Underverk!

Dear Family!

Well the weeks just keep on flying by! Syster Erickson and I made this calendar "Underverk" calendar. We write down a daily miracle that happens. We taped it up in our kitchen and it always gives me comfort to look at all the days I have accomplished and all the miracles the Lord has blessed me with. We had a wonderful week because we had my very first zone conference!!! And we got to go to the temple!!!! Yay!!! The weather is also officially getting cold here--mom I am wearing my big coat now and my boots. They are wonderful. Hard part is it is cold outside but then when we start biking I get hot and then the boots and coat are too much.  You see Uppsala has two big hills--and whenever we have to go home we have to go up both hills. It is dreadful. There is one right by our house... that one is decent size... we call it the "Fotledens Hamnd" (The ankles revenge).  We always take it at a sprint and I am definitely out of breath on the last stretch home. But the grand hill of all hills is the one up to the library. It is HUGE. By the end I am standing and trying to push all my weight on each pedal to keep it moving forward. Some days I just cant make it and end up falling off. (The hills are especially hard on my bike because the gears are broken... so I am stuck in some random middle gear, which makes it twice as hard).  So they need to invent some kind of jacket that can sense your body temperature. When you start overheating it needs to have automatic vents that open up.

But enough about the hills in Uppsala... Lets talk about the miracles!

Monday--We get to go to Hemafton (FHE) with the singles in our ward. It is possibly my favorite part of the whole week. Last week we ran into this Korean guy named David (say it with a British accent)... he was adopted and grew up in Sweden. He said he had met the previous missionaries on the bus--said they were nice but he wasn’t really religious. Well! He was so nice I asked him if he would let us teach the lessons to him and he could help us with our Swedish. So He came early to have a lesson with us at the church. He got their before us and was just waiting in the church when our couple missionary Äldste Waite came up to talk to him... little did he know! Well Äldste Waite gave it to him straight. He told him that he would know anything about the church unless he read the Book of Mormon. So he said "will you read it"... David said-Of course, I will read it. Ä W- you cant have it unless you promise to read it. So David ended up promising to read the Book of Mormon. I don’t think Syster E and I would have been able to pull the same number on him. So we are excited to see if anything happens. It was interesting talking to him because his dad is a priest in the svenska kyrkan (Swedish church)... but he said he was never religious. He said, "I think faith is a gift and I just haven't been blessed with it".  As he left, I told him that maybe the Book of Mormon could be the gift he felt he never got. 

On Thursday we had zone conference and Friday we were going to the temple... so Wednesday night the systers from Gävle came down to spend two nights with us. It was fun to have two other systers with us and to get to know them. Syster Hill and Syster Brown. Both really cute. They also came on Wednesday with great news... They were going to have a baptism on Saturday and we were invited! This week truly was an adventure.  Zone conference was awesome--we talked about how we could use the Book of Mormon more in our teaching. I had a lot of good notes... but I think the biggest blessing for me was just getting to be around of missionaries. Some times it is hard to be in your little isolated area... you often feel like you're the only one out there. But when we get all together there is a definite power. Each missionary brings his or her own testimony and experiences... so multiply that by 25-and you have a strong spirit there.

   Next great miracle was on Friday morning. We were finally able to meet with Ingrid again! (Ingrid is our tall red headed Swede). We hadn't been able to meet with her for two weeks. She is also our most.... normal investigator. You see... it seems that a lot of the people who are willing to meet with us right off the bat are a little bit different. I have really grown to love them a lot and have a lot of hope for them... but often times they didn’t grow up with discipline good hard working values. So I often worry that even if they do become baptized will they be able to "hålla ut intill slutet" (endure to the end). But Ingrid--has these qualities already built into her character... so I have a lot of hope for her. I could see her being a great strength to the ward here in Uppsala. So I was a little bit nervous for the lesson to say the least. But the lesson went great. You know that scripture D&C 50:somthing where it says that when we teach with the spirit both the teacher and the teachie rejoice together... well that is what it is like when we teach Ingrid. The spirit is often strong. I think it is because her heart is open and she is receiving the spirit.  Well! We asked her if she wanted to be baptized! And she said yes--she still wants to read more... but we set the date for Nov 12. Soooo you should all start praying for her :)

   Maj-is our other strong progressing investigator. And she! has a fellowshipper!! This makes all the difference. You should all find out who your missionaries are and tell them that you want to help them and be a fellowshipper. Without fellowshippers... missionary work just doesn’t happen. So Maj has become friends with Sol-britt. They are perfect for each other and have a lot of the same personalities... So I have a lot of hope for her. She is having a hard time with the word of wisdom though. She doesn’t seem to understand why Coffee is a part of it. SO! We still have some work to do with her. But Sol-Britt has just been fantastic.

   Also the baptism was amazing. I Love Gävle! And it was really cool to see my first baptism. I want to tell you so much more. But we have to run! So I love you all!

 And thank you for all of your prayers!