Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Glad Påsk! (Tuesday, April 6)

Hejsan, hejsan!!!

This week has been great in Jakobsberg! We were able to see conference both Saturday and Sunday and I of course enjoyed every minute of it. It's like a super treat to get to go and listen to the words prophets for two days as a missionary. I learned so much, and received so much inspiration as I was there. We were not able to email yesterday because all of the libraries were closed. We were given permission to do it today...so here's my little note. :)

The highlights of last week were of course conference, and while at conference, we had a very awesome surprise. This story goes back a little ways...Ok....one of my first weeks here in Jakobsberg, Sis. Smith and I were walking home at the end of the evening. We saw a young man from far off and I decided we needed to stop and talk to him. As we did, we found out that he was not active in any church, that he has many questions about religion and that he was busy with work. We left him with a pamphlet and off we went. Then, during the rest of last transfer, we would see Jude once in a while, and just say hi in passing. One time at the train station, we stopped chatted a little bit and he ended up getting OUR number. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but now we knew he could get a hold of us if he wanted to. Well, last week, we saw him on the bus, and just said hi. No bid deal so we thought. Well, on Sunday, during conference we got a text from Jude saying that he wants to come to church. We set up an appt. and met with him today to teach him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was very happy to have the Book of Mormon, and said he would read and pray. He said he would also come to church this sunday. It was so amazing to me to see how the Lord puts people in our paths...sometimes who are not ready the first...or the second...or even the third time we meet them, but the Lord is preparing them to accept the gospel. That was a strong testimony builder for me when it comes to the importance of finding.

We also were able to meet with Lawal and he is ready for baptism!! He is getting baptized on Saturday and we are so excited for him. He is from Nigeria, and is trying to follow God. He lived in the UK for a couple of years and is now here in Sweden. He is honest, and doing all he can to obey God's commandments. He came to two sessions of General Conference and loved what he saw. The prophets talk was really wonderful and it was such a cool opportunity to invite people to listen to the prophets voice. We taught Lawal about tithing last night, and at first we asked him what he knew about tithing....the first thing he said was...."Well that's that we pay 10% of our earnings to build the church." Sis. Maxwell looked at each other later and thought...we didn't really need to teach him about it...we invited him to pay tithing and he is willing to do so. We feel that he is ready and will be a great addition to the church in Jakobsberg.

Everything is good with Sis. Maxwell! She is a wonderful missionary and we are teaching better together all the time, and she is a quick learner. She and I get along well, and laugh a lot together. I am doing everything I can to help her first transfer on the mission go well and help her feel comfortable with every aspect of the work.

Easter was great. We saw a little bit of easter traditions when we were out tracting the other day. One of the things we saw were little girls...with face paint on their cheeks...who are supposed witches who knocked on doors and then said, "Glad Påsk!" They had baggies and were waiting for candy in response. I feel that Sweden on this holiday has confused their traditions with one of our other holidays. They also have birch sticks everywhere with colored feathers on them...I don't know why. Somebody said it's something to do with the beginning of spring. Everybody takes the birch branches and the leaves come out on them as a sign of spring. Pretty cool.

I'm doing really well. I am healthy and very happy. I love the work. I love the people I serve. I love my companion. I'm just full of love! :) I hope that all of you know how much I love and appreciate you. I feel eternally blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends. Please take care! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. I of course thought much of the Savior Jesus Christ, His Atonement and then Resurrection. I feel so blessed to know of the truthfulness of the events that took place. We are God's children. I know that to be true. I know we can all receive the knowledge of the Saviors' Atonement in our lives.

Much love,
Sister Suzanne Wood

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