Tjena,
Another pretty good/busy week. Slowly but surely this area is starting to pick up momentum.
Tuesday and Wednesday this week was spent doing splits/exchanges. On Monday the Örebro elders came up to Borlänge and did pday and splits with us. We met with Sabrina that we've been teaching (basically only person who the previous missionaries taught that we're still teaching). She has 2 siblings who have also been taught by the past missionaries. We've tried to get into contact with both her brother and sister but neither replied. The miracle was that we had our regular Monday night lesson with Sabrina, and although she was 20 minutes late she showed up with her brother Natnael! This was a huge surprise and the lesson went great because Sabrina is really quiet but Natnael was asking a bunch of questions and we were able to share perspectives. Besides that the splits was mostly just finding on the streets, and then the next day the splits in Gävle was basically just knocking doors all day. We also stayed overnight in Gävle because we had in-person district council on Thursday which was good.
After district council on Thursday we drove the 1.5 hrs back to Borlänge and had a lesson with this dude named Liam. He was somebody who was just in our list of people on our app. The missionaries got his number in his October but were never able to meet with him. Anyways he told us he has only been Christian for a couple of months so he is really new to everything that comes with it. We taught him the restoration and explained the Book of Mormon, and after we were done he sat quiet for a bit and then looked up and looked at us and said "Where can I buy one of these books?". It made me so happy to be able to say that the book we read from was his and that he could keep it. His face just lit up when we said that and he said "I am going to read this entire book…...........not all at once but I am going to try and read a lot". 😂
Friday we had probably my favorite "lesson" of my mission. Basically there is 2 dudes who play for the professional soccer team here in Borlänge who come to our church every week that they can. They have never actually taken lessons from the missionaries so this week we set something up to meet with them. If I am honest it wasn't much of a lesson, but we talked for a long time about so much different stuff, including our faith in God and what makes us keep believing even in the world today. They are super relatable and nice guys, and remind me a lot of my friends at home. One is from London and one is from Norway. The one from London knew almost every single smaller rapper I listened to before the mission (which never ever ever happens) so it was a cool connection we had with that. I am not sure if we will be able to meet up with them more in the future because the soccer season is starting up soon, but it was a really good time with them this week.
Later on Friday we had a lesson scheduled with a new person that I got the contact of during splits on Tuesday. Well she no-showed for the lesson so we decided we would just go outside of the coffee shop we were at and find on the streets (we were at the normal spot we usually find on the streets) even though it was -5 F outside. While we were finding I walked past this mom with 2 teenage kids. I made eye contact with the teenage daughter and then just kept walking, which normally means that I won't talk to them anymore because if they see me and then I turn around, follow them, and then cut them off and talk to them it can be a little awkward haha. But as I kept walking in the other direction I felt like I needed to talk to this family, so I turned around and followed behind them up the street until there was a good chance for me to get in front and talk to them. They turned to walk into one of the shops (we find in an outdoor mall type thing) and I stepped in front of them and said that I was going around inviting people to come to church on Sunday, which is another thing I never do. My street approach is normally way different but I had an impression I should invite them to church. When I extended the invitation to the mom, she replied promptly "We live in Borlänge" (the place we were is like a 20 minute drive from Borlänge). I was happy to report to her that the church was in Borlänge, and after she asked a few more questions she left with our card with the church address and said that they would maybe come. So far on my mission I have never had someone come to church that I invited in public. I had a good feeling about this family though, so for the next two days I kept saying to my companion "I can't wait to see that family in church on Sunday" slightly joking but slightly serious, just trying to speak into existence that they would come I guess. Well come Sunday and I am anxiously watching the doors hoping that this woman and her kids walk in. They ended up not coming so we just went in and sat for sacrament meeting obviously. They asked me to help with blessing the sacrament this week so I was sitting up on the stand, and as I was sitting there I looked out the window and saw the family walking up to the church!! This may seem simple to you all reading this, but this really is something that never happens and was truly a miracle led by the Spirit. Only problem was though is that this family is from Kenya and has only been in Sweden for 5 months, so I had to attempt to translate the meeting for them which didn't go so well. Specifically at the part where the woman speaking gave an analogy with sourdough bread and then read a Chinese parable lol. We are planning on meeting up with the family later this week though, so please pray their hearts will be prepared to hear the gospel message!!
I'm sure most of you didn't care or notice but I missed the spiritual thought last week so we starting back up this week with a simple one haha. I really liked this scripture I read during my studies this week. Revelation 3:20 - "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." To me this scripture does a great job at depicting our relationship with Jesus Christ. He stands knocking outside the door for all of us, and if we let Him in He will come in and help us, comfort us, and strengthen us. But the important thing to note is that it is our decision to open the door. Christ stands at the door for us all, waiting to be let in, and we have the free will to make the decision to open the door. If you haven't already, open the door! Christ changes our life for the better when we choose to let Him help us.
Pics: (went to Västerås for pday so those are the big city pics)
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