Första Advent

outside our apartment at 8 am

Hallå!
What an awesome and busy week! On Monday we didn’t have a p-day because we went to the temple on Saturday instead. So after emailing, we went out and preached the gospel and had a successful day. 

happy birthday to me from Syster Hosenfeld!

I had a wonderful birthday on Tuesday and I cannot believe I am 20 years old! #oldievoldie. My companion is the cutest and blew up 20 balloons and wrote funny things on the outside of all of them and then on the inside she wrote one thing she loves about me and is grateful for. It was so so so nice and thoughtful. 

We got out of the apartment at 8 am to teach someone genealogy at 9:30. And once we get out of our apartment, we are out for the whole day since we live so far away. Our mission president has asked that we are in the church a certain amount of time every week to teach people genealogy and we have had no success. Every contact and tract we do, is inviting people to do genealogy and for the past two months, the only success we had, was with a member. 

But two weeks ago we knocked on a lady’s door, Jenneke and she said she would love to come do it! She came and we helped her get started but she didn’t have very much information. It was cool to see her call around to her family for information and see her excitement about getting her tree started. I know that President Newell is very inspired and that if we continue to do what he has asked us to do, we will find success with our missionary work. We taught lots of other lessons that day and then went to sushi and hot chocolate for dinner! It was the best birthday ever! 

 I even got a call from our old investigator in Kristianstad, and he wished me a happy birthday. It was good to hear from him but I don’t know how he remembered my birthday and got my number... "He's nice. But creepy. Like Santa!"- Despicable me.

syster haynes

On Wednesday, I spent the day in Lund on sister exchanges with Syster Haynes, a sister training leader and one of dad's old seminary students from East haha. She is so cute and I learned a lot from her. We have so many incredible sisters in this mission- Syster Newell told us that before my group of sisters, there were 14 sisters and now we have 50! Holy. There is also a transfer coming up on the 20th and there will be 12 Elders coming and 0 sisters- I am worried that I will be transferred because we will finish training on the 16th and I want to be here in Halmstad for christmas!

Cute Sys. Hosie

This week we lost my favorite investigator, Jolanka. She is so sweet and loves us so much but we are having some serious communication issues. She doesn’t know very much Swedish and she cannot understand us- We are so sad. It breaks my heart to be holding something in my hands that I know could bless someones life and see them not have the patience or time or courage to take it. I pray that she will come in contact with the gospel again in her life. 

On a better note- I was talking to a guy named David on the bus and we ended up teaching him the next day! It went really well and he is super interested and cool. I love our investigators and I see so much potential with all of them. Sister Hosenfeld and I have really been focusing on increasing our effectiveness this week and we talked to more people than usual which resulted in more phone numbers and random lessons on the bus or in the park and being blessed with more lessons than we have ever had here in Halmstad.

hot chocolate!

I am so excited for this Christmas season. The Swedes do something called "The First Advent" where they have four candles and every Sunday before Christmas, they light one of the candles. It began yesterday, so we went to a members house for dinner to begin the advent! Here in Halmstad they do a "light fest" every Sunday until Christmas for the advent- where they light up all of the Christmas lights all over the city. It is beautiful and so fun. I love the Swedish traditions and I am trying to soak up all of it because I will only be here for ONE Christmas! It's all going by so fast and I am enjoying every minute. Whenever I have feelings of wanting to just take a break or stop- I imagine myself being home at this time next year, and I know that I will be missing this place, these people, and my experiences.

Every month for the past eight months, I have chosen one Christlike attribute to work on. There are nine Christlike attributes listed in Preach my Gospel, and this month is my 9th month. Which means by the end of this month I will be half way and I will re-focus each month to a Christlike attribute- going through each of them again until I go home. I have learned so much from applying myself to be more like Him. This month I have chosen knowledge. I want to focus all of my studies to learning more about the doctrine of the gospel so that I can better understand and therefore, help our investigators understand. Instead of trying to finish the Book of Mormon in a month, I sometimes spend a whole hour on one chapter. New ideas and thoughts have been opened up to me and I have been able to apply all that I learn to every aspect of our teaching and work in general.

you must know I love pez :)

Recently, I have been studying a lot about Satan and his power that he has over us as imperfect humans. In every scripture that I studied, it talks about how powerful Satan is and how he can influence the hearts of man. On my mission, I have strongly felt his influence. These are personal feelings that I have not openly shared besides to my parents, but I feel that I should share them now. He has made me feel "lesser", inadequate, guilty, and I have had real feelings of doubt and sadness in my heart. He knows my weaknesses and he knows that if he makes me feel low, that I will not be as focused on the work that I have been called to do. I am grateful for my parents who have strengthened me and have uplifted me. For their inspiring words to choose God and to fill my mind with light. I have been happy and grateful my whole mission, but I have also struggled. These struggles and feelings from Satan have taught me so much about the Light of Christ. I know that Satan is real and that his power is real. And I also know that God is real. That his love, his grace, and his mercy is infinite. It is my wish to all of you to choose God. He is love. He is light. I have a testimony stronger than ever that Christ’s atonement is real and that He loves me. He loves all of us. I am grateful for what I have learned from this experience because my testimony that I share several times a day, is so much more authentic. Because I really do know that what I am saying is true. I love the gospel. I love the scriptures. They are good and they are true. I love feasting upon them everyday. I love teaching from them. They are up-lifting. They come from God. Read them. I love you all,

Love,
Adelidie-lou