WOW
SWEDEN
WOW
(PS. this is a Swedish computer (obviously) so it says I am spelling it all wrong soooo I don't know how my spelling will be haha)
Sooo if you didn't know already, I left the MTC Monday morning at 6am and arrived into Stockholm at 9am on Tuesday.... eww. I slept for a total of about 3 hours on the plane and it didn't hit me that I was so tired until about 6pm that night. The first thing we did in Sweden was go and get or visa stuff done. We had to take a picture and everyone looks like they do drugs because we are so tired hahahaha. Anyway then we went to the YSA (Young Single Adult) building in Stockholm, ate some food, talked, and then did some contacting! Gosh I was so nervous. I was paired up with Äldste Haddon (he is an AP (Assistant to our mission president) and we talked to 30 people and placed a Mormons bok in 30 minutes #sup.
That night we stayed at the Mission home and then on Wednesday we went to Täby and were given our areas and companions. My comp is Äldste Rasmussen!! He is from Orem (no he doesn't know the Clarks Kate ;) ) and he has been out for 10 months. I am the first person he has trained and he was in the office just before I came. He has never been to Malmö either so we doubled-in and I am a greenie so this should be interesting.... hahaha
We took a 6 hour train ride from Stockholm to Malmö (by the way, Malmo is where my grandma Hemmingsen and my grandma Webb's ancestors are from) on Wednesday and didn't get to our apartment until super late. We did not have an area book at the time and the previous elders did not give us any investigators so we are starting from literally nothing.... haha. Thursday was spent knocking doors and contacting and then on Friday we finally got an area book. After a few days of 0 success, we decided to try and contact some folks from the area book. We went down to a neighborhood near the beach and knocked on some doors and talked to some people on the street. We ran into this lady named Queen and told her about ourselves and she was interested! So we have a lesson with her on Fridag :) And then we went to two old investigators and they both invited us to come this week! AND THEN we ran into some old man and talked with him and HE ASKED US if he could come to church :D !!! anyway we finally had some success :) Saturday was spent tracting and contacting and then Saturday night we rode the train to Göteborg for stake conference on Sunday. So we don't even know if our old man friend made it to church but well find out some how (he doesn't have a phone number).
Elder Hallstrom came to Göteborg for stake conference and then he also just talked to the missionaries personally. It was amazing. He helped with having us set our minds that there are people here for us to teach and that through hard work we will find them. Then President Beckstrand (idk how to spell it) told us how grateful he was for us and all that we do. There was not a dry eye in the room. There are people here how desire to know more, we just have to find them. I am so grateful for the power that those two men carry with them. I know that we can baptize in Sweden, we just need to work.
Anyway time for the funny stuff about Sweden!
Stuff that is weird
1. all of it.
This place is a lot like America in how it looks but all the detailed stuff is nuts... haha
Like all the stupid light switches are like at my kness... WHY?!?! And the roads feel like some civial engineer threw up on a piece of paper and said like "glad I am not living here"..... haha there are only round-a-bouts and no intersections.. And when there is like a 3 way intersection.... oh don't even get me started... like why... But it seems to work and I having seen a crash yet so whatever.
The food here is super healthy becasue it's like against the law to use perservatives. So that is good and bad. It's bad becasue it only last for like a week, week and a half tops. It doesn't seem to be a problem so it's all good.
The food is way good don't get me wrong. But I haven't eaten out much. We are going for some Kebab (Pizza) in Lund after this and I am excited!
Oh and I have some funny stories :) So on the ride to Malmö, a crazy old man sat by Swabs (ZL). He kept on asking us all really random questions about geography and what not... FOR 3 HOURS. Anyway it was really funny because he was half drunk and Swabs was messing with him a little (In a loving way!) Like he invited him to be baptized... hahaha anyway ;)
Oh and Äldste Downing (the man!) told us a really funny story about the phones. (Oh yeah, we have iPhones :D but it's just for the GPS and translator.) Anyway, the sisters were all depressed because they broke the screen on theirs and are going to have to pay for it. Well Downing told us that one time, it was hot so he opened a window in his apartment (which is on the 2nd story) He then took out his phone and threw it on the couch. The phone bounced on the couch and went right out the window!!! And it didn't break!!! The church is true!!!
Oh and then Äldste Rasmussen told me I don't talk much yesturday and it kinda took me by surprise. I guess I am just too amazed with this place and all I do is look out windows so I don't talk haha. That was just something I have never heard before!
So that's my stories
Well I hope you all are doing well and lovin' life. I still don't feel settled in but I don't think that'll happen until I can speak. The language is hard and I am in the south were they have super bad accents and I can't understand much but it's all good. People say Skona (south land) is a good place to start because once you understand that, you can understand it all. I love My Zone Leaders and the APs. They are all great guys and my whole district is a lot of fun and hard working Äldstes. The Mission President and his wife are fantastic too. He greets all the Äldstes with hugs and tries to be as fatherly as possible. He ain't no Jeffrey Lawerence Hemmingsen but he'll have to do :) oh yeah and Jodi is pretty great herself ;)
It is great to be here. It's getting hard but it will come with time. Man should not run faster then he has strength. Study hard, work hard, and have success. See y'all soon! I love you!!!