Two Greenies and the Streets of Borlänge

Email written: 10/30/17

Hur är läget?? Wow, another fantastic week here in the beautiful country of Sweden. The first snow has hit several parts of Sweden already, and so snow in Gävle is just right around the corner. It's also started to drop into the negatives (Celsius) so vintern kommer.....

1)We helped a member put up Christmas lights before it gets too cold

Quick update on Blessing: Blessing came to church this past week and I was able to translate for him again! It's such a cool experience to translate, especially when I've only been in this country for 2 months. My translation isn't perfect, but I get the point across to him and he is uplifted nonetheless. As we were sitting there talking after sacrament meeting and I asked him how he has been feeling since he started coming to church. He told me that he really loves coming to church and that he actually has felt a lot happier since he started coming. We are working with him to be baptized at the end of next month so we will see how things continue to progress with him!

2/3) Me and Ä. Ahonen

Now, to the the highlight of the week. We went on splits this past Friday and I was companions with an elder who has been in Sweden for only 3 weeks. His name is Äldste Ahonen, and he actually comes from Finland. He's a little bit older than most (21), because military service is required in Finland. As much as Ä. Ahonen and Liljenquist tried to get things set up for us to do, they came up with nothing, so we were left to hit the streets and contact all afternoon. I really was terrified since I've only been here 9 weeks, and him 3 weeks, and we are both still pretty rocky at Swedish, especially when understanding people. Well, in the end, that day with Ä. Ahonen, a man I would definitely call my own brother, turned out to be the best day of my mission this far. During the entire contacting stund, I understood every single person we talked to, except for one, and I only had a hard time with Swedish in one of the people we talked to. We testified with power and we knew exactly what needed to be said in exactly the right moments. The help that we received from God was incredible and we got 10 potential investigators (basically people who switch numbers and want to meet to learn more). It was such a remarkable day and I'm never going to forget it! 

Funny Story of the week comes from our contacting stund in Borlänge. We came across a man who talked in a super high pitched voice. Ä. Ahonen knew immediately that he didn't come from Sweden and then we found out that he was from Finland, so the two had a nice conversation in Finnish, and I just stood back and listened, not having any clue what was going on. After the conversation, Ä. Ahonen looked at me and said that guy was crazy. I had him translate for me, and apparently the guy was talking about crazy little monsters that he sees that climb over him and do bad stuff to him. He also talked about how they broke into the hospital and stole drugs to put into his coffee. Stay away from drugs kids.

2/3) Me and Ä. Ahonen

Other than that, this week was just absolutely crazy, with one thing planned after another. We are getting fed all the time by the members here in Gävle, and I'll be honest...I've put on a few pounds. I'll lose it later and enjoy the food while I can haha! We are doing a lot of good here in Gävle and things are just going to keep on getting better as we work hard and work alongside the awesome members here.

Tonight, we will be travelling to Stockholm for zone conference tomorrow and I am super excited to go back to Stockholm! It's going to be the perfect start to the week ahead. 

Well, have a great week everyone! Until next week...frid ut Älskar er.

Pictures:

1)We helped a member put up Christmas lights before it gets too cold

2/3) Me and Ä. Ahonen

-- Äldste Steele

Du har kommit till....

Email written: 10/23/17

2) me and the pump

Hejsan! Another week has gone by here in Gävle, and as of this past Thursday, I have been on the mission for exactly 3 months! When you compare it to my trainer, Elder Harper, who hits his year mark next week, it doesn't really seem like much. I still have a long way to go, but I've come a long way already and I am going to keep on progressing!

This week was a little bit of a tough one. The subject line references something I heard way too often this week. It's what usually happens when someone doesn't answer the phone (You have come to.... på engelska). Most of our investigators didn't answer their phones this week and we had absolutely no contact with them. So we really have no idea if they are making any personal progress and if they will still continue to prepare for baptism in the coming weeks. It was really hard to go through this week with not much after the week that we had last week. 

Nevertheless, the week ended on a high note! On Saturday, we went to a member's house for lunch and to share a little message (budskap) with them. Well, when we got there, they thought it would be fun if we carved a pumpkin in preparation for Halloween. Yes, Halloween is a thing here in Sweden! The family has an exchange student from Germany staying with them, so we all carved together and had a really great time. The pumpkin turned out super well! But what was more important, was the impact that the pumpkin carving had on the exchange student, Louise. After finishing the pumpkin, as Louise did most of the carving since she's an artist, she talked about when she was younger how she could never carve a pumpkin perfectly and her mom would always get mad at her for it. Well, this time she made it perfect and expressed how she wished she could tell her mom about it, but then we found out that her mom died a few years ago due to cancer. I was able to share with her that she would be able to see her Mom again because death is not the end. It was a super cool moment, and it really made an impact on Louise's life.

The other awesome thing that happened, was Blessing came to church again. Blessing is really making awesome progress and loves how he feels when he comes to church. We are going to meet him tomorrow to begin teaching the commandments to make the next steps for baptism! I took Blessing over to meet the branch president and our branch president just said to him, so you want to be baptized? and then Blessing lit up and said yes! So things are going super well with Blessing and we are super excited to continue working with him. 

We have so many things already planned for this upcoming week, so we are going to be staying extra busy and working hard. Also, the first snow is just around the corner, and I'm quite terrified. Anyone have any good tips on how to stay warm in the winter? Advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Also, one final thought....an issue that is brought up in almost every contacting stund is that people can't seem to believe in God with things like war that go on in the world. I'm hoping to start building a good library of scriptures/talks that help answer this question, so if any of you have insights or thoughts on this topic, please send me an email and let me know! Tack!

Ha det fint mina käre vänner! 

--Äldste Steele

1) Just got done going ham (skinka) in Innebandy..
basically floor hockey

Pictures

1) Just got done going ham (skinka) in Innebandy...basically floor hockey

2) me and the pump

3) the pumpkin

3) the pumpkin

Forget Yourself and Go to Work

Email written: 10/16/17

Hallå mina käre vänner! Allt är bra här i Gävle. Hur går det med er?

So this past week was probably the craziest week so far on the mission. So many miracles happened this week and we got so much work done here in Gävle. To give you all a summary before explaining this past week, we got 6 new investigators this past week, and 5 investigators have set dates to be baptized. So..how in the world did all of this success happen?? I've got 3 words to describe it: hard work and diligence. 

At the beginning of the week, we met with a man by the name of Rudes. He was born in Jamaica, lived some of his life in America, and has been in Sweden the past 9 or 10 years. He had never officially met with the missionaries, only had switched numbers a few years ago. Well, we had a lesson with him over the Restoration, brought up all that we have to do to be baptized, and he agreed to work towards baptism! It was so cool because he agreed with everything our church stands for and the message we had to share. When we get a baptismal date, we have to call the mission president. When we called the mission president, he thanked us for calling, but then he told us that 3 wasn't enough. He expected a call in 2-3 days with another baptismal date. We immediately got back to work.

The next day we were in the middle of studying as a companionship when we got a text from an old investigator by the name of Serdjo. He told us that he could meet us at the library right then. We dropped everything we were doing and got to the library 15 mins later. We didn't have the most time in the world to meet with him, but we had a powerful lesson and he set up a baptismal date! Meeting with him was not in our plan for that day, but apparently it was in God's plan for us. 

On Saturday, we went to visit an old investigator by the name of Cynthia. We showed up to teach and her husband, 2 kids, and a friend were all there. They were all watching a soccer game, and we asked them to turn it off for the lesson. Well, they turned off the sound and still had the TV on. It was very hard to compete with little kids running around and a soccer game playing in the background. But, Elder Harper and I were determined to keep going, hoping that someone would listen to us. Well, the friend who was over, Blessing, did listen to us. He accepted a Book of Mormon and agreed to come to church tomorrow. Well, sure enough he showed up to church yesterday. Since he couldn't speak Swedish, someone needed to translate for him. Elder Harper went to help pass the sacrament, so it was just me and Blessing for the first part of the meeting. I began translating for him, and I felt that I really could translate the rest of the meeting. So that is exactly what I did. I was able to translate a whole hour long meeting for Blessing. It was truly a miracle, because 6 weeks ago, I really didn't understand anything that was going on. The Spirit truly will bless us in times of need and according to the needs of the people we are helping. Blessing wanted to stay for the rest of church, so we found a classroom to teach a lesson. Well, Syster Christensen, a missionary who just completed her mission, was with her family and they came to church in Gävle. Since they spoke English as well, we all were there for the lesson with Blessing. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and at the end of the lesson, he asked us how he could be baptized in this church. He has set a date to be baptized November 18th. 

There's just so much that happens that can't be described in an email. Y'all will just have to wait another 21 months to hear the full stories. 

Amazing things are happening in Gävle and all throughout Sweden. Thank you for your prayers and for you support as I continue to work hard here as a missionary. I love you all! 

So funny story, since we were working so hard this past week, taking pictures didn't even cross our minds. Here's a picture of Elder Harper and I on our first day together as companions. 

-- Äldste Steele

BONUS email received 10/16/17:

So we actually ended up visiting the house of John Forsgren, the first missionary in Sweden. They have a statue of him just right outside his old house. 

The story of John Forsgren is super interesting because he grew up here in Gävle, moved to America for a bit, and then he came back to Gävle, baptized a bunch of people, got thrown in jail, they burned his Books of Mormon, he told them that the city would burn just like they were burning the books, sure enough a few years later, half the city burned down.....what a legend. 

Love y'all

-- Äldste Steele

The Swedish Texas Road House

Email written: 10/9/18

Hallå!

1) Me and a good 'ol pal of mine

I have officially completed my first transfer in Sweden! Transfers are 6 week periods that the mission is split up into. Over 2 years, there will be 17 transfers, so this means that I am 2/17 done with the mission since the MTC is counted as the first! I have grown so much this transfer and can't wait to see what this next transfer has in store!

A quick update on Veronika! This week was very, very crazy for both us and Veronika, so all the times that we tried to meet fell through. I was feeling pretty down about it, since it is so important to keep contact with someone with baptismal plans, and I was worried things might not work out. But then, she showed up to church yesterday and really enjoyed it!! And then after church, we invited her to join us at our member meal at the Sjökvists, and she came with us. The members are really awesome here and are really showing their friendship to Veronika. We had an amazing lesson about faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end-which is known as the gospel of Jesus Christ! Veronika is scheduled to be baptized on November 4th and we are all so happy to see her prepare for baptism. 

As far as the craziness of our week, it began with splits on Wednesday. My district leader, Äldste Liljenquist, came down to Gävle to be my companion for the day. We got a lot of work done before we went to meet a member at the city square. She feeds us every week and had told me she was preparing something for my birthday, so I was super nervous/excited for what she had planned. We met up, and then she ended up taking us to a restaurant, which is basically the Texas road house of Sweden. They even had peanuts on the table to throw onto the ground. We ate SO much food, and I was just amazed at the generosity of this member. I am forever grateful for what she and her husband did for us!

The next day, we planned to have district meeting in Gävle. Well my companion ended up getting stuck in Borlänge because all the trains got cancelled for the day. So, I ended up being comps with Ä. Liljenquist for another day. They finally boarded a train in Borlänge (the only train that left Borlänge that day), and we all met up late in the afternoon. Since Ä. Liljenquist is training next transfer, he had to go down to Stockholm for a training meeting. So, that left Friday for a tripanionship with Ä. Barney. We all had a really good time together, but having three people in one companionship is quite difficult. I hope I don't have to do it again in the near future. 

3) Skål!! The dessert was basically an
apple pie milkshake

Other than that, we are continuing to give it our all here in the beautiful city of Gävle. A lot of times to get through the day, you just have to look back on your experiences and just have a good laugh. Here are two funny things from this week in contacting:

1) A man came up to us telling us that he was Tom Cruise's doppelganger (false), and then he told us a bunch of Tom Cruise facts, including every movie he has ever been in. 

2) A drunk man on a bike grabbed onto my backpack and yelled EVEREST (which is the brand of my backpack). He then asked us how tall everest was, and then he yelled a random number, something like 6,547, and then biked off. 

Being a missionary is so awesome. Not only is my personal faith in Christ strengthened every day, but I also have the opportunity to help others strengthen their faith in Christ. I love it. 

Ha det så bra!

Pictures:

1) Me and a good 'ol pal of mine

2) Ä. Liljenquist, Ä. Barney, Ä. Harper, och Jag at a world food festival

3) Skål!! The dessert was basically an apple pie milkshake

4) Another picture of Sweden

-- Äldste Steele

2) Ä. Liljenquist, Ä. Barney, Ä. Harper, och Jag at a world food festival

4) Another picture of Sweden

Salvation or Pokemon Go, You Decide

Email written: 10/2/17

Hejsan! 

3. The Uppsala elders came up here to celebrate
my big 2-0, love these guys!

This past week has been so awesome! I am really getting a hang of being a missionary and adjusting very well to life here in Sweden. Me and my companion Äldste Harper are really starting to click and seeing a lot of success here in Gävle. Many referrals are coming in from members and contacting out on the street is more fun since we have really great conversations with people. Most people end up not wanting to meet again to learn more, but it feels good to know that we are spreading the light we have here in Gävle.

If you're wondering about the subject line, it's because Pokemon Go is huge here in Gävle right now. Our church building is actually a gym and usually anywhere from 2 to 15 people are outside just catching pokemon. It is quite interesting to see since it was so big a year ago. When we were out contacting a man said he was too busy to talk because he had to catch some pokemon. Never in a million years would I have guessed that a grown man would choose pokemon over a nice talk about Jesus Christ, but I guess I was wrong. 

Veronika is doing super well and we taught her the Plan of Salvation this past week. She is super excited to get baptized in one month. We are going to do everything we can so that she is prepared for that day. 

This past week has been a little hard on me emotionally facing a lot of rejection here, time and time again. It can be really hard to press forward and continue trying to find those that will accept the gospel. Äldste Harper is doing really well helping me through it all and he really is an awesome trainer. We pick each other up and keep moving forward with determination to serve. 

Apparently, there hasn't been a baptism here in over a year, but due to our hard work, obedience, and strong faith in Christ, along with 100% help with the members here, we are seeing miracles day in and day out. It is truly an amazing thing to see our hard work pay off as we bring souls unto Christ. 

Probably the craziest event of the week, however, was when we went to teach two guys who just moved here from Nigeria. Their sister is actually a member of the church and she invited us to teach all 3 of them. Long story short, there was lots of yelling, preaching, quoting of bible verses, and just lots of strong emotions in the room. It also lasted close to 2 hours, so that was quite fun. It was such a wild and fun environment, I really didn't know what to do! In the end, they agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! I'm excited to return for another lesson now that I am prepared for the atmosphere. 

Well, it is time for me to get back and enjoy my birthday here in the good ol' country of Sweden. I really love it here and I love the people as well. 

Have an awesome week everyone. Until next week, vi ses!

Pictures:

1. the leaves changed almost overnight, i love this color

2. the first baptism ever in Sweden happened in Gävle!!!!!!!!!!

3. The Uppsala elders came up here to celebrate my big 2-0, love these guys!

4. A member bought a bunch of caramels, but remembered she couldn't eat them, so she gave them all to us, hello cavity central haha

-- Äldste Steele

1. the leaves changed almost overnight,
I love this color!

2. the first baptism ever in Sweden
happened in Gävle!!!!!!!!!!

4. A member bought a bunch of caramels, but remembered she couldn't eat them,
so she gave them all to us, hello cavity central haha