The Stockholm Weekend

                                                                   Stake Conference.

                                            Valborg! This is how the Swede's welcome Spring.

                                                           Sister's sleepover in Stockholm.

                                                    I got my hair cut! It feels so much better.

Hello one and all! 

Another amazing week has disappeared. The most exciting thing is that we are actually emailing from Stockholm because we came down here bright and early yesterday morning for Stake Conference and then we had the chance to go on work overs with the sisters in Vasterhangie-which is where the temple is located. We are going to spend our pday in Stockholm with a bunch of other missionaries today!

Yesterday we left at 5:40am to catch our 6:30am train down to Stockholm. The best part was that we traveled down with one of our investigators that is a cute Chinese student who actually contacted us through mormon.org. We had an amazing day with her and the Spirit was so strong at the conference-the focus was on finding power in the scriptures. Just what she needed to hear. We had a really neat meeting with all of the new members and investigators with the Stake President, our Mission President and his wife, and with Elder Buhm from the area Seventy. There was about 13 new members and one investigator there and they all shared their stories about how they found the gospel. I felt very inspired listening to all of their sweet and simple stories. Heavenly Father really loves and watches after every single one of his children.

It was really neat to see people from Örebro, my very first area. Many hugs were exchanged and I could actually understand them and speak Swedish with them this time around! 

Elder Buhm from the area Seventy talked about having patience with our Heavenly Father-He will always answer our prayers, but He will always do it in His time. In order to recieve answers to our prayers we must do our part...which includes; 

reading the scriptures, attending church, and praying every single day. Elder Buhm also talked about not comparing ourselves with others around us. It doesn´t matter how smart we are, all that matters is what we do with our knowledge. What kind of member am I? How am I fullfilling my missionary member role? Are we still rejoicing? This gospel is a gospel of JOY. So, go and spread that joy.

 

 After Stake Conference we headed out to Stockholm to walk around a little bit with our investigator. She is super sweet and we think that today was a really good day for her to see and understand a little bit more about the church. She wants to get baptized, but she really wants to finish the Book of Mormon first. We told her that she didn´t need to do that, but she really wants to. So, we are praying for her to find the time to read. She is in 2 Nephi and is really enjoying what she is reading. 

We then said goodbye to her and headed to meet the sisters to do work overs. I went with Systers Hill and Brinton to a new converts for dinner and to re-teach them about the Restoration. It was a wonderful experience to be able to teach with two other sisters in unity. We taught and played off each other really well. It was a great learning experience for me. There is power when you teach the Restoration in one setting and when you teach the lessons all the way through. I want to re-focus on teaching them all the way through. The Spirit is so important whenever we are teaching because that is the way that we can know exactly what the person needs to hear. 

We have so many wonderful sisters in this mission and i am so grateful for that! We had a sister sleepover last night with Sisters Hill, Talbot, Brinton, Francis, Jacobs, and I. It was great to see Sister Francis again! She is doing great and really enjoying Sweden. I also got a really good update on Karlskrona. Things are going well down there. And now she is in Norrköping. Fun.

Oh, yeah I also finally got a hair cut!! A lady in our branch offered to cut it for me. It is amazing to me how much more I feel like myself. I just am a short haired person. I am happy.

 

During this past week we got another baptismal date- for June 8th. And then tonight we are going to get one with another investigator for June 8th also. So, hopefully we will have two baptisms for June 8th.

 

Wow!! Baby Henry is super cute! Haha. I loved the picture of him meeting all of Dad´s action figures. I am glad to know that nothing has changed with Dad. When is little Henry going to be blessed? I am super excited to see him this weekend over Skype.

 

Well, we ran out of time. Bummer.  I love you all!!!

 

Love, Talisa!