Week 31 - Gubbängen... That's a Nice Place

Week 31 - Gubbängen... That's a Nice Place

Hey guys,

So we met this super amazing lady this week. Her friend referred her to us because she was looking for the truth. We had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday So after we missed the bus stop to her house and our phone died in the middle of talking to her to get the right directions, we were just kinda looking at each other in the middle of somewhere we had never really been just wondering what in the world we were going to do. At this point, we were a half hour late. My companion is also pretty new to this area so neither of us are familiar with the bus schedules or anything. We just started walking, and ended up at a bus stop. My companion read the schedule and said the next one would take like twenty minutes so that we should walk back to the other stop and see if it was better there. I had the feeling we should just stay there. My companion listened, and within three minutes, we were on a bus wich happened to have the still uncommon luxury of being able to charge your phone on the bus. Our lady said we could still come by. We got there almost an hour late, but they were so nice still. She and her husband greeted us, asked if we wanted tea or coffee, and started to get to know them over some herbal tea (don't worry guys, it's not real tea). They speak really good Swedish and moved to Sweden from Ecuador. Her name is Love. She was super interested. She said she's been to different churches, but she doesn't feel satisfied that she's found the truth, but she wants to be. She accepted the challenge to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. She was unfortunately very sick yesterday and not able to come, but I really feel good about her. She's on the right path. We also have a baptismal date with Ronald who moved here from Peru. We have a really awesome nineteen year old in the world helping us with him in translating and everything. We got invited to his house by his mom to eat some very yummy Peruvian food too... crema de pollo con arroz. Got to practice some Spanish too haha. 

Ready for the funny story of the week? So one night on the way home, we hop off the subway exit in Enskede Gård where we live. We here some very lovely hard rock wafting over the air waves from somewhere and we both kinda look around confused trying to figure where it's coming from. We notice a little air vent in the side of the cement wall holding up the train tracks we just got off.. It's definitely coming from there.. but... huh? We joked about how maybe there was a live concert going on somewhere in the sewer. I at least thought that would be a really cool venue. The next day we looked for anything that might explain what we heard, but nothing. Then that night, in the exact same circumstances, we hear the exact same song coming from the exact same air vent. Now we just have to know what this is. As we're looking around, the music stops. We put our ear to the vent, and we here talking. It sounds like a small room, lots of voices. I kind of give my companion a "Should I do it?" look. He gives me a "you only live once" look, so I just yell through the air vent "hallå!" (that's Swedish for, hello). I say it a few times in different volumes and at different pitches, until I hear someone saying hallå back. It sounded like they were really close. Both still a little baffled, the lady on the other side asks who I am. I tell her my name. She asks where I am. I tell her. I ask where they are. They're totally underneath the subway rehearsing with their band. I tell them it sounds really good and find out they're performing at a church that Friday. She was super nice and I definitely made a friend that day, and now I can officially say that was my most epic contact as a missionary. We heard them a few more nights until last Friday when they had their concert. I love Stockholm... You're never bored here... 

Also, news update, Elder Renlund of the quorum of the twelve is coming to our chapel on the 29th of this month. He's actually Swedish and spent some of his childhood in Göteborg. As far as I know, he doesn't speak Swedish, but he understands it still. We are very excited to get to hear him speak and light a fire for missionary work here in Sweden! It's not often that Apostles come up here, so it's a real treat. 

Have a great week!

Äldste Denton

 Played a little pickle on p-day... I was going for the thug look... You tell me if it worked out or not... We're the nerds in proselyting clothes :)

                                                          Some inspiration for your day.

           This street is named after one of Stockholm's executioners from the 1700's. Pretty cool.

 ​                                        That's some leaves.
                                       

                                          The old college Stockholm.
                                       

                                          Woah. On the way to volunteer at the red cross.


                                         

         Stockholm's pretty. That's my comp and a member that we like to explore with on p-days.

                                                         Someone is stealing that arrow.

                                          Yup.

                                                    Nuff sed

Week 30 - Church

Week 30 - Church



Hej allihopa!

     I got to meet the ward this week! It felt good to go back to church and take the sacrament. I don't know about you guys, but I really start to feel lack of sacrament even after one week. Thank goodness for the sacrament. I received a very warm welcome from the ward including an assignment to speak next week. Actually really looking forward to introducing myself. It's weird to not know anybody! I knew everyone in Sundsvall and felt like I was home at church and now I don't know anyone again! It's a big ward too, so it's going to take some time for me to really get to know everyone. I'm excited though. It's a really good place. We're planning to really dig deep with the members this transfer and help people refer their friends to us so we can refer them to God :) I'm excited! We also want to spend lots of time with the less active members of the ward. 

In answer to your Question, We are finding people to teach yes :) Still not easy, but we're going to try finding through the members out a little more. Sometimes, things seem a little routine here  and I wonder if I am moving forward. If you were here just for a minute and got to see me speaking Swedish, helping people, even cooking yummy food (we made fried rice, crepes, potatoe and sausage, spaghetti, french toast, and all sorts of stuff this week) and teaching the gospel, and that makes me realize how much good I really am doing and that I really am progressing personally :)

 In other news, I was looking through our iphone, clearing it out in preparation for our new phones later this transfer and I found this recording just called 'Potatoe Hunter - Äldtse Payne'. So I listen to it and hear Jared Payne explaining what it takes to hunt a wild potato, the cast system in Idaho, traditional garb for a potato hunter, how dangerous wild potatoes are, how to domesticate potatoes... It's literally a twenty minute interview... That was pretty funny to find. Needless, to say, I learned a lot about my home state.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Äldste Denton

                                                   Just call me MJ.

                                          Look it's a flower!

                        You guys think you've seen bad road construction... check this out...

          I'm doing the same thing as the guy on the warning sign. (You might need to zoom in)

                                          It's starting to melt :)

Week 29 - The Winds of Change

Week 29 - The Winds Of Change

      Transfers went well! Elder Fortuna is a good missionary for sure. Elder Fortuna is like dad, as a twenty year old. Here's why:  He's a really good student. Perfect ACT score and a 4.0. He's an introvert, but he's still got good social skills and is really friendly. He wants to be a doctor (I told him he'd probably be a pediatrician). He runs long distance, but not competitively or anything.  He's really frugal with money. He tries to be really nutritiously conscious.  Also just the way he talks remind me of dad. It's kind of freaky... Like I am companions with my twenty year old dad. Should be a good time because I like my dad.

      It feels weird to just move away from everyone you've learned to love and move in with a stranger without even a day to adjust, but it feels cool that I can do that! I've been having ministerial withdrawals though. Like multiple times during conference I thought about a recent convert or less active or investigator and just had a little freak-out like "Why didn't we invite them to conference?? They need to hear this talk!" and would be halfway to reaching the phone when I realize that they're not in my area... It's weird!! I don't really know anyone here yet since we haven't had church yet, but I think I'll like it a lot once I have somewhere to put all my missionary anxiety. You know? A missionary without people to stress over is probably something like getting empty nested as a parent, so I'm looking forward to meeting the ward and our investigators and really getting to know the area.

     Stockholm is cool. People aren't as shy here and there's a whole lot of English. Even Swedes speak English with each other pretty often. It's a little warmer too, and almost no snow! We now have more sunshine the further north you go so that feels pretty good too. Also said bye to the car and now I'm living the subway dream 👌 I like it actually. It's cool to always be around people all the time and not pay for parking. 

     How about that awesome conference though? It happened at all wacky times here because we're 8 hours ahead, but we've almost watched all of the sessions now... still missing Sunday Afternoon... So much goodness though! Super excited about the changes.

Have a great week! 

Äldste Denton

                                          Taking out the trash

                                          This transfer's gonna be... "HUGE"

                                          ​Subway life

Week 28 - Hej då

Week 28 - Hej då

So thanks everyone for the birthday emails! Super good to hear from all of you.

I had a great couple of weeks here! Really good time for me to soak up every last minute of Sundsvall because (surprise) I'm getting transferred! I'm excited for sure, but I'll miss Sundsvall I'm sure too. My new area will be Gubbängen in the greater Stockholm area! This area sounds lit. It's really close to down town Stockholm and it's actually the biggest congregation in Europe from what I hear. (at least on paper)  My new companion will be Elder Fortuna and I head out Wednesday morning with my good friend Elder Domino. He's heading out west to be a zone leader over the Göteborg zone. 

My birthday was fun. I got to celebrate with the Stegeby family. The mom is American and she gave me American treats like goldfish and oreos and fed me haystacks... 🙏Also, her brother delivered me so what better place to celebrate my birth... He's a doctor back in Pocatello. Small world... We also got to do some construction for their family. I helped put up a soundproof wall. That was exciting. 

We also had an amazing lesson with two investigators I love a lot, Gerth and Kristina. They are making so much progress and it's amazing. They had read what we asked them and are praying. The Spirit was there as we talked about real intent and the process required to repent and gain a testimony. 

Also had a good phone call with our investigator who's out of town, Mikael. He's been reading the Book of Mormon while he's been away! Super awesome. So happy for him as well. 

All in all leaving the area in pretty good shape for the next guy. I really feel good about the work I've put in here. I feel like I've given all I had. Excited for the life of luxury and hard work that lies ahead in Stockholm. (The appartement is apparently super nice 👌) 

Love you all!

Äldste Denton

                                                   Last lesson with Gerth and Kristina :)

                                         Me and my mission leader.

                                         And Elder Domino

                                         Working on the house.

                                                   Can we build it?

                                          Russian bakery.

                                         My birthday cake.

                                       My real birthday cake. Elder Wolff had a birthday too.

                                         Daniel and Eerik