Day 261

Tjabba Tjabba allihopa!

I hope everyone is doing well! This was a long week. Transfer weeks seem to always be super slow. Just a week ago I was sitting in Katrineholm's library emailing and that seems like forever ago! But I have made it safe and sound to the beautiful city of Uppsala! It is honestly so pretty! And all the people are so nice because they are all young college people. They all usually listen or are very nice when they aren't interested so that is nice. But there is still the fair share of older and rude people. But that probably doesn't change no matter where you go. I am loving it here in Uppsala though. My new companion is named Elder Walker. He is from Idaho Falls. He is a really cool guy and a good missionary. He is quiet and really funny. He is easy to get along with so he is going to be a great companion. I also live with two other elders named Elder Johnson and Elder Blackburn. They are both super funny and I love them both. It is really fun to live in a four man apartment. We do go through food a lot faster and there are a ton more dishes to do, but it's worth it. We actually have a really nice apartment. Nicer than I have ever lived in in Sweden. We have a real piano (neighbors probably love us) and a huge kitchen, including a dishwasher (which I haven't had on my mission yet and most missionaries don't), we actually have a juicer too and we juiced some carrots but then we broke it because we tried to juice ice to make snow cones hahaha and the apartment building has a sauna haha so we have done that a few times.

There is actually not a lot to report this week. Elder Walker and I are actually opening a new missionary area here in Uppsala. Which means that there were no missionaries in our area before. There is two other elders here and a pair of sisters. They have been here for a while but Elder Walker and I are brand new so we are starting from complete scratch. So we started with no investigators at all. We have been working really hard this week to find people. We have been working on the ward list to find less actives to work with and we have been out contacting people most of the time. We did meet a girl on the street who showed us around the cathedral here in Uppsala and she said she would be interested in meeting again. We also met another Swedish guy who we taught on the street named Victor. He is so cool! We taught him the restoration on the street and it went so well! He said he would read the Book of Mormon and try to come to church on Sunday. So Saturday night we called him to try to set up a time with him for the coming week to meet up. And he said "11:00 right?" and I said "wait are you coming to church?" and he said "yeah!". So we got super excited! And the next day in church he showed up! It was so awesome! He loved sacrament meeting and especially loved the music. We said The Spirit of God for the opening song. (Den Himmelske Elden in swedish which means 'the heavenly fire'). He especially loved that song. It was really powerful when the ward sang. He really enjoyed sacrament meeting but I was a little disappointed afterwords because with swedes being the reserved and quiet people they are, only one person came and greeted him after the meeting was over. But then luckily, the bishop came over and greeted him. This was the first time I met the bishop and he is the coolest guy ever! You would think he was american because he was really loud and expressive and so funny. He was so nice to Victor and really made him feel welcome. I wish all swedes were like that haha. But we talked to him afterwards and he expressed interest in the Plan of Salvation. We explained a little bit to him and gave him 2 Nephi 2 to read. We are meeting up with him tonight. We hope to make progress with him. He is super cool! 

On Friday we were able to go by a member/kinda less active named Lennart. He lives alone about an hour away by bus from Uppsala. He knew that we were new and wanted us to come by and visit him. It was a really good visit and lesson. We taught a little bit about something I found in personal study that morning. It was in Matthew 5:48. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I was thinking about what that meant. Obviously our Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to be 100% perfect here during this life. But we can for sure try to be. But I also wondered, If Jesus was perfect and sinless, why didn't he say be ye therefore perfect, even as I? In Swedish, the verse says, fullkomlig, which means more 'complete' than 'perfect'. We aren't complete here on earth. We have so much more to learn and to accomplish and to become, we need to be resurrected and obtain our perfect complete bodies. But our Heavenly Father is complete. And I came across a quote from Elder Russel M. Nelson that said: “The term perfect was translated from the Greek teleios, which means ‘complete.’ … The infinitive form of the verb is teleiono, which means ‘to reach a distant end, to be fully developed, to consummate, or to finish.’ Please note that the word does not imply freedom from error; it implies achieving a distant objective. …We need not be dismayed if our earnest efforts toward perfection now seem so arduous and endless. Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love him and keep his commandments”. So our distant objective is to become perfect and complete and to return to live with God. And none of us, even Jesus can be complete without the Resurrection and through Christ's Atonement. And something interesting is that when Christ visits the Nephites in the Book of Mormon and gives the same message to these people, he changes it just a little bit. He says, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." So because Christ went through the Atonement and was resurrected, even though he was sinless throughout his mortal life, could now finally say that he was perfect. I thought that was really cool. Perfection is pending and is something we need to work towards our whole lives by exercising our faith and utilizing and applying the Atonement of Christ and keeping the commandments.

On Sunday I was able to meet all the members of the ward here. They are so awesome! I was also able to bear my testimony to the ward and kind of introduce myself. I wasn't nervous at all and I was so happy because I'm usually super nervous to talk in front of people. The 3 other new missionaries also bore their testimonies and it was really good. I love this ward and I really look forward to working with and getting to know the members here. I love this area and I am excited to get to work. 

Well I am about out of time. Sorry for the dull letter. Maybe the pretty pictures of Uppsala will make up for it. I want you all to know that I am doing great and I am loving my mission. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers and emails. They mean so much. I am kinda behind on answering back but I will soon I promise! I love this gospel! It's true isn't it? What else matters? 

Know that I love you

Your friendly neighborhood missionary,

Äldste Bailey