"I know my Savior lives. I know that He died for us and that He rose again so that we could all do the same. I know without any doubt that He loves each and everyone of His children. I have felt that--and I CANNOT DENY that."
"O all ye that are spared because ye were more
righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins,
and be converted, that I may heal you?"
"Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye
shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and
whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto
me."
Christ pleading with us...asking us to come unto Him so
that he can heal us, so that He can take away our pain and make us whole again.
3 Nephi 7: 16, 18:
"(Nephi) went forth among them in that same year and
began to testify, boldly, repentance and remission of sins through faith on the
Lord Jesus Christ."
"And it came to pass that they were angry with him,
even becuase he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they
could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ
that angels did minister unto him daily."
Nephi's faith turned to power. So much that it was IMPOSSIBLE
for the people to NOT believe his words.
His faith was so strong that angels came to him daily.
Later in the chapter it talks about how he cast out devils
and raised his brother Timothy from the dead. He performed all of these
miracles and yet the people still chose to be angry and chose not to believe.
It really made me think about the people here. We're out
talking to people on the street, and 8 out of 10 will say they are agnostic or
atheist. Most of them have absolutely no interest in listening, and yet it is so
interesting to me in how firm they say they are with their beliefs--yet when we say,
"well, if you tried to pray, do you
think something would happen?" They usually always say something like,
"Well, I don't think it's impossible. There might be something."
The
thing that made me think of all this today---well, I think I may have already shared this
story, but oh well--it was a while ago. So, we were on the street talking to people, and
we stop this man. Basically, he feels like he already knows everything about the
Mormons, and so we just see what he knows and explain some things for him.
Well, we go on to the subject of prayer, and we say: "okay--well, will you try praying to see if this is
true?" He said, "No." We asked why, and he said: "I'm not going to pray because
I know I will get an answer--and that's what I am afraid of." He went on to
say: "I know that I would get an answer because of the conviction in your
voice. I can tell that you two know that prayer works. But I am not going to
try because I am not ready to change."
This was just one of the most
interesting situations. One of those times where you completely know they get
it--but it's just all up to their own agency. But the interesting thing that
made me think of this story was just his faith in the fact that he knew the
answer would come if he prayed. I thought--and still think--that this is rather amazing. To have that faith without even trying! Ha! That's impressive--but sadly
it's usually better if you actually just try it out, though!
Well...I never did hear back from Lars, but it's times like
that that just make you think--and hopefully it goes the same with him. Ponder
till you're on your knees--and begin turning your thoughts and heart over to the Lord.
I love you all with all my heart, and I hope you have the
Happiest New Year!
{The wonderful Mama Pence took the missionaries out to lunch last Monday--they loved every minute of it!}
Hello! Well, I am officially weirded out by that fact that Christmas is in less than a week. My second Swedish Christmas! But guess what? Probably no snow again for my 20th Christmas in a row. It's okay, though. I only thought for sure I would get at least one white Christmas here in Sweden! But, hey--Christmas is still Christmas whether the sun is shining or not...it just seems like it would be Christmas-ier were it not for the shine!
Anyways, though...this week I:
--Went to Santa Lucia
--Sucked up a little girls hair in a vacuum cleaner. (nobody noticed except my companion. It was totally fine--the little girl like didn't even notice! She just continued on making animal noises at us during the whole fiasco, and no hair was lost.)
--I sat on a members laptop. (We were helping this older couple clean, and then I went to sit on this chair to clean out the vacuum cleaner (yeah...me and vacuum cleaners this week...), but here I am with this big headache, and contacts hurting...so my vision was all blurry and maybe I just saw this black thing and assumed it was a cushion. Yup.
So, after I cleaned the vacuum out, I stood up and the lady looks down and says, "were you just sitting on that?", and I just looked and realized that I had--and amidst the confusion, disappointment and embarrassment, I could come up with no good excuses. So I just said, "huh.... I guess so." Yeah. Some days are just rough, folks. That was one of those days.
As for the work--we were able to set up a bunch of lessons for this week. Had some really good ones. Both last week and this week we had some random person just walk into church that we had contacted...and that NEVER happens! We were so stoked! So, that was special!
But one of my favorite lessons this week was this one we had with this Daoist Swede. Kind of a Hippie/Buddhist person. We were having a cool lesson with him and just when we were almost done, one of the Elder's investigators (just after he had his lesson with the Elders) comes in and just asks if he can sit in on our lesson.
He then starts telling our investigator his life story--of how he ended up in prison for 6 years, but how he found Christ while he was in prison. How He helped him turn his life around. And basically he just kept telling our guy that he needed to get baptized. Our guy kept saying how he wants a sign from God, and the Elder's investigator just said, "Don't be selfish and wait for a sign from God. You have got to show Him first that you have the faith."
Haha--this guy was amazing! We were just like, wow. We don't even really have to do too much here! It was pretty great:)
And let's see...something I have learned this week...If the Lord wants something done, He will make it happen. I think often especially in missionary work we think, "why don't we have more success?! We want it and we know that it's good!" And the next thought that come is usually, "well, what am I doing wrong?!" It's that way of thinking that's wrong. If the Lord wants something done, He will do it. But sometimes it's the going without success that He wants us to learn from.
No matter what it is, the hard things we go through are the things that build us. Just like sanding a rough surface down--the rough against the rough is what eventually will smooth something out. So, whatever it is--know that the Lord is shaping you. Putting you through the things that will refine and define you.
Just like in Elder Patrick Kearon's talk, "Refuge from the Storm", regarding our need to help refugees, he says: "This moment does not define the refugees, but our response will help define us." The Lord does not define us by our trials, but rather what we choose to do with them, and who we let ourselves become because of them.
Well. That's about it for me this week, but I hope you all just have the loveliest week and Happy Christmas!!!! God Jul! And go look up some cute Swedish Christmas songs! It will make your day!
{No pictures from Syster Campbell again this week--so many thanks to Claudia for these!}
Well, transfers are this week, and I'm staying in Södertälje with Syster Anderson for
Christmas! No changes here.
It was a crazy, busy week! We had Christmas Conference, and then I was sick
the rest of the week, so most of the week was just a blur of sore throat and
coughing! But this week we did get one of the most beautiful snow falls I have
EVER seen! Okay, well, I haven't been around that much snow in my life, but
yesterday was absolutely gorgeous.
As for thoughts this week, I have just been thinking so
much about the main things I have learned on my mission so far. I seem to be
getting that question a lot lately since I go on splits so much with the
Systers, and they are always asking about my mission and what I have learned. And just about every time it's a new answer. I just feel like I have been SO
blessed with learning SO many lessons, but I guess I have just had a LOT to
learn! But yesterday, as I was asked that question again, one lesson came up that I never quite
thought through all the way as I did when I just talked it out with her...
I was talking about how lately I feel like the Lord has
been teaching me about giving my whole heart, might, mind and strength. Seemingly impossible at times. I have gotten overwhelmed at times trying to
think about how I can do that, but as I was talking about it last night, it just
kind of all became so much clearer to me.
So, it all kind of goes back to quite
a while ago when my sweet sister Sarah, (who served in the Argentina Rosario Mission), sent me a little bit of advise. She
said that often on missions, we get down on ourselves because we feel like we're not giving our
whole heart, might, mind and strength...but then something really hit me:
"but who said you weren't already." Whether our all is a million
bucks or the widow's mite--only the Lord knows.
I started to think about all those times when I look
back and think I could have done something so much better. But, what am I doing by doing that? I'm comparing my past abilities to what I can do now. So, naturally our goal is
to improve. And that's what we're doing!
As we think we could have done more, that is probably because now we can handle more. And what is that? That is the
Atonement working in our lives. That is the enabling power. What we once
couldn't do before now becomes something that we can do without even thinking.
It is in our nature to progress. But it is recognizing that and letting that be
our motivation that can drive us forward.
This may just sound like a lot of
random thoughts, but it's been something that has helped me, so maybe it can help
somebody else. So, if you ever feel like your falling short in anything--seriously ANYTHING--take it to the Lord. See what has been done, then look at
what your are doing--and then to what you can do.
This life is just an eternal
course of progression and learning from mistakes. The sooner we can get over
them, the quicker we can move on and quit feeling bad, or down, and start
thanking the Lord for what he already has done for us.
I still have so much to learn, but I have come to see that I
am greatful for the times that I have come short, because I see now that the
Lord has strengthened me so that now I can do more than I could before--and
tomorrow the Lord will help me to do more than I could today.
Be grateful for the good that the Lord has given you! Use it
and keep going. If you rely on the past, that's where you're going to go. Backwards. Look to the sky, and keep your head up! The sky is always better looking than the ground anyways, so don't waste your time looking down!
Well, that's all for this week. I just love you all, and I hope you have a
wonderful day!
--Getting baklava from our investigators who work at a
baklava factory.
--Splits with my "daughter", Eunice--also known as Syster
Howlett--which was just wonderful and so fun to be back together! I just adore
that girl! Well okej, so we had the coolest splits. It was initially planned
that I would go with her companion and that I would stay here in Södertälje,
but then the morning of splits, I just really got this strong impression that I needed
to go with Sister Howlett. And that's what we did.
So, I spent the day in Hägersten with my
daughter! But the fates and all just seemed to align, and that was the day they were
assigned to help clean the Temple! So I got to go clean the Temple with min
lilla grönsak, and we spent the next 4 hours cleaning the Celestial Room. It was such an amazing experience.
--That was definitely one of the biggest highlights of my
week! Cleaning the Celestial Room with my sweet Sister Howlett--and then I got to teach again with her, and it was just a
sweet little tender mercy! Oh! And she was just precious--she woke up early so
that when I got up she had turned on these Christmas lights that were wrapped
around the bed, and then she turned on the Christmas music, and it was just a
dream to wake up to! It was quite possibly the greatest way I have ever woken
up!
--Well, later that day as I returned home, Sys. Anderson
and I were off to go to a member's house for dinner. So, we set off on our
journey, and there are people along the way so we stop and talk...and we talked
apparently just a little too long. We missed our train by literally 10 seconds! Waited 15 minutes for the next one. Our phone died, and didn't have directions thereto the house. I
had written them down, but that was for the other way and with the train that we had just
missed. So we were just on our own.
We got to the general area and started going. We were walking and asking people all around. We stopped all of these old ladies on
their way to some dance party class--it was really funny! Well...I'll
just try to sum up this night really quick:
Syster Anderson slipped while trying to
talk to people. We were walking all over to try to find the entrances to these
buildings, and so somehow we end up scaling the side of this mountain. Okay--well, mountains don't exist here. It was just a hill. So were climbing up--in
skirts, mind you--and not to mention this is in a forest. Well, Sys. Anderson is
right above me, and I am just begging her not to fall or slip or else I was
going down with her!
We get to the top...and there is a fence. So I climb it, and thankfully didn't even rip my tights! Then Sys. Anderson is just examining all of
the possible ways she can try to make it over and I am just standing there
cracking up at the creative ways she is coming up with--and yet the one she
came down to was taking a couple steps back, getting a running start, and then
hopping over. Yeah. It went just as well as you just imagined it.
She got the
running start, jumped--halfway cleared the fence--rolled over the rest of the
fence, and then just landed on her side and was up in a second and just started
running down the hill! I said, "Wait, are you okay?", and she just said,
"Yeah, come on--the dinner is getting cold!" Hahaha! I couldn't run at
that point--I would just take a couple of steps and then stop, because apparently
you can't run when you're laughing too hard!
Eventually, we ended up finally finding the house--and right as we are walking
up to the house, Sys. Anderson just says: "Oh, yeah--they moved last
week!" I just stood there for a second and then started laughing. There really is nothing better to do. It really was one of the most interesting
nights! Now that took a lot longer than I thought it would!
--Alrighty then! The next two days had splits with
Västerhaninge--which is where the Temple is--so I got to see it all
week!
--Then Stake Conference with the Stockholm South Stake!
{the beautiful new chapel in Södertälje}
Investigator Story. So we have the most amazing investigator
right now--he is precious--and we have just been having the greatest time
teaching him. He is living in a camp about 2 hours away from Södertälje, and yet
still comes to Church with us every Sunday. He loves learning about Christ and
reading from the Book of Mormon.
We have been teaching him in English--he's
pretty good at English, but not really for Church words! So, its been fun. We
have actually gotten to skype Elders in California for translation lessons, so
that has been really cool! There are only 4 Arabic-speaking missionaries in the
world right now, and that is NOT enough!!!! Haha! But, we are very grateful for
the ones we do have!
We also use one of the Elders' investigators to
translate. It's been great--we asked the Elders, "Hey, do you think_____could help us translate the Law of Tithing?" They just said, "Yeah-- we
haven't taught it to her yet, but go ahead!" Haha! So, that was fun and it
went really well!
Well, this week we also taught him the Law of Chastity--and
these lessons are just over the phone, since he lives so far away-- so while Sys. Anderson was talking, I was busy writing quotes because it was just too funny! First off, she says: "Today we are talking about the Law of Chastity", and he just says, "What is
that?" Exactly! We're getting to it....
And then she explained that we don't have sex until marriage--and
our Finnish Elder was walking by at that point, and in a joking, Finnish way
just says, "Why not?" We started dying, and had to put the phone on
mute until we stopped laughing and then closed the door and luckily he didn't hear.
Well, that's all probably funnier when you know the people--but it was pretty funny! And this
was coming from the Elder that always stresses the importance of PMG (Preach My Gospel) and the
white handbook (guidebook for missionaries), and then he just randomly says that--the last thing we were ever
expecting!
Then Sys. Anderson was mentioning how pornography was bad, and she
said, "do you know what that is?", he said, "yeah." And then
I shook my head and said "he is not going to know what that is". So she said, "do
you want me to send the translation for the word?", and he just quietly
says..."maybe....." Again it probably doesn't sound as funny as it was, but
he just at first kept saying, yes, he knew what something meant--and then when asked about
translation and he would say "maybe!"
Then, at the end of the lesson--with many
other fun moments in between--we asked if he liked chocolate or cookies to see what
we could make for him and he just said, "No--no really chocolate...no, but
it's fine..." "Okay what do you like?", we asked him. "Um..... potatis! I
like potatis and popcorn! I don't eat sweety!" Hahaha! Oh, he is just the
cutest human in the world!
Well...after all of these funny stories, we just
were on the phone with him last night and found out he is moving into the far, far up north COLD land! And he's moving Friday!!! We were/are devistated! We
are still trying to see what we can do, but it is so sad! But there is not too
much we can do......
I would love for you all to read the talk "What Are You Thinking", by Elder W. Craig Zwick, given in April 2014. I
found it months ago, and I really liked it--but thenI found it again this
morning, and I just love it now! It is such a good reminder to just try to love and
understand people. Just anyone and everyone, because we never know what they are
going through.
One of the Elders recently was talking about how nobody does
something for no reason. When we get mad or irritated at other people's actions, it is just because we are not taking the time to try to understand why they are
doing something. It is a really great talk though, and I highly recommend you
all read it and try applying it too...or else it's kind of pointless reading
it! But do it, because it's good!
