First snow of the season!

I've now been in Göteborg for a week! And wow, it feels like the week had simultaneously flown by and taken forever! But I am enjoying the time here! We actually got some snow here this weekend! It snowed on Saturday and when we went to church yesterday there was a bit of snow sticking in the grass and on cars and stuff. It's strange! Winter is coming and it's coming quickly! But life is good and I'm liking being with Elder Cummings. He's really funny and a super smart guy! He's from New Jersey and will be going to MIT do that's pretty sweet! But yes, the week has gone well!

We actually are able to help out with the YSA center here, and that's really fun. There are only 2 of them in Sweden and I'll have had the chance to help with both of them which is really lucky and fun! It is good feeling to be back in a big city again and I'm really looking forward to working with the members and working here!

We had a really cool miracle this week! Here's what happened. We were tracting last night and met a nice couple at their door. The woman told us that she wasn't interested though because she knew we were "mormons" and she'd lived with a member family in Colorado for 6 months and already knew everything. My companion asked her when that was and explained that his mom is from there. It turns out that she lived with members from him mom's old ward and that the member family is good friends with him mom's family. The craziest thing is that the father of the family that she stayed with actually was in the branch presidency of my zone in the MTC so I'd actually met him before as well! It was crazy! They were way excited and so were we, so they told us we could come back and actually talk more about the church. It was awesome! Keep being amazing examples because it really can make a difference! Lives will be touched but we never really know in what ways.

Anyways, I hope you all have an amazing week!


Elder Nelson

Capoeira and moving to Västra Frölunda!

It's been a really good last week in Sundsvall! We received transfer calls yesterday and I will be taking a plan down to serve in Västra Förlunda on Wednesday. It's in Göteborg (Gothenberg in English) which is down South and on the West coast of Sweden. I'm way excited to go down there!! I've heard great things about the city and the ward down there. But I will really miss Sundsvall! It is a beautiful city and I've loved the chance I've had to work here and get to know the branch members!

This week we had a member teach us Capoeira, which is Brazilian Dance fighting martial arts! That was way fun but it wiped me out!! But now I can do sweet kicks and stuff, so don't mess with me now! It was also one of the Sister missionary's birthday here on Thursday so we had a party for them with the youth and YSAs. It was super fun!

We've seen some amazing miracles this week! The first one is that when we were teaching a Swedish man named Mikael who I've taught for a while. As we were wrapping up his lesson, I just bore testimony to his, asked him to be baptized, and we were able to set up a date. It is sad that I will be long gone when he's baptized, but it was exciting nonetheless! Besides that, we've have the chance to teach a lot and it has been really great! I'll miss this place!

Well, not a ton more out of the ordinary happened this week except we had church in a city called Hudiksvall with 3 members who live there and an investigator. It went really well and I had the opportunity to speak there. It was a good experience!

I spoke in Hudiksvall about the Restoration, and what it really means. The Restoration isn't just a so for event, but a process that is still continuing. It is amazing that we have a living prophet today and that we still receive revelation! I think it is important to remember that our church is living and what that really means! It really is a marvellous work.

Anyways, I'm excited to see what the week has in store! I hope you all have a great week as well!


Elder Nelson

Autumn is well underway

It has been a great week in Sundsvall! The transfer comes up this weekend, so we'll see if I'm sticking around here! It has been a really nice week though, with lots of teaching and a bit warmer weather than we'd had the last couple of weeks. We see many blessings and miracles!

This week we were able to finish up watching General Conference, and it was really good! I'm excited for the 12 new temples! There were some amazing talks and conference definitely has increased my testimony in living prophets and apostles. They really do receive guidance and revelation for us today!

On Tuesday of this week we took another train up to Umeå and had exchanges with the Elders there. Norrland us so beautiful this time of the year! There are just thousands and thousands of trees that are mixed with evergreens and yellow leaved trees. And the Elders up there said that they had seen the northern lights just a few days before! I'm way jealous because I haven't seen them yet! But the actual exchanges went really well!

I have thought a lot about President Nelson's talk from general conference more this week. We've been working really hard to refer to the church and members of it in the right way and have seen lots of success! Every time someone asks if we are Mormons, it leads to a teaching opportunity to explain more about the church. You can explain that the church really is the Church of Jesus Christ restored to the earth and that it is Christ who leads it. It has been a good way to just begin teaching on the spot and to bear testimony of truth. I'd encourage everyone to take chances like that and make them into missionary opportunities.

Have a wonderful week!


Elder Nelson

Too much conference!

This got kind of pushed off yo the very last, so I don't have much time! So I'm jumping right in!

This week we went up to Örnsköldsvik and then up to Umeå for Zone Conference! It was a really good one and I honestly learned a ton. What was really interesting is that some of the specific things talked about were also talked about in General Conference. It was good!

We had General Conference! I've now seen all the sessions except for one, and they've been amazing so far! I love the change to hear from living Apostles at this time! I especially loved the promise made by President Nelson at the end of his talk on Sunday morning. He promised that if we strive to change how we refer to the church, that more places will be opened up to learning about the gospel and we will be able to better help th2 Lord's work. This is the church of Jesus Christ. It is amazing to see his hand leading it!

One amazing teaching miracle is that we had our first lesson with a woman and her 3 little daughter last week and will be coming again this week! It was a tender experience to testify to them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. There is power in the story of Joseph Smith and especially his own words as he describes his heavenly experience. I felt strongly as I spoke Joseph Smith's words that they were true, that he truly did see God the Father and Jesus Christ.

I wish you all a good week!


Elder Nelson

Spooky October

Hello friends and family!

It has been another good week in Sundsvall! Sadly a colder one, but good nonetheless! I think we dropped down to 0 C (32 F) for the first time this week. Oh no, winter is coming soon! But is really has been a good week!

We ate moose! A member had us over for dinner and the main course was moose, and it was really tasty! Haha, she said that her brother had hunted it and given it to her, and we are some of it. There's something to check off my Sweden bucket list!

This week we also had dinner with a member who made us food from Iraq. It was tasty but he gave us way too much to eat! He had cooked us a 2.5 kilo fish with a ton of veggies and mysterious things on top of it haha! And we ate all of it. It's been a digestive adventure with the foods I've eaten this week!

We also have focused a lot of family history in out branch recently and I've learned all about how to help people we're teaching start to do family history work. It was really fun actually! I can now use the old Swedish Church books to look back in people's lines really far. It's interesting stuff! It reminded me how important it is to find our ancestors. Not only is it a good way to invite others to take a step closer to the church, but it is a good way to come closer to our own families. By doing our own family history work I know we can see the Lord's hand in our lives.

God does direct and guide his work. We see miracles here everyday and the Lord's hand is apparent. The Gospel is good!

Have a wonderful week everyone!


Elder Nelson