sea2swe: Headed to the Big City

Tjenare allesammans!

This week was transfers and the results are in, after 9 months of serving in Skåne I'll be headed up to south Stockholm to serve in Vendelsö as a district leader. What I know about Vendelsö: apparently it's a pretty small area with a pretty big ward. What I know about my companion: he's from France. That's about it. The back to back international companions is exciting stuff though, I guess God wants me to be more cultured or something...Elder Scott will be staying here and getting Elder Olson from the office, he's been out about a year and a half so he's in good hands. Elder Nielsen will be transferring to Stockholm as well, he'll be serving in downtown Stockholm in the heart of the city and Elder Mason will be getting Elder Duwors in Landskrona.

The Relief Society had their yoga night and of course we were invited so that was a good time as always, us 4 missionaries and a bunch of moms (shoutout to mother Tidball!)

This is the second area where the last sunday before I transfer out we get a new bishopric, it happened in Kungsbacka too! After 7 years of dedicated service, Bishop Helmstad is handing over the keys of authority to our new Bishop, Bishop Wagner. He's got some big goals and aspirations with this ward and told us specifically that the missionary work in this ward is going to get a kick in the butt so I'm excited to see even more growth in the Helsingborg ward. We had a YSA activity at Bishop Wagner's on sunday night and it was sad saying bye to everyone but so good to hangout with them one last time. That's what a mission's all about, the people. They're the cause of your greatest sorrows and greatest joys, hopefully more on the joy side though. Helsingborg will always have a special place in my heart.

I just want to take a second and talk about Elder Scott, my mission son. Being companions with Elder Scott has strengthened my testimony that God really knows us personally and knows our needs perfectly. Elder Scott has helped me to learn and grow in ways that I know I couldn't have done myself. He's been diligent and I've seen his love for the people grow as we've been together. Our time together hasn't been easy, we've seen more than our fair share of rejection and disappointment but how could you get down on yourself with that Australian accent ya know? Appreciate everything Elder Scott and I'm expecting to hear big things about you down the road! Cheers bruz!

I was on splits with Elder Nielsen this week in Landskrona and we went by and shared a simple message with a Danish member in Landskrona, Brother Pettersen. Brother Pettersen joined the church a couple years ago and is an example to me of how the gospel can change lives. He used to be single, drank, partied, got in fights, until he met his current wife who was a member of the church. He saw the light and hope the gospel brings as he started going to church with his wife and putting his life in order with God. He now is an active member of the church and him and his wife have the cutest baby. The gospel of Jesus Christ really is a gospel of change.

Have a fantastic week and remember, it's never too late to change. Hope is never lost. Never.

Love you all!

Äldste Hainsworth