Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well. It feels good to write to you. Tomorrow will be my 6 month mark! It feels so weird that I have been out that long. Time flies. I am thankful for these first 6 months of my mission. I have been taught so much and have had so many amazing experiences that I will never forget.
This week was good! Not a whole lot of teaching. Mostly tracting/contacting and street lessons. It is definitely one of the harder areas in the mission. But things are going well in Katrineholm compared to former times. I really do like it here and we are working our hardest to bring people to the gospel!
On Tuesday, we helped a members niece move into her new apartment in Katrineholm. The member, Cat, said that she is interested in meeting with the missionaries. So we helped her move and it was good. She is different haha. She's an awesome lady though! Afterwords she kind of left really fast and said "see you at Cat's sometime!". So we didn't really get to talk to her about meeting with us, but we are hoping we will soon. Later that day we helped a Russian girl named Kristina learn Swedish at the library. It went really good! I was a little surprised to see how much Swedish I actually knew! I have sure been blessed with the gift of tongues as I have been learning and speaking the langauge. I am so grateful to be able to learn and speak Swedish to be able to bring others unto Christ. She happily accepted Russian and Swedish copies of the Book of Mormon. We told her that reading the English and Swedish copies of the Book of Mormon side by side is one of the ways that has helped us learn Swedish the best. Afterwords as we were walking out, she asked what our church believed in. We were running late so I told her to start reading the book. ;) but I said we could help her again with the language and then teach her a little about our church afterwords, and she said she would love that. So hopefully the Spirit works within her as she studies from the Book of Mormon. We are going to meet her again this week. Then we met with a new convert named Hadi. He is from Pakistan and is super awesome. We taught him about Jacob 5. We used it in the way of teaching that we are the rightous branches grafted into this country. It is our job to help the tree of the Church in Sweden bring forth good fruit. We as missionaries and members have the responsibility of spreading the gospel to all the world. Hadi is an amazing member missionary. He has given out lots of pass along cards and a couple copies of the Book of Mormon. He is contemplating serving a mission right now. He is 21 and would be an amazing missionary!
Wednesday we traveled out to a neighboring city named Flen. We went to visit a less active member named Zaki. He is from Afghanistan. He had called us a few days earlier and wanted a visit. He is actually in this temporary prison place for people who dont have permission to be in the country. He has aparently been hiding in Sweden for a few years. But I guess they found him and have been holding him there for a few weeks while they decide whether to let him stay in Sweden or send him back home. He asked us to bring him a Book of Mormon and a Bible. After we were buzzed in and were led to the visiting room, Zaki came in and was excited to see us. He was really cool. After a little bit he asked us if our phones could take pictures. We said yeah and asked why. We later found out that he wanted us to take pictures of the perimeter of the prison place so he could know what it looks like. He said he was brought in a van with black windows so he doesn't know. They usually let them play soccer out on a field by the facility. He said if they don't let him stay in Sweden, he is gonna make a run for it! hahaha we knew as missionaries we would get ourselves and the church in big trouble if we helped someone break out of this place. But we just told him we might be able to next time. We still taught him the restoration afterwords. It went really well. He had a lot of questions and we were able to answer them. I love every opportunity I get to teach the about Restoration of the Church. We are going to have to break the news to Zaki this week that we cant take the pictures.. haha but we can pray that he will stay! On our way to the bus, it was super hot and we had just tracted a little bit with no luck and as we looked up ahead, there were two minivans pulling out of a gas station ahead of us. They both rolled down their windows and screamed "HEY ELDERS!". Elder Faulkner and I thought it was just another person making fun of us haha but as we got a little closer we saw that it was two families and they kept saying "IT'S THE ELDERS!!" We came up to their cars and the dad said that he had served a mission in Sweden a few years back. They said they were from Salt Lake City! They were so happy to see us and they just kept saying "you guys are awesome" and "keep working hard" and their kids seemed like they really looked up to us. It was honestly such a cool feeling to be appreciated that much! I felt a little like a celebrity ;) But I am thankful for the experience and that Heavenly Father placed those families in our path to give us a little strength and encouragement when he knew we needed it.
After that, We were about to teach Jonas again. A solid lesson but we were able to establish his believes a little better this time. Turns out he does not believe in Jesus Christ. We taught him about God and about how Jesus Christ is the center of his plan and through him we can be freed from our sins and become clean again and become ressurected and make it back to our Heavenly Father again. He has committed to pray every day to strengthen his relationship with God and to find out if Jesus Christ really exists. We bore witness that he does live, and he does care about us. He cares about us so much that he suffered for every single one of our sins. He died for us so that we can live with our families and our Heavenly Father forever. He is there to take upon himself our burdons and our pains and sufferings. He is there to comfort us and to strengthen us. I know my Savior lives and I love him. I know we walks beside me everyday. I know that Jonas will come to know that Jesus Christ lives. It was a very spiritual experience to be able to testify of Christ to Jonas and see the look in his eyes as he listened to us express our love for the Savior. He said he could come to church this week so we hope he shows up!
Friday we had the opportunity to travel to Södertälje for zone conference. It was awesome to see everyone that I hadn't seen for awhile and to meet some new missionaries. It was a really good training. They taught about the Book of Mormon and how we can better apply it into our teaching. Also, how we can improve and increase our testimony of The Book of Mormon and how we can share it with more confidence to whoever, wherever we are. I am trying to be better at sharing my testimony of the Book of Mormon more frequently and more sincerely because I know it's true and that is the reason I came on a mission: to share with others the same feelings of happiness and joy that I feel each day that I read it. I know the Book of Mormon can change and bless the live of anyone who reads it. President Boyd K. Packer said, "Life moves all too fast. When you feel weak, discouraged, depressed, or afraid, open the Book of Mormon and read. Do not let too much time pass before reading a verse, a thought, or a chapter." During Zone Training, we did a role play with another companionship where we answered a question an investigator might have using The Book of Mormon. We were teaching Elder Carrigan and he asked "why is there so much evil and bad in the world?". We showed him Alma 14: 8-11 and 60: 13 and answered his question. He also accepted a copy of The Book of Mormon. Then later that day, we were at a dinner with a member in the branch and a man came up and started talking to us. He asked us "what kind of God would let so much evil and bad into the world?" It was amazing! We shared with him the exact scriptures and bore our testimonies. Then later that day, Elder Carrigan texted me and told me the exact same thing happened to him! And he had the opportunity to share those scriptures. That was a real testimony builder. God really does prepare us to share the gospel in ways we dont even realize we are being prepared.
Saturday, I was able to spend the 4th of July with my British companion and two Swedes. It was my first 4th of July party where I was the only American. We ate dinner with a new convert named Pia and her boyfriend David. They are so awesome! They threw me a little 4th of July party. David brought his didgeridoo and I was able to try it and I played the National Anthem on it haha. We also had 4 little tiny bottle rockets that they set off. So we got some kind of fireworks haha. It was a fun little party. We are meeting with them later today for FHE and theywant us to teach them a lesson about the Millienuem. It is going to be good.
Well I am about out of time! sorry this was a little long! It was a good week. There was a lot more to say about the week but I just dont have time haha. Thanks again for all the letters and thoughts and prayers. I hope you all have an amazing week!
Take care!
MVH
Äldste Bailey
Haha, i remember the 4th of july. it was so fun. That was my first 4th of july ever. Man i love to see you grow, im so grateful for you.
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