Working in Lund, Living in Malmo

Hejsan allihopa! Thanks everyone for the updates. I love hearing from ya! We are finally back on a regular schedule with Monday pdays and missionary work and boy does it feel good! Wowee, what a long great week. Let me tell you about it...

Mån: I hate packing. Gosh, it is so hard trying to make everything fit in, haha. We went into Stockholm for maybe my last time before I go home, to check out the stores and Gamla Stan and all of the old memories that I have there. We had dinner with the L's -one of my favorite families in Handen for sure. We met and said goodbye to I -a recent convert that I've taught most of the after baptism discussions to. He's so awesome.

Tis: We cleaned the apartment and the area book then I spent the rest of the day saying goodbye to my investigators and people I taught like L, E, D, C and H. I'm sad I have to leave H but I know he is firmly planted in the gospel and will be ok. We've talked about him going on a mission and that will be so awesome!!!! We then had one final dinner with M and karaoke:)

Ons: Transfer day=crazy day! All 3 suitcases stuffed to the brim. I went to the Täby chapel for the trainers and new missionaries meeting. I already knew who my greeny would be (because Elder M told me ha) but it was fun to see everyone else so surprised for each other. So my new comp is Elder L.....enko -from Idaho. Haha, his dad is straight outta Russia and his mom comes from Idaho. His mom served in your mission pops- Belgium. Anyway, he is great. He got a new investigator while he was waiting at the immigration office- so awesome! Our train was delayed so instead of being a 5 hour train ride it was a 7 hour ride!! There were about 10 missionaries on the same train that got off at several stops along the way so that was fun. We pulled into our place at about 10.15 pm and just crashed. 

[No more pics this week 'cause we forgot the cord]

Tors: We unpacked and headed to district meeting. Even though we will be working in Lund we live in Malmö -about a 30 minute commute. We are whitewashing which means we are basically starting from scratch. But I'm not frustrated; I'm super pumped actually! It is so much fun. It is how I was trained so I know how it goes! We obviously had to have kebab after district meeting for my "son" to try it for the first time. Let me tell you I found out that Southern kebab is soooooooo much better than it is up north! Gosh, it is amazing. I had to take a little pause on my healthy eating plan for both of us;)

Later we got into our area and met some people at the YSA center. We are in charge of that, so that helps with us commuting every day. There is a senior couple -the Ns, who are great, and then 2 sets of elders and 1 set of sisters in Lund. It is a university town and boy do I love it already!! It's so amazing! We visited with an investigator who has worked with missionaries for a long time. She bore her testimony to us that she knows the book of Mormon is true and that she wants to be baptized! So my greeny asks her the question and places a date! (It might not happen because of medical issues and such but she is super sincere and nice.)

Fre: We have to spend lot of time walking around and getting to know our area. It's sad because we are training, which takes extra study time in the morning, and with the 30 min commute we don't really get into our area until 1 and by that time, the sun is on its way down haha. Oh well. More daylight is on its way. We met with another investigator who is a bit sensitive and gets upset if you say the wrong thing. That was tough. We set up our vision as a companionship. My comp has a lot of fire and very very very very high goals. I'm trying to balance that with realistic goals. However, I am just going to go with it and support him the whole way. We've already had great success, why stop now? We got to play innebandy [indoor hockey] with some YSAs -that was fun!

Lör: Weekly planning session: not much to plan when you don't know. But we are taking a crack at everything and totally relying on the Lord for help and guidance. We aren't stressing, we are having a good time. And that's super neat to see. I've put aside all of my former routines and habits (even the good ones) and have seriously just started fresh with Elder L. I truly feel love for him and am trying to make sure he has the best time of his life out here. We had dinner with this awesome young couple -the S's. They helped us with a lot of questions we had about the people and area and are willing to help us out anytime. 

Sön: Sundays are always so good! Our church does the P/RS first, then SS and then Sacrament meeting. It's a change for me but I like it. My comp has been so exhausted trying so hard to understand and speak Swedish -which is pretty good so far. He kept falling asleep and it was funny:) We both got to bear our testimonies in sacrament meeting. I felt an amazing peace and excitement within the ward. They are so good and just want to help out! Lund is amazing!!!! We got invited over to dinner with the N family -super big fam and super awesome. We are already being taken care of well here. The Lord is too good to us.  (Any chance he gets, my comp goes to sleep hahaha. I can't blame him. I was that tired too when I first got out.) 

Well, there are a lot of big changes, lots of new things going on, and a whole lot of not knowing too. However, I can already see that the Lord is blessing me with a greater capacity of patience and Charity. I have been praying a lot for these 2 things and really want to work on them. I have noticed that certain things that used to bother me don't anymore. Especially with a brand spanking newbie, and knowing I have a lot of responsibility, it's comforting to know I'm not alone. This is a great opportunity for me to recognize my weaknesses and confusions and just fully, completely rely on God to help me out with everything. It feels amazing really. It's hard to explain, but I love it. I love this work. I love my companion. And I love all of you. Hope you have an amazing week!

med stor kärlek

äldste Johnson

Hello hello everyone! It seems like yesterday, or maybe thursday that I wrote to you last! Oh, it was. Not a lot has happened, so I'll talk to you next week...haha not! Just kidding, it was a great couple of days here, let me tell ya about it...

Might bring this one-piecer home 

Tors: New Years Day. We took it pretty easy on this pday. We jammed out on the uke and guitar, did our emailing and chilled at the shopping centers until it was time to begin again. We taught some really cool people on the street -one family who believes in John the Baptist and a couple from Sri Lanka. Gosh, Im meeting all kinds of people from all over the world. I love it!

Fre: This was a good day. We did our regular stuff and actually got blåsted/cancelled several times throughout the day with some really positive people. That was pretty frustrating, but we didn't let that keep us down. We went out hard and ended up finding new people to teach. We got a visit in with F, who was busy over the holidays so that was good. We got the transfer phone call this night. I am for sure going down to Lund to whitewash and train. I'm stoked! However the Handen 2 area is dissolving into our area, so we got to merge a lot of things. It has been a bit stressful doing all that but so far so good.

M helped us out a ton on lessons

Lör: This day was absolutely incredible! Gosh, it was good. We taught D and out of the blue he said he was thinking about being baptized in March! That was so cool! The spirit was strong and was so amazing! That feels really good after working with him for so long. We met with a new investigator seems positive. We spent the next couple of hours with Sister B at the YSA center in Stockholm while President interviewed our zone. We had to make sure that all went smoothly. Sister B is absolutely hilarious. It was a good bonding session with her and so much fun. My interview with President was incredible. I gained a personal conviction that he is inspired. I had a similar experience last year with President Newell. He gave me great comfort and peace. I had a wake up call realizing that it is less than 6 months until I go home. I need to go hard now! It was super good. I loved it so much, I just wish I could have visited with him longer.

L is the man!

We came home and had 3 more lessons that were amazing. One street lesson. One member dinner with M who just went through the temple for her endowment for the first time and had a great discussion with her. Then we had a member come out with us on a teach to help translate spanish. The people blåsted us so the member just went hard contacting people on the street and calling her spanish friends who lived in the area. We got in with one and had a great spiritual experience!!! It was awesome!

Love, love, love the L family

Goodbye Stockholm- I'm going to Lund

Sön: We had our regular correlation meeting and ward council. Church was awesome. F had lots of YSAs take over with her so that was great. Then L and her daughter came and had a good time. I bore my testimony thanking the ward for how great they are, thanking my comp and thanking my savior. This ward is incredible and I will miss them sincerely. After dinner we went back out and did some swingbys and contacts. We had a good discussion of what we have done together these last 12 weeks and it has been remarkable!

I love Handen. I love what the future has in store for me. 2015 is going to be great. I would challenge you all to look on lds.org the mormon message called Look Not Behind Thee. It is powerful. Look forward to this year and have fun! I love this work, I love you all. Have a great week!  Love Elder Johnson

First apartment in Stockholm 16 months ago

Happy New Years!

 Hey everyone! It's a new year! Crazy right???? Well I hope you all had a great New Years party and all that jazz cuz mine was super fun. This week has been slow - the inbetween days of Christmas and New Years is pretty hard to work, but we did get some good things done. Let me tell ya...

Fre 26: Pday. We cleaned up everything from Christmas and then took it easy. For Swedes, the 26th- they call it annan dags jul- another day of Christmas- but it is basically another holiday. We had dinner with the Ö family-I love them! Oh just det, My Mtc group had a conference call to say goodbye to our sisters next week. That is super weird.

Lör: We went out and tried to be as effective as we could be. We had a nice member meal with a family from Skåne-down south-and I love their accent!!!

Sön: We didnt have any investigators in church because they were out of town, but it was kind of nice not to worry about if or when people would come -we could enjoy the Sacrament and really reflect on all that has happened in the week. Plus with the new year it was a good time of reflection. My companion gave a talk about resolutions. It's something we have talked a lot about. For so long I just remember writing a bunch of things I wanted to do in the year -never really making it personal or a SMART goal. And then we realized that we need to do it with Christ. Christ is the one who makes God's goal -immortality and eternal life of man -possible through His atonement. Why can't He make our goals possible. Plus, setting goals that He wants us to so that we can grow in the way He wants is always better than our own ideas. It was a very good talk/discussion. The rest of the day we were with members and contacting people on the streets.

Mån: We went it to the temple to see the big group going home. I gave Sister Kennedy Byrd- a couple of things to drop off at home. Go to her Homecoming next sunday!!! (That's Nikki's friend from high school.) We met up with E -a member, and his new friend C who is interested in the church. It's frustrating because he doesn't talk ever, so we don't know if he understands. But it seemed like it was a good lesson with him. I don't know ha.

Tis: We met up with the Assistants to go on exchanges. I was with Elder M -my father- down in Jordbro. We had a blast together, just like old times. It was a really cool day. We didn't have a lot planned, in fact just a bunch of knocking and swing bys. But we taught some guy at his doorstep and talked with 45 people on the street. We had 2 random people from the street we ended up talking with for an hour each. One, we just offered to help this lady carry her heavy suitcase for her. We dropped her suitcase off at home and then went to the church to show her around. She liked it a lot and we are meeting with her again! The other was another guy who has had a lot of problems in life recently. He took us in and he wanted to know what God wanted him to do now! So we told him to watch a conference talk from a living day prophet! Totally random stuff this day but God was willing to bless us for working hard. We also met with H and he is doing really good. He is thinking about a mission, but for now he is focusing on school!

Ons: New Years EVE!!! We worked hard during the day until we had to stop proselyting at 5pm. We also worked on our personal resolutions for the year and then made our way to the Ö's house. They invited us over for new years! Gosh, they are so awesome. So it was 5 of them and then us 4 missionaries. We played lots of games, told stories, and then watched the fireworks go off! This was the first year in a long long long time where I didnt' run around outside screaming! hahaha I am going to do that next year though for sure:) There were lots of fireworks. It was awesome. We were allowed to stay out that late if we had members who could drive us home -which we did. When I got home, I crashed hard and slept great.

Well, with this new year of 2015, a lot of things are going through my mind right now. I am going to be finishing my mission in 6 months (my release date is June 25) and I am going to begin college. I also found out that I am transferring next week down south to Lund, where I will be whitewashing and training! Lots and lots of things just going on. But, I have never been more excited to take on a new year. Like I said earlier, I have made resolutions and goals with the help of Christ. I have big goals for these last 6 months of my mission -I am going to go all out. It is going to be great:) I remember my farewell talk was Enduring to the End. Well, this is the beginning of the end of my mission. Now is the time. I love it. I looked back on 2014 and saw just how much I have grown. Just how much the mission has changed me for the better. Yet i know there is still time to learn and grow. And I'm excited:) This is it:) I love you all, I love this work. Have a great New Year!

Med stor kärlek

Äldste Johnson

Merry Christmas!

Me and Elder P at the harbor

Finally some snow!

Hello hello everyone, I need to catch up on the last two weeks.

Tis: Exchanges with the Västerhaninge elders. I was with Elder P and we went down to the harbor called Nynäshamn where we did some contacting and tracting. We came back for me to do a baptismal interview for the vendelsö missionarie's investigator. T is a swedish woman who started searching for the truth and found it here and is super ready. Gosh, she is cool! We taught some people on the streets with the He is the Gift and it was lots of fun. Visby elders spent the night with us.

From my MTC group

Sis Becktrand photo bombing

Ons: Christmas Zone Conference!!! The first and last part were very serious with talking about Sharing the Gift and the true meaning of Christmas. But the middle was funny! Each district performed a skit about christmas! Ours took the Charlie Brown Christmas special to a whole new level! It was amazing and so good! Then the departing missionaries -i.e. my trainer and the sisters from my MTC group- bore their testimonies. The spirit was so strong. Just listening to them made me realize how short of a time I really have. Crazy! 

Tors: A regular working hard day.

Fre: I found this talk that I absolutely love called "the 4th Missionary." It talks about the different levels of devoted service and it is incredible. I challenge everyone to look at it, even if you arent a missionary -its so good!!

The sisters who taught C

C's baptism

 Lör: We taught D-and he is doing super good. We 4 missionaries went to the L family to make some goodies for their neighbors and our investigators! it was tons of fun! We then attended both T's baptism in Vendelsö, and C's in Västerhaninge. We finished the day with not one but two members dinners.

Sön: We had 5 investigators in church! Incredible -H's mom came for her first time and loved it! She has lots of friends in church now! We then ate dinner with a family and afterwards went up to the city to watch the Ninni Bautista and family Christmas concert They are famous here and are members and it was fantastic. I got a CD and am going to send it to mom -she signed it for her. It was a good mix of english and swedish songs-I loved it!

Enjoying the festive city

Mån 22: We had 1/2 pday to take care of the necessities after which L and her family showed us around Stockholm and we had fun. We came home to teach a member's friend who is interested in the church. We helped a member move some furniture around and went to another members place for dinner and FHE. The P's. Gosh, they are so great! We played some family games and tried their massage chair out:)

Tis: So worked hard and got some lessons in and lots of contacts trying to show people the He is the Gift and help people remember the meaning of Christmas. It was super solid.

Ons: We played some soccer in the morning and the rest of the day we were with members! We were with 1 family from 2-6 where we watched Kalle Anka (the traditional Donald Duck Christmas show that EVERYONE watches) and played games, and then went to another family to do karaoke! The VH elders spent the night with us and we stayed up late talking and having a real good christmassy time:)

Tors: Christmas day! So good. I made french toast in the morning, complete with Peanut butter that I got for a present!! We got to watch Frozen! -that is so good! I love it!!! It is totally based on the Scandanavian culture! Elsa is sooooooo cute ha:) Then we got to skype home and that seriously was the best gift ever!

I got to meet baby Lia for the first time ever! I loved seeing my family and talking with them. I love em all. They are the best. We then went to our bishop's home for turkey dinner and games. We played a game called Dixit. Its pretty fun.

This is just an hundredth part of what really happened. It seriously has been the greatest christmas. The members have been so sweet to us. I had been stressing about not getting my package from home but then it came just in time. I experienced my first white christmas (with snow) and I got to go to two baptisms this week and that was awesome! I am truly grateful for all that happened. It was absolutely magical. And what's great is that the magic of christmas is Christ's love flowing in all of us. I am grateful for Him. For his birth, for his life, for his death. He is the only way, and I am forever grateful for that. I love Him. I love you all. Keep the season with Christ as the center and all will be wonderful!

With great love -med stor kärlek

Äldste Johnson

Hey Ho! Well well. Another week has gone and Christmas is just that much more closer! Seriously, I am stoked for Christmas and being able to skype home to family. Thanks everyone for all the emails and letters and love and support and prayers you send. It really means a lot.

Mån: We just finished doing our laundry when our neighbor stopped us outside. He is super positive and has wanted to meet us but has always been so busy. He is a super cool guy. It seriously felt like we were part of an Indiana Jones movie because of the things he was telling us ha. It was awesome! We had dinner with the bishop's family -I love them! 

Tis: Exchanges with the Vendelsö elders -I was with a greeny Swede, Elder S and we had a great day! We spoke Swedish the whole day -it's weird that we don't normally do that ha. He is quiet, but we had fun and taught several lessons. I was amazed at how well he taught for only being out for so little. But then I think how much easier it would be if I was teaching in English 24/7. 

Ons: First we helped clean the church. Later on it was raining pretty hard -and it was like Ice rain. We decided to go tracting. First door -Let us in!!! Wow, amazing! It was a Finnish woman with her 3 little children. There was an incredible feeling when we walked in and knew that this family was special. The husband was asleep but we shared "He is the Gift" with them and they loved it. They are very devoted members in the local church here and you could tell that Christ means so much to them. 

Practicing our epic skit for next week.

Tors: We had District meeting. This is God's work that we are doing. He knows whats going on but until we pray -until we get connection with God, it's not going to be as effective. Prayer aligns our will with His. It makes a lot more sense to do His work in His way. We then practiced a skit that we will perform in the upcoming zone Christmas conference. Let me tell you, it is going to be epic!!!:) Later on, we met up with the finnish lady again and her husband. We had an awesome discussion with them and testified of the Restoration. They had lots of questions and we answered them calmly and boldly. There was an amazing spirit there. You could tell, again, that Christ is the center of their lives. They are helping their friends find faith in Him and doing their own missionary efforts-amazing! Unfortunately, they can't meet again until January and they don't sound interested in our church, but my comp and I felt peace as we left. They probably won't accept our message now, but we feel very strongly that they will in the future. A seed has been planted very deeply and it will nourish and grow, and somewhere down the line, they will be ready. It was an incredible feeling of peace. I can't describe it. We also met with H and his sister and they are doing good. She is heavily involved with the YW so thats great!

Santa Lucia Holiday program

Fre: Our investigator M invited us to her daughter's holiday concert. Santa Lucia is a holiday here in Sweden. It basically is people with candles singing Christmas music. It was a lot of fun being there and showing our interest in this family. We ate dinner with Sister O. She is so awesome. Seriously like the nicest sweetest person.

At the temple with L for his first time.

Superman gingerbread
heart cookie

Lör: My comp had some back pains, so I took Elder L to the temple with L. We had a nice group of people there to celebrate his first time doing baptisms. And boy did he love it!!! It was awesome. The spirit was there so strong and he was so happy that he made it! What a journey he has had! I feel so grateful to be a part of that journey. Funny, I was at the temple this time exactly last year with J R to go do baptisms for his first time! 

More Santa Lucia

We watched another Lucia concert and passed out some pepparkakor (gingerbread) to spread some good cheer. We then did some knocking and taught F. 

Sön: I was beginning to feel sick Saturday and for sure got the ont i halsen (sore throat) on Sunday. Its not too bad. I'm just super exhausted and tired. But church was really good. 3 of our investigators came and had a great time. Oh yeah, guess who was there! S Q (the guy that knows Brady.) Geez, he's been here 3 times now. I'm gonna eat dinner with him later this week. We ate double dinner with the B's and the R's. I'm so full!!!!! hahaha but I love it:)

Something that we talked about Sunday was something I read in the conference Ensign. The sacrament is a spiritual renewal. It is the most important thing about sunday, and about church. The more I thought about it, the more I came to this conclusion. It may sound bold, but this is how I feel. Just taking the Sacrament isn't the most important thing. Feeling the Spirit of it is. It is the spirit that renews our covenants, that refreshes us, that gives us the feeling of peace, the forgiveness of sins and the desire to try harder the next week. The sacrament is pointless if we do not feel the spirit cleanse us. And that is the promise that God gives us -to always feel His spirit. I am so grateful for the ability to feel the spirit as I partake of the Sacrament. It truly is a renewal of the spirit. I love it. I love this work. And I love you all. Have a great week.

Love Elder Johnson

He is the Gift!

This is where we shop for food every week.

Hej Hej, This week was very good and also very trying. The weather was pretty mild, so no complaints there. Hope y'all avoid that nasty cold fever. Get away! Thanks for all the updates and love, you guys rock.

Found the phone - whew!

Mån: We made our way to Stockholm to eat lunch with other missionaries and walk around. I bought a shirt for baby Lia so that we can all rep a Sweden shirt:) I left our phone on the train and it took some time tracking it down. Oops. Luckily we found it -it was just 1.5 hours of finding time ha. My bad.

Tis: I sent a package off to the family. We met with M and showed her "He is the Gift" and the spirit was super strong there. I love it! She keeps saying she will come to church but hasn't yet. Coming to church would be the final key for her -then it will all be clear. Please pray that she will come. We did swingbys and we talked with people along the way and ended up teaching 3 people on the street by starting it off with "He is the Gift". It was sooooo sick!! I love it.

Ons: We taught 5 lessons in the day and they were all super solid. We received a surprise dinner invite which is always the best! We gave L a blessing because he was sick and wasn't doing well. Gosh darn it. Just when he's about to go to the temple, he gets sick!!! We met up with H and his sister but unfortunately their mom won't let his sister to be baptized but hopefully we can clarify some things and get that going. They are still coming to church and doing great!

Pretty countryside. 

Here is even another crazy thing. As we were walking around we came out of this apartment and a young adult old woman contacted us. Her name is K and she was actually one of our old investigators who had a baptismal date last year but cancelled. There's been on and off contact with the missionaries for the past year. She came up to us and said that she was ready again! WOW!!! Talk about Miracle! That was so cool to be in the right place at the right time.

Tors: We met with K more formally and for a longer time. She speaks English but is from somewhere in eastern Europe. She was so ready and willing to be baptized. It was amazing to hear her story. Sadly, we haven't really heard from her since. It is frustrating because we felt the spirit so strong with her and know she is ready. People have their agency, but we will keep trying with her.

Free hot chocolate in the train station (with a message of course.)

Fre: District meeting focused on contacting and discovering "the gift." It is working very well when we are talking to people on the street about Christmas -they are more open and we have a great conversation. We then ask if we can share a 2 minute video about Christmas-they say yes-the spirit is there and then we testify. It's awesome!! Our district gave out free hot chocolate at the train station while showing "He is the Gift" and talking to people. It was a great turnout -not as big or great as it would be in the states, but still good.

Sadly, the rest of the day was quite brutal. We got blåsted 3 times, hard by some of our most progressing investigators. That was a blow. Plus just a bunch of minor things built up to knock us down. I have been in my tiny tiny tiny area for 5 months now and I know everything about everything here. I know what I am going to do everyday and it is messing with me. I eventually called President and shared my feelings with him. He told me there is still someone out there I need to find. So that helped change my perspective and I had an incredible spiritual experience that night as I prayed.

Reece's Cookies- Yum

Lör: I baked some Reese's cookies and they turned out FANTASTIC!!! Seriously. I was super happy -and so were the rest of the missionaries who live with me. My companion participated in our ward Christmas concert. He did really good.

Dinner with the O's: A typical Swedish Christmas meal

Sön: Fast sunday is always great! Boy, it was a crazy busy day though. We had coordination meeting; ward council; we participated in a role play in a meeting for all of the stake presidents in sweden, the mission president, and the area 70 -talk about no pressure ha! It went good though; as well as teaching and translating during church, teaching a few lessons on the street. WHEW!! What a day! We also had dinner with the Ö's and it was basically the Swedish Christmas meal and it was great!:)

Let me tell you that I am no longer losing my mind as I have felt recently being in this area for so long. The experience I had Friday night helped so much. I remember just opening up completely to my Heavenly Father -not leaving anything behind. It all came out and I stopped suddenly and flat out just said "Are you even there? Do you even hear me?" ... I can't even begin to describe to you the feeling that I received after that. It was absolutely incredible. I felt enveloped in His loving arms and knew without a doubt that He was there with me, that He knew what I am going through, and that He would always be there for me. I know that is true. I know He is real. I know He lives. I challenge you to find out for yourself -for I know you will receive an answer of His reality. I Love this work, I love you all, have a great week! 

MVH, 

Äldste Johnson

Tjena Tjena, It was a weird schedule going 10 days without a pday. Sounds like Thanksgiving was a success back at home. It's not celebrated here, but we pulled some strings and made our own. I am excited though to be there next year for Thanksgiving with the family. I forgot to mention that transfers were last week and I will be staying here in Handen for Christmas!!

Warm Hands=Warm Hearts.  Thanks to the Utah ward who made these for us.

Lör: For pday we hung out with the Assistants and President and Sister Beckstrand in Stockholm looking at some Christmas lights. That was fun! I love them all. Sister B gave all of us missionaries mittens that she had her ward back home knit for us.  What an awesome gift.  

Sön: We taught C early in the morning and invited him to church. He made it to part of church not sacrament meeting, but hey at least he came right! F also came and is doing better and better each time. We had dinner with some members and then went to another dinner with some other members. We were pretty full afterwards. But I love that:)

Mån: We found out at last minute that we would have to take care of a missionary because his companion was going home and he wouldn't be getting his new companion until the next day. We picked him up and said goodbye to the departing missionaries -a lot of leaders and guys I look up to who aren't too much older than me on the mission. Crazy stuff. We then came back to the L family to bake bullar and have family home evening with them. I love them. We had loads of fun baking and I did the object lesson and totally blew everyones mind!!!

Tis: We took our extra missionary to get his companion and then got cancelled on back to back. That was rough. But we did finish the day by teaching F about prayer and scripture study.

Ons: We hosted the Visby elders because they were staying for tomorrows training. One was a greeny -Elder Jones who actually went to Pine View HS. So I took him and had lots of fun talking about mutual friends and whatnot. All 4 of us met with a member who just moved in from Bolivia who speaks English really well. He is our main man in helping us teach our Spanish people. He knows his stuff and is so cool. We had dinner with the O family-the area 70. He's super spiritual but way funny. It was hilarious seeing the greeny fall asleep because of jetlag.:)

Festive sweaters and socks for Thanksgiving

Tors: We had zone training and went over the "He is the Gift" initiative and #sharethegift! EVERYONE check out christmas.mormon.org and get started!!!! It is amazing. It's a worldwide event to help everyone remember the true meaning of christmas!!! It is awesome!! I have never felt the spirit so strong with anything, and it is a testimony to me that the Lord is hastening His work. We then had Thanksgiving lunch with our zone where everyone brought a little bit of food and we used chicken instead of turkey. It was super nice:) We contacted with the Visby Elders until they had to catch the ferry back home.

Fre: Finally alone in our area and able to get our stuff done that we need to ha. We taught M-he is now 6 weeks + without and for sure going to the temple! I'm so excited for him. We had 2 member dinners and with the last we moved some furniture. I cant tell you how many times I have helped people move furniture on my mission, Haha, but I love helping people.

Lör: We walked, talked, tracted, swungby, etc all day long teaching and preaching the good word and teaching several new people along the way. #sharethegift is amazing!!!

Brady skyping with a Cambodian woman in Sweden

Last week the sisters were teaching a Cambodian woman but with the language barrier they couldn't communicate.  I told them that my brother knew Cambodian so they skyped him and he got to talk and help teach this woman.  How crazy is that!  

Some guy asked me to watch his stuff
while he got coffee.

Sön: F brought her son and brother to church. They had to leave early, but it was great having them there. Sunday is always a bit stressful as a missionary. I wonder if I will be able to relax more when I am home haha. We ended the day with another member dinner and had some fun there.

So much happens every week. I love this work. It is amazing. Thanksgiving has caused me to reflect on many things that I am grateful for: all of you, my mission, my family, and more importantly my Savior. He is the reason for the season. He is the greatest gift ever given to us from our Loving Heavenly Father. He is the way, the truth, and the life. I am so humbled to bear his name and testify especially in this time of year about Him. I love you all, have a great week,

Love,  Elder Johnson  #sharethegift