Aldste Hainsworth Has Arrived Safely in Sweden!

Dear Parents,

 

We just wanted to send a quick note to let you know that your missionary arrived safely this morning in Sweden.  They have had a very busy day doing some contacting in downtown Stockholm. I even saw some of them passing out pass along cards at migration.  What an exciting thing to witness.  They are now resting at the mission home with President and Syster Beckstrand and will go their area tomorrow.  We will be sending pictures in a couple of days and they will be emailing you on Monday.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.  Have a great day.    

 

 

Syster Taylor

Mission Secretary

Sweden Stockholm

08 544 70 930

MTC FINAL WEEK!!!!

Just a few more days and Sverige here we come!!

So last friday we got our travel plans, we were so excited!! We're taking a short flight to Atlanta, layover, long haul over the ocean to Amsterdam, layover, then we get to our home sweet home for the next two years! Only downside is that one of my comps, Äldste Richards, didn't get his travel plans. We had to go into the travel office last week to fix some stuff on his visa because it got sent back. So we asked them about whats going to happen and he's going to be serving stateside for 6 weeks then heading off to Sweden. We're all praying for him and wish the best for him cause he's put in more work than the rest of us combined to get to Sweden!

On Saturday 5 of us promised eachother to only speak Swedish all day! It was one of the most exhausting days in the MTC, especially mentally, but it helped so much! I love speaking Swedish and talking about other people in Swedish around them haha all good things of course. We're going to try and do a couple more "english fasts" before we leave cause they helped so much!

It's crazy how musically talented our district. In the sunday night devotional for the whole MTC one of our own, Äldste Castleton-Rudolph (nicknamed Christopher Robin) performed an incredible piano solo, the Joseph Smith medley comprised of 'Did You Think to Pray', 'Joseph Smith's First Prayer', and 'Praise to the Man', that he wrote himself. I went on exchanges with him a lot so he could practice for the big night and I even gave him some input since I'm soooo musical haha. On that same Sunday, our own Äldste Johannsen and Sister Nielsen performed at the missionary departure devotional, singing and playing the piano. If only they had guitars in the MTC...

Sunday was also bittersweet though, the Danes left monday morning so that was our last day with them. They came in a week before us and left a week before us and we got super close with them. Monday morning we hugged all of them bye, they're gonna kill it over in Denmark and I hope some of them get to serve in my old home of Aarhus.

On tuesday the ole tri-pan went on an off-campus field trip to the dentist. That was the first time other than temple walks that we'd been off campus and it was nice to see the real world, even from the window of a shuttle bus. Äldste Richards had a toothache so we got to tag along, I even sat in a chair next to him in the dentist's chair in case he needed a hand to hold. They couldn't find anything wrong with him other than that he had a bruised tooth, so he pretty much just has to deal with it till it gets better. The pain got a lot worse that night and so Äldste Reed and I had the opportunity to give Äldste Richards a blessing of comfort. It was a wonderful experience and my first blessing as a missionary. What I've learned is that blessing's are conditional upon the faith of the blesser, the faith of the one being blessed, and the will of God. Priesthood authority is so powerful and Äldste Richards has definitely been doing a lot better since then!

Today was our last p-day in the MTC and we were all pretty stoked to get 5 new danish missionaries in our zone today, 4 Elders and 1 Sister! We've already met almost all of them and they seem like they'll fit in great, we're already planning our usual Scandinavian hazing rituals haha kidding of course...maybe. My comps and I spent most of the day running errands, getting some sharp missionary haircuts, and picking up last minute stuff from the bookstore. We're all pretty excited that we leave in 4 days but I think we're all starting to get a little nervous as well. 

In teaching this week we've really focused on teaching people, not lessons. That has been so helpful for me and I can tell a HUGE difference in our lessons and how we meet the needs of our investigators. It feels so much more personal and the way that Jesus would teach. I have to ask them what they cherish, what matters most to them, what they hold dear. Then listen. If I listen with love, I won't need to wonder what to say, it will come to me. 

For studying this week one cool thing that I felt like I should do is to write down all my blessings that I've seen in my life and DANG it was crazy! I took up a whole page and they just kept coming to mind. That was a humbling and gratifying experience and I definitely don't acknowledge the Lord's hand in my life as much as I need to! The theme for me this week has really been about faith and how faith in Christ leads to action because you can't convert people beyond your own conversion. Faith is something that must be cultured and sought after and is always more powerful than knowledge. I studied in Mosiah 4 and would encourage you to study it and apply it to whatever you're going through in your life! I love verses 11-12, I wrote next to them in my Scriptures "steps to humility and happiness". Also verses 16 and 19, I'm realizing more and more how we are all beggars and while not everyone is a beggar in the literal sense, especially not in Sweden, we all depend on God for all that we have and we must have faith in Him.  

Fun language thing I learned this week is that "en val" is "a whale", "ett val" is "a choice" haha I've probably gotten those two mixed up more times than I even realize!

Jag vet att den gong det du alskä andrar mer den din själv, du ska bli lycklig

Har en bra vecka!!

Äldste Hainsworth

P.S.  "Many are cold, few are frozen"  D&C 121  (Appropriate as he's about to head off to Sweden, land that includes the Arctic Circle)

Tenny's zone while in the MTC. Consisting of the Danes, Nordes, Swedes & 2 Dutchies.  (Once he's in Sweden his zone will just  be missionaries somewhat near him in Sweden. I'm not sure how many zones there are in the Swedish mission.  Maybe there's only 1?   Sherri)

Time is Flying in the MTC!

Can you believe that I've been out for a month already?! We get our travel plans on friday, it's really starting to get real!!

So last wednesday my companions and I had our haircuts scheduled and we went to do those and just as I was walking in the haircut place I realized the stitches on my head might complicate things haha so I'm delaying the haircut till probably next week.

 We found out a couple days ago that two of our amazing teachers, Sister Faux and Brother Cheney have to go through yearly training and so they aren't teaching us anymore. We were pretty bummed about that since we were teaching Brother Cheney as an investigator but oh well, we still have our amazing teachers Brother Whitworth and Sister Haynes.

 I really don't mean to sound arrogant or condescending but it seems like from the teachers and the people in my district, the missionaries that go to Sweden are just such a high caliber and I've learned so much from their examples. So on friday we taught our investigator Lovisa for the fourth time I think, and that's where my Swedish lesson of the week will komma ifrån. So we were teaching Lovisa about priesthood authority and how it was lost after Jesus Christ and His Apostles were killed from the earth. So Äldste Richards says to Lovisa "Jesus Kristus och Hans Apostlarna dödade i jorden" which translates to "Jesus Christ and His apostles murdered on earth". Haha "dödade" is killed/murdered, "dödades" is was/were killed/murdered, the look on her face was priceless and we definitely learned our lesson. I guess that was our first of many "I know that Joseph Smith was a pamphlet" moments. 

Our tri-pan (what everyone calls our companionship) I think has been seeing lots of progress on our teaching. We teach every day now and it's so helpful to improve in our språk och våra gospel principles. The biggest thing I've learned about teaching is to teach people, not lessons. Keep things simple and focused and address the investigator's needs. Another huge thing I've learned is that it is not our job to convince or persuade anyone. We simply invite and be the middleman and let the Spirit teach them and let them know what we're saying is true.

Every sunday we have a couple missionaries in our zone get called on to give a talk. Everyone has to prepare a talk on a certain subject and then they tell us on the spot at the podium that we're going to be coming up and talking. So I got asked on saturday to give the opening prayer which is kind of an unspoken rule that I don't have to give a talk. Haha but lo and behold, I was the first one called on. I decided to prepare for this week I'd just write bullet points down in english of what to talk about then translate and elaborate on the podium. It was hard to speak in front of everyone only in Swedish but the gift of tongues is so real and I was able to give a pretty solid 5 minute talk on repentance, sharing a personal experience and some scriptures. 

We watched Legacy on sunday night (we watch a church movie or talk every sunday night) and it was about the Saints and Joseph Smith and all the hardships they went to. I can't believe I'm saying this but it stimulated my interest in family history and I'm realizing what amazing ancestors I have and I'd love to learn more about them and all the trials they endured. 

It was our teacher Brother Whitworth's birthday yesterday so our other teacher taught us the Happy Birthday song in Swedish! I actually had some birthday candles in the room and another Elder in our district had a brownie so we suprised him and it was awesome, I think I like the Swedish birthday song more than the English one!

The weather here has been perfect and we've been able to study outside a pretty good amount and I love it since we're pretty much never outside otherwise. Just eat and class all day. While I was outside and reading in the Book of Mormon I decided that I needed to strengthen and reaffirm my testimony and so sitting outside I said a prayer to God and just asked him to let me know that everything I'm doing is true and I can continue forward with faith. Despite the chill of the wind blowing, I received an incredible, distinct feeling of warmth, peace, and fullness inside me. After sitting and letting that feeling grow within me these words came to me 'The gospel is true. God loves you". That's it. That's all I needed. I love this gospel and everyday day is just another amazing day on an amazing mission with amazing people. The gospel is true and God loves me and loves all of you. I KNOW that. 

Till nästa gång!

Äldste Hainsworth



1. got this the first week but such a relief!

2. Haha someone messed up this page in our language book

3. Aldste Reed my main man

4. One of many nerf guns we have locked and loaded

Sorry this wasn't a very picture focused week so I don't have much, I'm sure I'll get more for the last week! Love you!

Tenny's zone on a sunny temple walk.

Stitches in the MTC! (Week 3)

From Sherri:  For the first time, I was able to be on email at the same time Tenny was.  So excited about that!  I asked him how he's doing, mentally, emotionally, physially, etc.  This was his response:

I'm doing great, mentally I've noticed alot of improvement, just things like patience, thinking, problem solving, etc. Emotionally I'm awesome, I love my companions, my district, teachers and am loving my experience. I've never been so stress-free in my life. Physically I've put on a couple pounds but am doing fine, there's a little suprise coming in my mass email about how im doing physically

Sherri again:  Little did I know what he meant by a "little surprise"!

Wow what a crazy week haha how could it not be with a title like that (sorry mom). It blows that my mind that I'm leaving in two and a half weeks, feels like I just got here! So I guess I should talk about the whole stitches in the MTC thing. So pretty much on Friday the 6th just like any other morning we were on our way to gym about 8:30 a.m. and we were excited and energetic for another day of four square so were jogging and jumping over stuff and doing a little parkour and what not. It'll be easier to picture what happened from the pictures but I was jogging along and on the black ramp on the way up I jumped to do a sweet little grab and clear the level part of the ramp to transfer to the down ramp. So I jump and BAM I smack my head on the plastic box light above the ramp. My companions ask if I'm good because they heard me hit it and I just laughed it off and said I was fine and kept jogging. After jogging about 10 feet drops of blood start dripping off my head onto the sidewalk. I'm obviously slightly concerned about that so I run into the nearest building, down the stairs to the nearest bathroom and put my head over the sink. Blood was gushing out of my head, the sink was red and I was leaning over it starting to feel light headed. One of my companions and another elder in our district were there to help me thankfully. I tried to wash out the bood then they get a lot of paper towels and were trying to put pressure on my head. The paper towels got soaked in blood after like 20 seconds. My head stopped bleeding after about 5 minutes, thank goodness cause I probably would have fainted if it had kept going. My hair was reddish-pink haha I thought it looked pretty good. So we went to the health clinic once my head stopped bleeding and I made an appointment at the front desk for 10 am, it was about 8:45 at that point. It was pretty funny they had me fill out a form that asked like what I'm coming in for (hit my head on a light, lots of blood and possible concussion) and how long I'd had the symptoms (about 15 minutes) haha. So I came back at 10 thinking I was just going to get checked for a concussion, make sure I wasn't going to bleed anymore and go on my way. The doctor came in and looked at my head and said "yep, that's going to have to be stitched up". I didn't even think that was a possibility at that point. So a really sweet Nurse came along and washed my head out with sterilized water. It was the worst part and hurt soo bad, I was shaking from the pain. I was pretty scared at that point cause I'd never gotten stitches while conscious and I thought they did them straight up. I prayed alot in that room just for help and comfort and felt a lot better after that. The nurse that helped and the doctor as well were so nice and helpful, the nurse was definitely not my mom but she was the next best thing. They said they had to give me a tetanus shot so they brought out a syringe and I started rolling up my shirt sleeve. They put a cloth over my head and said that the syringe was actually for numbing my head. I was kinda freaked out again. The numbing shots stung alot and I had to squeeze the nurse's hand but got through it. The actual stitching wasnt bad at all since I was numbed up. I didn't fee an pain. I ended up getting 7 stitches and staying at the doctor's for about two hours. I ended up getting the tetanus shot in my arm at the end in my arm haha it all makes so much more sense now. And they don't think I have a concussion so I got lucky, could've been alot worse! I get my stitches out on friday and will be pretty much good by then, by the time my mom even finds out any of this happened!

I got to sing in the missionary choir during the devotional last night, I sang bass haha I like singing deep. We sang Praise to the Man and the choir director gave us a whole background of the song and the writer of it, W.H Phelps and it was amazing the story of him and his experiences with Joseph Smith and the early church. The devotional was recorded and broadcast to all 16 MTC's around the world so that was pretty cool! Elder Quinton L. Cook of the quorum of the 12 apostles was the speaker and he was amazing, I learned so much! We're teaching more and more every week and this week was no exception, were teaching two investigators and practicing teaching each other all the time! My Swedish is progressing and I've made it a goal to learn tio new orden a day, it's been so helpful to help with my Swedish base and getting better at speaking and understanding. My companions and I read a chapter in Mormons Bok every morning, reading the verse in Engelske then Svenske, its really helpful and I can understand a lot of it. We talk almost entirely på Svenske now and våra teachers wont understand us if we speak på engelske! My testimony is growing and I get more and more excited everyday to actually go to Sweden! Im so motivated and want to work as hard as I can because the language is either going to be svårt and we can mess up a lot here, or its going to be that way in Sweden, might as well improve as much as I can here! My companions are great and weve gotten so close, same with all nio of us in our district, I love them all of them and I love our teachers too! Hope everyone has a underbar week and dont worry, my head is jättebra now!

Äldste Hainsworth

First and second, temple pics on our awesome sunday temple walk that we look forward to every week

Second and third, we left the door open leaving for class in the morning for the day, i think i left it open, but the nordes that live near us decided to take advantage of that haha it was pretty funny, were plotting our revenge right now

First pic: Me and Big Josh, a good friend from byu, fellow b9 resident and guitar player

Second: The left one is an english pamphlet, the right one is the same pamphlet in swedish haha its so funny, all the pictures are the exact same but with scandinavian people

Third and fourth: Showing off my skinny tie(I actually just tied a normal tie but with the back end as the long end, going for the european look) Also mah boy Äldste Reed taking a pee with me

First pic from left to right: aldste perkins, white, me, richards (companion)

Not actually where I got stitches but a cut on my head from hitting the light

The ramp and light where the accident happened, I walk over that everyday, my class building is right behind me!

7 blue stitches, my favorite color!

Tennyson's Week 2 in the MTC (With LOTS of Pictures!)

Hallå friends and family! This week was way different from the first week and it's been pretty nice getting into the groove of things, never having to check the schedule now cause we have it memorized haha it's the exact same most days. I feel a lot more comfortable and settled in now and it feels more like home. The challenge of that has been that the excitement and nerves from going out on a mission have died down. I got a cold on saturday and also started to struggle with progressing in the language as fast as I had in the first week and so motivating myself to stay focused and work hard was really tough combined with the sickness. I started feeling better on tuesday and it's pretty much gone now and I've really been working to stay motivated and still work hard so I feel great now, I think I've made it past that little wall. And the beauty of it is, everything doesn't seem as bad now as it did before I was sick cause studying and learning all day is a whole lot worse when you're sniffling every 10 seconds and your head hurts haha.

Our district and especially my companions and I have become so close and it's crazy it's only been 2 weeks but I guess that's what happens when you spend 24/7 with the same people. I love them and for all those people that are coming out on missions soon, don't think the MTC is this serious, solemn place where everyone walks around in suits and skirts and studies all day. Haha to keep ourselves sane we definitely find ways to have a lot of fun. There's these things called Narnia Holes which are pretty much the vents in our rooms and people leave stuff behind, we found some nerf guns so we've had some pretty intense battles with the people in our halls. It's hilarious the stuff that can entertain you when you don't have any technology around, makes for some mycket bra times. 

Our teachers have really had us focus on setting and keeping goals this past week. I've definitely seen the power of that and how it's the best way to help us reach our potential, and that's coming from the biggest procrastinator in the world haha the MTC definitely targets and helps you with your weaknesses. So on our fourth lesson teaching our "investigator" Isabel we tentatively committed her to baptism, and after four 30-40 minute lessons and really becoming invested in her even though it was roleplay, we were so happy. We were clicking our heels and felt toppen as we walked out of there! If we felt like that with a roleplay investigator, I can't even imagine how I'll feel with a real investigator out in Sweden. I love the Swedes already and I don't even know them! Also, crazy, Isabel is actually one of our teacher's now haha so that's pretty cool, her name is Sister Faux, she got back from her mission in July. Even crazier, my companion Äldste Richards, the one that went through the MTC two years ago, was in her group 2 years ago in the MTC and they remember eachother, whaaat!! 

This past sunday was fast sunday (first sunday of every month) and it's so underbar to think that my next fast sunday will be in Sweden! The Italian's that we play foursquare with left on tuesday morning so the Swedes and the Nordes are taking over the square now haha if you know me well, foursquare is like the new foosball or bowling, at least in the MTC. We taught our new investigator on monday since we're done teaching Isabel, our investigator is our teacher but it still felt real. Her name is Lovisa, she's from Uganda but is a student in Sweden, we taught her about the Restoration of the gospel. We didn't come in with anything written down and just tried to speak from our own Swedish and it kinda worked haha Lovisa's not as nice and doesn't smile as much as Isabel but it'll definitely be more like the people we teach in the field so it's a good learning experience.

I'm just starting to really realize how much I love the MTC and I love my mission and I love Sweden already, it really is true what my dad told me, it's one big adventure. It's pretty obvious now how Swedish is harder than Spanish and I take back what I said last week haha there's not many hard rules in Swedish, you just have to memorize alot of stuff. Like each word is either an "en" or an "ett" word, and so if you want to say a church, it's en kyrka. If you want to say the church, it's kyrkan. Just church is kyrka. The reason kyrka is an "en" word is because it sounds right, there is no reason haha each word could be one or the other. Some other fun with Swedish, "att dopas" is to do drugs, "att döpas" is to be baptized. Also, a fun word if you want to practice Swedish is sjuti-sju, it means 77 and you pronounce it "hootea hoo". I hope everyone had a great week, got a little rough in the middle but I'm doing better than ever now! 

Med Kärlek,

Äldste Hainsworth

 Sherri here (Tenny's mom):  He hasn't changed a bit in the facial expression dept.!

 Aldste White holding the bucket.  Aldste Perkins is Aldste White's companion, giving the thumbs up & and Tenny's friend from BYU.