Week 25 - April 28, 2014; On the Road Again!

Hey everyone... It’s been a crazy week! I got a transfer call from out of left field. After only six weeks here in Linkoping, President Newell is sending me to the next area up the road, Norköping. Honestly, I didn't expect a transfer at all. Things have really gotten moving up here so I'm sad I won't get to finish all that we've started in Linkoping, but I know Elder Farnworth loves everyone we work with and he will continue helping our investigators as they grow.

Members of the Linkoping Branch

Although I'm really surprised to leave, I feel really comforted that God wants me to be in Norköping and I trust that I will meet amazing people there that will help me grow tremendously as well. Every companion I've had so far has taught me a ton and helped me with skills I have needed to develop. I’ll really cherish the time I had with Elders Farnworth, Steen, Hills, and Kiiko in this area and I know we’ll all stay friends after the mission. Although I’m sad for this companionship to end so soon, I know that I will learn a ton from my new companion, Elder Gray, and we will have an amazing time in Norköping.  

Getting transferred from Linkoping to Norkoping

We've had some great experiences this week. Tuesday was a really special day. We were contacted by a man in the street who had met with missionaries before and he was extremely happy to meet us. We talked with him for about 20 minutes and hope to meet with him again soon. Afterward, we met with a member named Sten in an old folks home and we were approached by one of the care workers there. She asked us what makes our church different, so we ended-up teaching her the first lesson before we left. 

Spring has arrived in Linkoping!

Later that day we had one of our best lessons together so far. We met a man named David who we've been trying to set a lesson up with during our whole time in Linköping. He has a lot of Mormon family members in Arizona and he thinks extremely highly of the church. He loved the first lesson and promised that if he finds the Book of Mormon to be true, he will be baptized. It was great to start working with such a positive investigator and I feel confident that he could be baptized during Elder Farnworth and Elder Hewitt's time together.

Dome Kyrka

Well, we’re going to try our best to Finish-out strong and have as much fun as we can in these last few days. Linköping has been great and this has been a really special area of my mission. It feels a little weird that I’ll have as many areas and companions as my trainer, Elder Miles, had in one year during my first six months, but I guess everyone's mission is inspired and different. I know I’m no exception and I am very excited to start the next chapter of my mission.  

I Love you guys,

Aldste Stoeltzing  

Week 24 - April 21, 2014; The True Meaning of Easter

It's been quite a week. It started off pretty sad with Elder Steen leaving. He has been super fun to serve with and I'm glad we got to have an awesome last few days before he left to Malmö. We had an awesome last dinner with Mahin before he left. She loved Elder Steen and was super sad to see him go. He's been helping her translate her Phd paper, so I think I'll be taking that over… wish me luck!  

Missionary goodbyes with Mahin and Annaly

Elder Steen was transferred to Malmo - He and his guitar will be missed!

After we dropped Elder Steen off at the train station we went to visit an investigator that we've been trying to see for weeks. Her name is Beatrice and we had an awesome first lesson with her. She has met with missionaries for quite some time and we had a great time getting to know her. She had the funniest little daughter ever. Her name was Briann. Beatrice has a great foundation of faith and I believe she will be very open to accepting the gospel as we continue to work with her.

Modern Art or Monkey Bars?

Right after that lesson we picked up Äldste Kiiko. He was in the group of missionaries that came to Sweden right after me. He’s a super cool guy and great at speaking Swedish because he studied it in school. We went on splits on his first day and I took him to see our investigator, Mijid. It was scary doing my first lesson with a younger missionary. I can honestly say that was the lesson where I relied on the promptings of the Holy Ghost the most and we spoke Swedish for almost 2 hours. At the end we asked him to be baptized. He said he didn't like the idea of renouncing his last baptism.  I’m hoping we can clarify what this actually means in our next lesson.

Beautiful downtown Linkoping

This Sunday was crazy I gave my first sacrament talk totally in Swedish! I really needed the Lord’s help on that one! I felt like was a rambling mess, but the branch was nice and said they liked it. It felt good to speak in church for 15 minutes in a different language, even if it didn't sound great to me!

Dome Kyrka at night

Afterward, we went to the Siikavara family’s house for Easter dinner. They are half-American and half-Finnish. I got to try a classic Swedish tradition for the very first time. I have been deathly afraid of eating pickled Herring, but it was actually a lot better than I thought. Not my meal of choice, but I didn't have to choke it down. The main course was awesome, roasted lamb... That was great!

 

Our view from the train...  $70 a month will take us anywhere within a 2 hour ride

It’s weird that I've spent the past two Easters away from home and I’ll miss a third Easter before I finally have a Stoeltzing Easter again. Every day I am reminded why my mission is worth it though. This has been the best experience of my whole life. It is so incredible to wake up and help change the lives of others and myself in the process. Easter takes on a whole new meaning when you spend everyday inviting people to accept the atonement of Jesus Christ. I truly understand now that Jesus died for everyone and all He asks of us is that we accept His simple invitation to come and follow Him. The Book of Mormon states, "Behold, He sendeth an invitation to all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and He saith: Repent, and I will receive you." (Alma 5:33)

I love helping people accept the gift of our Savior. I can truly say that I know that it is through him that we can transcend our past and overcome our station in life to be made clean and pure through His grace and mercy. There was a time when I thought it was hard for people to change who they were, but now I realize that I was wrong. I know that all people are endowed by the Savior to receive the blessings and gifts of happiness and joy through accepting Him and following after His teachings. I see it every day in the people we teach, and even more so in myself. I owe this whole great experience to God and thank Him every day for the chance I have to be an instrument in His hands.  

I love you all so much!  I hope you had a wonderful Easter and I hope that you will all remember the true meaning behind it.

Aldste Stoeltzing    

Week 23 - April 14, 2014; All in the Family!

Hej Hej!,

So, it's been a slower week, but a good week! A lot of the people we are working with have been out of town, so we had to get a little creative. 

   

Missionaries waiting for the train heading to zone conference

Some appointments canceled on us last Tuesday, so we ended up going around to some high schools in the area and asking if we could guest teach there. Elder Farnworth tried this approach in Skjövda and it worked really well for him. On the way in some kids talked to us because we looked lost and they thought it was the coolest thing ever that we were from America! They actually ended-up walking us to the right office so it was really cool. We talked to the head of the English department there and she said the students were testing for the next few weeks, but maybe in a month or so we can teach. She also thought it was cool that I had worked in politics before my mission, so she's trying to set-up a day where I can work with one of their government classes! I really hope it will work out because it would be an awesome way to find good people and it would be super fun to teach!

Elder Stoeltzing and Elder Steen (Selfie)

Thursday was really fun as well! We went to Södertalje for our zone conference. It's about a 90 minute train ride north of us. We got there a little late, but it was a good reunion. I got to see some old buddies. Elder Jones was there again and Elder Alan from the group before me. He's my uncle now. In the mission everyone is considered to be part of a family. Your trainer is your dad, your trainer’s trainer is your grandpa, and so on and so forth. It goes further actually, if you’re a missionary’s last companion before they get sent home, you "kill” them. Elder Knecht is the current assassination champ with three kills. Anyway, Elder Allan is my uncle now because he was trained by my grandpa just before I got to Sweden. He's in a really cool area right now, the “family” area I guess you could call it. Elder Miles was born (where he started his mission) on the Island of Götland and he stayed there for six months. He actually trained my older brother there, Elder Lofgren, who stayed there for another few months. So, with Elder Alan there now, we've had family member on the island for almost the last year! I've heard more about Götland than anywhere else, so I'm hoping when it comes time for me to have a son, I can raise him in the “family area!”

Elders Farnworth, Steen, and Stoeltzing, hiking in the woods near Sodertalje

I guess I got a little side tracked. So, after zone conference we had a really fun hike through this huge forest next to the church since our train wouldn’t come for a few hours. We got some awesome pictures up there and found this grove of trees that looked just like a sacred grove painting! It was a blast! We finally got into Linköping at about 7:00 that evening, so no teaching got done on Thursday, but it was a really great day nevertheless.   

Linkoping missionaries with church members, Annaly and Elizabeth

Sadly, we figured out that Elder Steen was leaving on Saturday. He's been an awesome missionary and super fun to work with up here. I'm really sad to see him go, but he'll be in a really good place. He's going to Malmö, which is one of the most we'll loved areas in the mission. Every area in Sweden is cool and I think with hard work, you could love any area, but Malmö is one area that everybody has just fallen in love with, so he'll have allot of fun there. Even though he has really loved his time here, he'll be in good hands with Elder Miles as his zone leader there.  

Meeting our investigators, Carl and Gore for family night at the church

The coolest experience of the week actually came on our P-day today. Elder Steen and I were walking to the music store to get some new guitar strings and two kids noticed us from the library earlier and started taking to us. They thought it was super cool to meet a pair of Americans. One was really interested in the kind of music I like, so they came to the guitar store with us, and afterward they came to the church.  We showed them around and then invited them to family night and they said they would come!  

A fun FHE visit!

Well, its been a good week and I can't wait for more fun in Linköping in the coming days!  

Jag alsker er!

Äldste Stoeltzing

Week 22 - Five Months... Fencing, Cats, and Dogs... Oh my! 

Hey Guys!,

It's been an awesome week!  We had a lot of great, cool, and fun stuff happen, and I'm loving it up here!  

Our investigator, Mahin from Iran, teaching me how to fence with a real Sabre!

We had a really good lesson with a guy named Mattis who is studying for his masters in Religion. He got put-off by a talk one of the members gave a while ago and he had a lot of questions, but we were able to help smooth stuff over with him a lot.       

I think I found out where our dog Quincy came from! He is a Bichon/Bedlington Terrier mix, both of which are somewhat uncommon. So, me and Elder Farworth were walking to a teach (teaching appointment) and we saw a lady walking two Bedlington Terriers which was really cool because I've never seen one in person before, and literally, the next dog we saw was a Bichon.  So I'm officially convinced that Quincy must be Swedish!

I think I've found my dog's Swedish relatives... A sweet Bedlington Terrier

Later in the week we had a great teach with a girl named Tsnut from Africa who is studying in Sweden. We helped her start to read the Book of Mormon then we challenged her to baptism. She had some questions about baptism because she had already been baptized before. We did our best to answer her questions and I think she really understood what we were trying to say! I'm really hoping she’ll be ready for baptism in a few weeks!  

Not to be outdone... Have you ever wondered where cats really get their energy!

We just had a really good weekend. Elder Jones, my friend from the MTC, and Elder Landeen, who worked in Linköping before me, came down here to watch General Conference! We only got to see the first two sessions so far because we were all crammed together in a little computer room to watch. But the talks were really good. 

The Linkoping Arch

I also got to go on splits with Elder Jones for the night and that was super fun! They both got to stay with us through P-day and it was great to celebrate my five month mark with Elder Jones! I can't believe it's been five months since I started my mission!!! Time seems like it's flown by out here!  I love it so much!  

Have an awesome week everyone... I love you guys!

Äldste Stoeltzing   

Week 21 - March 31, 2014; Traveling Far and Wide!

Tjäna!,

Another great week and I'm loving it up here in Linköping! We've done a lot of traveling this week, so it's been really fun! On Tuesday, Elder Farnworth and I went visiting members and a few less-actives in a town called Motalla. We met this awesome guy named Michael who said that he wanted to start coming back to church, so I'm excited we get to help him return.

We also visited an older lady way out there who takes a taxi more than an hour to church every Sunday, so she's just the most devoted person at church ever. She made us spaghetti, then she helped us with our Swedish for awhile. She also loves singing, so we sang a bunch of hymns with her, then we read the Book of Mormon for a bit. It was a lot of travel to get out to see her, but it was so worth it to know how much our visit meant to her.

The ride home was super cool. Motalla is so far away from our little branch that we’re not supposed to contact new people because it would be really difficult for them to ever get to church. But, Elder Farnworth was able to meet this awesome guy named Nick on the bus! He just said Hi, and the next thing we knew, this guy was totally willing to talk about the church. He said he'd love to talk with us more and he sounded really excited. So, it was a great day working the far side of our area.

We have the most amazing investigator ever. Her named Mahin. She is from Iran and she has lived in Sweden most of her life. She's currently a Phd student at Linköping University. She has also been taught for several years by missionaries. She might just be the most Christlike person I've ever met!  Seriously, I don't think I've ever met anyone so kind since I’ve been in Sweden, and I've met some pretty nice people so far!  She never had kids, so she considers all of the missionaries to be like her kids.

I met her doing a very unconventional service project. Elder Steen and I were on splits and we went to her house to help her translate her PhD paper on Patterns of Ethnicity in Dementia Care. Elder Steen wrote most of it, but I also thought-up a line or two. It was definitely a little different than what I studied in school, but it was fascinating to listen to her talk about it. She has studied sociology and psychology, both of which I'm really interested in, so we had a great conversation while we were there.

We went back to Mahin's on Sunday with a member that's she's really good friends with. It was an incredible experience. We taught her the Plan of Salvation lesson and she felt the spirit so strong. She's one of those investigators where I'm growing a lot more from being around her than she will from being around me. I feel super happy I'll have the chance to teach her every week! Not to mention, she's going to take us to her fencing studio sometime and teach us how to fence!

We'll that's about it for now. I really lucked-out with my second area. I love the branch here, the other missionaries in this area are the coolest, the town is awesome, and the investigators are great! I can't wait for the weeks ahead and what they will bring!  

Hej Då,

Äldste Stoeltzing       

Week 20 – March 24, 2014; From Perfect Pizza to Street Dogs!

Wow, Crazy Week!

So, it was finally time to say goodbye to Kungsbacka. We started out on Monday with one more trip to our favorite pizza place, Mossens. They love the missionaries there and we may be their best customers! Then we sailed out to the islands off the coast of Göteborg one more time and had a ton of fun. We spent the rest of our time saying goodbye to the families and investigators we got the closest too. 

The Best Pizza in Sweden!

Mossens Pizzeria

We actually had to drive 20 minutes to and from our area every day. Now I’m kind of really good at driving. Elder miles and Elder Knecht were both crazy good drivers so they broke most of my bad driving habits. Elder Knecht said I was close to perfect before I left, so I finally can say I feel very confident driving, especially on the freeway.

But, it definitely won't be the food or the cool cities we served in, or even the car that I’ll miss; the thing I'll miss the most about Kungsbacka, will be the people. I couldn't have asked for a better place to start my mission than with the people of Kungsbacka. Saying goodbye to everyone was really hard. It made me feel so good to hear members say they appreciated what we did and how we helped them in their lives. I learned so much from the two companions I served with there. I really had a better start to my mission than I could have ever imagined and I hope to take everything I've learned and go forward with it. 

Prepping for the transfer went a lot better than I expected. I listened to Elder Knecht’s wisdom and started packing four nights before, so the last night was pretty low stress. I'm going to miss the Västra Frolunda apartment a lot. I've had some incredible memories there and I hope I can go back there later on in my mission. I was really sad to say good bye to Elder Beus and Forsyth. I've been around Elder Beus longer than any other missionary, so moving out was tough. Elder Knecht and I rode together most the way to my new area, Linköping, then we had to say goodbye. He's picking up a short-time Swedish missionary, who is a recent convert named Elder Morely. I don't know too much about him, but I have heard that he will take excellent care of Kungsbacka, so I know Elder Knecht and he will do amazing things there.

Linköping has been great so far. I came in with high expectations, but it's even better here than I thought it would be.  My new companion, Elder Farnworth, is super cool and the other Elders, Hills and Steen, are awesome too! They've all done amazing work in Linköping and I was lucky enough to come in at a very good time thanks to their hard work. I've gotten to meet just a few of the investigators here so far. Elder Farnworth got sick so we've all been taking turns caring for him at the apartment, but he's finally better today. 

Dome Kyrka

Elder Steen and I taught this really cool investigator named Valentine on Thursday. She's actually Jewish, but she says if she can feel that Christ is there, she would convert.  She is only 17, but she’s almost done with her bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and she will most likely finish her PHD before I’m done with my mission. So, I did my best to talk to her about whatever I could and it turned out really good. She wants to meet with us again soon. 

The branch here is really different. There are maybe 12 active members, but they are all supper devoted to missionary work and I know if we work together we can do great things with them. I'm excited that I'll have a closer relationship with the whole branch. As an added bonus, we have the second largest missionary apartment in Sweden!  It's kind of huge for the two of us, but I definitely won’t complain!

Researching Family History... Swedish Style!

I'm super optimistic for the time that I'll be spending here and I feel like it's going to be great. I'm loving my mission and I can't wait for another great week. Unfortunately, I will be eating only hot dogs in Linköping. Sadly, I started out with the best pizza in Sweden, but Linköping has some of the worst pizza. They do have excellent street dogs though.

Oh, one more thing for you to reference, so you know how to say the name of the city correctly; Linköping is pronounced, Lean-shipping. This is a huge city, but it feels like a little Göteborg!

Jag Älskar Alla Er!, 

Äldste Stoeltzing

Week 19 - March 17, 2014; Goodbye Kungsbacka... Hello Linköping!

Hej!

So, this was my last week in Kungsbacka.  I feel like I'm leaving too soon.  I've really loved my time here.  This ward has been incredible and I've had two awesome companions and a lot of great people to work with here.  I know it’s getting left in really good hands though.  Elder Knecht is picking up a new missionary from Sweden (a native) on Wednesday.  He joined the church about two years ago and he is going on a three month short-term mission.  I'm sad to leave Kungsbacka, but I know if I only had three months to serve a mission, Kungsbacka would be the place to do it, so I'm excited Elder Morley gets to experience his mission here.  It's been a really great last week and I'm really happy with how we left it. 

Saying Goodbye to our friend, Johanes

Monday was a really fun P-day.  There is an Island chain off the coast of Göteborg, so we went out there to hike a really cool trial around the island.  We were hoping to go back out today for my last P-day and hike around the biggest island. 

Exploring an Island off the coast of Göteborg

Tuesday we had our Zone Conference and it was really good seeing a lot of my MTC group and Elder Miles again.  We’re all done with training now, so it feels really weird, but good to be done.  It's hard to believe it was three months ago yesterday that we landed in Sweden, it's gone by to quick, but I've really loved my time here.

On Wednesday, Elder Knecht and I had an awesome experience.  We drove out to teach Fredric, the man who walked into church last week and wanted to be taught.  We played guitar a little before we started.  Fredric might just be the best guitar player I’ve ever met; he played Eruption from Van Halen perfect, note for note, which is like the craziest song you could ever learn, so I was very impressed!  We had a member come with us and he loved the lesson.  At the end we asked him if he'd like to be baptized and he said yes!  I'm really sad I don't get to teach him all the way through to his baptism, but I'm so glad I get to leave Kungsbacka knowing we helped at least one person prepare for baptism. 

Visiting an old castle in Varberg

On Friday and Saturday Elder Knecht and I went on a road trip through the outskirts of Kungsbacka to visit some of the less active members that don't get visited very often.  Saturday was really cool.  We went to a city that used to be Denmark’s capital, in Sweden, called Varberg, and naturally we had to visit the old castle while we were in the neighborhood.  We almost struck out there, but then the last family finally let us in.  It turned out that the lady we met there actually helped Elder Knecht's mom decide to get baptized years ago, so it was super cool that we got to meet them.

Ruins of a 13th century Christian Church at Varberg Castle

Sunday was really amazing.  We sometimes teach a class for new members and investigators on Sundays.  I've seen three people in the class before, but this Sunday most of the sister’s investigators and a few of ours came as well, and I got to see almost 20 people in class… By far the best turnout I've ever seen in the class yet.  It was hard saying goodbye to people after church.  I sat next to Yvonne and her baby in Sacrament meeting.  She was the first really strong investigator Elder Miles and I found and the ward is being super supportive of her.  I'm sad I won't get to teach her any more, but I know that she'll be ready for baptism soon and she’ll make a great member of the church.  Saying goodbye to the ward was super tough.  I think the highlight was talking to one of the parents in the ward who said Elder Miles and I helped solidify his son’s desire to go on a mission.  It was one of the best feelings of my mission so far and it really made me feel good about the work I was able to help with here.  I'm going to say goodbye to more families tonight and I’ll leave on Wednesday morning.  My first area went bye to quickly, but I'm really grateful for the start I've had here. 

Marcus is super cool.! He was the first guy I taught in Sweden

Saying Goodbye to our Bishop and his wife

Brother Mardby taught us some pretty deep doctrine!

 So, next week I'll be working in Sweden's fourth largest city, Linköping.  It will be really different. The city is way bigger, but the ward is way smaller, but it looks like it will be a lot of fun.  Linköping used to be the capital of Sweden and it predates Stockholm, so there will be a lot of really cool history to explore there.  My new companion will be Elder Farnworth.  I met him a few times before he transferred up there and I'm really excited to be missionary companions with him.  He seems like a really cool guy.  I'm really excited to see what chapter two of my mission will look like… I hope it will be everything that Kungsbacka has been for me. 

From Goteborg to Linkoping, Sweden

 Love you guys!

Äldste Stoeltzing