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