learns a lot!  I also read a talk that one of the Elders gave me.  It's 'The Fourth Missionary' by James Corbridge.  It is amazing at explaining how as missionaries we need to be obedient to be effective and be able to change others' lives, but we also need to be obedient in our thoughts and heart if we want to be able to change ourselves.  If our mind and heart aren't aligned with God, then even if our might and strength are, we don't benefit because we haven't given our whole self to God's work.  It's a really good talk and I highly recommend it for anyone considering a mission.  If you can learn the principles in there early, I can guarantee you will be ready by the time you serve a mission.

Sunday was Fast Sunday!  It was an awesome day.  In Priesthood we talked about the Book of Mormon and how our entire religion rests upon it like the keystone of an arch.  Because we know it to be true, we know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that God has restored his church on the Earth, and that His priesthood power and authority have also been restored to the Earth.  It was an awesome discussion.  Fast and testimony meeting was really powerful.  The spirit was so strong.  Our whole district got up and bore our testimonies and most of the Finns did as well.  We all got up and testified of Christ, and then we all sang the 2014 Mutual theme 'Come Unto Christ'.  The Spirit was so powerful I was tingling for about a half hour.  My heart was so full.  After Sacrament meeting my district started practicing our departure song for the next sacrament meeting.  We are singing 'How Great Thou Art' which is actually originally a Swedish tune.  We are having the Nords sing a verse, we sing a verse, we all then sing a verse in English, and then the last verse we all go back to our own mission languages.  Hopefully it will go well.  That night we also watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  It had some great reminders about Christmas, such as the fact that Christmas is important because of Easter, if Christ hadn't atoned for us, His birth would not have the same importance.  He has also given us better gift than we could ever give, which is His atonement.  It was an amazing devotional, so if you have spare time I recommend watching, it should be on LDS.org.  Sunday night Elder Beveridge and I realized we got care packaged the same light up tie so I will link that down below, we totally got a picture of it.

Monday we had a great discussion in class on the importance of having investigators make commitments and then following up with them.  We actually taught ourselves because our teachers had their own devotional to go to.  Elder Beveridge and I also taught our replacement zone leaders so they can take over on Sunday.  It's crazy to think we are almost done with that assignment.  I still feel like I've only just started my assignment as zone leader.  

Tuesday we had our last Tuesday Devotional.  We got to hear from Craig C Christianson of the Presidency of the Seventy (FYI he spoke during the Christmas devotional on Sunday).  He gave an amazing talk on the importance of yoking ourselves to Christ, our companions, and members.  If we yoke ourselves it means we have to work together, but we also gain the strength to do far more than we can alone.  Tuesday night it was Vanhin Crump's Birthday (one of the Finns) so we had a bit of a celebration.  It was funny, they lifted him up in the air in a chair Bar Mitzvah style, it was hysterical.

Wednesday we had our last TRC so Elder Beveridge and I talked with Hampus from Sweden over Skype.  We had a great time talking about Christmas and the #LighttheWorld initiative the church has.  It is so much fun to be able to have great discussions with actual native speakers.

Sorry this email is so long, but it's my last one before Sweden!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy the Christmas season and take a second to ponder why we celebrate it.

Vi Ses!

-Elder Ashford

Week 5 - Preview Photo!

Here is a photo of another MN reunion at the MTC.  Tom Parkinson used to be in our ward several years ago before moving to Idaho and serving a mission in Norway.  Fun that they ran into each other at the MTC.  Thanks to Tom's mom Karen for sharing it on Facebook.  :)

Week 4 - Open Your Mouth

Hey everyone!  

It's been another great week here at the MTC, and now I only have a week and a half left.  It's Crazy!

Saturday I got to break out my sewing skills.  I got a small hole in my suit and had to stitch it up.  It might have been the first time I've sewed something since 7th grade.  (Thanks FACS class!)

Sunday definitely had a theme of obedience.  Our district meeting and devotional both covered that topic, and the video we watched that night was also in that theme.  We heard from Stephen B. Allen, the managing director of the Mission Department.  He was really funny.  He really understands what goes through missionaries thoughts.  He made a really great point of not letting Satan push our buttons.  He wants us to go home, give up, or not do our best.  His mission is to not let us live up to our potential.  We need to not let him push our buttons, and that's especially true as a missionary.  He talked about the importance of following mission rules and how they are not there to make our lives miserable.  They come from the First Presidency and nearly 200 years of Church missionary experience.  They are designed specifically to not allow Satan to take hold of us.  That same point was also referenced in the Holland Devotional recording that we watched that night.  He also mentioned that when Joseph Smith went to pray, Satan couldn't kill him, so he tried the next best thing, he bound his mouth so Joseph couldn't speak.  We can't allow him to shut our mouths.  We need to not be scared to share the truth of the Gospel with others.  When we are too scared, he has power over us.

Monday we finally got snowed that stayed!  It finally feels like winter.  One of the Elders in our district figured out our flight plans early.  We get to go through New York and Amsterdam to get to Stockholm.  It's crazy to think we only have 2 Sundays left before Sweden!  We also figured out from our teachers that the day we arrive, it should be some sort of light festival in Sweden that is supposed to be really cool.  We had a really cool day in class.  We talked about the amount of Faith that Enoch in the Bible and the Brother of Jared had in the Book of Mormon.  They must have had to have such obedience to receive the amount of power they did. It was a great discussion.  On our way back from class we took some pictures of the lights with the snow.  As we were walking back there was a huge snowball fight and we walked right through the middle of it.  It was great to see all of these missionaries having a great time.

Tuesday we heard from Jorge Zaballos of the Quorum of the Seventy.  He talked to us about making sure we teach with the Spirit.  We can't do everything for our investigators.  They need to be able to find their own answers, but we can certainly help.  Afterwards Elder Beveridge and I had leadership training since we are now zone leaders.  We talked about learning how to both administer and minister.  The phrase also popped into my head to have "love with expectations".  I really like that, especially the more I thought about it.  Whenever you are a leader to someone, they need to know you care about them.  If they know you care they will have respect and trust in you.  Then the expectations come in because that's how you encourage others to do their best.  You hold them accountable when they fall short and help them see how to improve.

Yesterday we had TRC again so we were teaching members in Swedish.  This time we Skyped a woman in Denmark who grew up in Sweden.  It was awesome!  We understood most of what she said, although her Swedish was also pretty rusty so she might have been speaking a little slower, but I won't complain.  We taught a good lesson on sharing our light with others.  We also shared a thought that we heard from Elder Zaballos that we don't say "Go to Christ", we say "Come unto Christ", implying that we need to already be near Christ before we can invite others.  It was really cool to talk to her, and it was amazing how much we came to care about her after only a 35 minute Skype call.  It's amazing how much easier it is to teach people and help them when you come to love the people you serve.  Yesterday I also got a whole bunch of cinnamon and orange rolls with some cookies in the mail.  Knowing that I wouldn't possibly be able to healthily eat them all by myself I shared them with the zone.  All the elders loved it!  Our zone has gotten really tight and we have a lot of fun together.

Today has been pretty quiet but that's not necessarily bad.  It's nice to have a brief break every once in a while.

-Elder Ashford

Elder Ashford and Elder Beveridge

MTC Campus lights with new snow

Snowball Fight!