Don't just Say it, Show it!

Skansen Park

Hej Hej Allihopa! Well, not too many emails came my way -but no surprise because it's Saturday. We had a random pday today. Next week is thanksgiving and also a transfer week -so they moved up the transfer to monday, and pday to saturday -today. I hope you all have had a great week thus far. I have for sure. 

Glass blowing place

Mån: So that was last Pday (yeah we got 2 pdays in one week. But that also means no pday at all next week ha). We met up with the Södertälje Zls and went to Skansen in Stockholm. It is this giant park thing that is super sick!!! We only got to 1/8 of the park -but still it was so cool. We all piled up on this giant dala häst and took some funny videos:) It was a blast!

Let your light shine!

Akward

Tis: My comp and I had a little conflict. I learned that sometimes you don't need to talk about differences, just let God work things out for us. And that's what happened because we met a couple of people out on the streets and taught them. It was a super cool thing to witness Gods hand watching over us and helping us. After a member dinner that night we got blåsted, but the member who was gonna come on our teach, invited us over to teach him. That was super nice. Gosh, some members are just the best.

With Elder S- the Swede

Ons: We were on exchanges with the Västerhaninge elders: so I was with Elder S. We talked Swedish the whole time (we usually talk english between ourselves on exchanges but he is a swede, so that helps). We had a great day teaching a lot of new converts and helping them realize the importance of their priesthood and testimony, and to act accordingly. It was really powerful hearing their testimonies. It totally strengthened my own because they keep it simple. It is so much more powerful when we keep things simple and more heartfelt. I love it. We closed off the night with H and we totally were guided by the spirit on that lesson. We came in with one idea to teach but during we just knew we had to focus on something else. And because of that, we were able to really address his needs and help strengthen him.

Tors: We had MLC (leadership conference) and boy was that AMAZING!!!! President Beckstrand has received a directive from Salt Lake that is going to be worldwide during the month of December. With all of the missions and all the members all over, the brethren are launching HE IS THE GIFT initiative. And let me tell you, it is going to be the best thing ever!!! I am so excited. You will see it in the upcoming ensign and get to help participate. It is a huge invitation month to invite people to understand the true meaning of christmas-christ; God's greatest gift to us. There are videos, websites, pass along cards, activities, etc. that is going in to help this out. As well Time Square will show a huge banner of it; Youtube will have one whole day as the starting page with HE IS THE GIFT. Man, this looks incredible!!! I have never been more excited to do anything in all my life-I felt the spirit so strong about this project. It will be amazing. Please join in on it too!!

I found Santa's Reindeer!

It was fun seeing a lot of friends at the MLC. For some people it will be my last time seeing them because they are going home soon. Like the sisters in my MTC group- I probably won't see them again! Weird!!! We then came home and taught someone on the street with the approach of Christ is the gift- and it was amazing!!! Geez, this is going to be so cool!!!!

Fre: We had a really good day here. We attended 2 district meetings -and both about how we can align our will with the Savior's. We watched the latest mormon message about the refiners fire and that was so powerful. Check it out! As well, a question was posed that has rung through my head again and again. Why did I choose to serve a mission? AND Why am I still out here? I have heard these plenty of times before, and have assessed it several times -but it is a great reminder. We then kind of did crazy splits where my comp and another elder taught L while me and someone else contacted like crazy and got a lesson on the street. We talked with a guy from down south -Skåna. It's hilarious. I love the Skånish accent -it is the best haha! We were able to meet with D. Things are looking closer and closer for her. Im excited! We also met with F and had a fantastic lesson on the Word of Wisdom!! She said she wants to follow God so she is willing to give things up. Man, there has been such an apparent change in her -it has been incredible how the spirit has helped her. It is the greatest!!

I am super excited this week for Thanksgiving to express my love for My savior, My God, my family and friends and for everything that I have in my life. My challenge to you all is not only just say what you are grateful for but show how you are grateful by helping those in need. When we show others our love, we are showing our love to God. I like to think of the scripture in Mosiah 2:17 but replace service with love. "When ye love your fellow man, Ye love God."  The gospel is love. I know that to be true with all of my heart. I am so grateful for all of you. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and the opportunity I have to be in this wonderful land serving Him. I love you all, have a great week!

Love Elder Johnson

Tjena Tjena, From what I hear I believe the temps in Utah is colder than it is here -but I have humidity as well so it feels colder. Anywho, it was a good week. Listen to how it went.

 Mån: We shopped a bit then coming back to the church to have a little jam music session. It was a lot of fun. I love my district! We then met up with H and D right afterwards and had a good lesson.

Tis: We met up with M -her daughter loves us too-she is a hoot. We are planning to go into Stockholm with them some p day so they can show us the real deal! We met up later with F-and found out that his friend had heard some anti stuff and that's why she didn't want to come. It was sad to hear-but I believe she will come back soon. We had a meeting with E who since she came to church she has been feeling so much more peace in her life. Its kind of like she had some dark spirit following her, but now that she has been to church, she feels free. It's amazing!!! It was so cool to see her recognize that it was church and everything that we have been talking about as the source of her peace.

Ons: We did lots of finding work and had a great thing happen. We were contacting through a crowd and we spotted out this woman and started talking to her. She sat down with us and we talked about how great Jesus is and how he saved her life -she was thinking about suicide 2 weeks ago. But since then has felt his undying love for her. Wow, that was one of the most spiritual contacts I have ever had with someone.

Tors: We met up with K - 4+ weeks strong!!! Man, that is incredible. He is so happy-I love seeing that!!! We had a good discussion about the tree of life - livets träd. We then made our way to H and D again. We talked a lot about service and how the purpose of church is for us to help one another. D is working toward baptism soon!

Fre: I was on exchanges with Elder H in Täby. We had a full day and it was lots of fun. Just one thing to the next. We had a district meeting, met with a former missionary who served here in Sweden, had lunch with an american family and had lots of connections with them. We taught a lot of people that I taught last time I was up here. It was great stuff. I love it!

The O family - they are the best!

Lör: We taught a lesson with C and he is still progressing. We had lots of people cancel on us but we took F to stake conference and she loved it. Elder Dyches of the area 70 presidency spoke! It was fantastic. I wish I could tell you all about it, but I have no time!!!

Sön: More Stake conference - I loved it all! Lots of good notes and spiritual promptings to change and be more like our savior. We had dinner with the Ö -always great. Then just had a great sunday-as usual:)

I love you all. This work is true. I know it. Have a great week!

Love Elder Johnson

Hej Hej,

[I assume this is what he is talking about]

First and foremost, Happy Birthday last Tuesday to my brother Brady. He's not feeling 22 anymore (song reference ha). Anywho, it has been a great week here. It's been pretty cold but I survived. 

Mån: We did a lot of cleaning and bought our groceries and then headed up to Stockholm and met up with Södertälje ZL's to walk around a bit and check out some 2nd hand stores. I found a Zlatan Ibrahimovic Barcelona jersey, so that was a steal!!! 

Tis: Exchanges: I was in Vendelsö with Elder W. We biked through a rain storm the whole day, and that was pretty fun. He is a hard worker and boy was I pretty tired after that -Im used to just walking everywhere. I have learned that there needs to be a good balance of working hard and having fun at the same time. Some missionaries -I used to be like this too- try to separate the 2, but that doesn't work. We taught several lessons on the street. Some people were less than friendly, but hey, you just gotta love everyone right?

Two chefs in the kitchen

Ons: We updated during our open church time. We then went walking around talking to people. We were led to a guy named K. It was such a natural and comfortable setting just walking with him, talking about everything and then leading it all back into the gospel. He wants to meet again. Afterwards, my comp and I were just so amazed at how smooth it all was and how powerful the spirit was in that environment. You don't need to force the message to people, let it flow how and let the spirit work. We thought back to all of the decisions we made leading us to K: if we should turn here at a certain time, be in the area then, etc. It was cool to think that God knew exactly where we would meet up with him. It also made me think that God is constantly preparing people. He trusts us to make our own decisions, and based off of those, we find certain people. Had we chosen a different route to take, Im convinced that we would have also found someone very positive. God is always working in the hearts of people. It is amazing.  We also had baptismal interviews for Hägerstens candidates. They are super ready. I love doing those!

Get this book!

Before I continue I want to tell you about a book you should buy and read.  It is called Surviving Hitler by O. Hakan Palm who is a member here in Sweden. It is a true story about his parents. [Mom's note:  I saw this story on KSL TV awhile back.  The book is sold in Deseret Book stores.]

Tors: District meeting: Unity through prayer with our companions. When we have God and Christ as our center, our companionship will be united. I had many thoughts about unity throughout the week. I obviously used a soccer team for an analogy that every individual is important on the team. Everyone is needed. Everyone has a role to fulfill and help each other win. We met up with the Stake council to go on a visit to Hägersten. I was with President K from Eskilstuna so we had a good time catching up. He is the greatest man ever.

Fre: We attended the other district meeting from our zone to see how things are going with them, and it only built my testimony of unity that much more. I loved it!!! It is so cool how strong the spirit is there when you are searching for it, when you are being an agent as elder Bednar would say. We went to pizza hut afterwards and Elder S ate 16 slices ha! We went to M's right afterwards and she fed us-oh boy! But we had a good chat about things and how we could help her and her daughter. It will come. I know that.

Lör: Great, jam-packed day! We went out as a district to go contacting in Handen, to help the work go forward there. We taught M-who is now 24 days without smoking!!! That is so great! 21 days and you've made a habit, so he is beyond excited right now, and we have a day to go to the temple for his first time! We taught several people on the street who were really cool. Got some TUs out of it. We had a fun member dinner with the T family. 

Sön: We picked up F and walked to church with her!  The ward took care of her. I love this ward so much. One step at a time- ett steg i taget. We did some contacting to finish the night right.

Well, I shared my big insights already, so I would just like to end by saying I love you guys so much. Thank you for all the prayers, love and support you give me. Yesterday was fathers day here in Sweden and it got me thinking how great my father is. And even more so, my Heavenly Father. I am eternally grateful to Him for all that I have and for the opportunity I have to share this message of peace and everlasting happiness with His children. I love you, have a great week, MVH  

Elder Johnson

All Saints Day

Movember ( mustache November) haha

Well Hello There Allihopa! Thank you for all the love and support you send to me, I truly appreciate it. This week was kind of chilly -it got down to -5 Celsius (23 F) one day, and we actually played soccer that morning ha!

Mån: We had a very awesome pday last week. We did our emailing, and headed to Port 73, where we do our grocery shopping -plus it is a huge shopping center. So we just chilled there. We spent time predicting each other's future- basically setting up a very detailed lengthy description of how we were going to meet our wives. Hahaha it was intense and super funny! We had a member dinner and then finished the day contacting.

Tis: Things are looking really positive with S while F is doing great preparing for a mission. We had a member dinner and we got into some deep doctrine discussions- haha those are always interesting.

Ons: Zone Conference! Wow, that was amazing. It took the whole day! Seriously, we didn't get to see the sun because we got there at 9 am- sun still not all the way up, and ended at 5pm with the sky pitch black. Thats still shocking to me haha. President's focus was on unity. He asked us to think about something that we can sacrifice right now, to give to the Lord, to show Him we want to be more united in this great cause. Sis B talked about warm hands- service brings warm hearts and unites us with the Lord. As well not getting discouraged when we dont see the fruit of our efforts (think Abinadi.) The assistants went over Companionship Study as a way to strengthen comp unity. It was super solid, and we learned lots from everything! I love it!

We later met up with G and D. It was so spiritual. I realize that the simpler you teach and testify of the gospel, the more powerful it is. We also participated in a less-active blitz with Västerhaninges ward. We went on exchanges with them to contact as many less actives as possible. My comp and I went out to Nynäshamn where we actually had a cool thing happen to us. We contacted this guy who seems really positive. We then got some kebab afterwards, even though it was pretty late, ha!

Using "the force" to stop the train

Tors: We did a lot of contacting and tracting and had some funny responses. Gosh, I love people sometimes haha. We later met up with F and S again. Keep in mind, this is in Swedish- she speaks broken Swedish, and G cant speak any Swedish, but I am communicating to them in my broken Spanish. Let's just say this would be absolute chaos if this wasn't the true church of God. And the language of the spirit is a lot more powerful:) We also taught a couple about the importance of the Book of Mormon. Powerful. They are gonna begin to read every day together!

Fre: We met up with a new investigator. And for some reason it was just the most awkward thing in the whole world. It was hilarious how weird it was, but in the end we were able to help him with English. 

Lör: Wow, let me tell you, Saturday was unbelievable!! One of the greatest days of my mission!! We had 5 really powerful lessons during the day and had a blast. We also held a Halloween party-Trunk or Treat- for the 3 wards that attend our church building and had a great turnout. Our investigator and her 2 daughters came and loved it! I was Harry Potter -it helped having the official tie and chocolate wand that mom sent from their trip to Harry Potter World. We were in charge of Pin the Tag on the Missionary! It was a blast. We went all out with it making sure the kids had a good time. 

Our whole zone went out to the nearby graveyard to see and take part of the Swedish holiday All Saints Day. So this is the traditional swedish holiday and not Halloween. This day people go to graveyards to respect and light candles on loved ones graves who have gone before them. It was a really powerful thing for me to see the Spirit of Elijah working in these people without them noticing. I was overcome with the spirit thinking about my own ancestors who have paved the way for me to get to where I am today.

All Saints day at the cemetary

Sön: D came to church and I translated for one of the lessons -it is always a good check on my Swedish to do that. Things are looking great as we go forward into this next week.

So I said earlier about the zone conference, of president asking us to give up something for the Lord. I thought long and hard about it for a couple of days and decided that I want to give up my Pride. I want to stop contending with people when I thing I am right. I want to be able to support others in their decisions, even when I have a different idea. Yes, of course I will still stand up for the truth, but I really just want to be more humble and submissive to the Lord. Every day, and every week I learn so much more of the goodness of God in my life and in the lives of those around. I can testify to you all with absolute clarity that this is the true church of God. This is His work. It feels so amazing to be a part of it. I love it. I love Him. I love you all, have a great week.

MVH

Äldste Johnson