Week 54 - Good News

Week 54 - Good News

Ready for some good news?

We had a baptism! A woman who had written herself out of the church has been making steps back since about June. After receiving approval from church headquarters, she was rebaptized by her father and received into full fellowship again on Saturday. For those of you who don't know, after being rebaptized, it's as if you were never were out of the church. Your date of baptism on the church records shows your original date of baptism and all other covenants you have made and blessings you've received are restored once you are confirmed as a member of the church. What a beautiful example of the Savior's attitude regarding repentance reflected in his own words:

"Behold, [she] who has repented of [her] sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more."

That's the real good news. The good news or 'gospel' of Jesus Christ. Redemption from past mistakes is available to all who exercise faith unto repentance, are baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and continue faithfully following the Savior. Freed from guilt and and pain, we can "walk in newness of life" looking to "Jesus the author and finisher of our faith". 

We are so happy for this faithful woman and her decision to be baptized again. 

That's the news this week! 

Äldste Denton 

P.S. In cases of rebaptism, we have been asked to refrain from including names, or pictures in emails home to protect privacy, but you can imagine it in your head. She was wearing white :) 

Elder Hambrick in the font we just got done sucking dry with a 'vattensugare' which directly translates to 'water sucker'. This serves as the relief society room after we put a cover over the font. 

Sunrise from our balcony, which is happening around 7:30 AM these days instead of 3:00 AM.

Gothenburg by night with a try-hard-model-pose. We were there for Zone Conference this week. 

Week 53 - Iv'e Seen Fire and Rain

Week 53 - "Iv'e seen fire and rain"

It was about this time last year I left the MTC for Sweden. We left early in the morning on the 9th of October and got here early in the morning on the 10th. So I've officially seen the beginning and end of each season in Sweden. From about 2 meters of snow, Northern lights and a few hours of sunlight each day in a small northern town to spring in Stockholm burning away winter with Valborg, riding subways, running to catch busses, beautiful architecture, and rich history to sunset at 11:00 P.M, wild fires, and the driest, warmest summer Sweden has seen in over a hundred years in one of the rainiest city in Sweden where I am now enjoying beautiful fall colors.

A classic western/folk song sums it all up. 

"I've seen fire and I've seen rain,

I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end

I've seen lonely days when I could not find a friend

But I always thought that I'd see you again"

Anyone? 

Okay so the part about the friend is maybe not so applicable... I've always had my companion... Sight and sound 24/7... I knew I'd see him again. But the first two lines speak to me on a personal level. 

Conference was great. I saw a few familiar faces in the MTC choir. That was exciting. Also two hour church. Haven't watched Sunday afternoon yet since it happened past our bedtime... But I heard there were a lot of temples announced. 

I loved the scripture Elder Holland used in his talk about if you want to come closer to Christ, you have to forgive your neighbor first. That talk hit me in the feels. 

We have an ad on Facebook market place for a Book of Mormon for sell (free of course). Well somebody messaged us about it this week. Woo hoo! We'll see where it goes. 

Hope you all have a great week,

Äldste Denton 

Switching for exchanges with the district leader aka my trainer and pal Äldste Cook. We took some pictures at this nice church. 

Current Companion Elder Hambrick on the far right and former companion, trainer, and  District Leader, Elder Cook middle right.

Week 52 - Isaiah the Savage

Week 52  - Isaiah the Savage

We spent a ton of time with members this week. From digging ditches, to a young single adult fireside about sexual purity, to helping ministering, to member meals, to visiting less active members and giving a blessing, to teaching a couple with the members that referred them present, to visiting a member getting ready to be rebaptized and teaching her daughter... And the list goes on.

Here's one kinda dorky thing we did this week. We had a super long bus ride to go teach the previously mentioned returning member and her daughter. 57 kilometers away as the crow flies. Unfortunately, busses don't travel quite as straight as crows. Since this particular journey is not too popular by bus, we were pretty much alone the whole time. So we decided to make a short film with our limited resources. It's all on one video and we just paused it and restarted it for new scenes. We got a little carried away and it ended up being over 7 minutes long... (in our defense, that's 57 kilometers as the crow flies, in both directions. The amount we traveled that day could have almost gotten us from Pocatello to Bear Lake) Wish I could send it, but it's over a gig... And also very bad. But yeah we had a ton of fun with it. Staring Elder Hambrick. Produced, filmed, and directed by Elder Denton. It's going to make us money one of these days.

We were asked Saturday to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday. We were also already planning to do a musical number. So like half the meeting was the missionary show. Then during Sunday school, we were all delving into Isaiah and came across a scripture that made everyone kinda chuckle. They read it aloud and explained that it was a prophesy for missionaries: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people." Then everyone turned to us and started laughing like "Haha roasted by Isaiah, let's all dab on the missionaries." It really hit close to home since we had both just given talks. It was pretty funny. We had a few people come up to us after and just say stuff like "Don't worry you guys have very good Swedish" and stuff to try to mend our broken hearts 😭💔 Isaiah is such a savage that he roasted us 2,750 years in advance, give or take. 

And here's just some thoughts from the talk/testimony I gave. 

Jesus Christ knows and loves each one of us. As our favorite prophet Isaiah also said "Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." 

I love the simplicity of the gospel. Jesus Christ sacrificed everything for us. His sacrifice enables us to gain everlasting life. With his stripes we are healed. 

That's about it for this week! 

Hope you all have a good one,

Äldste Denton 

                 While I was writing this, a double rainbow appeared outside our window

Here's a lake by where we live in Sjöbo. Really puts the 'sjö' in 'Sjöbo'. 

We bought a second hand popcorn machine off a friend. Now we are living lavish.

                                          Game Night?

Week 51 - Multicultural Week

Week 51 - Multicultural Week

We had a really awesome lesson with two of my favorite people ever. They're a Swedish couple that love jazz. He plays jazz piano. She sings. And they are GOOD. She used to tour professionally.

Anyways. 

Before I get on any jazz tangents...

The spirit was super strong there on Saturday when we were with them. I love being with them and reading from the Book of Mormon together. I always feel so refreshed after being with them. And I really think they do too. We gave them an initiative the church did here in Europe where you have 21 questions on there and 21 references in the Book of Mormon. Some of them are simple (Is there a God?) and some of them more complex (How can I find joy?). We felt like it was perfect for them so we have it to them and they said they would try it out. I know that if they really do, they can receive a witness from God that the Book of Mormon is true. 

We did some other fun stuff this week. Including digging a ditch at our friend Paul's place. He's an American from Mississippi. That was fun. His stable kept flooding but now it shouldn't. 

We also taught a family that moved here from Columbia this week. Everything went prefect. I felt like I was watching an episode of 'The District'. Usually I have a hard time relating to the missionaries in those videos, but this time I was like "So this is what it's like to teach a family with a Christian background!" It felt way different. Usually we spend the whole first lesson on whether or not God exists or they don't understand prayer or are afraid their friends and family will judge them for meeting with us (which is usually a pretty rational fear since being too religious is considered really weird here). So it was a different experience this week when we asked if we could pray and even their kids came in and kneeled down. The whole thing was interpreted for us. From Swedish to Spanish, then Spanish back to Swedish. 

So that was some highlights from our week. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week :) 

Äldste Denton 

                                          Here's some recent pictures from the week.

Something we like doing in our spare time is making fake album covers. Here's one I whipped up this morning of Elder Hambrick. You can pre-order your copies now folks. 

                                     That's a big mushroom... 

                                      Hiking in the forest. 

                                     I made a salad this week. Twice. 

Week 50 - The Spirit of God

Week 50 - The Spirit of God

Super great week!

We've been working with a couple that hasn't been to church in about eight years, and they came to church again yesterday! Lots of people were excited to see them.

The ward is heading to the temple this week. Stockholm is a ways away so they are staying two full days and sleeping at the guest house right next to the temple. During sacrament Meeting, the Bishop had someone quietly count everyone in the room. Then he got up after a talk and he wanted us all to just look around at everyone there. It was packed in that little chapel. He said "there's 88 of us here today which is a lot for us. Now just think for a second. There's 95 of us going to the temple this week." Then he had us all get up, go to the front of the chapel, and sing the Spirit of God together. It was super powerful. While they're all away this weekend saving their dead, we'll be here saving the living. Works out pretty well.

I can see the fire in this ward that's come from preparing their own family names for the temple. I've definitely got a testimony of family history and work for the dead. They need us and we need them.

I hope you guys all have a great week! 

Äldste Denton

                        Here's a really cool wolf. Look closely, the left side is made out of toys. 

                     Äldste Hambrick drew Mario and Batman in the condensation... No big deal. 

                                  My comp found some nice deodorant. Pretty good price. 

Week 49 - Just another Week

Week 49 - Just another Week

We had transfers. My trainer is now my district leader for his last transfer. Lit. 

The work is starting to really getting going here! We're getting referrals and helping less actives come back. It's great.

We got referred to some really positive people this week and a member that hasn't been to church in months had us over for dinner and came to church. So that was sweet :)

My companion was sick and we stayed in on Friday so he could rest. Gave me a great opportunity to read the new book the church just came out with, "Saints". I only have one three chapters left now. Super great. Recommend it. I love seeing how the Lord tested and tried His people. As soon as they received more knowledge, they were tested on it to see how they would react. It's beautifully written and the best part is, it's a true story! So if you haven't checked that out, I would recommend it. It's on the gospel library app. 

It rains every day here now. Not necessarily all day, but every day. Apparently that's normal for Borås. I'm getting used to it. Starting to take those vitamin D pills again. 

I know the Savior lives and loves each one of us. He can make us free from anything that may keeping us bound. 

Hope you guys have a great week! 

Äldste Denton 

                          Ready for any weather.

We found a dangerous sushi and Thai buffet... Super good. Might gain some pounds there.. 

Snagged a candid picture of my companion through the hole of a tape dispenser. I feel like someone could make that into a Mormon ad of they really wanted to. 

Fun fact, the Swedish word for speed is "fart". This is a speed limit sign that does you the favor of displaying your "fart" to you. The word "din" is "your". As you can all see from this picture, my fart was zero.

Week 48 - Wow what a Week

Week 48 - Wow what a Week

Wow what a week,

Lots of visiting, friendshiping, eating, and even a little tennis. (We played with a member of the ward and his son in law... They beat us pretty good but we put up a good fight)

Had so much awesomeness happen. Lots of it revolved around less active members and part member families. We invited an inactive couple to talk with the Bishop about going to the temple trip in two weeks. They seemed super willing to change whatever they needed to go. Even if they didn't get to go in the temple, they were down to come. We talked with our ward mission leader before going, we had a member with us who drove us part of the way (quite a trek otherwise) and we just decided to swing by. They were so happy and filled with the Spirit by the time we left that she called her best friend in the church right after just to tell her how awesome it was. We told the bishop what we did and he said he'd call them to follow up. We talked with their ministers about helping them to start family history. They were both really interested in learning that. If they did join in the temple trip, that would make the number of ward members going on the three day temple trip 99. Their goal is to have 100 people with. They probably have about 120 active members so it's almost the entire ward. 

This ward is on fire! 

There's an election coming up quick across Sweden. Lots of political rallies and stuff. Swedes are really funny when it comes to politics. I've seen some people discuss politics with each other and they're so polite and considerate. It throws me off actually. There will be someone that asks who everyone is voting for and I just brace myself for an argument, but one guy is just like 

"Yes I like the left party I think I'll vote for them." And the next guy is like, 

"Oh, I'm voting for the social democrats." and the last one will  be like, 

"I thought the liberals had some really nice points. I'm voting for them." Then they'll just kind of nod and change the subject. They might as well be talking about the weather or something with how low tension they are. Haha it's great for us since we're not supposed to discuss politics as missionaries anyways. Makes it easy. 

Hope you guys all have a great week! 

Äldste Denton

Waiting for the street car. With my trainer, current comp, MTC comp, and other mission pals. 

                                    Singing in the rain?

                              Model shot of my companion.

 One year with some MTC groupies at zone conference including my MTC comp Äldste Dumas.