July 23: Trains!

Dear family!
     

  Well! Sys Talbot is here and sys Sprague has left in safety.
Sys Sprague left Wednesday morning. We had Peter and his daughter
Josefin take us to the train. We helped load her bags onto the train
and turned to jump off the train.... but the doors closed. Guess what,
once they close they stay closed till the next stop! So we ran to
find the conductor. We found her once the train had already started
picking up speed. She said, sorry! You will just have to get off at
the next stop.  Next stop was in Skövda... an hour away :) Haha   SO!
I got to stay with sys Sprague a whole other hour! It was a pretty fun
adventure. Peter said we are now Train friends.  Syster Talbot is
wonderful! She majored in piano at Weber state and is very ambitious
and likes to work hard. She has got a lot of energy and drive and wants
make it BIG.  I feel like being with sys Sprague helped me calm down
and learn to be more stable and happy about who I am as a missionary.
When I first came to Sweden sys E said I trained myself... I was
constantly wanting to go go go... I remember it being stressful on
sys E. But now that I've been out for a year I know how to be
effective and not waste so much energy in worrying and being stressed.
Sys Sprague helped me learn that a lot. Take things at a little slower
pace. Be happy and spread that joy.  Now that I am with sys Talbot I
feel I was running and all the sudden sys Talbot runs past me and is
keeping a faster pace and I have to keep up with her. It feels good to
be with someone who has big dreams, ambitious, obedient, and wants to
work hard. So now maybe I can keep this stable happiness AND run
faster. :)

There is something special about the Sweden Stockholm Mission. It is
called "The Second Harvest" While visiting a mission conference as an
apostle, Elder Hinckley addressed two Swedish missionaries who were
finishing their service. "Let me say a few words to you that I want
you to take home to Sweden." Then he lifted a glass of water and
pointed to it.
         "Sweden has for many years been like this glass of water —
not much action. In the middle 1800s when the first missionaries came
to Sweden, thousands of people joined the church. It was a great and mighty
harvest. When you go home, I want you to tell the members that there
will be a new harvest, a second harvest in Sweden, that will bring thousands of
Swedes into the church."

When the first missionaries came here to Sweden there were thousands
that joined the church and most of them moved to the states. But
Hinckley promised a second harvest… one greater than the first. We
have been working a lot towards that. When the temple was rededicated
Pre Monson prophesied this Second Harvest and said that it would come
when the members and the missionaries worked together. Sweden would
also be an example to other nations and help the harvest spread far
beyond Sweden.   SUPER COOL.  I really feel this prophecy beginning to
be fulfilled.  So that has been a big part of what I feel like my
mission has been. Trying to help the second harvest come to pass.
     Anna is the perfect example of this. Anna is our most positive
investigator. She is a member’s friend. We had dinner over at the
member’s house this week and Anna came with her daughter. We watched
the restoration Film and we talked about prayer afterwards. She heard
us say how we pray over daily things and she wondered... what kinds of
things do you pray for daily?? I can understand a big decision you
need help with... but daily small things? It was great to have the
members there to answer her question and I felt like it strengthened
the members too. If only every member could have a friend like Anna!
      Remember Alana from last week? She got baptized and we got to go
support her. Well what I forgot to tell you was that the total time it
took for Alana to meet the missionaries and get baptized. 1.5 weeks.
CRAZY!  So on Monday after Pday we went over to her apt and got to
talk to her about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sys Sprague
and I feel like we got to really share in Alana's baptism and like we
got to be her missionaries too.  This woman is so sweet and humble. I
loved every minute spent with her.  I plan on keeping in contact with
this wonderful woman.
   Lastly! A quick super cool miracle. Saturday we didn’t have too many
of our plans turn out. We contacted a guy named Alexander with his
little baby son during the morning. We just contacted a Greek woman
before us and she said we could come back and give her a BOM. So when
we talked to Alexander and he said.. ya sure I'd like a BOM.. we were
really excited! Two new possible investigators!  Well we said we would
come back on Sunday to give them their BOM. We ended up back in
Alexander's neighborhood trying to find an old investigator. We sat
down to text someone before we headed into an apt complex when
Alexander called us and asked us if we could come teach him right now.
 We looked at each other.. What are the chances that our apt fell
through so we came back to his area.. and he calls us just then! So we
headed over there and ended up sitting at a picnic table and explained
the BOM. He is from Serbia and he kept talking about these other
people he had met with that were teaching him but he couldn’t find them
and he was really interested in our message. Turns out they are Jehovah
Witnesses.. but what was the coolest thing for me was just... how in
the world did we find this guy! He really does want to know. He really
is interested! It just blows my mind that we can find the small
percentage in the population who are really searching for God.. and
want to do something about it. :)
   It is just another point for God. He really does run this show and
has a plan. I know that.

I love being a missionary. I love having this chance to give up my
life in order to find it. I hope you all take the time to kneel down
in prayer and find out if Heavenly Father is really there for you too