I Took An L, But Then I Bounced Back

Email written: 1/29/18

Hallå allihopa!!

This past week did not start out quite as I had planned, as I woke up extremely sick Tuesday morning. I don't want to gross out anyone with details, but I think it's what they call the Double Dragon in south america. So yeah, it wasn't the most fun thing in the world. I just had to lay in bed all day and Elder Lewis and I were just stuck in our apartment the entire day. I first felt just terrible physically, but then I also was really sad that we weren't able to go out and work. It's quite a change from maybe even a year ago, where I would've loved to have gotten sick to get out of school or work, but I guess I've learned how to work hard and I've also come to love the work that I do here in Sweden. I hope in the future when I choose my profession, I can choose one where I will be devastated if I miss a day of work. But anyways, there I was just laying in bed feeling miserable, and I knew that my only hope at that point was to ask my companion and a member of the branch to give me a priesthood blessing that night. Elder Lewis and Fredrik Jonsson (branch member) were then able to give me the blessing just a few hours after I had asked for one. I truly had faith that I could be healed and be able to get back to work the very next day. It was such a powerful blessing and I'm so thankful for branch members and a companion who are able to honor the priesthood they have to bless the lives of others. Well as you can see from the subject line, I bounced right back on Wednesday, not even 24 hours later was I ready to go out and teach the restored gospel. This church is true and the priesthood is on the earth people! 

The rest of the week ended up being super awesome as we were able to meet with Selma, an investigator we have been working with for the past few months. Before, she had been scared about baptism and what would happen to her when she converted from Islam to Christianity, but as we met this week she was able to say that all her fears have disappeared and she is ready to be baptized. She's so ready in fact that she looked at her calendar, saw that she was free today, and asked if she could be baptized on that day (just 3 days after the day we had met with her). We unfortunately had to say no since we still have a few more things to teach, but she did set a date for February 10th, so keep her in your prayers! She is so fantastic and is so thankful for all the amazing things she has learned in the church and from the Book of Mormon. 

And now for the funny story of the week! Elder Lewis and I had come back to our apartment, but it was kl 20.00, and we didn't want to get home until kl 21.00 since we didn't really have much to do at our apartment, so we decided we would still stay out and find something to do for the next hour. Well, we gave our friend Emmanuel a call (Emmanuel is an All-Swedish league soccer player from the Congo) and we wondered if we could visit him. He said that he was on the way to the gym so we couldn't visit him, but we could meet up real quick at ICA to say hey and see how things were going with each other. Well, we went to ICA and met up with him and walked around the store a little bit as he was looking for some powerade #athletegrind Well, as we were walking around the store we ran into a guy that worked in ICA that always worked when Elder Harper and I bought groceries and turns out Emmanuel knew him so they started talking. Well, then Emmanuel leans to me and says I think he's Christian, and I'm like really? and he's like let me ask real quick and then he asks the guy working if he's Christian, and the guy says no, I don't really believe in anything. And at this point, Emmanuel just gets all serious and then just looked at him and said 'No' and I am just completely shocked that Emmanuel just said no to this guy's belief, and then Emmanuel goes on to say no again and then he says that he needs to come to church with us on Sunday. Emmanuel then turned to Elder Lewis and is just like you need to teach this guy about Jesus, what are you doing? and so then we invited our new friend Amin to church with us and at the moment he agreed to come with us, but he never came. But on the bright side, we have his number now and are going to try to meet with him again and hopefully have him come out to church next week! 

That experience just showed me how bold we need to be with the gospel. We need to be more bold in our knowledge that Christ truly did come to earth, to live a perfect life, set the example for us, establish His church, and then atone for our sins. Atheism is growing more and more popular here in Sweden and throughout the world and it's so sad to see, but it's also such a wonderful opportunity to be here standing as a special witness of Jesus Christ finding those that still believe and standing strong in the faith that we have. 

Have a good week everyone! Hej då

#varmodigt 

Pictures:

1) Selma!

2) Emmanuel and the boys looking fresh at church

3) the Ica encounter

4) one of my bus driver homies

5) The man in the tower, Ove Rosen! a member in the branch is in charge of the clock tower here in Gävle, so he took us up to the tower for a tour of it

6) the bells were loud and noisy when they went off in the tower haha

7) last of all, our good friend Juhani! We met him on the bus about a month and a half ago and he's so positive. Him and his family are going to start coming to church regularly!

2) Emmanuel and the boys looking fresh at church

3) the Ica encounter

4) one of my bus driver homies

5) The man in the tower, Ove Rosen! a member in the branch is in charge of the clock tower

here in Gävle, so he took us up to the tower for a tour of it

6) the bells were loud and noisy when they went off in the tower haha

7) last of all, our good friend Juhani! We met him on the bus about a month and a half ago and he's so positive.
Him and his family are going to start coming to church regularly! 

Testimony - A Weapon of Defense (6 Months!)

Email written: 1/22/18

5) very hard to see, but I burned a portion of this tie
to celebrate 6 months! 

Well everyone, I've hit the 6 month mark! The time has absolutely flown by and I don't know if I can say I've loved every minute of it, but I have loved all the experiences I've had, the people I've met, the friendships I've made and the life lessons I've learned. I find myself telling tons and tons of people every day that I wouldn't want to be doing anything else in my life at this moment, and doing this work is one of the biggest blessings I've ever received. 

So this week, I feel like we were getting attacked left and right. Whether it be on the bus, at the door step, on the street, or even in lessons, I felt like we were getting spiritually attacked. I'm thankful for the example of Äldste Lewis who is able to strengthen the both of us after a tough encounter with someone. He is always quick to share his testimony with me and it really helps me carry on. He doesn't let anyone else weaken his testimony, so it's always cool to hear him testify with power both in lessons, but also when we just are walking down the street just me and him. 

The first attack came to us when we went to visit our friends Saara and Marko. We thought that a one week break would be enough time for everyone to cool down and start back up from square one. Well, as soon as we knocked on the door, the argument began and didn't end until we left 30 minutes later. To be honest, I'm surprised we stayed as long as we did. Yeah, I think we heard just about every swear word in Swedish and English in that visit, and to top it all off, saying I lied about my personal experience of tithing how my family has been blessed because of it. So, I was a little on edge, getting pretty angry at this point. But then Äldste Lewis looked at me, just touched my knee to stop me from going off, and then he just bore his testimony so powerfully for Saara and Marko. I was completely shocked and I just felt all my feelings of anger disappear as the spirit filled the room. It was such a life-changing experience, and while Saara and Marko couldn't accept the message, Äldste Lewis and I were able to know that we had testified with all our hearts and that we knew that all this was true.

The next attack came when we went to visit our boy Stig at his shop. He had closed down for the night and so he said we could come and visit him and share our message. He had a million questions for us about life, ethics, morals, you name it, and he just wanted to see what we had to say about all his questions. It came down to him saying that 'I totally believe that you two guys are 100% honest and that you are not lying at all, but I feel like someone is lying to you two.(meaning parents, leaders)' Again, I was completely shocked. My parents and leaders have taught me so many amazing principles and so there was no way they could be wrong. I've received a testimony myself of this gospel, but it just doesn't feel right when someone says something against those that have raised me and taught me so many amazing things. Again, we were presented with a chance to just share testimony and that's exactly what we did! I then asked Stig if he had learned anything from the visit, and unfortunately he said no, but he did say that he feels like we have something to teach him still for him to learn, so we are very hopeful for the future! 

Yesterday we had a fantastic church meeting and we had interviews with President Youngberg. Both church and the interview were exactly what I needed to start this week off on a good foot! I was able to teach our 2nd hour class and Veronika was able to share her testimony, and then Selma as well, and I was just feeling so much strength from everyone that participated in the class. I'm so glad that God is watching out for me. 

I can't remember a whole lot that happened this week, but I do remember that I met someone on the bus this past week who plays volleyball and he invited me and Äldste Lewis to come play this afternoon, so I am so excited!! Life is just amazing and I know the next 18 months here in Sweden are just going to keep getting better. Love you all!

Pictures:

1) this is Lasse, I taught him about 4 months ago and we ran into him at Willy's. He told us that he shook Arnold Schwarzenegger's hand so that's pretty neat

2) cool church here in Gävle

3) got a fresh haircut from Sarah Heikki

4) our lil bro Roy, he lives in the same apartment with Anna-Baby (a member), he loves to scream and jump around...i'll try to attach a video

5) very hard to see, but I burned a portion of this tie to celebrate 6 months! 

-- Äldste Steele

1) this is Lasse, I taught him about 4 months ago and we ran into him at Willy's. He told us that he shook Arnold Schwarzenegger's hand so that's pretty neat

2) cool church here in Gävle

3) got a fresh haircut from Sarah Heikki

4) our lil bro Roy, he lives in the same apartment with Anna-Baby (a member),
he loves to scream and jump around.

I am the Stig

1. Our boy Stig

Well my friends, the days are finally getting brighter and we are now officially half way through winter. Life is going super well and it's just been another great week here in Gävle. This Friday, I'll be hitting my 6 month mark on the mission and so stay tuned next week for some pictures of a burned tie (it's tradition to burn a tie at 6 months, and then a white shirt at 1 year). It feels like I just left yesterday, but we are well into 2018 and life is not slowing down! 

This past week, we had a little bit of time to contact people downtown and we ended up meeting a guy named Stig. I immediately thought of my bro Apex Steele, the world's biggest Top Gear fan, and so we laughed for a while at his name after I had asked if he had ever seen Top Gear. He had a lot of questions about life and so we told him that we could meet sometime and help him find those answers, even though he said himself that he's a 'hard sell'. Well, after we met Stig, we've seen him on the bus 2 times now, and have had great conversations both times. We found out that he is the owner of a card/game shop and he invited us to check it out sometime, so today we made a trek on over to his Card shop and he ended up giving us each a free pack of Magic: The Gathering cards. I have absolute no desire to play the game, but it just showed me how amazing the people here in Sweden are, I just had to get to know them first!

The past week has been one of the toughest I've had so far. On monday night, after no one showed up to Family Home Evening, we decided to give our investigator Marko a call to try and swing by. Well, Marko didn't answer his phone, so we called Saara immediately after. She picked up the phone and we asked if we could come by for a quick visit. Well, Saara then just started going off on us saying no we can't come over, they don't want us to come back, and the law of tithing is the worst, the church is greedy, and so forth. My heart just broke. Marko was someone who truly understood the gospel of Jesus Christ and had decided himself to follow everything we taught him, but then other voices started pulling him this and that way, convincing him otherwise, that he doesn't need to follow all of God's commandments and that money is most important. We haven't had any other contact with them this week and so it just made me super sad. There are really no other words to describe how I feel than frustrated. It's not a frustration that I wanted my first baptism and it didn't happen, but it's a frustration that a child of God, who knows this message is true, is choosing otherwise. 

Thankfully, God is looking out for me and for my spiritual strength. After I found out that Marko and Saara didn't want to be visited anymore, I sent a quick text to my friend, Mihail Simovski, asking him to pray for our investigator, and that all can be okay in the future, and he said of course. The very next day, as I'm sitting at my desk, writing in my journal, I get a random phone call from Mihail, and so I answer the phone. I'm just like Mihail, what's up, you need something? And he just said that he had received a prompting he needed to call me, he had no idea what he was going to say, but he knew he needed to call me. So we talked for a good 15 minutes, about life, about my struggles, and he just listened and gave me a little pump-up speech so I could get back to work and not be so down. That phone call truly was inspiration, and I'm so thankful that Mihail was able to follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost and reach out to me when I needed it most. 

Then, later on in the week, I decided I needed to pray to God to get more faith. I felt as if my faith was lacking quite a bit and I really needed a boost from God. Well, the very next day, I'm on the phone with Selma, another one of our investigators. Selma has it pretty tough right now, doesn't have her own apartment, and so she can't have responsibility over her 8 year old daughter. She just wants to be able to have her own place, where she can be with her daughter and not be so stressed about everything else. I really have been praying my heart out for Selma, that everything in her life can be back in order, and I know that my boy Äldste Berlin has been as well. 

Well, on the phone call, she said that she had received her own apartment and that she would be moving in on the 1st of February. Not only had my prayers for her been answered, but also my prayer for faith was answered as well, as I truly witnessed a miracle. What was even more amazing that day, was when we visited our investigator Veronika, and asked her if she has prayed about the Book of Mormon, and she said that she has and she knows it's true. Miracle after miracle, and my faith is now stronger than ever. 

While life can be unbelievably difficult on the mission, it also has it's moments of joys, moments of miracles, and moments that you just never want to forget. Until next week kompisar. Ha det så bra!

Pictures:

1. Our boy Stig

2. Pizza with our grandpa Eric (on splits as well with Elder Waters!)

3. Another picture from splits, as Elder Waters and I walked into the train station, these two girls started kissing and whistling at us, we said nej tack we're with the church and we have a special message to share, they weren't interested but we got a selfie with one of them haha 

4. The squad (Karin, Ruben, Ella, Äldste Lewis, and some other dude visiting Familjen Sjökvist)

5. My son, Benjamin

6. Santa Clause came to visit one last time....

-- Äldste Steele

2. Pizza with our grandpa Eric (on splits as well with Elder Waters!)

3. Another picture from splits, as Elder Waters and I walked into the train station, these two girls started kissing and whistling at us, we said nej tack we're with the church and we have a special message to share, they weren't interested but we got a selfie with one of them haha 

4. The squad (Karin, Ruben, Ella, Äldste Lewis, and some other dude visiting Familjen Sjökvist)

5. My son, Benjamin

6. Santa Clause came to visit one last time....

The Bus Man

Email written: 1/8/18

Tjena Tjena! 

I've officially completed the first week of 2018 and if we're being real here....wasn't the best start to the new year because I came down with a pretty nasty cold at the end of the week. It's never fun to be sick as a missionary because all I want to do is go out and work hard, but then when it's -10 and windy, not the best idea to go out and visit a bunch of people, so we've spent some more time than usual at the apartment the past 2 days, but I'm on the recovery and it's going to be a fantastic week!

3) the new comp!! Äldste Lewis 

On Wednesday, I got my new companion, Äldste Lewis! He's a young missionary that just spent the past 6 months in Jönköping and is now in his 2nd area. He's originally from Idaho and for some reason, not a lot of people in Sweden know where Idaho is, so that makes for good conversations haha. Like my 2 previous companions, Äldste Lewis is a hard-worker and I'm thankful for his example. 

As of this past Saturday, we have taught our investigator Marko all the lessons that need to be taught before baptism and were even on track to schedule a baptismal interview for before his baptism this upcoming Saturday. I was on cloud 9 after our tithing/fasting lesson and he accepted all the commandments that we taught about and talked a lot about making it to the temple with his wife in a year. Unfortunately, Marko didn't come to church yesterday, so we need to push his baptism out a little farther until he comes to church again. Please keep him in your prayers and his wife Saara as well.

On Friday, we were invited to a brunch with Familjen Sjökvist and of course we accepted. We traveled out to their house, had an amazing time, and then it came to leave. Johan, the dad of the family, asked where we wanted to get dropped off. I said, just drop us off at the Valbo bus stop so we can ride the bus and have more opportunities to find people. Well, I really didn't think much of it, as far as contacting on busses and all that jazz, but then yesterday at church both my companion and Johan got up to bare their testimonies. My companion first said how thankful he was for my example to just talk to everyone in our path, especially on busses, and then Johan said that he was completely shocked and quite amazed actually at how blessed they are to have such hardworking missionaries that would rather ride public transportation to find people than easily get dropped off by Johan at our apartment. Well, to build upon the story even more, one of our investigators Juhani, was someone that I met on the bus, and he came to church with 3 kids! So, I kind of got the nickname 'The Bus Man' from a member in the branch. I'm so thankful for the chance every day to be out here in Gävle, opening my mouth and preaching the gospel. There isn't a better feeling in the world people.

I thought to end this email with an experience that I've actually been able to share with a lot of the members here and our investigators that happened back in April of last year. As a lot of you know, our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson passed away early on in the week. After I received the news, I thought a lot about my personal testimony of President Monson and how he personally impacted me in my life. I remember in April 2017, I was able to go to all 5 sessions of general conference and that was such an amazing experience. I remember I was just sitting there with Alanna waiting for one of the sessions to begin, and then all of a sudden everyone just stands up since the prophet had walked into the conference center. I look over and Alanna is shedding a few tears (som vanligt) but I just look over and go, hey is everything all right. And she said, yeah, it's just that a prophet of God just walked into the room. And after she said those words the Spirit hit me like a brick wall and since that moment, I've known that Thomas S. Monson was a prophet of God! I know that the next prophet, Russell M. Nelson is also called of God and will lead this church with the all the keys of priesthood that have been restored to this earth. 

I hope you all have a great week! Don't forget to #havecourage Hejdåååå

Pictures:

1) Ate some Sushi with the Uppsala elders and one of their investigators

2) My homies Anne-Lill och Janne Olsson

3) the new comp!! Äldste Lewis 

4) Our investigator's (Cynthia) oldest kid Abel. He likes to punch me as hard as he can and is quite the trouble maker

-- Äldste Steele

1) Ate some Sushi with the Uppsala elders and one of their investigators

2) My homies Anne-Lill och Janne Olsson

4) Our investigator's (Cynthia) oldest kid Abel. He likes to punch me as hard as he can and is quite the trouble maker

Gott Nytt År

Email written: 1/1/2018

Gott Nytt År Allihoppa!

2) hejdå äldste

Well, this week went by so quickly, yet again. Time flies when you're having fun. Sadly, Äldste Berlin and I's time was cut short, as we found out on Saturday that he would be moving to Stockholm to be an assistant to the mission president. I was able to learn quite a bit from him and I'm thankful for the 6 weeks I was able to be companions with him. My new companion is Äldste Lewis, a missionary who is just one transfer ahead of me. I'll be meeting him on Wednesday as we travel back to Gävle together for another 6 weeks in the city that I gladly call home!!

Highlights of the week:

• Our investigator, Marco, was married in our church building to a member! It was the most simple wedding I've ever been to and so awesome that Äldste Berlin and I were able to support them as no one else came. Marco is set to be baptized in 2 weeks and is really making a lot of progress. He is willing to change everything in his life to follow God, be baptized, and prepare for the temple in 1 year. I will get those pictures next week of the wedding!
• I read the entire Book of Mormon this past week! That is now the 4th time that I had read the book and I know it to be true. This time when I prayed about the truthfulness of the book, a thought came into my head. "Why did you leave everything behind?" Well, I thought, it's because I know it's all true!
• I tried surströmming for the first time and it was 0/10 do not recommend. It's basically 5 year old rotten fish, so it smells bad and tastes just as bad as it smells.
• Äldste Berlin and I received a bunch of compliments on our Swedish this week. One man said "You two speak fantastic Swedish. There were 3 girls here before that just spoke terrible Swedish, no one could understand them hahah" and then a member later that day said "Wow, I am impressed with your Swedish abilities. You don't have the American accent that so many people have. It's quite refreshing(something like that) haha" It's great to know that the Lord is helping us out big time and allowing us to develop as effective tools in his hand!

1) a snow homie

Each week that goes by, I begin to love Gävle more and more and it truly feels like my new home, a place that I never want to leave. As the year 2017 came to a close, I really began to think about my experiences from the year and the experiences that I want to have in the coming year. I thought a lot about something that I said a lot as I was leaving home and something I said a lot at the beginning of my mission:

"I'm putting everything on hold for 2 years"

I came to realize, that I didn't put everything on hold for 2 years. My family, my friends, my experiences, only shaped me into the missionary I needed to be. I don't need to dwell on the past and think about what life could be like if I were home. I'm living in the present, working hard every single day for the welfare of these peoples souls. I'm doing the most important thing in my life and I'm loving it samtidigt! There's truly no greater work man can do in his life. That's a fact jack!

Ha det så bra!

Pictures:

1) a snow homie

2)hejdå äldste

3)anna-baby, a member we visited this past week #sass

4) the dome kyrkan in Uppsala is something else!

5) same thing 

--Äldste Steele

3) anna-baby, a member we visited this past week #sass

4) the dome kyrkan in Uppsala is something else!

5) same thing