Hungry Hungry Hippo found me!

Hallå family and friends!! Wowee! Things have been quite cold this week -it got down to 1 degree celsius [33 F]!!! But now it is warming up again. It was a good week. I turned 20, no more teenage life, but best of all I heard from my good friends in Eskilstuna that B's 2 daughters were baptized last week. That was great news. Elder S and I found that family, and now they are taking that step in following their savior. It is an indescribable feeling. 

Mån: So, I did some early bday shopping and got myself a laundry basket, my previous one broke. We played sports at Gubbängen with a couple of missionaries and came back to teach a new investigator, G.

Tis: We planned to teach H about family history and when we got there he had already created an account on his own! It was like he knew what we were gonna talk about and was super prepared! We went back to G's later on and he just got super anti with us. He was so positive to begin with, but then didn't want to try it anymore. It was really strange.

Happy birthday to me

Ons: Hey, it's my birthday!! I don't know what it was but I was just feeling sad and down in the dumps this day. It was a really good day, but just mentally I was not all there. All is better now. We had our district meeting (breakfast) then went to a different district for exchanges. We taught W -we have a cycle every time we meet with her: she is confused, things are hard, we

Klad kakka- sticky chocolate cake

teach and testify and promise blessings, and she is pumped to go out and try it all, then she slips and forgets and we start over again. We are working really hard with her. So we read 3 nephi 13 talking about consider the lilies, see how they grow...and yeah. Continue on the chapter and it says God knows what we need. But if we just put him first in our lives everything else will fall into place in the place where we need them, not always where we want. We had a member dinner and it was fantastic soup! I got sung to in Swedish 3 times during the day, so that was pretty fun. I also made myself a klad kakka (sticky chocolate cake) -super good!

Tors: We had another district meeting to attend. I was tech support trying to skype some members in our district who work out on Visby-Gotland. On our way back home we taught some guy on the street. The assistants came to do exchanges with us. I was with my papa again -elder m!!! It was a lot of fun. We went up to Täby to work in their area. And I also got to drive the car the whole time! I haven't driven a car in over 15 months, so needless to say, it was a good reunion with me behind the wheel. Whoo! I miss that! I hope Leo is doing good. [Leo is Brock's truck here at home.]

Me and my pappa, Elder M.  He loves anything country!

Fre: I had a really good day with Elder M. It has been a year since I was with him, so it was a great time together. We worked really hard a year ago, and it was just like we picked up on the same beat again. I loved it! he took me to lunch at a Texas restaurant where they played lots of country stuff -he was in heaven hahaha. I think now that country music is growin on me...we will see;) We taught a new convert from Gabon who is a genius. Then we taught a teenager and set a baptismal date with him!! That was really cool. All too soon we had to go back home but it was a great day. We had a good heart to heart while we were together and i needed and was grateful for that.

Lör: When we were teaching H, his mom came in and asked us some questions. We were able to teach and testify to her that we are here to help people come closer to Christ. H bore his testimony of the difference it has been in his life, and she began to cry. It was so spiritual, man, it was the best! Mind you, this was all in spanish too, but I understood it all!!! That was so great! We taught several other new investigators -hopefully they will keep progressing.

Sour herring.  Now I'm a real Swede!

The second highlight of the day was the member dinner with the N's. We had SUR-STRÖMMING! Sour herring. Holy cow, I cant even begin to describe to you how AWFUL that smell is. The actual taste is ok, but the smell is seriously like a sewer. I almost threw up just taking a whiff of that. WHEW!!! I survived! I ate it, and now I am a real Swede:)

Sweet Aston Martin

Sön: One of our new investigators made it to church! He had been before a while ago and knew some members so he fit right in! After church, we had dinner with the Ö family again, and it was so good! They are so awesome!

Listening to a prayer in church got me thinking. We ask for things: please bless the spirit will stay with us the rest of the day, please bless that we will have a good week, please bless those that couldn't come today that they can come next week, etc. Now, what good does that prayer do if we don't act on it? Why do we just ask for those types of things and not do anything about. It is something that Elder Bednar talked about, and it is ringing through my head. Faith is not just praying really hard that something happens. Faith is praying for eyes to see the opportunities, and then acting. So if we pray that we may feel the spirit the rest of the day, what do we do to make sure that we can feel the spirit?? Are we reading our scriptures, listening to uplifting music, spending quality time with our family, other various activities that INVITE the spirit to stay throughout the day. What about if we pray to have a good week? Are we acting for ourselves to put things in our path that will make sure that we do have a good week, if not, change that! And what about when we pray for the people who couldn't make it to church that they can come next week? Are we just gonna expect people to be healed and come to church by themselves, sure its possible. But why not go out and visit these people? Check up on how they are doing? Invite them over to your place, offer a ride to church, do something so that your prayer is an ACTION. Pray for the opportunities and then act on them. God trusts us, so lets act now.

We have a perfect opportunity in front of us, General conference, to take in a question, or even pray that you may be able to find a question from general conference in which you can then act for yourself and find the answer by studying, fasting, and pondering. Dont just pray and not do anything. Pray and act! That is my invitation to you all. I know that as you do so you will see the Lord open new paths of understanding and direction for you. You will know what to do, and receive the strength to do it. This is the only true church on the earth. Are we acting like it? I love you all. I love this work. God and Christ are at the head. Have a wonderful week and a great experience with conference!

With love

Elder Johnson