Week 37; July 21, 2014 - Finding Lost Sheep

So, it's been a good two weeks and we've seen a lot of blessings come our way! Several really cool things have happened and this week ended a lot better than we could have hoped.

The big miracle of last week was making contact with a less-active lady named Camillia. We've been trying really hard to meet all the less-active people in the ward and we've had a hard time making contact with many of them up to this point, but we decided to go a little out of our way to see if we could meet Camillia. We saw her walking out the door with two kids, I guess they were going to play basketball, but they said we were welcome to join them. If we'd been 30 seconds latter we would not have caught them.

After we played, we talked with Camillia and got her story. She had been baptized about 15 years before and she was an active member for several years. She ended up re-marrying a man that was against Christianity and she stopped coming to church. They split-up about six years ago and she wanted to come back to church, but she had lost contact with everyone. Her life is pretty busy, but she wants to make an effort to come back soon. It was amazing to see someone who hasn't had contact with the church in so long still have a strong testimony and respond so well to an invitation to come back. I know we were definitely guided to be in the right place at the right time and I look forward to having the chance to help her and her family more.

We also made contact with a less-active member named George who had lost contact with the missionaries about six months ago. He was super cool and sounded like he'd be open to meeting with us more. It was so awesome to find two great people that we can help. I think being able to teach them regularly will make the work here feel a lot better. They are both awesome!

The rest of the week went really well too. Usually street contacting here is tough, but we were super blessed with the people we ran into. The first guy we stopped this week was a Syrian man that listened to the whole first lesson (with a little help from our friend Google Translate)! He sounded really receptive and we got his number, and hopefully our Arabic speaking member will be able to help us teach him more!

Later, we ran into a guy on the street that said he was pretty set in his church, but recommended that we go and talk to his friend around the corner who works in the candy shop. So, we tried it, and the guy was super cool actually! He was an atheist, but enjoys talking about religion and he had a ton of questions. It was kind of hard to teach him because he asked some tough questions in Swedish, but he says he wants to keep meeting with us!

We also got some sad news this week. Elder Gray and Sister Miller are leaving the area. Elder Gray has been my my companion the longest and the past 12 weeks have been super fun. He's done a great job here, and, I think after five months in Norrkoping, he's finally ready for some change. He seems really happy for his new area in Sundsvall, up North. He'll do great up there and I know anyone who works as hard as he does will find success. Sister Miller is leaving to train a new missionary in Söderteja (suder-tell-ia). It was super fun having her in the area, she was also in my zone when I started my mission. She's almost done with her mission and hasn't trained yet so she's super excited to be a missionary mom! 

We’re actually getting four new greenies in the zone, so that will be crazy! My new companion is actually Swedish! I'm really excited because I've been told he prefers speaking Swedish and I need all the help I can get, so this will be really good for me! I'm going to treat the next six to twelve weeks like Swedish boot camp, and hopefully, I’ll feel a lot more comfortable with the language when I finally transfer out of here!

Well that's what's new. Thanks for reading!

Love you guys!

Äldste Stoeltzing

Week 36; July 14, 2014 - Sliding through my 8th month! 

Having fun sliding (working) through my 8th month

Waterfall across from the university in Norrkoping

Cleanliness is next to Godliness... Especially when there's soap in the fountain!

The view of Norrkoping as we step out of our apartment

Playing a Swedish folk guitar... This is a language I speak fluently!

Waiting at a bus stop to start our day

Love you... Hope you enjoyed the pictures.  I'll write more next week!

Week 35; July 7, 2014 - A Change of Guard; The Newells Leave and The Beckstrands Arrive 

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't written in awhile it’s been a busy few weeks and so much has happened!

Well, I guess I’ll start with Sophia’s baptism. Sophia was a lady that Elders Hills and Steen started teaching when I was back in Linköping. I only got to meet her once before, but she was really nice and I was super happy to hear she was getting baptized. Her husband had some doubts about the baptism, so President Newell actually drove all the way down from Stockholm to sort it out with them and she decided she’d be baptized! They picked a beautiful lake to baptize her in and we all went out to show our support! I was so happy to see someone with so much faith be baptized in Linköping. I know she’ll be a great blessing to the branch and she’ll help strengthen the great people there.  

We found out later that night that Elder Farnworth would be transferring to Gävle (Yevla). That’s about two hours North of Stockholm and it’s supposed to be a really fun area! He’s done a lot of great work in Linköping, but he seemed excited to have a change after five months there. It was super awesome serving around him and having him as a companion. He helped make my time in Linköping and Norrköping really fun! I know he’ll do great work up there!         

There was another baptism soon after back in Norrköping. Sister Eborn and Sister Smith were able to help their long-time investigator, Judy, feel ready for baptism and Elder Gray was able to baptize her. Judy is from Syria and her Dad was baptized about nine months ago. I read his baptismal story in my first email from the mission when I was in the MTC, so it was incredible seeing his daughter have the opportunity to do the same. She is really awesome and already helping run the Young Single Adult (YSA) program in Norrköping!     

Next, was Midsummer! The day started with some sad news actually. Sister Eborn thought she’d be Norrköping for another month, but there was a last-minute transfer and we found out that would be her last day here before she moved to the farthest North area in Sweden, Luleå, and she would be going there to train a new missionary! That was super crazy! I know she’ll do awesome though. It was great serving together here!

Enjoying the Swedish Midsummer celebration!

So, back to Midsummer, that’s the Swedish Summer celebration that they have on the longest day of the year! It was super fun… We got the day off from proselyting and all the missionaries in the District went out to a huge Midsummer celebration in the country. We watched a cool old folk dance that was lead by one of the members in our ward and then everybody got to dance around the Maypole it was super fun! Afterward, we all went to a members house in the country. There was a course set-up for throwing axes and stuff, so that was super fun. We also had a really good barbecue! It was super cool to experience this Swedish holiday and get to enjoy everything that went with it.  

The next week I had one of my favorite experiences in Norrköping. We decided to work in the outlying towns of Finspång and Svärtige. We had been calling on the less-active members there for awhile and we hadn't heard a thing from them, so we took a day and went to see if we could find anyone at home. We got shut-out in Finspång. Finspång is a smaller version of Norrköping and everything was pretty close by, but Svärtige was in the middle of nowhere! The town is up in the hills and the buses don’t go there often, so we had a pretty decent hike between everyone’s homes. We got three no’s, then finally after a huge hike and a lot more no’s, we found an amazing family named the Lind’s! They let us in and made us some cinnamon rolls! They were just some of those people that I just clicked with right away and we had a great conversation with them. They were actually going back to the States in a few weeks to see a Paul McCartney concert, so I was pretty jealous. They all love classic rock music like me!  It was such a cool experience to see that at the end of a long, hard day, God put some amazing people in our path that were happy to let us in!

The next day was a sad goodbye. President and Sister Newell finally made it to the end of their three years in Sweden and they brought our half of the mission into Stockholm to say goodbye.  They both gave beautiful testimonies of their love of the gospel and their love of the Swedish people.

President Newell told an amazing story of when he was the US Ambassador to Sweden. They had their third son there and named him Mattson Engström Newell. The story got a lot of attention because most ambassadors are typically too old to be adding children to their families, and they gave their son a Swedish name. The media asked why on earth would they name their kid Mattson and Engström (both are typically Swedish last names). The Newell’s said that  they named him after their Swedish family lines. They said, so you’re Swedish?  Where are you from?  President Newell said they didn't have the foggiest clue.

What happened after that was amazing. The Swedish media started doing some research, and, a few weeks later, he read on the front page of the newspaper, “Ambassador Finds His Roots.”  They had found his last living Swedish relatives who were cousins of his great grandmother who had left Sweden to go to America. As soon as he could, he went to visit them and something amazing happened. That cousin was in possession of a giant parchment that had the names of hundreds of his Swedish relatives listed on it. They gave the parchment to President Newell and he and Sister Newell took the names to the Stockholm Temple where they were able to do the temple work for over 600 of his ancestors before returning to the United States. President Newell says he knows the real reason why he was assigned to be the US Ambassador to Sweden, it was so they could do the temple work for his ancestors.

Farewell to President and Sister Newell

They will be missed!

He ended with a testimony of the incredible temple work that has been done in Sweden and he shared his powerful testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. It has been an honor having President Newell as a leader and as an example these past six months. He has helped me so much to develop as a missionary and as a person. I’m so grateful I got to experience just a little of his time here in Sweden.  

Believe it or not, there was another baptism in Norrköping this week as well! The sisters have been working with one of the most faithful people I've ever met named Pontus. Pontus actually contacted them on a bus when he heard them trying to speak with someone about Jesus. Pontus is almost completely blind, but he still has tried his best to read the Book of Mormon despite his handicap. He was so excited to be baptized this week and gave a great testimony at the service.  

We ended the week with another Zone Conference for the Fourth of July. This time to greet the new Mission President, President Beckstrand. I won't lie, I was a little nervous about what he’d be like. President Newell had been such a great Mission President that I wasn't really excited for the change. But, I think we were all pleasantly surprised... President Beckstrand is different in a lot of ways, but everyone could tell he had the same passion for the gospel and and the same enthusiasm for missionary work as President Newell had. It showed me that there are many different kinds of great leaders and I’m confident that President Beckstrand is going to be a fantastic Mission President. He definitely got me and all the other missionaries really excited to work with him.      

Well, that's just a little bit of what happened over the past three weeks. There’s been a lot happening and I’m just loving all the experiences here! I’ll make sure not to skip so many weeks of writing again. Thanks for reading and God bless!  

-Äldste Stoeltzing     

Week 33 & 34; July 30, 2014 - The Past Two weeks in Pictures

Checking-out a lake near Svartiga

Working in the City of Svartiga

I found the car from Harry Potter

Aldste Gray enjoying frozen yogurt

Visiting Linkoping

Aldste Kikko admiring the "Great Fountain of Linkoping!"

Baptism at the lake

Traditional Midsummer costumes and dance 

Having a great time on the Ropes Course

Midsummer is Great!

God bless... Until next time!

Week 32; June 16, 2014 - Good things come to those who wait!

Hey guys, 

It's been a good week. The first part was a little slow, but we saw some great things happen!

First, let me say, Happy Father's Day! I want to thank my Dad for being such a great example to me and for teaching me nearly everything I know about the gospel. I wouldn't be able to do this without you... Thank you so much for helping me prepare to come out here! My mission is really everything you promised it would be, and I want to thank you for encouraging me to go. I hope you have the best Father’s Day ever... Love you Dad!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

P-day was a little weird last week. We were meeting everyone at the church in Norrköping and the Sisters Missionaries called and told us to get there as quick as we could. They burned a pot of rice on the stove and the church’s fire alarm wouldn't turn off. So, we unsuccessfully tried to turn it off and decided to get tacos instead while we thought of a solution. When we went back to the church, Elder Gray took apart the entire alarm and found the right cord to pull and the alarm was finally fixed.  

We had a really cool lesson with Salomon this week and we taught him what a patriarchal blessing was. He says he feels ready to receive his. He was so excited to learn that he could receive a special blessing from God to help guide him through his life.

Hey Quincy (my dog), I found an Ikea rat - Just like home!

I spent Thursday and Friday working in Linköping with Elder Miller... It was super fun!  On Thursday night we went to a less-active family that was from California! She made the best hamburger I've had in Sweden with bacon and pepper mixed in! Friday was super fun too. We watched a Swedish graduation celebration that made our American graduations look completely dumb. Instead of having Senior Ball and dressing up in silly robes for graduation, they combined the two and made it way cooler! They all got on giant floats, wearing suits and sailor caps, and had their senior ball getting pulled around the city by a tractor! It was the coolest thing ever! After the parade, I saw an old investigator that Elder Farnworth and I taught for a few minutes at her bakery, then we went back to Norrköping.

Sunday was an incredible day! I translated for Salomon for the first time in Sacrament meeting because there were so many non-Swedish people there... Let’s just say there was room for improvement, but Salomon was patient, and he was probably too tired to notice how bad I was doing because he stayed up all night watching the World Cup.

Later that day we called a bunch of people to set-up the week. I contacted about thirty people and no one answered... That was a little depressing. But, Elder Gray got a hold of an awesome guy we met a few weeks ago named Simon. He's from Syria, but he grew-up in Sweden. He said we could come into town and meet him on the spot. He was super cool! He said that he has seen churches with all kinds of names like the Church of Matthew, The Church of Luke, The Church of John, The Catholic Church, and the Syrian Church. But this had always confused him... He's always had a dream of starting the Church of Jesus Christ! He said, when he saw us, he knew that we were special and he believes our church must be special too, so we’re hoping he comes to church next Sunday!

The rest of that day went really well! We met some kids and asked them if they believed in God. They said no at first, then one of them said, “kind of,“ then another one looked around to make sure no one was looking, and he said he kind of believed too. It was really amazing to see that young Sweeds really do have faith, but they’re just afraid of being judged for their beliefs. I wouldn't have expected this kind of response, but we talked to them for ten minutes and they said they'd try praying! Elder Gray has been wanting to try to and stop people on bikes, but I've been too scared to try. I told him he could go for it if he wanted to. So, he just said hello to a man on a bike who jumped-off and asked if we believe in Jesus... We ended up talking to him to for 20 minutes. Sunday was awesome!

Hopefully Sunday will set the tone for the rest of the week. That would make me really happy. Norrköping is finally picking up and I think I'm finally settling in here. Thanks for reading!

Faithfully,

Äldste Stoeltzing

Week 31; June 9, 2014 - Faith Precedes the Miracle!

Hey Guys,

This week was a lot better!  We had our last interviews with President Newell and he helped me so much!  I'm going to miss him a ton!  When I was in the MTC, President Cook gave a talk and explained that there are a lot of factors that go into deciding where young men will go on their missions. But, the main one is determining which Mission President could do the most to help you individually. I absolutely know President Cook was right about that, and I am so grateful I got to serve under President Newell, he has been an incredible example to me and has helped me immensely in the short time that I've been here. I am so thankful that I've been blessed to have him as my mission President and I look forward to having one last zone conference with him in two weeks. The advice he gave me this week was incredible and I hope I can apply it throughout my mission.

We had two really great lessons that I want to talk about this week. The first, was with a man we met named Johannes. He is an immigrant from Syria and was raised in the Syrian Orthodox church. His religious background is really different from ours and the idea of the restoration was extremely foreign to him, but he exercised great faith and said he'd read the Book of Mormon if we could truly promise that it would help him come closer to Christ.

We finally taught Evelina this week! It went amazing!!! She told us about her conversion story and how she and her boyfriend found Christ. She had a lot of questions about Mormons and all she knew about them was from a piece Oprah did about the Fundamentalist LDS sect practicing polygamy, and she thought that was us (Thanks Oprah!). We clarified that polygamy hasn't been practiced in the church for over a hundred of years. We taught her about the restoration and she loved it!  She loved the idea of there being a living prophet on the earth today and the idea of reading new scripture testifies of Christ! She had a question about a confusing verse in the Bible and we clarified it for her with one of my favorite verses from the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi, Chapter 4. She said, after reading the passage, that the book must be from God and she committed to reading it!  We also got on the subject of the Word of Wisdom (Our standards for a healthy lifestyle). She said she had prayed about what she should and shouldn't eat and felt that she shouldn't drink coffee, alcohol, or tobacco. All her friends thought she was weird for believing it, but we said that was inspiration. We showed her Section 89 of the Church’s Doctrine and Covenants and she almost cried when she saw the things that she felt written in her native language of French in front of her! It was one of the best lessons I've been blessed to be a part of on my mission and I can't wait to keep teaching Evelina and David!

We had national holiday in Sweden kind of like the 4th of July! We rode the bus to an outlying town called Finspång to teach an investigator. We later realized we'd had a miscommunication and he was actually in Norrköping, so when we were going back to our bus stop, I realized that my wallet had fallen out of my pocket. I freaked out a little bit and prayed that we would be able to find it. After a few minutes of panicking, to my joy, the bus that had taken us out came back to the same stop and picked us up. He had finished his loop nearby and when we got back on, my wallet was sitting right where I'd left it. Sometimes I think God puts us in situations like this to see if we'll remember to pray and then He blesses us as soon as we remember Him. The bus came back about a minute after I stopped freaking out and prayed.

After the excursion to Finspång we went back to Norrköping and met our investigator, Adrian, in the Park. Afterward, we looked at a classic car show that was put on for the national holiday. Funny thing, Swedes love old American cars!  I saw more old American cars this weekend than I had seen in a year back in the states! It was an awesome day with an awesome end to a really good week!

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

-Äldste Stoeltzing

Week 30; June 2, 2014 - Trials Bring Blessings

Hi Guys! 

It's been a challenging week. We've struggled to set up appointments and things moved a little slower than usual.  It has taught me some patience though. I think I needed an area like this to learn new things about missionary work.

Last P-day was super fun! We went down to Linköping and traveled to a town called Motala and hiked around a lake. It was very refreshing and absolutely beautiful!  Sweden has some truly breathtaking views!  

The highlight of the past week was working with a new member named Solomon. He is from Uganda and last time we met he was convinced that he would be sent back to Africa. He wasn't upset though, quite the opposite, he put his trust in the Lord and he was completely faithful that anything that was to happen would be God's plan. Because of his faith, we saw a miracle this week… His case worker got an appeal and another year for him to stay in Sweden. It is miracles like these that keep me going and remind me of God's master plan in everything. I hope that on my mission I will learn to trust God like Solomon and put absolute faith in the Lord.       

I know things are looking-up here, and with a little bit more pushing we'll see great things happen.  I'm still loving my mission and I am just as thankful for the trials I experience as I am for the good times.  

-Äldste Stoeltzing