first and greatest commandment

Hiiiiiiii

WOW. Boy does time go so fast. It was fun to hit my year mark on Thursday because we had a big phone call with everyone from my MTC group. It feels like we were all just getting to know each other in the MTC. When everything was so new and we were just trying to survive the long classes and food and new language.

This week we had some major struggs.

On Tuesday we went to Södertälje for a District Meeting and we ended up missing our train and not getting back until 4 so we had to cancel all of our morning lessons- which is never fun to do... When we got back we went out to vingåker to teach Esther and then came back the next hour to catch a bus out to a members house for a dinner appointment. We missed that bus and ended up not being able to go at all because they live too far away to come and get us... #publictransportationprobs. 

On Wednesday most all of our lessons got cancelled and on Friday we went to södertällje again for interviews with President. We left to get back on the bus at 3 and the trains were all backed up because of an accident so we didnt get home until 7:30! And... ended up having to cancel all of our lessons for that night as well. Hahahaha.

BUT in all- I am grateful that we got to meet with Esther again. We taught her the restoration and she is so prepared. We are meeting again on Friday. We also had a miracle day on Thursday out in Vingåker- we taught SEVEN lessons. We were very blessed with a very busy day that day. We also taught Goltom who is doing very well. He knows the church is true and wants to be baptized but he just wants to wait a little longer. We are working a lot with him- he is so humble and kind and comes to church every week and doesn't understand anything, but he still comes and sits and smiles and goes around and shakes all of the members hands :). He is an example to me.

We made "American dinner" for "E" on Saturday night and it was DE-licious! We made baked potatoes with a yummy cheese topping and the BBQ chicken salad from Zupas! It was so fun to treat her to something. She has fed us more than any other member here and she doesn't have any money. The people here amaze me.

I read a talk that dad wrote and sent me a while ago and a story from the scriptures really stood out to me that I didn't notice before. He talked about Genesis 6 when God looks down to see that the wickedness of man was great on the Earth. Dad wrote "Enoch tells us that Gods heart was broken and that he wept because he made them (us) and he commanded them (us) that we should love one another." I thought about this for a long while... I love that God weeps when he sees all of the wickedness because he commanded us to love each other. I love that because it shows how personal God is to each of us. We are all his sons and daughters which means that we are all brothers and sisters.  

Yesterday I was sitting in church among the 10 members who came. I looked around at each of them and thought about their lives and the different sacrifices that they make to come to church each week. I am humbled by their circumstances and that they come and carry on the meetings even when there are only ten of them scattered about. These people are true disciples of Christ. They live the first commandment of God. They love others. And they love and appreciate their own lives. And they do all of that because they love God. When we love God- we make sacrifices. We follow his commandments. We work together as people- as brothers and sisters- trying to build unity and peace. Trying to make the world a brighter place. I love that I get to serve and work among my brothers and sisters here in Sweden. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to learn from them and become better friends with them. I am grateful for the first commandment... I love God. I love the people in my life- and I love my own life. 

I got so many wonderful letters in the mail this week from old companions, mom, emma, and Jeni- who sent me an awesome lesson that she gave on the Atonement. It was fun for me to study and read through... very inspiring. She is so nice to think of me. 

Sister Swensie and Adelide on the right

One of my favorite letters came from my trainer Sister Swenson. I had just written a letter to her telling her of all of my struggles and how hard this is and she wrote back and agreed that this is hard and she also told me of things that are hard for her- (we tell each other EVERYTHING) But then at the end she also wrote a list of things that were positive in her life. That her hair is getting longer and that she has fun Elders in her district haha. It really opened my eyes because YES this is hard and there are always things to be sad about but look at all of the positive things in your life as well! So I sat there and thought about all of my blessings and made a long list. And boy- I am the luckiest. (Did I tell you that Sister Swenson is a Sister Training Leader? She has been for a while and she is in Lund. She is so awesome!)

Thank you to EVERYONE- for all that you add to my life. I have so many examples and people to look up to. Thank you for your prayers and love and letters.

Ha en bra vecka :) PUSS O KRAM.

Sister ADELIDE Christensen.