ONE YEAR MARK!

Okay.  Now, this is ridiculous.  How is it my year mark?!  I've been living in denial of that fact this week, and so has one of my dear companions, Syster Davis....

{a few from their wonderful MTC group at Systers Conference last week}

One year ago, we were just entering the wonderful Provo MTC together, so we have been reminiscing about all of the good ol´ times we shared in there together...Tiden går så fort!

 {On the train headed for Stockholm!}

Well, this past week was a dream.  We got to go to Stockholm for Systers Conference!  Yes. We are spoiled in this mission.  The theme was "Be Loyal to the Royal Inside of You!", complete with a crown for every princess.  Literally--the whole day they just treated us like princesses.  Needless to say, it was pretty great! 

One of the best parts was that we basically got to watch the whole new "Cinderella" movie! We were just in heaven!  And then lunch was a candle lunch--I would say "candlelit dinner" except for the fact that it was lunch and the candles weren't lit!

Well, then the AP's, (Assistants) walked around dressed like butlers filling our drinks... seriously...what Mission does that?!  It was great!

But sadly, the dream had to come to an end, so we just had to leave with the motto, "Have Courage and Be Kind!"--my favorite.

{Evidence that the Systers (Princesses) arrived home before midnight!}

Oh, and also we got to stay in the Stockholm Systers' apartment, which is right in the heart of Stockholm--and you can go on the roof!!!  I was dying!  It was so GORGEOUS!!!  And yes. There are pictures--too many, in fact!

 Then on to reality, which basically still is a fairytale to me--I mean doing the greatest work on earth in Sweden.  Sounds pretty wonderful to me! 

Well, everything was pretty normal that week after our Conference, except for the fact that we got to be in the Primary program, haha!  There are so few kids in our  ward's Primary that they asked us to sing with them!  It was pretty fun...except for the fact that they had the missionaries sing the first song alone--and that was a little funny for us!

But anyways, it was pretty great, because we had a practice last Sunday and then again on Saturday, and the kids were just freaking out!  They were sobbing left and right, and my comps and I were just quietly laughing and thinking--"Huh...I wonder how this is going to go down next week?!"  But it actually turned out great!  And the best part?  These members are amazing and brought like 4 families from school to come and watch!  It was so cool to see them being missionaries, too!

 Quick side note from  my wonderful companion, Syster Eldridge.  So are just emailing here at the Church, and she gets up and says, "Do you guys want some hard-boiled eggs?  I just boiled some."  Syster Davis and I just look at each other like, WHAT?!  Hahaha!  It was so random, and we had no clue she did that!  I know that probably doesn't even sound that funny, but it was just so completely random to only bring eggs to the Church, boil them while we were emailing--and we didn't even notice that she was doing it!  Haha, good times!

 Well, some tips for this week:

--Become a Syster missionary in the Sweden Stockholm Mission because they treat you like a princess.

--Have a companion make hard boiled eggs for you while emailing.

--Have Courage and Be Kind

--Read Alma 56.  I am in love with all of these later Alma chapters--I keep reading and re-reading them!

--Listen to "Joy and Spiritual Survival" by President Russell M. Nelson: "When the focus of our lives is on Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening--or not happening--in our lives."

 The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.

Love you all,

Syster Campbell

SHORT AND SWEET

Well, another week has come and gone!  I usually say I'm keeping the letters short and then they turn out to be long--but this time, I mean it! 

Sadly, the internet is down at the Church, so we are at the library emailing right now--and it's really annoying, because literally every 12 minutes the computers log us out, so I'm sorry but that's just how it is today!

And it's pretty funny how annoyed we can get when our iPhone is not working--just thinking of the fact that we eveb HAVE iPhones as missionaries makes the situation just a little bit better!

Well...I guess I will quickly include the quote of the week--once again, Syster Davis: "Look at that dog!  He was literally just on his front two hind legs!"

Oh, and Lördag we also got to play FOTBOLL!!!!!

Söndag was busy:  We had American waffles at our Ward Mission Leader's house!  We were then late to Church, had a funeral right after Church, drive to a member's for dinner after the funeral, and then went on splits with the wife to visit a less-active member of the Ward... What a day!  Actually, that's really just about a typical day here in Helsingborg for ya!

Honestly, other than that everyother thing just takes too long to write than in these short 12 minutes, so I will save them for another time!

But before I go, I just have to share with you all that I have really gained a deeper appreciation for the Bible this week. 

I've been learning more about William Tyndale, who gave his life to make the Bible more accessible to everyone. His story is really quite amazing. 

{a wonderful talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson about William Tyndale and the Bible}

One of the coolest parts to me was how he in a way prophecied of Joseph Smith!  He said, basically, not too long before he died, that there would one day be a farmer boy who would know more about God's word than any Pope.  I found that SO fascinating! 

With all of your internet capabilities, you can find out a lot more about him, I'm sure, but this has really inspired me to want to search in the Bible a lot more along with my Book of Mormon!  Oh, and it has been really cool because lately there have been a LOT of people that have had so many different questions about these things, so I have been trying to find how we can answer them with the Bible and the Book of Mormon together, and I have just come to learn SO MUCH!!! 

My dear comps and I have loved talking about it all, and it was interesting to me because I just thought how learning about all of this has just strengthened my testimony so much.  But Syster Eldridge mentioned how "deep doctrine," and just learning and digging deeper can strengthen a testimony, but it does not create one.  I was thinking about why people don't just believe when they learn these amazing "deeper things"--but it truly is because we need to learn the basics first--the foundational, glorious truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

 Well, that's all I've got for today--but to sum up my life right now:  

I love you all.  Sweden is great.  It's COLD.   My ears hurt.  I have never been happier.  I can't wait for Christmas--just kidding--I really can, because every day leading up to it is ALWAYS great, so life is just good.  I feel so spoiled being out here.  Well, love ya'll lots, and have a splendid day!

Love,

Syster Campbell

OMVÄNDELSE

Well, I'm kind of sick right now, so this won't be the longest letter in the world, but let's see where we can start................................

Alright, well first of all, we can start with Syster Davis quotes of the week!

"You don't want your crust? I'll take it--the crust is the healthiest part!" All of us just stare at her...she says, "What?"  We just say, "Are you serious?"  She says, "Yeah, look it up.  My mom told me!  It has the most nutrients...."  We had no words.

 Later that day, "When I was little my Dad would tell me that the brown spots on bananas were chocolate!"  "How long did you believe that?", we asked.  "Till I was like 10."   Silence once again.

 Next morning, as were listening to our favorite song, "The Cat and the Mouse", a David Archleta and Mormon Tabernacle mash-up, Sys. Davis was just belting it out, and then was came walking into the room and seems to just be talking to herself, and says, "Oh David, I appreciate you!"

You can probably imagine Sys. Eldridge and I just about dying at that point!   Oh, my--there really never is a dull moment with these two!

By far the most interesting day would have to be Lördag. 

It started out with an amazing lesson at the Church.  One we have been waiting for for a long time---as our investigator said, "I think this was it.  I really think this lesson was the missing puzzle piece that I just really needed!"  And let me tell you--I have rarely felt a confirmation so strong that that was why I was here!  Oh, it was so cool! 

He then just said, "I just need to walk around for a minute".  He came back in, and grabbed his cigarette packet out of his pocket...and CRUSHES it!!!  It was truly an epic moment.

After that amazing lesson, we had 8 minutes to make our train--at the station--15minutes away.  So we ran.  Literally sprinting, we were just cracking up the whole time, just a line of three girls with nametags and skirts running as fast as they could to the station!  Everyone we passed just laughed and laughed, as we just said, "Hej Hej!" in an exhausted yet enthusiastic manner to everybody we passed by! 

We barely made it onto the train, and didn't even get out of the station before Syster Eldridge somehow finds dog stuff to step in.  So, we go get that cleaned up and then we headed over to our dinner.  

Then, on the way back we are just sitting at the bus stop when we hear this nasty scraping sound and turn around to see this bike with absolutely no air in the tires, and an old guy still riding it--and he just says to us, all grouchily, "Jag vet.  Det funkar inte!" ("I know! It doesn't work!"), and just rides by!  Haha!  It was pretty great--and has been quoted many times since!

 {She's having to duct tape her shoes now.....she's pretty proud of that, I think!}

Well, it has been a pretty great week!  Hope you all could get in a couple laughs from our experiences!  Oh--and we just got to watch the Sunday Afternoon session of General Conference--so how about that talk from Elder Renlund and his beautiful homeland SWEDEN!  

I just have to say we were all really quite proud!  Just thinking about cute little deacon Elder ((roll the -r) (Rean-loond) from Göteborg (yuh-tae-bor-y)--setting off explosives in Church! We showed this talk to  our investigator, and he absolutely LOVED it!  He especially loved the part about Omvändelse, or Repentance. 

But the cool thing is that in Swedish, omvändelse is both repentance and conversion. During most conferences we have with our Mission President, he says, "Now what do we do in the Sweden Stockholm Mission?"  And we all repeat back, "Teach Repentance and baptize converts."  At first, I never really got that--but after a little time, it just made sense.  We baptize people who are converted.  And converted means changed.....

Just like with our sweet investigator right now, he considers himself a Mormon.  He has told friends he is a Mormon, and tells them what he/we believe!  But just having him listen to this talk, and seeing him just nodding and agreeing with everything that was said, I just realized how that moment was just the definition of "teach repentance and baptize converts."  It is really one of the greatest blessings to be able to see somebody become TRULY converted!

And we have another friend--I think I talked about him last week, but he is just great. Basically, we had an amazing lesson with him yesterday--and at the end he just said, "Well, I've been thinking...can we possibly set a day for me to be baptized?  You know, just like something to really work towards?"  

We all just looked at each other with--what we would call it in my family--with "screaming eyes"!  It was just so beautiful!  I say beautiful, because "beautiful" is this  investigator's FAVORITE word!  He says it about everything!  And where he is right now truly IS beautiful!

Well my dear people, I wish you all a beautiful week.  Love life, make good choices, and enjoy the little things--like taking showers in the dark because your companion plugged in a hair dryer from America and blew out the fuse three days ago!

Med Kärlek,

Syster Campbell

GODIS

General Conference.

Well...I think I've said enough.  It was just amazing, eller hur?

I can't even tell you all how exciting General Conference is as a missionary.  We were just giddy all week coming up to Conference!  And it did not disappoint--not like it would, of course, but it was definitely more than I ever dreamed of!  I hope you all loved it, too, and were able to be taught from it--if not, go watch it again!

But to start off, I'll do a quick little sum up of things!

First of all--I couldn't be happier with this transfer!  I absolutely ADORE my two sweet companions.  They are just a joy to be around, and they make the work just that much sweeter!  We are just having the greatest time together, though--so many wonderful people we have been able to teach, too!  Three really solid people we have been able to teach this week--all of which are really seeking to find the truth, and they are just AMAZING!!!

--Other than that, we have had a bird almost kill us by flying right in front of our faces as we were just walking, and nearly giving us all a heart-attack.

--We made an insanely good apple pie in a pan!  It was a 10-minute version, and even better than normal pie!

--A lady sitting by us in the library while we were having a lesson just started cutting into our discussion for what turned out to be an HOUR!  The lady just kept talking!  Just saying how she was Orthodox--only prayed to God, Jesus, Mary and the Apostles--said she believed in Prophets, but didn't know who Adam, Noah, Abraham, or Moses were. 

She kept interrupting when ever we would try to answer one of her questions, and then at the end was saying how she wanted to learn English--and then told Syster Eldridge that she had really good English. We just sat there awkwardly about that--and then our Swedish investigator said--"She's from America...." Then she said, "Oh, well you're very good at it!" Hahaha!  Syster Eldridge just said, "Thanks...I think!"

So funny!

--I got my first godis...so unlike me.  Godis are what Swedes practically worship here.  It is Swedish candy that everybody is just obsessed with!  I got a teeny, tiny bag just in the name of tradition--because every General Conference, it is a missionary tradition to get Godis--so we did!  Sweets for a sweet weekend!

I hate to say it, but Swedes LOVE salt Lakrits--Black licorice--and it is kind of growing on me.  I know!  It's horrible, right?!   don't know what it is, but some kinds are actually not that gross!

--On to other wonderful news...IT'S FINALLY FALL!!!!!!  It's cold, blustery, rainy and leaves are  falling everywhere!  I am just in love with it all!!!!

But for the sake of time, I shall go on--now to Conference!

So, I don't know about you guys, but this Conference I sure heard a lot about missionary work--I thought that was pretty cool!  We were actually able to have 2 of our investigators in Conference with us, and they just LOVED it!  One of them, after like every 5 sentences would just super quietly say, "Oh, beautiful!"  Oh, it made my heart so happy! 

After each session, they would just come up to us and just say, "That was really amazing." Both of them just keep saying that they really are looking for the truth, and they really feel like they have come to something amazing. 

They were both blown away my the choirs, and just loved seeing how everyone there was just happy.  They kept saying, "This is what the world needs."  And we were just like, "Yup, you know that's right!"  --Not saying it like that of course, but it really was amazing to see. 

I loved when a speaker started talking about something I knew one of them would be interested in--and then I would see them lean forward, and just give their complete attention to the speaker.  It was really special!

 Really quick for my favorite Conference thoughts:

I was just blown away by Syster Oscarson's talk--about making the gospel real to you; and President Uchtdorf's  "Fourth Floor, Last Door"  in the General Women's Broadcast last week.  And then Craig C. Christensen's talk on our dear Prophet Joseph Smith; and Elder Neil L. Andersen's on the coming forth of the Restoration. 

I really loved Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk on JOY!  It was beautiful!  And Elder M. Russell Ballard's, "To whom shall we go?" 

The Lord's way really is the only way, and if we would just open our eyes and KEEP them opened, we would all be able to see that.  When the winds on the sea start beating on the ship, you're not going to jump out are you?  NO!  And the case is the same here. 

When trials come our way, are we going to leave the very thing that will save us?  I sure hope not!  The Savior is on the Ship.  He knows the way, and He will guide us all home.  We must show our faith in Him by staying in the ship--or in this case--His Church--and by not letting go!  Holding on with faith.  I loved his words!

And then, of course--our wonderful Prophet.  How beautiful and sweet it was.   Our Prophet is truly The Prophet of God.  Just like in my letter last week about the Book of Mormon from Elder Holland's talk, the same can be said about our dear Prophet: No evil man could be our Prophet, and no good man could--unless he was called of God.  And so it was with our dear Thomas S. Monson.  Everything he said was exactly what I was praying that our investigators could hear. 

The Lord is so very aware of our needs, and has sent us Prophets to speak in His behalf. What greater witness can we ask for than all of those beautiful, pure witnesses that we have been able to see and hear.  The Gospel is sweet--but even sweeter when you know that it is the Truth.  So many are searching for the truth in life, so let us share it with them!

Well, there is much more to be said about Conference, but until I have the actual quotes, I don't really feel like going on to butcher their eloquently phrased analogies and similies! Maybe we'll have some good material for next time!  Plus, I still have to watch the Sunday afternoon session!

Well, I must be off--but just remember to keep that flame burning.  Keep that testimony growing strong!

With much love and all...

Syster Campbell