winter has finally arrived.

ready to face the winds

Åh- this week has been busy busy!

First of all. IT SNOWED!!! It finally snowed on Wednesday which was one of the highlights of my week. (Not Syster Hosenfeld's though. haha.) But since we live on a resort we are lucky and have people come and shovel all of our walks :) AND we have heated floors in our apartment! Not kidding. But both of my heating pads that you made mom, have burnt in the microwave... Tyvärr. 

a guy shoveling our walks

One of my favorite things about contacting is the responses that we get from people. I will give you a few examples...

- Two girls
Us: What do you think our purpose is here on earth?
Them: To go around and ask people questions
Us: (HAHA not our purpose as missionaries, duh..) No, what is our purpose as people?
Them: I don't understand
Us: (ok forget it...) *explain for the 7th time*
Them: Ohhh!... I don't actually know, I've never thought about it.

- Old Lady
Us: Excuse us, we come from the U.S. to talk to people about why we are here on...
Woman: No.
Us: Ok, thanks anyways, have a nice day!
Woman: *Ten seconds later half way down the street* Don't you have anything better to do?!
Us: no..

- Lady in wheel chair
Us: Excuse us, we are here as...
Lady: I really love it when people stand right in front of me
Us: ...... :/

- Most adults
Us: Hejsan...
Them: I'm not interesting
Us: that's okay! We just want to share a message with you about God. Okej... hej då.

- Most teenagers
Us: Hej, we come from the USA to t...
Them: Oh cool! I have been/ want to go to (one of the three) California, Florida, or New York.
Us: (yes i'm sure you do)

first snow of my mission

This year we have started counting our contacts to report for the mission and we are supposed to have 70 random contacts every week. Last week we had 80 and this week we had 85. (not counting planned contacts or tracting). I can already see that this has been inspired from our mission president. We had 20 lessons last week and 23 lessons this week. 

#selfie. hahaha I bought a boy clip on accident and so I just keep it on my scriptures but I wore it this week! hahaha

Syster Hosenfeld and I were talking about when we first came here to Halmstad in October and we wanted so badly to get 20 lessons. We worked so hard but no one wanted to listen and we got discouraged. It has been amazing to look back on all that has happened since then, when we had no one to teach, starting from ground zero. We really were holding on to WHOEVER we could get to listen to us. I think we were lucky that first month to be getting five lessons. 

But, over time we have seen some serious miracles. It has been a testimony builder to me to never get discouraged with the work, because things always work out. It always gets better. And this whole experience in Halmstad has actually taught me to notice the smallest of miracles. Because it's the small miracles that get me through. Like finding my lost glove on the bus or talking to someone that believes in God on the street.

Ingvor every Wednesday

I have been very humbled this week as we woke up each morning having no plans or having a lot of plans fall through and by the end of the day having a lot of success. I went to bed many times thinking "okay, tomorrow is going to be a tough one to get through because we have been so blessed today" and then by the next night I am in awe with all that we are able to accomplish. I am so grateful. 

We taught some very spiritual lessons this week. I think my favorite was with Morgan. We hadn't seen him since last Sunday because he worked a lot this week and Syster Hosenfeld and I were a little nervous because we hadn't heard from him for 6 days. We got on the bus and the first thing he said was "I've got a lot of questions for you two today." *nervous.* 

We got to the church and he had some questions about what he had been reading in the Book of Mormon. They were questions that I had never even thought about before or heard so neither of us knew what to say. I said a little prayer that I would be able to know how to answer him and I just opened my mouth and started talking. It was an unreal experience. The spirit was so strong and I was in shock with the words coming out of my mouth because what I was saying was all new news to me. 

After I answered his questions he just said something like, "ok- can't argue against that"... No one can argue against the spirit. Because the spirit speaks truth. It testifies. It pierces the soul (helaman 5:30). It is the converter. I am so grateful that we were worthy of the spirit and that the spirit could speak through us and answer Morgans questions.

coming home from helsingborg zone training

We taught him about the priesthood and watched a Mormon message video. Tears ran down my cheeks as I realized how grateful I am for the power of the Priesthood. And how blessed we are to have the priesthood restored to the earth in these last days. After bearing our testimonies, we asked Morgan how he was feeling about his baptism this week and he said: excited. 

I love my necklaces :) I have not taken them off since I received each of them.

I got the cutest necklace in the mail from my mama this week. It was a Utah charm. I just held it and cried because I love Utah and home so much. It was so special to me. On the mission I never want to tell people that I am from Utah because most every missionary is from there and no one knows where Utah is unless they are Mormon or have heard about the mormons. But as I looked at this little Utah charm, I just thought of how excited I was to wear it- LOUD AND PROUD. It truly is a beautiful place. I am so lucky to live in a state with ten temples surrounding me and an lds church on almost every corner. :) I love the mountains and I love the stories of the pioneers walking the trails to get to this beautiful state. 

sorry for all of the selfies this week. Its just easier to take them myself then to ask sys hosie hahaha

Have a wonderful week! I am sorry this is all over the place. I always have so many stories about our investigators and the work and everything but the thoughts on my mind usually take up the majority of my letters. haha thank goodness for my journals who have all of my stories :)

XO

P.S. As we were taking the bus into town yesterday to church, Syster Hosenfeld asked me what I was thinking about and I said "I was thinking about all of the time that I wasted when I was home before my mission, just sitting around or watching movies- and it scares me to think of all of the things I could have been doing!" She laughed at me because I am seriously in weird missionary mode.

a letter I got from an Olympus High Missionary!

"Dear Adelide, I do not mean to come off as strange or creepy in anyway, but I absolutely loved hearing your 2013 goals in the Olympus Newsletter!  In fact, I loved them so much, I wrote them on a paper that I have hanging on my bulletin board titled as "Adelide's 13 Steps to Better"!  Thank you so much for being such an example to me and for all the amazing work that you are doing.  I really do admire you and your kindness.  Hopefully, after the mission, we can get together sometime. 
Love you lots!
Sisar Victoria Vincent (Next door, in Finland) "