Sweden - January 13, 2014

Howdy y'all!

Yes, Malmö has been a bit warmer (no snow, plenty of rain), but the last couple of days have been extremely windy. I do enjoy being able to see the ocean pretty much every day (sometimes we stay in the city...my area covers the main downtown area, so sometimes buildings are always in the way. I guess to clarify, my area is downtown Malmö and then the southern most outskirts of town in Skåne which continues to Trelleborg and Ystad). Because I am close enough, I might be able to visit the Copenhagen temple.

The ward is about 600 members, but only about 120 or so is active. So Malmö is technically the biggest ward in Sweden I believe. I wouldn't know for sure. My apartment here is about 3 times the size of my Trollhättan apartment and about twice the size of my Örebro apartment.

We've been pretty busy down here in Malmö trying to find new people to teach, getting into contact with the less actives that live in our area and teaching the investigators and recent converts we currently work with.

Two investigators came to church yesterday and they both seemed to have a really good time. Both want to come back again next week and they are looking forward to our next lesson with them. One is currently praying about the decision to be baptized and I think he will be someday. He definitely seems to be prepared (we still have to teach him pretty much everything, but he is most definitely very in tune with the Spirit, which is an extremely great strength that he has).

We've been having a several lessons with other investigators, trying to get them to the point where they are progressing. Some of our other progressing investigators have all been out of town because of the holidays (all coming back this week) so we haven't been able to meet with any of them.

Scripture - 1 Nephi 21:16 "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." We can't forget that we are never forgotten in our trials. It is interesting to note that the one man who is actually perfect is the only man that has an imperfect resurrected body so that it may serve as a reminder to the rest of us in our imperfect human states.

Another scripture D&C 108:7, "therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings," which to me sums up our purpose as missionaries (and members) rather well. We always need to realize the impact that we have on others.

Something that I noticed this past week especially is having inspired back up plans. We don't always realize how we plan things make a difference, but this past week I've noticed that whenever we had swing-bys as a back up, every time we found someone who wants to learn more and gave us their number so we could contact them. Syster Eborn is quite the example to me in regards to contacting. It is a great strength that she has, which I hope to build up. Syster Eborn and I have been having a lot of fun together; we are curious how long we will be able to remain as companions since she's been down in Malmö for almost five months now and the next transfer is at the end of January/beginning of February. But we'll see!

Love you all!


Allie