Tjena Tjena Hur läget?? (Slang for Whats up, Hows the situation?)

Sounds like everyone is doing fantastic as per usual! Happy birthday to my cousins and Me soon! Haha, Im not that conceited...This week anywho, has been pretty good! Just a little thought -you all should check out the Vocal Point Album "Lead Thou Me On", it is something my companion has and it has all of my favorite hymns and songs and really makes me feel good! Especially Danny Boy, holy cow that is such a great song! Yes, look it up and listen to it a lot! I promise you will feel so good!

I feel like I should talk about the investigators first before I give a little summary of the week: E- we got to meet and teach her twice this week and it went really well. We had 2 members with us each time who personally overcame some habits in their lives and shared some really great experiences with her. She really has changed so much from the first time we met, and now I see her for who she truly is: a blessed daughter of God in need of help in her life. The spirit has changed her for the better though she still struggles, but that is normal!  But the great knowledge we have is that we never have to do anything on our own. The savior is always there to help ease are burden and stay with us as we endure our trials. 

We ran into J the other day, trying to swingby his place for the 3rd time in the week without him answering, just outside of his apartment. We ended up talking there for 1.5 hours. We first just chatted with him about how he is doing, his family and just life in general. He really likes talking about God and recognizing Him in everything. So, we ever so sneakily taught him the Plan of Salvation. He basically has a knowledge about most of the things we talked about with him. Its amazing because he doesn't belong to any church, but he devotes himself to studying God. Things are good between us, but we need to take slow steps with him. But he has a general care and concern for us and likes talking about God and Jesus with us, so hopefully things will get better for us.

R is someone we met him on the tunnelbana. So we went by his place the other day and did a How to begin Teaching and Restoration lesson with him. The lesson went good and he is generally interested, not quite sure how much though. Hopefully he takes the time and search it out for himself. He offered us some wine. Obviously I said yes....HA! YA RIGHT! I got you guys! No, so we kind of did a little brief WoW with him, not too crazy though. We will see how it goes.

S is probably the best man in the whole wide world! He is a native Swede who plays American Football. He played for a Big 12 college team for a bit and now is back here working and playing in a league. He has a really amazing experience after a football injury. He was not religious at all to begin with, but after this miraculous incident he had, he found God. Ever since then he has had a strong relationship with God and Jesus and basically is like a young Joseph Smith, looking around for the truth and giving himself to a lot of study. He self-referred himself and has been going to all of the activities at the YSA center and is so great! We met him there, thinking he was a member but found out he wasn't. He works downtown and likes to meet right after before going to his home which is out of our area. So we take advantage of that.

We taught him the Restoration and Plan of Salvation and it was seriously the best lesson ever. He is so humble and just really accepting of trying new things to find out for himself. He tells us that he believes the same thing as us but has never been able to put it into words or express it. He asks us questions that we plan to teach him later and just loves our answers for him. The lessons we have with him make the mission so worth it. You can have so many rejections and have 1 simple honestly spiritual lesson with someone who is so humble and desires the truth, and that triumphs everything else! Sharing spiritual experiences with people are what make the mission so amazing. I am so glad I could share that with him. I can relate really well with him because of football and injuries, so I have shared some personal things with him and we both felt the spirit. The sad thing though, is that we have to give him up to the Gubbängen elders:( We aren't worried though, he gets a long well with everyone.

So anyway, the week in wrap! M: went all over Gamla Stan with a bunch of elders, met some guys who were backpacking Europe and Asia for 6 months with only a small backpack with essentials and 1 pair of clothes! They were RMs and just the coolest guys on the planet!!! Oh man, Brady, we are so doing that when I get home!!!! I have a lot to tell you about them and that!

T: hit my 2 month mission mark.  We started running every other day and it gives me so much energy throughout the whole day!  Plus my workouts are getting better.  I read a lot about stories of faith in Hebrews 11 and Ether 12 which are super cool.  We came up with a brilliant way of sorting our area into people to work with, those who need work, and those who we can stop working with.  It is super helpful for us and took quite some time to get it done.  But it with also help the home and visiting teachers with their responsibilities and reactivation.

Mom, you will be happy because we went to the DI place again and I found a way awesome thick coat in perfect condition for a steal!! We have been working on thankful prayers after all of our visits, no matter what happens in the lesson. It really helps us focus on what God has given us and refocuses our minds to go back to work. 

W: it was 9/11 and that was really hard. That day is always so hard for me because I think about the all of the lives that were lost and all of the families that were affected. It is really such a tragedy, but blessing to remember what happened to remind us that life is short. Live it up. Share your love with everyone and make sure they know it. I love all of you so much. I really do. I have gotten into reading a lot in the Bible Dictionary when I have time, which is never, but I hope to be able to do it at home because it is so interesting and informative. We average at least 1 meal with someone every day so no complaints here, no matter the the food is, haha. We are planning a huge ward party/talent show in Oktober to help members, less actives, investigators, etc can come and have a great time! We are really excited for that, and I will tell you more about that later.

Th: the norm of swingbys, reactivize, and baptize ha. I should tell you though that I have seen a lot of things here. Things. Yes. Europe is very open and all about the natural body, so thats all I am going to say about the matter...haha.

F: long weekly planning sesh which we ended up making faces at each other and laughing for no reason. Sound familiar? We had a contact with and an elderly person. We knocked and she asked us who we were. We said the missionaries and she said, I cant talk now I'm naked! hahahaha  Here's an idea - Put some clothes on so we can talk with you!!! Oh man, old people kill me. Just chilling in their room in the raw. We contact a lot of great people who always turn out to live out of our area so that is super frustrating for us because we don't have anybody to work with.

Sa: we cook smores, or at least the equivalent to that, on the stove and it actually is super good!! I sang at the sisters investigator baptism for P. I sang I Need Thee Every Hour in front of Pres Newell! It went really well, though P planked it into the water and forgot to plug his nose! Haha it was great but so spiritual too. The APs (the coolest guys ever) took us to dinner that night which was super good at an Asian restaurant run by a less active member.

Su: I gave my first talk in Swedish about tithing with Prez there again! President did the confirmation of P in French which was really cool. I talked with one of the YSAs in our ward who got her associates at BYU-H and knows a lot of the guys on the soccer team!!! We talked for a long time and she is putting a good word for me with those guys! Im way stoked about that! We taught the gospel principles lesson (a lot this week for me, I know!) about the creation. We went to the G's for dinner and got talking about their son who died on his mission. It was really sad. I can't imagine that. Losing a son, brother, and friend. My love to them and to everyone who has lost a loved one. Especially dad, I love you so much. It must be so hard, you are a great example to me I hope you know that. 

The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation gives us so much comfort to know that we can be with them again, what an amazing plan God has for us. I know this gospel is true. I live it everyday and try to share it with everyone. It gives me so much joy and peace to know who I am, where I came from, and where I am going. God couldn't have planned it any better. It is my testimony to all of you that through Christ we are able to overcome our human mistakes and become clean and able to return with our Father in Heaven. I love that. Don't be afraid to go to him in prayer. I love all of you, have a great week!

MVH

Äldste Johnson