Hej på er!
(This is our new favorite saying... its like saying Hi
on you!) This week has been more than wonderful. It has just been
miraculous. Life just couldn't get better. Where to begin! One of my
favorite moments from this week happened on a rainy gloomy day. One
would think that on a rainy day when no one is out.. no fun could be
had. But! When Syster Sprague and I are out.. people better watch out.
We had just had a wonderful lunch with one of the members in town and we
were headed to the train station to catch a bus. We were sharing an
umbrella and Syster Spr hand had gotten tired from holding it for so
long. So I switched with her. There is a slight problem though with a
short person holding an umbrella for a taller person. You end up hitting
in the head a lot. So Syster Sprague had to link arms with me to hold
my arm up high enough. We were just having too much fun and singing
along the way. Imagine... empty streets with dark clouds above us. The
only people out have their hoods or umbrellas out and heads down walking
fast. But in our little patch of walkway the sun was shining. A
garbage man pulled up and hopped out of the truck. He stopped dead in
his tracks and a huge grin came over his face. He exclaimed "Well! aren't
you two just content with life!"... This was very un-Swedish-like.
Sometimes you don't really realize how happy you are until someone stops
and tells you.
Syster Sprague and I were on our way to district meeting in Göteborg.
She had just said something really funny and we both cracked a big
smile. Just then a woman walked by.. so she got a very big "Hej!" with
our grinning faces. We walked past her and she turned quickly around and
said "hey! are you two Mormon?" :) ja visst! She was a Spanish woman
married to a Swede but she had a few friends in Spain who were Mormon.
She invited us over for next week.
I dont remember if I told you what happened two weeks ago when we
went in for district meeting.. but Syster Sprague and I were walking
back to the center.. just saying hi to all the people walking by. a
short big man suddenly stopped us and said "Hey! I know you." Syster
Sprague served in Göteborg before she came to Alingsås so she tried to
rack her memory from ever meeting this guy. Turns out he had met
missionaries a few years ago and had come to church once. We talked to
him for a good ten minutes. He told us about his life and how he is a
professor for .. something to do with being very super smart... and how
he still has lots of questions that haven't been answered. He gave us HIS
number! and set up an appointment.
Man! I love it when they stop you and ask you to meet. We met with
Abdo on Monday and gave him to the elders in Götebrog. They have met
with him three times this week! crazy.
I have felt like I am in South America this week. We have gotten so many potential
investigators. Its like getting someones number is "ain't no thing."
And every time we stop someone and they say "ya sure I'd like to hear
your message.." I began thinking.. of course they were going to give us
their number. We came home that day after meeting the Spanish lady and
one of our appointments dropped so we tried to track down another
woman. On our way we walked by this cute woman with her little kid in a
stroller. I thought.. why not ask her too. So we stopped and talked to
her and told her about our message about how families can be together
for eternity and how they can be stronger today too. I have stopped
quite a few mothers with little kids in strollers.. They never say yes.
But Lejla said.. yah of course. Come over Monday. This is my address.
!!! vat! This is crazy! So we are going over this evening. Hold your
thumbs. (They say this in Sweden instead of crossing your fingers.)
maybe throw in a few prayers too.
Another one of these crazy contacts happened on Friday. We had
planned to go to Göteborg to the center there for one of the young adult
activities. We had invited one of our potential investigators. As we
got on the train he texted us and said he wouldn't be able to make it.
:( Great so we planned this whole evening and now he wasn't coming.. and
we couldn't just turn around after the train had headed out. So we went
to the activity and then headed home. As we waited in the Alingsås
train station for our bus to come take us back to our apt we sat down
next to this girl. We started talking to her and found out she was 17
and going to school. We had a good 20 mins talking to her. Found out
she was baptized and confirmed in the Swedish church but she doesn't
believe in God because she never got an answer to prayer. The bus came
and we ended up sitting on different seats. But! She got off the same
bus stop as us. I thought.. well we might as well invite her even if she
doesn't believe in God. We invited.. told her about the BOM... And of
course.. She said yes! :) I love it! So even when one door closes its
probably because God wants to open an even better one.
Last awesome story. This one is about following the Spirit. On Saturday we had our day planned out and full. We were planning on going
by a lot of potential investigators and old investigators in the areas
we would be in. But first we had planned to teach Manal and ask her to
be baptized. So we went down to her apt and ended up with a change of
plans. Her husband Kanaan was there. He usually walks out when we start
with a prayer. But as we were sitting there getting ready to start Syster Sprague looks at me and points to kanaan. Signaling.. we should
teach him instead. So! We did! and it went amazing! He has had some hard
experiences and really doesn't believe in God. When he heard about the
plan of salvation.. he said--But I don't want to live forever!. His
whole purpose in life is to live simply and be kind to all around him.
But we taught him about prayer.. and committed him. He said he would do
it. As we gave the closing prayer--we rushed quickly out only to find we
had already missed the bus. and It was raining again. With our packed
schedule.. we quickly grabbed the bikes and headed out to our next
appointment. Umbrellas and bikes together. it was probably a hilarious
sight.. I hope we made some people smile. We showed up to our next
appt. and no one was home. This put a little damper in our plans. And we
realized we were going to have a problem now with our bikes and making
it to our dinner apt in the evening. We paused and contemplated what we
should do. We decided to say a prayer to see if maybe we should change
some of our plans. As we prayed I thought of Manal and how we had
hoped to get a baptismal date set and really have a great lesson with
her. We closed the prayer and I told Sys Sp. I think we need to ride
back and teach Manal. She smiled and said. Yup. I agree. So we canceled
the other plans we had and rode back to Manal's house. She warmly invited
us in. We had an amazing lesson and invited her to be baptized. She
said, "Why not! yes!... What do I need to do to be ready?" :) Sys Spr
said.. don't go a day without praying and reading. Of course I can do
that.
Life really is full of great surprises. Rain showers and great
sunsets. frost and flowers. I hope you are all happy, safe, reading your
scriptures, following the spirit, and receiving answers to prayers.
I love you and have a great DAY!
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