Monday, April 25, 2016

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!

{with Denmark barely visible behind them!}
Six down and twelve to go..... where does the time go?! 


I seriously cannot believe it, but I come home in exactly a year from today.  That is just so crazy to me.  I am slightly in denial that I have already been out for a third of my mission time. This whole sister's mission really needs to be stretched out to two years...just saying! Basically, that is just the long way of saying I absolutely love my mission!  As I am writing this, I just thought to say that it may seem old--me writing at the beginning of every letter that I love my mission--but you know what?  It's true, and if anyone is ever wondering if missions are any good, they can just read the first paragraph of all of my letters and see that missions are truly the best:)
So, I think I will start off with a question I have been pondering this week:  Why do certain sounds bother us?  Good question, right?  I really thought so a few days ago while we were on a bus for 45 minutes--it made this horrible sound the whole time.  For some reason, I just cannot stand the sound of wet rubber.  It's nails on a chalk board to me!  But seriously... I don't get why people just have different sounds that bother them! 
Lets see...oh, we had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators--everything went awesome!  At the very end, we invited him to be baptized--and he said he would!  Then, after talking about it for a while he says, "yeah, I will just be moving to Lund, but I really want to keep coming and learning more!"  Well, long story short....we have to give him to the missionaries in LUND now!!!  Lame!  But, its all good....as our Zone Leaders told us, "We're all on the same team!"  But it is definitely so true!  
Other than that, the work is going good.  Kontaking har varit jätte långsamt eftersom det finns igen människor på gattan!  Basically, contacting has been going kind of slow... somehow we manage to go out to contact at all the wrong times!  I'm tellin' ya...Swedes decide when they want a day off and then somehow everyone just knows about it except for the missionaries!  Its crazy!  But it's all good.  I have just learned to be very grateful for the people we do see! 
One interesting thing Syster Haikkola and I have noted is that as a missionary, you really learn to get good at timing things.  As we contact, we see some person down the road and think what the best plan of attack is, and if we should go faster or slower to make it across the street or not!  Bottom line--there is a lot of thought put into each and every contact!  Life as a missionary :)
Other things this week...we had a Zone Conference!  Those are always so good!  This one was on obedience to the commandments.  One of the biggest things I took away from it is something that I have actually thought a lot about before.  That is, that you cannot convert beyond your own conversion.  It is so interesting to think about and even more true the longer and harder you think about it... 
As a missionary, I cannot bear true testimony on something I have not tried to gain a testimony of--it just doesn't work.  And that just makes me think of Syster Oscarson's amazing talk from this last General Conference.  I downloaded a few talks onto our phone, so I have just been listening to them over and over.  One of them was hers, and I just absolutely LOVE it. 

She talks about a young mother  on a helicopter with her son in urgent care flying to Salt Lake Childrens' Hospital.  Still fearing about what will happen with her son, she glances out of the window, and sees the Temple.  She then just asks herself, "Do you believe it or not?"
She had always known about the blessings of the temple, and about how families can be sealed together forever in Temples.  She had always known about and even helped others understand the power and truth behind eternal families and that God has made it possible for us to be with our families no matter what.  She had known and taught to others this glorious principle that as long as we do all that we can to follow God and His teachings and are sealed in the Temple, not even death itself can keep us apart.  She said, "I trusted in my Heavenly Father completely, and I knew I would see my son again.  I was so grateful that in a crisis moment, I had the knowledge and the belief that the gospel was true.  I had peace." 
These are truly the moments that build up our testimony.  During times of trial, as we "doubt our doubts before we doubt our faith," and as we "hold onto the ground we have already won", we will be able to rely on the faith that we have gained to help us overcome the other mountains that life is sure to bring.  
With the Lord by our side and our eyes constantly fixed on Him, we will be able to live in this continual peace this young mother talks about.  The peace that only can come from the knowledge that God truly is our Father and He has a plan for us.  Its amazing to think that we have the answer that so many other are looking for.  We have been blessed with the truth, and now we must act on it and never become confortable with it, but always strive to increase our faith.

I love you all dearly and I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Med Kärlek, 

Syster Campbell

Monday, April 18, 2016

GOODBYES AND HELLOS


Hello, my dearest family! 


This week has been lovely...sad, but quite good!  The worst part was saying bye to my dearest Syster Stetler!  I miss her so much!  But then I got my new companion Syster Haikkola från Finland!  So, it has been a crazy but good week! 
Now for some quick stories..... 

*Success of the week: Getting over my fear of calling people on the phone. 

I already was not a fan of it in English, and then I really was not a fan of calling in Swedish-- but this week, I decided it had to be done!  So, I sat down for an hour and a half and called probably 50 people from off of our phone to try to find who was actually interested in learning more!  So, even though most people might think 49 people saying "no" is a bad thing, I was able to get over that fear, and we have one that might want to meet with us--so I would say that is pretty good! 
*Fail of the week: 

So Saturday night we met with the Elders at the Church to plan what we want to do this transfer, and then we made some dinner.  So, the meeting thankfully was not the fail--but more the dinner part.  

So, we decided to make this "healthy" pizza.  Basically, it was some kind of a sweet potato crust and a pile of a million different veggies on top.  The crust turned out all mushy, and the veggies slightly burned on the top...but I guess it really wasn't all that bad--it was actually pretty decent!
Later this week we went to one of our favorite family's house for dinner.  The first time I went to their house, I told the youngest son I was from Finland.  He LOVED me.  For 5 minutes.  Then he found out I actually wasn't, and he wasn't quite so fond of me after that... 

They then found out my new companion was from Finland--his family tells him this, and when we went over for dinner, he had hung up all of these characters he had drawn from a Finnish show, and he was just so excited to meet her!   He took Syster Haikkola by the hand and said, "I want you to sit by me!  That one can sit over there!"  
Yeah...guess who the "That one" was?  Yup!  So, I sadly didn't have the privilege of sitting by him.  So, next time you think you want to tell someone your from Finland, think twice. Because apparently people don't like you joking about being from Finland if you're not! 

Let's see...one of my favorite quotes from the week was from my cute little Haikkola.  She said, slightly worriedly, "You don't assume we're going to run a lot today, do you?"  No, probably not.  "Good, because this really is not a running skirt!"  Yeah.   Sadly, it WAS a day full of running!  We have been without our bus cards for 4 or 5 days, and so we have been running quite a lot!  But thankfully, we were able to fill up our cards finally!
But aside from that, not too much has been going on!  Life is crazy and fun!  Today we just went to Malmö and looked out on the beautiful sea!  We looked out and were able to see the tip of Denmark.  I just have to say--I LOVE Sweden.  It is so beautiful!  I just can never get enough of it! 
But now really quick to something I have been thinking a lot about lately...the Sacrament.

This morning I decided to study Elder Bednar's talk, "Always Retain a Remission of your Sins."  I absolutely love this one, and it has really changed the way I look at and think of the Sacrament.  He simply says:
"The ordinance of the Sacrament is a holy and repeated invitation to repent sincerely and to be renewed spiritually.  The act of partaking of the sacrament, in and of itself, does not remit sins.  But as we prepare conscientiously and participate in this holy ordinance with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then the promise is that we may always have the Spirit of the Lord to be with us.  And by the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost as our constant companion, we can always retain a remission of our sins"
I thought that was just beautiful.  Just the concept of ALWAYS retaining a remission of our sins.  He later goes on to talk about how people sometimes ask if they can be baptized again so they can feel same wonderful clean feeling that they felt as they were baptized.  Elder Bednar said that we aren't just supposed to have that feeling once, but we can always have it, if we strive to always retain a remission of our sins!  
This really hit me, because I remember right after I was baptized, I thought that.  I thought, I just want to do it again--it just felt so good!  And I love that he addressed that and let us know that we don't just have to feel it once, but that our Loving Heavenly Father wishes for us all to experience it ALWAYS
Well, those were some of my thoughts this week.  Hopefully. I'll have a little more time next week, but for now I love you all...and have the loveliest of weeks! 

Med Kärlek, 

Syster Campbell

Monday, April 11, 2016

LIFE IS LOVELY!


Hej Allihopa!  Hello, my favoritest people! 

Sweden is still beautiful, so we've got that going for us! 
It's transfers week yet again, and I am happy to say that there is no surprise move for me this time!  But sadly, I am killing my sweet Syster Stetler and sending her back to the States! I am quite sad about this, eftersom jag älskar henne så mycket! 
But, I am getting Syster Haikkola!  She is from Finland!  I am so excited!  And she is already fluent in Swedish, so basically I am going to make her teach me like crazy, and I am hoping to sound flippin' awesome speaking Swedish with a little Finnish accent that I am planning on picking up on!  Haha...so, that is spännande! 
Alright...let's see what even happened this week!  This week was so, so good!  Since this is Syster Stetler's last week, we wanted to really work hard.  So last week we had about 20 lessons that we taught--this week we had 53!  Crazy!  Oh, it felt so good! 

Oh, and since it was Stets' last week, we also had a "funeral" for her at our last District meeting!  Haha!  We had all of her companions send in videos and I wrote out a eulogy of all of our hilariously weird experiences here together!  It was pretty great--mission life is an interesting one!
Oh, and a funny cat story for the week!   So, we were at this member's house and she has a cat.  She loves her cat, and was telling us about how she loves her cat. ,She left the room for a minute, and while she was gone, I reached forward to pet the cat and it was quite nice and pleasant...and then it licks my hand--and then out of nowhere, it bites me!  And for some reason my immediate reaction was to smack it on the head!  Then I look over at Syster Stetler and she is just in shock!  I said, "What!? It bit me!" She said, "It did!?  I thought you just were petting it and then smacked it out of nowhere--but okay, I would do the same!" 
And then last funny little thing...so we were having Fika with some of our favorite people-- (not quite investigators, but these are girls that we are really good friends with, that like us and like to tell all of their friends about us!  For some reason people are proud to have us as their friends here--they proudly show us off--its pretty funny actually!) 
But anyways, we were Fika-ing (another side note...to Fika is a verb here.  One can "Fika" or have a "Fika"--it is basically the equivalent of a coffee break, but with tea and pastries or just some kind of little meal.) 
So anyways, we were with them, and somehow they got off on the topic of how all students in Sweden at some point go either to Poland or Germany to see and learn more about Concentration Camps.  One of them said that she didn't really have a good experience there.  She said, "They made us stay at the WORST hotel ever, and they had super bad food, and the Camps were just kind of scary.........oh, yeah--but then after, we went to KFC!!!  So, it was all good!"  We all just stood there in shock!  We said, "Seriously Fadde...complaining about the hotel and the food while you were out to see a Concentration Camp?"  She said, "What!? We don't have KFC here!"   Haha!  Oh, man....she's is a funny one!

But that's about it for this week.  We have been listening to and reading Conference talks over and over this week--and I just can't help but think of how grateful I am that we have General Conference. 
It really is amazing the difference it make when I listen to them.  Just the concept that we can receive revelation TODAY from our living Prophet and Apostles!  That really is something to be grateful for! 
And one amazing thing for me to see was that preparation for General Conference really does make a difference.  For two weeks I tried to think of things I needed help with from Conference, and coming up with questions that I had--and I have to say, each and every one of those questions was answered up to the very last two minutes of the last talk.  The Lord is so very aware! 
 One thing that I have been thinking a lot about this week was from President Uchtdorf's talk. I absolutely loved his, as I am sure many others of you did, too!  I loved his story of the church that was destroyed during the War, and how after many years it was rebuilt into a beautiful church--even more magnificent  than before. 
President Uchtdorf said, "If mortal hands can transform rubble and ruins into a beautiful house of worship, then we can have confidence and trust that our loving Heavenly Father can and will rebuild us.  His plan is to build us into something far greater than what we were--far greater than what we can ever imagine." 
I thought that was so beautiful and so true. If we will just turn to the Lord and seek His guidance and correction, we can become something far greater than we could become by ourselves!

I love you all, and I hope that you will all read and dilligently search these words we have just heard from Conference.  They are here for you and they will help you--no matter what you are going through in life. 

I love you all, 

Syster Campbell
  

Monday, April 4, 2016

BE THOU HUMBLE

Hello my dearest people! 

Wow...yet another amazing conference!  We just got to watch the Sunday afternoon session this morning, and it was just beautiful.  I can´t even begin to say how grateful I am for Conference.  No other time do I feel so uplifted and peaceful than during Conference, but thanks to the wise counsel of our dear Elder Holland, I know that this is to uplift us at all times whether today or tomorrow! 
During the past couple weeks, Syster Stetler and I have really been trying to prepare for Conference.  Coming up with questions and studying them beforehand to try and get the most out of Conference as we could.  I have never tried nor prepared as much as I did this year, and I have seen that the Lord really does fulfill his promise--that if you come ready to Conference with questions, He will answer them. 

I was pleasantly surprised as each talk went on--one speaker after another--each adding on a little part of the answer I was looking for, for each and every one of my questions. It sadly is quite impossible for me to pick one or two talks as my favorites, because so many of them just helped me so much!
President Eyring--right from the start he just amazed me with his straightforwardness to ever be aware, prepared and ready to act.  He immediately addressed a subject I have been thinking a lot about lately.  It was that of those that feel as though we may be slowly falling away. 

 I have thought about this a lot, because I feel like in life we all go through times where we feel like we are being uplifted and edified constantly and consistently...and then, all of a sudden, we feel as though we have lost that connection.  We begin to feel as though something is being taken away from us. 
Our dear President Eyring and Elder Redlund both strongly reminded us that although we may feel as though it is the Lord distancing himself--it is most definitely not Him.  It is always us distancing ourselves from Him.  The Father is always there and will always be there for us.  We are the ones that fall out of the habit of daily scripture study or sincere daily prayers.  If we do not see these things as being of great importance in our lives, we will slowly start to feel ourselves falling away--losing sight of the thing that we truly need the most. 

A few other things that I especially loved though were; "We can forgive and we can be free", from ElderKevin R. Duncan's talk; and "Be thou Humble," the talk given by Elder Steven E. Snow.  These talks really hit me, as I have been studying humility a lot lately.  I feel like one of the simplest things we can all try to work on is our pride. 
 And I absolutely loved President Uchtdorf's talk!  "If man can create a new life out of ashes, how much more can God do?" And, "There is no life so shattered that it can not be restored."  There is just so much hope in the fact that God can make so much more out of us than we can ourselves!   That no matter how broken we may feel, we can at all times look to the future with a perfect hope that God will make more of us than we ever could have imagined.  That is truly beautiful. 

I also have to talk a little about Elder Patrick Kearon.  This talk really touched my heart. 
I am out here on a mission in the beautiful country of Sweden.  Probably more than half of the lessons I have taught have been to humble and loving refugees.  This talk touched my heart, as he addressed the very circumstances and lives of the individuals we encounter everyday.  Everyday leading me to think, "What if their story was my story?" 

There have been so many talks on what to do and how to help.  I wish I could do more.  But out here, there really only is so much that a missionary can do to help the temporal welfare of another.  But one thing we can all do is to everyday pray for an opportunity to see one in need, and pray for the strength to actually serve them.  

I feel like so much of the time many of us pray for opportunities to help and to serve, but when the opportunity comes, we somehow ignore it, or move on, thinking something much greater must be up ahead.  NO! 
The only way to help in a big way is to help in all of the little steps along the way.  If we want to publish a book, we don´t go straight to the publisher with a book full of blank pages!  We have to fill the pages, everyday,  "Here a little and there a little."  In order to do something big, we must start with the seemingly small.  So, after receiving all of this counsel to help the refugees, begin right where our leaders are telling us to begin: "On our knees".

I loved the third point that Elder Kearon mentioned as well--to "Listen with your own ears." To find out for yourself, and not from the news.  
Before coming on my mission, I knew very little about the refugees on the other side of the world.  Now, I am in it.  I see it everyday.  I get to meet these beautiful people and hear about their much of the time tragic and long journeys here.  It really is humbling to find out for myself.  And just as he said--we must remember-- "This does not define them but it does define us."  We must all reach out in love and service because we were once strangers, too, that have now found refuge. 

And lastly, one of my very favorites--Elder Holland.  "Hold fast to the feelings you have felt."  Remember today, and the good you have felt.  Carry with you all of the joyful moments, all of the moments where you have felt such redeeming love from the Lord, and let that carry you through tomorrow. 
I LOVE CONFERENCE!  I don´t think I can say it enough, but it is true.  The Church is true, and it can bring peace and joy to any and every soul that comes into it. 

And on that lovely spiritual note, I feel that I must share some of the funny things of this week! 

Tuesday--went to our ny ömvänds (new members) house, and she told us this sadly hysterical story of how after our Relief Society party last week, she was still in the bathroom when the last of us had left and locked and alarmed the building!   She came out, and the alarm went off--and she just dashed to the back door and ran home!  Haha!  She was slightly laughing when she told us, and we were having a really hard time holding it in! 

Then, she said that she left her phone there because of it.  So, we told her we would go try to find it--and thankfully we did! 
Wednesday--we went to a members house for dinner.  But, the only thing is that this member is in India right now, and had asked one of our favorite girls to come and stay at her house.  She told her that while she was staying there,  she should have the Systers over for dinner and make stuff with whatever food she had, and then they could do an hour of service raking the lawn!  Haha--so we did!  Went to the house, had a lovely dinner of stuff that was in her fridge and freezer, and then raked piles and piles of sticks in the rain.  Yes sticks.  Not leaves...it was an interesting experience! 

Thursday--we went to an older lady's house, and as we were leaving, she handed us a bag full of pills to take to the pharmacy to get rid of.  Instead of the pharmacy being 2 minutes away like we thought, we ended up lugging a bag full of pills for 30 minutes, both walking and on public transportation until we got to the lovely little Apotek to get rid of them.  Let's just hope no members saw...!

The mission is full of surprises! 
With all of the interesting, funny and spiritually uplifting things this week, the overall message I have collected from everything was that we can always see the Hand of the Lord in our lives.  He is in it all and He has something for us to learn from it all! 

I love you all and I hope all is well! 

Syster Campbell