Good ol' Borlänge (New companion edition)

Hello hello!

Quite a lot of stuff happened this week! Firstly, I officially kicked my old companion out of Borlänge. After 2 transfers together, Elder Waters moved to a city called Malmö. So I now have a new companion, Elder Petersen. He is from Utah (a town called Wellsville) and has been in Sweden around a year and a half. It is always strange to switch companions, but I'm sure things will continue to be good!

Transfers were a little interesting! My old companion left Borlänge at 12:00 on Tuesday, and my new companion came to Borlänge at 7:00 pm on Wednesday. So to avoid me just hanging out by myself for 30 hours, I went down on a train to Uppsala and got to be there for the day. Everything was in bloom down there and was beautiful, so I took a few pictures. And eventually I got back onto a train with my new companion, so that was good!

The work has been going pretty normally, not too many crazy things happened. But we had a little miracle happen! Things happened to work out in such a way that we were actually able to have 6 investigators in sacrament meeting this week! It was amazing to see how it worked out to get us there! Besides that we have just been working hard and have found several new investigators. It has been really good!

Ok, that's about everything this week! Happy mothers day yesterday to all the moms out there! Have a good week everyone!


Elder Nelson


Pic 1: Hej då Äldste Waters
Pic 2-3: Uppsala is in bloom!

New companion!

It's that time again! So my companion, Elder Waters, is moving out of Borlänge and heading to Malmö, the 3rd largest city in Sweden. And I am getting a new companion, an Elder named Elder Peterson. But I'm not companions with him yet, so I can update you all about him when I meet him!

Sweden has officially gotten super green! The trees have leaves now, the wildflowers have come out, and the weather is nice and sunny! Spring and summer have finally come and I am enjoying it!

There's nothing super special that happened this week. We did a lot of finding work, we taught several investigators, and live was patty normal actually. Lately we have been having some more success with tracting, and that has been nice! We've been let in and taught several people and had some good lessons! But nothing too out of the ordinary.

Cool quote of the week:
"I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul"

I think that's about it for me! Have a fantastic week, and happy mothers day to all the moms out there!

Elder Nelson

Pic 1: Its a big horsie

Elder Renlund, Valborg, and Zone Conference!

It has been a really good and exciting week so far! I'm actually going to hop right into it!

Firstly, we had our Zone Conference this week, which may not seem overly special, but we became a technology mission as the zone conference! So we got our phones, logged into Facebook, and all that! It should be an exciting adjustment time, and we will also be moving all the records we have to the phones. That means from now on, records will only be kept online, no more area book! There were a lot of changes made very quickly, but it was an exciting time and I look forward to helping missionary work with it.

The next big event was that Elder Renlund of the Quorum of the 12 visited Sweden! On Sunday night we watched a broadcast where he spoke to all the members in Sweden. And he even did it in Swedish because he was raised here! It was a really cool experience to hear. And then on Monday (so yesterday for me) there was a meeting with him for all the missionaries in Sweden. We sadly didn't get to be there in person, but we still got to watch the 2 1/2 hour meeting from an apostle just for missionaries! It was a very special experience, and I am grateful for the chance we had to be a part of that!

Lastly, a holiday called Valborg (valborgsmässoafton actually) happened yesterday. I don't know the exact reason why they do it, but basically people make GIANT fires. It was awesome! We went with our bishop's family to look at a fire and it was so cool! I'll add some pictures, don't worry!

That was the exciting stuff for the week! I hope you all have a good upcoming week!


Elder Nelson


Pic 1-2: Valborg
Pic 3: Watching Elder Renlund
Pic 4: We got bikes!

Stake Conference in Stockholm

Well, the weather has officially gotten spring-y and for the most part the sun it out. I do love that I can wear only a white shirt now! For now, the days are really long but very nice. Pretty soon, it is going to be light from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep! But some good things happened this week, so I will get on into it!

We went on exchanges in Uppsala, and what made it so awesome was that the weather was so nice. And Uppsala is a giant university town. So we, along with thousands of other people, travelled the city with bikes! It was awesome to be around a ton of other people biking, a beautiful river, and flower lined streets.

After that, we had stake conference down in Stockholm. So we went down on Saturday, and were able to go contacting and finding in my old area for a few hours. It was a blast and brought back tons of memories! And then the stake conference itself was very good! We have a member of the 70 come from France to be with us at the conference and teach us. I don't know his name exactly, but it was a French name sounding something like Elder Calezar (something like that!). One of the best parts of the whole conference was the ability to see all the ward members from my old ward, the Stockholm ward. It was a blessing to see all the members that I knew from my old ward that I served in! We had a great time down there, and there was some good things we learned from the member of the 70.

Some other quick news is that we (the Stockholm zone) will be technology missionaries. We will all be recieving smartphones and using social media with proselyting. So that is exciting and I am looking forward to that!

Oh, and one more announcement! Sweden will be having Elder Renlund of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles come and visit this coming Sunday and Monday. On Sunday he will be stopping to all the church members in the country from Stockholm, and on Monday he will have a meeting that will be with the missionaries in Stockholm city and sent out to all the missionaries in the country. It is an amazing opportunity!!

Well, that's most of what happened this week! Have a good week everyone!

Elder Nelson

Pic 1: Tooons of bikes in Uppsala
Pic 2: Going out to bike
Pic 3: Look at that blue sky!
Pic 4: My companion and I

White shirts only (haha, sometimes)!

I never thought that it would happen, but Sweden has officially warmed up for us in Borlänge! During the middle of the day it is warm enough that we only will wear white shirts! I didn't think it would be possible! The sun is now up when we wake up at 6:30, and it sets around 8:30 at night. The days are getting longer and longer! But I'll get into the week a little more.

The work has been progressing well this week. We've taught some good lessons, found some new people, and have made some really good steps forward with a less active member. Overall it has been a really good week. The sun has been out and shining, so I has felt wonderful to be out and talking to people, I am looking forward to the Summer here!

There wasn't a ton that went on this week with specifics, but it was just a good week in general. I did have the chance to re-read the talk given by Russel M Nelson in general conference again though. And to me, it really stood out how we can and should be feeling the infuence of the Spirit every day in our lives. I really believe that it is true, and when I have tried to seek that inspiration and guidance, I have been able to find it more. I really do believe that Russel M Nelson is the prophet for us today, and that we will be helped through life as we follow his counsel.

Good luck to everyone who may have finals or any kinds of end of year school tests! I wish you all a wonderful week!


Elder Nelson


Pic 1:The first wildflowers I've seen in Sweden!
Pic 2: Livin' the white shirt life (although my comp hadn't gotten the memo at the time!)

(received 4/16/18)

In a bit of a hurry, but doing well!

*Notice: This email was supposed to be sent last week, April 9, but it didn't send, so I'm sending it now.

Hello! I don't have much time this week because we were gone for a lot of the day at the Dalahäst factory. It is the one place that they make, hand carve, and paint what are called Dalahästar. hey are small painted wooden horses that this area of Sweden is famous for. I'll make sure to send some pictures. But it was super cool to watch them make them! The people that paint them make paint all the details on the horse in only around 1-1.5 minutes, the precision and speed is awesome! So yeah, we were there to check it out and buy some. But now I don't have much time, sorry it's short!

This last week went well for us. We were able to teach several people, found several new investigators, and also went on exchanges with the elders in Uppsala. It was a good week and a good P-Day!


Elder Nelson


Pic 1: We made a cake to celebrate the church's birthday! (april 6, 1820, woot woot!)
Pic 2: Someone made us lasagne and decided to give each of us half of it... yeah
Pic 3-5: Dalahäst factory!!!

(received April 16, 2018)

Easter and General Conference!

We were blessed with both General Conference and Easter this week! It has been a beautiful sunny week, and it is now officially April! What a great week! The week has been pretty good for us out here, so I think I'll get right into it.

We got a ward mission leader this week! We haven't had one for a long time in this area, so we have been occasionally meeting with a member of the bishopric. But now we've got one! So that's exciting and I'm looking forward to working with him!

On Thursday we were in a city for Gävle for district meeting. Because of how far away we live from other missionaries, we only get to have our weekly district meeting in person one time per 6 weeks. Other than that we use Skype instead. So it was super fun to get to be there in person and see another city (Gävle is super pretty and close to the ocean).

Because it was Easter we went down had a påskafton (Easter-eve) dinner with the bishop. It was super fun! We had good food and played games and had a good time in general! And after that we went to General Conference at the church building. And luckily they had it playing in English in a side room, so that was super nice.

Generally, missionaries here have a bit of a tradition of buying a lot of candy for General Conference, and I couldn't let that tradition slip by me! So my companion and I bought a lot of candy! It was super fun, but I felt a little sick by the end of Saturday and Sunday!

General Conference was wonderful though. If you haven't had the opportunity to watch it, I would strongly recommend doing so. It was a very powerful conference with the new prophet, Russel M Nelson. I felt authority and power in his words as he spoke on Sunday morning, and it confirmed to me that he really is the man called of God to lead His church. It strengthened my testimony, and I know it can do the same for each of you if you study the prophets words and prayerfully consider what he's said.

I wish you all a great week!


Elder Nelson


Pic 1: So the sign says, 'bikes banned'
Pic 2: It be April already, but outside doesn't totally agree
Pic 3: Easter Dinner
Pic 4: Moose crossing
Pic 5: How we watched conference