Week 18 and 19...a lot of changes going on!

October 20, 2017

Week 18 and 19...a lot of changes going on!

Hedge hogs roam wild here

Tjena allihopa!! (Howdy everyone!)

This week was quite interesting.

Last monday I got a call from the mission president asking if I would be willing to train a new missionary during the next two transfers! Soooo I'm gettin a greenie on wednesday!! I'm way stoked. It's gonna be a ride, lots of growth, lots of being out of my comfort zone, but I feel ready and excited to pass on everything I've learned.

My companion Äldste Carter will be leaving Västerås and heading to Utby, near Gothenberg to be a Zone Leader! So I'll be here in Västerås pretty much until Christmas which I'm excited about. This week has been a lot of prepping the area for transfers and getting me ready to take over the area.

We traveled to a nearby city to do some service for a guy named L. We washed his windows then taught about the Word of Wisdom (a code of health revealed from God to keep our bodies healthy) because he has a huge problem with smoking and his weight. It was cool though to see his heart open up because we served him.

I traveled to Stockholm on thursday for a Train the trainers meeting to prep all of us for our new missionaries.

Our investigator K has a chinese friend who owns a chinese buffet nearby, so K said he'd bring his other friend and take us and the two sister missionaries out to chinese on Saturday. So we waited for him at the church and he rolls up in an Audi which was pimped out haha K's friend and I bonded over plasti-dipping haha It's good to know there are fellow plasti-dippers even in Sweden. But we grabbed chinese and talked about starting an english class at the church which K wants to help out with so that people can "realize we are normal people and will become open to your beautiful message". K has a baptismal date too! So we've gotta get him to stop smoking, clean up his language and then he'll be ready in a month or so. He's become a good friend.

We continue to work with other investigators too who make progress. I feel good about taking over the area! It's gonna be cool to see how God's hand will be even more in the work here in Västerås over the next 3 months with two fairly inexperienced missionaries here :)

My prayers go out to the Cushing family and everyone back home. He will be missed dearly, loved his humor and friendship.

Thank you for the continued love and support! I love you all!

Äldste Gordon

--------- Week 19 ----------

Tjena allihopa! (Howdy Everyone!)

This week was transfers week so it has been all over the place.

Äldste Carter and I spent Monday and Tuesday just getting stuff ready for Aldste Carter’s departure to a new area. We visited people and said goodbye to some of our investigators. Aldste Carter left for Göteborg Tuesday night and I had Äldste Beveridge come and stay the night Tuesday before we picked up our Greenies ( new missionaries from the MTC) in Stockholm on Wednesday.

I was assigned a new companion, named Äldste Young who is from Pleasant Grove, UT. So all of my comps so far have come from Utah ha ha, classic. He's a tall guy, 6 2', really nice, hard worker, deep, deep voice. He's gonna do well.

The first night I took him out contacting and knocking doors, he chased a lady to her house and told her we have a message about Jesus for you ha ha. I was laughing a bit inside but I loved the enthusiasm. It was good to get him out on the streets with real people and trying to speak some Swedish. It reminded me of my first few days in Västerås saying wrong things and misunderstanding everyone.

We were busy with serving others towards the end of the week. We did some service for a church member and helped him clear out his garage and pull up some floor. The member served his mission in San Diego and is like a gospel guru so we basically spent the whole time being asked way deep questions on God. It was a good time though. We helped out a church member in his garden. We dug up potatoes, carrots, and did a ton of shoveling and breaking up the ground before getting rewarded with Kebab pizza (my favorite). Right, after the kebab, we had a member meal where an older lady S served a bunch of tasty Swedish meatballs and potatoes on us. Felt like yakking I ate so much but I mean I can't be rude ;)

I took the greenie (Äldste Young) to visit an older lady (the one who was asleep, and we thought was dead) so he could get some practice teaching in Swedish. She keeps saying, “Vad sa du?” which means “what did you say?” over and over again ha ha so that added some laughs to the day.

Besides that, things are going really well. Training so far has been an awesome opportunity. God has helped to prepare me to train by helping me with the language help and learning so much from Äldste Carter, my trainer.

My spiritual thought for this week comes from the Book of Mormon, Alma 36:3 which reads 'Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials and their troubles and shall be lifted up' I feel comfortable with Swedish, but I have a long way to go. I struggle in lessons sometimes, I don't have a complete knowledge on how the missionary work should go, but I know that if I rely on God, he will help me. The same goes for everyone, God always wants to help us just as a mother or father wants to help their own kids grow, but we just need to ask. So, don't forget to ask.

Jag älskar er! (I love you!)

Äldste Gordon