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