Day 331 - Happy December

Well hallå där ni vackra manniskor! 

Wow what an amazing week! So many miracles and blessings this week! One of which being snow! It is just a tiny blanket of snow, but it's still snow :) Elder Blackburn and I have been working super hard this transfer and I feel like I can finally say that I am seeing the blessings that have come from our effort and diligence. We have come in contact with some of the most amazing people I have met on my mission. The work is moving forward here in Uppsala! I love it here. We received some news this week that Elder Blackburn will also be training this next transfer. Meaning one of us is going to be leaving and doubling in somewhere else. I hope I get to stay. But if I end up leaving, I know this area is in good hands. Transfers are coming up in about a week and a half. I finally get my greenie! It's going to be a party.

This week we were in Stockholm a few times. On Tuesday, we had zone training. It was really good and we focused a lot on our testimonies of Heavenly Father and also of Joseph Smith. It was really spiritual and I was really touched and uplifted. They also introduced the church's new Christmas initiative. It is the new Christmas video for this year and the website and all that jazz. I really like this year's video. It makes it really easy to share with people here on the streets. It is powerful. If you haven't seen it, go look it up on the church's website! We have planned to find a lot of investigators with this video. Christmastime is my favorite time to contact people. Around this time of year, a lot more people are thinking about Christ than during the rest of the year. What a better opportunity than this to testify of Jesus Christ and why we need a Savior. I am so excited!

Wednesday, I went on splits with Elder Muirhead. He is Elder Walker's greenie. It was a good time! We worked really hard and talked to a lot of people. We had the opportunity to teach George. He showed up a little late, but we were happy that he came. Things are going good with him. He is just very busy. We had an amazing lesson about the Restoration of the gospel. He had a lot of questions and we had answers. We showed him the short restoration film. It was really powerful and he really liked it. We bore strong testimony of the need of a restoration and that Joseph Smith really was a prophet. It was a great lesson and the spirit was strong. We invited him to be baptized but he said he needs to learn more first. Understandable, I guess. We are going to continue to work with him and help him along the path back to our Father in heaven. I am grateful for the chance I have to met with and teach George.

We had a miracle happen on Thursday. Thursday morning, we had an amazing lesson with Klara. She is doing really well and is learning more and more and coming closer and closer to an answer. She has grown so much. We are going to meet here tomorrow hopefully. Keep her in your prayers! Then after the lesson, we got a text from an old contact named Dimitri that we tried to call. He said something along the lines of, "Hey sorry I was busy when you called. But I am going to the Swedish Church and I'm not interested if you are trying to recruit me." I laughed a little bit and then started typing my response. I basically told him we are not trying to recruit him, we are just trying to share a message that means everything to us. A message that will change his life. A message that has given me so much happiness and comfort and peace and guidance in my life that I wanted him to experience the same thing. I bore my testimony that this is really The Church of Jesus Christ restored on the earth today. I said some other stuff that was quite bold but needed, haha. Anyways, I thought he was going to say something rude back to me, but all he sent back was the word, "restored?". Before I could finish my response back to him, the phone was ringing and it was Dimitri. So I answered and ended up talking to him on the phone for about 35 min. Teaching him about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and prophets and the Book of Mormon. It was so cool. By the end of our conversation, he asked if we could just meet up today because he had a lot of questions. So we met with him later that day and it was such a spiritual lesson! He is searching for the true church. He is also very religious (uncommon for swedes). He shared some experiences with us that were very close to him. The whole lesson we had a Book of Mormon on the table and when we got to the Book of Mormon, he asked us if he could borrow it. Haha we told him it was free and he gladly took the book. He told us that an earlier missionary had told him that this book would bless his life in many ways. He asked us what we thought. We added our testimonies to that missionary's and bore strong testimony of The Book of Mormon and that there is a real power in the book. We invited him to read it and he said he would. Later that night, we were at the Senior Missionaries' house for a Thanksgiving dinner! It was so nice of them to invite us over and it felt just like home! I didn't think I would get a real Thanksgiving dinner this year but I did! It was so good! While we were there, we got a call from Dimitri. He told us that he had been reading the book and that he was shocked, in a good way. He told me that he felt convinced and that he had lots of questions. He also said he prayed and didn't feel much. We were really excited and set up another time to meet with him. He wasn't able to meet us then and he is really busy so we haven't met him since then but we are trying! Dimitri really is prepared and I know as he continues to read and pray, that he will receive an answer.

Okay so the biggest miracle of all happened this week. I would love to write 5 pages about this experience but I don't have that much time so I will try to shorten it as much as possible. About 6 weeks ago I contacted a lady on the street who was about to have a baby. We taught her and gave her a card and a Book of Mormon. We didn't hear from her and didn't expect to because she was literally days away from having her baby. So about 2 weeks ago, my mom emailed me a comment that someone had posted on my blog. Turns out it was this lady, Caroline. She has been following my blog and said she would be really interested in meeting. So Caroline emailed me the next week. I emailed our number back and we called her and set up a time. We met with her this week and she is by far the most prepared Swedish person I have ever met. She has been researching a lot on the church and has already read in the Book of Mormon. It probably was the most spiritual lesson of my mission. She shared personal experiences about giving birth and feeling like God abandoned her for a while but then when she held her baby in her arms, she felt closer to him than ever before. It was powerful and we were all in tears. The spirit was so strong. I shared 3 Nephi 22:7-10 (look it up;)). She really liked it and it helped her a lot. We taught a powerful lesson and she loved it. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and has been praying. She is trying to come closer to God and find the church that is right for her and find the church she feels is right for her family. We have been teaching her a lot this week and she has been calling us with questions. She is really trying to search and find an answer. She is so awesome! I already care so much about her and want her to get an answer so bad. She has gone through so much in her life and has a lot of trials and challenges. We are helping her understand them and help her through them. After our first lesson, we gave her Mosiah 24:8-15 to read. It is about God helping the people of Alma and lifting their burdens. We met with her again today actually and it was another powerful lesson. She told us that when she read those scriptures, she felt a warm feeling go through her body and she felt really touched. We had a kneeling prayer with her and the spirit was so strong! We are going to continue to meet with her and teach her and help her find an answer. And turns out that she knows a couple in our ward who also just recently had a baby because they were in the same parent group. And her husband is from Austria and the couple is from Austria! Coincidence? I think not :) This experience just really showed me that the spirit really does work in people. And also, prepared people really are out there. We just have to go out of our way, put in an effort, to find them. I easily could have walked right by her and she might have never heard about the church. I know God loves each of his children and that he really does help those who are searching after the truth.

I think about all these people I meet with and I really feel such a love and care for them.  I know that Heavenly Father loves these people more than I could ever imagine, but I feel that I am able to feel a piece of that love right as I meet with them. It also helps me realize the importance of each and every soul - that they really are important to our Father in Heaven.

I want end this letter on a funny note. This week Elder Blackburn and I both cut our hair. We decided that we would cut each other's hair (bad idea because neither of us have cut hair before). So I offered to cut Elder Blackburn's hair first. I did really good on the sides and left the top longer. It looked pretty good actually! But then we decided to try out a "thinner" attachment that we found in the hair cutting set. So I asked him if he was sure if he wanted to use it. He said yeah so I went right up his forehead and it worked a couple times and then it took a huge chunk out of his hair hahaha! We were dying cause we were laughing so hard. We figured it would be better to just shave it all down. And we must have been using a beard trimmer or something because the longest setting was 6 millimeters. So we buzzed his head!! hahaha it was a lot shorter than we thought and he looks bald hahaha. I have been calling him Caillou for the past couple days, haha. So after that incident, I decided I probably shouldn't let him cut my hair. So I had the sisters do it at Family home evening last night. They had never cut hair before. But Elder Walker had so he coached them through it. It actually turned out really good!

Anyway, sorry this is so long. I gotta go. I love you all so much and want to thank you all for everything you do for me! 

Remember that the church is true!

Also remember that I love you!

MVH

Äldste Bailey

"Yes, you and I should count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count!" -Neal A. Maxwell

Day 323 - So you think the darkness is your ally?

Wow this week flew by! Things are going great over here across the ocean! Life is good and I can't complain! Well maybe I can about this darkness haha it's crazy! Sun isn't up until around 8:30 and down by 2:00! It is pretty insane. It is pretty cold here now. It has snowed in just about every other place in Sweden now except Uppsala.. I just want it to snow. If it's gonna be this cold you might as well have snow to go with it. Plus it adds to the Christmas Spirit :) The Lord is continuing to bless Elder Blackburn and I as we work hard each day. We are seeing miracles every day. The Lord is continuing to bless this area as well, in ways large and small. It is hard work, but we are finding prepared people, and seeing the gospel really change the lives of those we teach. I am so grateful to be on my mission at this time. It is really changing me. 

This week was great! Lots of great experiences. But funny enough, there is not too much to write about. We have seen so many small miracles everyday. For example, we were riding home on the bus one night. I was in the front half and Elder Blackburn was in the back (we split up so we can talk to people). I was just sitting there with no one by me and I was kinda zoned out. Then I heard two girls speaking in the seat in front of me. The reason they caught my attention was because they were speaking English. You don't hear English very often here. Then I zoned back out. Then I heard the phrase "Yeah I was just really trying to find the true church." I think I almost broke my neck with how fast I turned my head around to see who it was that said that hahaha you almost never hear those words in Sweden. Not one time on my whole mission have I heard someone say that! Especially two friends just talking on a bus. So at this point I was just listening to their conversation. Then one of the girls said "Yeah I have been going around to all the different churches". I was thinking to myself that this could not possibly be true haha I thought that it was probably like an angel that God sent to test if I was a good missionary or not. So we were about 30 seconds from our bus stop but I knew I couldn't let this opportunity pass. So I awkwardly interrupted their conversation and asked them where they were from. They were from Egypt and Ethiopia. I told them that I was a missionary from my church and that I had a website for them to look at that talks about my church. I told them that my faith has given me comfort and peace and strength and guidance in my life and I know it can do the same for them. I handed them a card and barely made it through the doors as they were shutting. It wasn't a huge testimony building experience or anything, it just confirmed to me that Heavenly Father really does put the people who are prepared to hear the gospel in our paths. They are always there, we just have to trust in the Lord, do our part and find them. 

On Wednesday, I was able to go on splits this the Elders in Gävle (Yev-leh). They are such great guys. I was with a new missionary named Elder Swenson. He is such a great missionary and really progressing in the language. We worked really hard. We were blessed with so many teaching opportunities as we talked with everyone we passed. Working with Elder Swenson made me so excited to train my new missionary coming in a few weeks! We were also able to see the house and statue of the first missionary in Sweden and first member in Scandinavia named Jon Forsgren. He was a beast! I was honored to stand by the stone replica of him haha. The next day we had District meeting in Gävle. It went really well. I love every missionary in this district and I feel so blessed to be able to serve with them. It also snowed in Gävle!! It was my first snow in Sweden so I was pretty excited hahaha it's kind of hard to see on the pics. 

As I am sitting here thinking about what to write about, all the people we taught on the street this week are popping into my head. Even though most of them were not interested, I just want to express my gratitude for the opportunity I have to go out every single day and bear witness of the Book of Mormon and to be a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ. It is honestly the best feeling in the world and I love doing it. I love teaching people on the streets and sharing my personal witness of the truthfulness of the restored gospel to them. It is such an amazing blessing.

We have been continuing to meet with Klara. She is doing so good!! The gospel is honestly changing her. It is so amazing to see and be apart of. The gospel is amazing in the way it really does change people when they live it. We teach that the way to get an answer or to know that this church and gospel are true is to act. I love sharing this verse in the Bible with investigators (John 7:17): "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." What to know the best way to know if the gospel is true? Live it!! As we seek and do the will of Heavenly Father, we will begin to feel his influence and love in our lives, and our testimony will grow. This is exactly what Klara has been doing. We met with her on Saturday and had a lesson about the Holy Ghost. She really understands and it is amazing to see. She has grown so much when it comes to prayer. I love hearing her express her feelings when she tells us about her experiences with prayer. She told us how as she prays, she feels peaceful and she feels a warm feeling in her heart. She also expressed how she feels burdens and guilt and stress lifted off her shoulders and she recognized that that relief came because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Remember that Klara started at absolute ground zero when it comes to religious knowledge! This is so amazing!  In our lesson, we asked her to pray again about an answer about the Book of Mormon and the church. We knelt down and she asked Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was true and if this is what he wanted her to do. After the prayer, she said that she felt warm, and very sure in the heart. It was amazing and the spirit was so strong!!! Continue to pray for her. She has a lot to learn still and I know she will be baptized. 

Thinking about all the bad stuff happening in the world, I want to echo the thoughts of one of my best friends who is also serving in this mission. My thoughts and prayers are with those in France this week also. Even with the immense sadness of an event like that, I would like to express briefly some additional thoughts about both this situation and others. Something that I've felt the influence from for the past several years of my life is the conflict in the middle east, compiled with the various terrorist attacks throughout the world. I believe this has affected everyone to some degree or another. I think that sometimes it's our default as people blessed to live in the peaceful countries of the world, to judge others, or countries, or peoples, or situations wrongly, or without considering a different perspective. This is something that I've been guilty of. Every day here I meet victims of war - many of them who barely escaped with their lives and had to leave family members and everything behind. It's been one of the most humbling and eye-opening experiences of my life to meet these people (often muslims) and get a view into who they really are. I've been shown more kindness and friendship from people, who, in most perspectives are seen as violent and irrational-thinking, than I have from anyone else. They are wonderful people, with kind hearts, and a want for peace that is stronger than anything I've ever seen. Unfortunately, there are also those who aren't this way, and often they paint the picture that we all see. I don't mean to be political at all, I just want you all to know that my thoughts and prayers are also with those in the countries of Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, the Palestinians, and so forth, that are experiencing worse conditions, and much greater losses than what we can imagine. I hope that we all pray for them too. :) 

Well I have to go. I love you all and I'm so grateful for all of you! Thank you for your prayers and emails. They mean so much. Have the best week ever! 

"Preach the gospel always. And when necessary, use words."

MVH

Äldste Bailey  

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

Äldste Bailey

Day 309

Tjaba! 

How is everything across the ocean? Things are great here! We had a great week here in Uppsala (pronounced oop-saw-la in case you were wondering). Elder Blackburn and I have been working really hard this week and have had fun while doing it! I am truly blessed to be here in this country at this time. I see miracles everyday and my testimony in my Savior Jesus Christ has become unshakable. I have a lot to talk about so I am going to jump right in to the week!

On Tuesday, we were contacting downtown and saw an African man leaning on his bike. We felt like we needed to go up and talk to him so we did. We told him who we were and he then told us that he used to be a Mormon back in Africa 10 years ago. His name is Lewis. We continued to talk to him and he told us that he had the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, and that he was preparing to go to the temple. In a polite way, we asked what happened. Turns out that he was a very active member and then he got drafted into the army in Nigeria and was moved up to an area of only muslims. From there he just kind of drifted away from the church and got lost. He came to Sweden and couldn't find the Mormon Church so he has been visiting other Christian churches for the past 10 years. He did have a few concerns about the church and the Book of Mormon and we were able to address those right there on the street. He was very excited to meet us and we gave him another Book of Mormon and invited him to church. He works a lot so it is going to be hard to get him there, but we are excited to start meeting and working with him to bring him back to the fold! It was just a really cool experience because it's probably a 1 in 1000002023 chance that you contact a random person and they end up having the Melchizedek Priesthood so that was cool. I am also thankful for the guidance of the Spirit that led us to finding him. My testimony of relying on the Spirit was definitely strengthened that morning. And I really do know that the Lord does not let any go lost. He really does care about that one out of the ninety nine. 

On Thursday, we had a zone training in Stockholm. It was really good. We talked about diligence and faith. I learned a lot and really felt the spirit. One thing we did was break up into districts and set some goals for the transfer. One goal centered on building our faith, and the other set on increasing our diligence as servants of the Lord. For the faith goal, I am going to send out a general conference talk each week to the district and have each missionary read it once a day. And at the end of the week, we will have a conference call and discuss what we have learned and share our insights. I did this in my last district. It helped me so much and as I studied the talk each day, I learned something new and my testimony was strengthened in a different way. I also loved hearing everyone else's comments and insights. It was really good and I think it will really help our district. The other goal that we set was to testify of Jesus Christ in every single lesson we teach. Whether it be a planned lesson or a contact on the street or on the bus. In every lesson. I have talked to SO many people who say, "Yeah I think Jesus was a good person who taught and did good things, nothing more." You would be surprised how many people believe this. And I think this C.S. Lewis quote best explains my thoughts. “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” As I have testified of Christ in every single lesson I have taught, a real power hits my heart and I know it hits the heart of the people I am talking to. I can see it in their eyes. And they know that I absolutely mean what I say with all my heart. My personal testimony of Christ has grown so much. And as I share that with others, I am letting the Spirit bear witness to them that this man is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I want you all to know that I know that without any doubt. And that he lives today and leads this church himself. He also leads the missionary work here and I am more than honored to serve him at this time in my life.

That night, we stopped by a less active family to give the dad a blessing. It was a wonderful experience and the spirit was strong. But the reason I am writing about this is because they had legit star wars lightsabers! They were so awesome haha and we spent awhile dueling in their living room. It was super fun. Probably the highlight of my week hahaha.

Later that same night, we went by this club (not the kind of club youre thinking) in the city. It's like a club for college students. It is in a basement of a building. Haha this is sounding more and more sketchy as I describe it but it wasn't bad at all. It is like a conservative party club where they highlight different organizations each week that come and speak to them. So our church was highlighted this week and about 3 people from the stake came and put on a presentation. It was really well done. It was just kind of ironic because a few people were drinking beer and there was a coffee break in between speakers. But it was really good and the people that came were really interested. We only stopped by for a little bit and dropped off about 8 copies of the Book of Mormon. We also had the opportunity to talk to a few people. We met a really positive guy named Sebastian. He didn't take part in the coffee or drinks at all. He was really nice and really interested. We taught him a little about the church and gave him a Book of Mormon. We are hopefully going to meet him this week. This whole thing was just a cool experience because all these young people were very interested and it was cool to hear the Restoration taught by this man from the stake. 

Friday night we were able to go on splits with a family from the ward. Their whole family split up with all the missionaries here in Uppsala. It was such a great experience and really strengthened my testimony of member missionary work. That was probably the most successful day of the week. I know that as the missionaries and the members of the church work together, miracles happen!

Saturday morning, we spent hours outside the church raking leaves in the rain. Kurt, the guy in charge, is pretty much the manliest man ever so he insisted that we keep raking. It was a super fun time and I'm glad I could help out with keeping the ward building nice.

So we were able to meet with Klara a few times this week and she is doing so good! She has lots of questions and wants to know more. She reads everything we give her, but she just has problems with praying by herself. She offers such powerful prayers after our lessons. But she just struggles with doing it by herself. There are a few reasons, one being that she is too worried about what to say. But we are really trying to help her. She is doing so well and really progressing. She came to all 3 hours of church this week and loved it! We also got a baptismal date with her this week for the 29th of November! She still hasn't received her answer yet, but it is a date that we have decided to work towards. So if you could keep her in your prayers, that would be great.

On Sunday, I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. For those of you who know me pretty well, I have a tendency to push things back to the last minute. So I have a new favorite quote now. "If you leave everything to the last minute... it will only take a minute!" Haha just kidding I've actually gotten a lot better. Anyways, just this once, I kind of pushed the talk back to the last minute. So I gave the talk and it wasn't my best talk. But I really did rely on the spirit to teach and testify to the people I was speaking to. I was actually pretty disappointed with this talk compared to the other talks I have given in my missionary career. But I prayed a lot for this one that the spirit would teach and not me. Anyways, after the sacrament meeting, person after person came up to me and thanked me for my talk and expressed how they felt the spirit. I am thankful for the Spirit that is with me and that I can rely on him to teach and testify of the truthfulness of my message. 

Oh also, Elder Blackburn and I had to play the organ in sacrament meeting. We can both only play about 2 or 3 hymns, so we switched off. It was a good experience. Never thought I would be in Sister Ross's spot on the organ in my life haha. It was actually pretty fun even though. I messed up a few times. FYI the pedals on the bottom of the organ are not the same as the pedals on a piano hahaha

Well folks, I have to head out. I just want to say thanks for everything. You guys really mean so much to me. Thank you for the prayers and the thoughts and the emails. I love and pray for all of you. I want you all to know that I am happy and doing well! Again, I am so grateful for my mission and the lessons I learn each day. I know, without a doubt, that this church is true. 

Ha en fantastisk vecka mina vänner och festa hårt!

MVH

Äldste Bailey

Day 302

Kära familj och vänner,

Another awesome week here in Hoop-sala! Things are going great and Elder Blackburn and I are going hard. We had some fantastic experiences this week! I am doing so well and loving my mission with all my heart. I don't have so much time today so I am going to jump right into telling you all about the week!

Well, as said in my last email, transfers were this week! We dropped off Elder Johnson at the train station Wednesday morning. Elder Johnson was a great missionary and I'm going to miss him. And then Elder Walker came in with his greenie a little later that day. His name is Elder Muirhead and he is super cool! He is from Canada and basically a mini Elder Walker, so they are going to get along great. On Elder Muirhead's first night, we all went contacting in the middle of the city. Elder Blackburn and I talked to a lot of people on their way to a concert at the huge cathedral here in Uppsala. So we decided we would stop by for a second and listen. When we got there, we randomly saw the other Elders there. They said they had talked to people about the concert too. So we went inside for a sec. It was actually pretty scary, haha. It was dark except for some blue lights that were shown up on the pillars. And then there was a little girl singing in the front. She was singing a creepy song, haha, but apparently it's from Les Miserable or something. And then they switched the lights to red and it kind of looked like hell, haha. It was kind of cool. So that was Elder Muirhead's first experience in Sweden. We also lit candles and put them up in the church. It was a cool experience.

This week, we were able to meet with a new investigator named Klara. She is Swedish and about 24 and is really interested in the church. She had met with Elder Johnson and Blackburn two times before I was able to teach her. She is great and definitely prepared. We met her 3 times this week. Each time was such an amazing experience. Klara has so many questions and is really searching for the truth. We brought along a member around her age named Gabriella. They hit it off really well and they are great friends. She is a great influence on Klara because she is a convert herself of about 1 year. She has a strong testimony of the gospel and is really helping Klara progress. Klara doesn't know too much about the Bible or the Book of Mormon. So there is a lot of teaching that goes on during the lessons. On Friday, we were able to meet with her and teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of The Holy Ghost, and to Endure to the End. She had so many questions that we were only able to get through faith and repentance, while touching a little on baptism as well. The spirit was so strong in this lesson. We also had the opportunity to spend a lot of time on the Atonement. It is a special privilege to me to be able to teach someone about the doctrine of the Atonement of Jesus Christ who has never heard it before. I felt the spirit so strong as I expressed my gratitude to the Savior and what he did for us. We had such a great lesson and at the end, we invited her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. She said she would! We set up a date for November 28! She is awesome and we are excited to continue teaching her.

This week, I was able to interview an investigator in Gävle named Rickard for baptism. It was truly an uplifting and spiritual experience. Rickard has such a strong testimony and I am blessed to be able to have listened to his feelings and thoughts. He is truly ready for baptism and is going to be an amazing member. I felt the spirit so strong as I bore my testimony of the covenants of Baptism. It brought me back to my baptism and the feelings I had then. I am so grateful that I am able to renew those covenants each week. I am excited for Rickard.

A funny thing that happened this last week that was actually spiritual as well was just yesterday actually. We were on our way to the cemetery to see all the candles for this Swedish Holiday and we contacted this African lady. It started out really positive and then she snapped. haha She was saying how we were wrong about everything, how we are going to hell, saying all this weird stuff. CRAZY. After a while talking to her we realized she knew nothing about what we believe or teach, and that she was some sect of a Christian church. We tried sharing with her but she was just not letting us talk. She said that Christ only died for those who accept him. She then said she wanted "pray" for us. She said after she prays for us, we will know that we need to get out of mormonism. We chuckled and said that we highly doubt that, but she can try. She first prayed for me by grabbing my hand and just started yelling gibberish. I thought it was some voodoo curse at first but then I realized after a second that she was praying to Jesus so I let her continue. She said that she was speaking in "tongues" but was really just shouting a mix of Swedish/English/nonsense. It was pretty funny actually. Saying "set this man free from mormon religions!" and "save this man Jesus!" I was just sitting there staring at this lady and thinking about my own faith and the knowledge I have. I had such a burning feeling in my chest that I knew without a doubt was the Holy Ghost. She then finished and did the same thing to Elder Blackburn but touched his head and was saying the same kind of stuff. She then finished and asked us how we felt. I looked her in the eye and said, "You know, I really felt the Holy Spirit while you were praying, testifying to me that what I believe in is true. That Jesus Christ suffered and died for each one of us and he did that because he loves us more than we understand." I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be a part of this church. I was thinking about it, out of all the different religions and churches and faiths there are, our church is really the only religion that makes sense. It just works. I am so blessed to be a member of this church.

Last night was a holiday in Sweden called "Alla Helgons Dag" or "All Saints Day". Alla helgons dag in Sweden is a day of remembrance when lighted candles are placed in cemeteries to remember friends and loved ones who have passed away. It is pretty much Sweden's Halloween. It was so cool! There were candles everywhere! So we were able to go walk around the cemetery last night at it was really cool! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I'm kinda mad that they barely celebrate it here. I hope everyone had a good Halloween back home!!

Well I need to wrap this up because I'm totally out of time. But I just wanted to let you all know that I am doing great and that I am happy. I love my mission so much. It is the best decision I have ever made in my life. I have been changed in so many ways. I am becoming the person I have always wanted to be and that I know Heavenly Father wants me to be. I am seeing lives change for the better. It is amazing. If you are worthy and contemplating whether or not you want to serve a mission and you don't, you are making the biggest mistake of your life. Serving the Lord for two years is honestly the biggest blessing I could possibly ask for. I love being a missionary!

Quote of the week: "If you want to punch Satan in the mouth, open yours and preach."

Have a good week and know that I love you!

MVH

Äldste Bailey