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!
literally the only drinking fountain I've seen in Sweden since I've been here, they're like a mythical creature
Are you working out every morning? TRX?
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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment