Kär familj och väner,

As you all know, I officially hit the big 19 on Tuesday and have one more precious year of being a teenager ha. Boy, it still hasn't even set in that I am 19 now. Where has the time gone? I miss being a kid, doing anything I wanted whenever I wanted (according to mom of course;)) I am super glad that all of you are doing so well!  

The temperature has been about 4 Celsius on average throughout the week, probably 40 Fahrenheit. It is weird seeing leaves change around the time of my birthday instead of December like in St George. However, I love being in this weather with all my heart! 

I bought a lot of cold weather clothes for my birthday, I kind of went on a little shopping spree, no big deal.  I still am in need of a few items, but I have all of the necessities that I wanted. 

With the cold weather coming so fast, I have gotten a little sick this week. Nothing major, just a tiny sore throat and some phlegm. But the tea that I drink makes it all better. Yes, tea! It is so big here, everyone loves it! I love it now! Don't worry, its not the bad tea (red, black and green) so I am not breaking the WOW. This is something that I will bring back with me: tea. So far I have had apple, bengal spice (cinammon, vanilla) (best one), and something called booiros. I don't even know what it was, all I know was that it was good and it made my throat stop hurting! I will probs send you guys some of my faves home for christmas so you can experience this too! We stopped by a little eatery stand thing and had what you call a classic rulle. This is pita bread (or flat bread type of thing from subway) with mashed potatoes and a hot dog or korv (meat) with ketchup wrapped up like a taco. SO GOOD! haha, I will definitely make that at home for y'all. Swedes are super OCD about their trash. You have to sort EVERYTHING when putting things in the trash to recycle everything. They have other countries ship them real garbage because Swedes hardly have any because they recycle everything, really weird. 

Tuesday: Moving day into our beautiful new apartment. We had to squeeze down my bag several times and received plethora of strange looks from people (not that we don't already get strange looks everyday, all day ha). I made my Mac N Cheese for lunch and it was soooooo good. If ONLY i had my hotdogs, that would have sealed the deal. Oh man. It was a good one.  I opened my b-day presents and cards (thanks for all the sarcastic attitude, it was really funny haha). I especially love the apron with the family pics on it.  

We tried swinging by to see J, because we live so close to him now (and everyone -its the best!) but it turns out that he was in the hospital! God is really wanting him to realize that we are the answer. We met up with one of our bus contacts and his family! They are the best! All of them work so that is really hard to try and set something up with them (nothing yet, but they are golden). One goes to school in U S and is looking for a church to go to and have some friends. Hmmm, I wonder where we could one?? All of them are just super open and way cool to talk to. That was the best present I could have gotten. I am so thankful for that. 

We happened to stop by the G's that night and they roped us in to dinner and cake (they knew it was my bday). They even sang a Swedish song to me. They are just the best family in the whole world!!! They are so kind and just always willing to help out whenever. I wish all of our members were like that and helping bring their friends to church and reactivating members.

Wed: I ate my bowl of reeses puffs cereal and felt like I was in heaven:) Too good. We went on splits with the zls. We were in my area so I had to put on the big boy pants and take command of the day. It was really scary and a lot of responsibility, but we made it through ok. We had little success trying to visit old investigators (GU's-gammla undersökare) and less actives (MAs-mindre aktiva) so that was pretty gloomy. However, we got to really know each other. We talked about how Sweden and America are promised lands. I'm not bragging about Sweden because I am here, but to show you how amazing this place is. God has kept them out of wars time and time again, and has kept them safe. It is really interesting to see how blessed this land is. Now, all we have to do is get the people here to realize that. 

Aldste S helped me out with some language things and grammar stuff in just the best way. He helped me see where I went wrong, asked me to figure it out for myself before he helped me see it, and then immediately apply what I just learned with a little role play. It wasn't him scolding me for making a mistake or making me feel offended at all, which is so good, and it helped me out a lot. 

We met up with a man who has played Jesus in a passion play and looks a lot like him. He is cool and open to discuss all sorts of religious things. We gave him a BOM in Afrikansk and he wants to read it!

Thurs: Me and S finished up our splits with a great role play! We took turns every 30 seconds switching off, even in mid sentance, talking about the Restoration in Swedish. You really have to pay attention to what the other one says so you can finish their thought and keep going with the topic of restoration and move on to the next thing. It was really hard, but a great way to practice Swedish and unity in teaching. Man, He is just a great missionary!  We had a meeting with the YSA pres to get them more involved with missionary work. A lot of them are RMs and want to help. 

My comp had to do a baptism interview with the wife of a young couple and I ended up chatting with the husband. He is super stoked that his wife is getting baptized (did on saturday) and wants to go on a couples mission when he's older (convert)! Super sick couple!

Friday: We got up at 6 am (with borrowed soccer balls) and hit up the soccer pitch that is right outside our new place!!!!! YES!!! Every morning since then we have gotten up and gone to play for an hour just shooting, juggling, and all that jazz! Man, it just felt so good being able to be on a field playing the game I love. Which reminds me, I would like my soccer cleats sent to me, if that's not too big of a hassle. 

President called with the transfer call which surprised us cuz I haven't finished my training yet. My comp is moving to zl in stockholm and I will stay in Lidingö with Aldste H. He and my comp were trained by the same person, and he is now finishing my training! That puts so much responsibility on me because it is my area, that I hardly know, I can't talk to people or understand when trying to set things up, I have to show him everything that is happening with the area and all that stuff. I am super nervous about this and have been really hard on myself this last week with language and stuff like that. 

We had a brasafton (fireside) that night at the kapel about the plan of salvation with lots of songs and talks and videos. All of our people bailed on us being there, so that was really sad. One of the songs was by a convert, who took third in Eurovision (like american idol). He sang You Raise Me Up and I started crying. I know I am super stressed right now and nervous about next week, but hearing that song really helped. The savior is really there to raise us up in our trials, in our hard times, in our stresses, in everything. I know the savior will help me out, and that everything will be ok. I know he will do the same for you if you ask him. I have a strong testimony of this. Go to him in everything, He is waiting to raise you up, to put you on his shoulders, to conquer mountains.

Satur: The lidingö loppet was going on all day which made it super impossible for us to do anything. This is one of the biggest marathons in Northern Europe happening on our island! But we got some good lessons in and did a lot of service for a family. We ended up walking home because the buses couldn't go anywhere, too much traffic with the race. It took a long time so we missed the baptism for J, which was really sad, but we taught a new convert who is 14. He had been struggling but we got real with him and helped him realize that he needs to shape up if people want to see him as a disciple of Christ. 

Sun: It takes even longer to get to church from our new apartment and sunday transportation doesn't run as often, so we have to leave super early. H was there for sacrament but left a bit confused. We are going to try to meet up with him again and explain and clarify things. He still is super cool and postivie about it all. We celebrated Brother G's birthday with a big party after fast sunday eating food, cake, telling stories and leaving a spiritual thought. He had some nonmember friends there with us during the party. 

Today: just got up to play futbol and now im writing! This week is going to be very awesome! It is general conference on Sat and Sun (well back at home). The morning session for you starts at 6 pm here. We will either watch it at a members place livestream or from a recording of it, or go to the chapel to watch it with our investigators. We are trying to get EVERYONE to watch it because that is the perfect scenario for them to feel the spirit and understand what we are all about! Pray that we will get our baptism Saturday, but more importantly that we get lots of people to conference! I am personally ecstatic for conference! I have been longing for it for quite sometime and hope you all are too. I can't wait to hear the prophets voice and hear what God wants us to focus on so we can better our lives! This is going to be the best one yet, I can feel it!! 

I love you all so much and pray for all of you! Good luck with this week, I hope all goes well! Conference is the best! I'm sad I wont be able to do the Iceberg shakes tradition or even the waffle breakfast, but I am glad I am here doing the Lords work. Everyday is a challenge. Rely on the saviors strength, I promise you that He will help. Jag älskar er!

Yep, that's my name!

Äldste Johnson