Monday, November 28, 2016

MOVING MOUNTAINS

Hejsan!

Well, this was one of the craziest weeks so far.  Let's just make a list of all of the things this week entailed... 

--A Turkey Bowl in Gubbängen.
--Work overs with Örebro, meaning we went on splits with the Örebro Systers, but they live so far away that we just both had to work there for the day and spend the night.  It was really fun, because the systers there are Systers Christoffersen and Davis--who were just my companions!  So we get there and immediately have a service opportunity--so we helped to clean their chapel.  Of course, I got the bathrooms...I don't really know how, but I always just end up cleaning the bathroom!  
{No photos from Syster Campbell again this week, so many thanks once again to Claudia and her husband and a couple of the elders for giving us a window into her world!}

Anyways, after that, we had a Fika with some of the members and heard about their conversion stories, and seriously, that is just one of my favorite things--to hear about how others have been converted! 

Then, we made lunch with the Elders...and somehow, one of them ended up jumping/falling out the window.  He's totally fine--I think he was actually doing better than we were--we were laughing so hard it hurt! 

So, Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Örebro. 
--Later that day, we went to a family's house to do service.  This family is so cool!  It was one of the most random nights of my mission.  So, we get there--and they live far far out--but we get there, and right away they take us down to the lake by their house.  So we climbed through the forest and it was just GORGEOUS!!!  

But, the path was really funny because they just had the most random things all along the path, such as: body figure things that you would use in anatomy classes, creepy dolls, random chairs, little trinket things, road signs, gnomes...and well, I think you get the picture.  So that was fun, then we got to the lake and oh my!  It was stunning!  I felt like Pocahontas looking over the beautiful water with all of the fall colors! 
{I had seen this video on Facebook earlier this year--I'm sure this is very similar to what Annie heard the lady singing--so hauntingly beautiful!}

Then the mom started singing.  She is a vocal coach and she sings this super cool, old traditional Swedish music--usually not even with words, but it is so cool!  She said that the early  Swedish women would sing like that to gather the cows!  Sister Anderson and I were just standing there, on this plank of wood (used as a bridge), and we just listened--and I was just in heaven.  I don't even know how to explain it!  It was just one of those moments that I will never forget. 

Well, then we harvested some carrots and then sang a bunch of Christmas songs! 

--Next day was Thanksgiving!  Well...the extent of excitement for us was that we found an apple on the Church floor and ate it as our Thanksgiving dinner--and later found out it was one of the other Syster's apple.  It was a good day overall..... 
--Then we were off to Eskilstuna for Distrikt Meeting--little did we know that the Elders had talked to the Stake President and his wife and mentioned something about maybe helping bring a little food for after the meeting.  Then, at 12 noon, they come in with boxes and boxes of food.  They placed it all out on the table, and they had made an entire Thanksgiving meal for us!  We were almost in tears!  It was probably one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done!  We were all just stunned! 
After that, I headed back with one of the other Systers to start another day of splits! 

--Next day, there was a baptism for the Eskilstuna Elders--they don't have a font, so they had to come use ours, unless they wanted to have the baptism in a frozen lake.... which isn't unheard of.  But, turns out the font was filling too slow--so I got some pitchers, and started filling them with water from the bathroom--and then more and more people came to help, and we had a whole line going--and we filled up the font in 20 minutes, ending right at 2 pm as the baptism started!  We just kept saying, "If there's a will, there's a way."  The Lord pulls through as we do our part. 

--- Which makes me think of one of my favorite things I have learned on my mission.  If you were to move a mountain, you're going to have to do a whole lot more than just hope it can move.  You have got to have the faith.  Having the faith to move a mountain means that you are going to pick up a shovel and start moving that mountain one shovel load at a time. Hoping for something is useless unless you do something about it! 
One of my favorite examples of this was one of the Elders my first transfer.  He said that when he was little, he heard about the story of moving a mountain with faith.  He thought, "well, if someone can move a mountain, I can close this book with my faith."  So, he opened the book and began to pray, "Käre Himmelske Fader, stäng boken!" (Dear Heavenly Father, close the book!)  Then, he opened his eyes to see that it was still open.  He was devastated! He thought, "do I just not have enough faith?"  So he tried again, "Käre Himmelske Fader, stäng boken!", and nothing!  

And then he realized, if he really wanted to show his faith, he would close it himself!  He realized that you have to do ALL you can do, first!  And closing the book was something that he could do.  The Lord helps us after we have done all that we can do! 

Well, I just love that story!  Having faith means picking up that shovel and getting to work! 
--Oh!  Also, I have been learning Arabic!  It's been really fun!  When we go up to people on the street and they don't understand, we just pop out some Arabic phrases, and then somehow we have their number to meet with them again!  

Oh, and yesterday we met these two guys right outside of the Church and gave them a tour, and they were teaching us new words and I would get excited and would write them down because I had just learned a new word, and one of them just said, "Maybe when I go to SFE (Swedish school) I will look like you!"  Haha!  Even though they were making fun of me, I just took it because, hey--I'm learning a new language, here!  Sorry if I look ridiculous when I get excited! Haha!

Okay, and the awesome quote for the week: 
We met this lady on the train and we were just talking to her for a while--and then she started teaching us Arabic, and gave us a full on lesson making us feel her throat to try to see how she pronounced all of the vowels!  Haha!  We would try and she would just say, "No, No! again!"  
And we would just try over and over, and then I finally got it once, and she just got so excited, and said, "GIVE ME 5!"  Hahahahahaha, oh my!  That was the last thing I expected her to say!  It was just so funny because she didn't even know English or Swedish, that well and then so just says, "give me five!"  Easily one of my favorite moments!  And then, she gave us  a candy before she left.  Syster Anderson pops it in and she says, "This is a flippin eucalyptus cough drop!" 

Okay, well I think thats enough for this week!  Most of you have probably stopped reading by this point, but props to those that read it all--and also my condolences!  But I hope you all just have the grandest of weeks!
And DON'T FORGET to participate in the World Wide Day of Service on December 1st!!!  Go to mormon.org and  "Light the World"!


med kärlek, 

Syster Campbell

Monday, November 21, 2016

FOCUS


{thank-you again to the wonderful Claudia and her husband for the pictures this week!}

Okej, well this week has been pretty wonderful...and nonstop! 

On Tuesday, we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) at the Mission Home, so that was super fun and wonderful and cozy and Christmas-y and just great!  It was super cool, because it was all about the new Christmas Initiative!!! Oh, my goodness it is so wonderful! 

I don't know how much I can say about it yet, but it's amazing, and just be ready to jump right on board!  The video comes out on November 25th and then just be ready to jump in starting December 1st--go watch the little clip on LDS.org!  A month of Service!  I won't be the one to spill the beans, but there is a teaser video, so go watch it!
Well, our week has been full of this initiative!  After our training, which was basically 3 hours of just brainstorming all of the things we could do with it--we then had to spread the news!  So, on Friday and Saturday, we had 2 trainings for two of the different Zones that Syster Anderson and I cover.  Our part was a little different though--so the Zone leaders in both of the Zones did the main training on the how,  we talked about the why... 

We spoke about our FOCUS, and how our Focus is on Christ.  I can't even say how grateful I have been for that.  Rarely have I been so much in the scriptures, just purely searching the character of Christ and learning from His words.  It really was an amazingly, eye-opening experience for me.  For both of the Zones, we felt pretty inspired to focus the theme on the story of Peter walking on water. 

I LOVE this story...it is just so powerful to me to just see and picture the faith that Peter initially had in the Lord to actually walk on the stormy sea.  *One of the many things I just love about this story is just how reassuring it all is.  How Peter says, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water."  That is was Peter who mentioned to the Lord, essentially, okay, if it is truly you, I know that you will not let me go astray, so I will come unto you.  That for that moment he overcame the natural reaction of man to just wait and figure out if it truly was the Savior--but he showed his faith. 

I feel like this story just perfectly portrays life.  That we are on stormy seas and the Savior is there. He is waiting for us to come unto Him and to see that as we stay completely focused on Him miracles can and will happen. 
I think it is so interesting that it is Peter who says to the Lord that if it's truly you, ask me to come to you.  I think so much of the time we are the ones setting limits on ourselves.  That we make our limits and goals based off of other people's own limitations that they have set, and not truly seeing what the Lord can make possible.  Miracles are made when faith is put in the Lord

 I absolutely love the Bible Video of this story.  One of my absolute favorite things about it is watching both Peter's and the Savior's eyes throughout the whole thing.  When Peter is focusing on and looking at the Savior, he is walking on water!  And the second he looks away, he begins to sink. But who is completely focused the WHOLE time?  The Savior!  He is constantly focused on us!  
Have you thought of that?  Probably...but this time keep thinking about it!  It's one of those things where you think about it and it just becomes more real and personal to you.  So try it!  This week try to make an earnest effort to think of who the Savior is to you, and who you can be through Him!  He truly makes miracles happen!

Here are just a couple of the little miracles and tender mercies He has given us this week...

-- We went to go visit a less active member that was about 90 minutese away by bus.  Got there and guess what?  Portcode!  Yay.  A missionary's worst enemy!  But we said okay, if we are supposed to be here, the Lord will provide a way.  So, we said a prayer and mentioned that we would wait three minutes, otherwise we would go find another reason why we were supposed to be there.  So, said the prayer, set the timer on the phone, (just to see) and just as always, the Lord provided.  Out of nowhere comes a father and his little son, who open the door for us and the timer goes off as we are walking through the door.  Miracle?  Some might not say so, but it definitely was for us!

--Well, we got in and guess who didn't answer?  The lady we went to go visit!  So, we just started our way up to the 7th floor--thighs screaming by this point--knocking on the doors, and they came just short of slamming the doors in our faces!  But, then we came to the next door and I just had a different feeling.  I thought, "its this one."  A man opened the door and said, "You don´t want to talk to me!  I'm the devil!"  Ha!  We ended up having an hour-and-a-half lesson with this man in the stair-well! 

Despite being one of the weiredst, longest and hardest of days, it ended up really cool--and we have a lesson with this guy, Juan Pablo, tonight! Super excited!
 Well, a few other things from the week...

--We met with "Prison Jon's" friend. "Prison Jon" is apparently a man who was in prison but is now out, and so was his friend.  He was pretty cool.

--Last night we had dinner at the funniest family's house--I just love them!  Let's just say that 10 minutes before leaving, all of the other missionaries and all their kids were dancing to and singing Christmas music in a line--all except for me and their 8-year-old girl--who was on my back, yelling, "Frammot!!!" or "Forward!"  Yelling at me to go forward into the line of dancers, and allow her to push them out of her way--and then yelling at me to turn so she could proceed to do it on the way back!  This continued for a few minutes.  Great memories.  And I think there might just be a video of this.  I will have to look into that!

Well, that's about it for this week.  Happy Turkey day...eat some extra for me, give lots of thanks and remember your FOCUS!

Med Kärlek,


Syster Campbell

Monday, November 14, 2016

SÖDERTÄLJE

{Annie didn't send us any pictures this week--so many thanks to Claudia and her husband in Södertälje for the pictures!}
Hello, my friends!

Well, Tuesday afternoon I got on the train and left dreamy little Helsingborg on my way to my next adventure!  Little did I know that adventure meant getting reacquainted with snow! And lots of it!  

Well...Södertälje is cold.  And I am never left to wonder if that is still true, due to the fact that each and every morning we are out the door to embark onto cold, icy trails--slipping all along the way.  I forgot how to function in snow.  No falls yet, but hoping and praying I can just stay on both feet! 
 Well, I don't really know what to say.  This week has been busy, busy, busy.  I literally haven't had a minute to write in my journal or anything!  So, with being in Södertälje, things have changed up a little.  President has moved me to be an STL (Sister Training Leader), meaning that I get to go on splits with all the Systers and make sure everything is going well with them.  It's been fun so far.  Super crazy and busy, though--but I'm excited to actually start understanding what's going on!
 Things in the area are going well.  It's a fairly new area, so we are really just trying to build it up and find new people to teach.  We are literally talking to everyone.  My companion is a really great example to me--she talks to everyone.  From chasing someone down to calling up to people in their apartments through an open window--haha!  She talks to them all!  So, we have met with quite a few people, but sadly just none of them are truly interested--so we keep looking!
 But since this week has just been crazy, I have been able to find a lot of peace in the scriptures!  So I guess crazy, hectic, chaotic things are all for our good if we just turn to the Savior for peace!  I have been reading in Helaman, and I just absolutely love chapter 5 verse 12:

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is
Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. "
 And it really reminds me of another one that I have just really loved lately--Mosiah 24:14:

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." 
 I love those verses so much, and it's just proven to me how much peace we can truly find in the scriptures!  But, now I want all of you to go find your own and then tell me what you found!

I love you all dearly!

Stay warm, enjoy American goodies and Christmas treats, listen to Christmas music, dance in the rain or the snow (weather may vary based on location of reader!) and enjoy the little things!

Med Kärlek,


Syster Campbell

Monday, November 7, 2016

TRY AGAIN

Well, Hello!

So many wonderful things happened this week--here are just a few:
Halloween last Monday was p-day.  We just played games and baked at the church.  Then went over to the cemetery, thinking that that was going to be the day that people put candles all over, and we were so excited...but it wasn't.  So, we just walked around the gorgeous old cemetery for a while. 
Well, that was until we got a text from out investigator, saying that he was already at the Church, (20 minutes early), and he had a little teary face and rain cloud emoji on the message because he was just standing out in the rain!  So we felt really bad and ran to the church!  Ten minutes later, and soaking wet, we get there and have an awesome lesson. 
The lesson went super well...except for just a couple things:

  1.  The language barrier.   He speaks Kurdish, but also a decent amound of Swedish and a little English.  We had another guy on the phone trying to translate for part of it, and after a while he said, "I feel like the police are after me", and just started chuckling a little...and hung up.  If that doesn't really make sense to you, don't worry--because it didn't for us, either!

  2.Then at one point syster Davis was talking about "att hålla ut till slutet" --enduring to the end.  She was talking about never giving up, and he didn't quite get what we were saying--and we tried saying it a couple times in Swedish and then in English, and he just didnt quite get it. Then we say, "Ger upp", and he says, "KEBAB?!",and we just died!  
So, for all you Americans, "Kebab" is the thing here.  Kebab to Sweden (well at least to Middle Easterners in Sweden) is like Twinkies to America.  Everyone knows about it, and you either love it or hate it.  it feels like very other store here is either a Kebab Pizza shop or a hair salon.  (p.s. At the end of "Avengers" when Iron Man says, "Let's get Shawarma..."  Do you all know what I'm talking about?)  Well, it's questionable meat on a rotisserie rod type of thingy that they slice off and serve to you.  Anyways--long explanation to just say that during our lesson when were talking about never giving up and holding out to the end, he thought we were talking about kebab.  Pretty great!

  3.Oh--and then two drunk men came to the Church, which was really weird, and one of them came in and asked to go to the bathroom...then finally came out and ended up sleeping on the bench outside the church.
 Yeah.  So it was a really interesting lesson.  Never thought we would have had that many interesting components going on in just one lesson!  Oh, and then he texted us last night to see which of us he was texting so that he could put a name to the contact, and we said that we were all just sharing the phone.  He texted back and said, "Är ni fattiga folk?!"  ("Are you poor people!")  Hahaha! We got some good laughs with that one! 

Well, aside from that, we went to go swing by a lady's house one day and we had set up a time to meet.  We took the bus 30 minutes outside of stan (town), and she ended up not being home.  It was freezing, and most of the buildings were port-coded.  But we knew that we were supposed to be there for a reason.  So we just started walking hoping that we could find some building we could go knock on some doors. 
We finally came across some and started our way up.  We came across many interesting things, but our favorite was knocking on this one door and suddenly all the lights inside come on.  This little Asian lady answers the door, and can't really speak English or Swedish, and says something and closes the door.  Super confused, Sys. Eldridge and I start walking to the next door, and Sys. Davis says, "Wait! I think she said, 'vänta!' ", which means wait

So we stood there for a minute, and sure enough the door opens again and out comes the little old lady with a half-eaten bag of chocolates, and we were just so confused!  We just ask "are you sure?", and she just says "yes, yes".  We tried explaining who we are, and she's just saying "no, no", and waving at us to go... o we did!  But, we left with a nice bag o´candy!  It was so funny!  We were thinking about it after, and we realized: "You know what?  Do you think she thought we were trick-or-treating?" Haha! The world may never know, but it worked for us!  We like tracting.
 We also had this really cool experience with one of our investigators.  Earlier this week, he told us that he probably wouldn't be able to meet again, because he had been talking to these religious leaders, and they told him that if he came to our Church, he would never be able to live with his family after this life.  We were so sad to get this message, but we just knew that we had to somehow just teach him the Plan of Salvation and things would be better.  So we texted him back and he agreed to meet. 

Wednesday we were able to teach the lesson, and it just went so well!  He absolutely loved it, and he had so many questions, and it just made sense to him.  He mentioned how he loved how merciful this plan was.  As we were explaining the different kingdoms he just said, "No offense, but I want to do all that I can to reach the highest level of spirituality and go to the Celestial kingdom.  That way I can help all of those that weren't able to make it."   It was so sweet!  So, that was pretty great!
 Then later that day, we went to do a couple swing-bys to ladies in the Elders' area--Landskrona.  We stopped by one of the girl's parents' house, thinking she might be there, but it just ended up being her parents at home.  But, we just adore them, so we stayed for a little bit, shared a little budskap (message), and left to go to her place.  We got the address and found the apartment. 

When we got there, her name wasn't on the port code though, so we just tried calling her.  She didn't answer, so we called her parents and they were trying to help us out--tried giving us the code and we tried punching it in, but nothing!  It was getting kind of frustrating, and I personally was feeling done with it.  I couldn't feel my toes and it was taking way too long.  We tried just a little longer, and then started making our way down the street to drop the cookies off at her parents' house. 
Then, in my head I just heard in my own little thoughts..."try again."  And I just thought back in response, "we already did."  Then again, "try again "  And I thought, "but my companions will think its weird if I say to go back!"  We were even further down the road at this point and I hear, "Try again."  It was very soft and subtle, but I knew who's voice it was, and I knew we had to go back.  So I told them we had to go back and try again. 

It didn't work right away, but I just kept punching in the code--over and over--and punched in two of the numbers, and all of a sudden the light turned on, meaning that it was open-- we opened the door and we were in!  We quickly said a thank-you prayer, and went up to the fifth floor--almost the last door.  We knocked, and she was shocked but happy to see us.  And to not go too much into detail, the Lord's hand truly was in that experience.  He knew what was going on with her and how she was feeling in the moment, and sent us to help out a little.  It really was a miracle.
 Well, there were many, many other great things this week, but not enough time to share it all!  But for  the big news I am sadly heading out of my dreamy little Helsingborg.  Back to Stockholm for me!  I'm headed for Södertälje--I don't really know much about it, except for the fact that I probably won't be using Swedish or English that much there.  Södertälje is apparently home to many immigrants from many lands. Time to learn even more from different languages!

Well, I love you all dearly, and remember those prayers of gratitude!  Especially coming up to this Thanksgiving holiday--live in thanksgiving DAILY!

Med Kärlek,


Syster Campbell

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

CHANGES


Well, it's that time of the year again.  My companions and I are just here at the Church dressed up as minions emailing home.  Happy Halloween!

News here in Sweden is that the Pope is down in Lund--which equals traffic, which equals not being able to go to Lund to carve pumpkins with other missionaries!  But it's all good. We are having our own little carving party here with the Landskrona and Halmstad Elders today!
So the Pope is in Sweden and guess what we also just heard about?!  "Book of Mormon the Musical" is coming to Stockholm.  Yikes!  No, but I think it will be cool--and a really good opportunity!  Our Mission President and the Assistants have been sending out stuff for us to look over so that we can be extra prepared for any "fiery darts" coming our way!

Well...other than that:
--This past Monday we went to Nimis--it was GORGEOUS!!! Fall colors everywhere, I just felt like I was in heaven!
--Tisdag at Församlings Råd (Ward Council), our Bishop was asking the secretary what they could do to make it so when it gets really cold people will still want to stay for Sacrament Meeting and not just leave.  The secretary said, "if was was that cold, I would just go home!" The Bishop was less than enthusiastic with that response, but the rest of us were just dying! Oh i,t was hilarious!
-- Thursday and Friday we celebrated our YEAR MARK!!!  Crazy.  Well, to follow tradition, we had a little fire to burn some stuff.   I decided to burn a shirt that one of the other Systers left here. (What we call, "ghosts of sisters past"--just clothes that are left behind.)  
So I found the nastiest cheetah-print shirt and burned that.  We were joking that it wouldn't even burn because it was so ugly--and it actually kind of came true!  It lasted the longest by far, and when it finally burned down, it was all goopy and gooey!  So gross!
--Then Friday, Syster Eldridge was in Stockholm for train the trainers meeting!  She will be bringing in a new little Greenie down here to Helsingborg, so Syster Davis and I are most likely getting kicked out!  I might actually leave Skåne!  Crazy!  Seriously though--I have been down south from the very beginning of March to the middle of November.  That is a long time.  But, I've loved every minute of it!
We also had an AMAZING lesson that day.  It was actually with a member's husband who hasn't been interested in taking the lessons, but has lately started opening up to the idea!  So we went over on Friday, and just had the most wonderful lesson.  It was the greatest year mark present I could think of!  The Spirit was just so strong, and you could just really see it touching him.  
At the end, I asked what he was feeling ,and he just touched his heart, and just says,"It feels very sentimental.  Like I almost feel like crying."  His wife bore her testimony the next day in Church, and just said how much it meant to her to have us come over and to see such a change in her husband's heart.  She said that after the lesson, she just talked to him and he said the lesson had opened up feelings he never knew he had, and things that he hasn't felt in a long time.  It was really amazing.
The Gospel is true, and the testimony of one witness is exponentially stronger and far outweighs any amount of critics or unbelievers.  A true testimony far outweighs any logical mind.  Take Joseph Smith.  He had a fourth-grade education, and yet he was the holder of the truth.  As we rely on the Lord for our strength and our support, we will be supported in whatsoever we do. 
Something that I really loved that I read this week was a quote I wrote down in my "Predika Mitt Evangelium" ("Preach My Gospel"), and it says, "Faith is not how much you want something or how bad you hope it will happen.  Faith is doing ALL you can do to make it happen!"  I LOVE that!  
When we want truth, when we want light (knowledge), we must do all that we can to seek it! After all we can do...the Lord does not expect us to do more than we are capable of, but sometimes He asks us to do things that we think we are not capable of.  With the Lord, we really can do anything, become greater and eventually become like Him.
So, maybe we should put as much effort into thinking of who we want to be for the rest of our lives as we do for who we want to be for Halloween--just a little wake up call to myself to start thinking of how I can work to be more and more like my Savior everyday. May sound a little simplistic, but it's true!
Hoppas att ni har en bra vecka...

Vänliga Hälsningar, 

Syster Campbell