Faith

Letter sent September 26, 2016:

Elder Duke is leaving so we had a family missionary dinner last night

This week all of our phones got updated. Can't handle the new update. We're all just tryina get peoples phone numbers on the street and can't even figure out how to open our phones anymore because we can't just swipe across the screen. the whole button-clicking nonsense is really throwing the Stockholm Sweden mission for a loop. 

This week we had a zone conference in Gothenburg. It was just what we needed to split up our week of getting blåsted. (Don't know if this is an actual word but it's what we say when the people just don't show up to their lesson). The conference was amazing. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and faith. How we just have to choose to have faith. It literally is a choice. There's stuff that can back up not believing in God and there's stuff that can back up believing in Him. So you just have to decide and then once you have faith to make a decision, you will see God's hand evidenced in your life. Then you will recieve the confirmation that you need. But just choose. It's the best choice I've ever made in my life. Adn the best choice that I continue to make every day. Because everyone has doubts. It's just important that you continually choose to have faith in the faith that you have. 

We also went to Karlskrona (my dream area ever since one of my MTC teachers talked about it nonstop) to do work overs with the sisters there. Sister McClatchie and I just had the funnest little day and the city did not dissapoint. It was beautiful. 

Also had probably the hardest day of my life on Saturday. Every single second just felt like surviving haha. I was like, c'mon B, you can do anything until 9 o'clock tonight. *Internally groaned at my own pump up talk.* But wow, I am by no means a perfect missionary. I don't have that passion 24/7. But hey, I overlived it and now I'm happy as ever. 🤗

Then the best day EVEERRR...SUNDAY!! because...the general conference excitement has begun! We got to watch the general womens meeting and it was INCREDIBLE!! I absolutely loved all the talks but I especially loved Elder Uchtdorf's. He talked about faith, which went perfectly along with what we had talked about at Zone Conference. 

He said, "We walk by whatever faith we have, seeking always to increase our faith. Sometimes, this is not an easy quest. Those who are impatient, uncommitted, or careless may find faith to be elusive. Those who are easily discouraged or distracted may hardly experience it. Faith comes to the humble the diligent, the enduring. It comes to those who pay the price of faithfulness."

I know that faith is a decision. And it's scary to choose to believe sometimes. You just have to go out on a limb and be like, Okay, God, I trust you and think that you're there. And then He is there. And it's wonderful. And the blessings come. And the strength comes. And the happiness comes. I know He lives. I know that choosing to believe is the most important and most worthwhile choice we can make. 

I also just love being a missionary. And helping other people choose to believe. Because it takes courage. Missionary work is the BEST!

Kram, Syster May

Ending the transfer the way we started it...with no bus cards.  Because Skanetrafiken closes way too early.

Syster Jackson and I almost forgot to buy peanut butter last week.  We went back for it.

Malmö's 20!

Letter sent September 19, 2016:

Pear the size of my head

 I love Sweden. I just do. We go running in the park by our house in the morning and it's just so tranquil and beautiful. There's this long stretch in the park and on either sides of the path there are massive pine trees whose branches go all the way to the ground and then there are little light poles dispersed between them and it is just absolutely dreamy. I feel like I'm in Narnia. I think it's going to be so beautiful in the winter. I hope they put lights up on all the trees. 

So this week the Malmö stake filled 20 years!!! Yay, way to go Malmö! Wierd that the stake wasn't even organized when I was born. In any case, they had stake conference this weekend and on Friday they had a party. By request the missionaries were asked to do a little skit thing at the fest (something that Elder Duke and Elder Demourdant had done last transfer that the ward thought was funny). It was one of those skits where there's a sheet up and then a person just pops their head and torso through and their arms and hands are the feet and legs and then someone else sticks their hands through to be the actual hands except that person can't see anything so it's funny. So we did "a day in the life of a missionary" and it was funny and you would have laughed. Don't worry, we recorded it. Post-mission laughs. 

Stake conference was super good. There was a person from the quorom of the 70 who came whose native language is portuguese and seoncd language is english. His english was passable but not bomb. But holy cow he was hilarious. What made it even funnier was that his translator was a 25ish swede who just kept talking in monotone. Elder whats-his-name kept on saying "WOOOW!!" during all of his stories and having all these big body movements while he said it and then it would just get translated to "wow." 

Practicing for the skit

Helping at the stake party

We met with a few people this week for the first time that we're excited to meet with again! Per, an old swedish guy who's been a member of the swedish church for like 30 years. Actually astounding because he is an active member of the swedish church. He actually goes. Unheard of. We also met with a guy named Krozan from Denmark. He's pretty good at swedish but he also just speaks danish to us. When people speak Danish and Norwegian it is the most confusing thing. They're close enough to swedish that I understand basic ideas and when they're saying but I don't get all the details. But right at the beginning when they start talking my brain just flips because I'm understanding but not completely and so I just automatically assume that my sweidsh is super not up to par. Then after a minute I realize it's actually just a different language. We also met with a man named Saif. He's just like, I don't know what to believe, there are so many options and I don't know what is true. We were like, yes, hello, welcome, we will teach you all. 

The absolute funniest thing happened. So we were calling through the ward list that the relief society president had given us (active members were highlighted so we new who was less active) to try to set up times to meet with less/in-active members. We called this youngish girl named Julia and she was super willing and excited to meet. We were super pumped. So we were meeting her in a mall. First time missionary meet ups are the worst because you don't ever know what the person looks like so you're scanning the crowd for some random person. She called us and was like, where are you? and then was walking towards us apparently. She was like, "Oh, I see you!" And up comes this member that we've totally met before at church. Don't worry though. We handled it smoothly. But it was just so funny. Sister Jackson and I just side glanced at each other and had no time to laugh about it in the moment. 

Sister Jackson and I got super over the diet life yesterday and made apple crisp. Overcoming the natural man is just so hard. 

Apple crisp delish

But man, I'm just so happy!! The gospel is the absolute best thing in the world. I'm so grateful that I have knowledge about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. There are so many people that have no idea about the fulness of the gospel. About Joseph Smith, the Book or Mormon. So go share it with them! You just have to suck it up and start talking. To your friends or your family or the random person sitting next to you or whatever. You never know who's searching and whose life it's going to change. The church is true. 

Have it good.

Syster May

Sisters stayed the night for stake conference

Happiest Week

Letter sent September 12, 2016:

Me and the hilarious, sassy Sister Jackson

This week was just fabulous. Started off killer because we went to this members house and they have the most adorable little girls ever. There are three of them and they are just to die for. We were playing with them and the oldest, she's 8, was like, you remind me of another sister who was here. So I named a couple sisters and when I said Sister Bateman she was like, "YES! Her! I love her." Basically that is the best compliment a sister can receive from a child because Sister Bateman is all the children's favorite. And I just thought it was adorable that they remembered her. 

Then Tuesday we headed on up to Jönköping halfway through the day to go do workovers with the sisters there (aka my beloved Sister Christensen and her new missionary, Sister Dargan) It was so so good to see Sister Christensen again. I love her to death. Sister Dargan was astounding me with everything she did. She's only been in Sweden a few weeks and she was already talking with everyone and sharing her testimony in swedish and just like wow. I was definitely not doing that at that level when I was new. She's a hard worker and a good learner. Happy to have her in the mission family haha my "granddaughter." We took a three-generation picture that I'll attach. I got to meet with some people that I was working with while I was in Jönköping which was super fun. They said that they called a less-active, Rikki, and asked if he wanted to meet with us while I was there and he was like, "Heck ya!" (edited version). Haha it made me happy that he was excited. 

Three generations

Then Thursday Sister Jackson and I taught this man, Lars. HOLY COW HIS ACCENT WAS OUT OF CONTROL. We understood like 50% of what he said. Rough. We're meeting again tonight. Currently praying for the gift of tongues to manifest itself. 

Friday night we started splits with the Helsingborg sisters. Sister Christofferson came to Malmö with me and Sister Jackson went to Helsingborg to be with Sister Campbell. We had a fun day of talking to people on the street on Saturday together. The time flew by. 

Sunday I was again tvugen to sing in sacrament meeting. We sang a song with the young women. Walk by faith I think it's called in english? The whole sacrament meeting was just hymns. So a few members gave tiny talks on their favorite hymns and then we would sing the hymn. It was really good. 

A highlight of the week was getting more pillows. I just love pillows and we only had one each here but we had to get extra bedding so that a bunch of sisters can stay with us this weekend for stake conference so we have more pillows now and my life has been pure bliss since then. 

Also we made a general conference countdown paper chain with general conference quotes on all the links. Classic missionary life. 

I love Malmö. I especially love my time with Sister Jackson. We talk about it a lot and we just feel the spirit a ton together as a companionship. It's really lovely. I don't really know what's changed but it's just always with us in a very tangible way. I feel happy all the time. And so grateful all the time. And I know that those are fruits of the spirit. I know that God blesses us with the spirit as we sacrifice and do our best to follow Him. When we do the things that are hard the spirit will accompany us. I'm so grateful for a living Heavenly Father. I know He exists and that he listens when we pray. I know He loves me and my family. Plus everyone else also.

Have it good.

Syster May

Dudas trying to trick us with a math problem.  "What do you get when you cut 12 in half?"

Spider Infestation

Letter sent September 5, 2016:

Dried apples

Hey!

This week has absolutely flown by. 

First and foremost the outside of our apartment is infested with massive spiders and they just build their webs outside our windows and stare at us all the time. I don't like them. And they are seriously HUGE. We close our little window coverings and at night the spiders massive body shadows just shine through the fabric. You can't escape them. I feel like I am getting a taste of a 3rd world mission. Grateful to be in Sweden. 

We also like to watch the lady who lives across the street from us. Not in a creepy way. More like a friendly-neighbor-who-also-lives-on-the-second-floor kind of way. She always watches tv and waters her plants. We've only seen her tv off once. We've decided her name is probably Kerstin. And we were absolutely losing our minds because Kerstin was eating dinner with a never before seen man yesterday. Our lives are sometimes without excitement so we live vicariously through Kerstin.

On Tuesday we went up to Göteborg to spend part of Tuesday and Wednesday with them. I got to spend our time there with Syster Barrett!! We finally got to be companions for a day and I had so much fun! She is a fantastic missionary. She's always calling out to people who are a little farther away than normal, like across the street in a park, to talk to them and tell them that we're missionaries. So bold. she also listens to the spirit a lot as she talks to people on the street. I don't know how to explain it but she just has the calm quiet presence.  I learned a lot from being with her.  We taught a couple of their investigators together. We tried to help one of them set up a baptismal date as a goal but he was just really scared and unsure. We finally got him to say a prayer with us in the lesson, which is something he hadn't done up to this point. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have about God and who He is and that I don't have to be afraid of talking to Him. I know that He listens and cares.

On Thursday we went to the church and had a lady in the ward, Lena, help us with family history. Well, mostly she just helped me. BUT HOLY COW IT WAS SO FUN. I was like get me home so I can just do family history all day long haha. It just was a great time because they have all the Swedish death books and birth and confirmation and marriage records downloaded on the computers here which makes everything so much easier. It was nice doing it with an actual Swedish person because she is super good at reading the names and knowing what the towns say when it's hard to read. We found a bunch of people that need to be baptized and then found other information that made it so we can do more sealings of people that were already found (probs by grandma). But like. Okay. People have been saying for years that family history is actually fun and now I believe them. Also turns out grandma hasn't done everything like I thought. 

We also talked to lots of people on the street and then that night we visited the sweetest family in the ward. They have a little 7 year old boy and he explained in great detail how to play this church game from america. All the cards are Book of Mormon characters and you fight against each other. Possibly like pokemon or something? I don't know. But they all have different strength levels and it  was pretty fun. 

Then Friday we had district meeting. Then afterwards we traveled over to Kristianstad to go on splits with the sisters that are serving there. I got to stay in Kristianstad with Syster Howlett! We got to help set up for a wedding and clean the church and then talk to tons of people on the street. Syster Howlett is incredible. She just does everything she can as best as she can and lets God take care of the rest. A great example of faith and diligence. Also every member in their branch keeps giving them masses of apples. So we dried a bunch of them at night. Almost as good as Grandma May's (actually not even close to as good).

Then Saturday we switched back and Syster Jackson and I taught our first sit down lesson to an investigator together! Woooo! We taught this young girl (20's) who we met on the street during the week. She brought her fiance along so we taught them both about the restoration of the gospel. We're meeting with them again this week and are excited to see how it goes. 

Yesterday church was fab because I didn't have to sing in the choir. Also because of other reasons such as that it was fast and testimony meeting and I love hearing people bear their testimonies. Also got to take the sacrament. Also got to wear sister Jackson's coziest sweater on the planet. Good day.

Älskar er!

Syster May

Sweden's flower selection just growing by the side of the road

Pretty, pretty church.  Also, everyone and their dog and cat rides bikes here and it's cute.

Cute little sign by the wayside

The spider who lives outside our bedroom window