October 25th - My Mom Came to Visit.....

Happy fall! The rain's been coming down this week and the trees are turning bare as we wander the streets of Norrköping in search of those prepared (hey that rhymed). 

We got a referal! Adrian brought along his roommate out in Nyköping when we met with him and we got to teach him! I learned that it's important to get to know someone before you start teaching 

them. We hopped right into a lesson with his friend and taught the Restoration. Everything seemed to be going well when he interrupted me giving the first vision of Joseph Smith to ask what happens after we die. So we totally changed directions and talked about the Plan of Salvation which he really liked and accepted. 

Mirium our friend and investigator who lived in America came to church and the members loved her! It was the primary program which she also loved. Little kid swedish is much cuter than little kid English in my opinion. Some members were confused because Mirium lovingly refers to me as her other son (she only has one real son) so they thought she was my mom coming to visit the ward. I wish! 

Other exciting news, we got Ricardo back! Ricardo was our old investigator that we handed over the Linköping elders but since he hasn't actually moved to Linköping they handed him back to us to teach and prepare for baptism. I'm really excited, Ricardo's the coolest dude ever. Chilean but born and raised in Norrköping, Sweden. Met the missionaries 6 months ago and just started college. 

I wanted to share something I've been doing most of my mission and has just been an easy and effective way to lift up other people that you could try if you don't already do this. I like sending members or investigators or whoever a text when I read a scripture or general conference talk that I think they'd like or makes me think of them. Multiple people this past week have responded saying how they've been going through a trial at the moment and how it was just what they needed to keep going. "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass". 

Having only a couple months on my mission and so much left I want to accomplish it's been overwhelming to think about everything. This quote was an answer to my prayers of how to go about everything. 

"Start where you are. Sometimes we feel discouraged because we are not “more” of something—more spiritual, respected, intelligent, healthy, rich, friendly, or capable. Naturally, there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve. God created us to grow and progress. But remember, our weaknesses can help us to be humble and turn us to Christ, who will “make weak things become strong.” Satan, on the other hand, uses our weaknesses to the point that we are discouraged from even trying. I learned in my life that we don’t need to be “more” of anything to start to become the person God intended us to become. God will take you as you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord." -President Uchtdorf

Anyways that's about it for this week. Take care until next week! 

Love,

Äldste Hainsworth

Aron an RM from Arizona, good guy!!

Elder Kilton taught me how to play Warhammer Age of Sigmar on p day. It was fun exhausting.

Idk

Passed out in my chair

Pool on splits with Elder Holt and Pia

Emailed received: October 25th, 2016

October 17th - CTR

Another week come and gone, this one went by quick. Remember how last week I said some weeks you work looking to the future for the reward and some weeks you can directly see the rewards as you work and well, this week was the former. Most of our investigators couldn't meet and lots of people cancelled on us last minute but we were blessed with a new investigator! 

We contacted Mirium on saturday and she was prepared to listen to our message. She's from Lebanon but lived around the east coast of the U.S for 20 years working in the education system so we speak English together. She's a strong Christian. She invited us over to her place and we shared the Restoration with her and talked about the Book of Mormon. She got so excited when we gave her 3 Nephi 11 to read that she said she'd take it to her Swedish church she goes to and read it with all of them...we'll find out if she actually did that tomorrow. 

We've got a new ward mission leader. Micheal Cross. Author. High school teacher. American. He's been supportive and willing so far so hopefully he's the one that can take the member missionary work to new heights here in Norrköping. He gave a nice little motivational speech in priesthood opening exercises. 

Alex came to church and passed the sacrament for the first time ever! I think I was more nervous for him than he was but he did great and looked snazzy in his white shirt and tie. Mireya our other new convert has gotten some of her own ancestor's names to take to the temple! PLUS both Mireya and Alex bought CTR rings when they went to the temple and they both wear them 24/7 now. Always makes me smile when I see them rocking em. 

 Sadly our investigator Ali is going back home to another city in Sweden. He's been awesome to work with and see him progress. This last week he wanted to learn how to pray since so we taught him then invited him to pray. He was nervous and didn't want to cause "it won't be a good prayer" and we assured him a good prayer is a prayer from the heart. He took a deep breath, bowed his head and offered a beautiful prayer in Persian. He said afterwards it felt calming to pray.

Something Adrian our investigator shared with us that was a good pick me up. Wanted to pass it along. D&C 25:13 "Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made."

 

I love you all so much! Till next time,

Äldste Hainsworth

Dinner with Mireya+her two kids

Ali in church! 

Sunday dinner with the best members ever

~3 hour phone call with Adrian yesterday. He's the man! 

Email received: October 17th, 2016

October 11th - Arne Says Hi!

Hey family and friends, 

The temperature has dropped this week and it's here to stay. I've gone from a white shirt and tie to a sweater and jacket in about a week. I personally enjoy it, I like the chill, it's cozy in a way. Even if all the citizens of Norrköping have disappeared off the streets. 

This has been a week of blessings. Some weeks you work looking to the future for the reward and some weeks you can directly see the rewards as you work and this week was the latter. We received four new investigators this week and had three in Church. It just makes me excited to keep working and see what happens. 

Our young Swedish investigator is doing well. She read in the Book of Mormon and said everything she's read and learned so far has helped her feel a little more peace and hope in her life. We've had a frustrating problem cause another one of our investigators is her coworker and he's brought up the Church and us at the workplace which she doesn't want. We talked to our investigator about it and hopefully he gets the message. We don't want to lose her cause of something like that! 

We met the coolest guy in the world this week! Adrian is a 17 year old Swede who's known the missionaries for a while now. He's totally changed his life to follow the gospel because he's on a search for happiness. He used to be a professional magician and can do any card trick David Blaine can do. So sweet. He's planning on being baptized when he turns 18 in January. He came to church on sunday too! 

We met with a random less active and expected to just get to know her and share a nice message but we were pleasantly surprised. Her boyfriend was sitting there on the couch and he wanted to change his life and get the happiness his member girlfriend had. He looooves to talk and can sporadically say some disrespectful things to his girlfriend but he has a good heart. 

Anyways that's what's new here in Norrköping. I love the members here, sunday is always the best time of the week for me! Have a great week! 

Peace and blessings,

Äldste Hainsworth

Ps: Arne, a member in the ward, is here in the room hanging with us and he says hi. He doesn't speak English but he's a stud. 

When your comp spends an hour in the hobby store

Thanks for the halloween package mama! Sweet shirt

Castle in Nyköping with Adrian our awesome investigator 

We ran out of Frank's, sad day

Children of Israel and the golden calf

Email received: October 11th, 2016

October 3rd - Suits, Not Jammies

Tjena kompisar! Lots of members have said they're glad Elder Kilton and I are staying another transfer so that's a good sign they're not too sick of us yet! 

We're working with this awesome Swedish investigator, she's about the same age as me and just wants to be happy which her current Swedish party lifestyle isn't doing for her. We gave her Mosiah 2 to read and pray about it and she's really enjoyed the Book of Mormon so far. I know there's a power in that book beyond our own, I've seen it over and over on my mission. 

We came up with this cool vision as a district where we want to "level up" this transfer. To do that we've attached xp to each key indicator and we've got to reach a certain level of xp to get to the next level. The goal is level 6 as a district by the end of the transfer. It's a fun idea to keep us motivated. 

The Chinese guy, Winfred, from last week, we met with at the church and taught the Restoration and gave him a Chinese Book of Mormon. Sadly he's headed back home from his business trip so we can't continue to teach him but we encouraged him to find the ward in Beijing. We bonded quite a bit as we missed the bus back into town from the church at night so we walked and talked for an hour about life in China, his family, his conversion, etc. 

We've been praying for progressing investigators and the Lord hasn't let us down. We met with Luis and Jacqueline this week, a nice Chilean couple with a fairy tale love story of how they met. We set up another time to meet right from the get go and are really hoping they're sincere in their search for truth. Cause honestly that's all it takes is sincerity. 

Conference was awesome, we watched it in the church in English with some members (in suits not jammies, sadly). We watched all but the sunday afternoon session, one member stayed on sunday till midnight to watch it at the church but we politely declined his invitation to stick around till then.Though I received some much needed personal revelation the biggest thing I took from conference is how the Church is in good hands. It's led by men of God. I received that impression over and over again throughout the sessions.

Have a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious week! 

Sending my love from Sweden,

Äldste Hainsworth

Our good friend Winfred

Hitting the streets

Taking a breather during a move

Kyrkan

The conference setup

Email received: October 3rd, 2016

September 26th - We'll All Float On

Nothing too crazy with transfer calls this week, I'm staying in Norrköping going on my third transfer and second with Elder Kilton. I'm excited since I know the area, members, and investigators well so I hope to be able to help and serve them better than the past two transfers combined!! 

This week we had zone conference in Stockholm and boy what a zone conference it was. The highlight was when Sister Beckstrand reminded us that our parents wouldn't let us leave for two whole years to share the gospel if they didn't know it was true. As I was reflecting on this she brought out letters from our parents for each of us. As I read the words from my mom and dad I felt a love and gratitude for my upbringing so strong that it felt like my body couldn't contain all those feelings. I've been so unbelievably blessed to be raised by such loving parents in the gospel. The first verse in the Book of Mormon kept popping into my head as Nephi shares similar feelings "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father". Thank you mom and dad for your love and sacrifice, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.

Elder Kilton and I were walking home from church yesterday and I had to use the bathroom baaaad. I said I could wait so we could contact a few people and the last guy we contact on the street of our apartment is so awesome! He's a Chinese guy from Beijing who speaks English and is living here for work. He was so friendly and had just been to Church that morning and had been learning more and was interested in Christianity. He said it's so hard to make it through life on your own so it helps to have someone else to strengthen you. Wise man. It was super hard to concentrate but because of stopping him and talking we're now meeting him again tomorrow and he's very positive! Plus I made it to the bathroom! 

We're working on having Alex pass the sacrament, getting Mathias married, and getting some less actives to church. Otherwise we're trying to help investigators progress and always on the prowl for new investigators. Life is good! A mission has its ups and downs but there's always more to be grateful for than to complain about. 

Take care and know that I love you. 

Mycket kärlek,

Äldste Hainsworth

Email received: September 26th, 2016

September 19th - Tawney Honeyworth

Hejsan allesammans! Jag älskar er! 

The highlight of this week was the temple! We traveled down on Saturday morning to Stockholm with Mireya and Alex in tow to do baptisms for the dead. The whole temple experience felt a bit rushed in my opinion and it was a bummer finding out that unless you bring your own names you can only do four baptisms total. Otherwise, the familiar feeling of peace and calm prevailed as we spent that Saturday morning in the House of the Lord. Alex and Mireya both said they felt something special. 

I found out this week that my name pronounced in Arabic (like with an Arabic accent) sounds like "Tawny Honeyworth. 

An Elder in district meeting said something that I really liked this week, maybe because I especially needed to hear it. He said that all you need to be motivated is faith, hope, and charity. If you feel sluggish or unmotivated, do a self evaluation and see which one of those three needs an extra boost. D&C 4:5- "And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work." Also, if you need a pick me up go listen to the Primary Medley by the King's Singers. Who couldn't love that arrangement?

We've been focusing on mixing it up in our finding and it's been a ton of fun! Many missionaries, including me, actually I'm first in line, get stuck in the same finding approaches and it becomes mundane and you turn into a missionary robot. We've been mixing it up and it's been helping us enjoy finding more as well as the people we talk to. Something we've been doing is simply going up to people and asking them a question right off the bat. One question, for example, "Why do you think there's so many churches on the world today?". Questions help cause Swedes can be like a bomb that can be set off with certain triggers. Some of those triggers are:

-seeing our nametags

-the words "missionaries", "church", "God", etc. 

-the white shirts and ties

We've also tried contacting with other materials like Family: A Proclamation to the World. It definitely helps to mix things up, missionary work is supposed to be fun and if you do the same ole stuff with no results it sure won't be. 

I love you and hope this letter finds you happy and healthy! 

Mvh,

Äldste Hainsworth

Email received: September 19th, 2016

September 12th - Back to High School

This week we've tried pulling the American card speaking English a couple times on some Swedes and it totally works, it always leads to a conversation. It's a rule of the universe, well at least of Sweden, Swedes dig Americans. Just not always in missionary form. 

We got invited to come to a high school here in Norrköping and present the church and answer questions to high school seniors. First of all, can I just say I can't believe it's been three years since I was sitting in those seats starting my senior year of high school. The class was respectful and asked some really solid questions like if we still practice polygamy and questions about baptisms for the dead, even asking about when we did work for the Jews that died in the holocaust. Elder Kilton and I were definitely stretched in our knowledge but we feel good about our responses. Plus it was all in Swedish which put a little extra spin on things. 

Alex told us he couldn't make it to church, making this the fourth week in a row of him not being confirmed, we were really bummed. I was sitting there in sacrament meeting yesterday as we had just finished up the sacrament and I hear the door open, look over and none other than Alex walks through the door and sits down. I'm so surprised and excited I turn to the member next to me and whisper excitedly how he's not supposed to be here! In a split second moment of genius the first counselor goes up to continue conducting the meeting and he spontaneously calls Alex up to be confirmed cause why not. The confirmation was great and he received the Aaronic Priesthood after church. I have a testimony that God answers prayers, thanks to those of you who were praying for Alex as well. Now he can go to the temple on Saturday with us, wooh!! 

A quote from President Spencer W. Kimball:

"What must I do to be damned? Nothing. That's all. You're damned- condemned- if you just sit still. It's the law in the spiritual world. Simply shut your heart to all truth, and after a while you won't be able to believe anything- that is the severest penalty for not accepting truth. The process of disintegration and death begins when a man shuts himself out from the forces that make for life. The body and mind and spirit are kept alive through constant constructive use." 

It's so true, I used to see the key to life as not making bad choices. However, inactivity, stagnancy, dormancy is so easy an option over acting and making good choices as well. As a big time procrastinator (working on it!) I know this is true. We have the agency. We have to act. D&C 58: 28-29. 

Love you all, 

Äldste Hainsworth

Back to high school

Whipping up some pies

District Lunch

It's hard to tell but see that little cut on my forehead? That's from Elder Roylance chucking a playing card at me on splits, a playing card for petes sake!!! Glad it wasn't my eye...

Email received: September 12, 2016

September 5th - Mawiage

Well, I've been requested to talk more about the struggles of my mission and being a missionary so maybe I can fill you in a bit more. I've talked some about this stuff already. I don't usually complain about rejection because I've gotten so used to it that it doesn't bother me anymore. Well, it bothers me if it's someone I'm close to, like an investigator. It's hard when people you love can't see you anymore, like Christian and Simon because of Christian's heart problems. I was pretty heartbroken over that, I had already planned it out in my head their baptisms and the joy them being members of the Church would bring to their family and their eventual sealing in the temple. Then it all just ended with one text from Simon. That's tough. Also we set up lots of lessons with potential investigators over the phone and then they don't show up and don't answer their phone. That can get frustrating, it happened multiple times this week, but you move past it. Also it's been harder recently concentrating on missionary work since my mission is in the fourth quarter of the game I guess you can say. It's been easier though too since I'm adjusted so much to the missionary life, getting up at 6:30 is normal, talking to people is normal, companions are normal, etc. Like I said in a previous email I'm still working on being genuine, I guess this email is an example of that. Also, it's always been hard to truly express my feelings, especially love for others, I guess you can call that charity. It's something I've learned from many of my companions and something I still work on. Those are just a couple things, I'll be sure to talk more about everything in future emails. Overall though, the blessings always outweigh the struggles. I feel blessed to be serving with Elder Kilton, to be here in Norrköping, and to belong to this ward. 

Alex didn't come to church on sunday but we're still meeting with him. Man this is getting frustrating, if he doesn't come this sunday he can't go on the temple trip. Please pray for him! 

Funny little experience. We usually offer pass along cards to people that are in a hurry or whatever, so as we contacted this lady this week, my muscle memory immediately kicks in when she says she's in a hurry and I jam my hand in my pocket, grab a card as I keep many in my pocket and offer it to her only to watch her look really confused. I look down bewildered at her reaction and realize it's my bus card, which is about the same size and shape as the mormon.org cards. Haha classic.  

After 2 months of working with Mathias in my time I think we're finally getting somewhere. We're meeting with his girlfriend for the first time tomorrow to propose marriage...seriously we're trying to set a wedding date so that Mathias can get baptized. Please pray for him and for us! He's been investigating for a year now so it's definitely time. 

Dao is an afghani guy in his 20's that speaks Swedish that we contacted on the street a couple weeks ago and have now met with him three times. He grew up believing in God but lost his faith later in his teenage years. He wants so badly to believe. In his words, he doesn't care if it's the Christian God, Muslim God, Jewish God or Buddhist God, he just wants the true God. He wants a true connection with God. We started extremely basic with how God is our loving Heavenly Father. We both took some time to explain to him in detail how we came personally to believe in God in the years leading up to our missions. The Spirit was very strong and it clicked for Dao. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about if God exists. Dao is so great, such a sincere guy. 

Let me know if there's ever anything you want me to talk more about in my letters! I like requests! 

Have a good week! 

Äldste Hainsworth

Email received: September 5th, 2016

August 22nd - Baptism Scare and Being Genuine

Hallå eller? This was a transition week for Elder Hainsworth in the ole Norrköping. I shipped Elder Barnes off to Alingsås on wednesday and received Elder Kilton an hour later who'd been in Eskilstuna. Here's a brief bio on my new comp:

-from Provo, UT. Born and raised!

-loves superheros, especially spiderman

-loves singing and, especially musicals 

-from the same group as Elder Barnes

-all in all a goofy, fun-loving, musicaly guy

We didn't dilly dally around with Elder Kilton's arrival, we got right to work. In fact, Alex was baptized on Saturday! We told him to be sure and be there by 4:45 pm to change and be ready as the service starts at 5. Well 4:45 rolls around and he hasn't showed up. 5:00 hits and he's not there. 5:15 and he's still nowhere to be found. We're nervously sitting in the chapel listening to prelude music and silently praying he didn't bail on his own baptism. Finally at around 5:20 he walks in the chapel and claims that he thought the service was at 6! I'm just glad he came, after that everything went smoothly. It was special being the one baptizing him and using the power of the priesthood. 

Christian, our investigator, has had some health problems but we have met with Simon as well as Christian's wife. They apologized for explaining their troubled situation right now with Christian's health problem and struggles finding a better living situation but we were more than glad to listen. We had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation and we kept it simple and focused on eternal families, that they can go to the temple as a family unit and be sealed for eternity. The Spirit bore witness of our words. 

 I had a good talk with Elder Walton, a good friend of mine, this week about being genuine and sincere, especially when it comes to the Church. It's something I have a hard time doing, being honest and open with people but I think it's the best way. People notice when we're not just speaking in cliches or saying what they want to hear but when we really open our hearts and say it like it is. Things as they really are. It's something I am going to keep trying to improve on. 

Take care of yourselves and know that I love you! 

Äldste Hainsworth

The service crew

View from our apartment

Alex was baptized! 

P day at the Swedish Air Force museum

Email received: August 22nd, 2016

August 15th - The Dang Dop

Howdy doo y'all! 

What a superb last week to finish off the transfer. Let me just say I'm glad Elder Barnes is transferring and I'm not. The work is too good right now! Elder Barnes is heading to Alingås to be a big new district leader. I'll be getting Elder Kilton just a hop, skip, and a jump away in Eskilstuna. I've met him a couple times but we've still got a lot of getting to know you done. I'm way excited! 

I can't say Mireya's baptism was perfect because the programs wouldn't print out right, Elder Barnes almost couldn't lift her out of the water, and most of the members we invited didn't show up but it was fantastic nonetheless. The Spirit was strong and her 27 and 22 year old kids even came to support her at the service. Mireya was ecstatic after her baptism, she went up to the pulpit to bear her testimony with a smile on her face, "I am sooo happy. I feel the Holy Ghost. I feel a lightness and a joy that I can't really describe. I'm so thankful for this church." She was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost the next day and is now officially a Mormon! Something Mireya has really reminded me of is how we never know the ripple effects our meager efforts can have. For example, Mireya's dad never became Mormon but he investigated the church when Mireya was a child in Chile and she still remembers going to church and seeing the missionaries. Now, several decades later with grown up kids of her own, her curiosity in the church was sparked due to her childhood experiences and she now has accepted the gospel herself. 

This is getting really long so let me just hit you with some quick updates of everything else:

-Alex is on track for baptism this saturday and it should be a great service

-Mathias is still working on his girlfriend situation but continues coming to church and meeting with us

-This is a big one, Christian and Simon, two Syrian English speaking men have agreed to baptism on the 3rd of September. Simon is the son of Christian and they're very humble and kind and want to follow Christ. 

Exciting stuff happening! 

Something that really hit me is something Elder Kilton said in zone training. He said that what we love most is what God wants on the altar of sacrifice. I've been thinking about that a lot and its stuck with me. That's the only way we can become 100% consecrated to the Lord. C.S. Lewis put it this way "Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self but to kill it. No half- measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desire you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you myself; my own will shall become yours."

Have a good one!

Äldste Hainsworth

The Woods, YSA couple in Stockholm! 

 My good buddy Elder Walton and I on some sweet splits

 Mireya and her two kids Andres and Sophia

 Elder Barnes and Li jamming out

Email Received: August 15th, 2016

August 8th, 2016 - Swedish Pizza

Hej jo! 

Here's some updates on people! 

Mireya's doing great as always, we're getting ready for her service this saturday. 

Alex is on track to be baptized a week after Mireya, he's a very reliable guy and doesn't have any major problems standing in his way *knock on wood. 

Mathias is great, really wants to be baptized and we're working him and doing the best we can to help fix his situation with his girlfriend so that that can come to pass. 

We had a wonderfully uplifting testimony meeting in church this last sunday. It was topped off when our new investigator wanted to go up and bear his testimony. Erik is an 18 year old dude that came to church this week since his girlfriend was baptized recently and he was interested in the gospel. He shared his testimony of how strongly he felt the Spirit in the room and how he was grateful for the Spirit in his life. What a guy. 

Scripture I've been pondering this week. I've always been a big picture thinking guy, I like to see the end from the beginning and keep a broad perspective in my daily life. However, when dealing with spiritual matters, we need an eternal perspective, not simply a broad or widened perspective. I know this is true because I've met countless people on my mission that live from day to day with no long term vision for their life let alone the distant future. With the knowledge of God's eternal plan I've found more meaning in my life's endeavors, I can look at life like these verses in Corinthians describes it. 

2 Corinthians 4:

"16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Have a good one! 

Äldste Hainsworth

Fun fact: Pizza slicers don't exist in Sweden, at least I've never seen one. They usually cut their thin style Swedish pizza with a knife, or the more popular option, a nice pair of scissors. 

Elder Walton my old comp getting some dirt off his pants

The service crew

Chimichangas after district meeting for Elder Roylance's bday

The big Swedish church everyone get's confused with our church

Email received: August 8th, 2016