Week 16 - On-line Christmas visit with Äldste Denton

We had a great 40 minute on-line face to face visit with Carter on Christmas day. He looks like he is happy and doing very well. We met his companion Äldste Cook who said some very kind things about Carter including that his Swedish language skills are very good. They also sang the Swedish version of Happy Birthday for us which contained a couple of exuberant Hoorahs! Also a Hymn. Carter said that recently his zone (missionaries) picked a spot in the busy Hubbub of Christmas shoppers and sang Christmas hymns for everyone. He said he enjoyed doing that. I asked him about his package and he said that he received his package at his Mission conference a few weeks earlier but had left it on the train when returning to Sundsvall his assigned area. It took him several weeks to track it down but was able to find it after buisness hours thanks to the kindness of Lady with a key. Whew! That would have been an interesting Christmas without a package from home, A happy ending thank goodness! We all asked him some questions and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye :(  Those visits are always too short.

Hope you all enjoyed a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to you!!!

Week 15 - Change

Hey Everybody!

   We had zone conference near Stockholm on Friday and it was a party! 🎉🎈✨🎊🎁

Also baptism on Saturday! ......  ......  ....... ...... ...... ...... (where those baptism emojis go) 

     

Super proud of Sigmund and the other Elders here. It was an awesome experience.

    Seriously though, President Youngberg is also so inspired. He has been changing the way we do missionary work here in Sweden. First is just the way we talk to people. He has encouraged us to be ourselves, not a missionary robot, to focus on people and quality conversation over numbers. He wants us to focus on making a friend when we talk to people, not getting their phone number. He's been telling us to visit and encourage every member to do one thing to help out with the work. Right now the members have a challenge to each invite one friend to church before Christmas, and let me tell you, I have seen some new faces at church! It's so exciting to see members do missionary work. 

     

     President Youngberg also said something very profound that his dad told him. "A good leader sees others as Christ does and helps them to see themselves that way." He wants us to see Swedes in their best light. Swedes are known for not liking two things: talking with strangers and talking about religion. So naturally missionary work is going to have to look a little different here then maybe it does in America. But President insists there's a way and it starts with seeing Swedes where they are comfortable and learning to love what they love... with seeing them how Christ sees them. 

   

     Also we got to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" for Christmas conference and now my Christmas is complete. I got your package mom and dad and I haven't opened it yet but thanks I love you guys :) (Also I'm using Skype on Monday mom, and my companion and I are ready to sing for you in Swedish)  Also, during the week between Christmas and New Years, we all will be reading The Book of Mormon. The whole thing. We are aloud to spend up to 3½ hours a day of proselyting time to just read. Should be a really neat experience. 

     Love you all! Have a great week! 

     Äldste Denton

                                            Some of the MTC crew at Zone Conference.
                                     

                                                               The Ocean is frozen...

                                                              Like... real frozen…

                        My Comp with all of his Companions who are still out on the mission. 

                                                                  Sundsvall :)

                                                                 Stockholm :)

Week 14 - Blott en Vecka, Ett Ögonblick i Sänder

Hey everybody!

     If you have ever wondered what Swedish music sounds like, I have too. I don't hear much of their music as a missionary, but I talked to a guy in the branch here who said I could look him up on Spotify when I get home and he has a playlist of just Swedish music. So I can't enjoy that right now, but if you're curious, you can look him up on Spotify and enjoy it for me :) His name is Jens Stegeby and the playlist is named Sven. Mostly they listen to American music from what I have gathered, but fun fact for those that didn't know: Zara Larson is Swedish. (Not sure if I spelled that right... Her name is different in Swedish...) 

     Anyways it's been a good week! Not a lot of lessons... Lots of people are busy with Christmas, but that's okay because we are pretty busy with Christmas too! We have our Christmas conference on Friday and we're going down to Stockholm for it. Super excited :) 

     Not a ton to say this week, but I want to invite you all to participate in Light the World if you aren't already! I know it can really help you have a special Christmas and grow closer to the Savior. 

     

      Love you all!

      Äldste Denton

 People told us we would be fed a lot of fish, and so far I have not been fed or eaten fish until this week when we decided to take matters into our own hands and just fry some fish.

 Welcome to Europe where you get to chose between skinny, skinnier, and skinniest jeans.

Wrote some inspirational quotes on our board to keep us going through the week. Also my companion has a "Charity Chart" that helps him know how good he did that day. (It's out of 10... not so good on Sunday apparently lol)

​

This guy is awesome. He's the other Elder's investigator and he's getting baptized on Saturday! Woot woot! Also very talented on the "dragspel". 

Week 13 Winter Shinnanigans

Carter mentioned a while ago that Sweden will become a technology mission. Based on that, I asked Carter about the IPhone he will be getting and what he will be using it for.

Hey everybody!
       This is all the info I have about the technology stuff,: we will be getting smart phones, not tablets. They will have data on them just like your phone and we will have access to Facebook, and other social media apps for the purpose of furthering missionary work in our area. As far as when we will get them, the only info President Youngberg has received from Salt Lake is that it will happen "Sooner than later". No idea what that means. As far as how we will use them, I don't know that either. I suspect they will give us training when we get them. They have already started training us to be disciplined with technology. I imagine there will also be a fair amount of firewalls and stuff. Also, each missionary will have their own phone which will be there's to keep after the mission.  I don't know anything else about that. The way they'll keep areas organized with contacts is that each area will only have one SIM card that will stay with the area. One of the phones in the area will have the SIM card in it and will work as a hotspot for the other to call, text, get access to contacts, and use the internet. It's all controlled from Salt Lake. Once we all have our phones and have completed any safeguard courses we need, they will switch on all of our phones at once.  I think though that for the most part we will be using them to find people, organize efforts, spread light, and help people through chats or whatever learn about the gospel. The bulk of our teaching and stuff I imagine will be in person though. It's just another tool to help in the same work.

   You know, I have learned to really understand testimony, truth, and faith being here in Sweden and talking to people about those things every day. People here in Sundsvall are super nice and basically religious compared to most of Sweden though. Like my companion was trained in a place with like maybe 11-15 members and where the people were not so friendly. He spent most of his winter without investigators just contacting and trying to find. He said people would get super mad if you brought up religion to them and just tell you all the reasons that God doesn't exist and then cuss them out. I haven't been cussed out yet (that I can understand) but we've certainly heard a lot of atheist views and arguments, and let me tell you, some of them can sound pretty convincing. I remember reading the story of Korihor with a recent convert helping her to combat those arguments. I realized after reading Korihor's argument against Christ that we had heard all of those things come out of people's mouths before... In fact, we had heard all those things that day we were reading... It's interesting to note that God's way never changes, and honestly Satan's way doesn't really change either... he uses the same tactics generation after generation. People think they have out-thought God or that society has "grown out of faith," but it's really the same things people have been saying from the beginning of Earth's history. And it still isn't true. Anyone that really tries it out can know that.

     Quick update on the sun, I took some pictures yesterday at different times of the day to help you get an idea for just how dark it is here. Also, we are supposed to get an awesome northern lights show starting tonight as early as 4:00 in the afternoon. So excited! We've been able to see them twice already, but this one is supposed to be really good. 

     We met with some awesome investigators from like a year ago last night and they committed to baptized also when they received a witness our message is true. Super awesome older couple. After a slower week, it was an awesome way to end the week.

     Enjoy some pictures and check out the last video... haha it's pretty funny. 

     Love you guys have a great week!

     Äldste Denton

                                          

Week 12 - and they told me they don't celebrate Thanksgiving

  Okay, just want to clear up any confusion before I tell you how
awesome the members in Sundsvall are. They don't celebrate
Thanksgiving in Sweden. It's an American holiday celebrating American
pilgrims. By the time it's getting close to Thanksgiving, people are
already decorating for jul (yule), or Christmas, and counting the days
until advent starts (December 1). That being said, the missionaries
here were able to eat THREE thanksgiving meals over the last week and
a half. The members do everything they can to make us feel at home
here.
      I'm really pretty pampered in this area. The people are nice,
they talk slow and are easy to understand, we have a big branch with
about 100 active members, our companionship has a car, we get fed
every week at least once but sometimes three or four times, and
there's always work to be done. We even have weekly meetings with our
mission leader (and we actually have a mission leader to begin with),
we meet in a nice chapel... Heck, our apartment even has heated floors
and a dishwasher. Really there's nothing wrong with this area. Some
branches have fifteen members and meet in the basement of a dentist
office. The work can be really slow in some areas, and unless it's
Christmas, getting fed is pretty unlikely. Some areas down south have
people that speak very quickly or with hard to understand dialects
that even native Swedes have a hard time understanding. Also, cars are
rare here in Sweden if your not a Zone Leader or an Assistant. Mostly
it's just bus cards. I have no idea why I was assigned in such a sweet
area. Any missionary that tries their best can have some form of
success here. However, even among so many comforts and privileges, I
have been tried here, and the lessons I'm learning I think are very
applicable to life back home.
      An awesome seminary teacher I had when I was in tenth grade,
Brother Laga, told me something I'll never forget and which is
replaying in my head every day I serve in this choice area. He said
something like this, "God gives people hardship and trials to humble
his people and to test their faith, but after they start to get it, He
prospers them, and that's when the real trial of their faith starts."
I had never thought of that before, but it's so true. So many times in
the scriptures, God's people are led by faith and lean on every word
He gives them because they have nowhere else to turn. They are
afflicted with bondage and they look to Him to be freed. Then after
they obey and they are able to bear their burdens with ease or they
are relieved from their burdens completely, life becomes much easier
for them. Their burdens might be gone, but the trial of their faith
continues, and it's in those critical years of prosperity that many
fall away. It reminds me of the story with the ten lepers. After
seeking diligently the Lord and having the faith to be healed, all ten
lepers went away and rejoiced in their new found health, but only one
returned soberly and fell at Jesus' feet in gratitude. That's been my
goal here. I want to be the one. I want to live in gratitude for my
many blessings by working and being faithful to God in my prosperity.
     I think this lesson is valuable for anyone that lives in
prosperity. I serve in a country where the comforts of life abound.
Everyone has what they need from what I've seen. It's a very secure
place as well, at least up here in Sundsvall. People don't have much
to worry about or to complain about, except for maybe the cold. Not
surprisingly from what the scriptures teach, an overwhelming majority
of people here profess no religion. And yet even amidst so much
comfort, I wouldn't say they're all happy. It's very normal for people
to feel like something is missing from their life and very many people
hire counselors to help them find happiness. I see so many longing for
happiness looking for it the comforts and securities surrounding them.
It's very frustrating and it makes me want to scream "Hey! Wake up! I
can help you have what you're looking for!" It reminds me of what
Nephi saw our day. I believe his words match perfectly Satan's
tactics.

"20 For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the
children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.

21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security,
that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is
well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away
carefully down to hell.

22 And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no
hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and
thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful
chains, from whence there is no deliverance.

23 Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell,
and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand
before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from
whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of
fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.

24 Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!

25 Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well!

26 Yea, wo be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and
denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!

27 Yea, wo be unto him that saith: We have received, and we need no more!"

     I find it so interesting that Nephi describes Satan as whispering
and lulling. He even flatters them. It's not easy to recognize the
Lord's voice. It takes daily practice and obedience. A saint does not
become a sinner in a day. It happens most often that I see because of
negligence to follow the simple and plain principles set forth by the
Savior: of faith unto repentance, renewing of covenants, and enduring,
or remaining faithful to the end... even in our prosperity. Those who
choose comfort rather than growth are cheating their souls.
     I want to challenge you all to be the one leper that returns to
the Savior in sincere gratitude. Never let comfort, security, and
prosperity become chains that bind you and cheat your souls. Live a
life of progress and of devotion instead of laziness and fear. Of
honor and duty over pleasure and selfishness. I promise, you will find
peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come by building
on the rock of faith in Jesus Christ unto repentance, making and
renewing covenants, and enduring with faith, hope, and charity. You
will find purpose in your pain by following these steps and will learn
to relish every aspect of life, even the uncomfortable, the risky, and
trying times. Follow the Savior through whatever fire he leads you
through and know that He is making you stronger. Understand that he so
much more concerned with your progress than your comfort.
     Ha ha wow that was really long. Since it's not always appropriate
to scream to the people to wake up here, I guess I had to get some of
it out on you guys.
      I love you all and hope you have a great week!
      Äldste Denton