Tjenare,
Hope everybody is doing good. This week was another busy one for me and flew by. Here's some of the highlights:
On Tuesday we had Zone Conference (gathering of about 20-30 missionaries from the same larger geographical area) in Stockholm. All the presentations were pretty good, especially the one from our mission president who talked about being the "baller" instead of the "ball" (act rather than being acted upon) and also gave a metaphor that at the beginning of our missions all of us missionaries get a metaphorical suitcase, and everything we do throughout the 2 years is like putting stuff in the suitcase, and then at the end when we open it up, that's what we are left with from the 2 years. So basically just put good things into the suitcase during the limited time we have as missionaries. Besides the presentation always good to see some of my other missionary friends.
That night we had a lesson with a lady who in the past was really close to baptism but now has had a lot of other life circumstances that have distanced her from meeting with us. I won't say too much because it's pretty personal stuff but simply said she is hyper focused on only herself in every aspect of her life, and her pride is noticeably limiting her ability to progress spiritually. Pride is very powerful (in a negative way).
On Wednesday we met with a lady from Cameroon that I met on the street a few weeks ago but she has been busy in the recent weeks but finally had some free space in her schedule to meet with us. Most of the time we were talking was her just telling us her life story, which is one of the hardest lives that I have personally heard about. It would take a while to explain it all, but shortly said she lost both her parents and an older sister by 12 and then in her adult years has dealt with an extremely neglective and abusive marriage. Experiences like this make me very humbled to be a missionary. There wasn't much we could say after she told her story, but I felt we should give her a Book of Mormon. Me and my companion had a conversation (not argument) afterwards, where he expressed he didn't feel good about just listening to all her struggles and then giving her a book that we believe in and she doesn't. Like it doesn't really seem very emphathetic and kind of just forcing our beliefs on her problems. I reminded him that we came here to Sweden with a unique message of hope that we shouldn't be shy about sharing, a message that can bring a lot more consolation and peace than anything we say can. I am grateful for the faith and confidence I have in the Book of Mormon, that I really can give it to people in their lowest moments and promise them peace.
After that we had a lesson with a guy named Fadi who is from Armenia/Syria. Some other Elders in Stockholm met him and sent us his number the night before and we quickly scheduled a time to meet Wednesday. They didn't tell us other than that he is a painter and he wants a Book of Mormon in Arabic. Me and my companion were quite surprised when we walked into his office (he requested to meet there) and saw the walls covered with bright pop art paintings (picture included). We thought he was a painter who painted houses and stuff but he is an artist. He was a really nice guy who asked us a lot about ourselves and gave us some hot chocolate after we said we don't drink coffee or tee. He had researched a bit about our church and liked everything he had read (except polygamy lol) and we just gave him short explanation of the Book of Mormon along with his requested Arabic copy, because that was all we had time for after talking about other stuff for a while.
That night we had dinner with a Gambian guy Maka that we taught several weeks back but he stopped replying so we hadn't messaged in a couple weeks. I ran into him in town and he said we could come over that night. He is a very devout Muslim, so our conversation with him is usually just comparing our beliefs and finding similarities. Again I felt humbled and grateful to be a missionary, this time after seeing the hospitality, friendship, and love that this man was showing us, despite the many differences that we have in age, belief, race, nationality, etc. He fed us some Gambian food: a lamb dish with some spices as well as peanut butter in the sauce, and then a desert of couscous mixed with a yogurt type sauce. Very good.
Thursday morning we left the apartment early to have a lesson with Daniel, our Peruvian friend who only speaks Spanish. His wife wasn't there this time, but we had a member come with us to translate and we had a pretty good lesson. We taught the plan of salvation, but because he rambles so much and tells random stories we just got through the first half (premortal life, creation, Adam+Eve). He has been liking everything we've been teaching so far. Really nice guy with a positive and happy personaltiy.
After that we had our in-person district council (meeting with 6-8 missionaries who are in the same smaller geographical area). In Sweden we only have these in person once every 6 weeks (rest of the weeks online) because our areas are so far apart so it's always a fun time to see everyone in the district and then get lunch afterwards. This transfer we've been focusing on Christlike attributes as a mission and we've had some good discussions as a district. It's been cool to see the way a lot of the attributes connect with each other, and how often the worldy definition of the attribute is different than the way Christ exemplified it.
That night we had a meeting with some of the members of the ward and after the meeting ended at 8pm me and my companion looked at our phones to see a missed call from some of the Elders in our district that live on an island off the coast of Sweden. They came onto mainland for Zone Conference and in-person district council and were going to leave that night, but as they were driving onto the ferry their car broke down. Since we are the closest people with a car to where the ferry leaves from they asked us to pick them up. It is still a 1 hr drive to get there though so we spent the rest of that night driving them, and then the next morning as well because they just slept with us and took the ferry without their car the next day.
On Saturday morning we had a lesson with this guy who referred himself to meet missionaries through facebook. He is from Nigeria and moved here 3 months ago. He is really busy with work so asked us to come before 10am, so we went the next day at 9. I don't think he was expecting us to actually come because when we called him saying we were outside of his apartment building he seemed pretty surprised haha. He came down and opened the door for us but said his family was sleeping so asked if we could just stand right in the entrance of the apartment building and just talk there. We agreed and just started getting to know him when a couple of minutes later another African guy me and my companion have previously met while just sitting on a bench walked by and greeted us and then when he walked out the door he just said "Book of Mormon!". Idk what his intentions were with saying that but I thought it was pretty funny and naturally led to some curiosity from Andrew so we got to explain about the Book of Mormon a bit which was good.
After that we came home and right when we got there a member asked us for help with some moving stuff, so we helped him and then after that we headed to a culture festival that was happening in the town we live in (we live in a small town like 15 minutes away from the city we actually serve in). The members who we always pick fruit with were there selling some fruit and the painter Fadi was also there selling some paintings. It was a cool festival with just a bunch of stands up the street as well as multiple bands playing music and stuff.
Later that day we had a lesson with our friend Michel (Iraq, comedian). If you read my emails you know this guy has problems believing in God so we've been trying to get him to actually commit to reading the Book of Mormon and praying. This lesson was so awesome. He came in with a list of questions that he had gotten from his reading during the past week and then when we gave him the answers he asked follow up questions and wrote down the answers we were giving him. And then at the end of the lesson we asked him to say the closing prayer. He almost always just prays for his grandma and that's the whole prayer because he says he can't think of anything else (we try to give examples of stuff) but this time he said 4 or 5 things in a pretty sincere way. And then to top it all off when he came to church on Sunday he walked straight to the front row and sat there by himself even though he was 30 minutes late (he always says he can't hear cuz the kids in the back are noisy). All of this stuff may seem simple to you guys reading, but this is him doing this being someone who is super blunt and sarcastic and doesn't really take things seriously, and who only a few weeks ago said there is nothing in the Book of Mormon he can apply to his life and said that he wants God to just give him a sign for him to believe. His whole demeanor is changing and it is so cool to see. Please pray that he will keep moving in a positive direction!
Sunday night we took the 3 hour boat ride to spend Monday and Tuesday with the Elders that live on the island that I mentioned above. I will include pictures and tell more about it in next week's email.
Something that seemed to be in my thoughts a lot this week has been pride. It has seemed to come up in a lot conversations this past week, as well as encountering prideful people. When I talk with people about pride I tell them that I strongly believe every bad thing or problem in the world comes from pride in one way or another. Of course pride can be manifested in someone being self centered and talking about how great they are, but it can also be manifested in many suttle ways, that to me seem to be a lot more harmful if not addressed. For our district council this week the Christlike attribute we focused on was humility, the opposite of pride. A big part of our discussion was focused on the difference between the dictionary or "worldy" defintion of humility vs the Christlike definition of humility. Both definitions are positive things, but the Christlike attribute emphasizes recognizing our dependence on God and submitting to His will. Both defintions involve us putting someone else before ourself, whether it be other people, God, or both. These past 11 weeks I have been with a companion who, in my opinion, is prideful in a variety of ways. The biggest thing I've noticed is that while I have spent a lot of the time thinking in my head that he is prideful and being frustrated with it, this has only made me more prideful in return. Me in my head "looking down" upon his pride is just me being prideful. As well as me thinking in my own head that I am doing better at being humble. All it does is engender more pride, making things worse on both sides. So what is the solution then? From what we discussed as a district and from what I've learned myself these past weeks, it's simply about trying to be more humble. Making a concious effort to put others first, like Jesus Christ would do. Humility, combined with love, can cure any conflict or issue. But it takes "look[ing] deeply into your heart to see if there are shards of pride or jealousy that prevent you from becoming a peacemaker." President Nelson has taught how we can receive this charity and humility that cures the wounds of pride. "When we humble ourselves before God and pray with all the energy of our hearts, God will grant us charity." All it takes making the effort, and asking God for help. Just like small acts and shards of pride can build to create conflict and issues, small efforts of love and humility can build to resolve/prevent conflict and strengthen relationships. These past couple weeks, I have made small efforts to talk in a nicer tone with my companion, and choosing to not get frustrated about things he does that might frustrate me, but are ultimately out of my control. In just these small efforts I have felt my love for him greatly increase, as well as our ability to work to work together in a positive way. And through all this helping me feel more joy. Realistically, pride is something we all need to work on. Jesus Christ set the example, and as we turn to Him for help, He will show us the way and mold us into more humble, loving people.
4 Nephi 1:15-16 - " And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people ... there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God."
Sorry for the long one this week, appreciate all who read the whole thing🙏❤️
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