Life in the Garden of Sweden

Slow and pretty tough week but there was definitely some highlights to brighten it up! On p-day we usually do stuff as a district (btw we have the biggest district in the mission, 16 missionaries) but this week my comp and I decided to just go check out Goteborg on our own. We did a citywalk that we got from a tourist information booth and it was jette kul. We hit up some cool statues and sweet buildings and a lookout onto all of Goteborg. Such a cool city, I'm super lucky to be serving in a place where we have cool stuff to go do on p-days! 

The best part of the week was on thursday when we had a lesson with our (only) investigator Norbert. He's been taught more than enough for him to be ready to be baptized, but he just hasn't been super diligent with the little things, reading and praying, so he needs some help. We were planning on reading Alma 7 with him and talking about recognizing the Spirit. We went into it not really having any questions prepared and I hadn't really studied Alma 7 too much before then. We also had Christoffer from the ward join in, he's headed to the Salt Lake City mission in June, we hadn't prepared him at all either. So we read the chapter and started discussing in Swedish and it was really rough and the Spirit wasn't really there. I asked Norbert a question that came to me in English that was, "what are you expecting to feel or receive as an answer to your prayers?". That really made him think and open up a lot and the Spirit was there so strongly directing us to help Norbert out. Christoffer was able to talk about how he felt the Spirit and help Norbert out, having a member helped SO much. It was only about a 20 minute lesson but we set new expectations, brought the Spirit, and feel like we can help Norbert out a lot more now. I felt happier and more motivated than I had in a while. We gotta start teaching more investigator lessons! 

Saeed is the eternal investigator that has a teaching record twice as long as anyone else in the area book, he's met A LOT of missionaries as they've come and gone. He likes to talk so it's tough to control the conversation, he was just going on about how the world is corrupted and his beliefs in a Persian prophet and all this stuff. He basically has this big bag of philosophical questions and concerns that he feels he needs answered by a Church before he can know they're right and join. So for example, he wants us to answer "if God is needless, then why did He create us?". I actually studied that question and found a satisfactory answer for myself but it wouldn't be enough for him. For Saeed we're trying to just visit him frequently at his candy shop and get him to understand that whether the Church is true and him getting an answer about it has nothing to do with his philosophical questions, just read, pray, and come to church!!

On thursday we had our last innebandy (floor hockey) night with the ward members and went to McDonalds afterwards to celebrate. I got a hat trick on thursday and can't wait for Innebandy to start up again next winter, it's the best. We didn't get home from McDonalds till 10, a half hour past the rules, oops! We're starting up futbol next week, lets goooo! 

Tonight we're going to a Goteborg vs Helsingborg futbol game in Goteborg, spannande! A YSA girl got us a sweet discount and my ticket was only 90 kronor since I'm 18! It starts at 7 pm though so we might have to leave at half time to be home on time, we'll see! Pictures from that next week! 

The ward is planning a temple trip to Stockholm for this friday and saturday. It's so cool being somewhere where you can't just drive 10 minutes to the temple, they're all so excited and have been talking about the trip for weeks, getting name's ready to take and what not. They kept on inviting us haha but we're not even going to bother asking President Beckstrand for permission since it's overnight. 

Funny language experience that my comp gets a kick out of. We had stake conference this week and when we were walking back home afterwards I was talking about the talks. There was this RM that spoke who just got back from Greece and I was saying how I think I understood most of his talk and probably could have translated it. I said I was kinda bummed though that he didn't bear his testimony in Greek or whatever language at the end like RM's usually do but that he just spoke Swedish the whole time. Äldste Christensen started laughing and told me he did speak Greek at the end....I guess sometimes I don't understand as much Swedish as I think haha.

I studied this week in D&C 121:34-46 about the Priesthood and authority. The power to act in God's name is an incredible blessing and privilege that we have and should not be taken lightly. "The rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven"!

Har det bra!

Äldste Hainsworth

Citywalk in Goteborg

literally the only drinking fountain I've seen in Sweden since I've been here, they're like a mythical creature

The only statue of Poseidon without his trident

 Goteborg fortress, Skansens Krona

on top of the world!

Fish Church that's actually just a restaurant 

Typical grocery store selection of fish paste

I think of dad everytime we pass this cemetery in Kungsbacka, which is a lot

 Our apartment is through the door straight ahead and up the stairs. Right next to Pizza Boden!

springtime!

cool picture in kungsbacka

funny picture cause everyone on their door says "ingen reklam tack" which means "no advertisements"

A few questions I asked that Tenny answered for me this week:

Mom (me:):  What do you & your companion make for dinner?   

T:  Noodles, rices, vegetables, meat, combinations of all that. Swedes eat a lot of meat and potatoes, not so much seafood as I thought. 

Mom: What kind of meat?  Remember that the Danes LOVE pork products!  Sometimes they would serve the missionaries pork roast that had been wrapped in bacon. Do the Swedes love pork, too?   Are you having to learn to cook meat?  How's the Swedish butter?  The Danish was so good!  Best I'd ever had.  It was the Lurpak brand.  They sell it here, but it doesn't taste the same.  

T:  Yeah the food's super good here, just expensive. Meatballs, chicken, not so much pork, like almost none. It's pretty good but I think we just get the cheapest stuff, maybe I'll look for lurpak today.

Mom:  I'd sent him our family recipe for alfredo sauce & told him that the best parmesan makes the best flavor. 

Remember the best parmesan makes the best flavor on the alfredo.  Parmesano-reggiano is the best.  Expensive, though. Maybe cheaper for you since you're closer to Italy?:)   Is everything super expensive in Sweden?

T:  Yeah it's expensive, like a McDonalds meal would cost you around $8-10, maybe I can get some parmesan though, you definitely gotta budget here.

Mom:  I'd told Tenny that a boy , Chase Hawkins, that used to be in our ward until our Stake boundaries were switched just got called to his mission!  I also sent him a picture of Stan & I celebrating our anniversary at the new Indian fast food place on Gilman.  Chaat N Roll.  

T: Yeah of course I remember him, that's awesome, he'll love it here, tell him congrats and can't wait to see him in Sverige! 

 I haven't had indian food here yet but I've seen some places that look good, one day!

Mom:  I'd sent Tenny a formula for fixing a stinky, slow drain.  And the recipe for the alfredo sauce.

T:  Whaaaat this is crazy! We actually have a stinky drain in our bathroom and it's super annoying and we tried cleaning it last week but it didn't work so thanks so much, we'll try that today! AND I was going to ask you for the alfredo sauce recipe today so thanks for that too! You're reading my mind

Mom:  Who all has been writing to you?

Any birthday box requests?
Are you working out every morning?  TRX?

Klahanie Fitness shut down & all memberships got transferred to Golds Gym, so now I just have to figure out how to get it switched back to me 

T:  Cole, Elder Owens, Lij, Dad, Ire, then I get weekly emails from some missionaries, Aden and Ming, some guys from BYU occasionally

I'm not sure yet, all I can think of right now is an apron but I could also get one here if you don't wanna send one! I can think of other stuff maybe. 

Lots of yoga and stretching, very occasionally TRX, someone's we go running or play soccer outside

My memberships still going?!? Dang, that'd be cool though 

3rd Week in Sverige!

Gud morgon from here in Kungsbacka! This week has been pretty solid. To start off, I don't think I mentioned this before but I lost my MSF (missionary saving funds) card when I was packing in the MTC, it's the debit card you use to buy groceries and all that good stuff with. Soo I've been piggybacking off of my Äldste Christensen's card the last 3 weeks, we're running out though so hopefully my new card comes soon! 

The ward here in Kungsbacka is so awesome. They'res a lot of less actives but the active members are so great, they love the missionaries and we get a pretty good amount of member dinners. About 75 people come to church every week and so we've got quality here in Kungsbacka, just gotta work on quantity! Some things that need work in the ward though are first, home teaching. Literally one person does home teaching here in the whole ward, and they'res really no excuses cause everyone lives pretty close together and most of them are relatives!! Just go home teach your son and his family that live down the street! Also the social aspect is tough here in Sweden since everyone's so busy, so there's a lot of good activities for the youth but not so much as far as ward activities and all that. We need to get those going so that when we tell people to invite their friends, they have something to invite them to! Also, the chapel's here are a lot smaller, just like everything else in Europe haha but it's great for this ward and a lot of stuff is made of wood of course. 

On wednesday we went to the Svenske Kyrkan for an event called "Israel's Role in World History". We were going to count it for our language study for the day but we walked in and the chapel was empty. But it was a really cool old European church so we walked around and checked it out. It was cool to see the inside of one and it gave us a new perspective for sure. Most of the people we talk to are baptized in the Svenske Kyrkan just cause haha it's crazy. Like one old guy we knocked on his door, asked him if he had any thoughts about God, he said he was Christian. We got excited and asked him if he read the bible or goes to a church, and he laughed and said no, he just watches tv. So a lot of people are baptized cause why not but not many people are actually religious. 

We went and met up with Jonas, a black guy from Congo, at a pizza place. Jonas is a smart dude who's studying philosophy right now. I'm super excited for him cause he asks really hard but really good questions about religion and it seems like he's prepared to receive the gospel. He articulated his experience with religion as that most people look for an existence, like God, then meaning will come in their lives. For Jonas, he said he has meaning, he feels God's love in his heart, but he's still looking for the existence, the truth, proving that God is there. He's a great guy and I hope we can help him out. 

We've been baking a ton of cookies in the morning's to give to member's and less active's that we visit. We're pretty proud of our...housewife skills I guess you could say, they just turned out really well haha people think the Sister's made them sometimes. So if there's young women out there that are thinking about going on missions but are worried about giving up baking for a year and a half, there's hope! I've baked a ton so far! Also I've been working on my cooking skills, we have a Swedish mission cook book and we get tired of making the same stuff so we're mixing it up and trying new stuff. 

We went down to Varberg this week on Thursday. The way people told me about Varberg it sounded super positive and the people there are a lot nicer and all this stuff. They were either in a different place in Varberg or different town altogether cause everyone was kinda mean to us and just really prideful. That was a tough day, combined with the fact that we were getting off a sugar addiction I'm pretty sure. But we stopped by this less active's apartment on the way home and he's amazing. He's from Iran and says he could be killed for being a Mormon if he goes back to Iran. He's trying to get a job and residency right now and has a super strong testimony, just no reliable way to get to Church on sunday. He made my week though because he thanked us for being missionaries cause it was missionaries contacting in Varberg that ended up converting him and changing his life. 

On saturday I hit my two month mark out on a mission! It feels like forever but it always feels like the time flew by haha time is pretty weird on a mission. I've been trying to improve my pronunciation this week, the Swedish members help me out a lot cause I sound super American right now and people will ask me where I'm from as soon as I talk. But it'll come with time, I know it!

We've been sharing a message of member missionary work and I just want to share it with y'all, it's pretty simple, three points. 1. Be a good example and people will notice 2. Bring up the gospel or even just gospel words in everyday conversation 3. When you invite, you succeed. We've been trying to get the member's involved in missionary work and I hope they'll apply it in their lives, even a little bit. 

All vår börjän bliver svår, men det gå bättre år för år!

Äldste Hainsworth

 you could call us the relief society of kungsbacka  (The Relief Society is the name of the women's organization in the Mormon church)   Tenny said they've been making these cookies, then handing them out to people they meet or are meeting with.  He said the Swedes normally eat super healthy snacks, like cucumbers and tomatoes, but sometimes they eat these cookies when Tenny & his companion are meeting with them.   He said they got the recipe out of the Swedish Mission Cookbook.) (I'm trying to see if these have chocolate chips in them.  When we lived in Denmark 10  years ago, you couldn't find chocolate chips anywhere in the country.  We had to bring them with us from the U.S.  Maybe Sweden has chocolate chips or an equivalent).

 (I love that you can see Tenny & his comp's reflection in the sign) 

 (3 of the pics Tenny sent this month had wide bands covering half the picture.  I hope his camera is ok) 

varberg, would love to go back and tour it more!

ford collage we made for a weekly challenge competition our district has  (which Tenny & his companion won!)
(Sherri here:  I told Tenny too bad he couldn't be seen clearly. And asked if they did this because Ford is an American brand,)

haha that's the point, it makes the middle thing stand out. And yeah cause they're not as common here. And yeah photo challenge

 me and melker, a kid in the ward

Apparently Carlsberg makes sport drinks...I hope

Lots of cool graffiti in Sweden

 Some of what they see while walking home.

 The Swedish church that Tenny mentioned in his weekly letter above.

Tenny's Current Address in Kungsbacka

Elder Tennyson Hainsworth
Storgaton 25
Kungsbacka
Sweden

That's it!  Missionaries have transfer day about every 6 weeks, so the soonest Tenny would leave Kungsbacka would be a month from now, but it sounds like he'll be in that town for 3-4 months while he's being trained.  I can't believe he's driving a car already!  

Kings of Kungsbacka!

I've had one of the best days on my mission so far and also some of the toughest days, the mission has a wide range of emotions for sure! So for the best day I'll just give you a little synopsis of what happened. We were contacting and it seemed like a lot of the people we talked to listened to us. We had some extended conversations and talked with people about their connections to Mormons and even though we didn't get anyone that wanted to learn more, it was so nice and refreshing. It really felt like God was putting these people in our path, even if it was only to plant a seed. Also it was a warm sunny day so that made walking around a lot better. 

We went to the library after dinner to meet Ali, the crazy African guy from last week, for our first lesson! Of course after a lot of trying to find him on the phone and wandering around trying to spot each other, we find out that he was at the library in Kållered a half hour away haha. But it's all good, we're teaching him this week for sure! It worked out great too cause we walked to the church after that and met the bishopric there and also our investigator, Norbert. He comes to church but doesn't really keep commitments too well and so the next lesson we're going to try and reset the expectations and have a "get real" talk so we can help him and address whatever's holding him back. I love Norbert though, super smart, nice, funny guy who's studying mechanical engineering. 

What I really learned that day is that the Spirit works when we're on the move and it seemed like we had the most success today, the day when we've done the most walking since I've been here, easily 10-15 miles. We stopped by the White family at night, a couple that likes to game, and their cute toddler son. They're less active but super genuine and nice and we got to know them and left a message. Just overall a fantastisk dag!

We got a car on friday!! And my companion can't drive it for some reason so my second week into my mission I'm driving haha was not expecting that. It's fun though, Sweden's roads aren't that different, just no right turns on red lights and always yield for pedestrians. We share the car with the Sister's so we only have it half the week but it's better that way since we can meet more people walking. We now have all possible options for transportation at our fingertips, walking, bikes, bus\train pass and a car! We're living the life here in Kungsbacka haha. 

We have inne bandy (floor hockey?) every friday night with some members and det är mycket roligt! A lot of the older members have been playing their whole lives so they're crazy good but I've got 2 years to practice! 

One funny språk experience I've had this week is that the word for green in Swedish is grön. I didn't really notice it but my companion told me that I always pronounce it groin, instead of how it's supposed to be pronounced, more like grun. I'm getting better with that one though! 

Something I learned this week that really changed my perspective on study time is something Äldste Saline, an A.P, shared with us. Our personal study time is God's classroom. We go in, say hi to God and tell Him we're ready to learn, then sit down and listen to what He has to teach us. We woudn't want to be the student that walks in late or just puts their head on their desk and sleeps the whole time. Thinking about scripture study this way helps me really appreciate and cherish that hour of personal study time so much more now. "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men" D&C 11:21

Har en tjusig vecka!

Äldste Hainsworth

 beautiful place I get to serve

night time in Kungsbacka

we've already eaten like half the candy, thanks so much!

 sunday night cruisin

some things are just like Seattle

 Goteborg zone picture

 my first kebab (getting kebabtized)

walk by this a couple times a day, I'm a lucky missionary

Kungsbacka town square by our apartment

oh yeah

awkward

 dinner appointments wooh!

(From his mom: it's hard to see only 8 nights of 30 dinner signed up for!  And 1 family signed up 3 times!  I wish I could thank all of them personally for feeding my son!  I knew this was a possibility because when we lived in Denmark, the missionaries told us that members didn't feed them that often)

 Cleaning the ward building

From Tenny to his family:

 Hej I've gotta go now, doing p-day stuff then soccer in Goteborg later! Thanks for all the pics and videos and everything, have an amazing time in Cali and Tijuana! First full week ahead! Love and miss all of you so much!! Even Ol!

Vi ses!

Äldste Hainsworth