Dear you all,

Sounds like everyone has had a great thanksgiving week full of exciting events and all that jazz. I love hearing how you all are doing. I would like to request one thing from y'all and that would be a Christmas card or email greeting thing, if you can. It got down to minus 5 celsius [23 degrees] a couple of days, and hasn't really gone up past the 0 mark [32] Still no snow, but it should be happening pretty soon! A lot of people blåsted, or cancelled, us again this week so not a lot of numbers and lessons, oh well.

Typical slide thing at a playground

Mån: FHE at the YSA Center. The activity was all of us writing our name on a piece of paper and then passing it in a circle with everyone writing a compliment on that. It was really cool to see all of the nice compliments that people gave after knowing someone for awhile or just barely. It was an activity that helped us all feel a little better about ourselves. Why not do the same thing in your own FHE this week? Do it!

Tis: We had our district meeting and discussed what we can do for our ward. We need referrals but we need to connect/share/love the members and be a real person to them rather than some robot missionary demanding referrals. We are continuing to work on it. We talked about how we can help bishop with his stress and ease his burden a little bit. We met with a man later and watched all 3 Patterns of Light video segments from Elder Bednar. Super teaching tool for understanding inspiration. 

My package for the family

Ons: Many people cancelled on us and I began to get frustrated. It happens a lot.  Anywho, we got the finishing touches and items to our Christmas package we were sending home to our families and took some time wrapping and all that jazz. You guys should probably get it next week. Its pretty exciting, I hope you all like it. 23 days until we can skype!!

Tors: THANKSGIVING!! I did a lot of studying up on gratitude and thanksgiving and came across some really cool things. In D&C 78:19, it says that when you express your gratitude and thanks to God for everything, you will be made glorious and more blessings will come to you. Interesting...when you take time to thank God for all that you have and specify it, your attitude and perspective on the world is changed and more positive. You find happiness when you express thanks.

Today was kind of a hard day just because I knew what my family would be doing all day and all the traditions we normally do. However, it ended on a good note with us and the ZLs improvising our own Thanksgiving dinner. We had chicken (turkeys are rare here and are expensive!) with mashed potatoes. We had it at our place in Lidingö and we made it look pretty fancy, if i do say so myself.

Fre: We helped a lady move and what do you know? We got a referral out of that. The guy helping us move things used to take the lessons from missionaries in chile when he was younger and was ready to be baptized, but his father wouldn't allow it. We are planning to meet up with him soon!

We helped a young man with his homework for a bit and then went knocking doors with him! That was a lot of fun and surprisingly we had a lot of positive reactions. Usually when we knock, people are very rude to us and slam, but not today. He was nervous but did really awesome testifying to someone about the church! Its a lot of fun taking priests and other people knocking.  They get a little scared when something doesn't go right or the way they planned. They just freeze and look to us for help! I cant help but laugh a bit when that happens! Its weird that I was that scared priest less than a year ago and now I'm the one who is in charge.

Lör: We met up with this one family and had a good time talking with them about the book of mormon and God. Whenever we meet with them they are super positive! They are having some difficulties but they find peace in our message! I love it!

There was a random transfer call this week, but I am staying for now.They are doing a straight transfer of sisters in Lund (far south) and elders in Luleå (far north). This is history, the first time sisters will ever go to Luleå! Im jealous because I want to go as far north as I can for winter!!! It was all a surprise, but I think things will be alright. My father, M, will be leaving me, so thats sad. I am the only survivor of the original Magbull Stockholm district. I have seen 9 or 10 people come through this district the whole time I have been here! I heard that the real transfer on the 18 and either me or H will be leaving. We just don't know yet.

Anyways, we had a great Thanksgiving dinner with this great couple and had a great time! Everyone pitched in and brought food. I made a salad that consisted of bananas, apples, spinach and mixed berry jam hahahaha, i don't make salads! it wasn't too bad. I said I am thankful for the everyday small moments that make life worth it. Its amazing to see that one tiny good thing can make all the difference to a bad day.

Sön: Fast sunday! These are always so good! Plus i feel like it was necessary to have a fast after having so much food! I feel like I had a really good understanding of all 3 hours of church in Swedish!! We had dinner with another awesome family! The kids love us and the parents love having us over. Sister E said that Elder H and I (there you go Babs - proper grammar) are a great combo at teaching and meeting with people even though we are 2 widely different people, thats what makes us really good. That really meant a lot to me to hear her say that we are a great combo. We are so different but we come together in one purpose to help all come unto Christ. I was very grateful for those words. We did the thankful circle thing again and I expressed that I am grateful for the moments in my life that put me back on the right path that led me here to my mission. We then ran over to the G's, literally ran about 2kms, for a teach and another meal!! Holy cow!! We had a good lesson about the Book of Mormon and ended with testimonies.

Some things of interest that I studied this week came from the 3 separate counsels that Alma gives to each of his sons Alma 30-44). My favorite is Shiblon's. He was persecuted for righteousness' sake, yet he stayed faithful even though he was stoned. He didn't need much counsel because he was already faithful and strong. For Corianton, Alma talks about the Plan of Restoration-another name of the Plan of salvation. But think about it. If we do good deeds and have good desires, we will be restored to blessings prepared for people who have had those things.

I am very thankful for all of you in my life. This week has helped me realize how much I really do have and all of the amazing people I have in my life who are amazing examples to me. I hope you all have a great week and prepare for Christmas with the real meaning behind it. I love you all

MVH

Äldste Johnson