Kära vänner,
--Äldste Steele
It's been another good week here in Övik! The weeks continue to fly by and apparently, according to everyone else, the time doesn't ever slow down from here, so I need to enjoy my time here while it lasts. On the mission, nothing is going to last forever. By that I mean, we're going to get new companions, move to new areas, meet new people all the time, and so we need to be grateful for the things that we have now, for the experiences we have now, because I'll probably never have these opportunities again!
We ate surströmming for my second time today, the first one being about 6 months ago in Uppsala. It was just as awful as the first time. Also, we had district conference (which is basically stake conference but when you're in norrland everyone is branches and so it's a district) and a total of 3 people showed up!! It was probably an all time low for me at a church service, but I was so amazed at the faithfulness of those 3 people to come to the church to watch the broadcast of the conference.
This past week was another zone conference held in Umeå and it was such a great conference, mostly because I got to see on of my old companions Äldste Lewis who is serving in Skellefteå. We talked about quite a few things, the biggest thing sticking out to me being that we as a mission need to increase our faith. We need to have the faith that we will experience miracles. We have to have the faith that we will meet the people ready to hear our message. It definitely was a type of 'call to repentance' as I realized that I really do need to grow my faith and be more optimistic. I need to remember the words that Äldste Dale G. Renlund said to us just a few months ago: 'There is reason for great optimism about the church in Sweden. There has never been a time in Church history when we could be as optimistic as we should be now.'
After zone conference, I had a strong resolve to have faith and to follow the guidance of the Spirit more in the work, as did Äldste Thompson. On Saturday, our plans fell through with a lunch with a less active that lives with someone we are also teaching. After that fell through, I felt strongly we did not need to be in that area and that we were needed elsewhere. We thought about it, and Elder Thompson received a strong impression we needed to swing by a lady we met a few days prior to do some service for her. The impression wasn't just to offer service, it was basically, bring a change of clothes in the car, you are going to do service for this lady today. We got in the car later in the day and then drove out to serve. When we pulled up, she was in the middle of mowing the lawn and so we thought, PERFECT! We can mow the lawn for her! We talked for a bit, and she then told us about 100 other unfinished jobs that she needed help with, so we were able to get 2 of them done with her... Building a door frame for her green house and support system for her firewood. As we were drilling in the door frame, I felt impressed to tell her that God was her Heavenly Father and that He truly does love her. She was thankful for the words and let us know that was a truth she already knew deep in her heart. We were able to give her a Book of Mormon at the end of our time together and set up another time to finish the 98 other unfinished jobs and also to teach more about the gospel. In getting to know her, we actually found out that when she was our age, she lived with members in Switzerland and had received an English book of Mormon at that time. She's slowly been prepared over these years, and with a few rough patches in life recently, it feels as if her humility has prepared her even more for the gospel. I'm so thankful that we were able to follow the spirit in helping someone in need that day. It's amazing how this small little miracles happen all the time on the mission, and it just has grown my testimony of God and that not only does He exist, but he is very mindful of each and every one of us.
At zone conference, I felt impressed to get up and share the most simple testimony that I have ever given. I just stood up, and said 'I know that God lives and I know that I am His son' and then I sat down. Our testimonies don't have to be these long, eloquent sermons that get a whole crowd riled up. Our testimonies are just declarations of things we know to be true and that's exactly what I did. It was actually kind of cool how much power was felt just by saying one sentence.
Hope you all have a great week. Vi hörs!
Pictures:
1) greenhouse building
2) Arnäs Kyrkan
3) eating surströmming the 'proper way'
4) skuleberget
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| 1) greenhouse building |
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| 2) Arnäs Kyrkan |
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| 3) eating surströmming the 'proper way' |
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| 4) skuleberget |
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