Monday, April 6, 2015

EASTER SHUTDOWN, KEEP THEM AWAKE, HE IS OUR GARDENER, AMERICAN PANCAKES

EASTER SHUTDOWN:
This week seemed to go on shutdown with Easter.

KEEP THEM AWAKE:
 An old Church building we randomly found in Stockholm.

We received a new group of missionaries this week, and because we are in the Stockholm area, we got the opportunity to go contacting with them for their first time in Sweden. At this point they have flown the entire night through, and show up at 8:00 a.m. (Sweden's time) which is midnight at home, but the goal is to keep them awake for the rest of the day. So one of their activities is contacting, and between the jet-lag, the foreign country, and the language we all think we know, it can be a rough start to the mission. But the young elder I was with went out with an energy that I am sure was only driven by his desire to do this work, and we had a good time. I think back to this time, and it really was a rough day. The adjustment to everything was huge. But my experiences only improved from there. It was fun to be a part of that and see the short journey that I have made from that time to now. 










The Vasa. A super old warship recovered from the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
HE IS OUR GARDENER:
One of the new missionaries and his trainer opened up a new apartment and have now joined us in our ward and area. So we have been making some adjustments with the area and creating an effective working group of missionaries. I'm not sure if it is unique to Sweden, but there are a few wards that have 6 and sometimes even 8 missionaries in them. One of our big focuses in having so many missionaries is to bring back those who have been lost, and it's interesting to hear the different reasons people leave, or why they don't want to come back. I think that the General Conference talks from Gérald Caussé and Rosemary M. Wixom were key in helping us understand how we can continue to grow. Because one of the simple truths we all can remember is that we are all at different stages in our lives. We need to take the time to recognize the growth that we have made and make on a daily basis. There are so many simple beauties of the Gospel, and at the root of it all, we have our faith in Jesus Christ. He is our gardener in life, and He understands how to help us in each of our different stages. I only hope that as a member of His church, I can work to gain that same understanding. One important purpose of church is to allow us to nurture our brothers and sisters, but to gain that nurture as well. 

 I gave myself a nice haircut, but don't worry, it was gone later that day. Haha
AMERICAN PANCAKES:  
Happy Easter! We spent our Easter Morning with the Wimmer family and watched a session of General conference. They are an American family, and we got some American pancakes, which was awesome. Then we headed over to the new YSA Senior Missionaries (The Woods) and had dinner with them. We had a wonderful dinner and watched another session of General Conference together. And that was the highlight of the day. The testimonies of Jesus Christ that I heard from Conference were inspiring. The Easter video was awesome as well. And this Easter was very inspiring. For those who have not had the chance to see the Easter video, or just want to check it out in Swedish, here it is http://www.mormon.org/swe/p%C3%A5sk.


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