Week 2 in Sweden! March 25, 2013

Another week has already passed by?  Time certainly is in an interesting warp here on a mission.  

This week certainly had its ups and downs.  One of the harder moments was our lesson with a couple that Syster Spjut has been working with for several weeks.  During the lesson we were telling them why we are here as missionaries (our personal reasons) and that our purpose was to teach people about the church.  It wasn't much later that they straight up told us that they weren't interested in becoming Mormon and that they didn't see any difference between our church and their current religion.  And then on top of that our next appointment that day was a no show. 

We were able to teach a little boy his second lesson (he's a member and his mom wants him to have the discussions before he's baptized).  He's definitely excited to have us over.  At church that day he had written out his testimony and then copied it to give it to everyone.  So sweet!  He also really liked out object lesson for the restoration - we use little cups, each labeled with something that is essential to Christ's Church.  We then build a pyramid with those cups, making sure that priesthood is one of the foundational cups.  We then have someone remove the priesthood cup, which of course causes the pyramid to collapse.  We then show how other churches tried to make do with what they had, but it just wouldn't be the same shape as Christ's Church.  We rebuild the pyramid as we talk about the Restoration, the only difference being that the Church is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints instead of the Church of Jesus Christ.  He agreed to pray about the things we taught to know if they were true. 

We've been working on a member program where we hope to fuel the enthusiasm for missionary work in our ward.  We plan to fully implement it this week and we expect to receive a number of referrals from it, which we are greatly looking forward to. 

A scripture that stood out to me this week was Luke 6:21 where the second half reads "Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh."  It just served as a good reminder to have hope and to find joy in the journey.  Though things may be difficult now, they will get better. 
  It's interesting to me how subtle the Spirit can be and how sometimes we don't immediately recognize its influence.  One thing that clearly stood out to me this week is how the Spirit works through us during preparation for lessons as well as the actual lessons.  Like this week when Syster Spjut and I were going over a couple of different lessons, we realized that inspired questions would come.  Things we haven't previously thought about for our investigators came to mind and we were able to implement these things during our lessons.  Through the Spirit, we knew that we needed to share why we were there as missionaries in the discussion with the couple I mentioned.  Even though things may not have turned out as we expected, it still needed to be shared, perhaps for some reason we won't be able to fathom until much later. 

Things are still a bit hard, but the language is coming along and the future looks bright.


Love you all!

Sweden - March 18, 2013

I'm in Sweden!  (If you couldn't guess).  My first area is Västerhaninge of the Stockholm Södra Zone (Stockholm South). 

My area is actually the one with the temple, so I pretty much get to see it every day.  

We have two sets of sisters assigned to my ward and all four of us share an apartment.  One Syster is one of my MTC roommates.  One of the other Systers has only been out to Sweden for about 12 weeks.

Speaking of training, it looks like I will be training extremely fast.  I knew that this was a possibility since like week 2 of the MTC, but it's still a little  intimidating to think about.  The next transfer coming in from the MTC has 18 missionaries - sixteen of which will be sisters.  And with my group from the MTC, there's approximately 20 sisters out in Sweden, so doing the math, the likelihood of training by May is pretty high.  

Learning Swedish is a bit frustrating actually.  I can understand (or least get the general gist of the conversation) a lot more than I expected, but I feel like I can say very little.  A member here explained it perfectly:  the average person has a 2000-4000 word vocabulary they use regularly and then an educated person has more of a 6000-8000 word vocabulary.  So you take that person with a 6000 word vocabulary and force them to be limited to maybe a 1000 words if even that.  I do know more than what I think, but it's forcing the 22 year-old writer/law school attending version of me to talk like a 5 year old and let's just say I'm not accustomed to feeling like that.  

Now as for the work, we're currently working with several inactive/less active members as well as building our relationship with the ward (and teaching practice lessons with them).  We have several potential investigators and old investigators that we hope will become actual progressing investigators.  We have a couple of progressing investigators already, but I haven't had the chance to meet any of them yet, so I can't say that I know much about them.

I hope that your weekend together was fun!  It's exciting that Jared only has a few short weeks left before he heads out.

Love you all!

MTC - March 7, 2013 - Guess I'm still here!

Hey everyone!

I know that the question that is on everyone's mind is "are the visas in?"  Right now that is a big "no!" but that honestly is okay really.  We actually have no idea when they might come, we are relying solely on the Swedish government.  The travel office/MTC are trying to keep all of us here as long as possibly at the hopes that they come in soon, but if we don't get a definitive answer within the next week, those of us remaining will probably be temporarily reassigned.  My best guess is that some of us (I'm hoping for over half of the now remaining 19 missionaries going to Sweden) will get our visas within the next week, so I'm optimistic! 

It's been a bit difficult though, since my district was dissolved when the original group of 12 left (since 5 of those 12 were from my 10 person district).  I'm still companions with the fantastic Syster Faux gratefully!  They put us and one of the elders into one of the districts and they put the other two elders who stayed into the other district.  I'll admit, I miss my Elders!  After spending 6 weeks with each other constantly is is super strange to be without them.  It was what we lamented the most really, that we were unable to go out to Sweden together.  Anyway, since now I'm in a new district, I have two new teachers who are both really awesome (and now I actually have a teacher that's older than me haha).  It's been strange though since we don't have as strict of a schedule since they weren't planning for us to be here, everything is a bit more fluid. 

Other than that I finally have the first vision memorized in Swedish! It took me a bit of time (since memorizing is not necessarily my strong suit) but I've got it down.  The three things I have completely memorized in Swedish are the first vision, our purpose and the baptismal commitment question, so I'm ready to go right?  Well, obviously I've learned a bit more Swedish than that while I've been out here, so I'm not going to die when I finally head out to Sweden.  

Last Saturday was really awesome though.  Both of my main teachers told us stories and showed us pictures of their missions!  It certainly helped get me even more excited about the chance to be able to serve there, even if it won't be as early as I thought before.  Then on Sunday, during our district meeting, we had a share a scripture that was significant to you (either your favorite/something that helped you) and your testimony day, which was a good note to ending my time with my district.  That night we had district blessings and I was able to get one from our District Leader, which I'll readily admit helped me immensely in many regards to the things that I've been going through.  It's such a great thing to see such young elders be worthy of such an amazing power as the priesthood.

On Tuesday we were able to hear from Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitus for our devotional.  He's actually from Brazil!  He emphasized the importance of trusting in the Lord and the willingness to be bold in our testimonies and sharing the gospel.  He also talked extensively about D&C 76 and the three kingdoms of glory.  He challenged us to make the decision of which kingdom we would like to enter in big bold letters in our journals so that we can notice it everytime we flip through the pages.  He focused on how if we have already made that decision so readily, it makes every other decision so much easier; we would just need to keep in mind, "Would this help me reach the kingdom I've chose?"  It's a simple concept, but very poignant.

Love you all!

February 28, 2013 - Last P-day at the MTC! (hopefully)

Hey everyone! 

As an interesting little tidbit, right now the MTC is pretty much at peak capacity. It's as crowded as it normally is during the summers. But this summer there's 8000 or so missionaries expected to report. Right now we have about 3500 missionaries and by then they think they'll be able to house about 4800 missionaries. They are going to send about 1200 missionaries or so to the MTC opening up in Mexico. Pretty much all spanish speakers, whether or not they are serving in the states will be sent there. They are then going to house the other 2000 missionaries in a second facility here in Provo. We've heard that they might be taking over some of the stake centers during the weekdays so that they can teach missionaries, but it'll be interesting to see what they actually end up doing. 

I don't think I've mentioned it before but I'd actually joined the MTC choir for the past three weeks. (The choir sings the musical number for the Tuesday night devotional). Besides having fun singing, the one really good benefit of joining the choir is having a guaranteed seat at the main room for the Devotionals (There's so many missionaries here that we have to have one/two overflow rooms in a different building).  Which was really great last Tuesday because Elder M. Russell Ballard came to speak!  My district was extremely happy that we were able to hear an apostle speak before we left the MTC (not saying that there was anything wrong with our seventies speakers, but there is just something about an apostle).  He pretty much just reconfirmed how we know more than we think we do and that what we really need to do is develop that relationship with the Lord and be able to work through His spirit.  One thing that I was thinking about was 3 Nephi 11 (which Elder Ballard read aloud to us) and what it meant for the Savior to come to the Americas. This chapter is really one of the happiest in the Book of Mormon.  There is just a certain spirit that we can get from reading those words that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the Savior of the world. 

My time at the MTC certainly seems like a whirlwind, but it was most definitely worth it.  The ups, the downs, everything served a purpose.  It served as preparation (and a bit of that refiners fire) for my time in Sweden and I'm excited to serve.  I want to see the little changes in people's lives that indicate that they are drawing ever so nearer to Christ and that they are becoming better versions of themselves.  I do want baptisms, but the most important thing is just serving.  Loving the people.  Doing all that I can to follow the promptings of the spirit.  The little things are what matters most in the end.  I am grateful and happy to do my part. 

I do know that this church is true.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and I am so grateful for all that He has done.  Life is difficult at times, but those difficulties help us grow.  Thank you for all that you've done for me! 

 

February 21, 2013 -11 days left at the MTC!

Yep that's right, only 11 days left to Sweden (or "11 dagar till Sverige" på Svenska). We're supposed to be getting our travel itineraries sometime within the next two days, so I'll keep you posted in that regard. I know that I will be able to call you while I am at the airport at some point so once I get my schedule we can coordinate somehow.

But Jared that's super exciting! It's funny because I've been talking to the Brazil missionaries in my building and pretty much no one is getting their visas right now. So it's a HUGE blessing that you already have that. Even the ones that have been in the Provo MTC for 6 weeks because of visa delays are being temporarily reassigned to other missions because the visas are taking so long right now.

As for my experience here, the Swedish is coming. I know that we're improving at a "hastened" rate. I'm not sure if I told you before but at Week 2 at the MTC when we taught those returned missionaries at the TRC they said that our Swedish was better than many of the people the worked with as they were leaving the MTC. When we taught at the TRC last week, we again heard how amazing our Swedish is.

In other news, my companion was called to be our new Coordinating Sister (which is pretty much the female equivalent of a Zone Leader, but there's only one and not two, so I'm not one if that makes sense). I get to support her in her new calling of helping the other sisters in our zone, which I'm glad to help in whatever way possible.

I ran into Maddie Cleveland the other day and she had no idea that I was here! She's loving it and is looking forward to heading off to Argentina later.

I gave a talk last Sunday. The way my branch does it is that every week we have a general topic and everyone is supposed to prepare a 3 to 5 minute talk on that topic. Then, right after sacrament the Branch Presidency announces which two missionaries get to speak about 5 seconds before they are supposed to come up. And I was chosen last week to speak on "Enduring to the End"; I can't give you a full description of my talk since honestly all I had written down was the references to the two scriptures that I would want to share. I shared 2 Nephi 31:20, and talked about how it is important to not just bear with whatever we face, but to do so with hope. I love the imagery of light. Light is just a symbol of hope, whether it is that the sun will rise each morning or of the lighthouse acting as a beacon in the middle of the storm. I talked a bit about how Christ is the light we need to follow. I correlated this with D&C 50:24 " That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." I then shared my testimony of the Savior and what he means to me. How I am so grateful for all that he has done and that I look forward to the day when I can thank him personally for what he has done for me and what he was willing to do for everyone. I know that I was called here for a reason and I am grateful to serve him.

Anyway I have about 30 seconds left so I just wanted to say that I love you all and thank you for all of the support you have given me within the last month. I really do appreciate every bit of it.

MTC - February 14, 2013 - Week 3

Hey Everyone!

I officially passed the half way point here at the MTC! It's a bit daunting really, but I know that we are making great progress in regards to learning the gospel and learning Swedish. As of yesterday I was officially made the Junior Companion, after being Senior Companion for three weeks.

Last Saturday we had an amazing lesson with our "investigator." Our first lesson didn't go so well, between my companion and I not understanding everything he was saying and the fact that we didn't really know how to explain what baptism was in Swedish. After that interesting experience, we took the time to seriously ponder and pray about/for him to see what we what we could do to best meet his needs. We came up with a general lesson plan where we talked about God, the importance of Christ, the Atonement, following Christ and how baptism is key to following Christ. We wanted our investigator to desire baptism by the end of the lesson, but we thought that he wouldn't be completely prepared by the end so we extended a sort-of halfway commitment (along the lines that as you learn and pray about the things we teach, will you follow Christ example and be baptized?). Before we even finished the question, he said "Yes! When?" My companion and I just looked at each in surprise for a second before she asked hesitantly, "You want to know when you can be baptized?" (Well in less words than that, but you get my meaning.) Our investigator grinned and repeated, "When?" We quickly extended a date of March 9th and he eagerly agreed. Once we closed the lesson and started to head back to class, our teacher called us back to talk about how awesome the lesson was. He pretty much told us that we can make such an event a typical first lesson.

Other than that, Swedish is coming. I've noticed improvements in the lessons my companion and I teach. Last Friday we had "TRC" appointments (which are return missionaries/church members from Sweden acting as themselves), and the second return missionary sister we taught told us that our grammar and pronunciation at two weeks is better than many of the people in her district when they had left the MTC. It just goes to show how much the Lord is hastening His work. He's definitely preparing His missionaries for the tasks that He wants them to complete.

We had Gregory A. Schwitzer of the Seventy on Tuesday and a Mark J. Lusvardi give the MTC fireside on Sunday. My companion knows a lot of people in the MTC actually since she's from Provo. There seems to be some 50 or so missionaries she knows here. The main messages were the importance of charity/just loving the people, baptism, and conversion. It's like that phrase "Give of yourself by forgetting yourself."

My group of 32 missionaries headed to Sweden with some of our teachers!

MTC - February 7, 2013

Hey Everyone!

I'm already through a third of my time here at the MTC!  Strange isn't it?  It's funny, I have ran into David Boggs a couple of times since I've been here.

Everything has been extremely busy.  We have two new investigators now (my companion and I have officially taught 7 lessons in Swedish now).  Our first "investigator" was actually our second teacher, who's only been back from Sweden since Christmas, and now our new investigators are both of our teachers.  How the investigator thing works is that our teachers think back to an investigator they had while in the mission field and act in that part while formulating answers depending on the spirit.  We have two new "investigators."  We've really only had the chance to just meet them, but it's interesting because we have to start completely from scratch with one investigator (who pretty much knows who Christ is, but otherwise doesn't know anything).

Mainly we've been learning more about how to study more effectively and how to begin teaching.  One of our teachers was able to give me some good ideas on how to study the language better.  It's a bit time consuming now, but it will become extremely effective once I get to know Swedish better.  Basically I just need to read everything that my companion and I might need to talk about in our lesson (in both English and Swedish), then I need to come up with a list of all of the Swedish words I want to use (starting with what I already know, before looking up others).  Then I need to write out what I want to say in simple English sentences before translating as much as I can without looking it up.  Then I need to double check those Swedish sentences and practice saying that a billion, okay more like ten, times each.  It's interesting though, I definitely understand a lot more Swedish that I expected.  I can understand most of what our investigators are saying, but I definitely have a difficult time forming sentences on the spot.  It's funny because the usual lesson dynamic is that my companion will be rambling answers (in a good way =)) in Swedish while I find the words that she needs while I interject with my testimony every now and again.  I definitely know where to find everything, I just can't quite piece it together effectively quite yet.  But it will definitely come with time!

Our Tuesday devotional speak was Elder Don Clark from the Seventy.  He mainly spoke about the importance of conversion over baptism into the church.  Basically, he said to remember the individuals, not numbers, which is what we have always talked about.

Otherwise, I've been a bit sick and I'm definitely allergic to Utah, but I've been doing my best to try to concentrate regardless.  I wanted to share a brief scripture that I really liked this week.  3 Nephi 15:12 "Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people..."  I actually used this scripture for my first spiritual thought in Swedish.  I like it because it's example of what we are as missionaries.  We are representatives of Christ and it is our responsibility to be that light to God's children.  It's definitely a reminder of what I am here to do.

On an interesting note, if you click that "When do I serve?" link on lds.org, it opens to a page about missionaries.  One of the missionaries is one of my teachers when he was on his mission in Sweden 2 years ago!

Even if I have my Rapunzel "Tangled" moments, things are certainly settling down and I'm getting into the swing of things.