Week 62--Crazy Busy Week

Tjena!

This week felt crazy long even though we've been busy.

Tuesday we traveled to the mission home for a leadership conference. It was cool to see a bunch of the missionaries in my group all there.

Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Stockholm Elders so I had the privilege of being with my boy Elder Bills from Peoria, Arizona. He's hilarious! He swam on the BYU swim team. He treated us well and set up lessons for us the whole night so we were busy.  We grabbed dinner at this solid burger stand and were able to watch the sunset on the waterfront in Stockholm. It's beautiful there.

Thursday we had the elders from Borlänge come and stay in Gubbängen until Saturday morning. I was with Elder Whitaker from West Valley, UT. He's a younger missionary so it was fun to go out and be around someone younger and see them put themselves out there with the language. It brought back memories of my being a greenie and struggling with the language or being unsure of myself but it's cool to see how far I've come.

Every Thursday we have a sports night here at Gubbängen so we play basketball or soccer or innebandy (floorball) and invite people we teach and members to come. Saturday morning we teach an English class but this week we were about to cancel and then our friend Gösta (an 80ish yo member in the ward) rolls up on his bike. The guys speaks next to no English ha ha so it was pretty funny trying to teach him. It's difficult for Swedes to make the "W" sound as well as "TH". They say wikings instead of vikings ha ha

Last week we were calling through some numbers in the phone and I called a guy from Chile and used my middle school Spanish to invite him to church. The guy shows up and stays all 3 hours, loves it so we meet him again, and then ended up meeting him 4 times this week and setting up a date to get baptized. Even though there's a language barrier,because he knows little swedish, it's cool to still feel a brotherhood with him because we have something in common: belief in God.

My spiritual thought this week comes from the scripture Moroni 6:8 which says "As oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven". Everyone, no matter who you are or where you are in life, makes mistakes. One of the reasons I believe in God is because I've felt bad when I've done something dumb, but then also felt cleansing and peace return when I repent of what I did (meaning I seek forgiveness and change what I'm doing wrong). This week I was reminded that this scripture really is true, Gdo will also forgive us as long as we seek forgiveness and accept the sacrifice Jesus made when he died for us.

Love,

Elder Gordon

btw. here's my new address

Elder Rylan Gordon

C/O Sofi Wärn

Sicklingsvägen 10

122 46 Enskede

Sweden

Kladkaka with Äldste Craun 

Aldste Whitaker

Stockholm Waterfront

Aldste Bills from Peoria, AZ