FINALLY IN SWEDEN

Monday, February 23, 2015

Hej hej! 

It is so good to finally be here!!! Just a quick overview: I have been assigned to Västerhaninge and my trainer and companion is Syster Poulson. The area is super small and we basically walk everywhere. Sometimes we take the tåg (train) to some families that live a little ways away but other than that it is all walking! Everything is relatively close and we have the temple in our mission! Which means that we also have all the temple missionaries so that is cool too!

The flights over here went relatively well. Except for that last flight when I called you and I was almost in tears. The Lord really softened the heart of the workers there or they would not have helped us and ran down to get our passports out of our carry ons. The plane was delayed basically an hour - whoops. BUT WE MADE IT! We got to Stockholm and did some tours and what not. Took some pics, I'm sure the presidents wife sent them to you. By the way, the president and his wife are the nicest people ever. We also went to a baptism that evening which was pretty cool. We came back to the mission home and ate dinner and passed out right after that, we were so exhausted. Syster Hong and I slept in really comfy bed so it was a great night of sleep. We woke up the next morning and were still pretty tired but had breakfast (got some cool mittens :) ) and went to the church for more training. And that is where we met our trainers! We had to stand up and read off basically another call letter and then we were assigned an area and a companion. All the trainers are super cool - but mine is the best. Her name is Syster Poulson and she is from Tehachapi California which is cool. We get along really well and we both have a super positive attitude about this area and the mission in general. IT'S GREAT!

So Västerhaninge is amazing. I love it. It is so small and so cute and it is just so awesome to be here. We've had dinners almost every night and the members are super supportive and loving of the missionaries (especially the sisters)

Our apartment is so small - but it is sufficient for our needs. It is one huge room and a small portapotty size kitchen and bathroom. Oh and our shower... you stand in the bathroom and hold the knozzle over yourself. hahah it's different but interesting haha the whole bathroom gets wet and it's just....great. Our first day we locked ourselves out...my trainer felt so bad that she didnt remember the keys. It was totally my fault too. So we went out and contacted (without coats) and then got too cold so we went and chilled in the temple until the assistants brought the keys to us. Turns out the president was in the temple at the same time...needless to say, we booked it out of there as quick as we could. 

I tried this thing called kebab..apparently is a big thing in Sweden. Not too shabby actually! Also, apparently crepes are Swedish pancakes and that the french took it from us...who knows haha.

We play soccer on Thursday nights with a bunch of cool African guys..it's awesome. Oh also, there are all sorts of people, religions, and ethnicities here...it's cool.

Funny moment: The elders had this really great baptismal service for one of their investigators and she is way cool. She is a super cute, young, black lady and she had the cutest outfit on before we slapped some baptism clothes on her. Anyways..she came out of the water and in her testimony to everyone she said..I quote, "That was the f%&#ing best of my life!". Needless to say the elders probably didn't cover language with her hahaahah

Spiritual experience of the week: Syster Poulson and I seriously talk to almost everyone we can...and we had a Book of Mormon that we both highlighted our favorite scriptures in and we decided we wanted to place it. The whole day had gone by and people just kept giving us the hand and saying nej and whatnot. So 8pm rolled around and there weren't too many people out but we decided to cruise over to the train station. We ended up talking to this guy named Bozedal and he seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon and agreed to meet with us again!! He asked how much the book was...haaa we just told him he could have it (obviously). Anyways, it was really cool and we might be meeting with him tonight. 

Church on Sunday was good! I could understand some stuff...except for the Hispanic Spanish is super hard for me to understand right now haha oh well! I said the closing prayer in sacrament meeting..it seemed to go okay! I met a lot more people and it was just really good! 

Oh and I found out this morning that I have been eating moldy bread for 4 days. WHOOPS. Needless to say, we tossed that.

THE LANGUAGE: It's coming. We talk to so many straight up Swedes all the time so I get lots of practice. Syster Poulson is really impressed (not sure why) with my Swedish butttt really it's not that good. But I love it. I love Språk study and studying the language all the time. I just really enjoy learning it. So basically when I don't understand something someone on the street or in church says, I just turn to Poulson and she translates for me haha.

"You've had eternity to prepare for this mission, and you have eternity to look back on it, but you only have 18 months to live it". It's hard work, and it can be hard not to get down on life when it is cold, dark, and people don't like you. But I know that this is the time that I will remember for the rest of my life, and I want to live it in such a way that I enjoy looking back on it. I want my head to hit the pillow every night knowing that I did everything and anything I could to help the people in Sweden that day. 

Love and miss you all SOOOOO mycket. I can't wait to read through your emails :) Gud var med dig tills vi möts igen!

Syster Lund

Watch out Sweden...here come the new sister missionaries and their trainers.

Syster Lund and her trainer and new companion, Syster Poulson