Day 376

Hallå där!

How is everyone doin? It's been a fantastic week here in Göteborg! I absolutely love it here! It has been soooooo cold this week! Yesterday morning it was -19 degrees Celsius! Not sure what that is in Fahrenheit but it's super cold!!! That is just down here in the southern part of the country! Even in Stockholm and above it's like -25 or -30 Celsius plus wind and humidity! Pretty dang cold! I like it though, it's so pretty! The forests are all white and it looks like Narnia haha. Anyways yeah it's cold! Luckily we have a car right now so we aren't out in the cold too much. But next week I won't have a car anymore so it's going to be chilly! I think it's supposed to warm up a little this week so that will be nice. I'm just glad I'm not up in Norrland (Like "North land". It's the northern part of the country). On of my best friends is up there and he said they basically only go outside if they absolutely have to because it's so cold! Haha crazy! Anyways, enough about the weather. Things are going great here! It has been a crazy past couple weeks and I am pretty tired. In case you forgot, I have been in a tripanionship with the Zone Leaders for the past two weeks. Zone Leader missionary work is a whole lot different than regular missionary work. Especially because they have a car. That makes it hard to talk to people on the streets and on trains and buses and stuff which is my favorite way to contact people. But we have been able to teach a lot of lessons with both of our areas combined in one. I have learned a lot from these guys and it has been super fun being with them these past few weeks. They are great missionaries and they are going to do great things this coming transfer! As for me, I will be getting a new companion named Elder Williams. He is a newer missionary and has been out around 5 or 6 months I think. It should be fun! It has just been a weird transfer in general with Christmas and New Years and my companion leaving and all that jazz. So I am excited to get back to the grind and go hard and baptize this whole country! 

I don't have a ton of time this week but thought I would update you guys on a few cool things that happened this week! It was a great week and we taught a lot of lessons and had a lot of cool experiences! And I know I say it almost every week, but I love being a missionary and I am so grateful for the time I have to serve my Father in Heaven! I am so grateful for everything I have learned and for the knowledge and personal relationship I have gained with my Savior. I love him so much and I am so grateful that I have been able to learn so much about him and come to know him personally. I have grown so much in my love for the scriptures and for the gospel. I really believe that while I have been out on a mission, that Heavenly Father has let me see people through His eyes, and that I have been able to feel an incredible amount of love for these people, which I believe is just a fraction of the amount of love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for them. I have learned so much and gained so much experience and knowledge so far on my mission and I am so grateful for it! Again, if there is any of you out there contemplating going out on a mission, go!! If you don't, you are denying so much that your Heavenly Father has in store to bless you with. I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart, that a mission is worth it. It will change you! It is such a blessing and makes me so happy to be here in this beautiful country and to be able to serve God's children here and to help them find happiness and direction in their lives. Two years is honestly such a short time. I feel like it is the least I can give my Father in Heaven for everything He has blessed me with in my life and for everything I have learned on my mission so far. In fact, I don't believe I will ever be able to repay him. But I will do everything I can to try. A mission is the best thing you can do at this time in your life! I know it might seem hard, haha well it's going to be hard, but I promise it will be worth it. It will set the tone for the rest of your life. For the better. A mission is more of a blessing than it is a sacrifice. Well, there is another tangent haha sorry! I don't have much time and I just wrote a novel about missions! I felt like I needed to write it for someone so I did. Now on to the rest of the week!

So on Monday, we were able to meet with Peter. He had a lot of concerns and I think we kind of overwhelmed him because there was three of us and two members with us as well. Anyways, he was just acting kind of weird and brought up a lot of concerns that I thought we had resolved before. It was a good lesson and we kind of laid it all out there and told him if he wants to find out if this is true, it's up to him! He stayed for institute that night and the lesson that was taught was exactly what he needed to hear! It was a little about the apostasy and "why our church?". He liked it but wasn't super tentative during the lesson. And a few days ago, he texted us and said that he is not feeling good and wants to take a little break from meeting with us. I hope the spirit works in him while he takes this break and that he can realize what he is throwing away if he chooses not to meet with us anymore. We will continue to pray for him!

We met with Jenny and Fredrik a couple times this week! They are doing great! Jenny is going to be baptized in February so I will be able to be there for that! But I wont be teaching her anymore because I have a new companion now and they aren't in our area! But they are doing good and when we met them this week, Jenny explained how she wants to get married in the temple! So that is awesome. I know Elders Featherstone and Albersten will take care of them! 

So something cool! So there is a Swedish guy named Eriker who was baptized about a year ago who comes to church every Sunday. Every week he brings his 18 year old daughter with him as well. And ever since I have been here I thought she was a member. Then I found out she wasn't a few weeks ago and I was super surprised! So this week I asked Eriker and Sonyaa (that's her name) if we could come by and teach them. They said sure thing! So on Wednesday, we went over there and visited with them and ate some dinner with them. Then we asked Eriker why he joined the church and how he got an answer. We listened to him tell us about that for awhile and then talked to Sonyaa. We basically told her what we do as missionaries and told her the importance of our message. She knows a lot already from coming to church, but she told us she has a few concerns about the church. We asked her to tell us one right then, and she explained how she doesn't think it is fair for someone who doesn't believe in Jesus Christ to go straight to Hell. We chuckled and answered that one for her by explaining a little bit about the Plan of Salvation. She was surprised and we asked her if we could come by regularly and teach her more about this message. She said sure! Eriker was also all for it as well and told us to quote "baptize her already" close quote. We will see how it goes. We are not too sure about her beliefs still because we didn't have so much time, but we are excited to start teaching her and helping her reach the waters of baptism!

Okay so do you guys remember Caroline? She got baptized yesterday!!!!!!! I was able to skype in from a members house!!! It was so awesome and I am sooooo happy for her!!! She has honestly gone through so much and worked through so much to make it to this point! Her conversion story is honestly amazing and I am so grateful to be a part of it. The baptism was so great and the spirit was so strong. I am so proud of her for taking this step in following Jesus Christ! I wish I could explain how strong the spirit was at that baptism. She was honestly so happy afterwords and it was so good to see. I has gone through so much opposition and so many trials to get here. Her testimony is so strong and it helped her push through all of the trials and opposition. I am so grateful that God put her in my path and that she has decided to be baptized. I know it will bless her and her family for the rest of eternity! This is what missionary work is all about!! I don't think I can explain the kind of happiness that I felt when I saw her go under the water. It was amazing! The church is true!

Well I am about out of time! Thank you for everything you all do for me! Have the best week! 

Know that I love you guys!

Love, your friendly neighborhood missionary,