¡Qué Bueno!

Email written: 3/26/18

4) Templet

And just like that, another transfer is in the books and Äldste Baggett and I will be staying together at least another 6 weeks! We've really been working hard and while it's been pretty tough to find people to teach the past 6 weeks, we're beginning to see a lot of really big miracles here in Stockholm. Also, the sisters here in Stockholm put in some serious work, but unfortunately they are doubling out and moving to Alingsås, so we will take over a lot of the teaching they were doing. 

Äldste Baggett and I were able to go to the temple this past week in Västerhaninge! It was such an amazing experience. It was so great to finally go back to the temple as I hadn't been since the MTC. We were the youngest people in the temple by about 50 years so that was fun. Also, a random man in the temple came up to us and offered to buy us lunch and you better believe we accepted his offer. 

This week has been super weird since we had taken our P-day on Tuesday to go the temple and we went on splits with the zone leaders later on in the week, but it had a super good ending to it. When I went on splits this past week with Äldste Martineau, we were out knocking on some doors on Lidingö. We end up meeting this older guy, 83 years old, with Alzheimer's, and he is not religious at all, but he just starts talking our ears off. He talks for a solid 30 minutes with us just standing there listening, and every time we tried to say something, he would just interrupt us and keep talking. Well, in the middle of the conversation, our phone starts ringing and I look down and it says GU Carmen (GU meaning old investigator) I'm just like....who in the world is this? And so I excuse myself real quick and take this phone call. 

I begin talking with Carmen, and she begins to tell me her life story. About how she comes from Peru originally and almost all of her siblings are Mormon, and her Mom was Mormon as well. About how 2 months ago, the missionaries had called her the same exact day her mother died and how they had called her a few years earlier the same day she got divorced. About how she said she read the Book of Mormon twice, all the way through. About how tough her life had been recently and how she followed the counsel of her brother: "Call the missionaries" 

We got the phone call Thursday night, and then taught her the very next evening. The spirit was so unbelievably strong and even Carmen recognized it. She kept saying how she felt this warm feeling, and how just kept remembering all her good feelings from reading the Book of Mormon and from what the missionaries had taught her before. We ended the lesson with a blessing and it was just so powerful! And Carmen even offered a closing prayer in Spanish, and Äldste Baggett and I understood it...#wild 

Carmen ended up coming to church yesterday and there just happens to be a Peruvian family in our ward here in Stockholm, and she loved every minute of it. Please everyone, keep her in your prayers! Good things truly are happening here in Stockholm. 

And as I write out this story, I remember back to the prayer that I said just the night before we got the phone call from Carmen. I asked that we could begin teaching someone who was ready to be baptized, and sure enough, and yet again, my prayer was answered.

I want to just invite all of you to check out general conference this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. This church truly is led by a prophet of God, Russell M. Nelson, and by apostles as well. We are so lucky to be hearing from them this next week! I know that each and everyone of us that watches conference has the chance to receive personal revelation- an answer to a question, a prompting to do something, or maybe even a confirmation that this church and this gospel true.

Hope you all have a fantastic week, Och Glad Påsk!

Pictures:

1) My homie Tom Heidenberg that let me play his trombone! 

2) a friendly cat we met while out tracting

3) also found some sick shades on the sidewalk on the way home one night 

4) Templet

5) Last time at the musical with Paulino, Jeremie, and Ä. Martineau! 

-- Äldste Steele

1) My homie Tom Heidenberg that let me play his trombone!

2) a friendly cat we met while out tracting

3) also found some sick shades on the sidewalk on the way home one night 

5) Last time at the musical with Paulino, Jeremie, and Ä. Martineau! 

0.333333333333 and #blessed

Email written: 3/19/18

Tjena kompisar! Another week is in the books and time just keeps flying by. Today, I hit 8 months on the mission, meaning I'm now 1/3 of the way there! :O It's been a wild ride so far and I'm so thankful that I chose to serve a mission. It's been such a huge blessing and I know that it will just continue to get better as I progress in the language and help others come unto Christ. 

It's been a pretty normal week here in Stockholm, however, we did have quite an interesting day on Tuesday. Äldste Baggett and I usually eat lunch in the apartment, but after we made the plan for the day we felt it would be best if we made some sandwiches and ate somewhere else for the sake of convenience. We went out for the day and tried to do a swing by, but the building was "port-coded" meaning it was locked and requires a code or key to get in. (Most buildings in Stockholm are port coded) So we then tried to talk to people in the area and invite them to learn more about the church, but nobody was really down. At this point, we decided, well I guess it's time we eat lunch. We go inside one of the tunnelbana stations "Danderyd Sjukhus" and look all around for a place to sit down and eat our sandwiches and the only place is this small little bench outside a convenience type store. We sit down and start eating and not long after we began, a kid about our age walks up to us and starts talking to us. At first, Äldste Baggett and I thought he was a member or something because no one just comes up and talks to us. That's completely against the social norm here in Sweden. So we start talking for a bit, get to know each other, and then he asks us if we have any pain in our head or neck or back. We're just like...um not really...So then things kind of get awkward and the he says "Oh ok, I'm just going around trying to heal people" He then went on to talk about his "miracle church" and about how he had healed people before and he just wants to go out and use his gift, as he called it.

Well, as this kid is rambling on, another man comes to sit down right by us and starts talking to us immediately. He had seen missionaries before and he wanted to know if we think that white people are better than black people. We clarified for him that we all are equal before God as we are all his children. Well after we answer his question he's just like, "Do you have an extra Book of Mormon? I lost mine..." Hahaha what do you mean you lost your Book of Mormon? After we gave him a Book, he starts flipping through some of the pages and then gets up and leaves. Not long after, our miracle healing friend runs to catch a bus and Äldste Baggett and I look at each other flabbergasted and decide that we need to eat out in public more because crazy experiences like that happen. It's probably been my most effective lunch break on my mission.

Well, just when you thought this day couldn't get any wilder, we ended it with some knocking doors out on one of the islands called Lidingö (Lee-ding-uh) One of the last doors we knocked, a very old lady answers the door wearing a very very short dress. Like we're talking at least 85 years old and dressed up like she's about to go to the club. So it already started off very uncomfortable, and we begin talking about faith in God and in Christ and read a passage from the Book of Mormon for her and it turns out she is very religious and was very happy that we came by and we're sharing a message with her. Just as we're about to say hejdå and go to the next door, she tells Ä. Baggett to come closer, and so he walks a little bit closer to the door and then she puts her hand on his head AND STARTS GIVING MY HOMEBOY A BLESSING. I'm just standing there in shock as my dude is getting blessed and I hide behind the door and start laughing uncontrollably. The line that got me was "Snälla låt inte honom gå till helvetet " Well, just when I thought we could get out of there, she tells me to come closer and sticks out her hand over my heart and starts blessing me. It was quite the experience #blessed #live

posted on Facebook 3/19/18

to the Swedish Missionary Moms page

by Angela Hunter who was visiting Sweden

We meet all kinds of different people here on the mission and have the weirdest experiences, but that's what makes it so fun and so interesting. While we all have our own unique stories and experiences, we all came from the same place, we're all here to learn, grow, experience joy, and we're all on the same journey back to our Heavenly Father. God has revealed his perfect plan to his prophets on the earth and I'm so thankful to be here in Sweden sharing that with others and also to y'all every week.

Until next week, ha det fint!

Pictures:

1) cool church 

2) ingenting (meaning nothing) 0.7 km away 

3) horse cop

-- Äldste Steele

1) cool church 

2) ingenting (meaning nothing) 0.7 km away

3) horse cop

Äldste Steele Goes To Gymnasiet

Email written: 3/12/18

Hejsan!! Det är otroligt att jag har redan varit i Stockholm en månad..tiden går fort alltså!

This week was quite eventful and began with a zone conference here in Stockholm. All of my companions are in this zone so that was super exciting to see Elder Lewis and spend a lot of time with Elder Harper and Berlin! It was a fantastic conference and we received quite a bit of training for the phones we'll be getting next month. Pretty soon I'm going to be saying to all my homies "Add me on Facebook!" haha. 

3) Våra elever!!!!!!!!

This week, Äldste Baggett and I had the opportunity to teach a class of about 30 kids at Viktor Rydberg Gymnasiet. Gymnasiet is pretty much the Sweden equivalent to high school, so we were teaching kids our age. It was such a crazy experience and we were actually able to do it because my dude Elder Berlin arranged it for us. Before we went to teach the class, we made a PowerPoint on the computer so we could have an "official" presentation when we came to this ritzy school. Making a ppt stressed me out a ton and I remembered how much I don't miss school haha! Well, as soon as Elder Baggett and I walked into the classroom, he turned around and just said let's not do the PowerPoint and then we just stood up front and started teaching. I kept thinking the worst possible case scenarios, but everything worked like clockwork and all the students were asking really good questions and were super interested in the church. We gave them all Articles of Faith cards and let them know they could call or text us if they had any more questions. You never know what could come out of something so simple as teaching a high school class. That's what's so great about missionary work! We do all that we can to open our mouths and teach other people the gospel and then Lord takes over and performs miracles! 

Also, this week I almost died....

On Wednesday nights we have dinner at the YSA center and then usually stay for institute right afterwards if an investigator or a less active we are working with comes. Well, as we started eating dinner, I was eating pretty fast. I was hungry and the food was way good so I wasn't just going to take little bites. We'll, I'm pretty sure you all know where this is going...I started choking and I start panicking. I pick up my glass of water and start chugging down water but all of it is getting stuck in my throat because there's food in it. I quickly stand up, pushing my chair back and dropping my fork on my plate. I look at Elder Baggett and he's just like "umm...what?" And then I point to my throat and he still isn't understanding and then I remember back to elementary school where we learned the international sign of choking and so I put both hands around my neck and then Elder Baggett springs into action. My life has already flashed before my eyes and this point. But, just as I thought I was done for, my comp comes behind me, doing the Heimlich maneuver, saving my life in front of about 20 other people. Thank goodness for Elder Baggett #live #wild #yolo

2) stadshuset

1) another cool church we saw around town!

Life is good, and the work is moving forward. Jag kan inte klaga! Hope you all have a great week! Ciao!

Pictures:

1) another cool church we saw around town!

2) stadshuset

3) Våra elever!!!!!!!!

-- Äldste Steele

Beast from the East

Email written: 3/5/18

Hallå!! 

Well, another week is in the books and the work keeps moving forward. Tomorrow we have zone conference here in Stockholm and so I'm super excited to see Elder Lewis and get the update on good ol' Gävle. As far as Stockholm is concerned, we are finally seeing things come together and we know it will just keep on getting better from here. Right now we have a very positive investigator named Nils and we had an awesome lesson this past week and at the end of the lesson he gave the most sincere prayer asking God if all that we have taught him is true. It was so simple, yet so sincere. I've learned so much from the people I've taught about prayer and how I can make my prayers more meaningful. Prayer is when we have the chance to actually communicate with our Father in Heaven and we really get to open the window of blessings when we are sincere about it! 

So this past week has been absolutely FREEZING!! Apparently some crazy winter wind from Russia came over to Sweden and it got down to -20 C this past Tuesday and everyone was freaking out because it was not normal for Stockholm to get that cold. People are calling it the Beast from the East. So with that being said, we decided to do a lot of finding on the Tunnelbana (Metro) instead of getting attacked by the harsh, cold wind. We ended up meeting some super cool people, like an old lady that is super good at the card game Bridge and has traveled all around the world to play it and even owned a bridge club in England at one point. Old ladies in Sweden are the funniest...but sometimes like to say some very choice words when the bus doesn't come on time haha!

On Saturday, Elder Baggett and I decided to start the morning off with some contacting near Drottningatan, which is the main shopping street here in downtown Stockholm. We thought that since the sun was finally out and there were lots of people that we would have a ton of success, but boy were we wrong. We contacted people for 2 hours and there wasn't a single person who wanted to talk to us and we just had so many awkward encounters with people because would just stare at us and walk away without even saying anything, so things were pretty rough. We were kind of confused as to why people were so mad on Saturday, but then as we walked down Drottningatan, we realized it was probably due to the smell. Apparently some sewage had burst somewhere so the entire street and all the stores smelled hemskt. Well, I was feeling pretty down, so I said a quick little prayer on the bus on the way home for lunch, and just prayed that we would have a better end to the day. 

Well thank goodness God answers prayers because that night we decided to go out and knock some doors in an new area that we had a good feeling about. The old area that we had been working in was full of old people that didn't want to talk with us haha. So, we start knocking on some doors, people are being relatively nice (except for a guy telling us to STICK!), when we came to the last door of the night. We knock on the door and a mom in pajamas with her two little kids answers the door, and so immediately I'm like oh I'm so sorry, it looks like it's bed time, we can come back another time. But then the mom is just like, no we're about to eat dinner! We then had a really nice conversation and then brought up that we're from the church and she is just like 'WOAH THAT IS SO COOL' and she said that she would love to have us back. She is from the Canary islands and has a Swedish husband and they have two really small kids and we are so excited to see what comes out of it. 

So many times God lets our faith be tested before we are able to witness the miracles. We just need to be patient and trust in Him. 

Have a great week! Sorry no pictures, didn't have time to take any :(

-- Äldste Steele

8 minutes later...

pictures arrive:

Me and the homie

Elder Winkel