Tjena,
Hope everybody doing well. Pretty good week for me. It picked up a bit after Wednesday. On Wednesdays we have a 1 hour zoom meeting with the whole mission where the mission president talks about stuff that we are focusing on or need to do better at, and then there is a 30 minute presentation of some sort. Well this week the presentation was given by two Elders in my mission who I know pretty well, and they talked about our focus for this transfer which is inviting/getting friends to church. The presentation wasn't anything special but for some reason it was what I needed to hear that day and really motivated me to find more people to invite to church, because I was thinking back to how long I have been in Borlänge and how little has changed. Hearing the presentation helped turn my frustration and disappointment into motivation.
So later that day on Wednesday we had about 40 minutes of finding (talking to people on the street). Even though there's not much I can really change in how I do finding, I tried to have a more hope and faith and positivity when I was going around talking to people. I honestly just don't know what was different, but everything just felt a lot better. I was talking to people who I don't normally talk to (ex: couples, older people) who seem more intimidating to talk to or less likely to be interested. One of these couples I was able to get their number. Near the end of the 40 minutes, I stopped, feeling proud of myself, and looked at the clock to see how much time I had left. There was 2 minutes left until we were supposed to leave, and already feeling accomplished I figured I would just stand and wait out the last 2 minutes until we had to leave. But then I got the thought "you aren't done yet you still have 2 minutes" and so I reluctantly walked behind a man that walked by I felt like I should talk to. Once I caught up to him I talked to him for a little bit and he was a really nice guy and I was able to get his number very easily (never happens). Just a cool moment that showed me the Lord will bless our efforts when we heed the promptings of the spirit. The rest of the week wasn't as successful as those 40 minutes, but was still a lot better than it normally is. I was able to get 5 numbers from people just off the street or in the mall. To those reading that may not sound like that much but that is more numbers than I have got my entire time in Borlänge (due to the uninterest of people in Sweden combined with my lackluster "finding" skills.) I am very grateful that the Lord helped guide me to people who were willing/interested to talk.
One of the dudes whose number I got we unfortunately will not be meeting with again. After meeting him on the street we were able to set up a time to meet only a couple days later. Our conversation was mostly just about faith in general, and how we have all come to what we believe in in our lives. This guy's experience was interesting to say the least. He said that for most of his life he believed there is no God, but after he took psychedelics and had an experience when he was high it made him think there is something else out there. And also said that he believes Jesus was a person who existed because He is well documented, but that he thinks that Jesus and His apostles were also on psychedelics when they wrote about/witnessed the miracles that Jesus performed. Very strange conversation hahaha but he was a very nice guy and also asked us a lot about our faith, but just ended the conversation by saying thanks but that he wasn't going to become a member of our church.
The couple whose number I got on Wednesday is really awesome. We met with them on Saturday at their apartment. The guy is named Daniel and is from Uganda/Congo, and his girlfriend is Grace and is from Burundi. We taught them about the restoration of the gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith, and they said that they liked the message. I am not sure if they understand fully the significance of what we taught them but Daniel did say he is going to read the Book of Mormon (Grace doesn't speak much English so we are planning on taking her a Book of Mormon in Swahili next time we go). Daniel also said he has two sisters in their 20s who live nearby and are very devout Christians as well and he said he will try and invite them next time we come which is great. They also fed us a huge meal of African food. Keep in mind this was literally our first time going to their place after only a 30 second conversation on the street. So so nice.
We had a lesson with our friend Liam. He is the guy from a couple weeks back who asked where he could buy a Book of Mormon after we taught him about it. He is very very busy so this is the first time we have met him since then which was almost a month ago. We taught him the Plan of Salvation this week though and he seemed to like everything we taught. He made sure to tell us that he has been carrying around the Book of Mormon with him everywhere he goes since we gave it to him, even though he is dyslexic and it is really hard for him to read. He also really wants to come to church but he lives kind of far away and the busses aren't very good on Sundays, so we are hoping by some miracle he will be able to come to church soon.
On Saturday we had a member meal with this lady that is from Angola (country in Africa). She lives in Sweden because her husband is a Swedish guy who is also not a member. He is a really nice guy and I am grateful he is so willing to have the missionaries for dinner. Anyways, my companion's parents are also from Angola, so the member wanted to make a classic Angolan dish for us. Except she thought I wouldn't want to eat African food because I am a regular white Utah missionary, so she bought me a oven-cook pizza. I'm not gonna lie I felt slightly disrespected but also very appreciative that she would make an exception for me 😂. After asking I was able to eat some of the African food too though and it was pretty good. Pretty similar to what Chef Manase cooked up for me and Zach a couple years ago.
Wanja and Gitahi came to the youth activity again this week, but unfortunately not to church. It was pretty disappointing on Sunday after spending the whole week focusing on inviting people to church and then having 0 friends show up :(. It's ok though we saw a lot of blessings and miracles this week and the work goes forward.
We had an hour long finding session during the week where I didn't get any phone numbers, but had a few conversations that got me thinking pretty deeply. 3 of them were fairly long conversations where some people opened up a little bit about their faith and thought process that goes with it. But the conversation that got me thinking the most lasted only about 30 seconds. I asked a lady if she believes in God, and she instantly replied "why would I believe in God?". It caught me a little off guard because 90 percent of the Swedes will just say no they don't believe in God and they are not interested. But this lady wasn't nice by any means by the way she said it but it definitely wasn't trying to be rude. I kind of sat there for a couple of seconds and then just responded with another question: "Why would you not believe in God?", to which she responded "If I believed in God that means I could just believe in anything." I then said that God for me is someone to lean on when times get hard in life, someone that I can pray to and receive help from when I need it most. She just responded by saying she is already satisfied in life so she doesn't need that, so I just asked her what makes her happy in life and then thanked her for her time.
I have been thinking about that interaction on and off the rest of the week. Of course God is always someone who is there to help people who are struggling, but what about the people who are doing good in life? Who are already satisfied with how everything is going? Of course we all go through hard things, but non-believers would reason that there is plenty of healthy things in life that can get someone through a hard time, even if they don't believe in God. I talked to a different guy in the week who doesn't believe in God, and when I asked him what he relies on during hard times, he just said the knowledge that he has made it through hard things in his life before. That is a pretty good and hopeful answer to me. But of course I also know that anyone can benefit from a relationship with God. But how do those who feel like they don't need him benefit? When pondering about this, a quote from President Nelson came to mind: "...entering into a covenant relationship with God binds us to Him in a way that makes everything about life easier… I reaffirm a profound teaching of President Ezra Taft Benson: 'Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, … lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace.'" I am realizing now that this was a long explanation for a pretty simple spiritual thought. But simply put, a life with belief in God is an easier life (not easy🙃). When we believe in God and live how He would like us to live, we can experience more joy, more comfort, and more peace. Yes we can feel those emotions without following God, but through following God they will "expand", "deepen", and "increase". ❤️
Thanks if you took the time to read the email:)
Hope everybody has a great week🙏
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