Life is Precious

bye forsman's

Hej hej hi ho he ha

Last week we were given the opportunity to choose if we wanted to go home a transfer early or a transfer late (August or October). Some are going home for school but I decided to stay. I am a bit confused though, because when I emailed the office, they said my release date is still September 23rd which is what it originally was... So I guess just plan on me coming home in September or October. I hate writing about that because I don't even want to think about going home yet! haha. I am grateful that I still have 6 or 7 months ahead of me.

We got the Forsman's all moved out this week and they have now moved up by the temple. We in turn got a senior couple!! THE TOLLEY'S. They are the sweetest. They are also the housing couple so they won't be moving to Katrineholm- they will just be coming to our ward on Sundays to help out and also helping with some missionary work here. We are so excited to have them. Elder Tolley served his mission here and has amazing Swedish.

The Yasavolian family received residency in Sweden this week which is a HUGE blessing. Now they can start taking Swedish classes etc. which will be good because our Sunday school lessons are pretty hard. We do a lot of actions and pointing and very simple english and swedish all mixed together. 

Yesterday we had Anicet who only speaks french, the Yasavolians who only speak Persian, and another investigator, Goltom, who only speaks Tyringe (the language in Etruria)- he is the hardest because we don't have a book of Mormon for him or any type of translation... But he is very humble and still comes and pretends like he knows what is going on. :) 

We only had 20 in church yesterday plus the four missionaries, the Tolleys and President and Sister Newell joined us as well. I guess you never know what you're gonna get! But those who came bore beautiful and powerful testimonies. E's testimony was so strong. She said "I didn't want to get up this morning because my baby cried all night and I was very tired... But then I thought, 'there is no way that I will miss the opportunity to bare my testimony and take the sacrament today.'" The rest of her testimony was on the Book of Mormon and how she reads it for almost two hours everyday. She said that she can't put it down because she is so excited to find out what is going to happen next -even though she already knows the stories. It was very inspiring.

I was giggling a little bit in church as I was going through all of the names of our investigators /potential investigators. They sound like they come right out of Genesis 10. Example: Abraham, Afra, Amir, Aquel, Khalad, Mohammed, Mussa, Nour, Simon, Fahad, Salmi, and Habib. Those are just a few. Ya none of them are Swedish. Hahaha. And none of them speak great English or Swedish which is hard. But they sure are humble people. We taught 6 lessons in one day this week. We were very blessed and when we had any spare time we went tracting and got invited in by two different families who let us share a message and are both interested in continuing to meet- so that is very exciting for us.

We received horrible news this morning that one of the Elders in our mission, Elder Bailey, was hit by a car and killed last night. They were crossing the street and a car came speeding- his companion got out of the way but he didn't. He was trained by Elder Christensen so he was a greenie in my District when I was in Kristianstad. He also came in the same MTC group as Syster LaFontaine. His family is inactive and he decided on his own to serve a mission. He is one of the coolest kids and I am positive that he is continuing his missionary work on the other side. We actually just talked to him on the phone last week because they referred one of their investigators to us, who moved to our area. He was so happy and told us of how grateful he was because his family had gone to church for the first time while he has been on his mission.

weekly planning set up

Experiences like this put things into a reality check for me. They make me a little more appreciative. A little more humble and kind. They come more regularly on the mission as I deal with people who are suffering from heartache almost everyday. They make me more grateful for what I am blessed with and of why the message of the gospel is so important. Life is precious. The people in my life are more so. I wish I could take the time to go through every person that I love and who has blessed my life in one way or another and tell you of how GRATEFUL I am for each of you... I can't imagine losing someone so close to me which is why I look up to so many who have. I also want my family to know and understand how much I truly love you and of how grateful I am for you. I hope you know that every time I write that or say that, I really really REALLY mean it. I am grateful that I can be with you forever. Gods plan is real and it brings me peace and happiness and comfort every day.

and our apple crisp we made last night :)

Keep the Bailey family and the missionaries here in your prayers. It is a very sad time. Our stake president invited us over for dinner tonight along with six other elders. 3 of them also knew Elder Bailey very well and it will be good for all of us to come together. I hope Hannah had a wonderful happy birthday. I am excited for Henry and I hope that his call gets to him this week! I love Lillie and I miss her hugs. I LOVE YOU ALL MORE THAN I CAN EXPRESS OVER EMAIL. Remember that please.

Love always, Me.