UPPSALA.

HI. I have sooo much to write about this week! It has been such a long week- I can't believe that transfers were just this week because I feel like I have been here with Sister Anderson for a while! It is seriously a dreeaaam to be here. I could not be more grateful or feel more blessed. 

this is me and elin hugging a tree on my last p-day in orebro :)

I said goodbye to Örebro on Wednesday morning and Sister Lowe and I, with both of our HUGE suitcases- got on the train. We went to a place called Hallsberg to transfer trains with three minutes in between. We were sweating like crazy and laughing so hard. Luckily we had each other to help unload and load and carry our bags around. We got a good system going. :) We got off in Stockholm and ran to my next train through T-Central and said my goodbyes to Sister Lowe and off I went to Uppsala. I was seriously sweating out of every pore. hahaaha. It is soooo hot and humid and the trains and buildings have no air conditioning! I just sat at the back of the train and fanned myself with my ticket and sang songs because it was so loud in there that no one else could hear me. hehehe

Orebro

I got to Uppsala Wednesday afternoon and we immediately got to work. We went to the church to meet a new investigator that Sister Anderson had talked to on the train last week. She is from Ethiopia and we showed her around the church and taught her about the Book of Mormon. She is the sweetest lady and was very receptive.

Mohamad

That night we also taught Mohamad who is from Iran. He is our most progressing investigator. They found him four weeks ago and he was supposed to be baptized last week but he told them that he wanted to be a "good mormon" when he gets baptized. Meaning he wants to feel more prepared. I am sure they were sad when he didn't get baptized but we found out this week that he was still drinking a little- just for fun and that he is having a hard time switching religions. (He was muslim before and doesn't know too much about Christianity.) He is so cool. He is also very sensitive- for instance- We met him at the church the next night after having been to institute and we could tell that he was kind of sad throughout our whole lesson so we asked him what was wrong and he said that he was sad that we didn't invite him to institute. He wants to know about EVERYTHING going on in the church- it's so awesome hahaha.

I already love the people we are meeting with so much. I have never fallen in love with a city or the work and the people so fast. It is a perfect area to end on. The members in the ward are all a little older- not many young families or single adults but it is still great. We have us, the Zone Leaders, Elder and Sister Sorensen (going home though in two weeks) and Elder and Sister Tolley! That is a lot of missionaries. 

Sister Anderson is the absolute best. We have been having so much fun together. We have AWESOME conversations about anything and everything- seriously we learn so much from each other in our companionship studies. We are also very focused on being positive, grateful, and on complimenting each other. It is amazing how those simple attitude changes can make a world of a difference. We have been talking a lot about how missionary work is moving forward and it gets us so pumped everyday to get outside and get going. We have both noticed that the spirit is so strong in our companionship because we really are only focusing on the work and the people and the gospel. 

When we went out contacting a couple of days ago, we contacted two guys, told them about the church, and asked them if they would be interested in meeting and one of them said "uhh... ya... who wouldn't want to meet with you two!??" HAHAHA. Sister Anderson was like "... we only talk about Jesus" hahahahaha. It was so funny. 

We also had a cool experience while contacting. We were about to pass an older lady walking her bike and a younger girl walking close behind her. In that situation you kind of just have to pick one or the other to talk to. I had a feeling to talk to the younger girl behind the woman but she had headphones in her ears so instead we contacted the older lady. The lady said (while still walking away) "I lived in Salt Lake City for many years and I'm still not converted!" THEN the younger girl that we felt we should contact stopped, pulled out her headphones and asked if we needed directions somewhere. We told her no, but that we are missionaries from our church. We ended up talking for a while and got her phone number! She was very interested and it was a good reminder to me to always ACT on the promptings of the spirit- not on your own thoughts. Luckily, the girl still stopped to listen. 

Papa said in his last letter to me (papa as in my grandpa not my dad hahaha everyone thinks i'm talking about dad when I say papa :)) ... "The most important thing in the mission field, is not a baptism- it is having faith, being humble and forgiving, studying and praying, and being led by the spirit." It is through our faith, humility, forgiveness, studies, and prayer, that we are able TO BE led by the spirit. I feel the spirit working through us in every step of our missionary work and it is faith building and wonderful. 

we found an american store!!!!

Yesterday, I felt the spirit strongly as I was waiting for the Sacrament. I was so excited to be able to take it. It meant so much to me and I felt almost the exact same feelings that I had felt at another time on my mission when I felt completely clean and forgiven from all of my past mistakes. It is truly so amazing that each week we can CHOOSE to become a little more honest, less prideful, to be better, nicer, less judgmental, less selfish. I turned around after I had taken the Sacrament to see Mohamad sitting there and it made me so happy. He works every Sunday at a bakery but he has asked his boss if he can leave each week for thirty minutes to come and take the sacrament and then go back to work. He is a great example to me of how important the Sacrament really is. He said to us yesterday that he never wants to miss out on taking it! 

We went to the hospital after church to see a 93 year old member who had a heart attack yesterday morning. He is the funniest guy. He is still going to the gym and to clubs to dance- where he gets alcohol free drinks. HAHAHA he is not letting his age stop him from doing anything! We sang "O Store Gud" (How great thou art- which is actually a Swedish hymn) to him with the Elders and he LOVED it. He told one of the Elders to grab his pants out of the closet because he had a picture of Sister Anderson. We thought it was going to be on his phone but he had printed it out and just keeps it in his pocket hahahaha. 

I read a wonderful talk that mom sent me a while ago about the body. It talks about how our bodies are such a beautiful gift from God- and it really hit me that so much of our weaknesses and temptations are about the body- Over eating, under eating, pornography, not following the law of chastity, wearing immodest or costly apparel etc.- All of these things do not come from God. In fact this is satan's biggest tool against us. It was Satan's punishment to not receive a body- and it is our gift. In the talk, (the body- a sacred gift) it says "Alma 5: 53-54- such scriptures BEG us to consider how we regard our bodies." The body is necessary for progression and for obtaining a fullness of joy- so why do we so often put ourselves down or do things to reject this gift? The writer says that "we reject the gift by flaunting it, disparaging it, participating in immoral behavior or neglecting it. A wise and loving God counsels us instead to be grateful for it and become a wise steward of it. To do so requires giving up something worldly." After talking about this with Sister Anderson, we both decided to give up worldly actions of rejecting our gift and replacing them with ways that we are going to receive our "gift". One of the biggest ways we can accept the gift of having a body is by doing service. 

As we serve, we forget ourselves. We forget what the world is asking us to do and instead do what God wants us to do. He wants us to love ourselves and others and Him. And we do so by daily accepting the opportunity we have to have a body, to be on this earth, to learn and to grow so that we can return home to live with him. And when we return home, our bodies will be perfected. And that is what my goal is. It is not to have a perfect body now- but it is to work towards having a perfected body in the eternities. 

Anderson, Adelide, Lowe and Lowe's parents

I love this quote by James D Stice about service. "When it comes to helping others, get in the game. If there is help that needs to be given, give it. If you can make a difference for good, make it. Don't wait for an engraved invitation. Don't worry about what others might think. If the spirit whispers to you that something needs to be done, do it. Lend a listening ear, look for small things, and err on the side of action." 

Isam and his missionaries

I am so grateful for my companion. She is seriously the coolest and best. I love our area. It is fun to be more up north- there are so many more hills!! I love the people. I love our apartment- its old but huge! I am so blessed and happy. I am grateful for the sun and for the opportunity that I have to use my body to serve and help others. 

Have a wonderful week! Thank you for the letters! xoxoxo

Adel
sorry for all of the selfies - hahaha my comp is a legit photographer