¡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

The Book Is Always Better Than The Musical

Email written: 2/26/18

Hallå allihopa!

It's been a great week here in Stockholm and I'm glad to finally feel 'moved in' and not so stressed out about living in a new city. I'm really starting to get to know the Tunnelbana (Metro) Stations and I don't feel so lost now as we walk around the city and get from one appointment to the other. Last P-Day we were actually able to walk around Gamla Stan and go into a lot of cool little shops. After last monday, I felt right at home and while I miss Gävle quite a bit still, it's not longer a burden on the work here in Stockholm. 

1) Homies from last p-day

This past week, I went on splits with my dude Äldste Winkel, who I actually went 'greenie contacting' with my very first day in Sweden, so it was fun to see how far we both have come in our language and missionary skills. I went down to Gubbängen for the day, which is still Stockholm, but just a little further south from the city. We had a lesson planned that night, but had about an hour and half before we would meet the investigator, so we decided to go knock on some doors in the area before we met with him. We had a really good study together before going out and decided that we would share the Bible Video of the Prodigal Son, because Äldste Winkel knew that he liked the Bible, but wasn't actually sure if he was down about the Book of Mormon yet. So we decided we would ease into the restored gospel by first talking about how much we has Latter-Day Saints love the Bible and how we even have all these videos. 

Well, we went on our way and began tracting. We didn't really see any success, and had a few doors slammed in our faces, pretty common here in Sweden. Well, we decided that we needed to say a quick prayer before going any further. We held a quick prayer in the stairwell of an apartment building and then kept on going. The next door that we knocked on was a very old lady, at least 85 years old. She didn't have any teeth and it was absolutely impossible to understand, but we said that we had a message of hope and joy that we would like to share with her and she invited us in. We knew we wouldn't stay very long as we had a lesson to get to, but we were able to show her the Book of Mormon and read a quick verse with her. She kept saying that we were angels sent directly to her and that she really needed us. She then started to get really sad because she wanted to give us a gift but she didn't have anything to give us, but we assured her that we didn't need anything, just wanted her to try the book herself. She then looked at me and then started leaning over towards me......at this point I have no idea what is going on and neither does my companion. She turns her check towards me and is just like 'kiss me' hold up...you want me to do what? She just left her cheek there expecting to kiss me and I just look at Elder Winkel who is dying of laughter. We quickly stand up, put our jacket and shoes on, and then run hahaha. Probably one of the weirdest experiences so far on my mission.

Well, we then met our investigator to teach our lesson, and turns out he had brought 2 other friends with him, so we were able to teach 3 people in one lesson!! They were all from Peru, and his 2 friends could only speak spanish so one of them translated for the other 2. We showed the Prodigal Son, and all of them started to get a little emotional as all of their mothers had taught them that story growing up and it was the first time they saw a video of it. Elder Winkel and I were truly guided in our studies that we needed to share that specific Bible Video. They all accepted El Libro de Mormon and just like that taught one of the most spiritual lesson with 3 Peruvian homies. What a miracle!

4) sjukt roligt

After our splits adventure, I teamed back up with Äldste Baggett and we went to the China Theatre to pass out Mormons Böcker outside the Book of Mormon musical. We passed out a ton of books and it was such a fun experience!! Everyone was loving what we were doing and appreciated the book på riktigt! It was freezing cold that night and I thought that my face was going to fall off as we waited outside the theater, but once people started coming out and we were passing out the word of God, we all became instantly warmer and started to think more about the people, than we did the cold. We'll be passing books out again in about 2 weeks and I'm hoping that we can give even more books out next time. The book is blue and the church is true! 

Hope you all have a great week! Hej så länge

Pictures:

1) Homies from last p-day

2) City Hall

3) One of investigators who invited us to play badminton

4) sjukt roligt

5) Dinner with some members from Brazil! 

-- Äldste Steele

2) City Hall

3) One of investigators who invited us to play badminton

5) Dinner with some members from Brazil! 

Välkommen till Stockholm

Email written: 2/19/18

new comp

Well, I've officially moved to Stockholm to be companions with my boy Äldste Baggett! This city is INSANE with pretty much every person either from out of town, or they have a very important coffee break to get to, so we'll be setting up some good plans to find people to teach here in Stockholm. 

Not a whole lot has happened this week, just because a huge chunk of it involved travelling to a new city and getting used to the hustle and bustle of Stockholm. 

I'll definitely have more to say next week, but just know that I'm excited for my time here in Stockholm. Life is good (even if it's stressful haha)

Hej så länge! 

Pics:

new comp

super cool church right by where we live

-- Äldste Steele

super cool church right by where we live

Veronikas Dop och andra goda nyheter!

Email written: 2/12/18

Tjena Tjena!!

5) me and veronika

Wow, and just like that, another transfer is in the books. 4 whole transfers spent here in Gävle and these past 24 weeks have been some of the best weeks of my life. I learned so much here in Gävle and I'm so happy that I had the chance to serve here. The members here in Gävle are just the greatest people in the planet and it's going to be really hard to say goodbye to them this Wednesday. Yep, I'm moving from Gävle this week. I am getting transferred to the beautiful city of STOCKHOLM!  I am so excited for the next step of my journey here in Sweden. Stockholm is exactly where I need to be for the next little while and so I'm super pumped for all that I'm going to learn over the next few weeks after living in such a big city with so much going on. It'll be quite the change-up from Gävle when it was just me, my companion, and the city to ourselves. I also think that there will be 5 other sets of missionaries at church with us on Sundays, so yeah, a lot happens in Stockholm!

This past week could not have been a more perfect ending to my time here in Gävle. Veronika, our investigator that we've been working with since about the 3rd week I was here in Gävle, was baptized and confirmed this past week as a member in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! It all started on Wednesday when Veronika had her interview before her baptism. I was so so nervous, because 1.Our district leader was running late because trains are always running late when you need them to be on time and 2. I had no idea if the interview would go well because Veronika is a little shy and I don't know, there were a lot of factors that were making me super super nervous and stressed out. Well, there was no need to stress out about it, because Veronika passed with flying colors and was just so ready for baptism! 

2 days later, we were invited by Veronika and Araz to have dinner with them the day before the baptism. We were able to come over and teach the last few things before the big day, focusing a lot on the temple, that being Veronikas next step! Everything went super well, the food tasted amazing, and everyone was looking forward to the big day. It was kind of funny, because I said the prayer of the food and said something like 'vi ber att allt ska gå bra med Veronikas dop imorgon' and then Veronika was like 'oj just det...jag ska döpa mig imorgon' The week had gone by so fast, she didn't realize that it was already time for the baptism! haha Well, then at the end of the dinner, we asked Veronika if she could say a few words after her baptism, maybe about what she learned and what she knows to be true. At that point, she started freaking out not knowing what she was going to say, but we assured her that it would be okay and that even if it was 5 seconds it would be great. 

So, the next day, we all get to the church early to fill up the font and make sure everything is in order. Veronika shows up a little bit later and she is just nervous out of her mind that she's going to talk after she's baptized. She wasn't nervous at all for the baptism, but she was so scared to talk, but we assured her that it was all going to be okay.

A little bit later, Tage and Ingrid Wall showed up. I don't quite remember if I had explained this earlier, but Tage and Ingrid Wall are members here in the Gävle branch that took care of Veronika and her siblings when they were really really little. Veronika would come to church with them when she was 5 or 6 years old. So this was a really special day for them. It was almost as if one of their own daughters was getting baptized. Tage Wall was actually the one who baptized her, so how special is that! 

6) Tage, Veronika, Ingrid

The baptismal service went super super well, and Äldste Lewis, Eric Hodin , and I even had a special music number. We sang 'Oändlig nåd' which is Amazing Grace, and we sang that song acapella with only one hour of practice. I hope everyone at least felt the spirit, because we aren't the best singers. But overall, just a fantastic baptismal service. Both Tage and Ingrid gave talks and everyone was just crying their eyes out because of how special of a moment it was and even Veronika did such a good job with her testimony!

The next day at church, I was able to confirm Veronika, and everyone in the Gävle branch warmly welcomed her as the newest member! Veronika was just so happy and so thankful and she said that the whole time she just felt this warm feeling all over. I hope that Äldste Lewis and his new companion to do all they can at help her stay active in the church and never forget the feelings she felt this past week. 

I thought to end this week with a scripture in D&C 18:

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

I truly experienced joy this past week, and that was when my sister decided to follow God and enter the waters of baptism. Life is good, life is good. 

Pictures:

1) District Lunch 

2) Post Interview selfie! 

3/4) Dinner with Veronika and Araz! 

5) me and veronika

6) Tage, Veronika, Ingrid

-- Äldste Steele

1) District Lunch

2) Post Interview selfie! 

3/4) Dinner with Veronika and Araz!

3/4) Dinner with Veronika and Araz!

I Tried Everything....But Nothing Worked

Email written: 2/5/18

God dag! Det har varit en underbar vecka!! 

1) The Gävle Boyz (sorry it's blurry)

This week has been just a complete blur, as half of the week I was in other places besides Gävle. I was in Borlänge on Tuesday for splits and then we had zone conference in Stockholm (Handen) and so we stayed the night in Stockholm on Wednesday and were there for the conference all of Thursday until we traveled back. Our zone conference was fantastic and I really learned a lot about goal setting to help me achieve my full potential. We also talked a little bit about setting abstract and fun goals to help make the work more fun, so Äldste Lewis and I have set a goal this week to find an American in Gävle! Sometimes it feels like Äldste Lewis and I are the only Americans in this city, but we did meet a guy from the UK yesterday, so we're getting close to our goal. It has been a crazy week to say the least, but I like the stress and I like working hard, so it's been no problem at all. And to top it all off...I wasn't sick this week! Tack och lov.

With so much travel back and forth, it was kind of hard to get a lot of lessons taught here in Gävle this week. so that was a bit of a bummer, but on the bright side, we did have super good contact with our investigator Veronika. Veronika is going to be baptized this Saturday!! She has come such a long way and the gospel has truly changed her life. She's happier, she's more social, and she has remained so humble through it all, and never forgets to thank God for all the things she has in her life. We had a lesson this past Saturday about the church, and how we serve each other through the Relief Society, and visiting/home teachers. We had the help with Mihail and everything went so well. The spirit is felt so strongly every time we teach Veronika. The next day at church, we are sitting down waiting for the meeting to start and Veronika leans over to me and tells me what happened right after we left her apartment. She said that right after we had left she started to get the worst headache and she did not feel good at all. She said that she tried sleeping, laying down, taking medicine, pretty much everything you can think of to ease a headache, but nothing was working. She was so frustrated and just wanted the pain to go away, but at that point she had done all she could do, so she just sat there not knowing what to do. Well then she had a thought...maybe I can read the Book of Mormon and I could feel better. We had always testified of the power of The Book of Mormon, so she decided varför inte (why not?) she said that the moment she opened the pages and began to read, her headache immediately vanished and she felt instantly better. The words of our newest prophet Russel M. Nelson apply so perfectly to what Veronika experienced this past week:

'When I think of the Book of "When I think of the Book of Mormon, I think of the word power. The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort,

restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls.'

The book is blue, the church is true!

Äldste Lewis and I are having a great time together and always laughing. Some funny things that happened this week:

• We met a guy from Norway who spoke straight Norwegian to us, but claimed he was speaking Swedish. Elder Lewis kept nodding his head making it look like he was understanding this old gubbe, but we both had no idea what that man was saying haha. 
• I tried talking to a guy on a subway train in Stockholm and he mumbled something in Swedish, and I had no idea what he said, so I asked him another question and then he just turned to my companion and said something along the lines of is your friend deaf. What a guy...
• I ran into my ex at zone conference

Life is so good here in Gävle! While it hasn't been easy, I've loved every minute. It's very possible that this is my last week in Gävle, as transfer calls are this week and I've already been here 4 transfers, but I know at least I can say that I gave this city my all. I'm going to leave this city better than when I came. I hope to say that for every area I serve in. 

Until next week! Ha det fint :)

Pictures:

1) The Gävle Boyz (sorry it's blurry)

2) We got tons and tons of snow this past week and this is a little snow mountain right outside of our apartment

3) We were outside with one of our new investigators named Sephera, who has 3 kids. The kids were all making snow angels and they asked Elder Lewis and I to make one with them. 

-- Äldste Steele

2) We got tons and tons of snow this past week and this is a little snow mountain right outside of our apartment

3) We were outside with one of our new investigators named Sephera, who has 3 kids.

The kids were all making snow angels and they asked Elder Lewis and I to make one with them. 

Äldste Steele sent another group of pictures later in the day... Enjoy! (Sorry, no descriptions):

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!