Week
64: January 26, 2015 – It’s All About The Food!
Another
fantastic week! Things are going so good and the work is really picking
up!
Monday we visited a
less-active member named Riana. She’s probably the coolest lady on earth! She's
in her 60's, but she plays video games recreationally, and she is a crazy good
cook! She taught us how to make authentic Swedish meat balls! They
were 100 times better than the out-of-the-bag stuff we usually eat.
 |
| Swedish Meatballs Anyone? |
Tuesday was awesome too!
Elder Cushing taught a district meeting about planning. Afterward we ate
at my favorite place, Cleopatra's, and had another outstanding pizza. The rest
of the day was pretty cool. I finally got to go on splits with Elder
Corbin, one of my old MTC friends. We taught a lesson then set-up another
lesson while doing swing-byes.
Elder Cushing and I set
a goal that we would both find as many new contacts as possible during our time
apart on splits, and the number we were shooting for was 40. We had an
open hour and we decided to buckle down and go on a contacting marathon. It was
amazing! The first guy we talked to said he had investigated the church in a
city called Borås and he had lost contact with missionaries after he
moved. He said he would be excited to meet again and he wanted us to call him
early next week. I feel like we set a big goal and had the intention of
doing it, so we were blessed right away. We had enough positive energy to speak
with 30 more people. We also ended-up teaching a good street lesson, before
we went to our last appointment.
We taught a less-active
named Carl who is one of the ward’s few young adults that lives close enough to
get church, and they really want to see him come back. We're trying to
build a close relationship with him, so he will want to come back to
church. He opened-up to us about some of his struggles and gave us an idea
about how we should move forward with him.
Afterward, we went back
and I shared a lesson over the phone with the best new member in the world
named Claus. He is the most fired-up person for the gospel that I think I've
ever met. He has been going through some hard times, so I called to give a
little support. It went really well and we shared some scriptures and
prayed together before ending the call.
On Wednesday we switched
back to our regular companionships and we met with Ingvar again. She said that
she'd come to church this week, so that was awesome! Then, on Thursday, Carl
got us some free gym passes and we both lifted weights for the first time on our
mission. I had a big ego in the weight room before I left, but this time I was
going as light as possible. Carl kept telling me to lift more, but I had no
desire to show off. Even going super light we both felt really sore and
realized we need to get gym memberships when we get back. Neither of us are as
strong as we used to be. Ha-ha!
Friday was a great day
of contacting. We both felt super tired from lifting, but we planned
another big contacting day. We didn't know where we'd get the energy to do
it, but we got a nice helping hand almost as soon as we got out the door. We
both felt like we needed to contact the first lady we saw, and as soon as we
stopped her she just lit up. She spoke English and was from Croatia. I
told her about my old Stake President, President Hill, who had served there as
a Mission President for three years. She thought it was so fantastic that
people like us were serving missions in Croatia also. She absolutely loved
Christ and shared her testimony of him with us.
She was one of the
happiest people I've met during my whole mission. We asked her what her secret
was about being happy. She said, in Sweden and America people have money
and they like to buy things. She explained that people get so caught-up in social
media and buying bigger and better toys than everyone else, that they forget
each other. She said her secret to being happy was to focus as much energy
as possible on other people and making them happy. She said she plays the accordion
in the street for a living and she couldn't possibly be happier, because she gets
to share her passion, music, all day long with people. She taught me a lot
that day and we’re so excited to meet with her again this Tuesday. Her name is
Goga, by the way.
We had another great
contact later that day and we met a girl in her early 20's named
Victoria. She said she was an atheist, which is a pretty common thing to
hear for people her age. But, I felt like she was different, so we kept talking
and she said she'd actually be really interested to hear what we have to talk
about, so we'll also be meeting with her in the upcoming week!
That night we had our
last innebandi (Floorball) night with one of the YSA's named Sam. He's probably the
best player I've ever seen and he scored more goals than I could count! I'm
really sad that he's moving, but we'll see him around, he's just going down to
Helsingborg. I'll probably score a little more from now on… Ha-ha!
Saturday was another awesome
day! We helped a member move his daughter out and then went to the Bishop’s
home to do some service for him. We moved fire wood into his cellar and we rode
in the back of his tractor. We had a giant sausage called korv, stuffed with
cheese and onions for lunch. It was kind of ironic because a few nights before,
we made a similar meal, except we stuffed it with bacon and put garlic butter
over the top. That was pretty good too. They used a Finnish mustard that I've
never had before and it defiantly beat ours! But yeah, the Lindahl's was
still the best!
Later that day we went
over to Lassie's house. Trang was out of town, but we kept him company and
played some guitar with him.
Sunday was
great. The stake Relief Society came, so we got to teach the primary kids,
it was the best! The Stake Relief Society actually said that she served in the Sacramento
Mission! That was way cool and the best part was that she served in Rancho
Cordova and Carmichael was in her district! You've got to love the small
world of Mormonism! She's probably the first person I've ever met in Sweden that
actually knew where Carmichael was and had also been there!
After church we planned some
more and we had a family night with Karin and her son. She's recovering
really well from her broken knee. We got to help her feel better, but she
always leaves us feeling a lot better too!
Well, awesome week… I
love it here and we've been really blessed! I love you all and I hope
everyone has a great week!
Aldste Stoeltzing
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