I'm officially in Sweden (and have been for a week)

Wow, I have a ton to talk about. So I'll get right into it. So we packed and got ready to leave the MTC a week and a half ago so we could leave on Monday morning at around 4:50. Sunday night turned into a pretty late night because it turned out someone in our room had not begun packing until 10:00 that night. But it was still good and it was actually really sad to say goodbye to everyone else in the MTC and the people on our floor. But even though it was hard, we got up at 3:45 the next morning and headed out around 4:30. We had a little time in the airport before we left and so we stopped to get breakfast burritos at the Cafe Rio at the Salt Lake airport. And it was so awesome because someone random in front of us in the line payed for all of the missionaries who were there (there were 9 in line) without telling us. It was really nice of them!

Anyways, out first flight left at around 10, we stopped in Minneapolis for a few minutes and had to hurry to our next flight, which was to Amsterdam. That flight was really fun because it was 80% empty! So we could spread out a little bit and so were able to sleep a lot better. I was able to get around 3 or so hours of sleep there, which isn't great but it did feel really good. And then after Amsterdam it was a short flight to Stockholm Sweden.

Right at first we were able to meet our mission president and all of the Assistants and everyone. It was exciting! It was also weird to have all the signs in Swedish! That day we did a lot, but as part of it we explored Stockholm a little with the assistants. And it is really so beautiful! We stayed in the mission home that night, and it was some of the best sleep I've had in my life. I had only had around 6 hours of sleep in the last 50-60 hours. It was some very needed sleep!

The next morning we did a little orientation in the morning, and then headed to my chapel to get assigned our areas and senior companion. Our group of missionaries got spread all over the country, but I was assigned to the Stockholm Area with Äldste Olaveson, my trainer. He's been out here 4.5 months. Our area is the area in the center of Stockholm. We have an apartment right next to the ocean and get to street contact in the busy streets of the main city in Sweden. There is always a lot going on but it is such a beautiful place.

Right now we have one investigator who is really awesome. His name is Brandon and he can speak Spanish and Swedish, no English. But teaching him is awesome! He had agreed to be baptized already when I came in and he is such an amazing guy. Whatever we teach him he grasps so quickly and agrees to it. He came to church with us on Sunday and if things continue to go well, he should be baptized on November 4th or 5th. Besides Brandon we have a few other people we are teaching. We are meeting with one or two less actives and then (trying really hard) to keep meeting with another person. It's fun and enjoyable to teach the gospel, but my lack of Swedish is pretty frustrating!

I think my favorite things we've done so far is pass out copies of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Mormon Musical. It is a play that is pretty against the church and makes fun of a lot of things, but we hand out copies of the Book or Mormon after it's over because a lot of people are interested after the play. It is awesome to have people actually interested in what we are saying (usually when we contact of the street people aren't interested at all) and it is just fun to do it with a lot of other missionaries! We usually hand out a hundred or more at each showing of the musical, and I personally have gotten to do it 3 times since coming here.

This is pretty long so I think I'm going to end it now. The language is coming along pretty well (well, kinda) and this is such a beautiful place. Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Elder Nelson


Also, I'll send some pictures in another email

Pic 1: Me and my comp, Äldste Olaveson

Pic 2: Street view near T Central

Pic 3: The view outside of our apartment through the window

Pic 4: All the missionaries at the Book of Mormon Musical