Day 383

Hallå Hallåååå!

How is everyone doin? It has been a great week here in Göteborg! We are working hard and having fun! I love missionary work with all my heart! I love being able to go out every day and harvest and find the people who are prepared to hear the restored gospel! I love teaching the message of the restoration so much! There is such a special spirit in that message and it never gets old no matter how many times I teach it.  There is such a joy in watching people accept the gospel and I am so blessed to be apart of this work! This week was full of great experiences and fun times! I don't have a ton of time this week, so I will update you guys on just a few cool and funny things that happened! Well, okay super quick, it snowed a TON this week! And that is not normal here in Gothenburg! It usually just rains all the time. But this week, it snowed a lot. One day this week, it snowed like 14 inches over night. The city was not prepared for that haha so all the trains and buses and trams were shut down until later that day. That made us a little worried because that was on transfer day! Tuesday I think. We weren't sure if my new companion was going to make it on time or not. He ended up getting here on time and we have been working hard and having fun ever since! My new companion's name is Elder Williams. He is from Kaysville! Turns out we went to the same junior high school! We were even on the track team together one year. We didn't know eachother and we don't really recognize each other though. But still crazy! Small world. Anyways, he is awesome! We are getting along great and working hard!

This week, we visited the Bishop's family and ate dinner with them! We had a lesson directed towards their 14 year old son. We kind of role played and pretended that we were his friends at school and we asked him stuff like "Why do you go to church on Sundays?" or "Do you really believe in God? Why?".  It was super good for him. When I thought about it, I don't know how ready I really would have been to answer questions about the church if non member friends asked me them. It made me realize that we all need to be prepared to share the gospel in any situation. It is so important! We have the true church of Jesus Christ back on the earth! That is something to be excited about!! We need to share that with everyone we can! Whether you want it or not, missionary opportunities are going to come your way some time in your life. Sometimes when we least expect it. How ready are you to explain why you go to church or why you believe what you do? Make sure you are ready and prepared to share a little bit about the church and why we do what we do. Most importantly, be prepared to share your testimony! It is so important that we share the knowledge of this gospel with everyone we can! I want to share a quote from Henry B Eyring that one of good friends sent to me last week.  "Why should I speak to anyone about the gospel who seems content? What danger is there to them or to me if I do or say nothing? Well, the danger may be hard to see, but it is real, both for them and for us. For instance, at some moment in the world to come, everyone you will ever meet will know what you know now. They will know that the only way to live forever in association with our families and in the presence of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, was to choose to enter into the gate by baptism at the hands of those with authority from God. They will know that the only way families can be together forever is to accept and keep sacred covenants offered in the temple of God on this earth. And they will know that you knew. And they will remember whether you offered them what someone had offered you." I hope this inspired you to be a better missionary and more effective tool in the Lord's hands. It did for me. It is so important to share what we know! I challenge all of you to pray for a missionary opportunity this week. I know if you show a little faith and pray for an opportunity to share the gospel, with real intent to act on that opportunity you receive, the Lord will trust you enough to give you a missionary opportunity. Share your testimony! It feels amazing to share our testimonies with others. Do it! I promise you that you will feel different. You will feel a sort of happiness that you wont feel any other way. You will feel the love of Heavenly Father and you will be happy knowing that He is proud of you and that you helped bring one soul closer to him.

On Friday, Elder Williams and I made a goal to make the Lord a bigger part in our companionship. We wanted to rely on the Lord more in our finding, teaching, and in all we do. So during this week, Elder Williams and I were walking through this forest (which was covered in snow and looked super cool) to get to a less active member's house. On the pathway there, our phone died because it was so cold. So we were kind of lost. We knew we were going the right way for awhile, but then we came to a fork in the road. We weren't sure which way to go. We were deciding, when I remembered our goal to include the Lord in our companionship. So I suggested that we pray and Elder Williams agreed. So we said a prayer and tried to listen to the spirit to know which way to go. I really felt like my answer to the prayer we had just said was to trust my companion. So I look at Elder Williams and he said he felt a warmth coming from one way. I said that is the right path then. So we went that way. A ways later, we came to some apartment buildings, but we were still not so sure where we were. As we passed the first apartment building, I noticed the door was propped open. (A lot of the apartment buildings here in sweden are port coded, so it is hard to get in.) I figured this was the Lord opening a door for us showing us where to go. We decided to take the chance and tract the building. Not one person answered. I was confused why I felt strongly about coming in here. But while we were in the building, our phone was able to warm up and we were able to turn it on. Once we checked google maps, we realized that we had taken the wrong way at the fork in the road where we prayed. Then I was even more confused. Why did we feel so strongly about the one direction when we prayed? Then the talk from Elder Holland come to my mind. The one were he comes to a fork in the road and I think he is with his dad and they pray to know which way to go and they come to a dead end. Then they realize that the Lord had them go that way because it was the quickest way for them to know that the other way was the right way. We experienced the same thing. I really believe that the Lord had us go that way so that we could warm up the phone in that apartment building so it could turn on and we could see that we were going the wrong way. And then turn back with enough time to make it to the area we were going to with a working phone. If we hadn't been able to turn on the phone, we wouldn't have been able to find the less active's house and we would have had no idea where we were or if we were on the right path if the Lord would have told us the right path in the beginning. Just like he did with Elder Holland, he knew that would be the quickest way to let us know that the other path was the right way. I know it was just a little experience, but it really strengthened my testimony. I think it was so cool that the Lord really did have his hand in our companionship and gave us help and guidance when we asked for it. I think that is something that everyone can work on. Try to make the Lord a bigger part of your life. Include Him in any decisions you have to make. He is there and He will help us and guide us when we let Him.

We are continuing to meet with and teach Sonyaa. She is doing great and came to church! She accepted the invitation to be baptized if she gets an answer! She is awesome and has been reading the Book of Mormon! She is so amazing and I am so grateful to be able to help her along this journey! The spirit is so strong when we teach her and she is making a lot of progress. We are going to meet with her tomorrow! 

Anyways, I got to go! Thanks for all you guys do for me! Thank you for the prayers and the emails and everything! I love you all so much! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! Have an amazing week! 

MVH

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