January 30th - Swe to Sea

Friends and family,

This is it. My last full week in the mission field has come to an end but boy was it a good one. 

Being the last week this was a week of lasts. Last lessons with beloved investigators, last church in Swedish, last weekly planning, etc. In all of the lasts I have been filled with gratitude for these experiences that have shaped me and influenced me to the person I am today. 

We had a pretty intimidating apartment check where four senior missionaries, the Andersons and Clouses, were looking through our apartment. Thank goodness we cleaned that puppy through and through. They treated us nice with dinner afterwards. We also watched the worldwide missionary broadcast with them in Skellefteå. Every year President comes out with new standards of excellence for us to work towards. Well a week after the trainings on those the broadcast dropped the bomb and scrapped most of the standards of excellence completely. So things just got a lot simpler. We only count four numbers now instead of twelve in our missionary work.

We talked to a sour Swedish lady who was absolutely convinced that you can't be happy with how the world looks. It made me sad. Hopefully something we said can touch her heart. 

Roger is an old investigator that the missionaries are friends with and run into quite often on the street. After contacting a guy that said no thanks and walked away Roger walked by and said in his thick Swedish english "pray that God will help you guys!". Thanks Roger, good timing! 

I have a long story but I'll give you the short version. Essentially a black car that passed us on the street braked and backed up while rolling down the window. You know the feeling right? I immediately thought we were in trouble or in danger. The good news, turns out it was Alexander telling us he's coming to church on sunday! Bad news, a police car is right behind him and they get out to talk to Alexander. They asked Alexander for his license which he'd forgotten so he was driven away to the station. We just stood there and witnessed all this. Poor guy. All to tell us he's coming to church. 

Elder Wilson spent saturday in Umeå while I flew down to Stockholm for a self-reliance training about jobs, education, etc. It was good prep for returning to the job and college life. Fun to see my group as well. 

Another old investigator we'd never met came to church this week, Märta! The members loved it and she seemed to enjoy the speakers from the broadcast in Sundsvall. 

I'm so grateful for these last two years. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the way to lasting peace and happiness. I have seen it change and influence people for good in ways that have to be seen to be believed. I love Sweden and I love these people. We've had our ups and downs but they've taught me so much and certainly pushed me to stretch and grow. 

I'll be home on thursday! Can't wait to see everyone! Gud var med dig tills vi möts igen. 

Love,

Äldste Hainsworth

Missionary broadcast

A+ baby! 

Alexander situation

Skellefteå branch! Except Ulla, she was sick.

Dinner with the Andersons and Clouses.

The sun is back!!!

Elder Baquedano and Blackburn. The Zl's. 

Email Received - January 30, 2017

January 23rd - Getting Heated in the Chill

Hello hello! Here's what happened this last week at 64.75° N, 20.95° E. 

Last specialized zone training of my mission on tuesday with the Beckstrands and the assistants. It was a great one to end on and I know this mission is in good hands! There were some big announcements and some changes will be coming to the mission starting next transfer. Lots of changes in the missionary daily schedule which is calculated to help missionaries effectiveness explode so if you're a future missionary, get pumped. I also got to bear my farewell testimony in Sweden and it went well!! I didn't think my time would ever come to stand up there but it felt right, felt good. 

Debbie's doing really well! We taught her twice and she has a great open attitude about all of it. She even told her kids about us and summarized what we taught about the Book of Mormon. Cool to think of all the seeds we plant that spread to the friends and family of those we teach. 

We're back on the Carmen train as we finally met them again this week! It was Elder Wilson's first time which is weird cause we met them every week last transfer. We talked about the Book of Mormon and are returning this week. 

A somalian guy stopped when he saw us walking by him on the sidewalk and bowed to us then kept walking. When we gave him confused looks he just smiled and shook our hands and said "mormoner!". 

We had a heated discussion with a guy who could've been from duck dynasty, beard and all, who was essentially making fun of President Monson and our Christian faith. We went our separate ways but he found us two days later on the street and came and apologized, he said he'd been thinking about and it didn't feel right. We shook hands like gentlemen and now have ourselves a new friend in town, Carl Johan. 

Said and Salem have both committed to be baptized on the 4th of March!! Said was someone Elder Mecham and I contacted last transfer and he brought his friend Salem along when we taught them. They're about the same as me and way cool guys from Syria. We had a great Restoration lesson. Though I won't be here in March I'm excited to help them on this new path in life. 

As always, we invited everyone we could think of to church on saturday night and a random old investigator we'd never met texted back "jag kommer" (I'm coming). We didn't believe it till Anna walked in about 10:45 to the chapel. She's interested in our church and loved the talks from the district president and his wife who were visiting. It doesn't end there, Ivar invited Alexander and he came by himself! This is the old golden baptismal date Alexander that ignored us for a month two weeks before his baptism. He seemed to really enjoy it and we're hoping he's come back around! I love that guy! 

Elder Wilson and I have been doing an English fast the last month as a companionship and it's been way fun! After the first week it was a lot easier. 

Have a good one. Ni är bäst! 

Äldste Hainsworth

Wednesday night

Elder Wilson when we were buying milk this week "hey look, this milk expires after you do!"

Omar's baptism in Luleå last week

Semlor!

Giant coffe machine we found in the church closet?

Email Received: January 23, 2017

January 16th - I Eat All Kinds of Food

God dag på er! Well, lets take a look at the highlight reel of this week shall we...

On wednesday we met with a Swedish couple named Kurt and Laila who had met missionaries in the past and wow, talk about devout Christians. They've got some serious faith. They refer to us as evangelists. We got to know them, taught a great Restoration lesson, and joined them in their prayer before we left and Elder Wilson and I had no idea what we were doing, they said the Lords Prayer in Swedish which we didn't know then went around and everyone said a prayer. It was a great learning experience even if it wasn't something I was used to. 

We meet the most random people up here in Skellefteå. Like we met a guy from Japan with very broken English and nice wispy goatee the other day on the street. Another day was a woman from North Shore on Oahu, Hawaii. She's a new investigator actually. 

A Swedish couple that we asked for directions from were soooo nice to us. They walked us over a kilometer all the way up to the doorstep of the house we were trying to find, it was actually Kurt and Laila's. 

I've gotten unusually frustrated with some of our contacts on the street this week, like I take them personally which is unlike me. After one contact a lady was just so annoying and rude that it took all my self control not to throw the Book of Mormon in my hand on the ground. I've really been praying for more patience and it's been helping a lot. I feel like I had gotten burned out last week with finding and hit a wall but now I'm back! The excitement to find is back and better than ever! 

On friday we stayed in Luleå after district meeting for the baptism on friday night. Last transfer, we were at the baptism of another member in Luleå and the sisters gave me the responsibility of fellow shipping and sitting next to Omar, one of there investigators that came to watch. Omar's a super cool, humble dude from Morocco who speaks French, Arabic, and Swedish. Anyways, after that day he asked the sisters how he can do the same thing. So fast forward to this friday and I was honored to be the one to baptize Omar. It was a sweet experience, he was so nervous he rushed out of the font right after the baptism but he was happy. Very happy. 

Swedish miscommunications are not just for the young missionaries. Here's how a contact went this last week with one guy...

 "tror du på något slags högre makt?" (do you believe in any kind of higher power?)

"Nej jag äter alla slags mat (No, I eat all kinds of food)

He thought I said mat (food) not makt (power). Big difference. 

I had a thought dawn on me this week. We cooonstantly get the comment from Swedes that they don't believe in religion because it causes conflict and suffering. However, I realized that it's not religion that causes war and suffering, it's a lack of religious freedom. That's why the prophet and apostles have been focusing so much on religious freedom the last few years. That's the key to peace. And that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. Religious freedom and religious cooperation. 

Anyways, have a superb week! Talk to you soon.

Much love,

Äldste Hainsworth

Family history center where we email

After a long day when you still have to plan

Lock that baby up

Splits with my old french comp Elder Baquedano

Email Received: January 16, 2017

January 9th - Forks in the Road

Hello hello! Here's the weekly report...

Workovers with our zone leaders were a blast. I was reunited with my old french partner in crime Elder Baquedano while Elder Wilson went off with good ole Elder Blackburn. I've been blessed with amazing zone leaders and I learned a lot from them in our short two days together. They came saturday, went to church on sunday then went on their way up to boden for two more days of workovers up there. 

We had some disappointment this week as we came to a fork in the road with Carl our only progressing investigator. He was interested in learning more about the Church in the beginning but said he wasn't ready or comfortable taking that next step to see if it's true. We respectfully accepted his decision to take a break to see if this is really something he's ready for. I've learned not to find blame in yourself when people choose not to accept your message. We did our best, prayed for him, loved him, and taught him by the Spirit. That's what counts. 

Alexander came to church since he has to help Ivar, our member, and he seemed to really enjoy it and was listening attentively. It'll take some more time but we're really hoping he'll start to warm up to us again. 

I had an experience this week with my prayers and I can testify that prayer brings spiritual power. I had this spiritual emptiness that I'm sure you can relate to at one point or another, just a hollowness inside of me that usually isn't there. Through sincere prayer one night this week on my top bunk of our bunk beds I received that comforting fullness of the Spirit that just came over me like a warm hug. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of self-evaluation and course correction to bring our Spirit back in tune with the influence of God's love. I love this by Elder Packer "We do not have the words (even the scriptures do not have words) which perfectly describe the Spirit. We cannot express spiritual knowledge in words alone. We can, however, with words show another how to prepare for the reception of the Spirit". Go read his whole talk "The Candle of the Lord", it has helped me a lot on my mission. 

Well, that's all for this week! It's beginning to become ever more apparent how little time I have left and I just need to keep going all the way to the end! Make every second count. 

Love you! 

Äldste Hainsworth

My trusty steed, Black Beauty

The top one is outside and the bottom is inside, they matched! 

Email Received: January 9, 2017

January 2nd - Gott Nytt År På Er!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2017! I sure am going to miss 2016. It was my black year. 365 days as a set apart representative of Jesus Christ. A lot has changed. A lot hasn't. What a roller coaster. Well, I'm excited to see what 2017 has in store for me as I try and apply the age old adage, learn from the past but don't live in it. 

Christmas was so awesome!! We traveled up to Luleå and spent some good quality time with familjen Näslund as they took good care of us. We even caught most of Frozen on Christmas day after dinner! What a fantastic movie. Plus after two years of movie deprivation I forgot the twist ending...so it was like seeing it for the first time again. 

We were teaching Rickard, a Swedish guy about our age, about the Book of Mormon on the main street of Skellefteå and it was going really well when we hear a BAM behind us. We jerked our heads around and saw an older Swedish lady laying next to her bike on the ground after hitting a nasty patch of ice (no helmet might I add). We ran over and gently helped her back on her feet and over to a hand railing to lean on. She was okay, just banged up her knees a bit, and she rode off after a few minutes. We went back to our lesson and got Rickard's number and he wanted to meet again. It felt good to bond with a potential investigator as we spontaneously served a fallen Swede on the streets of Skellefteå. 

Carl, our good friend, is progressing, we've taught him twice and he read the chapter we gave him from the Book of Mormon. With him it's all about keeping good expectations and meeting with him regularly so we will do our best to help him keep progressing. He brushed off our soft soft baptismal invitation. We'll try again next time. He did recognize the Spirit after our closing prayer though, in his words, "time seems to stand still after a prayer doesn't it?". 

We had a spring thaw this last week and it was nice and warm. Well above 0 at least! Still lots of ice everywhere, I've considered buying those little attachable grippy spikes that all the Swedes here have on the soles of their shoes...at that point I'm admitting defeat to the ice though right? 

Have a good week and I'll talk to you soon! 

Much love,

Äldste Hainsworth

Email Received: January 2, 2017

December 19th - Winter Solstice

God Jul allihopa! This week I shipped Elder Mecham off. It was pretty heartbreaking. We hadn't heard from Alexander our most positive investigator for a week and a half, didn't answer our calls or anything. Elder Mecham's been through a lot with him so he really wanted to say bye but didn't get the chance. On wednesday morning Elder Mecham and I are out at the bus station with all his luggage around 8 am to ship him off to the airport to fly to Stockholm and guess who walks in front of us? Alexander. We call out and say hi to him and he looks over at us and gives us an unenthusiastic head nod and hey back then keeps walking. Worst part of a mission has got to be learning to love people then having to leave them or being pushed away by them. 

Wow sorry to start things off like that but a lot of good has come as one door closes and more are opened! I got my new companion and things have been really awesome! We hit the ground running and have acquired some new investigators this week from contacting the streets of Skellefteå. Oh yeah my comp is Elder Wilson, here's the brief bio:

-from Firestone, Colorado

-did jazz band and can play piano for the branch here

-in the same group as Elder Scott my son

-has been all over Sweden now

-can grow a beard in like 2 hours

Today...

Sunrise: 9:41 

Sunset: 13:26 

Winter solstice is in two days then we'll finally get some more light up in here! I'm excited! 

We taught this older Swedish man named Carl last night who has the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen and white wispy hair to complement them. He rambled on and on about anything and everything from evolution to astronomy to foreign affairs but Elder Wilson and I managed to show him a chapter in the Book of Mormon and challenge him to read and pray about it in the pauses. This guy was really interesting, he painted a painting of Bach's 4th symphony. Like that was the picture in his mind when he listened to it. It was very abstract. I also have learned I don't like being a wall for being to bounce their own sound off of back to themselves. 

Have a very merry Christmas! Can't wait to skype with the fam on sunday :)

Much love,

Äldste Hainsworth

Decorated the apartment

Setting up the tree with Ulla

Email Received: December 19, 2016

December 12th - Extra Extra Read All About It

Well, the news is that transfer came in and Elder Mecham is shipping out. He'll be the new zone leader with Elder Castleton-Rudolph from my group down in Handen in Stockholm. I'll be sticking around and getting Elder Wilson. I'm really excited, I've got high hopes for this next transfer. 

We flew down to Stockholm on monday and spent p day seeing the sights and hanging out with all the missionaries. On tuesday we had an amazing Christmas conference put on by the assistants and President and Sister Beckstrand. The theme was how opposition leads to opportunities as well as how we can build faith. It was an inspiring and refreshing conference with a suprise ending, we got to watch Saturday's Warrior, a new movie released pretty recently. 

The last part of the week we were also gone on workovers in Boden with Elder Goffe and Carter. It was so much fun and the trip was accompanied by a fantastic night of Northern Lights, it made the last one we saw look like someone waving a little flashlight around in the night sky. This one was UNBELIEVABLE! 

I got my bike fixed! No more chain slippage! That's been soo nice! 

Well our main man Alexander has dropped off the radar. He suddenly hasn't answered any calls or texts and we're not sure what happened to him. It's sad cause him and Elder Mecham are close and he hopes he can say goodbye before he leaves. 

Here's a normal day in the life of Skellefteå:

Studies in the morning till 10 am. Go out at 10 and do some street contacting, stretch the legs and get some sun while it's still out. Have lunch around 12. Go out and do some more contacting in the afternoon. Throw in language study and sometimes a planned lesson in that afternoon time. Come home by 6:30 cause the streets are pretty dead and do a calling session where we call people in the area book. Dinner at 8 then planning for the next day. 

A speaker shared an interesting thought in sacrament yesterday. The light of Christ (our conscience) can light up our soul, our Spirit, just like physical light illuminates a dark room. There's more light than just the light we can see from lightbulbs, candles, sunlight, etc. Light comes from God's presence and the more we're in His presence the more light we attain. It's a theme I've been pondering a lot lately. Light. It's something scientists are still trying to grasp, the true nature and scope of light. Interesting stuff. 

Have a Christmasy week! Light the world! 

Peace and blessings,

Äldste Hainsworth

Email Received: December 12, 2016