Week 71; March 16, 2015 – Finding Truth In The Library

Wow, a lot of good stuff happened this week… We were really blessed!

We went thrift store shopping on Monday and I found some new shirts and I bought a new journal. 

Working in a very Swedish-looking neighborhood

Tuesday was another really good day. We didn't have much planned, but we went out to an area we like to visit and we just worked hard. We taught someone on the street, then we saw an old investigator taught him a lesson. The day ended-up jam packed and we developed new opportunities for the future as well! 

Halmstad Library

Wednesday morning was really cool. Our printer broke at the Church, so we went to the library to print some new teaching records. As we were working there, a man sitting next to me asked if I could help him to navigate a housing website that he was looking at. I had no clue how to use the site, but together we figured it out and we were able to submit his request on the site. He noticed my name tag and asked us if we worked for a Church. We told him what we did as missionaries and he asked if we could meet. He said his name was Yotham from Tanzania and he was trying to become closer to God. It was an awesome experience and we decided to meet later in the week.

Later that day we went to Trang and Lassie’s house and she made us her Vietnamese peanut sauce, it was really good! It was also the first time I've had onion in a peanut sauce, which was a little different, but I liked it. 

A great game of Innabondi with Elder Sheldon

Enjoying home-made pizza with Elder Sheldon

On Thursday we went to Helsingborg and Elder Bybee taught the district meeting. Afterward, I went on splits with Elder Sheldon who is actually from Galt, CA! We had a great time and we talked a ton about California! That night we started fasting with a less-active member who's been struggling and we had a lesson about finding God's light in his Life. He decided to take it seriously and I'm hoping it will help him get closer to God. 

We were able to teach Yotham the next morning and we had a really good lesson with him. He's really searching for truth right now and he is already willing to come to Church next week! We didn't have a ton of time, but we set realistic expectations and we feel like he's ready and willing to make quick progress! 

That night we taught Stefan. He'd been thinking a lot and he came with a lot of questions. We did our best to answer them, but the star of the lesson was our ward mission leader Heekee. They were both about the same age and Heekee gave some answers that Stefan could really relate to. The best part was that Heekee forgot his reading glasses, so he and Stefan were switching-off glasses through the whole lesson… It was really funny and they both laughed about their age! Stefan felt good at the end of the lesson and he is happy to keep reading and praying as he searches for answers.

My torso next to the Turning Torso in Malmo - Torso & Torso

Elder Bybee and the Turning Torso

The next morning we went down to Malmö for stake conference. We started-out with interviews, and it was good to sit down with President Beckstrand again. Afterward, there was a whole session about missionary work. There were some outstanding talks. My old friend Luis Hurray from Kungsbacka spoke and he really hit it out of the park, encouraging members to get out of their shells and help the missionaries. And, he encouraged the missionaries to get out of their shells and serve the members to gain their trust. It was a call to action for both of us. 

Elders Silvernoinen and Stoeltzing

Elders George and Mott

Sister Beckstrand’s talk was also amazing! It was about member missionary work as well. She told the story about how her grandparents didn't join the Church when her mom was baptized. Her grandpa never joined, but her grandma eventually moved-in and lived with them. For eight years they were examples to her and they lived the gospel the best that they could. After seeing her family living righteously, united by the gospel, she realized that she knew the Church was true and she was baptized! Sister Beckstrand taught us that by living the Gospel we are a light to all those around us and by having the courage to invite others, we can change people’s lives with the gospel. President closed with a great talk that he gave in Swedish, exciting the audience about missionary work!

On Sunday we had another round of conference talks and they spoke about the temple. We even got to hear from Denmark’s Temple President. He was quite difficult to understand. He was an American who tried to speak Danish. I think most of the audience understood pretty well, but it was still hard for us to understand. Danish and Swedish are close, but they are defiantly different languages. It's always fun to try and understand it though!

We ended the weekend having a dinner together with all the missionaries and we had a great time before we headed back up to Halmstad!

The work moved forward this weekend and we had a great time along the way! I hope everyone back home is doing well and I hope you all have an excellent week!

Äldste Stoeltzing

Week 70; March 9, 2015 – Spring Cleaning!

This week was great!  It was the sunniest week I've seen in over six months and we were really blessed along the way!

On Monday we did spring cleaning. We turned the apartment inside out. It took all day, but it looks great! After all the work was done we bought some original paintings to hang in the apartment just to get it looking even better. It defiantly feels like home and I'm glad we worked so hard on it. 

Tuesday was an awesome day too! We went back to Göteborg my home away from home in Sweden! I missed it so much and it felt so great stepping of the train back into Göteborg central! We went to a chapel in a town called Utby, just outside of Göteborg for conference with a General Authority named Elder Donaldson. It was one of the most spiritual conferences I've ever been in, maybe because the conference was about the spirit, but regardless, it felt really good. Elder Donaldson is a humble, but powerful teacher and he reiterated how we absolutely need the spirit in our efforts and how we are so much more than “young person with a name tag” when we have the spirit!

Afterward, I got to catch up with old friends from around the mission and we had a long, but fun ride back. Unfortunately, the trains behind us got stuck in the station due to electrical problems and some of the missionaries didn't get home until close to midnight!  It was a crazy start to the week, but defiantly worth it and it helped us a lot with the rest of the week!

Skana

Wednesday was amazing! We went over the border from Holland County into Skåna and drove up and down the coast line to visit less-active members with our ward mission leader. It was probably the most beautiful drive I've ever taken and you would not believe how incredible Sweden gets in the spring. This drive made it worth enduring the bleakness of winter; Haha! We visited two elderly members and gave them the monthly message from our church leaders. It was a great day and quite an adventure! 

Saturday was really special. We started off at the Bishop’s home and helped him move fire wood into his house from the wood pile! We got to ride behind a tractor! And, later Senja made us probably the best meal I've ever had. It was pork with a honey sauce over it and it tasted perfect! We've got the best members in Sweden here in Halmstad! 

Afterward, we went to teach Stefan! The lesson went great! He had a lot of questions, but the spirit really helped him and he was so accepting! He said there's still a lot he doesn’t understand, but he felt that what we told him was right and he accepted our invitation to get baptized in two months! It was an amazing day and an incredible feeling to know that we played a role in helping Stefan to be ready for baptism! 

Later that night we kept feeling like we needed to swing by to see a less-active member named Jeff. He wasn't home, but as soon as we walked out, we met a women named Basma and she was one of the most prepared people I've ever met! We hope to meet with her again this week!

On Sunday, a lot of people got sick, so Elder Bybee and I taught all the lessons at church. I did an object lesson and made Elder Bybee carry a lot of hymn books. It was funny :). Afterward, we went home, did our planning, and called it a week! 

Halmstad Ward Council

 We feel so blessed and so excited for the work right now!  Halmstad is amazing and I hope to stay here even longer if they’ll let me, so I can keep giving my all to this great little town! Thanks for reading… Have a great week everyone!  

Äldste Stoeltzing  

Week 69; March 2, 2015 – Saying Hello to Bybee

Hey guys!

It's been a crazy two weeks! It has felt like a marathon, but it's been awesome, and I've loved every minute if it! 

Two Mondays ago we went to the Lindahl's and we had dinner with them. They made Elder Cushing's favorite Swedish meal, which is a type of creamy potato casserole… It was amazing! We visited for a while, then we taught their little daughter Matilda about prayer, she is the cutest kid ever! 

On Tuesday we went to Tylösand, which is one of the most famous beach towns in Sweden during the summer, but it’s pretty cold in the winter.  Although it’s still beautiful! We saw Marcus there and Elder Cushing got to say good bye, then we took some pictures on the beach. Later that night we had a meeting with one of our investigators, Raustin, and we had a good night with him.  

On Wednesday I said good bye to Elder Cushing and he was off to Stockholm. It was an amazing six weeks we had together. It flew by, but it was an incredible transfer. Elder Cushing is going to do amazing work during his last 4-1/2 months and we'll definitely be good friends when we get back home. 

I spent the day with Hiekke working on the guest home they are building. It was hard work, but we got a lot done and the foundation is finally ready to be laid. We moved a lot of big rocks, so I felt pretty tired. Afterward, we picked-up my new companion, Elder Bybee, and we moved him into the apartment. He's been out on his mission about a month less than me and he just finished training a new missionary. Elder Bybee is from Mapleton Utah. He's probably one of the nicest people I've ever met and he has a great positive attitude. He's an obedient and a hardworking missionary and I think he'll be great to work with here! 

We had a really good first week together and we had a great lesson with Stefan about the Plan of Salvation. 

Week two was pretty crazy! We had two conferences this week. Elder Bybee went to Stockholm and then we went to zone training later in the week! Tuesday was pretty crazy too! I went to Helsingborg and worked with the Elders there. Elder George got sick, so I ended-up going to Landskrona for an appointment. Sadly, they cancelled and we ended-up missing the train, so I got stuck in Helsingborg longer than planned. Although I had a really good conversation with a man I met in the station and he sounded interested in the gospel, so I hope he will contact the Elders there. I finally made it home and all was well. 

On Thursday we had a conference in Malmö! It was a little unexpected, but it was super fun and it was great to see the missionaries in the zone again! 

Saturday was amazing! We had a great talk with Stefan and he said that he felt that the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet! It was amazing, and one of the most special teaching experiences I've been a part of! He isn't quite ready to commit to baptism yet, but he said he will read the Book of Mormon cover-to-cover! 

Well, next week will be really cool! We are getting a chance to see a church leader in my old favorite town of Göteborg, so it'll be great! 

That’s all for this week… I love you guys!  

Äldste Stoeltzing

Week 68; February 23, 2015 - Photo Album

The Lord of the Rings!

Viking Graffiti? 

Halmstad Ward Members

Claus with Elder Cushing and me

Elder Cushing saying goodbye to Trang and Lassie before transfers

P-day at the beach!

Seems like a bit of California in Sweden

Helping Heekee dig-out his guest house foundation

Removing large rocks

Raina saying goodbye to Elder Cushing

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 

Week 66, February 9, 2015 – The Healing Power of the Priesthood

This has been quite a week… It's been up and down and everything in between. But it has left me with a stronger testimony of the power of the Priesthood and a knowledge that God's hand guides this work. 

The beginning of the week was really fun. We found a place where we could go bowling super cheaply and we spent the afternoon trying to remember how to bowl. It's been awhile, and I was rusty, but it was still really fun! Afterward, we finished up our letter writing and we planned our week a little more. We ended-up with a fantastic list of goals and high hopes for the week. 

Bowling in Halmstad

On Tuesday, things started getting interesting. We had planned to meet two new investigators with a handful of other lessons. So, we started by teaching Goga, the lady from Croatia we met a few weeks ago. It was up-and-down with her. She has a strong faith in God, but she has no desire to go into a church building. She is very uneasy about organized religion, so she did not seem excited to learn any more about the church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would at least read it. We've heard so many amazing stories about the Book of Mormon's power to change hearts, so we are praying that as she reads, her heart will soften towards the church in ways that we would never be able to accomplish on our own.   

Later, we went out to tract and we had one of the more interesting experiences I've had on my mission. Right away we found someone that was interested and they asked us to come back next week. After that we got a referral at another door and the family ended-up being really interested as well, and they asked that we come back the next week too. 

The next door approach was funny when this lady opened her door really fast and said “BOO”! She actually startled us a bit. We asked her about faith and she said that she was very religious. We asked her what religion she belonged to and she said, Jehovah’s Witness. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds and she smiled at us. We exchanged cards and moved on to the next door laughing that we had been scared by a JW. The last door we knocked-on ended up turning into a full lesson about family history at the door. She was an interesting lady, probably in her late 40's. But, when she heard we were Americans she reached-out and touched both of our faces... It was pretty weird. But, in the end, she wasn't interested in the church. She just thought that family history and Americans were really cool, so she listened to us for a while. Unfortunately, I started feeling sick, so we went back to rest before teaching our next lesson.

Mohamed was a man we met during my first week in Halmstad, who finally had some time to meet. He's from Syria and he comes from a Muslim background, although he was very respectful of our message and had lots of great questions. He took a Book of Mormon in Arabic and committed to read it. He was really positive and we are hoping to keep meeting with him every week and start teaching him in Swedish as well. 

After visiting with Mohamed I started feeling really sick. I got the shivers and a very bad headache. I was really scared, because we had such a great week planned and I did not want anything to get in our way. We went back to our apartment and we ended-up canceling our last appointment for the day. I tried to rest and got about 30 minutes of sleep, but I woke-up and felt supper hot and I was achy everywhere. I had a temperature of 103. Elder Cushing gave me a blessing and then we called Sister Beckstrand and we decided it would be best if I went to the hospital. José helped us out a ton and drove us across town to take me in. They ran some tests and said I had tonsillitis and possibly the flu. They gave me a bunch of medicine and sent me back. I actually ended-up sleeping really well that night and I slept late into the next day.

When we woke up, I actually felt a lot better. But, Elder Cushing started feeling sick as well, so I gave him a blessing. We took it easy the rest of the day, and by that evening, we were feeling pretty good again. We called Sister Beckstrand and told her about our recovery, and she said that it would be okay if we came down to Malmö the next day for our mission conference.  

Welcome to Malmo!

When we woke up for conference we felt great! It was a miracle! The conference was awesome!  President Beckstrand introduced our new standards of excellence and then we got to watch a new movie called, Meet the Mormons! It was really good and it was a very cool surprise that we all finally got to see it! The Beckstrand's had to pull some strings to get it here for us to see and we were all really excited. 

Later that night we taught Raustin, the man that we had met Sunday night when we felt like we needed to go back out and street contact. He was awesome! He's only lived in Sweden about as long as I have, and he’s been looking for some friends. He's interested in studying religion and he thought it would be cool to learn about a new faith that he didn't know too much about. He accepted a Book of Mormon as well!  

After the lesson Elder Cushing told me that he knew we'd regain our health on Wednesday. He asked me if I remembered the words that were said in both of our blessings that we had given each other, I couldn't recall, but he said in the blessing he had said that my sickness would pass quickly and it would not hinder me. He said when I gave him a blessing, I had used the same phrase that the sickness would not hinder him. I didn't remember too much more about what I said, but he told me as soon as I said that, he knew everything would be okay with us. It was incredible that on Tuesday night I felt as sick as could be, and by Thursday night we both felt close to 100% again. It was scary that we both got so sick, but we really felt the hand of the Lord take care of us and we both received a powerful witness of the healing power of the Priesthood.
  

We felt so good, we even helped our ward mission leader with some construction work on Friday and we still felt like we were getting better. 

The rest of the week we ended-up finding three more potential investigators and setting-up two more lessons with new investigators, and I even learned to knit along the way! Even though our contacting time was shortened due to our illness, this week was incredible. God saw that we turned to him when we were sick and He quickly helped us back on our feet. Despite the loss of time, He helped us find as many, or more people to teach than we would usually find in a normal week.        

I know the power of the Priesthood can work miracles. And, for me, this week was nothing short of a miracle! I thought I'd be sick in bed for at least three or four days, but the Lord’s work needed to be done and were blessed greatly!  I am so thankful for every week I have to serve here in Halmstad, and for the amazing help that God is giving to us! 

I hope everyone has an amazing week… Thanks for reading!!!

Äldste Stoeltzing 

Week 65; February 2, 2015 – A Birthday to Remember!

Wow this has been an amazing week! There were some challenges along the way, but the Lord really blessed us and some great things happened. Oh yeah, I guess I'm an official adult to now… I’m 21 years old!  

On Monday we met with Jeff and heard his stories of when he used to work in a recording studio in Los Angeles. We also got to hear his story about how he was married to David Hasselhoff’s sister, so that was interesting. We also started talking about how we could help him start preparing to attend the temple.  

Tuesday was hard. A lot of appointments cancelled on us, but we contacted a lot of others and just worked hard, and it felt good! 

On Wednesday, we had the apartment inspection couple come by our place. They liked the job we did cleaning it and then took us shopping for some new lamps and they got us a fast boiling kettle for hot chocolate. Later, we provided some service for a member and helped her take down her Christmas decorations. We then visited with Ingvar again and gave her a message about the Plan of Salvation with our ward mission leader. 

Thursday was a really cool day. We were going on splits, and we had a beautiful day planned that just sort of feel apart. All three of our lessons called us and said this week just wouldn't work for them, so a busy day turned into a pretty open day. Elder George and I decided not to let it get the better of us and we decided to go for it. We contacted about 30 people in the middle of a snow storm, and the decided that wasn't going anywhere, so we started tracting and doing swing-bys. The first door we knocked on was someone that Elders Brown and Cushing contacted. He'd been kind of hard to get ahold of, but he said we could come back on Saturday! Afterward, we tracted a little more and we found a man that accepted a Book of Mormon and we taught him a lesson about the restoration of the gospel. We stopped by another person’s home, but she said she wasn't interested, but she asked us to try her neighbor up stairs. Her neighbor let us in and we taught a lesson to her. It turned-out that she wasn't too interested either, but it was allot better than tracting in the cold. Otherwise, it turned out to be a great day that actually began with nothing.  

Friday was awesome! Before we went back to our regular companions, Elder George and I taught one of our investigators named Ann-Sofie. We had a “get to know you” lesson during our first-time meeting with her, but this time we taught her a full lesson about the restoration. She really enjoyed the message and accepted our challenge of Reading the Book of Mormon. She also said if she knew it was true she would be willing to take action, but wanted to read the book first, before she made any bigger commitments. But, she is definitely embracing the idea of moving forward!

On Saturday we taught Stephan and we didn't really know what to expect. He's in his early 60's and he’s had a lot of Snus out on his table (that's a Swedish tobacco product similar to chewing tobacco. The lesson went really great though, and we had answers to questions that he'd wondering about his whole life. He agreed with nearly everything we taught him! He also said if the Book of Mormon felt right and he continued to feel right, he would be open to baptism in the future as well!

Later that night we met a lady named Raine. She's probably one of the coolest people I've ever met and she always teaches us how to cook a new dish every time we go over. This time she taught us how to make Pasta Carbonara which was a lot simpler then I thought it would be. Her birthday was the day after mine, so we had a little party together! 

Sunday was a Birthday to remember… It started off Amazing! Elder Cushing, Senja, and my Mom pulled-off the best present I've ever had for a Birthday! The three of them planned a way to have emails sent from my home ward and from my relatives. Then Senja printed them all off for me and I got an envelope with all of the letters from everyone back home on Sunday! It was so awesome to read all of those! Thank you to everyone that sent a letter!!! 

Afterward, we went to the first counselor, José's, home for dinner. An investigator ended-up a cancelling, so we stayed at José's longer than we had planned. A member called and said she was really sick. We told her we were at José's and she was really thankful because his wife Tina is a nurse. She told us everything she needed and then we bought her medicine and drinks to help her feel better. Then we gave her a blessing. José dropped us off, and we had planned on just calling it a night and making some phone calls, but we both felt we needed to be out a little longer and that we'd find someone else that night.  We contacted people in town for a while and got some bad rejections. We prayed again and felt even stronger that we needed to be out. So, we got rejected six or seven more times and we decided to contact a few more people down to the end of the street. There was hardly anyone out and we got three more no's. At the very end of the street a man walked out in front of us and we asked him if he'd be interested in talking about Jesus Christ. He said he be happy to, and he gave us his number. It was an amazing lesson in faith. I know we were guided by the Holy Ghost that night. 

It was a great end to a great week. A week like this would have crushed me in the past. Even though we had ten cancelations, we worked our hardest and trusted the Lord and we ended up finding almost as many new opportunities as we had originally planned on. So, the Lord really did help us make this week count!

I hope everyone has a great week… Thanks for Reading!!!

Aldste Stoeltzing