Week 34 - Midsommar!

I know I say this a lot but this week was actually super crazy!

Monday was our missionary volley ball tournament so that was a lot of fun.  We took a train out to Södertälje and played volleyball for about 4-5 hours on P-day.  A lot of us were still pretty pale from no sunlight in winter and then always wearing proselyting clothes every day but just about everybody left a few shades redder than when they got there.  It was a lot of fun.  We then came home.  It was kind of crazy though.  

We got invited to Family Home Evening with the Bishop's family and so there was a bus that left at 6:20, we got off our train at 6:06, ran to our bikes that we had parked at the station, biked home, changed into a white shirt and slacks, and then biked back in time to catch the bus with a less active we were bringing with.  It was pretty crazy. We got to Söderköping okay though and the Bishop and his family took us to this place called Smultronstället which is literally an ice cream restaurant.  Not a restaurant that also has ice cream but literally the entire menu is ice cream.  They had some crazy looking ice cream and they could get pretty big too.  It was delicious!  We also walked up a big hill and got a beautiful view of Söderköping.

Photos from Hike to Söderköping

On Tuesday one of our lessons didn't show up so we did family history for a little while at the church. We then biked to meet one of our investigators and had a super good lesson with him.  We then biked back to the church to meet one of our recent converts.  We had a great lesson with him.  We then had to go buy food because we didn't have time the day before so we bought food, biked home, then biked all the way back and past the church for a member meal.  The next day Elder Olson estimated that we had biked for about 2 hours the whole day just trying to get back and forth everywhere.  We could kind of feel it.

Wednesday we met in the morning with one of the kids in the ward.  He is 9 but wasn't baptized when he was 8 so we have to teach him now before he can be baptized.  He wants to though and it was pretty fun being able to teach him, we'll be meeting with him quite a bit over the next few weeks.  We met with Nils-Erik and had a great lesson with him.  It's so awesome to see how he has such a strong personal testimony of the church, and he just hit his one month mark!  We also had a lesson with another recent convert and we saw a hedgehog on the way there!  We talked about the article "The Faithful High Councilor" from the June Liahona with her.  It's a super good article.  We came home and called a whole bunch of people trying to get lessons set up without a ton of success but we went out for the last 15 minutes of the day and on our way home we ran into 3 African guys who asked us if we were the Mormons.  Apparently one of them had visited one of the chapels in Stockholm so that was fun.  We managed to get all 3 of their numbers and we are going to try to meet them this week.

Thursday was district meeting which went well.  It was in Linköping so we then traveled back and had a lesson with an investigator before riding a bus out to Finspång to meet another investigator that just moved from Linköping.  It was funny though because on our way back we missed our bus and so we just walked into a nearby kebab place and we ran into two teenagers we had just sat next to on the spårvagn the day before.  It was funny and we said hello.  We then finally caught our bus home after that.

Friday was Midsommar!  It was a non-proselyting day for us so we got invited to the family gathering for one of the families that makes up roughly half the ward here in Norrköping.  There were about 42 people there, it was wild!  It felt kind of weird not having to leave to go make it back for a lesson somewhere.  We had all sorts of food and we went to a nearby church to see them put up the Midsummer pole and dance around it.  It was fun to just kind of rest for a day.

Saturday we had a P-day schedule so we took it easy.  We went to the church and played some pingpong. Walked around the city for awhile but all of the stores were still closed.  It's kind of interesting how Swedes actually close down everything for Midsummer.  Almost nothing was open while everyone was at home or visiting family, the streets are practically empty.  We listened to a few talks and then we went and visited a member, we had a really good lesson on likening the scriptures to ourselves and seeing how they can have personal application.  It was a really awesome lesson and it kind of helped me remember why I love the scriptures.  They were written and preserved for us to be able to read, learn from, and apply to our own lives and when we do so they become more meaningful.  Try to read this week from the scriptures and see how the scriptures can apply to your life and see how your studies change.

Yesterday we had church which went really well.  We had a great Sacrament meeting and second and third hour were also really good.  It was pretty crowded with everyone's extended family also in town, the chapel was almost completely full!  We also had a member meal right after which was fun.  We then came home and did our weekly planning.

P.S. I know this week seemed like a big party but I promise we also worked hard 

- Elder Ashford

Midsommar Photos!

These pictures were from when they carried in the pole and put it up.

Next set of photos with everyone dancing around the pole and

 then of course Elder Olson and I needed a picture(s) with it.

 

Week 33 - Studenten

Monday after our P-day we went and helped a member with a little bit of lawn work and then she fed us dinner after so that was awesome.

Tuesday we had was pretty normal. We had a lesson that fell through but we went out and talked to people. 

Wednesday was pretty cool.  We had a lesson and then as we were walking out we had a pretty funny occurrence.  I was on the phone with one of our investigators from Syria setting up an appointment for later in the week, we were on our way to meet our Syrian recent convert and we ran into one of our Syrian potential investigators, it was kind of funny.  We had our lesson which went really well.  We challenged Alex, the recent convert, to teach us a lesson next week and he accepted so that was awesome.  As we were leaving we were waiting for the Spårvagn with him and a lady who was also waiting for us started talking with us and asked if we were missionaries from our church.  It was kind of weird for someone to start a conversation with us for once instead of the other way around.  It turns out she used to meet with the missionaries a few years ago, so we got her number and it was actually super cool.  We also had a zone conference call talking about our vision for the transfer and we focused on the why.  Why we do what we do, why are we where we are, etc...  It was really great because when we understand why we do something it becomes easier to do it.

Thursday had district meeting and we had a great discussion on the power of bringing members with us on our lessons and using the scriptures.  It was a great reminder for us that we have some amazing resources that we can't forget to use.  Afterwards President Beckstrand showed up and gave a few of us interviews that he hadn't gotten to last transfer. That night we had dinner with the Bishop's family which was fun.  On our way home we got kind of stuck because our bus didn't come and we waited for about 20 minutes for the next one that came later so we could actually get home.  It was fun though, we talked to 2 pretty cool middle eastern guys the whole bus ride.

Friday was Studenten.  It's the graduation day from gymnasium (their version of high school).  It's kind of funny because all the guys wear suits, all the girls wear white dresses, but then all of them wear these sailor hats, I'll put a picture down below. We had a lesson set up in a park but it didn't really work because the other thing they do is they meet up with their classes, rent out semi-trucks with flatbeds and party in the back with the music blasting and their had to be at least 6 at a time just driving around.  It was wild.  We then traveled out to Nyköping to visit some members.

On Saturday we had a few lessons that went super well.  We met with one of our members and watched President Monson's "Finishers Wanted" talk from 1972.  It is super good.  We also had a member buy us dinner which ended up tasting fantastic.

Today we had a really good Sunday and the Stake President was even here which was fun.  In priesthood we listened to a BYU devotional by Gordon B. Hinckley that had to deal with Leadership which was super good. (Mom's note: He later added the talk was entitled "The Loneliness of Leadership.") Yes, I am also emailing on a Sunday but do not be alarmed, we got a little time to email now because the missionaries have a volleyball activity so we will be in Södertälje all day tomorrow and won't be able to email but I promise that next week will have a ton of pictures.

Happy Father's day everyone! 

The pictures are of the studenten graduates walking around with their hats, a cool tower outside a church in Söderköping as well as a cute little stream nearby.

- Elder Ashford

Note from Mom: Here is a map that shows a few of the areas he mentioned above.

Week 32 - American Flags on Swedish National Day

Last Monday we kicked a soccer ball around with the Linköping Elders. On our way home though we tried to use a public air pump to pump up our bike tires. Elder Olson hooked up his tire and we heard the air flowing so we thought it was working but then realized that the tire wasn't filling up. Upon further investigation we learned that the pump didn't work and the sound of rushing air was in fact the air escaping, not entering, his tire. We laughed as we then walked our bike home as his tire was now too flat to ride. We did some contacting and tracting though and we had a really successful time. We gave out 4 Book of Mormons, which was highly unusual so we were kind of excited.

Linköping is about 42km from Norrköping and just under 30 minutes by train.

Tuesday was Swedish National day, which was interesting. We walked through a park where they were holding their celebration since we were in the area and they were handing out little Swedish Flags and they had some people bringing their fancy old cars for people to check out. What was really funny though was that I saw a lot of people wearing shirts with the American flag on it, and virtually none with the Swedish Flag. I found that to be pretty funny. We had a lesson and then later we had a member meal. While we were there we played a fun game with them that I think is called Kubb but I'm not entirely sure. Basically you both sides have a line of blocks and you throw sticks at them to try to knock the other team's down.

Mom's note - Apparently Kubb is really popular in the Midwest - especially in Minnesota and Wisconsin. There is a lot of Swedish and Norwegian ancestry in this area. We will have to get ourselves a set and/or check out one of the tournaments. Here is a link to a Minnesota Group.

Wednesday was very wet and rainy. We had a lesson and did a little family history which was fun. We then biked to a member meal and it was fine outside when we left but it started raining on the way. I wore a jacket so I was okay but Elder Olson was pretty thoroughly soaked. When we got to the member's house she immediately got him a towel to dry him off, and when she then saw that it wasn't working insisted on taking a hairdryer and blow-drying him, it was really funny to watch.

Thursday we had district meeting and set some goals for the transfer. It was still kind of rainy though. But not all the time. The weather here changes on a dime. We went out contacting and brought our umbrellas because we would seriously put them up, then 10 minutes later it would stop raining, we would keep going for another 10 minutes, and then it would start to rain again and the umbrellas went back up. It was kind of funny. We also had a member meal that night with a family in our ward but that is actually the Branch President for Linköping so he invited the Linköping Elders too. We were on our way to go catch the spårvagn, when we stopped to talk with a member we saw on the street. The spårvagn then starts leaving without us and we see the Linköping Elders onboard. We realized that if we ran we could cut the corner since the route kind of curves so we ran through the city and through a park to a few stops down in time to catch it and sit down next to the other missionaries, it was kind of fun. (for those of you, wondering a spårvagn is a tram.) We had a great member meal and then since the four of us were there we did exchanges.

Elder Wilson and I were in Linköping on Friday, we had a good time, we spent a lot of time talking to people on the street. We also had an activity with a few members so that was pretty fun.

Saturday I was back in Norrköping with Elder Olson. We had a busy day. We met with one of our recent converts and then he stuck around for when we met one of our investigators which was awesome! We also had dinner with Nils-Erik, our recent convert, and it was awesome. He showed us some of his music equipment which was pretty cool. We also had a really good discussion on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We then had him drop us off at the university here to meet with one of our investigators. He was leaving for Austria the next day so we wanted to meet with him. A lot of our investigators have been either getting sick or going on vacation so it's been kind of an odd situation for us.

Sunday we had church, unfortunately all our investigators were busy so they didn't come but we had the opportunity to talk with some primary kids for like 10 minutes which was fun! They were talking about missionaries in their class so the teacher had us come in to answer a few questions. It was great. We then ate with some members for lunch which was pretty fun as well. We then got to come home and do weekly planning! So that took up a lot of the rest of our day.

It's been a great week and I feel like I can see the Lord's work going forward. It's so cool to be a part of it and I'm really grateful for that. Have a wonderful week!

- Elder Ashford

Week 31 - Norrköping Part 2!

This has been a wild week but it was a lot of fun so here we go.

Tuesday evening we traveled to Stockholm to spend the night for Zone Conference on Wednesday. That meant our only real time to get much done was in the morning and early afternoon. We had met two investigators and another member pretty much back to back so we were going all over the place.  We then packed our bags before heading to the station.  We got to stay the night with the Office elders and the Assistants as well as another set of elders who traveled all the way from Karlstad.  It was fun though.

Wednesday was zone conference.  It was also President and Sister Beckstrand's last zone conference as they will be going home in a few weeks. We had a great training though.  The Assistants talked about remembering to take the scriptures and liken them to ourselves, to see the personal application, as well as then help others see how the scriptures apply to them too.  The Beckstrands then gave us the training that they usually give to missionaries when their going home since they won't be able to give that to all of us later.  I really liked President Beckstrand's thoughts. He essentially went through  President Monson's talk from 1972 titled "Finisher's Wanted".  It is a great talk and reminds us of how important it is to stick it out to the end instead of giving up before we earn our reward.  We then had lunch and then time to take pictures as it was essentially the Beckstrand's big goodbye to all the missionaries.  We then went and got on a train home.  We hadn't realized earlier in the week how late our train was going to be so we had scheduled a lesson for right after we got back.  After the lesson we finally got home.

Thursday we met with one of the people that we had got a phone number from.  They invited us over in the morning to what turned out to be... the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall!  We met and had a good discussion but we could tell that they weren't super interested in our message.  We then met with Nils-Erik, the man who was baptized recently, and we went over the Plan of Salvation.  It was a great lesson and we even watched the Mormon Message "The Refiner's Fire" which is fantastic if you haven't seen it.  We also took a train all the way out to Nyköping to meet several people only to have them all cancel on us so we had a good time just contacting instead since we had to wait for our train home.

Friday was a pretty quiet day and we had a good member meal.

Saturday was transfer calls!  Elder Olson and I are staying in Norrköping together so that will be fun.  We had a few lessons during the day and then we had dinner with some members that night.

Sunday we had church and it was great as always.  We also did some studies and contacting later in the day.  That night though was an awesome experience.  We went out tracting, we first knocked on a few doors that had been pretty positive when we tried them several weeks ago.  Neither of them answered so decided to continue knocking our way through the building where we had left off last time.  We didn't have a ton of time so we were expecting to just knock a few and then leave to get home.  The very first door we knocked on opened up.  It was a guy from the Ivory Coast and he had actually met missionaries a while ago.  We were talking at the door when one of his kids comes up and says "Mom says they can come in" so they invited us in.  They had just had a party for their 3 week old baby, as in we had heard their guests leaving in the stairwell about 5 minutes before we knocked.  We sat down and had a great lesson.  The man had a lot of really good questions that we were able to answer and was happy to have us back again.  It's one of those experiences where you just know that God put us there in the right place at the right time.  It was so cool.

God really does know each and every one of His children and knows what they need and when.  He loves each and every one of us.  I hope you all have a wonderful start of summer!

-- Elder Ashford

Pictures

The first one is my district at zone conference

Then it's Elder Olson and the other 3 of us who have all been companions with him

Then the last 2 are us riding majestically as knights on this random outdoor chess we found while contacting

Bonus Photos

We had half of our MTC group at Zone conference so we got some pictures as a group with the Beckstrands.

Week 30 - Happy Mother's Day! (again)

I realized I mislabeled my email last week, I did not travel back in time to week 19, that was week 29, which is really getting crazy for me because this week I'm now in the 30s... Time moves by so fast!

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.

 

Week 29 - Baptism!

This week has been really great!

Last week after emailing we met with one of the members in the ward, he was baptized last August. We had a great lesson about missionary work.  We ended up watching Elder Bednar's talk "Come and See" from October 2014 General Conference and it is actually addressed to people who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The talk is about why our church does so much missionary work.  It is fantastic!  I highly recommend it to everyone, it's quite funny and explains beautifully why go out and try to talk to everyone about our church.

Tuesday we met with a few investigators including Nils-Erik, we had a great lesson with him and prepared a little more for his baptism.

Wednesday we had splits so Elder Dawson and I were here in Norrköping.  It was a lot of fun, we were in the same group in the MTC so that was kind of exciting.  We visited a few members and helped one of them move some things around her house.  We also had a lesson with a man that I contacted last week with one of the Assistants when they stopped by.  We then went out home teaching with one of the members and got dinner out of it too!  We talked about the blessings of the Restoration and everything that we can benefit from now because of it.  Such things as the Book of Mormon, the Priesthood, temples, and more.  As we were leaving we the husband also asked us to teach him how to tie a tie which was pretty fun.  (He had his tie tied on Sunday and it looked great!  He was quite pleased with himself)

Thursday we had a district meeting about "knowing your story".  Whether that story be your own personal experiences with the Gospel or knowing the story of the Gospel.  It was a great time to remember why we teach what we do and what is our own personal experiences with what we teach.  After district meeting we met with Nils-Erik one last time before the baptism on Saturday.  We then called one of the people that we had recently contacted on the street but hadn't met with yet.  We got a hold of him and agreed to meet a half hour later.  We actually met him on the spårvagn (A tram essentially) on the way to his house.  We sat down outside and taught the Restoration, applying some of what we had talked about in district meeting.  We felt the Spirit pretty strongly as we testified of the beginning of the Church.  At the end he said that "some of the things you said really touched me".  He had felt the Spirit too!  It was really cool to see that he could feel that.  The Holy Ghost is there as we testify of truth and speaks to people through their thoughts and in their heart.  It was awesome to see that in the lesson.

Friday we had a lesson with a member and then had a member meal.  The member we ate with was actually a missionary under Elder Rasband in the New York, New York South Mission so that was really cool.

Saturday was the baptism!  We had a great turnout and it went super smoothly, there were virtually no problems during the entire process.  It was awesome!  We then had a lesson with an investigator before meeting a member.  We watched Elder Holland's talk from this most recent General Conference.  It's a really great talk and one of my favorite quotes from conference comes from this talk.  “Come as you are,” a loving Father says to each of us, but He adds, “Don’t plan to stay as you are.”

I love this quote so much.  Heavenly Father will always love us no matter what, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't want us to grow or progress.  He helps us to reach our own greater potential.

Sunday was great!  We had a really full sacrament meeting and even had 4 investigators there!  It was crazy!  Nils-Erik was also confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost which was awesome!  After church we had 'dinner' with a member family at around 2 o'clock because it was right after church.  It was a lot of fun.  We then went home and called some people.  Then we went out and knocked some doors.

This week has been super amazing.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to learn and grow as we get to know all of these wonderful people.  It is inspiring to meet remarkable people and to see how the Gospel works in their lives.  I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Enjoy the sunshine (although you probably don't have as much as we have all the way up here)!

-- Elder Ashford

The first picture is us biking at about 9 o'clock at night.  Then is our picture at Nils-Erik's baptism. The last picture was our bikes in the morning.  The trees have been releasing this yellow stuff that is apparently not pollen but it gets literally everywhere.  Our bikes our in a little courtyard without a tree in sight and they were still covered.

Week 28 - Mother's Day

What a week! It was jam packed but a blast.

Monday after the pump organ incident (see previous email) we had a few lessons and ended up playing a ridiculous game of telephone tag with the Assistants to the mission president.

Tuesday we finally got a hold of the assistants.  They were driving down to Malmö and wanted to drive through Norrköping and do some mini exchanges and go contacting for an hour so we did that and it was great!  It was a lot of fun!  We then met with a couple people including one guy named Ahed, he's from Syria and is pretty cool!  

Wednesday was a little interesting.  One of our investigators is this older lady who loves church and basically spends her whole day walking around between all the Swedish churches in town.  We had tried to meet her at her apartment but she wasn't there so we called and she was at one of the other churches for this little coffee and social thing they do in the morning.  We went over there to try to meet her and go out and find somewhere else to sit but then she insists that we join her inside.  We ended up going in and needless to say we did not end up teaching the lesson we had planned.  We went out later in the day and knocked some doors and then visited one of the members in the ward.

Thursday we had district meeting which was fun.  We talked about finding work and we focused a lot on the story where Jesus tells Peter "Feed My Sheep".  It was really good.  We also got to deliver a Book of Mormon to someone who had requested one online so that was fun.

Friday was also quite the adventure.  Our investigator who we have been preparing for baptism, Nils-Erik, had his interview and passed!  Right now the plan is he will be baptized this Saturday so I'll keep you all posted.  We also went and had a member meal out in Nyköping.  We took the train out there and got to the member meal and it was great.  We then realized that our train was coming soon and so we rushed out the door and the husband drove us and we got to the station parking lot right as the train started moving... The next train didn't leave for another hour so the member ended up showing us a few things around Nyköping a little bit but that was cool.

Saturday we had a couple of lessons and we started putting together the baptismal program for Nils-Erik.  We also did some weekly planning.  Elder Olson has also been home-growing yeast to try and make homemade bread and so we tried that.  We didn't make the leaven right though so it didn't rise enough and the bread ended up being basically like a giant, dense, biscuit.  We're probably going to try it again some other time.

Sunday both Ahed and Nils-Erik were at church so we were super excited about that.  We also went and had a lesson.  Then because it was Mother's Day in the US (In Sweden it's like two weeks later)  so we got to skype home to our families!  That was super fun!  Being away from home has made me really appreciate my family.  They aren't just one-click away anymore so it was really nice to be able to talk to them.  One thing that I have come to understand on the mission is just how important and how great families are.  Especially when we remember that God is our Heavenly Father and our families here on Earth give us a small idea of what our heavenly family looks like.

Today we went out hiking and it was pretty cool.

I wish you all a wonderful week!

Pictures are of us hiking, then are "bread", and then the Swedish equivalent of the "slow, children playing" sign that we walked by today