Tjena tjena
Hope everyone has had a good week. Mine was interesting to say the least.
The first three days didn't consist of much interesting to be honest. My companion got asked to play the piano as accompaniment to someone else singing at zone conference, and for some reason thought it was a good idea to create a new piece because he didn't think the one she sent was good enough. I didn't realize how long it was actually going to take but I'll just say he spent a very large amount of time working on it at the start of the week so I was just doing my best to be productive and find something to do while he was working on that.
On Thursday we had zone conference (gathering of a larger group of missionaries who are in the same geographical area). So we take the train to Stockholm and meet there. The presentations were pretty good but the main topic of discussion from zone conference is my intereview with my mission president. I'm not going to go too deep into details but basically just talked a lot about the issues that I have been dealing with concerning my companion. He talked with my companion afterwards and I am happy to report that since then my companion has been a completely changed missionary. If he were to get a brand new companion right now that companion would never be able to tell that he was struggling at all. So pretty cool I guess and I hope he can maintain it.
We had two lessons with Miguel this week (guy from Chile who is on baptismal date), the most recent being one of the better lessons I have had in a while. He asked that we talk about "joy in the spirit" so we talked a lot about the spirit as well as the joy that come from the gospel. These are honestly the two main things that I have focused on personally on my mission so far so it felt good for me to be able to share my honest experiences. The spirit was really strong and I think we could all feel the reality of the joy that comes from Jesus Christ and His gospel.
We met with a new friend named Pascal this week as well. He asked us to talk about how we can communicate with Jesus Christ in our daily activities. We ended up talking about the spirit with him as well, and then the Book of Mormon when he asked about it. He was really quiet but texted us after saying that he was nervous but that he felt something good which was really nice to hear.
I thought to share a nice simple interaction that I had on Saturday to give you all a glimpse into what the social culture is like in Sweden. We as missionaries say hi to random people most of the time when we walk by them, and in Sweden it is very strange to do that so the majority of the people we say hi to don't say it back. If I was to give an estimate I would say 30% say hi back. Anyways on Saturday I walked by this older lady and just said hej to her and she happily said hej back. I kept walking but then she starting talking to me saying that it is really weird to have someone say hej to her that she doesn't know, that people don't usually do that. But that it made her feel happy that I did it. I told her that I was from the US and it's more normal there and she quickly understood haha.
This week I was listening to some hymns and some of the lyrics really stuck with me and I think can give us all inspiration. They came from the song "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy", which compares our Heavenly Father's mercy to the light that comes from a lighthouse. I love this symbolism, that His mercy is reaching and beaming to us all, a mercy that penetrates through any darkness and can always be a beacon of hope for us to look towards. What I love most about this song is the symbolism it gives for the "lower lights", whose literal purpose is to maneuver ships safely around rocks and other unseen obstacles when it is dark. As the song describes, we, as children of Heavenly Father, act as the "lower lights" for each other. We are given the responsibility to help others find and take the path that leads to the beaming light of our Father's mercy. Here are the lyrics from the song:
"Brightly beams our Father's mercy
From his lighthouse evermore,
But to us he gives the keeping
Of the lights along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning;
Send a gleam across the wave.
Some poor fainting, struggling seaman
You may rescue, you may save."
I think we have all had moments in life where we have felt like "some poor fainting, struggling seaman", lost on our path to feel the warmth of our Father's love and mercy. The beauty of it is that our father has given us the "keeping" of the "lower lights", meaning we all have the responsibility to help each other through the tempests of life. Missionaries can help bring people out of the darkness into the light of the Father's mercy, but the reality is that those of us who have been baptized have covenanted to do this already (Mosiah 18:9). And if you haven't been baptized it is never something bad to be a reflections of God's love for the people around you. We all have opportunities every day to help the "fainting, struggling seamen" and as we help those around us, we will feel a greater sense of joy that comes from feeling God's love and mercy in our own lives.
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