Monday, August 2, 2010

Lund is AMAZING!!

Dear Family and Friends,

These first few days in Lund have been wonderful! I am so glad to be here. I have a wonderful companion...who works hard and has a great desire to do the work, and I'm in an awesome little city.

I will begin by talking about the trip down here to Lund. I wouldn't bother to talk about it if it were a normal train ride down the country, but in our case...it was an adventure to be shared. :)

First of all, I was on the train headed for Malmö with 3 other Elders. We got on the train ok, and even got started ok on our 4-5 hour trek down the country of Sweden. Well, about 45 min. into our trip, we came to a halt. The train instructor told us that there had been some computer problems, so that it would just take a few minutes to re-start the computer and then we would be on our way again. Well, as you can imagine...20 minutes later he said they were still working on things...and then an hour later...there started to be personnel people walking down the train telling us that they were not going to send busses to pick us up because the train wouldn't work at all. Well, needless to say, we had been waiting over 2 and a half hours when they came back through and told us that there was now another train that was going to come and pick us up in about an hour. So, we sat there in this little, middle-of-nowhere place called Skebokvarn. A couple of funny things happened while we were waiting. The personnel of the train actually asked all the Elders I was with to officially guard the doors so that nobody would fall or get hurt. They must have asked because the Elders look so official in their white shirts and ties. :) Then, I was entertaining little kids and getting to know several of the passengers on the train...as we did not have so much to do. It was pouring rain the whole time, and I was amazed that the people stayed as patient as they did the whole time...they realized there was really nothing they could do about it...but wait.

Eventually, the other train came. Then the real fun began. As it was pouring rain, and there were man people and bags to move from one train to the other, we all started pitching in to get things off the one train and on to the other. I was helping Elder Arko move our bags and the other Elders were helping to move all the other passengers things...they were officially the helpers. ;) They had ladders for people to climb down and up and it was amazing to see so many people changing trains in the rain in the middle of nowhere. Well, we got on the other train and got going FINALLY. But wait...about twenty minutes after we started moving again...we pulled to a little place called Flen...not Flem....even though it would have fit the place. hehehe...well anyway, they told us they needed to change drivers there. So, after another 40 minutes of sitting there and waiting, we were finally on our way. Eventually they came on the loud speaker as said that we would arrive 4 hours later than our anticipated time of arrival. It was crazy! We pulled into Lund Central at 12:00am...(the latest I've been up during my whole mission) and got ourselves home and settled in.

The next couple of days I was a bit tired...but that's pretty normal these days, and I just so happen to LOVE this city...so it was worth the wait to get here.

I also want to write a little about my awesome companion Sis. Sumner. She is from Stafford, Virginia and has been studying Public Health at BYU. She is from a family of 4 kids and she is a super missionary! She has been here in Sweden for 4 months with Sis. Coleman and was really excited that I came down to spend my last weeks with her. :) She likes volleyball, and reading classic novels...don't worry I'm not trying to advertise her. ;) She has a great desire to work hard, and I'm grateful for the fact that she is motivated and will help me to stay motivated until the end. I'm expecting a lot of success this transfer.

We have a baptism here in Lund on Saturday! He is a man named Denzil from Sri Lanka. He had come in cotact with the missionaries first through Swedish Class here in Lund and was not at all interested in the gospel then...but recently, he showed up at the Institute Center and was asked by the Center Senior Couple missionaries to go see a baptism with them. He said he would, and then from then on out, he let the Sisters know that he wanted to be baptized. This was about a week and a half ago...so we are teaching him everyday in order to get him ready for baptism. He's been in church several times and is loving the gospel. He reads the scriptures everyday and talks about how good it feels to him when he reads, or when he is in church. He's awesome! I'mm be excited to write about the baptism next week!

Other than that, I am just getting to know the area. We have some other positive investigators...some of which are on semester (vacation) right now but that I am excited to meet when they get back. I'm doing well. I'm happy and healthy. I love this work! I know the Lord leads His work and that He leads us to those who are prepared for the gospel as we show our obedience and faith. I continue to learn from the scriptures daily. Make sure you read in the scriptures!!! It's so important that we continue to nourish our testimonies with the words of Christ! I love you all and hope that you all have a great week!

Much Love,
Sister Suzanne Wood

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