KRISTIANSTAD!

{their last visit to their favorite ice cream place}

Well, I'm here in my new home!!! 

OH!  Life is good! Kind of hard at times--but that's the point of it all, right?

{With her dearly loved Pontus and Susanne her last day in Taby}

I absolutely LOVED my home in Täby--and it always will be home--but the great thing about missions is that I get to make many places be my home!  

{sweet parting gifts from Pontus and Susanne}

So, that's what I'm doing here in Kristianstad! 

So...K-stad is way down in the southern part of Sweden--and it is beautiful and cold and gloomy!  Okay...it sounds kind of funny and creepy, but Kristianstad just feels like a place that would be used in an Alfred Hitchcock movie!

It is always dark and gloomy, and the sky is just filled with hundreds of ravens!  It is FREAKY!!!  They just swarm and gather near our apartment because guess what...there is a big cemetery like 5 minutes away!!!  Hahaha!   What is President trying to say to me!?! 

But, it's all good!  Oh, and guess what our Branch President's wife does?  Her job is to pick up dead people!  What?!  What kind of a job is that?  It's so scary!!!  Haha, oh I just love Kristianstad...such a fun place already! 

Anyways--I can catch up on the last few days in Täby before going on too far!  So, last Monday was quite possibly the funnest P-day ever...

It started off as just going on a hike, because I had been wanting to for so long, and then I feel like they all finally just agreed because I was leaving!  So, we go and it was SO fun!  

We went to this beautiful forest and just started wandering and exploring everywhere.  It was so green, while still having a pretty layer of snow on top--and it just looked like a fairy/troll forest...it was so cool! 

As we were exploring, we came across this HUGE frozen-over lake/swamp thing.  One of the Elders went to go test it out and see if it really was solid, and it completely was--and because we are really smart and think eveything through, we all started walking on it....but no worries, it really was completely frozen!

What started out as just walking and sliding and slipping somehow turned into the most epic game of Mushroom Hockey!!!  Hahaha!  Oh, my goodness!  So we find this mushroom head that is completely frozen and then we start finding sticks that look just like hockey sticks--

--so, naturally we split up into teams and start an epic battle of "Mush Puck"!! It was honestly one of the funnest things I think I have ever done!

Needless to say, I woke up the next morning feeling like I had been hit by a train!  This kind of hockey works muscles you never even thought you had! 

But now to move on...Tuesday we got to take around all of the new missionaries straight from the MTC out for their first contacting session out in the center of Stockholm! 

{the beautiful, new "greenie" fresh from the MTC that Annie took out contacting her first day there--she must have been exhausted!}

 It was so fun, and it was really nice to see that I actually have improved in Swedish!  The gift of tongues is real! 

Oh, and then we had our last little Täby dinner with one of my favorite families, the Aspelins!  We also made homemade semmlors, and they were to die for! 

{Last dinner in Taby at the Aspelin Family home}

Oh, but then while I just felt kind of happier than ever--being surrounded by some of my favorite people--I realized that my very first day in Täby was at their house baking pepperkakor--and then my last day was also at their house baking semmlor!  Oh, it was just so fun! 

{Sister Campbell and Azam}

{with "my sweet Catarina"}

{a lovely lunch at Emilio's with Pontus and Susanne--they took such good care of the girls!}

Then transfers!  After 3 days of packing like crazy, I finally made it to K-stad!  There have already been lots of fun and strange things here--but to keep it short, I will just share

something I have learned this week...

S0, it is pretty secluded out here, and pretty far from anything--so, it can be hard at times, because it feels like were are just kind of far from anything and everything, but I think it is really teaching me how to find joy...true joy, in the little things. 

{Sister Campbell and her beautiful new companion, Sister Stetler}

Yesterday, Sys. Stetler and I were just talking about being cold, and how I had just found out my boots had a hole in them so my feet were soaking wet and freezing--we were quiet for a moment...and then a minute later, I just felt like skipping--and at the same time, Sys. Stet said, "I just feel happy!  Isn't it weird how in the times you feel happiest you are usually uncomfortable in some way?"  And I just started laughing because it was so true!  My feet soaking wet and our backs hurting, but for some reason just feeling so happy, and feeling true joy!

It has been interesting lately  because transfers just kind of throw you off a little--and then Sys. Stetler was sick Saturday...so we have just been trying to catch up on things and get ourselves better, and I feel like that was just draining me! 

Who would have thought that taking it easy at home because she was sick would make me EXHAUSTED!  Yesterday, I just had a sudden urge to go contacting, and funny enough that was EXACTLY what I needed!  We got Syster Stetler all better, and finally went out again--and I have come to find that taking it easy does not bring energy in this work. 

I have felt "energy" so much differently since being here, and it is so true that the work does bring new energy.  That it is only when you are 100% in the work that you can be so exhausted and yet so ready to take on anything in this life!

We had been trying to contact--but hardly anybody was out because it was night time and raining--so we didn't really have ideal circumstances on our side.  But then, we just felt like we should turn into this one alley-----

--and there we found a lady who was super interested, listened to a whole lesson, and gladly took the Book of Mormon...it is kind of hard to be sad when God is so good and blesses us with times like this. 

When we saw and taught the lady in the alley, I felt my testimony grow more than ever.  At times, I feel like I am not progressing as much spiritually as a did a few weeks ago, or whenever...and I just compare it to the past--but, then I always realize that is just because I need to re-dig my self into the scriptures, and just turn there for new light and help and motivation. 

And then, while we were talking to this lady, I realized that I have been studying more deeply the past few days, which had prepared me for that moment. 

I told her about how the Book of Mormon truly has helped me through so many things. How I have come to a point that whenever I used to turn to other things for help, I now turn to God and Mormons Bok for answers to my questions, and whenever I just need to find peace or happiness. 

She just had this look on her face that just cut into my soul, and as I was bearing testimony, I just found myself talking it through to myself, and feeling my own testimony
strengthen right there in that dark, rainy, cool alley.  It really was a special experience for me.  And it all came from hardly seeing anyone on the streets--and then I saw this quaint alleyway, and felt that we should go there.  The Lord is so aware!

So, so far in my time here in Kristianstad, I have learned that Joy--true joy--comes when you are out of your comfort zone.  When you take a step in the dark, and are willing to do that which you normally never would do, but you do it because of your testimony and your love of the Lord! 

This morning, I was reading in "Our Search for Happiness", by M. Russell Ballard, and came across a couple of parts that just totally made me think back to that experience from yesterday: 

"Our Search For Happiness"

"As I strolled along the Trent, weary and yet happy and satisfied in the work, an overwhelming feeling of peace and understanding came over me.  It was at that precise moment in time that I came to know that Jesus Christ knew me, that He loved me and that He directed our missionary efforts." 

This couldn't be more true.  This just reminded me of last night--how we just were saying that there always seems to be something seemingly bad when something amazing then suddenly happens.  That success comes at the end of the day, or the golden investigator is on the top floor of the last apartment building that you are going to contact...as long as we push forward we will find new life and energy in the work.   

Another part I absolutely loved from this was just a little further down on the same page. Elder Ballard starts to talk about how he finally got to a point where every big decision he made was based off of his knowledge of the Savior.  He goes on to say:

"That's the way it is when Jesus Christ beomes a reality in your life.  It isn't that He somehow makes you do things that you wouldn't do otherwise.  Rather, you find yourself wanting to do what He would do, and respond as He would respond in an effort to bring your life into harmony with His. 

"And an interesting thing happens whenever you attempt to place you feet in Christ's footsteps.  If you really concentrate on trying to walk the way He walked-- loving, caring, serving, and obeying each step of the way-- one day you'll look up and discover that His path has led you directly to the throne of God--for that is, and ever has been, His great purpose and mission: to lead us to our Heavenly Father so we can dwell with Him in His heavenly home." 

I just absolutely LOVE this!  As we follow in His footsteps we will be led back to Him. 

I love this gospel with all of my heart.  It has changed my life and has given my a new hope and a new purpose in life...and I know that it can do it for you, too. 

{"this cool guy in our branch makes everything in their house out of wood... like this awesome clock!"}

If you are in a phase where you feel like you are not progressing, or don't know where to turn--turn to the Lord.  Ask in sincere prayer, and then turn to the scriptures knowing that you can and will find your answer. 

We talk to the Lord through prayer, and He speaks to us through scripture.  As we ponder, we will be given thoughts and revelations to help us and those around us.  Study everyday, as far as practical, and believe that the Lord is there and will answer every prayer. 

He is there through every tear--whether it is from sorrow or joy.  He is there, and He will guide you through.  All we have to do is reach up, because His hand already is--and has always been--extended out towards us. 

{Sister Stetler and Sister Campbell in Kristianstad}

I love you all with all my heart!

With love, 

Syster Campbell