Sunday, March 21, 2010

Pics from Stockholm


Semlor bulle....a really popular Swedish pastry this time of year.


Swedish Capri-Sun...it's called Capri-Sonne here.




Tina's baptism...Sis. Swenson, me and Tina


The ice floating on the river in Stockholm with the City Hall in the background

New email.... (Mon., March 15)

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week we were informed that we will no longer be using g-mail for our emailing purposes. I have a new email address which is: suzanne.wood@myldsmail.net. That is the email I will be communicating from for the rest of my mission. Please start sending your emails to this address because I won't check the gmail address I have anymore.

Ok...enough of the technical information. This last week was amazing! I will spend most of my letter talking about Tina's baptism because it was SO awesome. As far as the work goes in Jakobsberg, everything is going well. We are teaching some really positive investigators and we found another inactive member we are going to start getting together with and teaching. Everything with Sis. Smith and me is good and we are looking at the last week and a half of this transfer. How quickly time is going...

We were able to teach Yvonne twice last week, and she has been in church and I think she is really dedicated to knowing the church is true and her activity in the church. We will continue to teach her and see when it will be possible for her to get baptized.

We also continue to teach John, Lawal, and Francis who are all positive investigators. John and Lawal agreed to do an "experiment" with us...which includes them reading and praying every day and also coming to church for the next four weeks. They were both more than happy to do all of those things and we will see them tonight and teach them about obedience. They are awesome!

Now for the real joy of the week. On Saturday, we were able to go to Gubbängen for Tina's baptism. Both Sis. Swenson and I were able to make it for that and it was amazing. On Friday, Elder Ahola called...he's one of the Elders serving in Stockholm right now...and he asked if I would talk at Tina's baptism about the Holy Ghost. I of course was glad to do that...and don't worry...I cried through the whole talk. The Spirit was incredibly strong. Sis. Swenson and I also were able to do a musical number. She played I Know that My Redeemer Lives on the Viola and I accompanied her on the piano. It sounded really nice...so I hear. :) And then I was the one who helped Tina where to go and what to do when she was baptized and it was so amazing to see her take that step. She did it!!! She got baptized!! I honestly don't think I have ever felt more joy in my life than when I watched a woman who has completely changed her life enter the waters of baptism and be willing to follow the Savior. What a blessing it is for me to have been able to teach her those six months I was in Stockholm. I know the Lord has everything to do with her conversion...but I am so grateful He saw fit to let me be a part of it. The entire evening I had a huge smile on my face and was just so happy for her. I know she will receive so many blessings because of her decision to be baptized in the church. She stood up and bore her testimony after she had been baptized, and she was so strong...and sure about what she had done...it was amazing. Two of her daughters came...neither of them are members...and her friend Susanne...who gave us her number to begin with came and talked about the blessing of the gospel in her life. All I can think of is the wonderful things that will come in the future because of this one soul who was baptized. Amazing!!

It has just strengthened my testimony even more of the truthfulness of this work. I know that the church is led by Jesus Christ. I know that He knows each of us and loves us and is aware of where we are, what we need, and knows how to help us. I am so lucky to be in Sweden serving here and helping people come to Christ. I am excited for transfers. I don't know what will happen. There are four new sisters coming in for next transfer...so maybe I will train...maybe I will move...maybe Sis. Smith and I will stay together. We just don't really know...and just a reminder...our P-Day is Wednesday of next week.

I hope you all have a great week. The weather can't decide if it's Spring yet...or still Winter. It's sunny...but freezing outside. I appreciate the support you all give me. Take care and have a great week!

Love,
Sister Suzanne Wood

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Spring.....is hopefully here. :) (Mon., March 8)

Dear family!

It's finally felling a little warmer today! We'll see if it stays warm or if we're back in the negatives tomorrow. I actually took my scarf off on the way to the library....yahoo!!! I'm so grateful for the sun. :)

We had a good week last week. We were able to find two inactive members who were positive about meeting with us....so awesome. We were also able to meet with some other positive new investigators. One really sad thing happened yesterday and that is that we tried to go by Peter who was going to get baptized on Saturday...because we have not had any contact with him for a couple of weeks and he didn't answer the door. We have tried to call and text...and go by and we are not sure what happened but we had to drop him yesterday. Really sad. It's hard to see that sometimes people still choose to reject the gospel even if they have received a witness of it's truthfulness. We all need to continue to show our dedication to the gospel at all times. It's so important.

We also have a new investigator who has actually been baptized before into the church. We are taking it really slow with her to make sure that she does not get baptized again just to be baptized. Her name is Yvonne. She was a member about 20 years ago but didn't stay a member for very long. She seems sincere in her desire to come back, but we want to be sure that she will be active. Our activity in the church is so important. As we all do our part and serve each other...that's how the church continues to function. Our church is not a sit back and relax kind of church. We are a working church. Everybody does their part to help things move forward and function well. I'm continually amazed at the inspiration and structure of our church...that it is perfect...and that it is set up in God's way and that is why it works. Such a blessing.

Otherwise, everything has been good here in Jakobsberg. I'm going to send some pics. next week of the place where I live now, and Tina's baptism. She is getting baptized this Saturday. I'm SO excited!!!! It will be wonderful to see her take this step...and then to find out that she is going to the temple will be the frosting on the cake.

We have Sharpening tomorrow and then our transfer ends in 2 weeks. We are not sure at all what will happen at transfers, but we have 6 sisters leaving to go home and 4 new sisters coming in. The group of sisters I'm in becomes the oldest on the mission. Crazy stuff!! There's not a whole lot more to say this week. I'm so grateful to be out here doing the Lord's work. It's worth the ups and downs. All the struggle is so worth it when the joy of somebody accepting the gospel comes. It's an incredible blessing to know that this church is true. That I know that it comes from God. I'm grateful for my testimony. I hope you all have a great week! Take care!

Love,
Sister Suzanne Wood

Pics




At the Coca-Cola Factory in Stockholm


utfart is such a funny word...hahaha....


with Sister Smith at a baptism

What a week, a work, and a wonder!! (Mon., March 1)

Dear Family,

It has been a wonderful week. I have to say the highlight for me was yesterday. It was incredibly stressful, but everything we did went really well. We had our Music Fireside last night, and because we wanted our investigators to be there and wanted them to get to know ward members, we let people know that we would be making dinner after church for those who would like to stay...and expecially for those who live too far away to go home and come back to the music concert. Well, we made spaghetti to the best of our ability. I am still not very good and making meals for large groups. It's hard to know exactly how much to make, but we made enough for everybody to have a nice plate of s-ghetti, some veggies and some breadsticks I made. We got help from a couple of members in the process and everything ended up going well.

Then, we waited for the Music Fireside to begin....waiting for the Elders from different areas to come and participate....and well practice before the evening began....and they all got there, and the program went really well. I actually ended up singing "Climb Every Mountain" from Sound of Music...and When You Believe with a girl named Sandra Miranda in our ward. I also accompanied most of the numbers, there were a couple of others who played and sang and we asked a few members to bear their testimony of music also. We had about 50-60 people who came to the evening and it was awesome. We had between 10-15 non-members there and we are going to do another fireside in 3 weeks and stress even more what a great opportunity it is for the members to invite their friends to come. It gives them the opportunity to be in the church and feel the Spirit without a formal "teaching situation." I am excited that last night went so well. I think it will bring us much success if the members will invite their friends and family and give us the opportunity to invite people to learn about the gospel.

Other than that, we had a good week. We were not able to meet with Peter, who is supposted to get baptized on Saturday and he said he would come to church yesterday but didn't end up coming. We are really bummed about that, and feel that he is not quite ready to be baptized. He has gotten a job...which is really good, but he is much busier and it has been a challenge to meet. It's disappointing, but it's really important that he is ready to keep the commitments he makes and to keep them in order for him to be baptized and make a covenant with Heavenly Father.

We also taught Alex and Alexis, a father and son from Cuba about the Word of Wisdom. The teach went pretty well, but they are not yet ready to commit to living that commandment. We are prayerfully trying to know how to help them experiment on the word and see what the difference can be in their lives with those substances that are not good.

Otherwise, we went to the Coca Cola Factory in Jordbro, Sweden last Monday for P-Day. It was pretty awesome. It is the only Factory in the whole country so all the Coke Products in Sweden are made there. It's incredible how much soda they make in such a quick amount of time. We also got to do the Experience Center...which is team game thing. Our team won, so that was awesome.

We've had a good week. My body is tired, and pretty sore, but the Lord continues to take care of me and help me do the work. I'm ready for Spring...or Summer. It continues to get lighter outside, but the snow keeps coming. I hope all of you are doing well. I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Sister Suzanne Wood