Good...but hard week...

Dear Family,

This last week definitely had it's ups and downs. We had to drop two of our investigators which is the hardest thing I have done thus far on my mission. We went and taught Fan and Haiyu on Thursday evening. We read in Alma 32 about experimenting on the word...and we both knew that they needed to decide they would experiment with faith in God before they would receive a witness of it, and toward the end of the lesson I felt impressed to bear my testimony to them of God's love, His existence, and His hope for all of us to return back to His presence some day. I can honestly say that the Spirit was the one testifying. The Spirit was in the room, and we invited them to really pray and act to find out for themselves that God is there. Then...they told us they didn't think they could believe in God, or in Christ and that He had atoned for our sins. They asked if we could just come and chat about other things...and be friends with them...and we had to let them know that as missionaries we spend all of our time inviting people to come to Christ.

As we rode the bus home, I was really bummed. Not at all about myself...or how we had taught them, but about their choice to not learn more about our Heavenly Father and His Son who have done so much for us. I was sad for them. I really am starting to understand what it means to believe Christ. To believe that He is God's Son, and that He did go through the Atonement for us so that we could be whole. I am incredibly grateful for the fact that I have grown up with that knowledge. I see how hard it is for people to accept it later in life, and I know that we have been so blessed....simply in the fact that we know that God lives, and loves us.

We were not able to teach Tina last week, and we invited Kristoffer to prepare to be baptized, and he is not ready for that. He is so open, and said he still wants to continue to meet with us and learn more, but that he isn't willing to get baptized. We will continue to teach him as long as he keeps his commitments, and I know that the more he understands, the more opportunity the Spirit will have to testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel to him.

We have met several new people that we are going to teach for the first time this week. It's getting cold out, and it's harder to get people to visit with us on the street, but there are those who want to talk. We are excited for the possibilities we have of some new investigators this week.

The work with our ward is going well. We met with the Relief Society Presidency yesterday and talked about the need to do Visiting Teaching. I think that if the ward can figure out how to be more successful with Visiting and Home teaching...then activation in the ward will start to increase. I know that feeling like a part of the ward...that feeling important is one of the most important things people need. We are really going to do all we can to help the ward members help all of the new members in the ward to feel accepted and like a part of the family.

We had the YSA Halloween Party which was really fun on Friday....and we also had a ward party on Saturday afternoon. Both activities were really fun. We didn't dress up...but there was good company, entertainment and some good food as well. I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. I can't believe it's November. I'm just watching time fly by, and yet I know that everyday I am doing worthwhile things to help Gods' children here in Stockholm to come to Him.

Transfers are in a little over two weeks. November 19th is Transfer Day. I don't know what I want to happen. I love Stockholm, I know the ward, I love being with Sister Swenson, the work is progressing here...but if the Lord needs me to be somewhere else then I will go wherever He sends me. Tomorrow is Sharpening...where we will interview with Pres. Anderson and have a review from what we did at Zone Conference. I look forward to that, and to all that we have to do this week.

That's pretty much the update. As for me, I am happy and healthy. My back is still doing just fine. I don't have anything to complain about....except a little sore throat and runny nose. I refuse to get sick...so that's as bad as it's going to get. We have had a great week. The Sisters that were staying with us got to go home and be in their apt. again, Sister Swenson made a delicious Vegetable Soup we got to eat all week, and I love the work I am doing. I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. I am sure there was lots of Trick-Or-Treating and costumes. Halloween is starting to spill over here...but not very much so the day was pretty normal for us. The temperature here is starting about -2 degrees celcius in the morning which is about 28 degrees farenheit...and usually gets up to about 6 celcius or 40 degress farenheit during the day. It's really not too bad...yet. The worst is when it is windy. It feels lots colder when the wind is blowing. The colors have been beautiful all fall and now everything is dying and it's starting to become really dark. I am not sure if I have mentioned that we changed to Winter Time here...which is where we set our clocks back an hour so it is lighter in the morning. The crazy thing is that the sun is starting to set around 4:00pm in the afternoon. It's pretty crazy. We have lots to do, so that is helping us not to feel like we're out in the dark all the time. I also realize that it is only getting to get worse...the dark and the cold, so I'm being grateful that it is not colder yet.

Anyway, there's a little trivia about life in Sweden right now. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all. I pray for you, and I hope that you all know how much I appreciate the support I receive. Take care and have a wonderful week!!!

Love,

Sister Suzanne Wood