En Stor Bit Choklad

Email written: 2/25/19

Hej!!

Well, time is running out for this P-Day and transfers are this week, and so there is a lot to think about and do in preparation for them. Elder Lewis and I are staying together another transfer (thank goodness, I love that man!), and we are excited to see what we can accomplish in these next 6 weeks! We are getting 2 new elders in the office, Elders Bjornn and Sirrine, and so we are going to have 6 missionaries in our apartment. It's going to be interesting!

So, for this email, I wanted to just let you all know that I am human, and to prove to everyone that i am human, I wanted to share the funniest tracting story of what happened to Elder lewis and I. 

So, anyways, we got a lot of food from a member out in Vallentuna, and as part of the food, we got a Marabou choklad bar. We didn't really want to wait before we got home to start eating it, so we broke it open and carried it around with us and we went to go swing by some other people that lived in that area. We came up to this one door of a family with small kids that had said to come back at an earlier time during the day and so we were trying to go by and right before I ringed the dorrbell, elder lewis gave me a huge piece of chocolate and then I popped it in my mouth. Well, then I rang the dorrbell, and then i realized that I just made a mistake, i can talk with someone with a bunch of chocolate in my mouth!!+?! But, sure enough, this dad comes to the door like only 2 seconds after I knock, and so i start going into a panic. I look over to elder lewis and he has no idea what I'm trying to say and I try to switch spots with him, but then the man opens the door and my mouth is just full of chocolate. I am totally embarrassed, and I look over at elder lewis and he is saying nothing, and so then I just shove the chocolate to the inside of my cheek, and then apoligze that i have just eating a huge piece of chocolate. Out of the corner of my mouth, i ask them if they are interested, and then they just slam the door on our face. I felt so bad that i didn't even think before acting in that situation, but elder lewis and I couldn't stop and haven't stopped laughing about it.

The conclusion that we all can draw from this, is that God calls just ordinary people to perform an extraordinary work. So, I am thankful that God qualifies each and every one of us to perform these great things. 

Hope y'all have a great week! Vi hörs!

Pictures:

1) lewis

2) the POEs

3) båt och solen

-- Äldste Steele

Bonus Pic: "Slippery"

1) lewis

2) the POEs

3) båt och solen

Bonus Pic: "Slippery"

En Kväll med Savannah Stevenson

Bonus Pic - Savannah Stevenson

Email written: 2/18/19

Kära vänner,

What a week it has been! Wow, can't believe it's already Monday again. We have so many amazing experiences every day, the days just start to kind of blend together. This is now the last week of the transfer, so we will have to see what happens next week with transfers. I'm hoping to stay at least one more in the office with my good friend Äldste Lewis.

The week started off way tough with everyone getting sick and canceling our visits and lessons that were planned. I think there was a total of about 8 or 9 cancelations all this week and so that wasn't the best of circumstances, but we ended up making the most of it. You see, this was quite the humbling experience for us. Things start happening in our area and we start to get prideful in the fact that oh wow we have this many lessons today or this many dinners, etc. And so we needed a little humbling to know that a lot of things in life we have absolutely no control over. The only thing that we can control is our attitude and our reaction to those things.

But, this past Saturday, we had the chance to travel out to the Gubbängen chapel and help out for a concert put on by a woman named Savannah Stevenson. She is a super talented British actress that has been in wicked and some other musicals and also played the role of Mary in the church's Bible videos. She gave such a great message and a great concert as well. Our role at the concert was to make as many connections as possible with people and to talk to everyone and so we were so exhausted after an entire day of helping out, from about 13-21.30 was how long we were there. A few of the people we are teaching got to come along with us and they got to meet a lot of other members and so that worked out perfectly.

That morning, Elder Lewis and I decided to go out on a nice promenad along the lake since it was a perfect spring type day. Everyone and their dog was out to walk around and so we had the chance to invite a ton of people to learn more about the gospel but the greatest thing was the first impression that we received  as we came into the park area. I knew that we needed to talk to a certain man sitting on a bench but we waited until the very end to take that contact. Well, as we come up to talk to him, he tells us at first that he wanted to be alone to digest what just happened to him. As we presented who we were and how we wanted to help, he began to open up and told us that he had just gone through a tough divorce and that he wouldn't get to see his daughter as much anymore. I could tell how hard it was for this man as I know other people close to me that have experienced pretty tough divorces. As we shared a brief portion of the hope that a Jesus Christ can offer, he looked at us and thanked us for talking with him. He knew that God has sent us to help him just in this time of his life and he looks forward to be healed emotionally as he learns more about the atonement of Jesus Christ.

We never know where we will be lead and who we will be lead to, but if we follow those promptings, we will see the blessings, just like a special experience that I can share in next week's email. But, what I can share is we will be heading out to Jakobsberg to baptize a girl that Elder Barney and I originally found on splits a few months ago. Life is so amazing! Hope you all have a great week!  

Pictures:

1) stadshuset, vad vackert!

2) standing on a frozen lake 

3) gubbängen kapell

BONUS PIC: Savannah Stevenson

-- Äldste Steele

1) stadshuset, vad vackert!

2) standing on a frozen lake 

3) gubbängen kapell

Ute på landet

Email written: 2/11/19

Hej!

February is in full swing and we are in the middle of semla season! We had the chance to go to a local bakery to get a typical Swedish pastry called semlor. It's basically a large roll where they cut out the middle, fill it will marzipan, whipped cream, and then they put the top of the roll back on and sprinkle it with powdered sugar. It tastes super good and everyone in Sweden gets at least one around this time of year :)

The office is losing one member this week unfortunately as our good friend elder Youngberg is getting transfered in the middle of week 5. We'll miss him, but he won't be too far away.

Yesterday was a great day at church. A young woman in our ward, Ebba, is going out on her mission this week to go to France. She gave a great farewell talk and the spirit was super strong there as she shared how she somehow always had known that she would go to France and it was so spiritually confirming when she opened her call. We got invited over to her farewell party afterwards and so we decided that we would attend for a bit and then go do our visits and knock on doors out in the area. Well after we made our appearance and talked to a lot of people, we decided to leave just to find out that we were completely parked in and we weren't coming out for at least 2 hours, and so Äldste Lewis and I just went out in the Swedish woods trying to knock on any house that we could find. It was a total change of plans, but we enjoyed being out in the Swedish country side walking 5 minutes between every house. We ended up giving a book of Mormon to a 12 year old and we met a single dad that really needed a good message that night, so no effort is wasted.

We went on a few splits this week and we got to accomplish a lot of great things on those! Some of the most memorable things happened this week as I was on splits with Elder Callor who was serving in the office before but is now a zone leader in Malmö.

We felt strongly we needed to go to Åkersberga and so we wrote down on a list 4 names of people we wanted to go by and the rest of the time out there would be talking to people on the way as we walked from place to place since we left the car behind at home. Well, after missing a train and trying to figure out which bus to take out to do the visits, we found ourselves waiting about 20 minutes for the next bus to come. As we wait there, we first talk to an older lady, and then a young boy that immediately runs away from us and then we come to the third guy that was about our age, maybe a little older. We begin talking and it takes forever for him to want to be a part of the conversation, but thne he finally starts responsding and then we soon come to find out that he actually has a Book of Mormon at home. We asked him how we got it and he said that it was from his friend Linus, and then that immediately sparked my memory of that morning when I went through records, I had read one that said 'friend to Linus' in the background information, and so then I proceeded to ask him what his name was, to which he replied 'Rasmus'. My mouth about dropped to the floor, this was one of the people we wanted to visit...I took out my sheet of paper with the 4 names on it, and I showed it to Rasmus to show that God is real and that he leads us. He knew that we needed to talk to Rasmus that day and you could tell that he really felt the spirit as we showed him. He isn't ready yet for the gospel but it was a super powerful expereincce for him and for us as our prayers were answered!

Additionally on that list of names, was a family that was taught about a year ago. They had just lost contact and so we wanted to try to go by again and see if they were interested. But before I go on, Elder Callor and I had set the goal to find a family in need of help. Well, we come up to the house and before we even knock on the door, we see a sign on the outside of the house that says 'Till salu' which means for sale. And so as we knock on the door, we find out that the family has been so unbelievably stressed and they just had a baby recently and the mom just started crying right there. This was the family that we knew that we would find and they were one of those written on the list! We offered to come back to give a message on hope and they gladly agreed and so that was very strengthening to my faith.

The work continues to move forward and we have a ton more stuff set up this week, including hosting a study visit for some people studying about our church at a local school and then there will be a concert on Saturday hosted by a Broadway actress Savannah Stevenson, so it's going to be a great week! Until then, ha det så bra!

Pictures:

1) Ä. Callor and i

2) Åkersberga

3) semla

4) semla pt. 2

-- Äldste Steele

1) Ä. Callor and i

2) Åkersberga

3) semla

4) semla pt. 2

Äldste Steele Goes to Gymnasiet pt.2

Email written: 2/4/19

Hej!

Where do I even begin with this week? Just about everything and anything happened to us this past week because of our zone conferences and our MLC the day after, as well as all the little bit of time we could squeeze in to teach, find, and visit other members. I'm actually quite relieved that the week was over because of how stressful it was, but I will forever be grateful for the lessons that I learned out of it and for the person that I am becoming. 

Before this pervious week had begun, we received a phone call from a teacher at a nearby gymnasium (the Swedish equivalent to high school) and she wanted to know if we could come and give a one hour presentation on the church in her classroom. We gladly agreed and journeyed on out to Åkersberga for this school presentation. I think it is so crazy that they are allowed to teach religion in schools, and even allow relgiious gropus to come and teach about the church. 

But, the lesson went super well and I really don't know how we held a full hour lesson in Swedish for a bunch of 18 year olds, but it was definitely a testiomny builder to see that the Lord will qualify us for any task that is put before us. As we began to teach, and questions started to come up, we politely asked the teacher if it was okay if we could use the scritpures, and she agreed, and so we were in the middle of a high school class, opening up the Book of Mormon and reading scriputres that asnwered their questions. We really hope that one of the kids gets interested and wants to continue to learn more about the gospel!

But, the coolest part of the whole visit, was on the way home actually. As we came to sit down, and older man immediately asks us how it went at school. A little taken off guard, we didn't quite know how to respond, other than, 'jodå det gick bra!', and we come to find out that the older man was actually the headmaster for that school!! And he had seen us come in and knew that we were giving a presentation that day and so he himself was pretty curious about the church and what we believed in. He asked us what the biggest difference was, and before he could even finish, he had a Book of Mormon in his hands and we had the chance to testify of it! And then he asked us further, well what do you think about life after death? And so we chose a chapter that he could read,  it was time to hop off the train.This great man then stands up and gives us the BIGGEST hugs because of what we could teach him! 

The other highlight of the week was when we had our visit from Elder Massimo De Feo!! When he taught, he taught so powerfully and with the spirit, and he said so many things that are going to benefit our mission in the months to come. 

As we were sitting in the Göteborg airport with Elder De Feo and President/Syster Youngberg, eating our hamburgers and seeing that our flight was delayed, it gave us some good time to talk and share expereinces with each other. I ended up eating everybody's leftovers too because I was so hungry haha. But, yes, as we sat there talking, President asked us, what were your takeways from the-- and then Elder de feo cut him off and said before you ask that question, Elder Steele and Lewis, from what I taught at the zone conference today, what is something that you want to teach? So right there, got put on the spot by Elder De Feo! But, the presentaiton went super well the next day even though we didn't get much sleep and we had almost no time to plan the presentaiton. So many good learning opportunities on the mission, I look forwared to a lifetime of service within the church wherever I am called to serve. 

Well, hope all of you have a great week! Glöm aldrig att kyrkan är sann!

Pictures:

1) Legendary picture

2) artsy snowwoman that someone made when we went tracting

3) Vaxholm

4) road sign

5) Gymnasiet

-- Äldste Steele

1) Legendary picture

2) artsy snowwoman that someone made when we went tracting

3) Vaxholm

4) road sign

5) Gymnasiet

As January Ends...

Email written: 1/28/19

Hej!

What a fantastic week it has been in Sweden. Äldste Lewis and I have been working really well together and have begun to see the blessings of hard work coupled with faith. So many miracles and so many people to be taught! This next week is going to be even crazier because not only do we have a lot more lessons to teach, but we also have 2 mission conferences, one of them being in Göteborg, and a mission leadership council at the end of the week and so things are going to be crazy as we try to juggle the million things that we need to do. Elder Massimo De Feo, one of the general leaders of the church, is coming to visit the mission and so I look forward to learning a lot from him this week at the various conferences and other meetings.

The week started off super well when we met a good friend of ours that we are teaching. He had first been taught by the sisters starting in October, but when the sisters doubled out, we started teach him. His older brother is married to a member and is also someone we are teaching! But, we met with him on Monday and had such a powerful and spiritual lesson. Lots of questions were answered and when it came down to the invitation, Elder Lewis said, "Just know that with this invitation, we only do it out of love and we do this because we want the best for you. Will you be baptized on the 9th of February?" At first he was thrown off because he thought it would be a nice simple invitation to do something, but then as he thought about it a little more and trusted in the promptings of the Holy Ghost, he told us that he would absolutely love to be baptized and that the Holy Ghost told him to say yes. And so, in just a few short weeks, there will be a baptism in Täby!! 

On Tuesday, we then flew to Utby to do some splits with the zone leaders. I had the privilege of being with Elder Wayment, one of my good friends from my MTC group. We have both grown so much and it was great to see who Elder Wayment has become over these past 18 months. I actually have been wanting to be companions with Elder Wayment since the MTC and so I finally had the chance this week.

As we were out tracting on Friday evening, Elder Lewis and i were having just a simple conversation about the work and then he asked me, 'when was the last time a missionary actually found a family?', to which I gladly was able to respond to him that there were a few families in övik that we had found, but that it had been a while since those kinds of things had happened. I decided in that moment to hold a prayer in my heart and pray for more faith to find a family, and so then we knock on the next door. The person who answered was a woman that was clearly pretty sick and she didn't feel like talking but she said that we could come back in 30 mins when her husband was home, and so we continued to tract (one of the houses we knocked into turned out to be a member so we got some free smoothies along the way :) and we came back 30 minutes later. When we knocked, they were gathered around the dinner table, but the man answered the door and said come in! And he let us in, gave us watermelon and we got to know each other briefly and asked them if they wanted to learn more and they invited us back the following week and so we get to teach a mom, dad, and their son!! It was such a miracle and it felt so good leaving that house.

Life is great!! In a district council, someone told me that I'm really bold when we are out finding and teaching, probably because I tell people how it really is. The key is, I deepen my understanding of the gospel and then bare powerful testimony so that others can come unto Christ.

Have a good week everyone! 

1) SAS

2) Ä. Wayment!

3) views

4) hagaparken

-- Äldste Steele

1) SAS

2) Ä. Wayment!

3) views

4) hagaparken

VASA

Email written: 1/21/19

Hej!

What a day/week it has been! We had the chance to go to the Vasa today. For those of you who don't know what the Vasa is, basically what happened was Kung Gustaf Vasa in the 1600s wanted to build this huge war ship and it ended up failing miserably sinking off the coast of the harbor because of how big it was. Super interesting story, didn't catch all of it though because our tour guide spoke skånska with a German accent so it was hard to understand!

We had transfers this past week and I said goodbye to Elder Derr. His train was set to leave close to 3pm and so we had a ton of time on our hands. We were planning on waiting till he boarded the train but it turned out that another elder was there that could wait with him. So, at just the right moment we left T-centralen. Why do I say the right moment? Well, just as I walked out, I saw a very familiar face, one that was from Övik. I couldn't believe my eyes... I quickly yelled 'Ben!' and he stopped in his tracks and I got to see someone that we would do service for every Saturday in Övik. He was touring Stockholm just that dad with his mom and so the only person that could've orchestrated that kind of meeting was God, especially in such a big city as Stockholm is. I felt låter that night, that that was exactly what he needed to help him come and visit the church in Övik. I hope that he was able to do that this past Sunday!

On Thursday, we got to experience a tripan with Elder Fuller because of a bunch of travel problems and a snow storm that hit. Knocking on doors with 3 people can be quite interesting haha, but we had a great day! We've started to take busses a opt more instead of raking the car and we gave had about 4-5x as many people to talk to and it's been a great way for us to spread the good word!

I feel the past few weeks have been pretty tough for me, and I'm really not quite sure why, but it just seems like the Lord continues to show my weaknesses to me and I'm really seeing how I react when I'm stressed. I tend to forget things and get lost everywhere I go, and i see so many things that need improving, but it's helping me become the person I'm meant to be and I'm grateful for it.

Have a good week everyone! Hejdå  

Pictures:

1) kontoret crew!

2) hejdå äldste derr

3) stadshuset

4) Vasaskeppet

-- Äldste Steele

1) kontoret crew!

2) hejdå äldste derr

3) stadshuset

4) Vasaskeppet

Another Reunion

Email written: 1/14/19

Hej!

Sorry for not emailing last week, my companion had to go and dislocate his finger as we were out playing basketball in Gubbängen and so we spent the majority of our P-day in a hospital getting everything popped back into place and x-rayed. A cool experience that happened at the hospital though was whenever Elder Derr had to get his x-ray. The nurse told us that I wasn't allowed to go into the room when elder derr got his x ray, but then I was like no can you find a way for me to get in there because we are companions and she was like no you're not allowed, but then I said just give me a protective vest can I please be with him, we have a rule where we need to stay together. And then the lady saw our name badge and then immediately said that I could come in and when she let us in, she asked us a ton of questions about the church and we had a great missionary opportunity right there as äldste Derr got his x ray! Even though it probably would have been okay if Elder Derr got the x ray by himself, I was able to witness that obedience truly does bring blessings.

Transfers just happened and Elder Derr is going to Borlääääääääänge! My new companion is going to be äldste Lewis, who I was companions with a year ago in Gävle. It is so awesome to be with a previous companion and that we can see how much we have learned over the past year. 

Elder Derr and I baked a cake this past week for the cake competion ward activity. While there weren't that many people that showed up, we still took the prize for the best tasting cake. It was a chocolate/gingerbread double layer cake with homemade frosting and strawberries and raspberries. I'm learning some great skills out here in Sweden! 

At our ward council this past week, we were getting all the ward leaders absolutely fired up because of the millions of miracles that we experience on a daily basis here in Täby. The people that we are teaching are super prepared as well and not too far from baptism, just need a little bit more time to study and pray. But one of the coolest things, was the young men's president started talking about how he really wants to help the young men in their testimony and in their ability to answer questions and so they are going to spend time in their classes studying from the scriptures and out of preach my gospel to answer people's questions about the church. This was so cool for us to hear because about 6 weeks ago, we had set a goal of getting more swedes to church and one of the plans was to work closely with the young men. How? We had no idea, but now we had our answer and so we are on board with the whole ward, especially the young men's president to get the ball rolling even faster! It's so great to be here in Täby and to experience so many miracles.

Well, time to get prepared for the new missionaries that are coming in this week! Talk to you later everyone! Ha det bra!

Pictures:

1) me and äldste bjornn

2) vår tårta

3) tårtävling 

4) eld

-- Äldste Steele

1) me and äldste bjornn

2) vår tårta

3) tårtävling 

4) eld

Paging Dr. Steele

Email written: 1/7/19

Äldste Steele did not have time to write a general email, but at least sent a quick note:

Thanks for the email! I'm actually writing to you from the x ray department at the local hospital. We were out playing basketball and a ball came and jammed Äldste Derr's finger and the finger actually popped out of place and so we are just waiting here for him to get an x ray. It's going to be a while just because it's free health care and everyone has to wait around here unless you're dying. :)

Gott Nytt År!

Email written: 12/31/18

Hej! Gott nytt år på er! Anyone have good new year's resolutions? I'm thinking about going vegan....just kidding aldrig i livet.

The past week has just flown by as we had the chance to celebrate on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with some of the members in the ward. For some reason, Sweden celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve and Santa Clause (tomte) shows up in the evening just at the back door to deliver the presents to the kids. It's a little different than what we americans are used to be, but it was a ton of fun, and we ate plenty of pickled herring and Christmas ham, along with rum gallons and gallons of julmust. 

We were also given extra study time this past week to study everything we possibly could about our Savior, Jesus Christ. As a challenge issued in 2017 by President Russell M. Nelson, we were to use the 57 subheadings of Jesus Christ located in the topical guide in order to grow a deeper appreciation and love for the Savior. I have learned so much about Him and it was the perfect way to wrap up the great year of 2018. 

Just like last new years, I was able to eat some surströmming with the office crew.. It is now my 3rd time eating surströmming, the absolute worst smelling fish in on the planet. It was just as bad the 3rd time. I might just make it a new year's tradition from now on to eat surströmming, might be kind of fun. 

A few weeks ago, Äldste Derr and I were out knocking on doors and right before we were about to go home, we saw this massive mansion sitting on top of a hill and we knew that we needed to knock on it. Most houses in Sweden are pretty modest and none of them really stick out, but every once in a while you will get a mansion that sticks out like a sore thumb and I just love knocking on those houses (like when I did it back in Övik and turned out to be a professional hockey player something Näslund). Well anyways, we go up and knock on this door and a girl about our age answers the door and we start talking a bit, but early on into the conversation we found out that she is a satanist. She told us that she wouldn't want to listen to us as she was happy following Satan and she was going to shut the door, but then at that moment I asked her if I could tell her something before she shut the door, and then after she said yes, I powerfully preached that Satan's only desire was for her to suffer, and that she needed to come unto Christ, whose only desire is for her to have joy. Äldste Derr then pulls out the Book of Mormon and testifies like a BEAST, and then her entire attitude changed in an instant and she told us she would love to take a Book of Mormon. When we went back a few days later to see what her thoughts were on the few verses we gave to her, she told us that she actually ended up reading the entire chapter, plus a few more chapters after that because the Book of Mormon was so interesting for her to read. It really was a testament to me that we as missionaries have the power and authority of God and that we shouldn't be afraid to be bold with those that we come in contact with. 

Thanks everyone for a great year! I'm excited to see what 2019 has in store :D Until next time, happy new year! Take care!

Pictures:

1) Christmas couple 

2) solnedgången 

3) typical swedish house 

4) earlier today eating surströmming in the woods 

5) Christmas present from the Stenkronas

-- Äldste Steele

1) Christmas couple

2) solnedgången 

3) typical swedish house 

4) earlier today eating surströmming in the woods

5) Christmas present from the Stenkronas

God Jul

Email written: 12/24/18

God Jul!

God is good and Christ lives! 

--Aldste Steele

Har du haft en speciell dag?

Email written: 12/17/18

Hejsan!

Well, one week closer to Christmas everyone! I am getting so excited for Christmas here in Sweden and we finally got some snow on the ground and trees here, so it truly has a magical feel in Sweden during this time of year. We just got back from going on a random adventure in the forest and we came across a little horse pasture where these people were legit riding around in this horse cart things. I asked the guy if he could take me for a spin but he just took off so that was fun :)

This past week was the Swedish celebration, St. Lucia, which somehow also has some sort of tie to Italy, but the guy sitting next to me at the celebration didn't really know the story. He told me to go to a library and read a book about it or Google it. But, the celebration is more or less a 'Luciatåg' that comes in through the middle of the church, the head girl wearing a crown of candles, and everyone following her has candles in their hands. The concert we went to involved a lot of young kids, and so the small ones, or even the older kids that were a lot more rowdy were given just lights instead of a real candle haha. But, I really enjoyed it! It was a nice little concert, and the songs were stuck in my head the rest of the week.. 'Saanktaa luciiiiaaaa, sanktaaaa luciiiia'

Also this week, we were out tracting, as usual. We have been going a lot to this area called Sjöberg becuase we got a good feeling about it and missionaries really haven't ever been there. As we came to this one door, we knocked and becuase I was on the side opposite to the direction the door opened, I assumed Elder Derr would take the beginning of the conversation before I come in. For some reason, my head was in the clouds somewhere and when the door opened, Elder Derr didn't say anything and so I was like oh umm and without thinking I just said, 'hej, har du haft en speciell dag? ' I had no idea what I was saying haha, I had just asked this man if he has had a special day. It was kind of a weird question and I felt bad that I wasn't totally engaged in the conversation. He was kind of taken aback by the question but then after recovering quickly, we got to have a good conversation and he told us we could come back and give him a Book of Mormon. It was just proof to me that even if we stumble in our attempts as missionaries, God makes up the difference and if they're prepared, it won't necessarily matter what you say to start the conversation! But, with that being said, I hope all of you can make each day, en speciell dag! :)

One last thing! We were in kind of a dilemma Saturday because we had too many things planned and needed to figure out what things we would opt of participating in and which things we would do that evening. After careful thought, we decided to attend the baptism of a young girl that has grown up in the church. Not sure why we went, but it felt like it was the right thing to do. Sure enough, when we came into the chapel for the beginning of the baptism, we saw this couple that we have wanted to start teaching the past few weeks! The wife doesn't come as often and the man isn't a member (yet). He had wanted to come to the baptism to see how it all works because one day he might be doing the same thing! We got to sit by them and get to know them better and we got one step closer to begin teaching them! It was cool to see that little miracle there!

Life is good here in Täby! Zone conference is this week and Christmas is just right around the corner! Until next time, God Jul och Gott nytt år!!! 

Pictures:

1) jag och min kompis här 

2) svenska kyrkan där vi kollade på Lucia

3) kontoret squad med hästar

4) vackert 

-- Äldste Steele

1) jag och min kompis här 

2) svenska kyrkan där vi kollade på Lucia

3) kontoret squad med hästar

4) vackert 

Light Explosion

Email written: 12/10/18

Hej allesammans, 

So, I waited till the very end of the day to type out how my week went, and so I don't have much time to do it :O

But, we were able to witness a ton of miracles this past week. Probably the biggest one was that the new missionaries all got their visas last minute and all of them came this past Tuesday. They continue to send the best of the best to Sweden. President Youngberg actually told us recently that 3 of the Apostles have said that they send a really special type of missionary to the Sweden Stockholm mission and so it truly is an honor to be serving here along with all the other bright, talented and dedicated servants of the Lord. 

A few weeks ago, we had asked this sweet lady in our ward to write her testimony in a Book of Mormon so that as could give it out to someone in the neighborhood. We were able to give it to someone a few days ago and we went right over to give a report to this member that had written her testimony in the Book. On our way there, we met this older man that were able to have a nice conversation with and he told us how much he liked the way that we try to missionary (att missionera is actually a verb in Swedish) so that was nice. But then, he told us that if we would start walking down the road, we would see an ultimate light explosion and so we kept going down the road and then boom, there it was, a house with around 60,000 Christmas lights in the middle of a nice Swedish neighborhood. We asked the member all about the house and she told us the whole back story and she even explained it to some people walking by that asked if it was some American who lived there. 

Well, later after we talked to the member, we went to talk to those Swedes that made a comment about America and started talking to them in front of the light explosion house. It was pretty easy to start a conversation since we are Americans and they had made a comment about the house. Turns out, they live right next door to one of the members in the Stockholm ward and it was such a small world connection just right there! 

But, life is good and I can't wait for Christmas! Don't forget the real reason for the season.. Our Savior was born. Have a good week! 

Pictures:

1) Light Explosion 

2) me and Äldste Baggett, who is home now

3) sightseeing with new missionaries 

4) a Swedish church 

-- Äldste Steele

1) Light Explosion 

2) me and Äldste Baggett, who is home now

3) sightseeing with new missionaries 

4) a Swedish church