sea2swe: Blessings upon Blessings+Mission Tour

This week was amazing, there's just so much to talk about and not enough time to talk about all the amazing things that happen every week but I'll try and capture some of the highlights. Also we haven't gotten our phone back yet, the hunt continues...

We've been struggling and praying and trying to get Mikael to church in the last 4 months I've been here cause it's the only barrier keeping him back from baptism. Well we met with Mikael on wednesday and he told us about a friend of his who's pretty shy but could really use the gospel so he said he's going to bring him to our next meeting and he did! We met with Mikael on friday and there next to Mikael is Peter, a less active that Elder Baquedano and I worked with when I first got to Vendelsö. His health wasn't so good so he didn't want us coming by so we haven't seen him in the last 3 months. My mind was blown, I turned to Mikael and asked him if he knew Peter was a member and he said no so I turned to Peter and asked him if he knew Mikael was investigating the church and he said no! They've been friends for years! Well we invited Peter to come to church with Mikael and they both did! Peter's first time in over 6 months and Mikael's first time ever! I never would have expected that to happen but I wouldn't want it any other way. I know the Lord blesses and consecrates our humble efforts.

Wednesday evening we had some missionaries from other areas stay the night at our place in preparation for Mission Tour the following day, so we hosted Elder Walton (old comp) and Elder Olson from Uppsala and Elder Pfost and Elder Porter from Gävle, all but Elder Porter have served in the Helsingborg district together so we had a blast catching up and reminiscing on the "good ole days". I learned tons from thursday from both President and Sister Beckstrand about recognizing the Spirit and being Seekers of Him, as well as from Elder Dyches about being a Master Teacher. They gave us some challenges, like 1.) Ask God how the Spirit talks to me, 2.) Ask God how He feels about me 3.) Wake up and live like the Spirit is talking to me. I have a testimony of personal revelation, I went into the mission tour with some questions and I came out with some answers. I know those leaders were inspired.

There's so much happening in Vendelsö, we have had a fantastic week of finding and teaching on the street and we actually ran out of Swedish Book of Mormons, people are so positive! We've gotten numbers from some prepared people. We do pretty much all our contacting in Brandbergen and we'll usually do a "victory lap" as we call it which is the long way on this path to go to the bus stops to head home. It's happened almost everyday this week that we miss our bus because we end up meeting some positive person and teaching a lesson during our victory lap. I know blessings come when we do that little bit extra, just go a little further, just talk to one more person. Just one example from Friday is a girl named Sara Betina from Poland who's high school\college age, she believed in God but wasn't satisfied with the organization and everything in her church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she was excited to meet and learn more. She was the last contact of the day, you could see the bus stop from where we stopped her.

I know that this is the most important work in the world and I'm supposed to be here in Sweden right now having the experiences I'm having. Last but not least, happy fathers day to my dad Stanley Hainsworth! He is an inspiration and example to me and has been a constant source of love and support since day one. I love him so much.

Have a fantastic week,

Äldste Hainsworth