Friday, February 20, 2015

Week 67: February 23. 2015 – The Secret is Work, Work, Work!

Well our last week together has been good. Yep, sadly Elder Cushing is moving back up to Stockholm this week and I'll be getting a new companion, Elder Bybee. It's been an incredible six weeks with Elder Cushing and he's taught me a ton about working hard. We've had some amazing experiences together and I'm so thankful for our time together. He helped me work harder than I've ever worked, and it feels great! He's one of the best missionaries I know and I’m sure he'll do a fantastic job in Stockholm.  

P-day was clear and sunny, over 40 degrees Fahrenheit. By the way, that would be like 4.4 degrees Celsius, but it felt nice to have the temperature well over freezing again. So, we went to look at the ocean and we took some pictures there, it was beautiful and looked more like California than Sweden.   


Later that night we did a swing-by to see a Syrian girl we met and her whole family was there and they listened to the lesson! They didn't have much time, but they invited us over whenever we’d like and they seemed really interested! 

On Tuesday we helped Hekke with his project. We removed some large rocks out of the foundation he was laying for his guest home and we did a lot of digging. I think the worst part is out of the way. One of the members came over later in the week and helped Hekke blow-up the last two large rocks, so the worst part is done and now we can get to the good stuff! 

We visited Karin on Wednesday and she gave me some knitting lessons. So far, I’ve finished about three inches of a 55 stich wide scarf. So needless to say, I'm pretty proud of myself! Later that week we gave her son a blessing and it seemed like it helped. 

Elder Cushing conducted his last district meeting on Thursday and he did a great job teaching us about the atonement. He explained why we need to focus our lessons on Jesus Christ as our top priority. It was a great lesson and we finished-up the transfer with a district party and went bowling! 


Afterward, Elder Clausen and I went on splits to Landskrona about an hour and a half south of Halmstad. We had a great time there, teaching a Muslim guy on the street and then we had a quick meeting with the ward mission leader, ending the night with a fantastically good kebab pizza!

We went back to Halmstad and had a busy day teaching Lena and another family. That night we had our last Innabondi (floor hockey) game. I tried to give Elder Cushing a run for his money. I had one of my best nights and scored a ton, but Elder Cushing scored even more and went out big! I hope my new companion will be as competitive when we play! 


On Saturday we had an amazing lesson together! We found a man named Stefan a few weeks ago and we went by to teach him the second lesson! He loved it and he felt like the plan of salvation answered a lot of his questions. He said he's going to study the Book of Mormon really hard this week and then he hopes we can show him some scriptures to read to build on the lesson. He's definitely moving forward and making great progress!
  
 Later, we went over to Raina's and she was pleased with my knitting process. I think I've mastered the art of knitting, or at least don't ruin it every time! So, she taught me how to do the pearl stich, and I can do it now! 

Sunday was really good. I gave a talk on charity and Elder Cushing gave a talk on hope. They went really well, but Elder Cushing’s talk was fantastic.  

This was one of the busiest and fastest transfers of my mission. Ezra Taft Benson's quote that the secret to missionary work is just, “work, work, work,” is so true. We gave it everything we had over the last six weeks and everything went great! I am super thankful for this area and the time I've had with Elder Cushing and I know we’re both going to sprint to the finish line and give our last month’s our best effort!  

Jag alskar er! (I love you!)


Äldste Stoeltzing 

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