Grateful in any circumstance

Well, Hello there! It's me, Elder Johnson. Transfer calls came and I will be staying in Handen! I'm very excited for that because the ward here is great and we got some good things rolling for us. Glad to hear everyone is doing good. I can't believe September is already here. I will be turning 20 this month and will be done with the teenage life. Tyvärr. Anyway, lemme tell ya about my week...

Mån: We had kebab for lunch which was a bad idea because we went to play sports right after. Not a good feeling ha. But we went to the Gubbängen chapel -the one I started my mission in (that was super trippy)- to play soccer, basketball and innebandy with a few missionaries and YSAs. That was a lot of fun. Later we ended up teaching someone on the street about the Plan of Salvation. When we bore testimony of it, we know that they felt something but they didn't want to meet further. Ahhh, thats the worst. When you bear testimony of the truth, and you see in their eyes that they believe what you are saying is true, and then toss it aside because it doesn't make complete sense. It's sad.

Tis: I went on exchanges with Elder S and we had a good time together. Met with T, our young JW. He shut us down.  We gave him some information about Christ and Jehovah being the same person shown in their own bible so we will see how that goes. We had a YSA come with us to meet a guy, M, who can speak that language and Russian and Swedish and English, and is a break dancer. He is super cool! He comes from a muslim background but is reading the Book of Mormon. Our YSA, was super solid bearing testimony to him and just instantly becoming his friend. It is so nice having members help us on teaches, you have no idea how big a difference it makes!

Ons: After a solid district meeting we went to see an investigator that we randomly called on the phone last week. It would turn out to be the craziest thing ever, we were totally led by the spirit. We had no idea who this lady was -B- so we went with no expectations. Within the first 5 minutes we find out that she has 4 copies of the Book of Mormon in several languages, she believes it to be true, she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and that this is the true church of God. For some reason she just never was baptized and stopped meeting with missionaries. We said "nu är det dags"- now it is time. She agreed and said she wanted to be baptized. So we set up a day for her to be baptized in late September. Wow, how incredible is that! The spirit was guiding us to ask the right questions at the right time and just leading us to her. It is so amazing. I'm still shaking my head as to what happened!

We taught a man from the Congo. We told him, "Look, the only thing we are asking you to do is read and pray about it the Book of Mormon. God knows all and He will tell you whether it is right or wrong. Don't take our word for it, especially don't take what the internet has to say, but take God's word." He said he'd do it. Awesome! We then went to the Å's-some members, for dinner. 

Tors: We went to Västerhaninge's district meeting and had a great experience. I remember hearing Sister M Lewis telling about how her mission had to sacrifice personal music in order to come closer to God. So I thought, what is it that I can sacrifice, that isn't something necessarily bad just not the best, so I can come closer to God. I have been doing a lot of praying and studying and I think I have come up with something. I'll tell you how it goes later. We did some swingbys and had a member dinner with the O's. The husband is the area 70 over here, and they have 11 kids and 18 grandkids. H -our ward mission leader- is their youngest. Later we met up with some JWs and had pleasant meeting, ha. Nah, I'll tell you later -when I'm home.

On the way to clean the temple

Fre: We had the wonderful opportunity to clean the temple in the morning. The temple had some refurnishing done and they needed as much help to get things back in order to open it up again this next week. I got to clean the ordinance rooms. Even cleaning in the temple was a very spiritual experience. I walked by the sealing rooms and the celestial room and felt the spirit so strongly testifying to me that this really is the House of God. Wow, it is indescribable. I was really sad to leave because it felt so good being there. I had a nice taste of heaven while cleaning the temple which I am very grateful for.

We had lunch with our Bishop and his cute family. The little 7 and 5 year old girls really took to me -I don't know why;) They are great. We did some teaches then we got an early call about the transfers. Some things are changing: instead of 9 zones and small districts, we will have 6 zones with big districts. I'm excited to see how it goes. 

Lör: We met with H found out that his life is getting hard.  We told him that things would work out if he placed God first in his life. We watched the new mormon message "the hope of Gods light". He was almost to tears. It was pretty sad to see. I have noticed that for new converts, there comes a big trial to see if they will stay faithful. We have a good ward here to take care of H so I am not worried about it. Just keep him in your prayers though for support. 

Sön: B couldn't make it to church but H did and everyone is looking for ways to help him. Bishop and the ward are on top of things looking for a ways to help his situation. 3rd hour was combined and we learned how to raise children in the gospel. Im laughing because this whole month has been focused on marriage and children and I cant do anything about it right now hahaha. We had a member dinner afterwards where we had crayfish and shrimp-mmmmm:)

Well, that was this week. It is getting colder and colder already ha. I can't believe how fast time flies. This mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm constantly amazed every day by the bounteous blessings that God has given to me. I read President Uchtdorfs talk "Grateful in any Circumstance" and that has really hit me a lot. We can find peace and gratitude even in the midst of our trials. My friend Kenzie Lewis shared that with me, and she is going through something really hard too. That has really inspired me. We can always be grateful for the Atonement to carry us through and give us power to endure our trials and find peace in our journey. I love being led by the spirit and looking back saying "what just happened?" haha, it's the best:) I love this work. It is true. Christ is at the Head and we are on our way to victory. I love you all, have a great week!

Love

Elder Johnson