It's already almost March!

Not gonna lie, this month has felt like it has flown by! It's nearly March, which means that Spring is around the corner. Haha, it doesn't feel like it when I'm outside, but I believe that it is coming! It still feels like winter is in full swing. It snowed a good amount more, and it has been getting pretty cold everyday. However, it is staying lighter for longer now, and that does feel really nice! But yeah, this week has been really good and we saw some really cool miracles!

Earlier this last week, Tuesday I think, we had been tracting for a while. I was trying to keep a good attitude, but it has been a really long day with not much progressing. And we now had been tracting for a long time, it was cold, it was dark, and we hadn't had any success. We then knocked on the last door that we were going to do before we could go back to the apartment and call some people and have dinner. So we knocked on the door and a woman answered who wasn't very interested. But we kept on talking to her about a random topic, I think some kind of service she had done. And eventually she invited us in to have some water, and we kept talking. She then asked us a bit more about our church and what we do, and she was genuinely interested. We then taught the restoration to her, she was engaged, and everything went well. It was a super cool experience that was especially sweet because the positive teaching experience came after we had been working on it all day. It was the typical "last door" story, but it was true in this case! It was an awesome miracle for us!

I expanded my horizons this week. So we miscalculated how much bread we had left when we shopped last week. So we ran out part way through the week! Haha, so I took the responsibility to bake us some! So I made a loaf of bread, and let's just say it didn't turn out perfectly... but it wasn't bad! I guess you can call me chef Nelson now!

We have also been teaching a few other people, but someone that is really positive is a French foreign exchange student and the older Swedish woman she lives with. We have met with them often and it has been going really well! Last lesson the Swedish woman had her son and his family over as well, and that was really cool. The son and his family don't live in our area, but we are trying to get them in contact with the missionaries in their area. It has been a pretty good week teaching!

I think that's all the things of note for the week. Life keeps going on in Borlänge! Have a good week everyone. Keep being the good examples and the lights that you all are! It really does make a difference!


Äldste Nelson


Pic 1: A member bought us breakfast at Ikea, and it was super good!
Pic 2: Elder Waters and I!
Pic 3: It's pretty snowy still
Pic 4: My Bread!

Welcome to the Bro-Länge

Another week has now come and gone, but this time I'm writing you from Borlänge instead of Stockholm! Which may not sound like a big change to you, but it is definitely not the same type of city! So Borlänge is a smallish city of 52,000 people, and it took a little bit of adjustment when coming from Stockholm, a city of well over 1,000,000. But, things have been going well! Apart from the change of size, I also got a pretty bad cold when I came here, so I'm hoping that isn't some sort of warning for me! All jokes aside, I think I am really going to like it here once I get used to it. The ward is super kind and nice, it is a beautiful area (there are actually ski resorts all around, it's lame we can't go!), and the work is progressing well. It'll be interesting to see how it all goes!

This week I tried to learn as much as I could about the area, and it was cool because I learned how it it is. It is huge! I'll put a picture of a map on this email so you can see, but it definitely isn't small in geographical size!

So the work is going pretty well out here! We have an investigator who was referred by a member who we teach pretty regularly, and then several other investigators besides her. We taught an interesting lesson yesterday too. It was a lesson to an older Swedish woman and a French foreign exchange student that lives with her, and then it was all in English because it was the only language they both spoke. It felt like a pretty odd scenario to me, but it was actually a great lesson. Even though there was a little bit of a langauge barrier, we were still able to teach them about Christ and the Book of Mormon, and it was so cool to see the understanding when they grasped what the Book of Mormon actually is. It was a good experience!

Ok, I've got a quick but only kinda funny story. So on Thursday we had to go to Gävle (like 1.5 hours away) for a meeting, and we had to catch the train 8:08 in the morning. And I was feeling pretty sick that morning and so was a little behind schedule and took a little bit of a long shower. So when I was ready to leave I looked at the clock and saw it was 7:50-7:55. And the walk to the station normally takes about 20-25 minutes. So by the time we actually got out the door, it was around 7:55 and we only had 13 minutes, so we ran. And keep in mind that I was feeling pretty sick, and also that is is pretty snowy and cold. So we run the whole way there, and my throats isn't feeling so good. So we sprint the last 100 meters to get to the train, and it is 8:06. We get there just in time to see that the train time was delayed. By almost an hour! So we ran the whole way and it made my sickness feel pretty bad when we didn't even have to! But yeah, that's my story!

We'll, I think that's all I've got this week. I hope you all have a good week!


Elder Nelson


Pic 1: My new companion, Elder Waters, and I
Pic 2: It's a beautiful area (and super snowy)
Pic 3: Here is a map of our area, out of the whole country of Sweden

(no subject)

My time has come, they're kicking me out of Stockholm! It is going to be so crazy to leave my birthplace (mission wise- not in actuality). But yeah, it'll definitely be an interesting change. So yeah, I am going to be transferred on Wednesday to a city called Borlänge. It is a much smaller town than Stockholm about 2 1/2 hours North and West from here. I don't know a ton about it, but it sounds like fun (and also colder and darker right now, but that's no problem for me!)

But I'm not focusing about that right now because until Wednesday I'm still in Stockholm! So yes, the work is going well. We've just been working with the people who we had before, and done some finding work too. For example, we were outside Tuesday evening for a few hours, the bad thing is that it was so cold then! Haha, by the end I definitely couldn't feel a lot of my face! But it was good, and we have been doing some good things!

We also went on splits with the district leader this week and it was pretty awesome! We saw a bunch of little miracles like some super prepared people we met and a cool service opportunity. We got to do the ol' classic service of helping an older woman carry her groceries, and that was fun! The best part was that she then said she would come to church and sounded really positive and interested. It was good!

So I'm going to tell a quick funny story. Ok, so my companion and I had to go to the doctor for a quick appointment on Thursday. The doctor spoke English with us, but she wasn't perfect by any means, but we could communicate just fine. Also, keep in mind that the Swedish word for recipe and prescription are the same word. Anyways, she tells us at the end of the appointment that if we want, we can go down to the pharmacy and pick up our "recipe". Then she proceeded to explain about the recipe and how often the medicine from the recipe should be taken. Only by the 3rd or 4th time she called it a recipe did I understand that she was referring to a prescription, and I thought it was really funny. There's my story!

Anyways, I'm excited for transfers to see how it all goes. Oh, and my companion here is Stockholm is being made district leader, so that is really cool too! Have a good week everyone!


Äldste Nelson


Pic 1-2: We were on a cool bridge near the palace
Pic 3: I found a train named Nelson!!
Pic 4: My comp and I :)

(no subject)

Hello February!

Good morning, I hope that the last week has been great for everybody! It's been good out here, so I think that I will just jump into the week!

We have mission tour this week! Mission tour is basically like a normal zone conference where missionaries have a big training meeting, but this time there were 3 zones meeting all at once. And a general authority comes and visits the mission! So we had about 3/5 of all the missionaries in Sweden come to Stockholm, and President Johnson (the President of the Europe area presidency) came too. It was really cool! In fact, our apartment was chosen to be checked by President Johnson, so that was actually pretty freaky. But man, this apartment was looking so fresh and clean by the time he got here! But overall this mission tour was really fun and I learned a lot!

There is a little bit of a funny story to accompany mission tour. So we had all the elders from Norrland (basically the whole upper half of Sweden) come down for the conference. And as they were about to return on their train, they heard all the trains were being cancelled! It turns out that a huge snow storm was dropping around 70 cm of snow up there! So what ended up happening is that some of the missionaries had to stay in our apartment with us. And keep in mind that our apartment is pretty small! We have one room that is a combined bedroom, study room, living/dining room, and kitchen. Then a separate bathroom. It is not big! But we had 6 elders sleep here one night! Basically someone slept on 2 chairs pushed together, 2 people slept on mattresses on the ground, 2 slept on the bunk bed, and then the last person just slept on the ground. It was certainly cozy! But they are now back to Sundsvall (that's the city they were from) and the about 2 meters of snow that are up there, so that's good!

We had a really cool success story this week. Our ward mission leader asked us to go visit a family in the ward who is a part member family. So the dad is an inactive member and the rest of the family aren't members at all. So we took a bus out there (we may or may not have gotten lost on the way out there... I'll take the blame on that one) and eventually arrived. But what was really cool was how happy and receptive the family was! We knocked, and when the door opened, we were invited right in. It turned out that they were having a birthday party for their youngest son, and the mom actually invited us to stay. They were such a nice family and they asked if we could come by again! It is pretty amazing that they did that because they haven't had contact from the church in a long time, but they all were still very positive. It was a little miracle that helped brighten the week!:)

We'll, I think that's mostly it for the week. It's been a good one, and I have high hopes for this upcoming week! In fact, transfer calls are this weekend, and seeing that I could potentially be moved out of Stockholm, I'm pretty nervous! But it should be good, and I'm looking forward to everything! Have a good week everyone!

Elder Nelson

Elder Nelson's Mom here:  Elder Nelson did not send any pictures this week.  The following were on the Swedish Missionary Mom's FB page in the last week or so. The first two are the missionaries helping to clean an apartment.  I think the third is a group that were all together in the MTC, but I'm not 100% sure.

I Broke a Window

Hej allihopa! Jag hoppas allt är bra med er! Life and the work have been going out here in Stockholm! And while it is still super dark a lot of the time, it has been getting a little brighter and for the time being, it has warmed up a bit. Which has felt nice, but I have the feeling that winter is not done with me yet! We'll see what the future has in store, but for now I'll tell ya about the past week!

Firstly, I had something cool happen that is hopefully a good sign for my Swedish! A little background is that I typically don't dream very often. But this week I had a dream, and what was special about it was that it was in Swedish (well, partially in Swedish)! But it was really cool and hopefully that is a good sign for my language skills!

I've got some exciting news! I broke my first window in my life this week! So firstly, it is important to know that my companion plays rugby, and is really good (fun fact, he's going to play at West Point when he goes home). And in some free time a night we had this week he got out his rugby ball and passed it to me. I passed it back. Then he passed it to me a lot harder, so I threw it back hard too. It completely missed him, hitting the window. Which proceeded to shatter, glass falling everywhere. It was terrifying! And long story short, we called our landlord, he came and took the window the next day, and it was fixed really quickly. I certainly felt embarrassed and pretty dumb! But I learned a lesson which my mom has tried to teach me for a looong time, "No throwing balls inside the house"!

We had the primary program in church yesterday, and it was so cute! And they did a really good job! It's fun because I know all the kids and their families, so the program was even better. The program was a weird mix of Swedish and English because there are some American kids that only speak English. But everything worked out well! And we got to help out in primary after, so that was super fun too!

We had a kinda cool story with an investigator this week. So we found and have been teaching a Swedish guy, and it has gone well. In our last lesson we finished teaching the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon, and we asked him to read a specific chapter from it. Then yesterday on the train, the sisters from our area saw him on the train and talked to him. And what he told them is the cool part! He said that he had read more than 10 chapters from the Book of Mormon already, and he still sounds super positive! So that was a cool little thing that happened this week!

Anyways, the week has been good, and the work is going well. Have a good week everyone!



Äldste Nelson



Pic 1: My broken window
Pic 2: It's my kompis and I!
Pic 3: haha, what our window looked like when it was being fixed
Pic 4: Yeah, its us again :D

Hej hej!

This week has been a good one! A lot happened, and it's keeping us busy! It's really good that we've been busy because it keeps us going through the short winter days! But the good news is that the days are getting longer! I mean, they are still super short, but at least everyday we're making progress! I'll hop into how the week was.

Firstly, we got to help 2 people move, and it was surprisingly fun! Haha, it reminded me of Saturday mornings back at home when we'd have to go help people move! But it has been really helpful, because it has been a way for us to get in better contact with them. Both families were less active, and now we're able to meet with them, and it's been really positive!

On Saturday we had 2 people in our ward boundaries get baptized. They are married, and they are named Jérémie and Daisy. They have three little kids too. Their story is pretty amazing though. Jérémie was given a Book of Mormon by a friend 18 years ago, and it just sat in his house. He then was going through a hard time and decided to read it last year. He read the whole book, and got a spiritual confirmation it was true. He was then given an anti-Mormon book, but it only strengthened his testimony that the church was true. He and his family then came to church seeking out missionaries, were taught the lessons, and they are now baptized. They are both Swedish, and they are such awesome people! Their conversion is such a cool story, and the whole service and especially their testimonies at the baptism were wonderful! It was such a good experience to be there with them when they were baptized. Some conversions take a long time, but this story showed me that every action inviting someone to Christ can make a difference.

Besides that, we've stayed busy teaching, helping members, having splits, and doing our interviews with the president. It's been such a good week! Have a good week everyone, and keep an eye out for the miracles happening around you!


Elder Nelson


Pic 1: So they have a chocolate bar that literally has oreo inside it!
Pic 2: This is all the missionaries in Stockholm, 4 Sisters and 2 Elders

tjabba

Hej allihopa!
I hope everything is going well with everyone this week! By now the holidays and decorations are being taken down, so we are really getting back into the normal routine. But it feels good to be getting back in the groove of everything! The week feels like it's gone really quickly, but a lot has happened, so I'll get into it.

Firstly, the Book of Mormon musical started up again! It was closed for a month and a half or so during the holidays and new year, but now it's back, and I had forgotten how fun it is! The sisters in our area and us gave out about 200 books, and it was just so enjoyable! My Swedish has gotten better, so now I'm more able to converse with people, and I had a couple good conversations with people. Haha, it's a lot more fun when you can understand what people are talking to you about!

Another interesting thing we did this week was actually quite a bit odd. We helped a member in another ward with a funeral. And by that I mean that we were paul bearers. So I have officially helped to bury someone in a Swedish cemetery now. It was a strange experience, but everything went well with it. The cemetery was beautiful and old too, and that was awesome to see. Overall kinda weird, but also a cool experience.

Everything else this week was really good! We've been teaching a long and having some good progress with some recent converts, some less actives, and our investigators! And the sisters have an investigator family that's going to be baptized this Saturday, and I'm excited. We have a really cool experience about them actually. This last week there was some doubts and questions about the church that were expressed from this family that the sisters were teaching. They were nervous for the lesson because they didn't know all the answers to their questions and it was on some hard to answer and confusing topics. Our whole district did a fast for them and their investigators, that they will be able to have the Spirit with them and that they can help their investigators through their concerns so that they can continue and be baptized the following week like they'd planned. We all did the fast, then they went to their lesson. And when they got there it turned out that the family had been able to receive their own answer and spiritual confirmations on the topic, and their big concern was no longer a problem. It was a really cool experience, and it really showed me the power of prayer and fasting.

Anyways, the week has been nice and busy, and I'm expecting the next one to be the same! Have a great week!


Elder Nelson


Pic 1: Me, near the palace
Pic 2: The palace (and the super awesome water!)
Pic 3: So this is actually a giant light building thing, but for my purposed, a lightsaber
Pic 4: We made some super good curry!
Pic 5: This carved rock was at the cemetery, and was carved around 1000 AD by vikings!