Talar du engelska?: Sep. 10: One Hour as a Missionary

Dear Family!!

I love being a missionary! WOWWW! Today I just want to tell you about some amazing people I know here in Krisitanstad. As missionaries we keep track of how many lessons we teach and how many new people want to learn from us (investigators) and etc. Well this week has had the highest numbers of my whole mission. We are RUNNING all day long! So I don't even know where to start about telling you about all these amazing things that happen on an hourly basis.

But here are some of the people that I am teaching...

Pablo! He has lived here in sweden for over 20 years. He is about 32. He is so humble and he comes from Chile!--He came to family home evening with us on monday to a member family's house. He even went to their house for dinner before family home evening. He asked the dad what a testimony was and how do you know you have one. When people ask questions like that.. it means they are searching. :) We spent the whole lesson answering his question.

We taught him later on in the week. We had Sandra Cabellero with us. She is a convert herself. Also from Chile. She was so powerful to have in the lesson with us. We started off by talking about his question about what a testimony is. 1. Do you believe in God: he said yes. 2. Do you believe in Christ: He said yes. 3. We asked him about the Book of Mormon and if he knew it was the word of god. He said yes. Then we asked him WHY do you think God gave us the Book of Mormon? He said.. so that people can know which church is the true church. YES!!!! Then we asked about Joseph Smith and if he believes this is the only true church upon the earth. He said Yes, I believe. WAHOO!! I couldn't stop from gleaming. Pablo has been praying sincerely to Heavenly Father. And he has been getting answers. It was such a powerful experience to hear him bear his own growing testimony.
Ingrid & Roland! Roland was baptized when he was 8 but then his family left the church and wrote his name out too. Syster V and the missionary before me found them in the supermarket.. or rather roland found them. Ingrid is his "sambo" (live together but not married). We have been teaching them and they want to get baptized this friday.

Welll!!!! Before they could get baptized they needed to follow gods commandments and get married. and guess what. Yesterday we took them down to Malmö and THEY GOT MARRIED!!! The small ceremony went wonderful! They were both sooo happy! and they are excited for their baptism this friday. We taught them about tithing on Saturday. We had already taught Roland by himself about tithing but he wasn't really sure if he could pay tithing till next year. So we came in and testified to Roland that the Lord would provide for them if they paid their tithing. After we testified and taught... we extended the commitment again. "Roland will you pay tithing after you are baptized?" I wasn't sure what he would say. He paused.. Then looked back at us. "Yes. I will move back from school and commute to school. We will have to stop paying for this and that. We will have to quit the lottery..."
At first I thought he said.. I will have to quit school. And it hit me. We are asking people to change a WHOLE lot. Wow. I felt a little nervous for a moment.. wait! Should I be asking you to change to so much.. and now we are not just talking about coming to church any more.. we are talking about people's money and Rolands education.

But then a peace and power came over me. The promised blessings from paying tithing are real. This gospel is real. Their lives are going to change. But they are going to change into the best lives they could possibly have. It was a small moment I will never forget from my mission. To see a man take such step of faith and be so humble.

This message is true. We are about the Lords work.

Brian-- a member who had written himself out a few years back found the elders in Malmö and told them he wanted to come back to church. He is in our area. We met with him on saturday and the first thing he said was.. "I know this church is true.." and he came to church on sunday. He was beaming. He traveled two hours to get to church. WOW.

Hang--We met this Vietnamese girl on the train last week and when we told her about the Book of Mormon she asked if she could have two copies. We met with her this week. We met in her nail salong and pulled out the Book of Mormon and told her a little about it. Then we asked her about how she knows god exists. We spent the rest of the lesson listening to her tell us her conversion story of how she knows that there is a God and that he answers her prayers. It was a beautiful experience to see how God can touch the lives of so many of his children all over the world. She told us about how her mother died when she was young. She became hardened towards God and chose not to believe in him. And then her sister got sick. As she turned inwards she found herself praying to God and found peace there and she became humbled once again. She hasnt stopped believing since and is still seeking to have him more in her life. We are excited to teach her more.

WAIT! I have to tell you about one more fantabulous experience!! On tuesday night we helped out with a primary activity! The activity was "An hour as a missionary". This was all organized by our amazing members. The primary kids were split up into companions and were given someone to visit. They were to share a scripture and share their testimony and invite them to church. They visited a less active family, Pablo!, a family that are not members and not even our investigators, and a part member family. Syster V and I went on splits and we got to go with one of the groups. It was amazing! This ward knows how to do member missionary work! I was so impressed.. and if I have to be the primary president one day.. I will try and do this same activity!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! You get to meet the most amazing people, help them have a better life, and end up changing your own life. All because God exists.

I LOVE YOU ALL.

Alma 36:20, 24

Syster Schneiber II