Eskilstuna (where District Meeting was) |
November 2, 2015
It's November
whaaaaaaaat
I finally purchase a
winter jacket this week! Not sure why, but it feels about 10 degrees (C) colder
than it actually is. But we'll make it!!
I said hej då to my
Borås home this week and hallå to Södertälje! My goodbyes in Borås were tough
but I look forward to coming back and visiting. The last night there, we met
with the bishop and his family for dinner and a message. It is always a good
time when we meet and teach them and talk about the needs of the ward. They
have a son who recently came home from a mission and holy moly, with his help
the missionaries can to ANYTHING. He'll be a great asset to the missionary work
there.
We had a lesson with
our Canadian investigator that was INCREDIBLE. She wasn't sure why she needs to
be baptized again, so we definitely ironed out some wrinkles with the help of
one of the bishops counselors. It started out a little rough because everyone
just started rushing into the issues and we didn't have time to say a prayer.
Didn't even have time to squeeze in a pause. I called a major time out in the
middle of the conversation as things were starting to heat up. The prayer
changed it all. After that, the Spirit was there, and we could help this lovely
lady come closer to Christ. And! She was really looking positive toward baptism
at the end of the lesson! She received a priesthood blessing and knew that the
member who gave it to her was an advocate for God and was working through his
power. Oh man, I can't even describe it, it was just amazing. Sister Nielsen
and I talked about it for like the whole night.
We said bye to Våge
and his wife and had a great funny fika with them talking about how they did
not want to be together in the beginning and then knew that they were supposed
to haha. They're great.
TRANSFERS WENT DOWN
THIS WEEK. I said goodbye to my beloved Borås and Sister Nielsen and set off
for Södertälje. I had lots of help from Elder Stoeltzing with my bags (and his)
for the first 2 trains. I even accidentally tripped him with his own suitcase
as we were running for a train with 6 bags haha. And now he's home!! Weird!!
These past few days
have been beyond hectic and we have had so much planned! I met a good amount of
investigators, members, and less actives before Sunday even came haha.
We met with a guy who
is from Sweden but working in Kosovo as a soldier. He has already read up to
3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon and has only met with the missionaries twice.
He gave a book to one of his fellow soldiers too and they are both SUPER
interested. The only problem is they are like rarely in Sweden. The next time
he will be back is Christmas. But he is READY.
OKAY CRAZY
THING.
We had dinner with
the Garcia/Lopez family (they feed us SOOO much) and after the message, Sister
Lopez shared with us that she had dreamed about me the night before. She had
woken up in the morning and told her husband and didn't really think anything
more of it. But as soon as I walked in through the door she knew it was me that
was in her dream (because of the hair...classic). Something about introducing
me to her mom or something. So, there has to be SOME big reason why I am here,
now I just gotta find it.
Halloween was pretty
lagåm here. We did our normal missionary work and weekly planned. We went to
the Schiazzano family in our ward for a little Halloween party too. It was
cute, they had pizzas with little olive spiders all over it and "cow
stomach soup" that was chicken noodle soup died like purple and blue.
Something they do here in Sweden for Halloween is set out candles on all the
graves in the graveyards. So after the Schiazzanos we took a nice walk through
the graveyard with the elders to celebrate this Swedish holiday in the best way
possible.
A random lady walked
into church on Sunday and said she had gotten a card on the street about 2
months ago and when cleaning out her purse she thought, well, might as well go
to church! She came in and sat right next to me...me being new, I asked her how
long she had lived here, her name, if she had family, how long she had been in
the ward...you know the classic questions. It was funny when she was like this
is my first time here. I was like me too man!! We're in this together. She is
super cute and from Syria and speaks pretty good English! She stayed all
3 hours and we are taking her with us to a members house this Wednesday!
PEOPLE ARE SO OPEN
HERE It is unreal. At least what I've seen of the area. There is a lot of good
stuff going on, and I am super excited to be working here with Syster
Johanson!! She is a rockstar! It's opened my eyes this past week to see people
that really have soft hearts and are ready to listen and apply the gospel to
their lives. It's awesome!
Miss and love you
lots! Have a great week!
Syster Jordan Lund
Me and Brother Schiazzano |
Racing the elders to the church (they have a car...we lost) |
Lights on the graves |
Halloween socks |
Fall colors |
November 9, 2015
On our way to zone training |
HEJSAN ALLIHOPPA!!
This has been a great
week!
Not too many crazy
things to report and we are running low on email time.
We had MLC on Tuesday
and we learned a lot about how to grow in our faith in Jesus Christ and make it
through this winter. We gotta keep the rest of the missionaries happy here! We
are shooting to stay strong the whole winter and not dip down in numbers or
anything, so hopefully all goes well. It was cool to be involved though!
We met with a lady
named Katherine and talked to her about what her next step is in the church.
She is super religious and wanted to be nun when she grew up. We invited her to
pray, read, and come to church, so we are just waiting now!
We met up with the
sweet girl that came to church last week and went with her to a members house
for dinner. She even told us that she had gotten permission to stay in Sweden!
SOOO Awesome. Now, if she wants to, she can officially be baptized! She is
super sweet and awesome. We even played what are the odds with her on the train
ride home. SO FUN. We also ended up teaching her a couple days ago about the
Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon in Arabic. Her and her mom prepared
some fika for us and even offered us "Hubba bubba" which we thought
was gum...turns out it was a hookah. The cultural diversity is great haha
We met with our
investigator Rolf who has been taught for a while now by the sisters and he
filled out his own baptismal calendar! Yeah that'r right! He's getting
baptized!! His baptismal date is the 28th of November. And he is stopping
coffee today too! Lots happening with him, and we are just keeping a nice
sincere prayer in our hearts every second of the day.
We had zone training
on Friday! The wonderful zone leaders here took everything that they learned
from MLC and taught the other missionaries. We even got to add some thoughts
for about 15 minutes about how to push through the hard times with Christ on
our side. President and Sister Beckstrand randomly came, but lots of
missionaries and them were saying it was a really good zone training...which it
was. Major props to the elders here! They are rockstars.
We had dinner with a
family in the ward who is just AMAZING. They live on a beautiful piece of land
with their extended family and whatnot. Their dog, kids, and family were fun to
be around, and get to know.
We had Stake
Conference here and I was able to see a TON of members from VH! I even saw
quite a few less actives that I had worked with when I had served there. It was
super good to see everyone!
We've set up some
great goals for this transfer and the sisters in our area! We are going to take
this winter and just crush it!! I'm so excited. Also, I learned how to contact
in Arabic..anddddd Sister Johanson and I are working on our Spanish skills so
we can help and teach the Spanish members both active and inactive.
Hope all is well back
home!! Life is so good here! We are ready to conquer
winter.
Something
really cool this week that I have been doing, is picking apart my testimony
and faith. I've been taking different aspects of it (prayer, scriptures, prophets,
Christ etc) and thinking back and recording the experiences that I have had
that have built my testimony in that aspect. It has been super cool to see
how the Lord has blessed me in giving me these experiences to help me develop
everyday. And Sister Johanson and I have been able to share with each other
spiritual experiences we have had.
Have
a great week!! Love you all!
Syster
Jordan Lund
Eskilstuna |
"hubba bubba" |
Rahaf and her mom |
Halloween
fangs
|
November 16, 2015
Hi everyone!! I hope
you have all had a great week!!
SHOUTOUT TO TAY -
happy birthday!!! Woohoo!! 18 years!! Hope it was fun :)
This week has flown
by but SOOO much has happened.
Last pday we went to
lunch with one of Syster Johansons investigators from Sundsvall named David. He
is SUPER awesome. Super funny and just fun to be around. Anyways, he is moving
to Santa Barbara in January to go to SBCC!! So that is super cool! I told him we
would probably even be in the same ward!! Keep an eye out for him. If he
remembers me it will be as "Earth Grove" (Lund = grove, Jorden = the
earth). KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR HIM. We'll probably be having him over for dinner
when I get home :)
Rolf is doing great!!
Some minor set backs this week - his sister died, he had a cup of coffee. Some
major awesome things this week - he came to church, we bought him blueberry tea
that he has been drinking, he paid his TITHING (he isn't even baptized yet...he
marched right up to the bishop), and his interview is this weekend! We were
able to see his house for the first time and it was precious to see how excited
he was to show us everything about his life and his wife who passed away about
a year ago. He's a dime.
We went on splits
this week! I was with an AWESOME sister named Syster Sandelin who is actually
from Sweden! I took that opportunity to speak lots of Swedish and ask her lots
of questions about the language and the country. We went to do service to a
lady who is very pregnant but we ended up just making lots of rolls and
kladkaka for her.
On the way to dinner
with the bishops this week, we took a nice little tracting stund and found a
super sweet lady who comes from Kritianstad. Her daughter was being somewhat
distracting so we played a split situation, I took the kid and played with her
while Sys. Sandelin taught the lady about the Plan of Salvation and the
Atonement. It worked really well!! The little girl was just running around with
our Mormons Bok. SO PRESH.
We actually had
another split situation when we went to visit a GU. The lesson was all over the
place and her three kids were screaming and running around. We decided to try
the split again. I played with the kids and tried to keep them quiet while Sys.
Johanson taught her the Restoration. It went well and we are meeting with her
tomorrow!
We tried to swing by
a less active who was referred to us by the VH sisters. The building was
portcoded - what's new - but we knew we need to get inside. We tried all sorts
of codes and finally said a prayer. We kept trying and just when we were about
to give up we found out on the phone that the MA is the daughter of a NO (new
member) and the code was written on her contact. We were able to get contact of
both of them and get their new numbers to plan a new time to come back :)
We've walked a lot
this week which has been a great opportunity for us to talk to people on the
street and teach lessons on the street as well. They asked me to play the piano
in primary (no one else was available) and gave me a random swedish song to
sight read...didn't go too well haha.
To finish the week
off, we had a lesson with an investigator named Roger!! We taught about the
Plan of Salvation and invited him to baptism - he said yes!! We committed
him to prepare for the 19th of December and he is super excited about it!! And
so are we!!
Overall it's been a
really good week!! This week I have really felt the love that Heavenly Father
has for his children. Watching Rolf grow and progress as well as other
investigators has really strengthened my faith that there are people out there
that are seeking for something more in life. Whether they know if or not. It's
given me more and more motivation everyday to get up at 6:30 and start getting
to work :)
Have a great week!!
Love and miss you all!!
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund
Free tour in Stockholm last Pday |
Hiking to a lesson with a member (Gertie, she's awesome) |
Little girl running around with our Book of Mormon |
Outside gym we've been working out with |
November 23, 2015
The Jensen's daughter (Julia) did our hair. SHE IS SO TALENTED! |
God morgon god
morgon!!! This week has flown by but last monday seems like forever ago.
But, I hope everyone
has had a good week!
Last pday was a big
one, Sister Johanson and I fulfilled one of our companionship goals! She
finally got her ears pierced!! Woohoo!! Don't worry we have other legit goals
too. But they look super great on her!
We went on exchanges
this week and I was able to go with this super super sweet girl named Sister
Mecham! This is my second exchange and for both of them, I've stayed in the new
area...so it's an adventure! haha We had family home evening and had a great
spiritual message from the elders about the meaning of Christmas and how we can
truly discover the real gift of Christmas. We also played ninja and Elder
Featherstone got slapped in the face by accident.
Our investigator Rolf
is up and down. He has a baptismal date for this Saturday but before his
baptismal interview this past Saturday he told us that he wants really bad to
be baptized and be a part of the church but that he cannot go against his
children and have them angry at him. We encouraged him to have faith and pray
and fast that his children's hearts will be softened and invited him to have
the baptismal interview anyways to show God that he is willing to trust in Him.
He passed the interview and we said goodbye to him. His sister's funeral is
this week, but we are still going to do everything we can to prepare him for
this Saturday. We've fasted the past 2 days (broke them in between) and been
praying like crazy. So feel free to pray for Rolf!
We've recently been
having group calls to talk about our testimonies and where and how we gained
the faith that we have. This week we talked about the prophet Joseph Smith. I
was reminded of all the cool little experiences that I have had that have built
my faith in him. I was reminded of dad's old books and copies of the Book of
Mormon as well as the book of commandments. I thought back to the first time I
really read "Safety for the Soul" and watched the video to go with
it. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to learn and grow every single
day in my testimony of so many different things!
Roger is doing great!
He has a baptismal calendar and came to church!! He seems to be grasping
everything and agrees with everything we say...it's almost too good to be true!
He's great!
We had Specialized
Zone Training on Friday which was a real privilege. We focused on Joseph Smith,
diligence, and the Christmas season. It was SUPER spiritual, and I knew that if
I were to open my mouth to make any sort of comment I would have started
crying. IT WAS SO GOOD THOUGH. I am so ready to tackle winter and spread the
good word of Jesus Christ over Christmas.
We went to a baptism
in Norrköping on Saturday for a guy that Sister Johanson taught! Due to Satan's
mighty ways, we were late and BARELY made it on time for Sis Johanson to speak.
We went to the
Jensens for dinner last night and holy moly their kids are crazy!! The elders
are such champs and just take it and play with the kids, it's actually pretty
entertaining to watch.
Big news of this
week...we are getting two new sisters here in Södertälje!! They will be moving
into our apartment with us to make it a 4 man! That's right, 4 sisters, one
bathroom, oh no. We are really excited though! This could be the miracle we
have been waiting and praying for. (one of the sisters served here about 5
months ago and taught Rolf). Their names are Sister Bolton (served here
already) and the other is Sister Eriksson who is from Malmö and just waiting
for her visa to America. Crazy Crazy!!
Ahh Thanksgiving is
this week and I just wanted to say that even though I can't celebrate it in a
SUPER American way, I have still be thinking about all the blessings I have in
my life, and I can't help but feel an immense amount of gratitude to be here in
Sweden sharing the gospel with these wonderful people. They are some of the
kindest most genuine people I have ever met and I can feel God's love for them.
I am also SO grateful for my family and friends that have supported me
throughout my life and right now. I have learned so much from them (you guys)
and can't even explain how much they have influenced my life.
Have an amazing
Thanksgiving back there and eat some pumpkin pie for me!
Love you all!!
Syster Jordan Lund
Jensen's son tied their ties together. |
Found a felt
Christmas tree in our apartment
|
Filling up the gas in the elder's car #babyit'scoldoutside |
Ears pierced! |
Trying to contact people out here in the cold |
Us and our Ward Mission Leader's daughter Patricia |
November 30, 2015
Turkey Bowl 2015 |
God morgon!!
What a week! It has
been super long, but a great week.
Last Pday was a
BLAST. We got together with a bunch of other missionaries in Stockholm and
played football for the traditional Turkey Bowl. I'm not sure if it was a
tradition before, but it will be now! The ground was frozen and so were we, but
we survived and had a blast!
Cool priesthood
story! The elders gave a blessing to a less active named A. He usually has to
take 16-18 tablets a day, but after the blessing, he hasn't needed to take any!
It was really cool to hear him telling us missionaries this and how is
testimony has grown. He's been to church a couple weeks in a row now :)
We had dinner with an
awesome family this week! They made us paella with shrimp and oysters and
octopus! It was SO GOOD. They spoil us, for real. We decided to prepare a
lesson for this wonderful spanish family in SPANISH. That's right, we gave the
lesson in Spanish. We talked about faith and discussed Ether 12:6. It was a
little rough, but I think they appreciated it haha. I even prayed in
Spanish!
Oh yeah, another
thing with languages. Since I've been here, I can now contact in English,
Swedish, Spanish, and Arabic! So that's something I didn't think I would need
to learn how to do.
We've been working
with a less active who has been living sambo with her boyfriend for 5 years
now. She is so unhappy and doesn't trust him let alone feel safe. But she feels
like she has already invested too much in the relationship. We finally hit her
with the fact that she needs to either marry the dude or move out and she took
it really well. She must have needed that and she said she would give it just a
few more months (make it through the winter) and then make the call.
We met with a less
active that we haven't met with before and got to know her a little bit better.
She was so excited to see us and to talk about the gospel! Her main struggle
holding her back from church is that she is married to a Muslim man - which is
creating some issues. But she has such a sweet spirit and a GREAT testimony
about Joseph Smith. I can't wait to meet with her again this week :)
Thursday was
Thanksgiving and we celebrated with District meeting. Elder Heiner made us a
Thanksgiving feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn. Major props to
him because it tasted BOMB.
We met with Rolf and
the other sisters at his apartment and had some tea! We talked about the
responsibility that comes with blessings in our lives and how we grow from each
and every ounce of knowledge and consequences. We helped him clean up his
apartment a little bit while he did his laundry and he was very appreciative.
He tried to give us some cash on Sunday for cleaning up. AH He is just the
sweetest, I love him so much! I hope his kids will come around.
We had another
Thanksgiving dinner with the bishopric and all of their families on Friday. It
was hectic! The kids were punching and growling at me and I got fed up and said
"Vem älskar Syster Lund?" and started offering piggy back rides to
the ones that said it. Soon enough they were all climbing on me and I was on
the ground trying to give them all piggy back rides haha. This thanksgiving, I
am grateful for kids! We went around and everyone said what they were thankful
for :) It was really nice of them to have this little celebration for us
American missionaries.
Sunday was great! A
good amount of less actives and investigators in church!
So we've got 4 girls
living in our apartment right now. I think it's the only 4 person apartment
right now in the whole mission. It's SO FUN. Pretty hectic, but really fun.
They've had some trouble with their bus cards, and we only have one set of keys
so we try to plan accordingly but sometimes someone ends up waiting outside in
the cold for a little bit :( And sometimes it's hard to split the work up
because we aren't sure how long they will be here so we don't want anybody to get
confused or anything. But it is SOOO FUN.
Also, yesterday was
the first advent so everyone had little candles in their windows! So presh.
BEST PART OF THE
WEEK: The 2015 Christmas Initiative has begun!! WOOHOOO!! We have been
contacting people with the new video about why we celebrate Christmas and it
has been working miracles already!! I encourage you guys to share it on your
facebook wall or whatever - it's a great video! the website for it is: https://www.mormon.org/christmas
This Christmas season is the time to remember Christ in the midst of all
the excitement! There is just something special about Christmas that softens
people's hearts :)
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Sorry this email is so horrendously long.
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund
pepparkakor (if you push it and it breaks in three you get your wish) |
Staying warm |
Just smile ;) |
The elders |
Lil Johanson and I |
December 7, 2015
December is here!!
And that means lots and lots of Christmas spirit! We've been out and about with
the Christmas Initiative and we've been able to see hearts change and attitudes
lift. It's been super cool.
This week has DRAGGED
on. But it has been really fun.
Last Pday we went to
Stockholm and had lunch with Sys. Johanson's cousin. I tried glögg for the
first time, I don't really know how to describe it...Christmas in a cup?
Literally.
We met with Roger and
talked to him about the Word of Wisdom this week, we still have quite a few
things to teach him before his baptismal interview this Saturday! He came to
church this week though, and we had a very recent convert sit by him and talk
to him throughout the meetings.
Each sister in our
apartment has their nails painted red for the month of December! We all match
:)
I went back to
Västerhaninge for splits this week! I was with a super sweet sister named Sys.
Nielsen. We went to Nynäshamn to tract and swing by people before cruising over
to the Ståhlberg's for dinner! I LOVE them! It was fun to catch up with them
and hear from Sys. Nielsen all of the positive things going on in my baby area!
We also had workovers
with Örebro, they came here and this apartment turned into 6 sisters! It was so
fun getting to know Sys. Hoke who I was with. She served here a year ago, and
all the members LOVE HER. So much. It was cool to see her reconnect with them
as well. We went to the Wesemyers and made pepparkakor, played the violin,
drank stinging neddles, and had a rockin time.
We taught a drunk man
on the street too! He is supppper funny and said that our churches look like
princess castles haha. We're in contact with him and might be meeting with him
today or tomorrow.
We had dinner with
the Garcias and they stuffed us! So full! I gave Ana a little journal thing
that she can write her dreams in - I think she liked it :)
We had a lesson with
our new investigator Seppo. We couldn't find any members to come with us to his
house so we took the other sisters with us haha #perksofa4man We taught all
about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. He smoked 2 cigarettes in the 40
minutes we were there, soooo I took his pack of cigarattes and said "De
vinkar hej då till dig" (They are waving goodbye to you) and told him that
because he only has one lung left, among thousands of other reasons too, he
should stop smoking. He let us take his cigarettes and it was a big win for all
of us!
Friday we had two
member meals that were both SO GOOD. So stuffed. I guess this is just how
Christmas goes. I love love love the food though, always good, and always good
company.
We met with an
investigator Saturday that gave me a hug after talking about Grandma Rudd's
conversion story. She's sweet but we're not so sure about how much she wants
it.
This week I have
realized how strong the Spirit really comes when we testify. There is so much
power in personal conversion. It's crazy! It has been so cool to watch their
hearts change and turn towards God. I can't even describe the joy it brings me
to be here and to see the process and change.
I hope you all have a
great week! Thanks for all the love and support! Love you!
Syster Jordan Lund
Here is the link
again for the Christmas message if you haven't seen it!
6 sister massage train |
Södertälje by the canal |
Me and Ana |
All 4 of our black boots #swedishsisters |
Seppo's cigs |
Making pepparkakor and lussebullar |
Jensen's house is
always the place to be
|
Journeying out into the rain. |
December 14, 2015
Hi everyone!! I hope
all is well!
Since being in an
apartment with 4 girls, it's been almost impossible to write in my journal and
keep track of all the things that happened this week. But I will do my best!
Last pday we just
stayed here in Södertälje and looked around town a little bit with the elders.
We went to Mojgan's that evening with Rahaf and had a fun girl's night. We
closed with a spiritual message about Christmas. It was SO fun!! Love those
girls. We laughed so hard.
Tuesday started out
really discouraging but turned out incredible. We contacted a guy on the street
that wasn't interested but texted us 15 minutes later to thanks us for
spreading joy. We met a guy on the bus who took our number and right when we
got off the bus he called us and told us to save his number and we'd be in
touch - he ended up coming to our ward Christmas party! We also met with Roger
(our friend with a baptismal date) and a new member Peter. There is really a
change in Roger's heart! It's so cool to see. And we found out today that Peter
would be able to baptize Roger (he's getting the Priesthood soon)! It'll be
awesome. We did have to push his date back to the 26th of December because he
wasn't ready for his baptismal interview. All is well though!
We sent off Sis.
Bolton Wednesday and sung "Gud var med dig tills vi möts igen" to her
on the platform. She's done her 18 months SO GOOD. I'm so proud of her. We
picked up Grönsak's (Sis. Eriksson) new companion Sis. Adamson.
We met with Seppo and
talked about the Plan of Salvation. He was somewhat skeptical in the beginning
but was starting to understand as the discussion rolled on. Unfortunately he is
moving back to Finland sometime soon :/ We'll miss him!
Our ward is really
trying to kick it into high gear to get the message of the gospel out to
people. We discussed lots of really good, big marketing ideas in our Ward
Council meeting - I felt like I was right back in Kids Helping Kids haha.
We had our ward
Christmas party! It was super fun, we had a julbord and lots of singing,
chatting, and laughing. Santa came, he scared some of the kids half to death
haha. After all the kids had gotten their candy and gifts the missionaries were
all called up to get something from Santa. It was sweet haha. And we had a good
amount of investigators there as well!
Rahaf came to church
on Sunday and was just ENVELOPED by fellowshippers that have been with us on
lessons with her. They all just love her. And so do we. We're meeting with her
this week :)
We got some crazy
news that there would be another (random) transfer because a visa waiter
finally got his visa. So that creates a little chaos, but all is well. 8
companionships were affected including the elders here in Södertälje. Elder
Featherstone will be leaving today to go to Utby and we will be getting Elder
Larsson here. Crazy and sad switch but we're excited for everyone.
We had Featherstone's
last dinner at the Schiazzano family's house. It is always so good there. We
come hungry and roll out happy.
This week Sister
Johanson and I tried something new. We set aside 30 extra minutes to talk to
God in prayer. At first I was just rambling and saying thank you for everything
possible. But sooner than later it went really deep and I was talking about
things that I really needed help with. It was SUPER awesome to just have that
time to talk with God and not worry about anything else. You guys should try
it!
I think that is it
for this week!! Have a wonderful week! Miss and love you lots!
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund
Goodbye Sister Bolton! (Say hi to America for us) |
Sister Adamson is here now! |
Little Patricia at the Christmas party |
No wonder the kids were screaming... haha |
Södertälje on our walk to church |
Baby demonstrating how missionaries pray in the morning |
Getting our gifts from Santa |
Merry Christmas
everybody!!!
I hope everyone is
doing well! Life is amazing over here in Södertälje. And WARM. Whatttttt. We
have hit record highs the past week. It hasn't been this warm in over 50 years.
It feels so good though! And today is the shortest day of the year which means
it will only get lighter from here on out!
Roger passed his
baptismal interview with flying colors this past Saturday. He will be getting
baptized this Saturday! We are SO SO SO excited for him! And he is so excited
too! He was telling us about how he told his mom he was getting baptized (she's
gotta be like 100 years old because Roger is pretty old) and she was super
excited for him. Oh man it will be great. THE BEST PART: he is going to be
baptized by a guy the elders baptized last transfer. NEW CONVERT POWER. Oh man
life is so good.
We've seen all sorts
of miracles this week. We had two days of going out in town with all 6
Södertälje missionaries and just contacting it up with the Christmas
initiative. It has proved to be HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL. It's really cool because the
hearts of these people are softening right before our eyes. It's been amazing
to see. We have gotten some potential investigators and had quite a few
investigators from those contacting stunds come to church! It's awesome. We
have also received several phone calls from random people that want to meet and
one that says she wants to be baptized. The second harvest is just over the hill
for the Södertälje area.
I went on splits with
a sister named Sister Kimball! She is just the sweetest person ever! I learned
soooo much from her. She is so positive and a good mentor. She just
rocks.
We had zone
conference this week and it was Christmas themed obviously. It was so cool to
focus on the Savior's birth and feel the great Spirit that comes with it. There
were lots of musical numbers that really added to the Christmas atmosphere too
:) We had a white elephant gift exchange and there were some pretty good things
getting passed around. President and Sister Beckstrand read us a funny
Christmas story and changed the words a little here and there. Oh man they are
just the best. They gave each companionship a big pack of oboy (which we used
for the hot cocoa stand later). Christmas is awesome here in Sweden!
We had our Christmas
program in church yesterday and it was really nice. We had an investigator show
up and he even sang with us in the choir! We ended up going to see his church
Christmas program as well and met some cool people there, even taught a lesson!
I've learned how
important it is to give everything to the Lord this week. How nothing works
unless I do. This is God's work and it's going to happen in His time under His
circumstances. I am so grateful for this Christmas season and for the chance I
have to spread Christmas joy around the streets of Södertälje and into the warm
hearts of these wonderful Swedish people. I love this work with all my heart.
There's no place I would rather be than right here.
Thanks for all the
love, support, and prayers. I know that those things get me through the harder
days of the mission.
Love and miss you
all!!
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund
Christmas concert in the All Saints Church |
President and Sister Beckstrand reading us a Christmas story |
Salad and puzzles
during lunch, we finished this 1000 piece puzzle this week!
|
varm mjölk oboy stand day 1 (there were 6 total missionaries) |
Christmas time with Sister Johanson! |
January 1, 2016
Cleaning the font before |
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!!
I hope everyone had a
fun and safe holiday season and are ready to kick off the new year right!
This past week and a
half has been incredible! SO many miracles and fun times it's hard to count.
Hopefully you can feel the experiences through the pictures I've attached.
Major points in the
week:
CHRISTMAS!! Christmas
eve we went out caroling to some of the members in the ward here. We had made
cookies and bagged them up to drop off as well. We have some good singers here
in Södertälje right now, so it sounded way good! We swung by a family and we
ate and read a Christmas book together and sang after. The wife started crying
and said that she knew she had been visited by angels. AW. It was really fun.
I'm grateful that all the missionaries here in the area were willing to go out
and do some service on a non-proselyting day. We were able to spend Christmas
eve and Christmas day with the Schiazzano family. They are seriously the best
and just bend over backward to help the missionaries out and to make the good times
and holidays even better. We watched lots of Disney movies in Swedish which was
SUPER FUN. It was fun to know the lines and to hear how they decided to
translate the punchlines. We ate lots of DELICIOUS food and just lived like
queens and kings. I also got to see you guys on Christmas too over the Skype!
So that was really awesome too. We opened up our Christmas packages the morning
of Christmas and it was fun to see what everyone got :)
ROGER'S
BAPTISM!!!
Oh my heck Roger got
baptized! The baptismal service was spiritual and even though there weren't
tons of members there, Roger still felt the Spirit and that is the most
important. He had to be baptized 4 times because the font had mysteriously
drained from waist high to almost knee high in the span of the service. Long
story short, the new member (Peter, he was baptized 8 weeks ago) was a champ
and got Roger all the way under the water. We were able to laugh about it
afterward haha. He was confirmed the next day and bore a very sincere testimony
from the pulpit. Oh man it was glorious! We are working towards the priesthood
and temple with him now :)
SPLITS WITH SISTER
BANKS!!
I was able to go on
splits with Sister Banks! Oh my I loveeeee her. She is just so sweet and the
kindest human being to ever walk the planet. AND we are in the same group. I
was able to visit Hägersten and see the good that is going on in that area. We
had such a good time and saw a lot of success. It was legendary!
NEW YEARS!!
It was also spent
with the Schiazzano family! We played lots of card games, ate lots of good
food, had a talent show thing, and laughed so hard. Fireworks were going off
basically the whole evening and especially at midnight! We did a Spanish
tradition of eating 12 grapes with every ding of the clock. It was super fun!!
We watched Italo and Claudia light off lots of fireworks and we got our own
personal sparklers! It was seriously the best new year ever, I was overjoyed. I
can't wait for what this new year will bring!!
This has been a great
holiday season filled with so much JOY. I feel so blessed to be out here on a
mission and to help, support, and serve the people here. The blessings are
truly innumerable if you are looking for them. Thank you for everything and I
hope that you all have a wonderful new year!!
Love,
Syster Jordan Lund
Christmas in our apartment |
Caroling crew |
the masses of chocolate and candy...20 pounds worth |
Christmas jammies |
Roger and Peter |
Having some fun before bed :) (chin singing) |
ROGER GOT BAPTIZED |
Snow...A little chilly! |
THE happiest woman alive (in Hägersten) |
Matching jackets with Elder Linchenko |
Sparklers on new years |
Coming up on ONE YEAR!
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