beautiful people

6 o'clock p.m.

Hello dear ones.

Last Monday we got to go to the Bishop's house for dinner to say goodbye to Elder Tanner and then they invited us over again yesterday to say hello to Elder James and we are lucky enough to go there again tonight with some of the families in our ward for a party! So needless to say, this past week has been amazing. 
 

Senja making us dinner

We have the coolest bishop in all of Sweden and his wife, Senja is a big example to me and is also my "mother figure" here in Halmstad. I have truly met some amazing people here in Sweden who have welcomed me into their lives and have also helped me to see what kind of person I want to be. It is such a blessing to be a part of a work that is so centered on people because i. love. people. I love how everyone is so unique and has their own story about who they are.

making dinner at Senja's yesterday

Isam called me last Monday and said that he didn't understand any of the words I was using. haha He said that I need to write more simply so that everyone can understand. He is so awesome and we still keep in touch. In fact, he is so great and is planning on coming up next week on my birthday to make us dinner. And I do have to say that Syster Swenson is probably the best friend right now. We still write each other hand written notes every single week. She sent me a birthday package this last week as well. 
 

Syster Richins :)

And Syster Richins and I can't hardly wait to see each other at zone conferences to catch up on everything. And I love Syster Hosenfeld as well. She is h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s. She says the funniest things. We actually took a test this week that tells what your top 24 strengths are and our top three strengths are the exact same (1. gratitude, 2. faith- being spiritually sensitive, and 3. easily loving others and being loved) and our last one is the same (humility- haha). I'm so grateful to be meeting some of my greatest friends on my mission. 

hej då äldste tanner

As for the other people that I am loving and meeting- One of our investigators, Jolanka, is seriously the cutest lady. She is in her early 60's and comes from Serbia- she knows the bible inside and out but doesn't belong to any church. I love teaching her and discussing things with her but I most of all just love HER. She gets so happy when we come over and wants to give us things and make us feel at home- which is such a great feeling after long days of "no's" ... to have someone that is excited to be with us. Another lady named Ingvor is a less active member and she also has us over every week. She used to be in a pretty well known band and she has an amazing voice- but now she is lonely and so we go over and sing hymns with her. She's great. 

cloudy with a chance of meat balls or its raining meatballs

Another less active that we are working with, Paola, was not at all excited when we first moved here to Halmstad. She ignored our calls and didn't want to meet. A couple weeks ago we felt like we should make her cookies and bring them by- so we did and she invited us to come over the next week. We went over and shared a comforting scripture with her and got to know her better and after we left she texted us and invited us over for the next week! We went over this past week and she told us that she loved the scripture we shared last time and she actually shared it with a friend who was struggling. Paola is from El Salvador and was baptized when she was about 16 but she has never been to the temple and is married to a non-member Swede now. We taught her about the temple and we are trying to get her ready to get a temple recommend so that she can do baptisms for the dead. I am grateful that the Lord softens hearts and also helps us know what to say, specifically, to his sons and daughters. 

 I am so grateful for the different and unique days that we have here on the mission. Every day we follow the same routine and guidelines but each day we experience different joys, hardships, lessons, beauties, and of course people. I was humbled by the line that Meisha Christensen wrote in her email last week due to the destruction in the Philippines. She said "if the church does a clothes drive, feel free to donate my closet." It is a beautiful thing we learn out here on the mission of how little worth our material things are. I am in a Country that is taken care of by the government and that is also pretty up to date with the style and technology- but I have also been humbled in a different way with how the Swedes live. They live with "just enough". Its kind of like when Jon Stewart went and interviewed a Swede who was pretty famous and they went inside her apartment that only had one room and one bathroom and she had all of her garbage recycling piles etc. and he asked her "why don't you have three flat screen tvs or 3 bathrooms or a maid to do your garbage?" (like most famous people in the US) and she was almost shocked because she didn't need more than what she had. I love that and have learned from their simplicity. 

heating pads\ awkwardly kneeling

Thank you for your letters this week and for the special little things you send me. I put rice in the feet warmers you made me and sewed them up and they keep me so warm :). I guess it has been snowing for a while up in Norrland and we might be receiving snow next week but im not sure! I love you all. Have a ponyriffic week! as Lillie would say. 

Elin and Alice at young women's

XO Adel