Day 316 - Breakin some J-dub Ankles

Mambo! ("what's up!" in Swahili)

What's good everyone! Things are going so good here in Uppsala! I am doing great and am happy despite the cold and darkness. (It's like 2:00 while I'm writing this and it's already getting dark.) We had some great experiences this week! Lots of finding and teaching. I'll jump straight into this week because I don't have a lot of time!

On Tuesday, we were invited to play basketball with a guy and some of his friends at this old school (it's hard to find a place to play ball in Sweden). So we decided to go. When we got there, we found out that like everyone there were Jehovah's Witnesses (J dubs). These guys are usually never willing to listen to our message but we tried anyways. It was really fun to be able to play ball again. It was hard to shoot the ball unless you shot a frozen rope because there was some gymnastic equipment hanging from the ceiling that the ball would hit almost every time. But I was able to dribble. So it was super fun crossing over and breaking all these J dub's ankles.  I know I'm not supposed to think about this, but in my head I was thinking "Jehovah's Witnesses vs. The Mormons" and that I would show them who the true church is hahaha but don't worry I didn't say any of this stuff and I kept my cool and was nice :) One guy was actually pretty interested that we talked to afterwords. He said he would like to talk more about our beliefs. We are going to go tomorrow as well and feel out the situation. If we don't find anyone interested, we probably won't go back. But it was still super fun. 

On Wednesday, a young couple in the ward, Gabriella and Even, invited us and Klara over for dinner. It was super fun and yummy food! We don't get so many dinner appointments here in Uppsala so it felt really nice! We were able to teach Klara in their home after we ate. We taught her about God and how we can build a relationship with Him and how we can get answers from Him. We showed the Mormon Message called "The Hope of God's Light". If you haven't seen it, watch it! It was so good and Klara loved it and had a lot of questions. We actually spent a lot of time talking about fasting. It was really intriguing to her and she wants to learn more about it. We are going to fast with her to help her get an answer. It was a great lesson and the spirit was strong. Elder Blackburn and Elder Peterson, one of the Zone Leaders, taught her again on Thursday but I wasn't there because we were on splits. That lesson supposedly went really well and we have committed her to daily contact. Klara is progressing and learning so much. I am grateful to be able to teach her! Thank you for your prayers for her! She will still need them as we are not thinking she will be ready by the 29th of November. But she is still going to be baptized I know it!

On Thursday, I got to go on splits with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Hemmingsen. He is pretty average.. Hahaha jk I love you man! He is a stud and such a good missionary. I learned a lot from him that I will be able to apply into my missionary work! He is one of my best friends out here in the field so it was super fun to go on splits with him. 

I want to write a little about my highlight of the week. So on Saturday, we got a referral from the referral website of an African man named George who had been looking into the church a little and had been chatting on Mormon.org with some members. He had been taught by someone online for a little while. So when we got his number, I gave him a call. He answered and said he would love to come to church on Sunday. The whole time I was talking to him I had a feeling that I should invite him to the music night party our ward was having that night. I wasn't really sure what it was or how it would turn out so I ended up not inviting him. After I hung up, I turned to Elder Blackburn and asked him if it was okay that I didn't invite him and he said yeah it's probably okay because we didn't really know what this music night thing was. I told him how I felt like I needed to and I considered calling him back but didn't (ignored the prompting again). Then less than a minute later, the phone rang. It was George. I figured Heavenly Father wanted him to come to the music night. All he basically said was that he wasn't sure if he would be able to make it to church because his friend invited him earlier to do something. I told him it was okay and to try his best to make it because we would love to see him there. I also took the opportunity to invite him to the party. He said he would love to come. So that night, George showed up! He is so cool! He is from Tanzania and speaks Swahili. Sadly, he doesn't speak Swedish, so I had to translate the whole music night for him but he really liked it. The missionaries preformed a few songs and Elder Blackburn sang *Nearer My God to Thee" and George really liked it. He felt the spirit. It was pretty much a talent show and everyone in the ward performed different things. Sister Kamaouha taught everyone how to Hula dance and George liked that too. Afterwords, there was a dinner. So George and I got our food and sat down. And then this guy in his 60's named Victor who is from Boston who has been an investigator for a long time and who hadn't come to church in a while, sat down next to us and we talked for a while. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, Victor started speaking Swahili to George!! What the heck!! I was so surprised that Victor could speak Swahili. I asked Victor how he knew Swahili and he said, "Oh, just living down there for a while".  Victor is like the most interesting guy ever. They talked for a long time. They got along super well. It was good for both of them to meet each other. Then George was telling us all of his stories in Africa with Lions and Elephants and Giraffes and Cheetahs and stuff. It was so sick! Then I was able to give him a Book of Mormon and teach him about it there in the church. He was so excited to take it and read it. The spirit was strong as I bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it has changed my life. I was teaching Victor by myself in the Foyer because Elder Blackburn was talking to someone else. And Sister Koyle, the wife in the cute old senior couple who work in the mission office our in our ward, was sweeping the floor around us and she kept sweeping for a long time haha it was funny because I could tell she was wanting to listen to what I was saying (They never really see missionary work in action). After I finished and George was about to leave, she came up and bore a really sweet and powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. After he left, I could tell she was really happy that she got to do that. But the whole night was great. I knew George was supposed to be there because he felt the spirit and met Victor with whom he got to speak Swahili with. Also he was able to meet a lot of other people who were really nice to him, and he got a Book of Mormon, and was able to hear testimonies borne about it. It was also really good because George wasn't able to make it to church on Sunday. So on Saturday he was able to feel the Spirit and receive a Book of Mormon. I am thankful that Heavenly Father helped me out when I wasn't willing to follow the prompting that I received. I am super excited to work with George and help him find the true restored gospel. 

I am almost out of time, but I want to quickly wish my dad a happy birthday and let everyone know how amazing of a dad and person he is! I am honestly so grateful for my dad and the example he is and has always been to me. I am so thankful for the way he raised me and how he raised me in the gospel. My dad has always been there for me and supported me in everything I did. He is my hero and one of my best friends. I am the man I am today because of him. He is the greatest example to me and I look up to him so much. If I end up being half the man my dad is, I will be happy. Have the best day ever dad! I love you so much! Thank you for everything you do for me! 

Well I am totally out of time! The sisters are kicking us off the computers! The Church is true!!

Know that I love you! 

Quote of the week: "He who kneels before God, can stand before any man." 

MVH

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