Midsommar in Sweden and Transfer to Borås

Flower Crowns

June 22, 2015

What a great week to be alive and a missionary here in Sweden!

Last pday we had a big BBQ with missionaries all over the Stockholm area. We played some sand volleyball and our team crushed! It was super fun to just hang out with other missionaries and have a good time together. Tuesday morning we planted flowers at the temple and it looks soooo pretty! We had a great lesson with Kjell and his wife about the Book of Mormon and faith. We finally were able to teach Michelle the Restoration! It went well and she had lots of good, deep questions. We had our lesson with Andreas and it went okay. He said that he wasnt so sure if he could keep putting forth the same effort. Syster Irene and I called him out and kinda made him think more about what he was actually saying. He said he would keep trying and reading in the Book of Mormon every night. It's crazy because I feel like every time we teach him, it is never us actually teaching. We always just wait for the Spirit to tell us what to say next haha.

Another blood incident this week: We were studying in the morning with the window open when we randomly heard a grunt and a thud outside. We went to teh window only to see an old lady on the ground with blood dropping down her whole face. We ran outside to help her - there were some people that were in the area and we borrowed some guys gym socks to try to stop the bleeding. The gash was MASSIVE on her forehead and on the side of her face as well. I was the one holding the socks on the wounds and Irene had her arm around the lady trying to comfort her. The ambulance came and as the EMT was looking at her cut, I then realized that it wasn't just a dent in her head, it was skin that had split right open and straight to her skull. It's safe to say I started getting super light-headed and nauseous. I took a nice step to the side as to not get in the way and so I could control myself so I didn't pass out. Turns out I don't think I will be able to be a doctor or surgeon of any type. The lady is okay now, we saw her yesterday but she didn't remember us. Oh well!

We helped clean windows, planted more flowers, member practice lessons, etc.

We had our last district meeting as a zone and played a fun jeopardy game. We went to a member's house (Miriam) and celebrated Canada day and her names day. We made an awesome cake for that! Cake bosses over herrreeee.

Played Soccer inside because it rained most of the day. It was SO HOT inside. But it was so fun.

Friday was Midsommar! We went to Tyresta By to set up for the festival that the church was putting on. It was rainy and muddy for most of the time, but we made it fun! We decorated the Maj pole with flowers and leaves and as it went up, it snapped haha. We danced around it and had a good time. We also made flower crowns! The missionaries had a big tug of war competition and that was fun haha. We went to Gubbängen chapel for some "Olympic Games" (relay races, etc) and our team ended up winning that too! We got cool mustaches as a prize.

I GOT THE CALL. I will be transferring to BORÅS this Wednesday and I will be companions with Sister Giles!! I am sad to leave VH but excited for a new area and new challenges.

THIS SUNDAY WAS GREAT. Such a good Sunday to end on. Bozidar came to church at 9 and then we had 4 other investigators come to church in our ward (Cecilia, Carolina, Sofie, and Jenny)!!! Oh man it was awesome. We sang in church with our Investigator Jenny while a mindra activ played the piano for us! It was just a good meeting all around with great talks and other great musical numbers. 3 of those 4 investigators stayed all 3 hours! Oh man they are so golden. I am so jazzed for Syster Irene to keep working with them. The next sister in here will probably get to baptize all three of them! I said lots of goodbyes, but it still doesn't feel real.

Oh man, I love love LOVE being a missionary. I can't even emphasize that enough. It has blessed me so much and changed me in more ways than I know. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve here in Västerhaninge.

Have a wonderful week!! Love and miss you all!

Syster Jordan Lund

Some young women from our ward (we set up that tent all by ourselves)

Our winning team at the Olympics

Carolina and Sofie

Kjell and Anne-Marie

Missionaries last pday

Hedgehog we found the other day

Missionaries at Gubbängen after midsommar

Maj Pole

Canada cake

Weight and exercise challenge...down 10 lbs.

Where the ladies head split open

June 29, 2015

Mustaches for the taco party

hej hejjj

Jag hoppas allt är bra med er!

This has been a super crazy week. I went from a tiny city of Västerhaninge to a larger area of Borås! So this is like a mixture of VH and Borås.

It was pretty tough to say goodbye to Västerhaninge. My baby area!! It was tough to say bye to some members and some investigators as well. The hardest party was probably saying bye to our new investigators who are soooo prepared to receive the gospel! There were about 4 people on track for baptism and with incredible potential when I left, so that was tough. It was tough to say goodbye to Sister Irene as well. I learned soooo sooo much from her. She probably has no idea. It was also tough to say goodbye to Burton, we've been together in VH for 4 and a half months together. He's a good missionary. It actually didnt take too long to pack all my stuff. Maybe around 2 hours in total. And I left a good amount of stuff in VH.

The travel was absolutely awful in every way possible. The POEs had planned for me to leave early Tuesday afternoon and we had all sorts of lessons planned that evening and that was not going to work out. We asked them if there was any other way to take a different train. Turns out there is, but it was at 4:30 in teh morning the next day. We took it! haha instead of taking it SUPER EARLY out of Vh we went to Stockholm and stayed the night with the STLs. In the morning, we were sending down my luggage in the elevator (by itself because the elevator wasnt big enough for us too) and the elevator got stuck..and we were already running late. It was SO STRESSFUL. I barely made my train. Not to mention trying to switch trains a coupletimes with 3 suitcases and a package for Giles. It was just rough, good thing I don't get embarrassed too easily. Giles picked me up from the train station and we went back to the apartment to drop off all the stuff. SLIGHT PROBLEM. Our apartment is on the 5th floor without an elevator. It was tough haha. So there are sisters and elders in this area and we are all from California! Giles is from Manhattan Beach, Stoeltzing is from Carmichael, and Blackburn is from Fair Oaks. Californians take over Borås! We went to an investigators house that evening named May and sung some songs with her.

We had district meeting with our district and learned about raising the bar and how once we raise it, we never need to go back down. We taught some investigators and contacted a lot as well as worked in the AB. Friday we had a ward taco party! We tried to make snickerdoodles and they didnt turn out just right so we called them "mexican papusas" and just kinda went with it. We figured peolpe probably wouldn't know. The ward is super sweet and very welcoming, and they rock at member missionary work! At the taco party we drew mustaches on everyones faces, but we drew ours before we left the apartment. We traveled with them for about an hour to the church, it was a good contacting point haha. We even had a pinata that was painted like a dalahest (sp?) that the kids just destroyed. We had lunch with a member and his referrals. It was a bomb lesson, but they weren't super interested. It was also Giles Birthday on Saturday so we celebrated with kebab pizza and a little jam sesh. Stoeltzing brought a nose whistle and Blackburn rapped with his nose plugged. We had an investigator in church too! Her name is Magella and she is from England. We were able to teach her the Restoration and I think it went pretty well!!

GILES AND I are having a blast together and we are ready to kill it here in Borås! We are going to tear this place up one investigator at a time haha. But for reals, I'm super excited!

Have a wonderful week! Love and miss you all!

Syster Jordan Lund