P-DAY, EXTRA HELP FROM GOD, TURNING TORSO, FURTHER THAN WHAT WE SEE, BEAUTIFUL CARS, WE WERE ANGELS, BEAUTIFUL PATHWAYS, STARK CONTRAST

P-DAY

On P-day, my first time on a driving range. It is quite a foreign feeling. And I was humbled by the kids who were taking lessons a few spaces behind me, but I may have a future in this. 

EXTRA HELP FROM GOD

We were sitting on the bus, on our way to an appointment Monday evening. Two empty seats were across from us, and the bus was relatively full. We came to a stop where a large crowd of people anxiously waited to board the bus. Usually this is done through the front, but one guy decided to slip in through the backside. As soon as he sat down across from us, I could smell the alcohol, but he seemed quite coherent to me. A lady came down the aisle to join seats with him, and I realized that he'd come in the back side to make sure that they had seats. We started talking to him, and he only spoke English with us. When we asked him how he knew us, he told us about how all the members of our church are always nice, clean-cut, look sharp, and he just knew it. We laughed, knowing we couldn't disagree, and we began talking more. He wasn't interested so much in what we had to offer, but as we were closing in on our stop, I had to take a call. There eyes got all wide, and they got confused. When I got off the phone, they began talking to me in Swedish, where'd you learn to speak that? I explained the system that we have for learning a language, and explained that we believe we get some extra help from God. Then we had to step off, so we gave them a card and told them to call when they wanted to talk more. 

TURNING TORSO

We went and checked out around the Turning Torso for P-Day. Pictured is Elder Rowley, Elder Ahlstrom, and myself. 

STARK CONTRAST

This is the area around the Turning Torso. It's in stark contrast to much of the city. the buildings feel much more modern.

FURTHER THAN WHAT WE SEE
After the appointment, as we were on our way home, a car drove past and the kids inside yelled something inaudible to us. Elder Rowley, excited by the fact that someone talked to us first, and yelled hello back, waving with a big smile on his face. The car was right by a round-about, and quickly reversed directions it was going. In my mind, I began to worry what Elder Rowley's eagerness may have brought on us. The kid in the passenger seat asked us who we were, and I decided to let Elder Rowley take it. When they found out we were from the USA, the conversation turned to English, as it almost always does. We stood there talking with them for about ten minutes, with a mix of questions like: Why are you in Sweden? Where'd you learn Swedish? Why wouldn't you stay in the USA? How old are you? And so on. Of course we rebounded with our own: Do you believe in God? Why not? Do you want to get to know Him? Would you like to listen to our message? I'll let you fill in the blanks for that conversation based on what you have there. But it did coherently mesh, and we passed our cards to all of them. These of those contacts that may not seem like much on the surface, but I think they go much further than what we see. 
BEAUTIFUL CARS

This was a Ford GT that we drove past. I don't know if my eyes were closed in the US, but I see Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and other beautiful cars all the time here in Malmö. 

WE WERE ANGELS
One experience that really stuck out to me this week was walking along that pathway of trees I showed in the picture. We were walking to our apartment, and we were just stopping people who were coming in the opposite direction. There are benches lining the path, and occasionally people would be seated, but they all seemed busy or distracted with something else. But as we kept going, I noticed a guy sitting on the bench, and the thought crossed through my mind should I talk to him or not? Almost instantly I felt the need to talk to him, which is not normal for me. And I tried to play out how it would go in my mind. To my surprise, I found myself stopped and talking. As I explained who we were and what were doing, I only got a blank expression. His mind really seemed to be somewhere else. It was one of those instances where they talked to you only because they had nowhere to run to. However, I still felt that same feeling that there was something here, and I persisted. The discussion brought us to The Book of Mormon, and we talked about the joy and peace in the book. About this point he declined the book saying, he wouldn't read it, it would gather dust on his bookshelf. But I tried again to give it to him with something specific to read. He agreed and we were about to part ways, but then I decided to ask him if he had a specific worry or question that he wanted answered. And then it came out. He told us he'd been there for hours. He had come back from a therapist, and he wanted to try and collect himself before he went home. He was looking for something to help him out. Then we came along. We talked more about the problem, then searched for a chapter in The Book of Mormon that would address it. At this point he was showing interest and a yearning that this book would give him the answer. We found one, and as we were saying our goodbyes, he told us thank you. We were angels that came to him that day. And I really felt it. We had boosted him in a moment of need. We haven't seen him since, but I felt that I had done exactly what God wanted me to. And even now as I think back on the experience, I feel again, that I did His will. The church is meant for us to lift our brothers and sisters, and God wants to show us how. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
BEAUTIFUL PATHWAYS

One of the many beautiful pathways of Malmö.