Stockholm Sweden Mission

Stockholm Sweden Mission

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER IN SWEDEN

February 8, 2016

Elder Israelsen's birthday!


Happy birthday Mom!!! 

This week has been so stressful, not sure why, but there just is not enough time in the day to do everything that we would like to do. But hopefully, we are doing the things that the Lord would want us to do!

This week I had the super cool opportunity to go on splits with Sister Giles!! My old companion! We had just the greatest time talking about our missions since we were together and friends back home. 


Giles and I with the classic 4 fingers of the face


We went with Roba to Family Home Evening in Stockholm and she just loved it! She is so cute and positive and wants to learn more. She asked to borrow a Mormons Bok and we gave her one. She said she was excited to read it! We went out and hit it hard as missionaries too!  We went to the Emanuelssons this week to did some service for them - cleaning their house and taking out some garbage. However, it did not go at all how we had expected. We took out some of their trash and started making dinner and vacuuming and then all of the electricity went out. Lights were out, tensions were high, and it seemed like we caused more harm than good haha. We went home and in the light I realized that my dress was just covered with all this dry yogurt their son had on his fingers as I was playing with him haha. 

We are meeting with this less active named Madelene and she is super awesome. STRONG strong testimony in the gospel but just won't make her way to church. The elders accidentally tracted into her a few days ago too, so we both kinda teach her and that is how she wants it - and needs it. She loves watching the church videos and she'll watch them over and over and over again. So far she's watched and loved both Legacy and the Testaments. 

We went with all 4 sisters here to visit a couple people this week. First one! We visited a member named Andras who is super awesome and strong in his faith! He has had lots of surgeries lately but now he is home and resting. We went and visited him and he had made pancakes for us! He told us that we each had to eat 3. haha it was super precious. 
The second person we went to visit was ROGER! We had never been to his house, but we went and visited him as well. He came down to open the door for us, and he just kinda chucked a turtle out. We thought it was a doorstop at first. And then it started moving hahah. We get up to his apartment and it turns out he has a nice little habitat going for these turtles. Throughout the whole house haha. He said he had 3 other turtles and that they were just some where in the apartment. It was super fun, he is just so happy and content with his turtles. We retaught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and he actually talked to the bishop on Sunday about getting his temple recommend so he can go to the temple! He is just..the greatest. 

Our happy friend Roger with one of his turtles

I wasn't really feeling up to holding it myself, maybe next time..

We met Andreas and talked to him about Repentance and the godhead. He really liked it and when we told him that he could let his pain and suffering be lifted he was tearing up. He is just super cool too. 
We also met with Rahaf and taught her about faith. We read from Alma 32 and she really liked it! She said that she felt something that she hadn't felt in a really long time. Woohoo the Holy Ghost! 
We had a great lesson with a new investigator named Robin with Maria (member). We taught about the Restoration and bore powerful witness of the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was SO strong. Maria started crying and testified of missionary work that evening. And the next day for testimony meeting! 
This week was Elder Israelsens birthday so we had a fun little break the fast with all the missionaries here in the church. We made tacos and banana whip cream pie? I don't really know how to describe it, but its got digestives (they're like grahamcrackers) and caramel and bananas and whipped cream. It was super fun! WOohoo Birthdays!!

Cool spiritual experience and then I'll be done haha: Yesterday in the third hour of church (Relief Society) we were learning about spiritual independence. I glanced out the window at just the right second to see this lady praying in front of the church and motioning the Catholic cross. I leaned to Syster Nielsen and said "hey, can you see that lady?" She couldnt. I had a super strong prompting that we needed to go out and talk to her. So, following the prompting without question we went out and talked to her. She said that she prays everytime she walks by our church because it is the church of JESUS CHRIST. His church. We asked her if she wanted to come in for church and she just marched right in. It was super cool! She participated in the lesson and we found out that she was Greek. As soon as the lesson was over, Syster Nielsen talked with her as I rushed to find the bishop and another member who had both served their missions in Greece. She just LOVED talking to them. And it was cool to watch them bear witness for her in their mission language. While they were doing that, I went to the few Book of Mormons we had in the church to see if by some off chance we might have one in Greek. GUESS WHAT. There was. I pulled it out of the book case and brought it back to the member and Olga (the lady) we got her number and address and are going to teach her this week! Miracles happen!!
I hope you have a wonderful week! I love being a missionary and seeing the miracles every day that come when we work hard!

Love,
Syster Jordan Lund

Pancakes with Andras

Heart attack

We finally felt sunshine!

Taking out the Emanuelssons garbage


February 15, 2016


We made it to Ikea last Pday! First time ever!


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Happy belated Valentine's day!!


This week has been super busy and has felt like forever but at the same time it has just FLOWN BY. I had the wonderful opportunity to go on splits with Syster Nielsen the younger! REUNITED. Oh man it was just so much fun to serve with her and teach and talk to people on the street with her! She's the best. 


Splits with Syster Nielsen!
We went and helped some members clean their kitchen, and it was a good thing too, because they are pretty old, and were feeling down in the dumps that day. We talked about repentance with them and had an interesting gospel discussion. We also taught a less active with a member and it was super cool as well! The member had a lot of good experiences and shared her testimony at the perfect moments. The less active is super positive and wants to come back to church! She said that the Holy Ghost ha been telling her for a while that it's time to come back.

We were able to go to the TEMPLE this week! It was just so uplifting and I needed it. We were trying to go through in Swedish, but it turned out being English. BUT It was good because there were certain things I needed to learn that I would have missed in Swedish. 

Temple!
We swung by a Bolivian lady that was MONGO pregnant. We hadn't heard from her in a while and decided to go by. She finally had her baby! And she was really struggling around the house so we tried to help out a bit and shared Matthew 5: 14-16 with her. She started crying and we reassured her that she is doing an incredible job as a mom of 4. She's a good one :)  We met with Rahaf and talked more about faith. She said that she feels so much peace and safe at church and that all the members are just amazing. We asked her what it would mean to her to be a member and she said it would be cool but she was still unsure. We invited her to pray about baptism and becoming a member in the church! I'll let you know what happens with that next week.

OKAY HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: Our investigator Roba is just the best ever. SHE IS SO GOLDEN. I cannot even explain. We went to Bishop Anderson's house and had a lesson with Roba. We started with the Restoration (sorta) and the bishop was just teaching all of it while we were just eating soup (it was delicious). Roba said that she recognizes a lot of positive things from other churches and that it seems like we took all the good parts from the other churches. haha We explained to her about the Apostasy and why there are so many churches today. She also mentioned that she thought tithing was very good and she said that once she gets a job here she would like to start paying tithing! She is just my favorite ever. And she came to church and loved it again. She loves getting involved in her cute Swedish :)
So Saturday was basically the worst morning ever. Started with our alarm clock not going off, then our blender broke, our lesson canceled, the train systems were down, and a huge activity with a member family that evening decided that they wanted us and we had to come two hours earlier. Oh and our phone died. Our whole day was just, weird, and stressful. Tears were shed, but we made it through and Sunday was wonderful. 

Part of our bad day, stalling trains/holding doors so the other sisters can have a fighting chance to make the train
At church we talked all about service and serving others. I really liked what one of the speakers said about how love and service are connected. "You can serve someone and not love them, but you cannot love someone without serving them". I thought it was so true! So this week, go out and look for the little things that you can do to serve others! It will spread like wildfire! I hope that you all have a wonderful week!! Love you!!

Love,
Syster Jordan Lund

Roba at church!

Goldfish in Syster Nielsen's (the older) package

Buns at the Wesemyers


February 22, 2016

1 Year in Sweden!


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What a crazy week!!  I feel like this week has just flown by, but we have just been working SO HARD. We've been hitting the streets hard and teaching lessons out on the streets when we aren't in an appointment. 

I went on splits with Syster Haikkola again! She is an awesome Finnish sister in Örebro. And so cute! We taught a super cool lesson again to our less active named Yvonne and we took with us the same member. We talked about and read through the Family Proclamation which is actually something that she had never seen or even heard about! It was super cool and we committed her to write down three ways she can personally strengthen her family. 
We went by an older member couple. They are basically like the grandma and grandpa of our ward. We practice a lesson about repentance and sang and played some songs for them on the piano. :) I think they liked it. 
We tried to make cookies for the bus drivers this week too! We meant to do it for valentine's day, but we got busy so we decided to do belated Valentine's cookies for them :) we had baked two big containers full of cookies and set out to " go about doing good". When Sister Nielsen went to hand them to me, they dropped...all over the ground.
"5 second rule?"
"Ew no, they are sitting in slush and gravel."
"Dude come on, added texture and moisture?"
Haha needless to say we ended up tossing about 15 cookies. It was a sad way to start the day haha. But we had saved some of them too. 

The sad sight of spilled kindness

Our district meeting was super good. Our district is just super awesome. We talked all about how to work with the members and involving them in the missionary work. It was super cool and we took some good ideas back to our area and we're going to shoot high this week!
We borrowed the elders car to meet an investigator who blew us off. But we ended up dropping off cookies to a lady who recently had a baby as well as a new convert. 
We had an AWESOME lesson with the Nylund family! The wife had invited her friend and the husband invited his less active brother to the dinner. We talked about prayer after (a subject everyone can relate to) and invited them to try to say a 10 minute prayer to God. Sister Nylund's friend really liked it and said she would try it! It was super cool!
The elders had a baptism on Saturday! Woohoo! For a guy named Kent - he's super cool and has read through the Book of Mormon more times than me! Andreas and Roba both came to the baptism to get a feel for how baptism is in the Mormon church. They both really liked it, and we are hoping to get a baptismal date with Roba this week (couldn't meet last week :( )
Okay last thing, this week we have focused lots on street lessons, and because of that, we have had street lessons galor. One specific one happened this past Saturday. We were split contacting in stan so we could talk to more people and I stopped a man who was wearing a guitar on his back with lots of tattoos and stuff. We started talking about the meaning of life and God and he said he was very Agnostic. His name is Ville. He went on to talk about how his mother had died when he was 12 and that he doesn't really believe in a heaven. But that he hopes his mother is in heaven anyways. He hopes a lot. and Has a HUGE desire to have faith. He even goes to the Swedish church in town and plays guitar there everyday. and just thinks. I asked if he wanted to meet and he said no, so I simply invited him to church. Well, the next day, as Sister Nielsen and I were preparing our lesson for Gospel Principles, he walked in (an hour early). We gave him a church tour and invited him to stay for the meeting. Not only did he stay for Sacrament meeting but he stayed for all three meetings! Turns out he even knows one of the other sisters' investigators. He had a lot of his questions answered in Priesthood and he played a little bit of guitar for himself after church while a member was listening and talking to him. He said he wants to meet and is available everyday between 8 am to midnight! As we were sitting there before sacrament meeting just meditating and thinking and being reverent he leaned over to me and said, "It's a good thing you talked to me when you did. This is the most open I have ever been to religion. It feels good". Other texts since then have been "I know it is very late, but I wanted to thank you again and let you know that tomorrow morning, I will go to church in town and ask for a priest, and ask if I can give my confession, if I can be fogiven for my past and give me the blessing. I can't stop thinking and crying right now. I will ask him to baptise me and help me to make this change last. So thank you very much for just saying hello to me yesterday", "all I needed was that little nudge". We are meeting with him tonight and we will be talking more about the Restoration, but he is well on his way!! Oh man, it was just super cool. He is really awesome, and it's just cool to see how the Lord places prepared people in our paths! 
Have a great week!

Love,
Syster Jordan Lund


Sweet sister Haikkola!

Normal distric

Goofy disrict

Our favorite icy canal

Caught in a snow storm

Our investigators in church! From left to right (Roger (convert), me, Ville, Andreas, Sis Nielsen, Roba, Rahaf, Johanna



 February 29, 2016

Södertälje Six (missionaries)
Wow crazy week!!
Biggest news: TRANSFER CALLS!! 
I am transferring out of Södertälje and moving to Täby! I'm doubling in there..with a GREENIE!! That's right, mama Lund is training a new missionary! I am super excited but also nervous because it is the Mission President and assistent's area...NO PRESSURE or anything. Nah, but I am beyond JAZZED. WOohoo!! I get to pick up my new missionary this Wednesday :)

On a sadder note, I am really bummed to leave Södertälje :( I feel like I have worked my behind off with my companions here and put everything I could into this area. It seemed to show yesterday when I bore my testimony in church yesterday about how God leads this work. I read a scripture out of Alma 26:35 which talks about boasting in God rather than ourselves. I know that each and every miracle that I have seen in this area and in my mission has not come from me or my companions, but they have come from God. There were lots of tears yesterday as I said goodbye to different members and investigators and I'm sure that there will be more to come. This area is one that, to be honest, I never wanted to serve in. But I am SO grateful to have had the chance to serve the Lord here. I could stay here forever!


 
Roger (my favorite and kindest person ever. Baptized 26 Dec 2016 :) getting the priesthood next week!)


Maria Knutsson (Member)

Nina Wesemeyer (member)


the Bautista kids (Astrid and Holger)

Andreas

Anjali (less active Viktoria's daughter)

Rahaf

Tuesday we had a specialized zone training where we talked a lot about working with members. It was super cool and it was cool to get some good insight to be able to apply that to our missionary work.  I went on splits with Sister Adamson this week too! I already know her pretty well because we live together, but it was super fun to go out and missionary with her! We talked a new convert Lasse and cleaned up the church. We also were able to teach a gospel study class about the commandments. It was super fun to watch all these investigators and new converts do fun hand signals to remember the different commandments (something that Sister Mccomb taught in seminary). It was super fun and I think they really liked it!

I went to a "train the trainers" meeting Friday to learn about how to best help these new missionaries. I feel like I was just smacked with a huge humility hammer and I just hope that I have what it takes to help and train this new missionary!
We taught Andreas this week who has been sort of in this limbo thing where he wants to be baptized but is working with the Law of Chastity. Well folks, at our lesson we gave it to him plainly that he either needed to move out or get married to his girlfriend if he wanted to be baptized in two weeks, or he could just push the baptism back to the fall after the wedding. He leaned forward, looked at us, and said "I'm getting baptized in 2 weeks. I don't want to wait any longer. I can move out and get another apartment to just sleep in. That won't be a problem". WHAT. Can you say miracle? It was so cool and we are so excited for him!! He will be getting baptized the 12th of March and I will hopefully be able to come back for the baptism! Cannot wait! He's a rockstar. 

On Sunday we randomly had to give the gospel principles lesson. Sister Nielsen was translating here and there into Swedish for Roger while I gave the lesson in English. Why was it in English you ask? Well, we had 4 new Syrian investigators there and they don't really speak either english or swedish. Our investigator Rahaf can speak Arabic and English. So our lesson went like this. I would say something in English, Rahaf would translate to Arabic and then if any of them had something to say back they would say it in Arabic and Rahaf would translate back to the rest of the class. It was just like, way cool. She had a good time and the 4 Syrian men really liked it haha
Life is really good over here in Södertälje. I feel good to be leaving this area in good shape with a few baptismal dates and some really positive investigators! The new sisters here (it'll be a tripan) are going to love it. I have come to love these people more than anything, but I know I will be seeing them soon enough :)

Love,
Syster Jordan Lund

Schiazzano family

Crazy kids

Södertälje Six again

Driving

Lasse

March 7, 2016 

She's the best! Täby bound!

Hi everyone!! I hope that everyone is doing well! The birth process went well! My little baby greenie is here!! She is alive and doing well! She is a whopping 6' 1"!! I'm not even joking, she is so tall and just the cutest ever! Her name is Syster McClatchie and she's from Maryland! Not Utah! She went to BYU for a little bit before her mission as well and well...I JUST LOVE HER.

This week has been...well...an adventure. Doubling into an area is pretty tough, but holy moly the Lord has just been blessing us each and every day. 
 Last pday we went into Stockholm with the Södertälje crew and got celebratory waffles to end our diet! They were soooo good. I also got a free pair of slippers because I won the competition. Basically it was just the best. We finished the evening with a Relief Society meeting at Gertie's house. It was just the best way to say goodbye to all those wonderful women!
Saying goodbye to Södertälje was one of the hardest things I have had to do :( It was tough to say goodbye to the missionaries there, but it was the hardest to say goodbye to Roger. Tears were shed, but he is doing super well and I'll be staying in super good contact with him. He is preparing for the Priesthood and the temple. Basically he is just the best and it was super hard to say goodbye to him. But it all went well!

I went and picked up my new missionary! As I said, she is just the cutest. We are doubling in here so it's been nutty! Lots of work in the Area Book and just going out and talking to people! We did have the wonderful opportunity to say goodbye to two of my previous companions at the mission home! It was crazy to see all of these incredible missionaries going home!


My baby is tired

Sister McClatchie's kebaptism

Sunday church matching by accident!

Stockholm today

Täby centrum
We've met a lot of super cool people here lately and God has been blessing us with nice and full schedules. NO IDEA HOW. We went and helped an Iranian lady pick apart parsley from her recent trip to Iran (her plants were literally from Iran). It was super fun! We met with an investigator Sara who is a young Swede who is more involved in science but thinks that there could be a greater being. Syster McClatchie was so pumped on life and is just ready to tell her what's up and that she just needs to look at it from a different perspective. We met with Pontus (baptized last week) and his wife and ate tons of WAFFLES with them! They are like our Swedish parents, and I already love them lots. There are lots of wonderful people we've met - too many to share!
We've been able to meet with the bishop and the ward mission leader to get things rolling with two new missionaries. THE WARD HERE IS AWESOME. So ready, willing, and ready to go out and work with us. 
Church was just the best. We started sacrament meeting with about 10 members and by the end of the meeting it was packed! Lots of wonderful members! They have just received us with open arms and I could not be more grateful. The missionaries before really left a good impression - now it is up to us to keep that going and strengthen them even more!
It has been a huge humbling experience to be here, in a brand new area, with a brand new missionary. I've been realizing more and more of my weaknesses and Ether 12:27 has become a new inspirational scripture that I get to apply to my life every day! I LOVE IT. 
Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Syster Jordan Lund

Smallest street

Snowy runs

Baby, mama, grandma


March 14, 2016

My precious daughter!

Halllåååååååååå
This week has been great!
We've met some really cool people on the street this week, one of which became a new investigator. We met with him and talked about the Restoration of the Church in these latter days. He wasn't super open to it, but we signed his Polish Book of Mormon and then went on our merry way. We'll see if he takes our challenge to read, pray and come to church :)
We went and visited lots of members this week and one of them was a family in the ward who has a daughter with some crazy jaw problems. She actually went to BYU and will be heading back in the fall! Hopefully I'll see her there and we can speak some Swedish together!
We learned from some cool new chinese members how to contact in Chinese. We are still working on the correct pronunciation of the words. haha But they are the cutest couple ever! Love them lots!
We have had some fun service this week at a member's house. It all started when we went over to "serve" her. I PROMISE those were our intentions. I took the vacuuming and Sis McClatchie took the bathroom. Well, Sis McClatchie dropped one of the members rings off the sink and into the toilet brush. "That's disgusting" she thought as she reached down to pick up the ring and wash it off in the sink. Then, it fell down the sink - OH GREAT. My little greenie comes over to me to tell me while I am vacuuming. Well, we pulled out all sorts of hair and muck out of the pipe and played plummer until we found the ring. THANK GOODNESS. After I went back to vacuuming and accidentally vacuumed a lead of a plant causing it to fall off the table. Great wives we will be one day haha but for reals there was so much cat hair everywhere that we had to go home and change before going back out to proselyte.

Our furry friend

The ring..

We visited a lady who is working on coming back to the church who is just DARLING. We are so obsessed with her. We talked to her about faith and staying anchored in what we already know. She is so strong!
We had zone training and we learned all about this wonderful new video the church has come out with focusing on Easter! It was very spiritual and we all are super excited to go out and use the film in our missionary work!
We went and visited another member who has two ADORABLE daughters. We made some American Pancakes with them for dinner and shared with them a cool object lesson to talk about repentance. They loved it!!

I continue to be amazed with how ready to go this ward is. I really am so impressed with them. They are very on top of it and are really willing to walk the walk. At ward council we decided a day to bring all of their less active and non members friends to church and have a really cool meeting to fit their needs and the simplicity of the gospel. It was just the coolest thing ever to have them not beat around the bush and put it off but instead just go forward with it!
I was able to call into a baptism for our friend Andreas in Södertälje! It sounded like a beautiful service and we will hopefully be getting lunch with him soon. He just feels so happy and is so glad he made the decision :)
I'm out of time, but I am so grateful to be here in Täby and to be working here alongside my little Syster McClatchie. I love watching her learn and grow and I love watching my weaknesses become apparent. We can't overcome them if we don't know them right? Right.
Have a great week!!
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund

Celebrating fat Tuesday a little later this year


Climbing trees on our way to appointments


Language study on our balcony

Bus stops all day every day

Evening scene

The sun came out and warmed it up!

Glasses all round

March 21, 2016

 
Last pday with the Täby missionaries

Hello everyone!!
This week has been super great! I don't have much time to email so I will just try to get the highlights!
Last pday we went out exploring with the office elders and the APs! It was super fun! We had a little picnic in the woods and talked about life stories and miracles in our lives. It was super fun - good missionaries! We also stumbled upon a random castle and walked around that for a bit.





We had a lot of random service activities this week including one for a family in the ward (who we hadn't met yet). They moved from one apartment building to the one across the way...except the new one was on the 7th floor. We shoved as much stuff in the elevator and then would have to run up 7 flights of skinny spiral stairs to get the elevator at the top and unload the load into the house. We must have had to do that over 5 times...but it was a good workout and the family was very grateful. We also helped a lady home with her groceries who was impressed by our Swedish as she was a Swedish school teacher. She wasn't interest but referred us to her friend! Who also wasn't interested, but still.
The assistants gave us a challenge this week to get a baptismal date with one of our investigators (all across the mission). We looked at what we had...2 investigators who we really hadn't had much contact with. We met with one and it went okay, we invited him to baptism and he said he would need to talk to his son about it. Well, his son wasn't happy and gave the office a call and told them to never go back to his father. Right. Okay so then the other one we met with for the first time and he is just SO PREPARED. He had so many questions but we helped him to answer a lot of them for himself. He said he always feels good meeting with missionaries and that he is just much happier. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted a date to work towards! His name is Terry and is just the coolest ever. He is half Iranian and half Scottish. So that was a huge miracle!!
We've gotten to know some amazing families this week which has been a huge blessing for us in just trying to get to know the ward better. We've had the chance to do family home evenings with the members and they TRUST US. It's the coolest thing. The work is really going forward here, especially with the members. I showed one of the families how to catch whipped cream in their mouth and when the 2nd counselor to the bishop tried he just got it ALL over his face - it was hilarious!
Funny greenie moment: Sister McClatchie has never used a cheese slicer and so this week at one of our dinners she tried to cut the cheese like on the side trying to use it like a knife and it was just soooo funny to watch her struggle until the member was like, no you use it like this. hahah greenie experiences. Gotta help them learn it for themselves!
We got canceled on a lot this week but the Lord had another plan for us in our work and we were able to meet those that are ready and willing to act. It was super cool to see how it all worked together! And Sister McClatchie placed her first Book of Mormon all by herself this week!! I'm a proud mom :)
I think that's all for this week. I am sooo grateful to be a missionary here in Sweden and especially during this Easter season. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the relationship I have with him. If you don't have one yet, get working!
LOVE YOU
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund

Lunch with Andreas

Got my daughter a fjällräven kånken - HAPPY CAMPER


Random tulips from a nice Muslim man

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Running buddiez fur lyfe

Pontus and Sussi


Some color!

Pretty sunsets


March 28, 2016
Jumped in this pic at Zone Conference
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HAPPY EASTER!! GLAD PÅSK!!!
This week has been a marvelous week! I feel like the weeks have been just FLYING. We are already completing week 4 of this transfer! What in the world!
We had zone conference on Tuesday of this week and we talked ALL about Swedish, how to improve in our Swedish capabilities and how much the members appreciate how we learn Swedish. We also talked about getting to know the members and making sure that you know every single person that sits there in church. Some cool goals! We also talked about developing a relationship with the Savior and going back to the fundamentals to do so. 
Sister McClatchie and I are still loving each other. SHE IS JUST THE BEST. I hope we get to stay together even after training is done. We have started teaching a lot more with the brochures and have seen a TON of success with it. We taught a man named Tomas with the brochure and he followed perfectly. He's had some janky experiences in the Swedish church which have made him a little apprehensive and he actually left the Swedish church. We've been focusing a lot on prayer with him, and we are actually meeting with him tomorrow too!

Happy Easter!

Terry is doing well! He had some classic questions about authority and we answered them by and through the Spirit using the pamphlet yet again! He is in Scottland this week with his family so we won't be able to meet with him next week. Something cool he said though was "I always come out of these meetings invigorated and inspired to be better and change my life. You and your message are the main source of inspiration in my life". So, he's awesome.
I was able to go on splits this week with a wonderful sister from my MTC group named Sister Harkness! She is just SO GREAT. She actually served here in Täby when she first came to Sweden. We went and swung by some of the people she had worked with and they were so grateful for everything that she did to help them. One of them is a less active who is going to the temple this summer for her endownments! The other is Pontus who just got baptized! And then we also saw Jeremie who is one of her bestest friends and she helped reactivate him as well. Actually funny story with that...we had a pretty tight schedule to make sure we got to see the people she wanted to. Turns out we got on the bus to Jeremie and we missed out bus stop and cruised pretty far out before realizing it. Then we had to catch a bus all the way back. We got off two stops too early and we were already running late to Jeremie..like 30 minutes late. So we decided to trek it out on the side of the high way. It was for sure an adventure and Jeremie forgave us when we came into the church all sweaty and dirty and razzled. hahah But it was a lot of fun to chat with Sister Harkness about our missions and how much we've matured and learned in the past 14 months ish. LOVE HER.

Sister Harkness and I

It was Elder Hemmingsen's birthday Saturday and we had the chance to celebrate with him! We had breakfast at the Clouses and then went out for lunch later in the day. We even made a cake! And the day finished with a wonderful baptism! It was for a man named Janos who just married a member about 3 months ago. It was so great to be able to glance back to him and to his wife and just see the joy on their faces as well as the hope for the future and being sealed. 
We met with Sara who was a full blown atheist. We talked about Alma 32 and she expressed how she is almost worried that there actually is indeed a GOD!! So cool!! We are meeting with her this week to talk more about Faith and building our testimony on the fundamentals. 
This week I have really realized the love that God has for all of His children. We have been out on the street talking to people quite a lot and I don't even know how to explain it, but I can feel and see these wonderful people in a similar way to Heavenly Father. It's something that before my mission I would have never been able to do. Even though the love that God has for us is endless and so great, I feel like I can feel and appreciate that for everyone we come in contact with. It's super cool :)

I'm out of time for today but I love you all so much! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Have a great week!!

Love,
Syster Jordan Lund

Trying to find a members house

This was the dessert. just for me. it was lots of whipped cream, a little cake, and fruit.

Smörgås tårta. Nicely presented by Pontus! But not my favorite Swedish food... (mayo and shrimp)

Treking on the side of the road

Happy birthday Elder Hemmingsen! (Yeah, we made that cake)


April 4, 2016 
Holding the sun
Woohoo!! April!! One of the best months of the whole entire year! I hope that everyone had a good time watching conference and that they took some good things away from it :) We were able to watch the sister's session along with the Saturday sessions but we have yet to watch the sessions on Sunday. I absolutely LOVED all of the talks, but I really liked Elder Stevenson's about the keys of the priesthood. I think he did a great job of explaining the power and authority of God and I liked the analogy.
 

This week has been great!! We have had some ups and downs, but overall it's been great!

Last pday we got together with about 30 missionaries and played a huge game of soccer! We had some members and non members there too! It was super fun. The only downfall was it was supppppper slippery with mud. Needless to say I came home totally muddy..but with a nice big smile :) It was way fun. 

Missionary soccer

We had the chance to teach a couple part member families this week too! Maritha and her husband are the cutest ever and live in the coziest apartment ever. They LOVE art and we discussed a lot of things that they really enjoy doing together. We also talked about prayer and how when we turn ourselves to God he will help us throughout our whole lives..not just the bad times, but that he is really there for us in the good times too. We also taught the Boden family and it was super fun to get to know them and their young daughter. They are very humble and willing to learn. The bishop had asked us to go by and say hi and boy was it an adventure to try to find it. We finally found them though and he owns a junk yard so it was not super recognizable. But they are just the greatest!! The assistants are actually working with them, but it was cool that we had the chance to talk to them about Easter and the upcoming conference.

We had the incredible opportunity to travel with the assistants and their new convert to the temple for her to do baptisms! It was the coolest experience ever. When we met with her at the train station she just grabbed my arm and said "I am SO excited to go to the temple today! I feel so blessed!". Jasmin is this cute little Chinese lady who was baptized a few months ago. Ahhhhh I just love her. We had the chance to help her through everything in the temple and she bore the sweetest testimony when Elder Archibald was baptized for her grandfather. She will be a vital tool to the missionary work in China lemme tell ya. We also had the chance to do a few names too :) A lovely day.

We taught Tomas this week!! We actually retaught the Restoration because he wanted a little review and this time he took the Book of Mormon!! And he said he would come to church! Still working on helping him ease back into prayer though..
We traveled to Norrtälje and did all sorts of swingbys. Turns out there are like 50 less active members out there...they had a branch there at one point in time actually. Anyways, we "heart attacked" two families, and met with two others as well as took in the BEAUTY of the country side!! I have so many pictures...I'll probably just attach them all.
April fools was this week! We took our dinner hour to pull some pranks on the elders with the help of a senior couple :) #allies. We filled up all sorts of water cups and laid them all over the ground in their office and laid some cookies too :) I'll attach a pic. well worth our dinner hour!!

April fools prank

We have been focusing a lot about having the faith to find. Sometimes it gets hard when people won't give the slightest time of day, but I know that the Lord is preparing the hearts of these people!! This week is going to be fantastic! We taped a quote to our door from the rededicatory prayer for Sweden by Thomas S. Monson. It says:
"Grant that every missionary who receives a call to come to Sweden may know that he has been called to a choice land. That he may come with a renewed determination and a kindled spirit of enthusiasm to share his testimony, to follow the mission policies, and to bring to pass the conversion of many souls!!"

Have a great week!!
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund

Swedish house




Getting the greenies their personal numbers (SSN in Sweden)

Norrtälje

Beauties of the countryside








Love love love Syster McClatchie

 

We drove too far through a forest on a narrow road and ended up in a field..I had to back it up through the rugged forest about a quarter mile!



 


April 11, 2016








Hello everyone! What a wonderful week to be alive and living here on this beautiful earth! Am I right?!
This week has been super great. I've officially ditched the tights and cleaned those out! No need for those suckers any longer. What a freeing feeling haha.
Last pday we met with a part member family and talked to them about prayer. One of the daughters has some disabilities and we just got to know them. They are all so darling! Hopefully we will get the chance to go back and talk to them about eternal families.
We met with a few Iranian ladies this week that are just the SWEETEST. LOVE THEM. We got to try Iranian cookies that are made with just different types of flour. They were actually really good! We are going back for dinner this week :) We've talked a lot with people about General Conference this week as sort of a follow up. A lot of people LOVED the theme of service and helping the millions of refugees around the world.
Sister McClatchie was super sick this week. Probably the worst cold I've ever seen. It was really bad for a few days and we actually had to call and cancel appointments because Swedish people (maybe normal people too) don't want you in their house when you are sick. Poor Sister McClatchie is the biggest stud ever and pushed forward. On that note, God seriously blessed us to be able to meet our goals this week. We went out every second we good and tried to just help people grow spiritually in way or another. We met some really cool people that hopefully we will be able to meet with this week too!
We met with Sara (right before she got really sick) and talked more about how we can receive answers to life's hardest questions. Now it's just up to her to put forth the effort and wait for an answer! I'll keep you posted on that one.
We got to go on workovers with some sisters this week because their companions were going to a train the trainers meeting. It was super fun and I got to work with Sister Crawford, a sister from my MTC group! We went out all day in the rain and talked to people as well as swung by some older ladies in the ward. LOVE THEM. 

Sister Crawford and I!
  
We met with Terry who still has a baptismal date for the 28 of May. We taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation and he seemed to really grasp it. He had lots of questions about the godhead but understood it by the end.
We swung by a less active who doesn't want any contact with the church. Smart right? She answered the door and was very kind as she explained that she still believes in the church but just has had a hard time lately. She even started tearing up! TWICE. Each time she started to feel something or tear up she tried to shrug it off and say bye. For whatever reason, something told me we needed to come back and just serve her. SO we will be trying to do that this week. She was just very sweet and tender and ready to come back.
Our district meeting was kind of more of a testimony meeting this week about why we came out on a mission and why we are still here. We were blessed by the presence of the ZLs and President and Sister Beckstrand. Lots of tears were shed and it was a good last District Meeting. I talked a lot about the love I have for these people and even how much more God loves these people. These people are chosen to be here at this time. I'm chosen to be right here, right now, to assist in the work of salvation. And boy does it feel good!
THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: Was yesterday. We were on our way to a less actives house to teach her a practice Restoration lesson. On our way there we stumbled upon a refugee camp of about 600 refugees from all over the middle east. They stared at us as we walked in their building to try to find someone to ask about volunteering there. We came back out and immediately all the children flocked to us and just surrounded us and stared at us smiling. We tried to communicate with them with little success. All I know, is that the LOVE that I felt in that moment was probably the most love I have ever felt for someone or a group of people. I think about how much of an emphasis this is right now, and couldn't help but think about awful situations that they have been in as they have been forced to leave their countries. We planned to go and play soccer with them this afternoon and I am SO excited to bring a little more joy into these kids' lives :)
Have a wonderful week! Thanks for all the prayers and support! I can feel them and they propel me each and every day. Helping me to become better!
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund
 
Is this the right house?

Food baby competition brought more tears than laughs haha

The bay by Näsby slott




Got to celebrate 15 months with my MTC comp!






















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