Hey family!
What a week it has been. Obviously I we had
transfers this week. I am now about a 35 minute train ride from Göteborg. We are
allowed to go to Göteborg on pdays if we have permission from our Zone Leaders,
but from what i have heard is that they have never said no. So, I am looking
forward to spending some time in Göteberg.
So what is it like
here in Trollhättan? Well, its different. A lot different. Halmstad was very big
and beautiful. It had a river running through town and it just had a very warm
feeling to it. Lots of art everywhere. Right on the beach. But, Trollhättan has
none of that. It has no river, no beach, no warm feeling. Its a lot more ghetto
town (as much as sweden can get...). There are soooo many muslims here.
Everywhere you turn. Which is not what I was used to in Halmstad. So far the
only up side to Trollhättan than to Halmstad is that it has about 70 or so
members active. In church on Sunday we had about 75 members in attendance. So
that is good. I was asked to stand up and introduce myself during sacrament. But
everyone does that, so that was not a big deal. But, its hard to compare too
much. I was in Halmstad for over 4 months and I have only been here a week. So,
maybe I will learn to love it here too. But, for now, Halmstad is my home in
Sweden. Like really though, I havent seen THAT much of Sweden, but from what i
have seen, Halmstad would be where I would live if I lived in Sweden. For the
reason of everything i mentioned before. The river, the beach, the art, and just
the warm feeling it gives. But, anyway.
We have 2 investigators
here in Trollhättan right now. One of them has a baptismal date. His only
problem is that he has been using snus (chewing tobacco) for a very long time
and is having a hard time quiting. So we are working with him and getting him to
quit before the 30th. He has this "club" for missionaries called the MRRC (M
double R, C) Missionary Rest and Relaxation Ceter. It was the weirdest thing I
have ever heard of. Basically its just that we sit there and talk for a few
minutes before the lesson. Anyway, for my first time there he asked all these
questions to get to know me. Questions like "most embarrasing moment" and "best
prank you have ever done." So for most embarrasing I told him about while I was
at the MTC and we had the Wrold Wide Broadcast and how i was on the screen
looking up at the jumbo tron. Then for the best prank I told him about when it
was April 1st a few years ago and dad called that guy in our ward who is a cop.
He came over and "arrested" chase. HAHAHA he was like "I LOVE YOU AND YOUR DAD!"
So, Dad, this guy loves you! It was really funny to watch him. One other
interesting thing is that before we pray, we play rock, paper, scissors to
decide who says the prayer. Its not the person who loses, it the person who
wins. So you have to fight to say the prayer. It was really cool actually. And
as it turns out our investigator won the opening prayer AND the closing prayer.
And his prayers were some of the absolute best prayers I have ever heard in my
life. I really look forward to helping this guy out. I really think he'll get
baptised while i am here.
So our goal for this area? well,
since this ward is soo strong in comparison to Halmstad, we have agreed to focus
more on finding investigators than strengthening the ward (and the sisters are
already doing that). We decided to start looking for NO to baptisms. Do you know
why? because sometimes you have to go through a lot of people before you can get
to the right person. We are more afraid of asking for baptism than they are. So
i really just want to find find find and teach teach teach. I think we will
baptise monthly, but we gotta get to work. My companion, Elder Peterson, was
with me in the MTC. He still has the fire that i have. So, together we can do
it.
On Friday this past week we had a combined Zone Training in
Göteborg. The highlight about this meeting is this. There were 4 zones at this
combined training. Mälmö, Helsingborg, Göteborg and Göteborg East zones. Thats
less then half the mission. There are 5 other zones that had their training the
day before. Anyway, sister newell said that 8 months ago the amount of people
that were in these 4 zones was the entire mission. WHAT? In 8 months the mission
has more than doubled. In 1950's there were only 26 missionaries and 13
companionships in ALL of Sweden. Today we have almost 100 companionships not
including the senior couples. How cool is that?? that just gives me chills down
the spine The 2nd Harvest is happening, and I am right in the middle of it. So
awesome.
So thats it. I forgot my camera. I will send the
photos later this week. Enjoy your thanksgiving and BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT YOU
HAVE!!!!!
Kram!
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