Well Elder Kiikko and I were getting all excited last week because the birds were out, the sun was shinning, the snow was melting. What bliss! And then came Monday night.... six inches of fresh powder that I had to walk through/bike... not snowboard... #tears
This week is honestly a blur (except for conference but I'll get to that later ;) ) I feel as if the back half of winter was left a depression cloud above our little branch here. A good chunk of our members (remember there is only 6 so "a good chunk" is really only like 2-3 lol) have become very depressed and Elder Kiikko. One member who is depressed is Ivar. We visited him again this week and he seemed a lot better! I gave him a blessing this week and it so amazing to see his whole mentality (#bigword) change. Ivar is having a hard time enduring well so I read from the 12th chapter of Ether to him:
37. thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.This is what the reward to enduring well is. I want the Lord to be able to say this to me some day, it will all be worth it in the end!
Kiikko and I spent lots of time trying to get in contact with less active families and old investigators. The less active Camacho family was really busy this week and so was Agnetha. We didn't see either of them which is kinda sad but we'll see them this week! We knocked on the door of this lady who was suppose to be an old investigator but her husband answered and so we started talking to him and he said he has been wanting to be more religious but doesn't know which church is right to join.. I feel like I have heard this story before maybe?? #JosephSmith
But the highlight of the week was for sure General Conference!!! Kiikko and I watched the Saturday morning session with Fern (best member) at her place, she gave us some banana splits (pics to come later). Then on Sunday we went to Umeå and watched it down there because Skellefteå didn't have anything at church, but like it is chill ;) Plus my pal Krebs was down there and it was soooo nice to see him again!!!
I would say that the Sunday morning was probably my most favorite (I still have not seen the Sunday afternoon session tho) I loooved the talk with the story about teaching someone to dance but they have to hear the music. As a missionary, we give a lot of "dance lessons" but the hardest part is getting them to learn to love the music. Not only for our investigators but for ourselves.
I also loved the talk by Gerald Causse. It made me laugh when he said that his family loves to travel around Europe but had never been to the Efiel Tower (he is from France). It made me think how my dad (who is from the flat land Iowa) can skii but my mother (from utah) can't skii. haha Sometimes we over look the opportunists we have right around us because we think the grass is greener on the other side. But if you always dream of the future, you'll miss out on the present. The Savior walked everywhere he went, and he helped people along his journey, not just at the destination.
Guys I love Sweden. It is beautiful. Norrland is an endless pine forest
Ha det!!
Aldste Hemmingsen