Day 240

Hejsan allihopa! Hoppas ni har haft en underbar vecka!

This week went by fast and was a great one! Again, we worked really hard this week and have seen many blessings and success from our diligence. We found quite a bit of people who were interested! We are excited to work with them. I am doing great here in Katrineholm. I am happy and safe. Transfers are coming up in a couple weeks. It is so crazy how fast time is starting to go! I might leave Katrineholm but I hope I stay one more transfer because I really do love it here. I still also feel like there is something more I need to do here before I leave. 

On Monday we had another great FHE with Pia and David. Pia made really yummy Indian food and then we had a great lesson centered around a talk in the Liahona from June called 'Seeking Rescue'. It was about 33 minors who got stuck in a mine in Chile I think. They were trapped for a really long time but they had to trust and rely on the rescue plan of those rescuing them. Like these men who were trapped in this mine collapse, sometime we can feel trapped by our weaknesses, setbacks, sins, and trials. But through the plan of salvation, we can find hope of a rescue. We also have to trust in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We need to each choose to surrender our will to trust in the Lord's. The Savior cannot take our will away from us. We our free to choose. The Savior stand beside us waiting to heal our wounds and to lift us up and bear our burdens, but He can only do that with our invitation. We have to choose Christ! It is through his atoning sacrifice that we can find rescue. He suffered everything, all pain and heartache, to be able to rescue us from ours. I promise all of you that no matter what you are going through, you will find peace, guidance, and comfort if you turn yourself to the Lord and apply His atonement into your life. I am so grateful for Christ's atoning sacrifice in my life. That I can begin each day new. That no matter how hard life gets, I can find strength and purity though Jesus Christ. I have such a strong testimony of the Atonement. I would not be standing here as a representative of Him without it. I love my Savior. I know He lives! 

On Tuesday we went to District Meeting in Eskilstuna. It was a really good meeting and we talked about teaching people, not lessons. We went into depth about how we can become better teachers, and not informers. I learned a lot. After District meeting, we went to eat as a district, and then I stayed in Eskilstuna for splits with one of my best friends from the MTC, Elder Carrigan. Elder Carrigan talked his companion, who is the District Leader, into doing 2 day splits haha. I don't know if that is legal or not but he agreed with it so whatever. I wasn't complaining. Elder Carrigan and I worked really hard and gave out tons of copies of the Book of Mormon in a lot of different languages! We also taught both of his progressing investigators. One of them told us that he talked to Jesus and Jesus told him that he didn't need to be baptized. So that was funny. And then we taught the other one the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was such a great lesson. The spirit was so strong. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes, he just didn't want to choose a date yet. That was a really cool feeling that I hadn't felt in a while. Seeing someone decide to take the step of faith and follow Jesus Christ's example to become baptized. The spirit really was so strong. And It was also a really cool experience to teach a lesson with one of my best friends who I started this journey with, who the last time we taught together, we could not speak Swedish at all. Now here we are in Sweden teaching a real person together. It was a great lesson and the Spirit was really strong. The rest of splits was super fun! We did a lot of fun stuff! We played chess at night and Elder Carrigan thought he could beat me.. big mistake. And we went running in the morning and he thought he could keep up with me.. bigger mistake ;) haha love you buddy!

On Friday we went out to another small city in our area called Flen. We went to drop by the people that were interested when we were tracting there a week ago. We went down the same street that had the house that Elder Johanson opened to door to (walked at a brisk pace passed that house) a house with a lady that accepted a Book of Mormon and said she would read. Sadly, she had not read but said we could come back this coming week. So we ended up tracting for a few hours there and tracted into a super nice old couple who we talked to for about 30 min! They took a Book of Mormon and said we could come back this week! They were so funny haha. They husband was pretty proud of his gardening and went and got us tomatoes for us to try. For those of you who know me really well, know that I am not the biggest fan of tomatoes. Especially raw. It's crazy because there are so many foods that I hated before my mission that I love now, but raw tomatoes are just not one of them. So this guy wanted us to try them right there. So I took a huge bite out of the tomato and chewed it and pretended it was super good and smiled and told him he gardens a fine tomato. Then we left and I gave the rest of my tomato to Elder Johanson. Anyways enough about tomatoes haha I don't even know how I got on that subject. 

On Saturday we had a lesson with Becky and Cat again. Becky is Cat's neice and is investigating the church. The lesson went really well. We talked about the Atonement. We had given her Mosiah 3 and 4 to read and she read them and loved them! We discussed a lot about those chapters.  We also talked a lot about Joseph Smith. Becky kept saying how much she loves Joseph Smith! Neither one of them has seen the film Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration before. So we are going to watch that this week. Becky is doing awesome and came to church this week! 

On Sunday we met in the school for church for the last time. It was bitter-sweet. For the last 3 months I have been meeting in a schoolhouse classroom for church. But we now have a chapel to meet it! Well it is a space above the city library. But I just realized how blessed we were to have a place to meet while this new chapel was being built, and how we now have a place to meet that we can call our own. I never realized how nice of a feeling it is it have your own chapel. A place to worship that is yours. My whole life I have been blessed with a meetinghouse to go to church in and that is such a huge blessing!

Well I am about out of time! I want to again thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and emails. They are much appreciated. I just want to quickly say that a mission is the best decision I have ever made and that a mission has changed my life. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

MVH

Äldste Bailey

Day 233

Tjena tjena allihopa!

Hope everyone had a great week! Another week down in the small town of Katrineholm. We worked our honeybuns off this week but we didn't see so much success. But it's always nice to have the satisfaction of knowing you worked your hardest and that the Lord is proud of you. 

On Monday, we had kind of a dissapointing lesson with Jonas. We were so excited to help him follow Jeus Christ and learn about the gospel. We taught him about the sacrament and baptism. But when we asked him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, he explained how he feels like he doesn't need to be a mormon to show Christ that he wants to follow him and to go along the path God wants him to. We explained how Christ taught us his gospel during his ministry on earth. And that gospel is what we need to live by to return to live with our Father in Heaven again. We also explained about the restoration of the Priesthood. Afterwords, we gave him a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read and we are hopefully going to visit him again this week. We are going to continue working with him. He also wasn't able to make it to church. 

We met with Rashad again this week, and probably for the last time. Again, our conversation quickly turned into a Muslim/Christian bash. Well it was mostly him bashing on us and trying to prove christianity false. I don't know if I have ever defended my Savior and his apostles so vigorously before. But I also have never gotten so mad and frustrated in a lesson (if I wasn't a missionary, punches would probably have been thrown). But It was such a cool feeling to stand as a witness of Jesus Christ and defend his name as the Savior and Redeemer of the world. But it also is not our job to get in fights with muslims. For the most part the spirit was not there at all. Except for the parts when we were testifying of what we know to be true. But we have decided to not meet Rashad anymore. Even though it wasn't exactly what missionaries are supposed to be doing (arguing with muslims), it happens more often than not and sometimes you can't escape the situation because they come up to you. But I am grateful for the oppertunity I had to defend the Savior and testify of a living prophet and that we still receive revelation in our day, and that we can have our questions comfirmed through the power of the Holy Ghost. 

Friday was a pretty much all tracting and contacting day. Both the people we had planned to meet cancelled on us. We were dilligent and worked really hard and we were blessed for it. We saw a lot of success on this day actually. We were tracting in a neighborhood and nobody really listened. Then we had to make our way to the bus station because we were going to go out to Flen to do some more missionary work. We were hustling because we were going to miss it if we didn't. But as we passed Urban's apartment building (one of our investigators who we have lost contact with) , I had a really strong feeling to go in and knock on his door. I knew we were probably going to miss the bus but we followed the prompting anyways. And so we knocked on his door and he didn't answer. I wondered why I had received the prompting. As we were about to go back down, I got another really strong prompting to knock on all the doors in the building again. I told God that I already had but heard a voice in my head saying "do it again". Then I thought okay maybe this is why I got the prompting to come in here. We are going to find someone who didn't answer before and is now prepared. So of course we followed that prompting. Almost nobody answered. And those who did say they were not interested. I was really disappointed walking out of the apartment building because I didn't know why I got those promptings. Elder Johanson assured me that we were going to find out why I did. So because we missed our buss, we decided to walk back to town. We both had the feeling to go tract one more apartment building. So we did. And on our way up to the top, we passed an african kid about our age. So we contacted him. We started talking to him and it turned out that he is a member of our church! We had no idea about him! He said we would love to meet up with us and come back to church. I then knew why I got those promptings. The Lord stalled us enough so we would run into him just at the right time. Then we tracted the rest of the building and ran into his family! They also said we could come back and meet with them. We were so happy to have found Herve and his family. We now have a family to work with and help come back to church. I am so grateful that I followed those promptings from the Holy Ghost. If I hadn't, we wouldn't have ever ran into Herve. I have a strong testimony of never denying promptings, no matter how big or small. I know that if we follow every prompting we receive, the Lord's trust in us will grow and we will be blessed. We will start to see miracles. 

So we ended up taking a later bus to Flen that evening. And then something super funny happened as we started tracting. We had tracted a lot of apartment buildings and now we were starting to do some houses. Elder Jonhanson led the way up the porch to the first house. And for some odd reason, he thought we were still tracting apartment buildings and he just opened the door hahaha. There was a family just chilling in their living room and two guys in white shirts and ties just opened their front door. And all doors in Sweden open outwards so when he opened the door, he was behind it and the whole family just looked over and stared at me and I just booked it and then Elder Johanson realized what he just did and then he slammed the door and we just sprinted up the street hahaha it was so funny. We were laughing really hard. But in Flen we ended up giving quite a few copies of The Book of Mormon and taught a few doorstep lessons. It was really good. We felt the spirit really strong as we testified of the Book of Mormon to everyone we could. 

Sunday night we had a pretty cool experience. Sunday morning in studies, Elder Johanson and I were talking a lot about Lehi's dream. I love Lehi's dream so much! There is so much we can learn from it. We were talking a lot about the great and spacious building. And about how those who really pressed forward holding to the Iron Rod gave no heed to the people in the building who were mocking them and laughing at them. But all those who did give heed fell away. Even those who partook of the fruit. When they gave heed to those in the building, they cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed. We talked about how we need to not give any heed to those who mock or laugh at us or persecute us because of what we believe in. Later that night, we were finishing up the day in the city center contacting people. There were not very many people out at all. So we were the only ones walking up a street as we passed an outdoor bar. There were a lot of people there and they saw that we were mormons and started pointing at us and laughing at us and saying really rude things about the church and about Jesus. I wanted with every fiber in my body to go over to them and fight them or just give them a piece of my mind haha and I was so close. But we kept walking and as we were walking away from them with our backs turned to them I remembered the great and spacious building. And I leaned over and said to Elder Johanson, "great and spacious building". Then he said "give no heed". It was such a cool feeling as we were holding to the Iron Rod and walking down this road thinking of Nephi and all those who held to the rod as we could hear these people continuing to laugh and point at us and mock us behind us. I also learned that "giving heed" could mean getting angry at someone or saying something rude back. I bet there were some people in the dream who got pretty ticked off at these people pointing and laughing at them so they probably yelled something back or something like that. But that is still giving heed. And "for as many as heeded them, had fallen away." I think there is a great difference between giving heed to those in the great and spacious building, and testifying of and defending what you know to be true. I am grateful for that lesson I learned that evening. It probably prevented me from getting in a fight with someone down the road haha. 

Well I am about out of time. Sorry this was quite a long letter. There are some other cool things that happened that I wish I had time to share but you will just have to ask me about them when I get home ;) I want you all to know that I love being a missionary and that I am working my hardest and am happy! I have a strong testimony of the gospel and I know without a doubt that it is TRUE! And it will bless the life of anyone who accepts and lives by its principles. The gospel gives me the peace, guidance, and strenth I need each day to serve the Lord. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. I love you all and I hope you all have the best week!

Love your friendly neighborhood missionary,

Äldste Bailey

Day 226

Tja allihopa! 

I hope you all had a great week. This week, we worked harder than I ever have on my mission. I thought time was supposed to go by fast when you work hard, but this week seemed to drag on forever. It was a great week though! Filled with amazing experiences. Lots of contacting and tracting again. But this week we had some great lessons in peoples homes. I love being a missionary! 

On Tuesday, we had a family home evening at Pia's with David there as well. It was really fun and we had homemade pizza. Then we had an amazing lesson about the gift of the Holy Ghost. We had a disscussion about the difference between the influence of the Holy Ghost and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The spirit was strong as we talked about how we can learn to recognize the voice of the spirit in our lives. I shared a story that Sister Beckstrand (wife to our mission president) shared at a zone conference awhile back. It comes from Boyd K Packer. He talks about a man, who "one summer evening was walking through a crowded park. Above the sounds of city life he heard the beautiful song of a bird. He stopped and listened! Those with him had not heard it. He looked around. No one else had noticed it. It bothered him that everyone should miss something so beautiful. He took a coin from his pocket and flipped it into the air. It struck the pavement with a ring, no louder than the song of the bird. Everyone turned; they could hear that! It is difficult to separate from all the sounds of city traffic the song of a bird. But you can hear it. You can hear it plainly if you train yourself to listen for it." So, the ability for us to notice the whisperings of the Spirit come only with practice. You hear what you are listening for. 

On Wednesday we visited an investigator named Lament. We taught him about God and how he can come to the knowledge that he exists. It was a really hard lesson because Lament is a heavy smoker and the smoke inside his house made both Elder Johanson and I super sleepy. So we almost fell asleep in the lesson haha. I also felt like I lost 3 years off of my life being in that apartment. But the lesson went really well and the spirit was definitely present. We just need to help him recognize what he is feeling. 

Thursday we had a really funny dinner with a random Somalian man who invited us over. His name is Omar and he is super funny and the nicest guy ever! He can't speak very good English or Swedish but he can communicate well enough. Anyways, he just kept feeding us loads upon loads of rice. We kept telling him that we were full and he said "Americans eat much" but in Swedish. And then he gave us black tea and we tried to tell him we don't drink it but he didn't understand and told us to dip our cookies in it. So we were pretending to dip our cookies in the tea and we said "mmmmm braaaa". "bra" means "good" in Swedish. Elder Johanson was just busting up laughing and he had no idea. And then when he went inside we dumped the tea over the balcony hahaha.
He also kept trying to give us his laptop and kept telling us to use it. Hahaha it was so funny. He is the best.

On Friday, Elder Johanson and I fasted for Kenneth. He had said he wanted to be baptized on Saturday so we fasted for him - that he will know what he needs to do and that the Lord's will will be done. We also fasted for an answer to know how to help him. I was praying a lot that morning, too. Then our answer came later that day at Zone Training in Eskilstuna. What was taught was exactly what we needed to hear. The Zone Leaders talked about those who are prepared to hear the gospel, and those who aren't. We named on the board examples in the scriptures of those who were prepared to hear, and those who weren't. And as I looked at the names on the board, I realized the difference was that those who were prepared to hear and accept the gospel, were willing. They were willing to act. They were willing to accept the gospel and its principles and change their lives to live according to those principles. They acted on their faith. We have done everything we possibly can as missionaries to help Kenneth. It is now up to him. He needs to act on his faith in Jesus Christ. I think Kenneth was very ready to hear the gospel. We talked about how people become prepared to hear the gospel through the experiences and trials they have as they go through life up to the point to when they accept the gospel. Everyone who doesn't have the gospel is like a cake. Everyone is cooking in the oven. The heat of the oven (life) is cooking us and shaping us into how we need to be when we accept the gospel. You can't try to give the gospel to someone who is not finished cooking yet. You have to wait until they are done cooking in the oven. People need to have experiences in their life to help them realize the importance of acting on faith and following Jesus Christ. And we as missionaries will do everything in our power to help people come to this realization. Sorry that was kind of long and I hope it made sense. It was just a huge testimony to me of how we can receive answers to our prayers through fasting. I am thankful that I received exactly what I needed to hear.

Sunday was another answer to our prayers. Jonas, an investigator we have been working with for about 2 months, came to church! He has always said that he will come, and never has. But he finally came! Jonas has a firm belief in God, but not Jesus Christ. We have been working and reading the Book of Mormon a lot with him and trying to strengthen his faith in Christ, but haven't really gotten anywhere. But on Sunday, every single talk that was given was about Jesus Christ. No one was assigned a subject to speak on. But they were all on Christ. I promise you it was no coincidence. Each talk was so amazing and testified of Christ in its own way. The testimonies that were shared of Christ were so powerful. After Sacrament meeting, Jonas told us that he was inspired, that he came to the realization that God and Jesus Christ have the same purpose, that if he is going to follow God, he wants to follow Jesus Christ as well. He was really fascinated about the sacrament and wanted to learn more about it. It made us so happy that he came and enjoyed church so much. He said that there was a special feeling there. We are going to teach him tonight about the sacrament and invite him to follow Jesus Christ into the waters of baptism! 

Well I am super out of time! I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! I am doing well and working hard and loving the work. Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers and emails. It's nice to know I haven't been forgotten ;)

MVH

Äldste Bailey

Day 219

God eftermiddag allihopa! 

This week was really long and filled with lots of hard work. Lots of knocking doors and talking to people on the streets. The work is moving forward in Katrineholm and I am doing well and loving it!

Monday we had a fun P-day in Eskilstuna. We hung out with the Elders there and made pizza and shopped and played games in the church. It was super fun to have a p day with other missionaries haha. Then we went to Pia and David's for family home evening. She made super yummy chinese food!! And then we read Enos together and discussed it. It was an amazing lesson. I felt the spirit really strong as we learned about Enos and what he did and how we can follow his example. Pia and David are such amazing people. 

Tuesday my new companion, Elder Johanson, arrived in Katrineholm. He was so excited when he got here, which is unusual for missionaries when they find out they are coming to the small village of Katrineholm. He was so ready to work hard and serve the people here. That made me really happy because I like working hard and I was praying to receive a hard working companion who I would work well with. Elder Johanson is a group behind me (entered the MTC 6 weeks after me) and an amazing missionary. He loves talking to people and teaching them. He is really clean too which is good. Elder Falkner's train to his next area didnt leave until Wednesday morning, so we were in a tripanionship until then. As soon as Elder Johanson arrived, our branch president came and picked us up to take us to his house for dinner. His wife made us pizza and it was so good! Elder Johanson was able to meet the family and I was able to analyze his swedish ;) he is really good! so thats a plus for me. Then Elder Falkner shared the message with his favorite scripture and his testimony. It was sad to know that he was going to leave. But that is how missionary work goes.

Wednesday, Elder Johanson and I got right into the grind. We went right out after studies and started talking to people. And one of the first people we talked to started asking us lots of questions about the bible and the Book of Mormon and our church in general. We were able to teach him right there on the street about the Book of Mormon and a living prophet and that we still receive revelation today. This guy's name was Rashad and he was muslim but knew a lot about christianity. He had a lot more questions and was super willing to meet up again. We got his number and we told him we would call him in a few days. That was such a powerful street lesson. I have been trying to use the Book of Mormon more and more in my contacting. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to share my personal testimony of the Book of Mormon everyday with everyone I meet. The Book of Mormon is the most powerful tool we have as missionaries. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the guidence, strength, answers, and peace it has given me as I have studied and pondered the stories and messages within. 

Later that day, Elder Johanson and I were out walking the streets and contacting people. We were talking about promptings and how we love to follow them. I warned him that I sometimes do spontaneous things haha because I love to follow promptings I get. I told him how much the Holy Ghost helps us missionaries in our work and will give us signs and promptings to help find those who are prepared. Right as I said that, we walked right next to an apartment building with the door wide open. They usually aren't open in sweden and have port codes to enter. I told him that they can be signs just like this. I told him the Holy Ghost opened this door for us because there is someone prepared in this building. So we went in and walked to the top of the building and knocked on the first door. A man opened up and we told him we were missionaries from our church out to talk about the Book of Mormon. He told us he has already read the bible. (we get that a lot from people). We went on to explain the difference and why the Book of Mormon was important. We bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and asked if he would like a copy. He happily accepted the Book of Mormon and said that we could come back later. His best language was turkish so we are going to bring him a turkish Book of Mormon this week when we stop by. This experience was just a huge testimony builder to me of how we need to heed to promptings. The Holy Ghost is constantly giving us promptings and warning us, we just need to try to listen. We hear what we listen for. If we strive to recognize and listen to the Holy Ghost, I can promise you that you will hear his still small voice direct and guide you in your life. 

Thursday we had district meeting in Södertälje. We had to catch an early morning train and we left the apartment kind of late. So we were hustling pretty fast to catch the train on time. And as I was pedaling super hard, my chain came off my bike. It happens a lot and I usally just flip the bike over and fix it but we were short on time. So Elder Johanson suggested that I just ride over close to him and he would grab my handle bars with one had and pull me. It sounded like a good idea at the time haha and it worked for about a minute and then I lost control of my handle bars and flipped over the bike. I am completely fine except for a few scrapes. It was just super funny. I did ruin my favorite pants though. Gives me an excuse to buy some new ones! ;) 

On Friday, the branch presidents daughter, Maria Fernanda, was baptized. She is nine years old. She waited a little longer to be baptized because she was afraid of the water. But it was such an amazing baptismal service. There were only about 12 or 13 of us but the spirit was so strong! Kenneth also brought his baptismal clothes and was maybe going to be baptized, but he didn't want to do it when he got there. It was really dissapointing, but I learned that everything happens in the Lord's time. We need to be patient, but we also need to do all we can ourselves to help that thing come to pass. But after the baptism, Maria Fernanda bore her testimony for all of us. She said how nervous she was but then explained how clean and happy she felt. Then she said that she knows Jesus Christ is her savior. When she said that I just started crying. I don't know what it was but the Spirit just hit me so strong when that little nine year old girl testified of her Savior and Redeemer. It was the most amazing feeling ever. I know that my Reedemer lives and I love him so much. I will forever be grateful for what he did for me. I know he walks beside me and strengthens me everyday. I am grateful for the cleansing power of his atonement and that I can forget my past and align my will with God's, and continue on. That baptism was so amazing and helped me reflect on my own baptism and the feelings I felt. It was an uplifting experience. 

Saturday we met up with Rashad. At first, he asked us a lot of questions about or church, and we happily answered them. Then it seemed as if he was more interested in having some kind of a Islam vs Christianity debate. We dicussed a lot of things and a lot of scripture. I had prepared myself pretty well because I thought this might happen. I defended the faith pretty well. I wouldn't say the Spirit was there though, it was kind of a bible bash in a way but in a way wasn't. But in the end, he gave us a Quaran(not sure how you spell it in English), and a book about the prophet mohammad and a little brochure. We gave him a Book of Mormon. Later that evening when we where chilling at headquarters, I was reading through the Islam pamphlet. In the end there is a saying in arabic but with english letters so you can pronounce it. I said the saying not really sure what I said so I said it into the phone with google translate and turns out I testified there is no other god but Allah and mohammad is the true messanger of God. Hahaha sneaky muslims. So aparently I am a muslim now so that was funny.

Well I am about out of time. I just want everyone to know that I am doing awesome and loving every second of my mission. Coming on a mission is the best decision I have ever made in my life. I have grown so much in every aspect of my life. I have become so physically, emotionally, and spiritually strong. I have learned to work hard and to love everyone around me. If there is anyone reading this who is contemplating going on a mission. I can promise you that you will never regret going. It will be hard, but I can promise you it will change you life for the better. I am so grateful to be a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ. I have come to know and love him so much more than I ever thought possible. I just want to leave you all with a quote from Bruce R McConkie, as he talked about the commission of a missionary.

 "I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and he has chosen me to represent him. To stand in his place, to say and do what he himself would say and do if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me. My voice is his voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are his words and my doctrine is his doctrine. My commission is to do what he wants done. To say what he wants said. To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work."

I am the Lord's hands here in Sweden and he is counting on me to complete his work. I am so grateful to be a missionary. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. I love you all and am praying for you! Have an amazing week!!

MVH

Äldste William Alexander Bailey IV 

Day 212

Tjabba snubbar!

Hope you are all doing well. This was a super fast week. It was awesome but there isn't a whole lot to talk about. Transfers are this week and Elder Falkner will be heading up north to Sundsvall. I will be getting an Elder from down south named Elder Johanson. He is a transfer younger than me so it will be different being the older one in the companionship. He is an awesome guy and a great missionary. I look forward to working with him. He also sounds like Marlin from Finding Nemo :)

This week we had a really cool experience while visiting a member named Cat. We usually visit her and her son every week. But this week Cat's cousin Becky was at her house. She isn't a member. Becky has met with the missionaries before in a different city a long time ago. She knows it's true, she just doesnt want to stop smoking. But Cat had surgery on her knee a couple weeks ago and she is really in pain. I asked her if she would like a blessing. She said she would love one. So when we were at Cat and Jocks, Cat reminded me about the blessing. So Becky was excited because she had never seen one before. So I started to give her a blessing, and the spirit was so strong. I said so many things that I knew came from the Lord. I said things that I knew Cat needed to hear, and things also came to my mind that I knew Becky needed to hear. After the blessing, Cat was in tears and Becky was close. It was such a spiritual experience. Becky said that it looked like there was a light around me while I was giving the blessing. She said it was amazing. I told her that those words I spoke did not come from me. The spirit was so strong and I am so grateful for the power of the priesthood. It is such an amazing blessing to be able to have the power of God on the earth. The priesthood has blessed my life is so many ways. 

This week I met up with Clifford again. He invited me to go play basketball with him and his "team" at a gym like a kilometer away from the church. So there are like 11 of them that I played with. But apparently there are usually around 16 or 17. It is the off season right now so they just run pick up games. They range from ages 16 to 23 I think. They are all really good! It felt sooo good to be able to play a real game of basketball. It had been a long time. Sadly, Clifford got accepted to a school in Stockholm to play basketball at, so we wont be able to teach him. I will send his number to the missionaries there. He is an awesome kid and I know he will accept the gospel. I am excited to go back and play at this gym. Everyone there really liked me and I have made some good friendships already. I look forward to being able to teach them about the gospel. 

On Thursday, we were able to meet with the man that came up and talked to me while Elder Carrigan and I were contacting the man on the bike. His name is Urban. He was really happy to invite us over. We came over to his house and chatted with him while we waited for his wife to come home. His wife is from the Philippines. When she got home, she knew a lot about the Mormons because she said they were all over in the Philippines. She doesn't speak as good Swedish as Urban so we gave her an english Book of Mormon and Urban a Swedish. The spirit was so strong while we were teaching them about the true restored gospel. They understood everything. They said they would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We had a kneeling prayer together in their living room. I can't describe the amazing feeling that came over me as we knelt together in that room and prayed. That is was missionary work is all about. I love it so much. I love being able to share the gospel everyday. I am so blessed to be able to be a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ. Urban and Vilma couldnt come to church on sunday, but we are going back over on Thursday. 

Sunday was testimony meeting. You know those 2 minute pauses when nobody goes up and it is just super awkward? Well in a ward where only around 10-12 people come is much worse. And only half of those members actually got up to bear there testimonies. So the first fast sunday there was like 5 of us who got up first and then like 20 minutes of silence haha it was bad. Yesterday was good though. A lot of members got up and bore their testimonies and it was really spiritual! The members here are so strong. 

Well I am about out  of  time. I love you all! I hope you have a good week! Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. Im sorry if  I didn't get to your emails this week. I have a little bit more email time tomorrow so I will try to do it then. 

MVH

Äldste Bailey

S/O to Äldste Carrigan and Äldste Hemmingson because they are stud missionaries and cause they asked for it haha let me know if you want a shout out!