Day 663 - Another week in the books! Oh and Happy Halloween!

Hello hello hello!

What a great and blessed week it has been in the land of Västerås! Things are going great here. We haven't been attacked by any clowns this week despite the fact that it was Halloween weekend! So that was good! But even if we do, we are prepared to take them down ;) Halloween is not a very big thing here actually. Like it's pretty big but not as big as in the States. We had a Halloween party for the branch on Saturday and it was super fun. It was a trunk or treat and there were like 6 cars but it was still awesome! As far as costumes go, we didn't have too many options to choose from. So when we got to the church, three of us decided to go into the bathroom and put our clothes on backwards. The members got a good laugh out of it haha. It was actually pretty funny because from the front we looked like insane asylum patients so it worked out. But yeah that was fun to be with the branch and the kids and stuff. 

This week was real busy with lessons and meeting new people, most of them being Persian. I strongly believe that one of the main reasons that I came to this country was for the Persian people. They have a special place in my heart and I have a special connection with them. Don't worry Swedes, you do too ;) But we had a bunch of awesome lessons! I will run you through a few of them!

On Tuesday, we taught Sina, who came to church last week. He is from Afghanistan and is such a good guy. (He lives with a Swedish family so we want to teach them as well ;)) We taught Sina with my good friend Mojgan. She helped translate over the phone. Sina had a lot of questions about Jesus Christ in church that I could only answer so well with the Persian that I can speak ;) He has a Persian bible and a Persian Book of Mormon. I can read the names of the books and do the number system so i just showed him a bunch of scriptures. But yeah we met him on Tuesday and taught him about the Godhead, each member and their roles. We also taught him about prayer. It went so well and the spirit was strong. He has such an honest desire to learn about Christ and Christianity. He said he would be baptized if he got an answer! We are going to meet up with him again this week!

(side note that is kinda funny that just barely happened as we speak. So Elder Harrell and I are wearing street clothes right now cause we went to this cool place called Prison Island where you are basically in a prison and you have to do things and solve puzzles to get through rooms. It was pretty awesome. Our team name was "Mormonerna" or "The Mormons". We destroyed and got the high score for the day at Prison Island! Anyways the other Elders were also in civilian clothes at the prison and they came to the church after they had switched back into their church clothes. After they had been here for a little bit and I just leaned over to Elder Gentry and said "man, I just realized you guys switched back to regular clothes." And then I went back to typing. And then I realized how long I've been on my mission... when you start to refer to church clothes as regular clothes, you've been on a mission for awhile hahaha it's true though, church clothes are my regular clothes haha :))

Anyways, the next day we met with two guys also from Afghanistan. MJ and Jabot. They are also honest seekers of the truth. We had a great lesson about the Restoration. They also agreed to getting baptized once they learn a little bit more. They are such bros! They also asked lots of questions. It is so cool because most of these guys have never heard anything about Christianity so its cool to see the light bulb go off as we unfold the mysteries of God for them. Also the coolest feeling has got to be testifying of Jesus Christ and his important role in the plan of the Father to these people who have only known him as a prophet. MJ and Jabot are doing great and we are going to meet them this week.

The last new investigator this weeks name is Ahmadraza. He is such a stud! We actually taught his friend Mustafa a few weeks ago. Mustafa wasn't too interested but showed the BoM we gave him to Ahmadraza and he read a little bit and wanted to meet up with us. So Mustafa called us and gave us his number. We called him and Ahmadraza, I'm gonna call him Reza for short, said that he was interested in meeting and has been studying Christianity for 5 months and needs someone to answer his questions. So we met him on Tuesday and he is probably one of the most humble, pure, people I have ever met in my life. He is around my age. He just wants to learn and learn. We taught him about prayer and the Godhead. At the end of the lesson, we said a prayer together and he said that it felt really good and that he had a warm feeling in his heart. It was so cool! He came to church on Sunday and loved it. He especially loved the sacrament. After I blessed it, I came and sat by him and he leaned over and said how much he liked it. He also liked to sing hymns. He is so awesome. He has a baptismal date for the 10th of Dec.

We have been having a lot of investigators start coming to sacrament meetings the past few weeks. I think between the two companionships, we had about 8 or so investigators in church. The work is going forward!

Sorie is doing great! We taught him the WoW and Chasity this week and he already lives both of those laws to the fullest haha. Well besides tea. He drinks green tea and it was super hard to tell him that the Lord said that we shouldn't drink it because he seemed kind of sad but he committed to live both laws. We just had to tell him that sometimes we don't understand everything the Lord asks us to do, but we can find peace in the assurance that The Being who created us and knows us perfectly knows just how we need to live our lives to acheive the greatest amount of happiness possible. This man is honestly changing so much. You can see it in his countenance that the gospel is changing him. He is becoming more perfected in Christ. 

I think something that I have learned more than anything on my mission is Charity and Humility. They definitely go hand in hand. I really feel blessed to have developed a true love for the people around me and the people I am serving. I feel like God has let me see these people and those around me through just a glimpse of His eyes. I have begun to love people in a way I have never experienced before. I honestly feel that I can say I that know what charity is and how it feels. I don't think charity is something that we feel every now and then, but that it is something that we are. I came across this quote the other day while studying in the BoM. “Charity, ‘the pure love of Christ’ (Moroni 7:47), is not an act but a condition or state of being. Charity is attained through a succession of acts that result in a conversion. Charity is something one becomes." I testify that this is true. By no means am I as charitable as I want to be, but I can truly testify that charity and the grace of Christ have changed me and the way I treat and think about others. I know that Christ's grace is sufficient to change us and transform us into the people that our Heavenly Father wants us to become. 

Well folks, I'm about out of time. I want you all to know that I know that this church is true. I know that independent of anyone else. I know that my Savior lives and loves me. I know that living the gospel will bring true and lasting happiness. I love you all and I am so grateful for your love and support along this journey of mine. Thank you for the emails as well. I know I'm bad at writing back, but I promise I will get to them :) I love you all! Stay strong my friends and my God bless you :)

Godspeed my fellow servants ;)

MVH

äldste Bailey