Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel! (Monday, June 1)

Kära Familj o Vänner,

This week has been a hard working week, that just in the nick of time showed some success. Much of the week has been a trial of my faith, and willingness to keep going even when it has appeared that there has been no success. Let me start from the beginning. So, because we don't have very many investigators, we spend a lot of time out contacting and tracting. I actually don't mind that...with the acception that hours of either really upset my back. ;) Other than that, no big deal. It gets a little more difficult when you have knocked hundreds of doors and talked with many people and none of them accept the message, or want to hear anymore. So for the very most part of this last week, we would go home every night feeling as though we had not accomplished much.

THEN, it was on Thursday or Friday, we went to the University here to contact. We were just wandering around looking for people to talk to, and there in the space of about an hour we found two really cool girls who listened to our message, and both said that they would like to know more about the church, and to know who God is, etc. AWESOME. We have met with Segeney once, and we will meet with Lisa on Friday. THEN, the next day we were contacting in the city, and met a younger kille (man in his 20's) who I almost didn't talk to. He was walking really fast, and I almost didn't say anything to him....but I opened my mouth and little did I know that he doesn't have a specific religion but he believes strongly in God and Jesus Christ, and when we were telling him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ back to the earth, he was really interested. So, the sad thing is, he is going to London for the summer....but either the missionaries there will teach him, or when he comes back I will. :)

So, the point of all the little successes is that, I am realizing that as many people as I talk to, as many as I give a pamphlet to, as many as I give a Book of Mormon to, I am helping. It may not be them, right now, but one of their kids, or grandkids, or friends will read and be interested. No work I do is a waste. I always have reminded myself, and feel a lot more confident in the fact that I know that people aren't rejecting me. I don't take the rejections we get personally because they are rejecting the truth...not me. I am learning to be confident, even with my ridiculous Swedish...by the way...I am learning a lot...everyday. My trainer helps me to have more correct grammer, and say things in better ways so people can understand me.

We also met with Harri again on Tuesday. He came to us with 3 pages full of legitimate gospel questions. It was awesome! We spent almost two hours answering his questions and helping to understand everything from the nature of God, to the Priesthood, and other questions he had. The Spirit was there, and it was obvious that he understood and accepted the answers found in the scriptures and in the doctrine.

We have a crazy week this week. Tomorrow, we will travel to Nyköping to do a school teach. That will be really cool...we think it's kind of a high school kind of set up and we will go and basically teach them the basics of the church and then answer their questions. We then will travel straight up to Stockholm, where we will go to the temple tomorrow evening. It is Sister Väätti's last chance to go before she returns home in July. That will be great! Then, we will stay in either Stockholm or Södertälje tomorrow night, and then have Zone Conference in Stockholm the following morning. We will then return back here, and we have 10 teaching appts. already set up for this week. So, we will continue to pray that everybody sticks with their commitments to meet up. I have faith that they will.

I get along with Sister Väätti very well. We are having a lot of fun together and we work hard. One challenge we have is that for her, it is the end of her mission and her body is sore all the time, and she doesn't sleep very well, etc... and then there's me...who has been broken since before I got here. We do as much as we can...and sometimes we joke about being the old ladies out on the mission. I remain positive and try to help her when it gets hard. I eat very little meat these days, and it's not too bad. We eat lots of beans, and soy and other stuff. We eat cheese like nobody's business!!! The cheese here is SO good. We have decided we have to stop eating the cheese. We will NOT be buying any cheese this week. HAHAHA.... I guess if that's the worse thing we eat, that's not too bad. I have not tried anything crazy to eat yet. When we go to members' homes, because Sis. V is a vegetarian, we have pretty basic meals. The food here is good though! The chocolate is REALLY GOOD! I will send some home one day...it's just really good. (Totally Random)

Other than that, I am doing well. My back remains stable after a couple of weeks. It does get really sore when we have been walking with backpacks for many hours. I have been able to take a muscle relaxer at night after those really bad days and feel almost completely better the next day. I know the Lord is blessing me to be able to do this work. I had a really cool experience the other day that has really helped me to be confident that I can serve my entire mission.

We were exercising the other morning, and I often ponder as we go. I was thinking about my back and the soreness I feel and that I have been afraid it would get worse and that I maybe would not be able to complete my mission because of it. Well, as I walked I had a prayer in my heart about that, and the very much used scripture came to my mind...1 Nephi 3:7...I will go and do the thing the Lord commands, and He WILL prepare a way for me to do the thing which He has commanded. As I thought of that scripture and all the events that led to my coming on a mission, and all the confirmations I had that this was what the Lord wanted me to do, I have realized that because I am doing His will, He will provide a way for me to complete my mission....bad back and all. I feel comfort and peace in knowing that Heavenly Father knows me, and knows my needs and will provide for me. I know my mission will physically not be easy for me, but I will be able to complete it.

I am so grateful for all of your support to me. Thanks for the letters. Thanks for the advice. Keep it coming...I need every bit of it. I love to know how all of you are doing. I pray for all of you daily. I miss you, I love you, and I know that this is the Lord's work. He is providing for me, and He will provide for you in whatever needs you may have.

Take care of yourselves. Pray for missionary experiences...that you can help somebody come closer to Heavenly Father.

Love you all,
Sister Suzanne Wood