Prayers that Reach Heaven

God eftermiddag! This week was another one for the books despite the nice bipolar spring weather of sun, rain, snow, and clouds. Here's some of the highlights:

Mikael's back on the path of progression after taking care of his brother and that difficult situation. We had an awesome lesson with him and he brought up how he wanted to come to church before we could invite him to come! Sadly he wasn't feeling well but he's positive and things are looking up. Also Kent got called to be the ward mission leader!! After 2 months of no mission leader Vendelsö's gotten the best mission leader possible, Kent's my favorite! 

Elder Groberg and I were out contacting last night to reach our goal we'd set for the week. Out of desperation since Vendelsö doesn't have many people to contact and lack of time we stopped two younger teenagers who we usually wouldn't have talked to, they looked about 15 or 16. They ended up knowing a bit about the church being Christians themselves and being very curious, asking lots of questions. We were more than happy to answer them and teach about the most important message in the world, the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Elder Groberg and I commented afterwards about how refreshing it was to have genuinely curious minds to teach, it was awesome! We gave Melanie and Sky a Book of Mormon and promised them blessings and answers to their questions as they read and prayed and learned more. 

I gave a talk this week! It was on the topic of hope and it went really well. I shared an experience I had with prayer in Växjö that inspired a lot of hope in myself, I don't remember if I shared it so I'll share it again. I was having a tough time in Växjö and not much was going on so prayer was something I turned to for support and help. One night I kneeled down and said my personal prayer and was asking for help, help to keep moving forward and that things will get better. As I was praying, I had this overwhelming feeling that I can't describe but I felt in that moment the prayers of others. I felt the prayers from home, prayers from my family and friends and people I don't even know lifting me up and empowering me. I'm grateful for the power of prayer and the hope it instills and I'm grateful for the prayers offered on my behalf, they don't go unnoticed. 

Puss puss kram! 

Äldste Hainsworth

 Frolicking in the meadow

Member meals just might be the craziest part of missionary work

This is the busiest street in our area, called Brandbergen, where most of our contacting goes down

 Hanging out with Daniel Malmsten, a Helsingborg legend

Mall of Scandinavia

Digging a nice trench

He is Risen! (no seriously, from the coma)

Hey y'all! Great first week here with my man Elder Groberg. Brief bio on the new comp:

-From Mapleton, UT

-6 siblings, 3 older and 3 younger

-Came out right after high school

-Wants to be an engineer

-Likes using "swenglish" where you throw in swedish words when speaking english

-Is officially 19 as of yesterday

Elder Baquedano and I spent our last day together on tuesday planting flowers at the Stockholm temple. I sent him off to Norrköping on wednesday then picked Elder Groberg and we got right to work on wednesday. 

Good news!! Mikael's brother woke up!! It's been about 3 weeks since he went into a coma which put a halt to all Mikael's progress but his brother woke up! So amazing! His brother will now begin the long recovery process with the help of his loving brother Mikael and his family. He remembers nothing about his life and has a long way to go but Mikael has stayed positive the whole way. 

We've been calling lots of potential investigators and have got some lesson set up this week, it's exciting! Vendelsö could use some new positive investigators that's for sure! 

As is the case many sunday's here in Vendelsö, I passed the sacrament. I was assigned to go pass in the back of the chapel and as I came to a single lady in the ward sitting by herself in the  back corner and passed her the sacrament, I felt this overwhelming sense of love for this single sister that faithfully comes to church each week to draw strength and support from her Savior and renew her covenants. It was a small testimony builder to me of God's love for each and every one of His children. 

I've been thinking a lot about the power that I can have on other people. Acts 10:44-"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word". It says in the Bible Dictionary that "faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith". I've had countless experiences on my mission of inspiring faith in others through my own testimony and conviction. That's how I gained my own testimony and that's the first step of missionary work for others. Let your testimony and your example be the spark that ignites someone else's faith to action! 

Love you all, take care and hope to talk to you soon! 

Mycket kärlek,

Äldste Hainsworth

 I don't even know

Elder Grobergs bday suprise from the Hägersten missionaries

 Out for the count

Planting dem flowers

Most of the zone pic

Elder Groberg and I lakeside

Sunset from the apartment

Grind Mountain to Vendelsö

Hey to everyone at the close of another solid week here in Vendelsö and the end of my first transfer here in Vendelsö. Elder Baqeudano will sadly be transferring to Norrköping while I'll be sticking around and getting Elder Groberg who was in my district down in Helsingborg (we had an intense ping pong rivalry, his ping pong alias is Grind Mountain). Det blir bra! 

We had a tough time with Mikael this week, we wanted so badly for him to come to a baptismal service the Handen elders were holding on saturday and we were just praying and hoping that on friday he would still be good to go the next day. He answered and our hearts sank as he said he wouldn't be able to come and had to put church on the backburner as he tended to his family matters. We completely respect his decision but just wished he understood that the gospel is FOR the hard times, it's the tough times that we should be drawing closest to Heavenly Father in prayer and supplication. Walking away from his apartment after that was tough, Elder Baquedano and I said nothing to each other but a feeling of peace came over me and Proverbs 3:5-6 came to my head "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths". 

On a happy note though we found a very positive new investigator! Sanna is a referral we received a couple months ago and have tried to call and text many times but to no avail. Somehow we missed the fact that we also have her address! So we swung by her on saturday, knocked on her little house over by the lake in Vendelsö. She answered immediately and after a bit of confusion of two guys standing on her doorstep her face changed to a bright and welcoming smile and she invited us in. We got to know her and her son Benjamin, turns out she has tons of Mormon friends and loves how positive and great they are. She's pretty busy with work and studying chemistry at college. She's a mom and speaks Persian and Swedish and some English. We're so excited to work with her, she's so nice.

Some of my thoughts from the week. Acts 5:40 "And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 ¶And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ". Peter and John are incredible examples of finding joy in preaching the gospel unceasingly. I've tried in my contacts this week to be happy no matter the outcome because I know that I'm aligned with God's will and that after I do my part I can leave the rest in His hands. It makes a big difference!

Looking forward to this next transfer, expect miracles! 

Peace and love,

Äldste Hainsworth

 The grossest chewiest meat I've ever eaten

The crowning jewel of Vendelsö

Elder Baquedano loungin'

 skipping rocks

Thanks for the package!

Getting the Ball Rollin'

Hey there! Hope everyone had a great general conference week! 

We got to meet with a few investigators who are positive but just haven't been able to meet since I've gotten to the area, the ball is rollin in Vendelsö'! We had a lesson with Mayra, a curious South American lady who accepted what we taught her really well. She is excited to read and pray and find out for herself if the things we've taught her about are true. We also had our old mission leader on the mission which was a big help. 

We taught Cecilia for the first time since I've been here, she's an older Taiwanese lady who lives relatively close to us. She is struggling with the lack of acceptace from her husband and family for investigating the church and having a faith in general. Despite the animosity her faith is strong and she has a bright HOPE in the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is willing to put in the effort to read and pray and come to know Jesus Christ and the truths that are taught in His gospel. 

Mikael's brother is still lying in the coma in the hospital and family always comes first so we're just trying to be the best friends and support possible as he goes through this difficult trial. That's an important part of helping people progress as missionaries is we've got to take care of other things standing in the way of the path to baptism and progression even if those things aren't directly leading them down the path of membership at this very moment. It's a process that can only come about with the Lord's timing in mind. 

General conference was great, we watched it in the Church in Väster Haninge. Here's some thoughts from my personal preparation and reflection...Acts 1:2 "Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen". Just because Christ has ascended from His earthly ministry here on the earth does not mean the direction of the church has changed one bit. Jesus Christ is still the chief cornerstone and guides and directs this church through living prophets and apostles. Listening to conference was uplifting and inspiring and I left with a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ than I came with. A talk that really stood out to me was "Do I Believe?" by Bonnie L. Oscarson. She said "Do we sometimes become so accustomed to the blessings we have been given as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that we fail to fully comprehend the miracle and majesty of discipleship in the Lord’s true Church? ...To believe, we need to get the gospel from our heads into our hearts!...the blessings and peace the Lord has in store for those who are obedient and faithful exceed anything the human mind can comprehend." How true that is. 

Varma Hälsningar från Sverige,

Äldste Hainsworth

 Baked goods of the week

 Swedish pancakes between conference sessions

 Pday football life