Cold toes. Tired legs. And smiling faces.

Sunrise in Kristianstad

This week has been quite the week. New investigators. Awesome member dinners. Passed the six month mark. Beautiful sunrises that can only be seen for those who are awake and running at 6:30 am. Fall colors. Cold toes. Tired legs. And smiling faces.

On Wednesday morning we were having companionship study and the phone rang. I looked at it and saw: President Newell, and tried making Syster Richins answer (as she was shoving a hard boiled egg in her mouth) because I knew that it was going to be for her about training. I answered and President Newell said, "Please put the phone on speaker." He said "Syster Richins and Syster Christensen, I am calling to tell you both that you will be training next Tuesday." My mouth dropped. Within 1 minute I had a million thoughts running through my head. There are only four systers coming, why would I be training? Am I staying here in Kristianstad? Am I leaving? Why am I training out of all of the sisters that came in my group!? I was literally in shock. He then said "Syster Richins you will of course be staying in Kristianstad and Syster Christensen, you will be serving in Göteborg." WHAT?? This was honestly the LAST thing that I thought of happening. For the next two days I thought I would be serving in Göteborg and training. Göteborg is one of the biggest cities in Sweden and it also has one of the biggest wards in Sweden so I was really looking forward to this change. On Friday I got another call saying "You will be serving in Halmstad instead."

Halmstad, Sweden

So here is the big change. I am leaving my greenie area. My home here in Sweden where I have been serving for the past five months with people that I love and know so well. I am training one out of the four sisters coming -along with Syster Richins, Syster Randall, and Syster Larsson (who came in Sister Swenson's group). It is my first time training. I am going to Halmstad which has never had sisters before. For several months there were no missionaries there because they were not having any success. There are about 100 members, but I have heard that the ward has on average 10-20 people that come every week. So lots of less active work to be done. And we will be starting from scratch with NO investigators. It is going to be very different than what Göteborg would have been and different than the comfort I have here in Kristianstad. And yet it feels like the perfect place to go. It is going to be an adventure. I am nervous but more than nervous, I am excited. And I am grateful that the Lord trusts me and that my Mission President trusts me to do this work.

When I called the Elders in the area to have them tell me a little bit about it- they said to me, "just prepare to do a lot of finding." I know its going to be a lot of work. I know it will be hard. Right now Syster Richins and I have 17 progressing investigators. Now we (my new comp and I) will have 0. I sometimes wish that I was in Syster Richins position or Syster Randalls where I could bring a new missionary fresh from the MTC into a wonderful city with awesome members, where I know the streets so well and already have a lot of success with investigators... I feel bad that we wont have any lessons set up or member dinners to welcome her. But I know that my next companion is going to be one strong sister because it will kind of be the blind leading the blind. I wont know the streets or the people, and all that we will be doing is contacting and tracting. And at the same time- what a wonderful opportunity this is going to be to solely rely on the Lord. To let the spirit guide us one hundred percent of the way. To have someone come straight from the MTC and see what miracles can happen from having faith in finding. And there isn't a more wonderful way to welcome someone into missionary work than to actually do missionary work. Hard missionary work. Which work, no one can understand or comprehend unless they serve a mission. The let downs and the heart aches. But also the joys and the love.

Fall in Kristianstad

My heart ached this week as we walked into Alexandra's house with faith of setting a baptismal date. Her parents have both accepted and we have prayed countless times for this day to come. We talked with her and told her how excited we were for her. We bore our testimonies and said a prayer together and Alexandra said "I think I am going to stay catholic." My heart sank. I know she is ready and more than that I know what a blessing this would be to her as she grows up here in Sweden among kids who start smoking and drinking when they are 14 years old. But I also know how much courage Alexandra has and how hard it would be for her to be the only one in her family at age twelve to not be catholic. I feel like her parents have allowed her to be baptized but have also made her feel bad about the decision. Satan really works hard on the prepared. And surprisingly she came to church on Sunday with Saga so maybe the timing just isn't right, right now. :)

alexandra, saga, and solie

One of our investigators is Julius, a Swede. Has really stopped using snus and smoking since he has met with us. Snus is like tabacco that they have here in Sweden and they stick it up under their top lip. Its nasty. It has fiber glass in it or something. Ew. Haha but he is so awesome. And my favorite investigators are Alda and Aurton. They come from Albania and have only been here for a couple of months and have no job, no money, and no residency. And they are probably the most humble, grateful people I know. They find a way each week to take the long bus ride to church. They are amazing people and I am blessed to know them and work with them. Last night they had us over for dinner and said our last goodbyes. But I think that if they were to be getting baptized soon, I would find a way to come down. Some of our other investigators in Hässleholm said that we are famous and that everyone is talking about the missionary sisters walkin' around preachin' the gospel. Hahahaha.

Julius holding up the word of wisdom pamphlet

Well! Here I go. Another adventure. Another new mountain to start climbing. Thank you for your prayers this week. I'm going to need them. Thank you for the pez and fun letters. I am going to be packing all day today so I won't have time to write letters home, so I will just say... Lillie's drawings of ponies have seriously improved. And Henry's letter was awesome esp. his debate paper he sent me. Only problem is that I probably understood four words that he used in the whole thing. He is one smart boy. I will get to see Emi Christison up in Stockholm! And thank you mom for buying me a coat!! I still have five hundred things I want to write about but I have no time. LOVE YOU ALL. Have a beautiful and peaceful week. thank you for your support and letters and candy and love. Lets just say it SAVES ME. And general conference this weekend is going to save me as well hahah xoxoxo

Tomato soup on a cold day

Syster Christensen

name my blog post something clever - i cant think of anything hahahaha

We received word of an all-sisters meeting last Tuesday and that it would be taking place in Göteborg which means that we needed to sleep over somewhere that night so we could make it on time. So we cancelled our lessons that night and went down to Malmö for a sleep-over so we could take a 4 hour train ride up the coast to Göteborg early the next morning. Sleep-overs on the mission are relatively the same as they are at home. Facials, lots of talking and catching up with other sisters, and sleeping on the ground with a tiny blanket and no pillow. (AKA broken back and neck, wishing that you would have just slept in your own bed).

We woke up the next morning at 5:30 am, got ready fast and got on a bus and decided to get off a bus and take a short cut to the train station. Not smart. We ended up going in the opposite direction, missing our train, having to pay for a new train ticket with our own money (probably explains the money I used on your card this week... #sawayy (sorry)), and showing up an hour late to our meeting. HAHA. We are losers. But it was an amazing meeting with President and Syster Newell on faith.

Syster Richins and I decided that we have faith in what we believe and we are working hard, but we could put them together. And if we put them together, that means that we need to be 100% obedient so that we could expect (have faith) that success will come out of the work we are doing. We were EXACTLY obedient the next morning with every little thing, and within an hour of us getting out to start proselyting, we received 8 numbers (Which is usually what we receive after a whole day of contacting). The little miracles from being obedient are incredible.

I received Morgan Evans letter this week from our new ward brochure and he said "we have 15 baptismal dates and are planning on getting 10 more next week." h a h a h a h a. IN OUR DREAMS. Our goal for the whole month is to get one baptismal date/have one baptism. Hardly a difference between the work in Madagascar and Sweden. But the work here is still moving forward! I have such a deep love for the people we meet with right now and the work we are doing here in Kristianstad. Syster Richins and I have been trying to talk to EVERYONE we see and I mean EVERYONE. Have I mentioned that contacting is the worst ever and that it is so awkward? Because it is. And if someone randomly came up to me on the street and said "Hi we come from the US and we are wondering what the meaning of life is to you" I would be a little freaked out as well. We get weird looks, people laughing at us, people telling us to our faces that we are weird and shouldn't ask people personal questions. But for everyone that says no and for every time we get laughed at, the ones who do accept make everything WORTH IT. And as awkward as it is. I. love. contacting.

We contacted a couple who are in their 60's- really cool people, and are both total Swedes- natural, stubborn, and atheist. They don't believe in God but they were surprisingly very interested in what we had to say. We, in short, gave the plan of salvation lesson and the man, Bo, started to tear up and began telling us about their son who was really sick when he was little. Bo's sister, who was living in the US was very religious (could be mormon, not sure), but she had a lot people in her church pray for him and sure enough, he received the medicine he needed and got better. He still didn't think that was from God but we testified to him that it was. After our conversation I said "I like you two together!" And the woman, Peela came in for a hug and said "I really like you two girls too". As we pulled out of the hug her husband again had tears in his eyes and gave us each a hug. It was a tender moment and then we parted ways. They didn't want to give us their number but we gave them a card and they said they will call. I am sure they thought about that experience all night, well at least I know I did. And if I don't see them again here in Sweden, I hope to see them in Heaven.

 30 arabic Books of Mormons that we received in a package this week. I am pretty sure we only ordered 10, so the Lord must know something we don't. Haha.

My Journal entry from yesterday morning: "This morning I was studying- reading my scriptures and I decided to go stand outside for a little. I walked out on the balcony- its the first time I've really noticed how cold the cement is on my bare feet. Fall is here to stay. The clouds above me are dark, but the sun is shining over Sweden and it is oh so beautiful. I was enjoying looking at the sky and the trees until I looked across at the apartments on the opposite side of the street to see a full on naked lady standing at the window. No fear there." Hahaha. I'm not kidding. It was hilarious. And it's not the first time. We have opened many doors to men in their underwear or girls just in a t-shirt.

This month my Christ attribute has been HOPE, which you all know. The beginning of the month was really hard for me to have hope. I was getting discouraged with myself and others and I didn't understand what hope was and what it is. So this week in my personal study, I read a number of scriptures that talk about hope and what I got from what I read is that hope means a lot more than what I thought it meant. From what I read, I summarized into my own words:

Hope is trust. It is moving forward. Hope anchors our souls. It is confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, it is patient perseverance. Hope helps conquer. It is peace for the future. It is faith. Hope overcomes. Hope lifts. Hope inspires. It is believing and expecting. Hope is excellent. Hope is graceful. It is lively. Hope is being steadfast in Christ. It is loving God, and it is knowing that they will comfort you. Hope is more than believing something you cannot see. Hope is a testimony. Hope is meek, it is humble, it is not vain. Hope is charity. Hope suffereth long and is kind. Hope believeth all things and endureth all things.

Last night we spent two hours tracting in the rain. We knocked on more than 80 doors and out of all of that we received 1 number.

I love you all. Have hope. Congrats Hannah and Spencer Baxter! And BTW. That video you posted of us speaking Swedish is HORRIBLE! hahaha I promise I can speak the language better than that! To prove my point: A lady we contacted this week thought we were from Sweden even after we had been talking to her for a good 15 minutes. :) haha

XO Syster Christensen

h ö s t ~ a u t u m n

 My dears,

This week I started Journal #2 which was shocking because I never thought that day would come. I brought three journals and perfectly planned it out so that each one would take six months to fill up- so I realized this week that I have almost been out six months and boy has it flowwwwwn by. The weather has dramatically changed this week- I don’t know if its here to stay for Autumn or if it is only for a bit but IT IS COLD. It feels like Utah’s Novembers so we pulled out the tights haha. I love the feel of Autumn-- the smells, the colors, its so beautiful.

k stad

We had a great lesson with our investigator Julius this week who used to be an Atheist. We were outside and heard the geese flying above us so we all looked up and watched them as they flew in a perfect formation, only practicing for when they fly out for real before winter. And at that moment Julius said "I don’t know how there couldn't be a God when I see things like this." I just looked up and smiled, because its so true. When you pause and take one look around at the world- you truly see Gods hand in everything. It was one of those sweet moments where you just realize how much love you have for the world and for Gods creations.

vera and kids

We met with a lady named Suha on Tuesday, who was the last person we contacted two weeks ago when we had absolutely had it! We thought nothing would happen with her but we taught her, and she could not believe how happy she felt- she decided to be baptized on the 24th of September! It was amazing. But... She lives in Malmö so we have to give her to the Malmö sisters. But it was still a beautiful moment. As for Rutha and Rita- we have been teaching them and they are so receptive but the problem with them is that "they have already been baptized" and they do NOT understand the difference in the way that we baptize. We explained the Holy Ghost, the Priesthood... EVERYTHING and they just don’t get it! Rutha said she was "born with the spirit of God" so she doesn’t need the Holy Ghost- haha I don’t know how else we can describe it to them! But they are still awesome.

I am filled with so much gratitude in my heart right now as I think about everyone at home and also as I think about the experiences I am having here on my mission. First of all- reading moms letter this week brought me to tears as I thought of Hannah getting married this week and Grace getting her mission call and Lillie turning the BIG 16 and all of the other little things going on at home that I miss and love and want to celebrate... but most of all I am so grateful and happy for these three girls and what is going on in their lives in different ways.

When Hannah and I were little and I would watch her draw out her wedding and wedding dress- and I probably never thought that I wouldn’t be there with her on her big day. Not being with you, Hannah, on your wedding day has just now hit me as I am writing this of how sad I am to not be there watching you walk down the isle and to not watch you have this joyful day in your life. But I want you to know that I love you and I am so so happy for you.

For Grace, WOOHOO!!! CANADA! That sounded so right to me when I read it and I am grateful for your desire to serve a mission and cant wait for you to join this army. I love you.

For my sweet baby Lillie- Happy 16th birthday! You are so old! I sure love and miss that girl. I am grateful for her letters that she writes me every single week and for what she teaches me still- even though I am not there to watch her in her life and what she is learning and doing.

Some days out here are hard. Some days we walk and walk and walk and nothing happens. But I want all of you to know that I could not be any where else right now. This week I have been a little selfish and have focused a little bit on "me" in my personal studies and of who I am and who God wants me to become. I listed my goals, my plans, the things I want to accomplish, the things I could be better at... (typical- haha) and I realized that everything I want to do and become would not be possible without my mission.

Studying and pondering on these things led me to thinking of the kind of wife, mother, neighbor, friend, and woman I want to and can become. What I have realized, comes from the most simple truths of the Plan of Salvation. That Heavenly Father loves us and knows us personally. He knows our potentials and he knows our weaknesses. He also knows that the only way we can learn is through trial and error. He knows we are not perfect so he gave us His Son. And the way we can know our potential and purpose is by following His Son. Following Christ, trying to be like Him, loving and serving as He did, is what will lead us on the straight and narrow path back home to our Heavenly Father. My potential- all of our potential is to be like Christ.

What a wonderful week. I love my companion- we are almost the same person in interests but opposite in personality, so we work great together. This is why Isam says she will be the leader wife and I will be an obedient wife haha. I am so grateful for the many many letters I received this week. Seriously. I have read them almost everyday. You are all INSPIRING. Thank you for your support. Thank you for living the lives you live. I love you all. Good luck this week! I hope everything goes
p e r f e c t l y.

Love Adelide

PS. I have been having really bad pain in one of my legs and I thought it was just sore, but it has been here for almost a month now. So we were teaching Isam and he pulled out some cream and he said that he went to the doctor and told them that he had pain in his leg, so they gave him the medicine hahaha.

the meal we had last night at Bonnie's - yummm! It reminded me of you 2.

Praise the Lord

öåäöåäöäåöäöä

HI. Thank you for all of your letters in the mail this week! Woohooo! I am one lucky gal.

I could probably use every word in the dictionary to describe this week... this week was truly been the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. At the beginning of the week I was discouraged to say the least. Every lesson fell through which left us to contacting and tracting two days in a row and I was not happy. I just did NOT want to do it. Everyone we went up to said no, I felt like a complete idiot, and my body was so sore and tired and I did not have the energy to take a step forward. And I especially could not step forward in hope; which is my Christ-like attribute for the month of September. I wrote in my journal "I don't know HOW to be more hopeful when I feel like I am not doing anything here and have not seen any success. I feel like I am a strong person and that I have been strong the past four months that I have been here in Sweden... but right now I am DISCOURAGED." On the third day of doing the same thing, I got a letter in the mail from mom that had the scripture Matthew 11:28-30.

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: And ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

I read this and as we prepared to go have lunch with Bo & Birgitta Wennerlund, I thought this would be the perfect scripture to share. We read this scripture to them and then watched the Mormon Message "None were with him." I sat there and just cried as I thought about this perfect message that I am here to share- and I will forever be grateful for that little lesson we had that gave me the strength and determination to keep going as I reflected upon the Savior and His lonely journey. This week I learned that I NEED to come unto Christ. I need to learn of Him so he can help me. When I become discouraged I miss the big picture and I forget why I am here. Neal A Maxwell said:

"Being BLESSED with hope, let us, as disciples, reach out to all who, for whatever reason, have 'moved away from the hope of the gospel' (col. 1:23). Let us reach to lift the hands which helplessly hang down." I am reminded as I read this that I have been blessed with HOPE and that I have the strength to move forward in hope and lift the hands that helplessly hang down.

with Syster Randall

On Thursday we went to Helsingborg for a zone meeting and then I went on splits with Syster Randall! We had a lot of fun together. It was a good to go to Helsingborg and see my zone and other missionaries and realize that they are doing the same thing that I am. After we switched back on Friday, Syster Richins and I decided to go visit our investigator Vera who lives about 20 minutes away and when we got there... she was not home. And she knew we were coming. I was again discouraged. We said a quick prayer and tracted that whole building and not one person was interested so we went over to the building next door and said another prayer.

The first door we knocked on answered- they were two girls from the Congo who immediately invited us in with out us saying anything. Rutha and Rita. We explained a little bit about or message and Rutha stopped us and said "You know- I don’t even live here and I don’t understand everything you are saying (they speak french and swahili)- but I know you are sent from God." She said "I had a dream a couple of weeks ago that I needed to rent this apartment, and that this new apartment would lead me to God and the church that I am supposed to belong to." Syster Richins and I just stared at her with wide eyes as if we were in a dream... a really good dream. We sat there in this little apartment that no one was yet living in and told her that we had just prayed that we could knock on a door that would let us in so we could teach the Restoration of the Gospel. I think there was a reason Vera wasn’t home that night.

After we taught the restoration we sat out at the bus stop for a while and Rutha came running out and said "Read Isaiah 52 and Psalms 66 vs. 18-20... You have answered my prayers." What a sweet and tender moment and mercy this was from the Lord. My heart was and is filled with so much gratitude. Our bus ride home was an interesting one. We were surrounded by 13 and 14 year old kids drinking and drunk Albanian guys behind us. I was a little grossed out and quick to judge all of them and what they are choosing to do with their lives until I remembered something that Emma said in her letter to me this week. "Imagine the people that you see dressed in white temple clothes." I turned to Sister Richins and said the same things and tears came to my eyes as I looked at these people with sadness in my heart because I could see their potential- but also so much love in my heart for them because I could see them as children of God.

Well, to sum up this week... It was a week of lesson learning. A quote that came to my mind after finding out that Vera wasn’t home on Friday night was:

"Don’t you give up. Don’t you quit. You keep on walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead--a lot of it. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come. There is help. There is happiness. There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Bright and Morning Star, the 'light that is endless, that can never be darkened.' It is the Son of God Himself. Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve." -Jeffery R. Holland.

Christensen, Randall, Pieksma, Richins

I can testify that God answers our prayers. He is leading us to the prepared and if we would have given up hope, stopped trying, not pushed ourselves to call one more number or knock on one more door, then we would have not found those who God has placed in our path. Yesterday one by one we had 8 investigators show up in church. All of us were in SHOCK. In our Sunday school lesson we taught a simple lesson on prayer. All 8 of them, Syster Richins, Isam, and me all kneeled down together and one by one went around in a circle and said a prayer. We had French, English, Swedish, Greek, Albanian, Swahili, and Arabic.

 The spirit was so strong and I was so grateful and happy. In Relief Society when they asked Rutha to introduce herself she just said "Praise the Lord!" haha it was the best. Other miracles: Alexandra’s dad has accepted baptism! So we are now just waiting on the mom and Viktor’s family (less actives) have promised to come to church after we helped them move all day Saturday. When we trust in the Lord, are obedient, and work hard- the Lord truly does do the rest.

The Ward house in Kristianstad

One more silly story: During the week we called a lot of numbers from our phone and so I called someone and they were so so nice and so happy to meet with us- I was like... YES! Jackpot! They invited us over for dinner the next day and when I got their address I realized they lived in Malmö... So I explained to them that we have missionaries in Malmö so I will call them and see if they could go and meet with them. I gave their number as a referral to the secretaries and then about ten minutes later the secretaries called back and said "Ya so that referral you gave us... It's the mission leader and his wife in Malmö." HAHAHA So awkward. So I set up an appointment for the missionaries in Malmö to have dinner with their mission leaders haha. Weirdest thing ever.

Be so happy my dear family. I love you. I am so happy to be here.

Adelide louisa

Panic Spray

This week was the week that I had to pull out my panic spray (the spray that mom gave to me before my mission that you spray on your clothes to calm you down when times are stressful.) hahaha. I wish I could fully describe everything we did this week but it wouldn't sound as intense or hilarious as it really was... but lets just say it resulted in Syster Richins and I limping home on Saturday night.

We seriously WORE OUR SELVES OUT this week! We swore to never do it again but we had so much fun. We RAN here, there, and everywhere- one lesson after another. I could also describe this week from an experience of running into someones home out of a cold wind storm with bright red sweaty faces from sprinting to their house and they asked us if it was hot outside. IN ALL- our stomachs hurt from laughing, we have bags under our eyes, our hips are out of place and I'm not kidding- I have shin splints... but what a great week.

 

On our way to Önnestad on Friday for dinner with the Sandelins, we were laughing and smiling at the bus stop and there was an old lady who kept staring at us so we decided to sit next to her on the bus. She said to us "You both are SO beautiful! There is something different about you- you are so happy!" Syster Richins and I looked at each other and smiled because we truly are so happy. We told her why we are here in Sweden and a little bit about our message and although she wasn't interested she said once more "but you are so beautiful because you are so happy." She could see a difference in us - which light and joy only comes because of the gospel and the message that we carry around with us. It was a good little reminder to keep smiling.

Syster Richins and Syster Christensen

 In Papa and Nana's letter this week they said,

"The Atonement of Jesus Christ is what brings the light to us because it reminds us who we really are. It helps us to live a higher law. The "natural man" is an enemy to God. The Atonement helps us to put off the "natural man", and be more like God, which brings light to our souls." 

I know that people see a difference in us as missionaries in Sweden, as missionaries all over the world, and as members of the church. When we strive to live with the light of Christ, others notice and the light and joy is contagious.

Sunday School Class

Yesterday in church was one of the funniest days I have ever experienced. One word to describe our branch here in Kristianstad: crazy. Syster Richins, Sara Sandelin, Isam and I got the giggles so bad in church as we looked around at everyone. The little old ladies behind us were not only singing the hymn off tune but they were singing a different verse then the rest of the congregation. Jonny who was baptized last year was doing some stretches up in the front and was full on turned around staring straight into the faces of the Eriksson girls behind him. And my favorite, Inge, turned around and said something to me in Danish and then started burst out laughing and I had no idea what she said. I just turned to Syster Richins and we could not hold it in. Our stomachs hurt so bad. I felt like I was in a dream. There is no other way to describe how weird it was. I think being completely exhausted had a little bit to do with it also but it was unreal. I just sat there laughing with tears streaming down my face at the same time as I looked at each of the members. They are all so unique and weird but they are incredible and I am so blessed to know them. They are probably the strongest mormons that I have ever seen. In Sara's relgion class that she has to take at school, they teach the students that there is no god. Sara just has to sit there and not say anything even though she knows what she is being taught is not true. And yet everyday after school she calls us to see if she can come on teaches with us or go contacting. I dont think I would have the courage that she has if I was the only member in my whole highschool.

Trolls that a member made for us. (ignore the rat's nest in my hair)

As for our investigators: We have met with many new faces this week that will hopefully meet again. Alexandra is completely ready to be baptized but we are still waiting on her mom. Torsten called Bo Wennerlund yesterday and asked to not meet with us anymore... I was sad because we have met with him two times a week since I got here and I know how ready he is but it was also not surprising. We have worked so hard with him, he has had three different baptismal dates, and he was just not willing to take the next step. But I also know that he will accept it one day. As for the others, we are still meeting with Poul and his referral family Vera and her children. So many of our investigators are ready for baptism. Its hard to let them know that they are ready when they are waiting for a huge answer to come. Often times when we are looking for an answer from Heavenly Father, we need to remember that "all good things come from God." Not all of the time will it be so strong, but it will be answered in a feeling of comfort and peace- a good feeling, if its something we are sincerely desiring to know.

"In a dark and troubled hour the Lord said to those He loved: 'Let not your hart be troubled, neither let it be afraid' (John 14:27). These great words of confidence are a beacon to each of us. In Him we may indeed have trust. For He and His promises will NEVER fail." - Gorden B. Hinckley

Kristianstad District

Thank you for your letters this week. I have not received Henry's letter yet, hopefully it will come today. I loved how in Dad's email this morning he told me about his long bike ride- how tough it was but how beautiful the results were... To see the leaves changing, to accomplish something hard. But he didn't tell me the part that mom said in her letter which is that right after dad got off his bike in Midway he loaded up the car from Swiss days. You never stop working- your great example to me of a hard worker but of enjoying life has helped me on days when I am limping home. It helps me to look up into the huge Sweden sky and see the beauty that surrounds me. Mom, you are the same. You are a hard worker and I am so grateful for the work you put in to Swiss days each year and to all of your gift shows. Thank you for being examples to me and to those around you. Thank you for being my friends and number one supporters. I love you both. Send my love to the family. We are on our way to Malmö again to celebrate Syster Pearson's birthday with some B O W L I N G!

xoxoxo adelide