SPRING IN SWEDEN....SYSTER LUND LOVING HER MISSION! Scroll down to read past emails and see all the great pictures.

SWEDEN (on our run)

May 11, 2015

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Hej hej!

This week was pretty standard, nothing crazy. Tuesday we were able to go to the temple for Sister Poulson's 6 months (or more) in Sweden. It was awesome, we actually did it all in Swedish! It was Featherstone's birthday and Poulson and I gave him a signed and laminated picture of us haha Those last minute birthday gifts though.

We tried tracting a few doors this week, and one guy randomly let us in! He was Muslim and we taught the first lesson. It was feeling pretty good and then he got super off topic and started talking about Isis and some conspiracy theory about how Michael Jackson was murdered by Lady Gaga or something like that..
Tried a new contacting method this week - when you seee a runner, start running with them and teach them as much as you can haha. I knew these runs in the morning would pay off haha. We had district meeting in the woods Thursday haha it looked so sketchy haha but it was so nice out that none of us really cared. I went on exchanges with Syster Bolton which was way fun! We ate some nasty dinner at a members house - gröt, raisans, and raspberry soft. Took everything I had to hold it down, let's just say it didn't agree super well with my tummy.

We met with a sweet lady we are teaching and taught her the Plan of Salvation. She was super receptive to it and was basically teaching us about repentance haha it was awesome. She asked what our view on equality between men and women was and before we could answer she was talking about how she thinks we are all equal but have divine qualities and gifts that complement each other...like wut. #familyproclamation. It was awesome. We invited her to pray about baptism, and she text us yesterday morning to say she didn't think it was right. We asked to meet with her one more time and kinda tell her how it is, so we will see. We passed out cookies and cards together this week haha that was a new idea that kinda worked I guess. We did some yard work for an inactive and I used a blow torch and a weed whacker for the first time in my life. He's also very healthy and natural so I was able to try dandelion straight off the lawn and egg shell right off the egg. He's an interesting gem. A guy we play soccer with swung by to give sister Poulson and I some cool ugandan shoes that his mom made for us. Super sweet and they are actually really cute!

The worst part of the week was when we found out that Syster Poulson is leaving :( She will be going to Sundsvall and I will be staying here and getting a sister named Syster Irene. We will see how it goes! Featherstone is also leaving and going to a branch of 6 members in Skellefteå! The greenies (me and Burton) will be taking over VH!!

We gave a few spiritual thoughts this week on a talk by President Eyring on Continuing Revelation. There is one quote that I really liked, "Revelation continues in the Church: the prophet receiving it for the Church; the president for his stake, his mission, or his quorum; the bishop for his ward; the father for his family; the individual for himself". Always keep your heart ready and open to receive inspiration - you never know when or how it will come, but it will ALWAYS benefit you in your life and help you prepare to return to God's presence.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! It was so fun to skype yesterday. So special. Have a wonderful week!!

Kärlek,

Sister Jordan Lund

 

The Football Crew

The two elders I beat in tennis (kneeling)

Last night in VH

Fam

Syster Irene and I

Rope Structure

Airing out umbrellas at the church

May 18, 2015

Haaaaaaalllååååå.

This Pday was much needed, we have laid so much groundwork for this transfer the past few days and I am just exhausted. And my comp is sick, so today we will be taking it super easy.

Last Monday was the best Pday yet though! We played tennis, football, and went into Gamla stan one last time before Poulson left. I even got a little sunburned. What a great feeling. Tuesday was beyond packed because we were saying bye to all sorts of members, investigators, less actives etc. We met a guy that follows the Mosaic Law completely wearing tassles, linen on his head, and carries a staff. Interesting to talk to but kind of frustrating because he kept throwing everything we said to him right back in our faces. Long story short, the elders are meeting with him now haha.

We had a great last evening in VH together with the elders playing in the rain and getting soaking wet and laughing about all the good times we had. It was super hard to say goodbye to Sister Poulson the next day, I will seriously be forever grateful for everything she taught me in our 3 months together. I picked up Sister Irene and she is cool too! She is from Wyoming and is just 1 transfer ahead of me in the mission. But she went on an exchange to Sweden sooooo she is basically fluent. It's super nice to be able to ask her any questions about swedish and have them answered simply. She has been sick with a head cold since she got here, so we aren't going to hard right now and getting lots of sleep to make sure she gets better ASAP. 

We met a tonnnnn of youth that stayed at the Gästhem by the temple that were there for a few days to do baptisms and whatnot. There was a kid that looks just like TAY. No joke, I had to do a double take...and don't worry, I took stalker pics to show you.

We had dinner at a members house that had 7 dogs! They were climbing all over our feet and begging at the dinner table..dad would have hated it. We met with John to talk about the baptismal questions and turns out he isn't ready for his baptismal date, so we will have to push that back. We made a bet/challenge with the elders to see who can get the most contacts this week. The reward you ask? if we win, we get to put makeup on them and take a pic. If they win, we have to buy them cheap ties. Sister Irene and I climbed to the top of this large rope jungle gym (like 30 ft up) and it was cool. This young girl started shaking it at the bottom and laughing at us struggle to keep our balance..#satanic.

This has been an exhausting week of preparing ourselves for the next 5 weeks. I am so tired but it feels so good! Doing everything we can over here haha. 

Have a wonderful week!! Love you all!!

Syster Jordan Lund

The pizza champs (trying to choke down the last few)

The Elders at the Lundborgs house soaking up the sun

Field behind the temple

Pouyeh!

Irene and I

May 25, 2015

Hallå allihoppa!

it's been a bomb week!

Sister Irene has been super helpful in språk study and she has been helping me out lots. She writes out sentences in English and then I just translate them to Swedish.

The Hagmans was hilarious this week. Andreas kept saying that Syster Poulson and I were Navy seal missionaries. Like when nothing else is working they send us to him. "You probably get on your little bikes, turn the corner, and WHOOSH! You are zapped back into the heavens" hahah he's the greatest. 

We had zone training this week!! It was awesome!! Our Zone leaders are way cool (Archibald and Barnes). We went to pizza hut after and Archibald and Burton battled it out in who could eat more pizza. They tied at 25 pieces of pizza....disgusting. It was hilarious to watch.

We had a man on the street spit on us and tell us to leave our church so we can have eternal life. I had to have SOOOOO much patience to not go off...Jesus wouldn't do that. 

I've gotten in this habit of calling out to people to say hi from WAY far away. Sometimes it's successful and sometimes people think that you are completely nuts. This week was successful! I said hi to an old lady on her balcony about a football field away haha we walked over and we talked a little about our church and she said I had really white teeth haha, looks like the brushing is paying off! 

We went to lunch at the Lundborgs today!! SOOOO SWEET. They live way over in Sorunda so we got picked up at the station and then drove over there. it was sooo pretty! With all the flowers blooming, it really is lovely. 

We walked all over Nynäshamn swinging by less active members. We probably walked around at least 3 miles. But we met some cool people and tried to teach as much as we could! 

We had a ward party Saturday! We had a little tiny ward talent show and ate hamburgers. Some random less active kid tried to stab me with a staff.

We had a nice chat with Pouyeh!! Shes a new convert and just amazing! Shes from Iran and can speak persian, english, and swedish. SOOOOO AWESOME.

Bozedar came to church Sunday again! He even wore a baby pink outfit haha he's the greatest. We tracted in the area and got some follow up appointments! We talked and taught two people in just their tight boxer briefs....we taught the Restoration but had a HORRENDOUS laugh attack in the beginning. I thought we weren't going to be able to make it through but Irene stepped back a bit to control herself and I tried to persist on. TOO FUNNY. We met a guy named Broeric who is SOOO prepared!! He asked all sorts of good questions so we hope to meet with him soon! I love Sister Irene! We are having a blast together and laughing lots :)

Have a great week! love and miss you all!

Syster Jordan Lund

Ring (viking metal)

Taking a break in the flowers

Glad Morsdag to us!

June 1, 2015

Hejsan! Hoppas allt är bra med er!

This week was great, we have been super busy getting lots done and teaching people! Last pday (the 25th) we didnt have time to email at all but we went into Stockholm to get some stuff that we needed. I ended up playing an elder (Elder Archibald) in ping pong and he started off by saying, "so I've never been beat on my mission" hahah it was fun. I also got a ring from Gotland! I had coordinated with an elder to have him get it for me because that is the only place you can get them. It is a ring with a design on it and it is actually made out of VIKING METAL. It's super cool and a lot of people in Sweden wear them. We played 4 games, I won all of them and he was slightly devastated haha. Thanks for all the training dad. We were all sorts of busy in Stockholm beside that and my bike had broken on our way to the church to email in the morning (which we didnt do). We asked to borrow one of the temple couples bike because when we were getting back we had lots to do that evening as well. They happily lent us their bike and offered to fix mine. Super sweet of them! Long story short, lots went wrong in Stockholm, we got on the wrong train back to VH and were 30 mins late to our dinner appt and got lost on the way, and we got blåsted by our other lesson. It was just somewhat stressful and tense and had been a little bit of a rough day. We got back to the church to give their bike back (8:30 ish) and there was my bike, parked in the rack, with a simple note on the seat saying "It runs GREAT now!" I almost cried, after all that seemed to go wrong, this genuine temple missionary had fixed my incredibly broken bike and even bought 2 new spokes for it. He said it was even fun to tinker with President Malm of the 70. So that is cool that they fixed my bike haha. and it was really a tender mercy of the Lord.

We have been practicing our lessons with members this week as to work better together and in better unity as a companionship. It's tough with a new companion because you had gotten in the habit with teaching, but it's been going well! 

We got locked out again of our apartment. Oh man...we felt stupid. But we had swing bys to do so we did those, and then some dark clouds started rolling in...and we didnt have jackets. Thank goodness it never rained, but we were locked out of our apartment for about 6 hours haha. We did practice lessons and whatnot, and the members must have known we were starving because they gave us melons and bananas...another tender mercy of the Lord. 

We gave service at the temple this week! We worked picking weeds and dead flowers for a couple hours..it was super fun! We baked a ton of cookies for less actives that we visited later that evening on splits in Nynäshamn. It was me and Mathilda (RM), Irene and Pouyeh (New convert), Burton and Henrik (1st counselor in Bishopric) and Hansen and Lars (WML). It was awesome! We were able to go visit lots of people.

We tried a new thing this week called "toilet tracting". I had to use the bathroom so bad...so I knocked on a random door and when they answered I said, sorry we are from america and I really need to go to the bathroom may I please use yours? and the guy was like preferably not hahaha aaaaaannnnddd that was the end of that. 

We met with Jenny Saturday and she said that she would sing with us in church! YES! We are so excited. We will most likely sing O Store Gud or Närmare Gud Till Dig. I'll keep you posted on that. 

We stopped by Pontus as well and had a nice time talking with him and Jessica (the ones we play Boules with). Saturday evening we ended up talking to a lot of drunk people, but one guy contacted us and said come teach me tomorrow! We tried to stop by the next day and he wasnt home, but we will for sure be back :)

The Young Women had a program yesterday in church and it was amazing! Any of those girls would just be amazing missioanries! it was swedens mothers day yesterday so they passed out roses and chocolate for the girls over 18...that was us :) We had a Persian lunch with Pouyeh and I tried eggplant and dates for the first time. We had 3 lessons after that that all fell through. We had dinner with a family in the ward who really needed us. We were at there house for a while talking and giving them support and the elders gave a few blessings as well. It was really cool that we could be there for them in their time of need.

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG. This week has just made me realize how much the Lord really loves all of his children and has His hand in our lives guiding our ever step. I love missionary work!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Syster Jordan Lund

Abba Museum

Bozedar

Moroni

Bunnies at Kristina's house

June 8, 2015

Hejsan!! Hoppas allt är bra med er!

This week has been super great! Last Pday we went with a bunch of other missionaries to the ABBA museum in Stockholm. I even got to see Syster Poulson and Elder Featherstone! Reunionnnn!! It was cool. We ate vegetarian chili with Thomas that evening and talked about how he likes to blow things up, it was a great convo haha We went to visit Bozedar at his work and we met some of his coworkers. He even gave us little stuffed fluffy things. We also had an awesome lesson with a new investigator named Michelle...she is so awesome! And we just answered some questions for her and the Spirit was so strong!

We had two girls from Örebro stay with us in our teeny apartment. It was super fun to have a little sleepover. We had ZONE CONFERENCE on Wednesday! Oh man it was so good. The main topic was Disciples in the Digital Age (apparently we are getting ipads sometime) but the assistants talked about magnifying our calling and how even when we get rejected, blåsted, spit on etc, it is a GIFT and a BLESSING that we can be here on missions.

We went and visited a sweet new convert from Denmark that just moved into the Handen ward. She lives on this reallllly pretty property right next to the lake. We talked and ate popsicles and played with their bunnies. It was super fun and she is so nice!

We had dinner with Jenny this week at a members house (Tove) and Pouyeh. It was super good! We talked about the Book of Mormon and how it relates and links to everything else in our religion. The temple is closed for 2 weeks to clean and whatnot, but it was cool because we got to help clean inside!! It's so weird seeing it in the cleaning process compared to normally. I finally got to meet KARMEN. She is so sweet! She gave me the package (thank you mom and dad) and we talked for a little bit about Santa Barbara and how she misses it...haha it made me miss it as well. We did our weekly planning outside and got 1 slightly shade darker! It was awesome and felt so good. We went to Mary (a member in the Handen ward) house for dinner and karaoke! It was super funn!! We got to spend time with her and her son who has Autism (I think) and it was just fun to be with them and feel their spirit. We had lunch with a lady who has a son who has some crazy disease that only 3 other kids have in Sweden. She is so sweet and so is her son. And daughter. We did the tea bag lesson with them and they loved it!

We started a big district wide health challenge!! We are seeing who can lose the most weight in the next 2 and a half weeks! We'll see how it goes. We got a call from a lady Saturday evening who asked to come to church! That does not happen!!! It was awesome. She came to church yesterday but it was a little bit of a different meeting. Elder Holland addressed us about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. The lady, Cecilia, really liked it! She said she wants to come back and she had already read in the Book of Mormon! Oh man she is so so so golden. It was awesome. ANd we got a referral yesterday which rarely happens too! It was great. We went to Lindas for lunch and had a good discussion about life and being better people and reaching our full potential. We also had dinner with Tibor and Barbro and sang some songs with them. They are just the sweetest people.

My testimony has grown a lot this week about the Lord's hand in this work. I know that he is always looking out for his missionaries. And I love being a missionary!! Love it so much!!! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here and the experiences that I have had in my life to be in this place right now.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Kärlek,

Syster Jordan

Persian Dessert

Sister Haynes (MTC teacher)

Me and Sister Irene

Kladdkaka we made for an elders birthday

Cute little girls dressed up the day after the Prince of Sweden got married

June 15, 2015

Where did June go?!?! The month is half over!

This week has been super good and full of great experiences. Our district is on this health kick to try to lose weight before the transfer is over and it is super funny to see them all out trying to run in the morning haha. 

We had a great lesson with Andreas this week. We played an outside Swedish game with him and his daughters. We then talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon in relation to other gospel principles. We drew out a nice map for him that said "if the Book of Mormon is true then..." and led to every part of our gospel. We testified and went pretty hard on him, but he needed it. The Spirit was sooo strong and guided our words. There were a couple times I could tell that both me and Sister Irene were just waiting for the next prompting from the Holy Ghost. 

We've worked in the temple a lot this week because they have needed all sorts of help. It has been super cool to be able to do that. 

We have done a lot of tracting this week as well which is awesome! I love tracting! Somehow we always tend to end up teaching people in their underwear...#eyecontact. Soccer was nuts this week haha. One member that plays with us passed out and thankfully Irene and I knew what to do to keep him together and all that jazz. Thank you Girls Camp. Another kid was throwing up because he ate too much ice cream before haha. And Burton thought that he broke some of his ribs (turns out he is fine) and he couldn't really breath for about a day or two. We had exchanges this week and I was able to be with Sister DeMille! We taught Carolina and Sofie (new investigators) about the Restoration and holy moly it was just such a great lesson!! In the beginning they were pretty timid and shy but in the end they were so open and they asked all sorts of good questions. The daughter (Sofie 14 years old) was really into it too. Oh man it was great. I testified specifically about the blessings that come from this church and the truth found in the Book or Mormon. At the end, Sofie said the prayer and said "Please help me to receive the same blessings as...Syster Lund" It was so sweet! They said that when they come to know that these things are true they will be baptized.

We went to Muskö Saturday to give some service and mow a lawn and pull some weeds...but man we had no idea what we were getting into. We barely made a dent in the lawn and the weeds around it..The house had an interested smell and when we were eating some (older) fruit there were flies crawling all over my plate. We are going to go back this next week to finish because there is SO MUCH to do. 

Cecilia came to church again! And she stayed all 3 hours!! We were able to teach her the second hour about the Plan of Salvation and focus it lots on families. It went super well and she is continuing to read in the Book of Mormon. We had lunch with Pouyeh and had eggplant, eggs, and tomato (kinda looked like mush) and it was delicious!

Transfer calls are this Friday/Saturday, I hope I can stay here one more transfer with Sister Irene! We have seen a lot of success this past week! Life is good as a missionary! I love it so much!!

Have a woonderful week, love and miss you all!

Kärlek,

Syster Jordan Lund

Spring in Sweden

Doing service

VALBORG - the end of winter and the arrival of spring!

Pday and pedicure

Spring in Sweden

Look no hands!

Celebrating the arrival of spring.

NEWS FROM SWEDEN

April 20, 2015

Hej hej allihoppa!

I hope everyone is doing well :)

This week has been great! Last Pday we got much needed haircuts from Sister Hong (comp in the MTC). I purchased a Rubiks cube too, my current record is 1 minute 15 seconds - not too great, but still fun! On our way home from Stockholm we sat next to two deaf girls. And as Sys. Poulson and I were eating our quick grab of Burger King, I am almost positive the two girls were signing about how nasty we were eating our burgers and it was just super funny haha. Sister Poulson whispered to me "Are they talking about us?" and we both just busted laughing. It was just...a scene. 

We met with John this week to talk about where he stands in his beliefs and focused on baptism again. He wants to be baptized but doesn't want to commit. And we found out that the random sack he wears around his neck is full of rings haha. We met with the Hagman fam and helped Andrea realize that he has already received his answer and he needs to come back to church. He said it was really hard for him to get the courage to make that leap of faith. We were able to share parts of Elder Hollands talk about making the leap for the ledge and hoping that something will be there - and there will be. He said the most incredible prayer to close and prayed so sincerely for the courage to take that step and to know that everything will be okay. It was super cool!

We burned a pair of Syster Poulsons tights for her 6 months in Sweden! It was fun but smelled pretty bad. 

We tried to talk to a guy this week that right off the bat said he knew we were Americans. We asked if it was because we weren't wearing tights and he looked at Sys. Poulson and said "No your hair is just full of volume". hahah She wasn't super excited about that comment. 

We had Sister's Conference on Thursday and that was super cool! The theme was Oz and we focused on courage, love, and knowledge. And it was awesome because we got to see all the sister missionaries in all of Sweden!

We went to Nynäshamn and were able to visit a less active family with the CUTEST little boys. We are hoping to come back this week and talk some more about the gospel and coming back to church. We met with the Masons as well and talked about cooking and cook books! We also shared the mormon message "flecks of gold" which turned out to apply perfectly to Sister Mason. AND, Sys. Poulson and I have a new desire to be chefs hahah So we will see how that works out this week. 

We have started reading one chapter of Jesus the Christ everyday. It is some deep stuff, but we really love it! Reading together helps too because we can share our ideas and thoughts and help each other understand better. Bozedar came to church yesterday (at the 9 am ward) and he said that the difference between Mormons and other people was like night at day! Super cool. We went to 5 hours of church so that was cool too. We made a cake to bring to the Forsman's house as we met with a new investigator there. Amber Forsman and Jenny (investigator) got along pretty well and the whole lesson went great!! As we left, Jenny was carrying the Book of Mormon and said that we would for sure be in contact - so we hope! On the way over to the Forsman's, Sys. Poulson stepped on a tree stump (to hop over it) and ended up slipping and falling..turns out the thing she slipped on was barf. Yum. Now we have barf covered shoes sitting in our shower hahah YACK.

Super great week and we are excited for this week as well!!

Love and miss you all!!

Kärlek,

Syster Jordan Lund

May 4, 2015

May the Fourth be with you!

Hej hej allihoppas!

Jag hoppas att allt är bra med er och att ni har haft en jätte häftigt vecka!

Last week we went to the Tolley's (apartment couple) for a Girl party! We ate hawaiian haystacks and played games. They leave to go home in about a week..it will be interesting to see how the mission handles their absence because we don't get anyone new for a few more months.

Andreas is doing well. We talked to him a little bit Tuesday and he said that we had done our job and that he will try to be at church every week. And he told us we had beautiful souls hahah. After so many missionaries, bishops, and a mission president coming to his home, Poulson and I were the ones that helped him get back to church! It's so cool to see the foundation that they all sorta laid out for him and that we got to be involved as well. We celebrated again with our Fanta drinks by the Svenksa Kyrkan. BUT he didn't come to church this week (Stake Conference)....so we gotta figure out what went wrong there.

Wednesday we realized that Syster Poulson accidentally threw away our train/bus/transportation cards. As we were on our way to Stockholm haha. We got lucky and the POEs had two extra so we got that taken care of. I saw my MTC teacher Sister Haynes! She is in the Stockholm area (Älvjö) for the next 8 weeks for an internship, but it was cool to talk to her! I felt the pressure though haha In Swedish!

Thursday was VALBORG!! It is this big celebration signifying the end of Winter and the beginning of spring/summer. They come together as a community (In Västerhaninge) and build a massive fire. Like MASSIVE. It is super cool. We met up with tons of missionaries there as well as the mission president and his wife. One of the elders (Burton) threw a football over the fire and I caught it! It was awesome.

We had a lesson with a lady who the elders referred us to. It seemed to be goingr really well, and then all of the sudden she kinda got up and was like "I need to go". So we walked out with her and offered her the Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet but she got really defensive said no and walked away. That was weird. THANKS ELDERS. Nah it was a good opportunity.

We had lunch with a lady and her dog. Bobbi (the dog) was crawling all around under the table. He sneezed on my leg and was doing weird things to Elder Burtons chair.

We met with some less active families which was awesome! They are really sweet. While out in Nynäshamn we met with John and hiked to where he wants to be baptized. It is so pretty!! And we committed him to prepare to be baptized May 30!

We taught Bozedar the Plan of Salvation yesterday with one of our awesome members, Jonas Krylborn, present. It was cool and the Spirit was so strong!

Thought for the week: I have been reading lots of general conference talks throughout the week for a section of my personal study. I really like the one called "Stay by the Tree" and it talks about enduring to the end. The whole talk is really good and gives us the layout of how to endure faithfully, but there was one line I really enjoyed:

"Casual obedience and luckwarm commitment weaken faith"

Have a wonderful week!

Kärlek,

Syster Jordan Lund

Syster Jordan and Spring in Sweden

April Fools joke...Elder not aware of missionary tag switch.

Easter cookies

Jordan always with a thumbs up loves her mission!

Dinner at a members home along with some investigators.

Soup always a staple.

The Northern Lights

Who says missionaries can't celebrate St. Patty's Day...

Loving the bike but a little challenging in a skirt.

Tennis anyone?

Cold!

Post Ward Council meeting photo opportunity.

"Loving my mission"

Pday exploring

Syster Lund and Syster Poulson

More pday

Planting flowers at the Stockholm Temple

CARE PACKAGE!

Dinner invites

All smiles again!

  

NEWS FROM SWEDEN

 

March 15, 2015

Hej Hej! Happy P day! This week went by sooo fast but that is okay, it's kinda nice when it flies by. We had tacos this week at a members house - it was basically the best thing ever. We have been teaching a less active family (the dad and mom are members and their 3 cute girls arent). And we finally got through to him this last week. We will be meeting with them again tomorrow to talk more about coming back to church and getting the girls baptized. They are a super cool family..it's awesome to meet with them. Our light bulb (the main one in our tiny apartment) went out on Monday. We got it fixed finally on Friday ...but it was super hard to work with little tiny candles and the bathroom and kitchen lights all week. We also got bikes!! Super exciting!! Except we look like dweebs with our helmets but that is okay, because...you know...bikes. I've been kinda sick all week. Some weird sinus thing is going around through the missionaries. I am getting lots better but just didn't feel 100% all week. I keep thinking about a talk I read that as a missionary, if you are tired, you need to push even harder. So, I am doing my best, pushing hard, and knowing my limits so that I can get better quick! We had a lesson with a member on Thursday and just practiced the Restoration (that is what President has asked us to do). We didnt think that we did that great of a job, but it really touched the lady we were teaching and she actually began crying. It was super cool to see how even though we aren't the best teachers, the Holy Ghost is. We have been reading lots of conference talks lately, but something that stood out to me in one that I was reading (as we talk to less actives) is that the ultimate way to show your love for the Lord is loyalty. Loyalty to the church, the teachings, the doctrines, and the commandments. It's super cool knowing that if we are loyal through everything, things will be okay and that we will be in the comfort of the Lord's hands. I hope you all have a wonderful week!! Love and miss you all lots! Syster Lund March 23, 2015 I hope that all is going well with you guys. This week has FLOWN BY.  Happy St. Pattys day! Apparently, people don't celebrate it Sweden, but no worries, Sys. Poulson and I ate pie anddd wore green on St. Pattys day. Last Pday we went with the elders and explored this cool forrest thing and had lunch. We went to this new convert's house for a BBQ later that night...we ended up eating charred lamb but blood on it - not sure how that happened.  We met this guy on the street last week and got his number and ended up playing this cool game with him...they call it bowls. It's hard to explain but it's a mix between bocce ball and bowling. We went and met all his friends #jackpot.  ALSO, St Pattys day was ESPECIALLY awesome because we saw the Northern Lights and they were GREEN!!! Like what are the chances of that...I was beyond happy. So super cool. I was so excited and we just kinda stayed outside for a bit until they disappeared. We ate some weird fish this week...but we didn't get sick! And the family was super nice for opening their home to us anyways.  I got my boots shined by one of the elders here (Elder Featherstone) and he did a super bomb job! They look brand new! Thursday we had to speak Swedish all day, it was hard but super helpful. We got kebab again after the district meeting. We played soccer with all these cool guys again and got some pics.  We tried to make a bunch of cookies this week for less actives and what not...didn't turn out too well so we are going to try again this week.  The bikes we got are super fun! We've been on them twice and turns out, it is a LOT harder to get off in a skirt and rainboots than one would think! #devastating.  We played tennis this week with the wife of a inactive family we are working with!! Man it was so great. She was fun to play with and we just had a good time! And now we know where the tennis courts are. Except its like 230 kr for an hour on one court and 90 kr for balls and 30 kr to rent a tennis racket. Pricy! But it was fun :) We had dinner at Lindas (member) and it was so fun! We helped her out in her house a bit and then talked with her and her nonmember daughter for a while and just ate food. So fun!! Love both of them so much! We gave a lesson in Relief Society yesterday...in Swedish. And the whole RS sang in sacrament meeting. It was basically like a women's day for the main meeting. Even the closing song was "As Sisters in Zion" and the men were all just laughing and trying to sing without being awkward as.  Life is so great!! I am super excited for GC coming up! This week we read a talk called Lord is is I? and it talks about not looking at the faults of others when you have places to improve in. It was really eye opening and a good reminder that we all have a lot that we can do better with and change for the better. Love and miss you all! Syster Lund

March 30, 2015

 Hej hej allihoppa!!
 

This week has been all over the place. Last Pday I got my first little set of actual makeup - yes mom and dad, there is hope for me someday. Sys. Poulson was super helpful when I was trying to decide what was best. We went to Miriam's Monday for FHE with her and the elders. It was fun, she is such a sweet lady (in our ward).

Tuesday night was super crazy. We had a dinner at 5:30,  bowls at 6 (that weird bocce game I was talking about last week), and a lesson at 7. It was a super crazy night and we were biking all over the place but it was good. I got really good at making Snickerdoodle cookies this week, I did it two days in a row. We made tons of cookies for less actives and investigators and members.

We are working on training our Ward Mission Leader (I dont know why they didn't do it sooner) so we can break into the untapped potential of the ward! Should be good.

We had Ward Council and took a HILARIOUS picture that I will send shortly. The elders practiced jumping over things and got really good at it without getting hurt haha #impressive

We met with President this week during district meeting. Sys. Poulson and I got delicious homemade pudding from our DL because we sent in our numbers first last Sunday!

We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders! It was my first one but I didnt really know what to expect. But basically we just spent 24 hours with another comp. I was with Sys. Stewart who goes home in 3 days and that I actually went out with the first day I was in Sweden. She is super cool and fun, but I was glad to be back with mama Poulson after.

Syster Poulson sprained her ankle while she stayed here for exchanges. She did it playing soccer so we are out for a couple days. We are resting it and icing and elevating. It's reeeeallly hard for her to walk, but she is a trooper. Anywhere that we have to go that is more than like 200 m we take a bike. And that is only if we have to go...we cancelled a couple appointments we had because her foot didn't feel good. I think it is getting better so hopefully we will be back and running shortly.

We had dinner with a lady that only spoke Danish to us...I'm still working on understanding Swedish so there was basically no hope for me or Elder Burton (other greenie here). It was funny to just watch Elder Featherstone take it all for us and talk to her - true gem.

We've been laying low and catching up on area book stuff and numbers we've gotten.

Good quote from the week that we attached to the cookies we delivered: "When everything says you can't, believe in the part of you that says you can." We are kinda having a tough time right now with people to teach and with Sys. Poulson's ankle, but we have not given up ANY hope. We know where our beliefs are and no one can discourage us or this work!!

Love and miss you all!! I hope you have a great week :)'

Syster Lund

April 6, 2015

Hej hej!
I hope that everyone is doing well!
This week had some lows and then finished on a really high note! Last Pday we got these super cool erasable pens - We searched all over the mall for them and finally found them! We bought like 5 each haha. Tuesday was probably the hardest day of the mission so far. We had so many good awesome lessons planned and they basically all fell through. Our object lesson didn't work super well and one didn't even want to see the Easter Video. It was just kinda tough but we decided it would just make the rest of the week that much better...and it did! Wednesday was April Fools and Sys Poulson and I had lots planned but we decided that it probably wouldnt be the best idea as missionaries so we played a simple nametag trick on Elder Burton and took a picture before he realized haha. The elders got us back good. They called us at 9pm and said hey you need to hustle over to the church, there is a lady that we have been teaching that wants to meet with the sisters because she has received an answer to her prayers. They made this call immediately after we had shagged down and into our Pjs and after I had mentioned that I was surprised the elders didnt get us. Needless to say, I knew it was fake the whole time...but because of the shred of what if they actually are telling the truth, we decided to go. We got there and there was a sticky note on the door that said "April Fools, fools!" oh man we were peeved. We noticed their phone in the corner and grabbed it and booked it out of there as fast as we could. They ran after us and grabbed their phone (after we had sent ourselves the video and deleted it from their phone). They were upset about that one hahah it was hilarious. Props to them for sure though. We talked to a guy on the street that day for about an hour and man he was struggling with all sorts of stuff. We were walking on the other side of the street and we saw him and felt prompted to cross the street and talk to him. After pouring our hearts, souls, and testimony out to him for an hour he didn't want to meet again, which is a major bummer. I'm sure we'll see him again though :) There are construction workers across the street that always call things out to us - I wish I knew Swedish better haha, we'll teach them, sometime this week for sure.

Thursday we got the bishop to agree to let us into his home to practice teaching our missionary lessons! No missionaries have gotten to go to his house in a LONG time, so we are super excited! And we had a whopping 22 people at soccer this week!!

We had an Easter dinner at Linda's Friday which was the bomb! She and her family are so great, she is basically the mom away from home. We played cards and I crushed everyone in Egyptian Rat Screw. I tried Caviar (I dont know how to spell that), the little orange fish eggs. It was nasty. Then I tried it out of a squeeze tube - almost puked. But I tried it!

GENERAL CONFERENCE! It was awesome. All the missionaries in our zone went and got traditional conference godis/candies Saturday. That night Linda told us that she had our Easter Baskets hidden around her house so we went over and hunted for those. She is seriously the best person. I love her so much!! I wish you guys could meet her. Yesterday, was THE BEST DAY EVER. We started the day off by delivering a little Easter basket to the elders in the morning. We then made cookies for some people we are working with - I was pretty proud of them. I got creative with materials because I didnt have a rolling pin, wax paper, or a cookie cutter. I ended up using a lint roller case, a plastic place mat, and our Easter basket shell. We found out that we are getting another elder here in Västerhaninge - Elder Bliss. He was in Syster Poulsons MTC district and he is way awesome, he should be a good addition to the Västerhaninge family. We had a super flaky investigator show up to the Sunday morning GC session! It was crazy! He even bought us a little Easter snow  globe. We watched it with him in Swedish (I'll have to rewatch that one haha) but he seemed to like it! He left with a cig and lighter in hand though haha, we'll meet with him this week for sure. It was a great week!!!! I love missionary work!

Thought: I really liked what Elder Oaks said in the Saturday morning session about how we should really live what we claim to believe in. So often it is easy to just do what is right on Sundays but really we should be carrying it with us during the week and throughout our lives. The guy on the street that we talked to forever had bad experiences with a mormon girl who was clearly not following the commandments. Because of her bad decisions and hypocrisy, he has a view of Mormons that is completely backwards - super frustrating for missionaries haha. Just remember, ALWAYS LIVE LIKE YOU BELIEVE.

Love you all!!

Syster Jordan Lund

April Fools Elder Burton!

The massive soccer crew

My pride and joy Easter cookies

Love love love Sys. Poulson

 

April 13, 2015

Hej hej!

I hope that everyone is doing super well! This week has been super great - full of great lessons, new investigators and all sorts of funny things.

Last Pday we went to Gamla Stan and explored the old town of Stockholm with another companionship (Syster Beckstrom and Syster Harkness) - it was wayyy fun! We also planted flowers at the temple this week!! I slipped pretty hard off this short wall and scraped up my leg and now my ankle is turning purple...not really sure what the deal is. But it doesnt hurt too bad so I'm not super worried (I'll send pics). The missionaries in our zone (like 22 of us) planted something like 7,000 flowers. It was nuts but it went super fast - whereas normally it takes the grounds crew 3 weeks to get it all done (we got it done in about 4 hours). It is SO much more complicated than anyone could even imagine. Let's just say I have a new respect for flower beds. Oh another thing - a shy timid elder got locked in a bathroom after planting flowers and was somewhat fretting. But because the locks at our house are similar to the lock that was on the bathroom door, I was able to pick the lock with a coin and help him get out haha Thanks for teaching me your ways Tay.

On our way home from Ward Council the elders showed us this cool tire swing thing they have been playing on and it is super cool - they have these tire things at almost every playground here so it is super awesome. There were a couple super embarrassing moments involved with that but it's all gucci. It's hard to explain the swing but I'll try to get a picture before next week.

I got the Easter Package - thank you SO MUCH. I was so excited it was unreal. And the sunflower seeds...you know me too well.

Soccer was especially crazy this week - the elders tend to always bail on this activity even though they are in charge of it. We were trying to organize like 20 boys into teams and make it fair so everyone has a chance to play...I got a little flustered haha but it was fun! Not too many injuries.

Friday we had zone training which was great! We talked about our personal and companionship studies in the morning and how to take full advantage of those. We went to lunch at a super good burger place after - the first legit hamburger I have had here. We went to a less actives house and had some tea and talked about the gospel. It was a good lesson, but I basically burned all my tastebuds off. She gave us these little marzipan chocolate things which I didn't think were too bad, but Sys. Poulson tried to shove hers in her pocket. Silly goose. We had dinner with the Forsmans (American family) and played with their cute kids - they are so NUTS. I give major props to the parents, they have their hands full. But it was a lot of fun and it was nice to speak english haha :)

We met with an old investigator who is a hippie sailor. He has been all over the world and been through a lot. He is super serious and just kinda funny. He hasn't been baptized because he thinks the font in the church is unsanitary (he thinks that thousands of people have been baptized in that font....HA. not quite). So we offered to have him baptized in the sea or up in Nynäshamn and he liked the idea so we will see how that goes. We met with Tibor and Barbro (sweet old couple living above us and are part of the Swedish church) and taught the Restoration, sang some songs, and just laughed. They are super sweet and they told us that we are like daughters to them. We met with Peter too and he said that we are the most positive thing in his life for the past 10 years - it was super sweet of him!

Syster Poulson and I have realized that we teach a lot of people that like to spill everything to us. And that there are certain strange things behind each one - but hey, people to teach!

I fasted for Travis yesterday which was a cool experience. We swung by Kjell's house yesterday to see if they were back from Spain and they are! We are going to have lunch and teach them this week. I am super excited for that - he has a cool twirly captain hook mustache and speaks super fast Swedish. We met BozedaR too! We talked a little about baptism and whatnot. He asked if he could take a smoke break in the middle of our lesson and we said it was fine but I for sure read him scriptures the whole time hahaha He then said the prayer at the end with his eyes open and staring at us. I did everything I could to not crack up. He is so awesome though. Last night we practiced our Swedish and English with this couple in our ward. We learned a lot of stuff pertaining to Swedish and clarified lots. SO HELPFUL. And the couple is just super sweet.

Wonderful long week!! I love being a missionary!! And I love you all!

Love,

Syster Lund