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