indian summer.

There is a time of year that the Swedes call "Indian summer"- (maybe it’s called that all over the world but I've never heard it before- haha). It occurs after a few cold weeks of fall when the sun comes back out and is really warm during the day time. To me it is kind of like a mix between summer and fall. The seasons, like Papa has said, match the seasons of our lives. I know I have mentioned this before but Papa said that winter, spring, summer and fall are like our trials, opportunities, blessings, and lessons learned. This has been a good time to harvest the lessons I have learned over the past 18 months and with this Indian summer I feel like it was a good week to notice all of the blessings in my life as well.

ahahhaha this is a funny picture

We got a call this week from the Sisters in Norrköping saying that one of their investigators has just moved to Uppsala and would love for us to call her. The Sister that was talking to me on the phone said "And Sister Christensen... I think you were the one that contacted her!" Her name is Awet and Sister LaFontaine and I contacted her in April when we were in Norrköping for General Conference. We randomly decided in between sessions to go outside and get a few contacts in, so we did, and we met Awet! We got her number and gave it to the Norrköping Sisters and they have been teaching her and she has been coming to church for the past five months! And she just happened to move to Uppsala where I am serving! I was on splits with Sister Ludvig (she is serving in Gävle) when I got the call so we decided to call her that night and we ended up meeting with her and then she came to church on Sunday! She is from Eretria and there is a bit of a language barrier but she is such a sweetheart.

the guy that owns this went to the bathroom and asked for us to watch over his stuff hahaha

Another blessing was that we got a text from a girl named Gabriella who said that she used to meet with the Sister Missionaries and is now ready and interested in meeting again and learning more. So we are meeting with her tomorrow!

And among so many other blessings, MOHAMMED WAS BAPTIZED!!! He was baptized on Saturday and it was a beautiful baptism. He was so excited and his Sisters came to watch and support him and it was so quiet and peaceful. The Spirit was so strong. And afterwards he gave a "speech" that he had prepared. It was so awesome. At the end of the speech he said "I just want to be a good Mormon." :). It has been so cool to watch him progress and go from being muslim to gaining an understanding of our Savior and wanting to be more like Him. He is so happy to be a member and wants to help translate for persian speakers and teach lessons in church. He is filled with so much light! I haven't experienced seeing many baptisms or reactivation's on my mission, but when I do, there is a peaceful confirmation in my heart that it is never me or any of the missionaries who did anything. Our job is just to invite and to teach with the Spirit. And I am so grateful that the Lord does the rest.

Mohammed received the Gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday in church and it was so cool to watch him take the sacrament and renew his covenants that he made yesterday. He is already planning on getting the Priesthood next Sunday and he is so excited. It made think of how much I love the Priesthood and need it in my life. I am so grateful that I grew up in a home where my dad was worthy of the Priesthood and was always willing to give myself and others blessings when they were needed. I remember, almost exactly a year and a half ago, when dad gave me a Father’s Blessing before I entered into the MTC. The spirit was strong, we were both crying, and at that moment, I felt his love so strongly for me. And as I sat in a chair in our kitchen, listening to the words of my earthly father, I felt so strongly the love of my Heavenly Father... That He knew who I was and what I was about to do and that He was going to help me and comfort me along the way.

The Priesthood is so powerful.

tracting

During that Sacrament Meeting as I thought of the Priesthood, I looked around at all of the amazing men in our little Uppsala ward who have been such great examples to me over the past 8 weeks. The first one is Pontus. He is 25 and got baptized three years ago. He was Atheist and was a total skater with long hair and baggy clothes. One day at a school event, he was listening to a gospel choir group from Africa and that is where he met Kele. She was singing in the group and he talked to her afterwards and she told him that she was a Mormon. He started meeting with the missionaries and got baptized a year later and just got married to Kele in the temple two months ago. He is so strong and I love his story and really look up to him. Other men in our ward that I love are Jon Wellin-berg- (He is in his 70's and is the happiest man. He never stops smiling and he is so humble), Torsten- he is also in his 70's and is so humble and grateful. If you ever compliment him on something he says that he is just so grateful that God has provided him with so many blessings (like his tie or his shirt) :) haha. Kurt- is a huge guy who looks kind of scary but he is the nicest sweetest guy. He loves the gospel and does so much for the ward. These men are so Christ-like and I am so grateful for them.

I love going to sacrament meeting! I always learn so much and feel the spirit so strongly.

beautiful uppsala

we took a raft down the river!

Our Bishop always encourages us before Testimony meeting to just bear a simple short testimony. The difference of the spirit was so amazing when the members did this. It gave almost every member a chance to get up and just bare a short testimony of something they know is true and that they are grateful for. Almost every part of the gospel was testified of. If we do this on Fast Sundays, we will allow more people to have a chance to bare their testimonies. To simply state what they know is true. And I have a testimony that if there is anyone who is doubting something in the gospel, that it will be testified of by someone else during testimony meeting.

This week I am grateful for Indian summers- for the sunshine that has come back out for a couple of days. :)

I am grateful for Baptism, the Priesthood, and for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. I am grateful for my companion and for Isam who translated for us in Arabic about 5 different times this week- haha.

and...

I am so sorry for Henry. I know he must feel so sad to not get going in Taiwan- but it happens to a lot of missionaries and he will be okay. The Elders who are going home with me, didn't get their Visas at the beginning of their missions and had to serve in West Virginia for a couple of months. I am kind of praying that this is a tender mercy on my part- because if he stays at the MTC for two more weeks until I get home, I might be able to see him at the temple for a quick hug!! But I know that is a selfish desire and I will continue to pray for his Visa to come :)

Love you family and friends!!! Have a happy week.

bye bye- adelide <3

twenty minutes.

 

Dearest family. Thank you for your letters this week! They were the best! I am so happy for Brooke!! (her friend Brooke Waltman got engaged) Woot woot. All my friends be gettin married! 

I threw a bucket of ice water on her hahaha

Also- HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAPA last week! I am so sorry I forgot to write to him and I feel horrible because he has been so faithful in writing me my whole mission. But I love him and think of him and pray for him and I hope he had a happy birthday. :)

 on anderson's b-day

It was Sister Anderson's birthday this week as well so I made her breakfast and we had a fun day. The new senior couple here- the Taylors, had us over that night for ice cream which was fun and so cute of them. Sister Anderson got a tiny ping pong set for her birthday so we have been playing that a lot after planning at night hahaha. 

ping pong champs

This week we also had a Surströmming party... Surströmming is fermented herring. aka- nasty salty fish that is in a can. The Swedes love it and I have never smelled or tasted it my whole mission until this past week! (This is the stuff that dad used to pull pranks on the sister missionaries way back when hahaha)... 

Surströmming...

You are supposed to open it outside or under water but no one did that so it smelled horrible in the church for days. It definitely smelled a lot worse then it tasted but it is something I will probably never do again. 

Karl Erik (the old man that I always write about), got so mad at everyone during the party because we missionaries went in another room with some of the younger people to play ping pong and he came and got us and made us sit down in the stinky fish room and he made us shut the door and said that no one could go in or out. We were in lock down. hahaha. One of the members was like- uhh.. this is a party not a prison. We were dyyying. He really just wanted us to all play a fun game together but he is so old and so bossy that it kind of killed the spirit hahaha. poor guy.

karl erik

I will share my thoughts with you about this past week from my journal entries:

This morning I woke up with absolutely no energy and I thought to myself... "can I really do this for one more month?" My feet hurt so bad and I am so tired and at this time of year, it is so hard to get people to meet with us because they are all in school and working. The only person we have right now to teach is Ashti and we received a text message from him last night asking if we could just meet as friends without talking about church... I was pretty discouraged this morning and I just wanted to sleep. I didn't have any energy to exercise but I still got up at 6:30 and stretched. 

Uppsala

During personal study I had no desire to study anything and so I just sat there and pondered for about fifteen minutes. Then I opened up a folder and pulled out a talk that mom had sent to me called "the miracle of a mission" by Elder Holland. As I read it, I just cried and cried and cried. I felt the spirit so strongly. It was telling me to keep my chin up and to keep going. In the talk, Elder Holland talks about one of his championship basketball games. He said "I remember the coach saying at half time, when we were behind... he came into the locker room and said, 'I know you're tired. We don't have a lot of substitutes- we hardly have any. I know you're tired. I know you're giving it everything you've got, but the next 20 minutes is the most important 20 minutes of your high school career. Twenty minutes is all I'm asking, and then we'll rest forever! Give me all you've got for 20 more minutes!'" 

After I read this, I closed my eyes and said the most heartfelt prayer that I have said in a while. I asked Heavenly Father to please forgive me and to please guide me today and to help me move forward with strength and faith. At that moment... I felt his loving arms around me, telling me that I will have the energy to give this all I've got. That this is my twenty minutes and that I can rest later. I gained so much strength and had immediate energy to get going.

During companionship study, Sister Anderson told me that she felt the same way I did. I gave her the talk that helped me put everything into perspective and let her read. We talked about it afterwards and I cried some more and then we decided to get outside and go hard for this last month of mine. Because I truly want to give this work everything that I've got left... Elder Holland also said in one of his missionary talks, (missionary work and the atonement), "I don't believe that missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul... missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience." 

It is interesting to me that even on the last month of my mission, I am still learning that this work is never easy. I think if it is easy, then you're not doing it right. A hard mission doesn't mean that you can't have fun and it doesn't mean that things won't get better... because it can be fun and it does get better... But I am grateful for the times that come when I want it to be easier... Because when those times come, and I lack faith and energy, I am compelled to get on my knees, ask for forgiveness and keep going... And when that happens, my faith is strengthened. And my love for the gospel, this work, and my Heavenly Father and Savior increases.

We went outside and did a lot of contacting and tracting and had no success but we kept going. We both had an impression to go visit Maria Shaw, who is a less active. We got on the bus with faith and knocked on her door. Her husband answered and told us that she wasn't home- so we decided to hold our heads high and keep going.

Maria Shaw

We knocked on door after door in this small little neighbor hood until we were reaching the end of the circle with about five doors left and a girl named Alexandra opened. She is 18 years old and asked me in english when the door opened if I was holding a Book of Mormon. She told us that she lived in UTAH of all places, for a year as an exchange student and she lived with an LDS family. The dad there was the ward mission leader so they always had the missionaries over and she went to church every week... When we asked her what she thought about it she said that it was a pleasant surprise... God guided us today. He answered my sincere and desperate prayers. We learned a great lesson today and I am so grateful that the Lord allows me with all of my imperfections to do this work and to learn along the way. 

Yesterday in church, we had one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings that I have attended in Sweden. Last Sunday, Kele, a darling member, spoke to us about how her bishop in Africa asked everyone to start sitting as families and to all sit close together and up front. (I don't think this is really an issue in Utah wards but it is here in Sweden- everyone sits all spread out and not with their families and on the back rows etc.) Kele said that no one really understood why he would ask them to do that but they did and everyone came together and the spirit was strong. So yesterday, everybody did just that... and it changed the whole feeling in the room. 

meet my companion miranda :) hahaha (inside joke)

Our bishop, who is a very humble man and travels up here to Uppsala every Sunday from where he lives in Stockholm, just so we can have a bishop, was the one who spoke to us yesterday. Everyone was in tears and we were all right next to each other to comfort one another. He talked about how hard it is for us to lose those we love here on earth, but about the joy that comes from knowing that we are going to see them again. Almost every family in this ward has lost a child or a spouse- it is crazy. But it was so perfect and comforting for everyone. 

I felt the spirit tapping on my heart, as I have felt many times throughout this week, reminding me that this church is true. I am so grateful for the spirit in my life. We saw many more miracles with our finding efforts this week as we changed our attitudes and went forth with faith. I am grateful for every experience that I have had on my mission and for your love and prayers.

I love you all and hope you have the best day/week ever!

bye bye,
Adelide

Zone Conference

PS. I think I forgot to write this last week- Mohamad is still getting baptized on the 6th! THIS SATURDAY. We gave him to the elders last week but he is still very positive and is doing great. We are excited for him. They announced it in church yesterday and he was sitting next to me on the front row and he stood up when they said his name and Sister Anderson and I were so scared that he was going to try and give a speech or something! hahahaha it was pretty hilarious.

I thought this was a funny picture of Adelide that I found on her Mission President's blog

c u in 1 month.

The bitter winds are already rollin' in again. Summer is over! It has been cold and rainy for the past two weeks and I unfortunately got rid of a lot of my tights and fall clothes, thinking that I wouldn't need them before I came home. But I think I'll just tough it out with what I’ve got!

us in sundsvall

The work the past couple of weeks has been hard. It has been hard to get in contact with everyone that we used to meet - especially with summer ending and school and jobs starting up again. Everyone has been so busy! Ashti is our most progressing investigator and he is so awesome. But this week especially, we have really been focusing on finding. It has been nice to go out on the streets and contact because so many students have moved back in and there are a million people here now. I love talking to students because they are pretty open about religion. We have really been praying to find a family or young people who could start building the ward up here. We have one family and then the cutest couple- Pontus and Kele who just got married two months ago- but besides that, it is just a lot of oldies! (who are all awesome but we are a bit worried for the future generations!) We have been teaching a lot of first lessons- but it’s hard to get people to continue to meet with us on a regular basis. But we know there is someone prepared out there!

Ashti

This week we went on splits in Sundsvall- which is a beautiful city. I was with Sister Barton who is from my group and also went to Olympus! Her dad is the calculus teacher at Oly. We had a fun and busy day together. The city of Sundsvall is between two mountains and big river that runs right through the middle. It is so gorgeous. I am grateful that we were able to go up there and see the work that is going on up there as well.

Kele

We also had a meeting with Elder and Sister Teixiera from the Seventy. I was asked along with three other missionaries to be interviewed by him. I was really excited but it was actually kind of scary! He asked me some questions and I had a camera right in my face! I was being filmed and the questions were hard to answer on the spot! But it was also a cool experience. He and his wife are both from Portugal. They both did an awesome job and I learned a lot from them. He gave us some new ideas for contacting which we have been using and we have had a lot of positive feedback!

President and Syster Beckstrand and Elder and Sister Teixeira

The worst part of the week is that Sister Anderson and I discovered that we both know who 'Miranda Sings' is and so we have been talking like Miranda all week long. It is so hilarious but it's so hard to be serious with people because we can't stop talking like her. This week we were invited over for dinner by the sweetest couple... and we offered to give Monica, the wife, a foot massage because she gave all of the women one for Relief Society a couple months ago and never got one in return. 

with Syster Coombs

So she is laying on a bed with a blanket over her and she put on some calming yoga music and it was dead silent and Sister Anderson and I were just sitting there rubbing her feet and we got the giggles so bad. We totally ruined the experience for her because we could not stop laughing. We were just staring at each other making Miranda faces and it was SO FUNNY. We tried not making eye contact but no matter what we couldn't hold it in hahahaha it was bad but soo funny.

Last night after visiting another member in the hospital who had a heart attack, the Elders called President Beckstrand and asked if we could come into Stockholm and sleep in the mission home because we were cleaning the Stockholm temple early this morning. He said it would be fine so we all ran home and booked it to the train station and took a train into Stockholm. We slept over in the mission home and it was so much fun! The Beckstrands are the sweetest, most down to earth people. They just made us feel right at home. We were picked up by the Tolley's this morning and have spent the whole day cleaning the temple! It was a very cool experience. The temple is so beautiful. Then we went back to the Tolleys for lunch :) WE ARE SO BLESSED and so well taken care of which I am so grateful for.

This week I have kind of had a hard time focusing in my studies. I want to learn something new but I don't really know what to study- so I have just been reading in the Book of Mormon. I have been reading in Alma for a long time- trying to get through the war chapters, but one day this week I read Alma 48 and I love what it says about Moroni. It says he prepared the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord, he was a strong and mighty man, he was a man of perfect understanding (knowledgeable), whose soul delighted in the liberty and freedom of his country and his bretheren from bondage and slavery. His heart swelled with thanksgiving to God, he worked hard for the welfare and safety of his people, and he was firm in the faith of Christ. And I love verse 17: "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." I thought that this was so powerful. That if we were to be like Moroni- the devil would have no power over our hearts. 

SISTER SARA SANDELIN!!!

Although that was a simple thing to read- it helped me a lot this week to really try to be more like Moroni and know that when we teach others about the gospel, are grateful ALWAYS for what God has given us, and follow in the foot steps of our Savior, we will be able to stand strong and know who we are and what our purpose is here on Earth. Satan will have no power over us. 

rainy and cold

It's been a long but good week. Congrats to Meisha and Sam! I am so happy for them. I hope you all enjoy being back in school and that you remember that I. LOVE. YOU. Thank you for YOUR love and insights which help me grow and push me to be better. 

Emi gave me a going away present hahaha but I will probably see her once more before i leave

HA DETTTTTT

Syster C

mormon.org cards are my best friends!

don't limit yourself.

Wow. WHAT A WEEK FOR EVERYONE! I am so happy that Megan and Michelle and Eliza all returned happy and safe from their missions! AND CONGRATULATIONS to Rachel! The pictures were amazing and I am so happy for her. What an exciting time at home! It is weird to read about all that is going on, knowing that I too, will be there so soon. Too soon. I am feeling so many mixed emotions!

Luleå

This week was verrrry tiring but filled with adventures and silly stories. We FLEW ON AN AIRPLANE on Tuesday to the top of Sweden! (Luleå.) We did work-overs there (which means that both Sister Anderson and I went and did splits while we were up there). It was beautiful. And also weird to be on a plane... I fell asleep on Sister Anderson’s lap and woke up in a panic that I was on my flight home... yikes.

top of sweswe

Luleå is pretty much an island- it is surrounded by water and it was so fun to be there. Seriously! It was a dream! We spent the day Wednesday, on splits- I was with Sister Bolton who has only been in the mission field for three weeks. She was so awesome and had so much energy! It was so fun! We talked to everyone we saw and did a lot of tracting. They don't have too much going on right now so it was good to be able to help out and find some new people for them to teach.

sister bolton

That night we flew back to Stockholm and got on a train and I went straight to Gubbängen to do splits with Sister Vaarola. She is 25 and is Finish. We came in the same group and she is a sweetheart. She was baptized when she was 18 years old after living as a foster child all growing up. She has such a strong testimony and I learned a lot more from her than she did from me. When we were planning together on Thursday morning, she said something that really stuck out to me. She said "it really makes me sad when we teach people and they say 'I can't pray or I can't have faith' ... Why do we feel like we have to limit ourselves??" In my planner I wrote down DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF. And I smiled because it reminded me of when we went to visit 93 year old Karl Erik last week. I loved being in his house because he had so many paintings hung up everywhere that he has done. Some of them were pretty good and others looked like a fourth grader could have painted them. But he was so happy with his art that he hung it all up.

karl erik

It made me think of how we are all constantly comparing our talents to others. If I sing, but I am not the best singer, then I tell everyone that I can't sing at all. If I speak Swedish, but I don't sound like a Swede and my companion is better than I am, then I assume that I can't speak Swedish. BUT WHO SAYS WE CAN'T? And who says we shouldn't? Karl Erik knows that some of his art pieces are not the best but he isn't comparing himself to other artists. And that is something I want to be better at. If we limit ourselves then there is no opportunity for growth.

sister beckstrand

I love this quote by Elder Holland that says "We are infinitely more than our limitations or our afflictions!" We can do and accomplish more than we think we can. Just like the quote hanging on my wall that mom sent me from Winnie the Pooh... "You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." Satan wants us to be aware of our limitations. He doesn't want us to achieve great things. Nor does he want us to think that our talents and efforts are ever good enough.

I love being among the average people everyday who are willing to overcome their limitations in order to receive something so much better and wonderful. For example... this week we taught sweet Maria Shaw. She is a mother who is a member in our ward and has had a rough life. Her husband is an alcoholic and they are not living in good conditions at all. She told us when we visited with her that she smokes a pack a day and drinks more coffee than she should be drinking... she doesn't pay her tithing but she is so eager to get to the temple. She knows that it is going to be hard but she also knows the blessings that through God, all things are possible. We are excited to help her get to the temple.

I received a letter from Papa, Phoebe, Lillie, Dad, and two from mom this week! THANK YOU. They were all so wonderful. I especially loved something that mom talked about in one of her letters. She said "I promise you that if you ask Heavenly Father HOW you can love your family, investigators, companions, and friends more... you will be directed to serve them." It is through service that our hearts become tender and more understanding of those around us and their situations. Sometimes it is hard to serve. And I will be honest, sometimes I don't want to. But as soon as I do, I am filled with charity- the pure love of Christ.

I read a talk a while ago on service where the speaker shared a story of when he was in Africa. He went up to one of the little kids at church and handed him a peace of candy- like a jolley rancher. The little boy was so happy that he went and showed it to all of his friends! All of the other kids ran over to this man holding their hands out for a piece of candy and the man felt so bad- because he didn't have anymore to give. He looked at the little boy with the piece of candy and the little boy looked at his candy and opened it up. The man thought for sure that the little boy would pop it in his mouth, but instead he had his friends stand in a circle and stick out their tongues. He went around the circle over and over again allowing each child to have a lick of the candy.

Emilie Knecht (our new best friend)- She is sisters to an elder here and she is 17, going to byu, and teaches swedish at byu. She is so cool and we have been with her quite a bit but she went home a couple days ago :(

bikers for life

Of course all acts of service take great sacrifice. The greatest example of service and sacrifice comes from our Savior Jesus Christ... And also from God the Father- that he GAVE US his son. Sister Anderson and I were talking the other morning about the Tree of Life and how interesting it is that the fruit on the tree represents the LOVE of GOD. We say that so much but what does it actually mean? What is the love of God? Sister Anderson taught me that The Love of God is that "God so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten son." So the fruit also represents the Atonement. God loves us so much that he gave us his son to atone for our sins. He gave us the opportunity to have a change of heart and to follow him.

I am so grateful for service because it allows us to put others needs before our own. It allows us to see each other the way that God and Christ see us.

ice cream with doris and ole

The rest of our week was awesome. Doris and Ole (the old couple that we tracted into) took us to the oldest city in Sweden and bought us lunch and ice cream. They were so cute and excited to be with us! They said they wanted to adopt us hahaha. The lunch was 1000 krowns... hahaha they are so sweet. We also got a baptismal date with Mohammed for the sixth of September but something really sad happened last night- so we are not sure what is going to happen now. We had a great Zone Training this week about making obedience be the new cool thing to do hahaha. It was really funny and good. AND I got a call from the AP's this week saying that they were at dinner with the bishop in Jönkoping who was found by Grandpa Reed when he was 14 years old! He didn't get baptized then, but eventually got baptized and has been a stake president and bishop twice! That was super cool to hear. GO REED!

luleå ward building

Thank you for all of the updates this week! I love you all and I am so grateful for this work! IT IS AWESOME. After next week we will have one free week of no splits which will be nice! But tonight we are taking a three hour long train to Sundsvall to do splits until tomorrow night and then we have a mission conference all day on Wednesday! Holy holy. We are so tired but so happy.

xoxoxo adelide.

Ps. Did you get my flight plans? I will be getting home at 7:08 pm on September 25th. JSYK (Just so you know). KRAMAR.