- Serving in Sweden -

Church with Mattias

August 3, 2105

Hejsan!!

I hope everything is going well!

This week was kind of all over the place but overall it was good! We taught Mattias a little more this week and then kind of took a break towards the end of the week and then met back up Sunday at church. We're going to lunch with him right after this, but he still loves coming to church and learning about the gospel!

Sister Giles is actually getting transferred!! NOOOO!! She will be moving to Kungsbacka and I will be staying and getting a sister named Sister Nielsen. Kungsbacka is still in our zone, so I will see her still! But man, sad day :(

We had some really good member dinners this week. One of them was the Trejos, they are a Columbian family and they made us some really good vegetable and chicken pizzas and told us to keep eating haha WE WERE STUFFED. They are such a cute family! I loveeee them. ANother meal we had with another Columbian family consisted of fish soup, rice, salad, and more cooked fish. The fish had all sorts of bones in it and we were getting stabbed all up in our gums until the daughter showed us a way to squish and squeeze the bones out without stabbing outselves. hahah it is always crazy when we go over the Baqueros becuase there is lots of spanish flying and then some Swedish and then a little bit of english. haha not to mention the Columbian music blaring in the background. OH and to drink? We had warm squash froth. It was...not for me. I tried to play it off like it was good but I couldnt help but gag every gulp. Eventually I stopped with still like 3/4 of the cup left when the mother of the house who doesnt speak very much swedish said "Inte bra?!" I panicked and Giles took a bullet for me and grabbed my drink and glugged it down. Oh man, it was so hard to drink..I was actively looking for the best place to throw up if it pushed its way back up.

District meeting was in Skövde this week and we talking about success and how we all measure it in different ways. Our DL made a "I'm a Mormon" video with all of us in it, it was super cool haha We had hotdogs after! Deff not the same as American hot dogs, but close enough.

Another thing we did this week was make cookies for the bus drivers!! I made probably 50 cookies to pass out to the drivers we saw throughout the day, and it really brightened their day!

We found out that Robert is going to be moving to Göteborg to almost the same area that Giles is going! So hopefully she can take that all the way to the font! He is seriously SO AWESOME.

We met with an investigator who we have been trying to meet with the whole transfer. She is superrrr sweet and has a little guinea pig that crawls in your shirt...because apparently that is where they are more comfortable? Jag vet inte. Minna (the guinea pig) is SO CUTE. She was sitting in my shirt the whole lesson haha anddddd she peed and pooped all over me...I guess I was really hoping that my dedication and patience with this animal would show the investigator that I really cared haha. AND, she ate a big chunk of my hair! ugh. I walked home smelling absolutely DISGUSTING. Oh well haha

I think that is about it for this week! I miss and love you all!! I hope you all have a great week! Don't forget to read your scriptures!

Love,

Syster Jordan Lund

Guinea pig in my shirt

California will be splitting up


Giles and I practicing our song


Always praying

Eating some Colombian food

Fish head soup

Saying goodbye to Elder Farnsworth

August 10, 2015

Halllååååå

This week has been super crazy! One transfer and lots of little miracles. On Tuesday we had our last little District Meeting with our DL who was finishing his mission. We did a little "funeral" for him which was super duper fun. We had a testimony meeting to finish it off. It was super good, spiritual, and needed. We sent Elder Farnworth off on his train to Stockholm and there were more tears than dry eyes. He was one of the best DLs I have had so far.

We had dinner at Sinikka and Hilma's house and Mattias came with us! It was super good and we had a great discussion about baptism and how to prepare for it and the blessings that come. It was super duper good for Mattias to meet more members in the ward :)

Giles finished packing this week and shipped out to Kungsbacka which is still in our zone which is nice. We celebrated with her favorite Indian restaurant with the elders right before she left. We're going to miss her but she is very much needed in Kungsbacka from what I have heard. AND WE GOT A NEW SISTER. Her name is Sister Nielsen and she is just the cutest! She is from Oregon, came into the MTC 6 weeks after me, and is the hardest worker. Oh man, it is super awesome. AND she eats healthy and likes to run! WIN WIN. Basically this transfer is going to be amazing and it already has been!

We taught Kia and Josefine this week and kind of figured out where Josefine is at. She likes to take lessons and learn but probably isn't super close to baptism so we will take it at the pace that is best for her.

The buses here in Borås are..unfortunate. The scheduling is hard and it's somewhat difficult to figure out when and where and how we are supposed to get somewhere. We were supposed to take a bus from centrum to the Eks but it didn't end up working out because we had read the time table wrong. I thought that I had figured it out though until we got to Ulricehamn and there wasn't a bus that took us the additional 20 minute drive to where we needed to be for an appointment/middag/lesson. I was wrong yet again. I had messed up TWICE. I felt really bad and I was about to call this family and ask them to pick us up when a very nice bus driver who had just finished his shift offered to drive us there. I nearly lost it with tears because of this tender mercy. I felt bad for leading all 4 of us missionaries the wrong way, but the Lord truly does help us when we are found in a state of desperation. I think about this experience as sort of an analogy. After we have done everything we can, after we have put forth our best effort to be who we should be and we still fall short, Christ can take it the rest of the way. And it was truly a miracle that we needed.

Church was good! Everyone loves Sister Nielsen which is perfect! We were invited to the Engelbrektssons for dinner with the elders and Daniel (New convert) and we had tacos and pie! Afterwards, we had planned to swing by some people and do a little bit of tracting. We got distracted on the way talking to people and ended up having a couple cool street lessons. After some successes and failures on the way home, we saw a lady who was sitting outside her apartment building alone. We tried to talk to her about the Book of Mormon but the Spirit took it another direction when Sister Nielsen told her how much Heavenly Father loves her. She asked us to pray her her and we kneeled down right then and there and prayed with and for her. She was very touched and called us angels.

Something that has been super cool lately I've really been seeing the love that God has for all of his children no matter where we are in the world. We have seen lots of miracles so far, and we are excited to see many more!!

Sorry this is so long, but have a great week!! Love and miss you lots!

Love,

Syster Jordan Lund

Last picture of Syster Giles and I

Californians!

My new companion, Syster Nielsen

Borås is the place to be!

Swedish church....One of the biggest in Borås

August 17, 2015

So like...where did all of August go? And summer??

Weird.

So this week was super good and busy. Last pday, we went to a less actives house and had a BBQ with her and her non member son. It was super fun! We played some lawn games and then ate and gave a little spiritual message. We had studied for a lesson we were going to have with Mattias on temples and then decided against it, but we ended up talking and teaching about temples to a new convert who wants to go to the temple! So that was cool that even though it didn't turn out how we planned, we still used it elsewhere.

We had a lesson with a new investigator named Mahut in his backyard. We tried to teach about Jesus Christ and God but it turned into him asking him to marry him or his son haha

Craziest thing!! We had met a guy who said that he doesn't have any faith and we invited him to read Alma 32 and text us after he has read it. He did!! He texted us!! He said that there wasn't much more seeking he could do but we knew there was more. We bought him a little plant thing for cheap so that we could drop it off at his apartment (where we met him) and explain that the plant had started as a little seed. We walked all the way to his apartment complex where we had met him the first time sitting outside. Turns out the building was port coded. But we knew we needed to get in there. I tried to look at the buttons and see if any were more worn out than others but they all kind of looked the same. Sister Nielsen suggested we pray so we did. The 4th combination later, the door unlocked. I guess the Lord really needed him to get that plant!

We tried to swing by a referral we had received but the building was also port coded. We knew that if God did it once he could do it again. So we prayed again that we could find a way into this building. 15 seconds later, a super nice man walked up and said here I can let you in. I guess God wanted the referral to have the opportunity to accept the gospel! Turns out the referral was a joke, but still - God wants his children to have the opportunity!

This week we met a lot of Jehovahs witnesses! They are super nice and love to preach. We actually met with two last night who are pretty young and open to learning! We listened to them respectfully and then they listened to us...it doesn't happen too often, but it was cool to hear their beliefs and talk about Jesus Christ.

In a lesson with Mattias this week, he brought up an analogy using sudoku and claimed that you cant just guess and hope it works. I was able to grab my backpack and whip out sudoku cards that I had and explain that even though you can't take a guess and go off faith all the time, there is always another way to solve it. ALWAYS. It really got through to him and he understood. And the crazy thing is, I tried to take my sudoku cards out of my backpack 2 weeks ago because they were taking up too much room, but something told me to keep them so I did. It was awesome. We also taught his BROTHER this week. With Mattias! It was super awesome. he asked really good questions and really appreciated all the knowledge he got from us.

Unfortunately, yesterday Mattias shared that he doesn't feel ready for his baptism on the 5th of September and that he thinks he needs more time. So we are going to have to push it back. I might not be able to be here to see his whole journey, but at least I saw part of it! And we never really know what is going to happen with him haha

We had zone training this week! It was awesome and we talked about diligence! Something that is always good to talk about and learn more about so that we can be better missionaries!

Something I have noticed this week is that our contacts and getting better and better. Some days we have less, but better quality. Super cool!

Love and miss you all so much! The Lord really does bless us when we align our will with His!

Love,

Syster Jordan Lund

Lake this morning

Elder Blackburn (Blackbjörn the greenie)

Syster Neilsen

After church with Mattias

Working in Irma's garden...Service!

This yogurt called Rissi Fruti. THE BEST THING EVER. (saves us on those hot days)

Guy we randomly taught a lesson to on a balcony and he gave us "88 icecream" because he is 88 years old.

August 24, 2015

Hejsannn!!

I hope that you guys had a good week! This week was a good busy week :)

We went to the Murray's house to move and stack wood for the winter. We got the whole stack done which they didn't think would happen so they were super appreciative and they fed us tacos!

We met with Mattias a couple times this week and he said the funniest thing. He is SUPER GOOD at english, but there are still a few tiny things that are tougher for him to understand. Anyways, he asked "Is collecting a sin?" And we were like no...and he said "But it says in the Bible not to collect or commit whoredoms." because he that that that was some form of the word hoarding haha. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and he made the decision to keep going strong and get rid of anything that could persuade him to do otherwise.

We also went to Alingsås this week! It is out of our area, but we got permission from President to go over there and meet the girl that will be staying with Sister Nielsen's family for 10 months as an exchange student! We ate some crazy shellfish that I wish I had gotten a picture of as proof. I tried crab claws, baby shrimp, and then like...a bigger shrimp thing. Definitely out of my comfort zone but good! The family is super sweet and they live in a beautiful house.

This week sleep wise has been all over the place. Sister Nielsen told me she woke up to me talking in my sleep contacting someone in Swedish haha and then I think I tried to explain something to her in my sleep missionary wise and woke up halfway through. She said "what?" and I said "Nevermind we can talk about it in the morning" haha the missionary work never ends!!

We had Swedish pancakes twice this week with members. Swedish pancakes served by real Swedish people!

This week was tough trying to talk to people and we got a little bit down on ourselves. We kept pushing forward and saw so many blessings!! We have a pile of swing bys and every time we decide to do a swing by we pray about which one we should grab. One day, we grabbed one and went over to Hedvigsborg to do a swing by and a little tracting and contacting. We tried to find the guy's name on the building's resident list but we couldn't find it. The building was MASSIVE. 19 floors or something crazy. We decided to tract the buiding anyways and we met some TUs that we had been trying super hard to get in contact with. We also accidentally tracted into a member family...awkward. We were getting lots of doors slammed in our faces when finally - the second to last door - we met a guy who let us in to his house. He introduced himself as George and his son as Ahmin. We didnt think anything of it and we tried to teach a little bit about Jesus Christ and he said that he had met missionaries before. When we got the number at the end and asked for his name again he said George K., who was the exact person we were looking for! 100+ doors later haha. It was awesome ad he wants us to come back sometime this week. And we got a call from someone who we had talked to about Jesus Christ and they want to meet sometime!

We walked to the library so we could use the bathroom and on the way back had an awesome discussion with a man on his balcony! He was super sweet and we talked about the existence of a God. He even gave us ice cream to celebrate his 88th birthday. We went to the bishops house for dinner and had a BBQ and discussed the needs of the area. It was super fun and we have an awesome bishop and ward mission leader. We helped a Muslim lady with her stroller and 2 kids on the bus today and she gave us both hugs! That doesn't usually happen, so it was cool.

Yesterday was a mission farewell and it was super great!! At the end of the program, we stood and sang Gud var med dig tills bi möts igen. It's Bro. Murray's favorite song and he had really been a help in getting this young man on a mission. Needless to say, the tears came flowing haha.

This week has been a little on the tougher side but Sister Nielsen and I continue to push forward! Life is always better when you look on the brighter side of things and truly see the blessings God provides to us :)

LOVE YOU ALL
Syster Jordan Lund

On our 6 mile run this morning by the lake

Swedish pancakes from a member

Every child a child of God

Nielsen and I

Syster Jordan Lund

Boräs

Found a frog while doing service

Walking home last night

August 31, 2015

The months are just flying by! It is almost September!!

This week has been pretty solid!

We went on splits this week and I was able to go with my "grandma"!! She is my trainer's trainer so it was super duper fun! We talked all about our past companions that we have had in common - super fun. We swung by some people and then had dinner at Hilma's with Mattias. We made a princess torta and it turned out pretty solid!

We went and visited the Zebeda family for dinner and got to know them a little better. They own a big chocolate company that basically imports chocolate from all over the world. Like high class expensive chocolate. It was super fun and dinner was healthy, organic, and DELICIOUS. We tracted around in the area and found a cool spanish family - I so wish I had paid more attention in high school and practiced my Spanish.

In District Meeting this week, we practiced role plays and even though it is like the most AWKWARD THING EVER, Elder Stoeltzing made it super fun and goofy. We had a great time and learned a lot!

Big stupid thing of this week is that I have been sick! I started having a sore throat on Thursday evening and then it progressively got worse haha butttt things are looking up and it's going away now so all is well. It is super hard to put forth everything I have to missionary work when I'm not evening working with 100% in the first place haha. Super frustrating.

We met with Angelika and Robin (Jehovahs Witnesses) and they bought us pizza and we chatted for a bit. We laid down some expectations and they didn't really agree with them so it looks like we're gonna have to let them rest for a bit. We met with Rickard for the second time and taught the Restoration again because the first lesson was all over the place! We aren't super sure where his intentions are, so we might be handing him over to the elders.

We tracted a lot this week which is bomb! I love tracting. We basically preached to a few couples of Philippino women and their Swedish husbands. They just let us into their house and they were all super drunk and eating shellfish. Nice people, not so nice about religion, but it was fun to talk to them. We had dinner at the Delve's and had dumplings and sushi! All vegetarian and super good! Kinda funny story, we've been playing this game with members to help them realize how many people they can share the gospel with and it gets pretty competitive. The wife of this family is young and super awesome but competitive too haha right before we were starting the game, her 7 year old daughter was kind of nagging her about something. The mom just turned to her and was like "Ellie, not right now sweetie, mommy's busy" in kind of a stressed voice and the little girl just started bawling and the mom felt really bad. Poor girl, the mom apologized don't worry, all is well.

We saw a less active in church yesterday that we have been trying to meet with! She is 20 years old and just so awesome! Hopefully we will meet with her again soon. We had a lesson with Mattias with two members from our ward and they talked about their stories and the struggles they have had with addictions, it was super awesome. The Spirit was SO there!

This week has been a lot of finding effort and we haven't necessarily seen too much success, but we are still kicking all the way! And we are having fun doing it. I like to think of it as we are looking for the ones that are prepared to receive the gospel and planting seeds along the way.

Have a great week!!

Love,

Syster Jordan Lund