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| 1) jag och äldste thompson |
Well, I'm officially one week into training and so far it has been an absolute blast, yet so exhausting. My new companion is Äldste Thompson and he's spent the past 6 weeks in Washington, but he finally got his visa to come to Sweden and I'm glad that he is finally here. Äldste Thompson is such a prepared missionary and I'm glad that I get to be his first companion here in Sweden. As a trainer, I am always teaching something to help my new missionary learn what it's like to be a missionary here in Sweden, including that language. It's hard to remember how good/bad I was at Swedish when I came to Sweden, but I'll just say that I'm thankful for Äldste Harper for being patient for me as I learned Swedish, and I'm thankful that I have been able to study and develop the Christlike attribute of patience to help my companion learn Swedish :)
So 2 really cool stories.....the first is a story from the bros down in Gubbängen.
Gubbängen is an area of the mission that is located in the south side of Stockholm on the other side of Gamla stan. When I lived in Stockholm, we would go on splits with the elders down in Gubbängen and the zone leaders as well. One time, I went on splits with my good buddy Äldste Winkel and when we first got together we sat down and had a really good companionship study on what we were going to teach one of their investigators. We prayed mightly to find out what we would teach and as we thought about we wanted to teach, we knew we needed to show a Bible video and as we thought more about which Bible video to show, we felt very strongly to show the Prodigal Son bible video. Well, we went through the day, having tons of great experiences, and then we came to the lesson at the end of the day. As we met up with the investigator, we saw that he had brought 2 of his friends along with them that were also interested! So, we all met with them in the church building and had one of the most spiritual lessons that I've had on my mission. After we showed the video, one of the guys that had come along with the original investigator started crying and mentioned that his mom had told him the story of the prodigal son when he was younger and now that his mom had passed away, it just felt really special to him to now see a video of the prodigal son. Well, time went on and the other 2 that were in the lesson kind of lost interest and weren't coming to church, but Ronald was, pretty much every week. And, to top it all off, he was baptized just a few short weeks ago, and after his baptism, he sent a text to the Gubbängen elders letting them know that the video that we had shared that day had impacted his life so much and was one of the reasons that led to his baptism. You honestly have no idea what impact you'll have on someones life, and I'm just glad that Elder Winkel and I were able to plan, prepare, and teach by the Spirit.
The other story is about my new best friend, Max. Max is the 8 year old son to a family that we have begun teaching her in Örnsköldsvik. Max wants to one day become a author and so after a visit that we had one day, Max said that he was going to write a story for me and so when Äldste Thompson and I came to teach them this past thursday, Max had typed up a story and the story that he typed up was all about how he had met us and how interested he was in learning more, and he wrote all about our teaching visits and who said what prayer and what was taught and it was seriously one of the most special things I have ever read. Brought me to tears actually...but that's besides the point :) After we had taught them, we said that a new chapter needed to be written and so the story will just have to continue as the family realizes the blessings that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring.
Keep on keeping on! Always be an example and always be a light, because, like I said before, you never know when you'll touch someone's life, when you'll have a teaching opportunity, or when you'll have a learning opportunity. Until next week....ha det fint!
Pictures:
1) jag och äldste thompson
2) in front of the may pole at our midsommar celebration!
3/4) right before bed time.....the darkest it gets up here in Övik
5) jag och äldste bills, childhood friend now here in Sweden!!
-- Äldste Steele
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| 2) in front of the may pole at our midsommar celebration! |
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| 3/4) right before bed time.....the darkest it gets up here in Övik |
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| 3/4) right before bed time.....the darkest it gets up here in Övik |
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| 5) jag och äldste bills, childhood friend now here in Sweden!! |
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