He is there for us, He really is (1/19/15)

Well this week has been a million times better than last week! Let me tell you. I just want to cry from the mountain top that GOD IS GOOD! My companion and I are just like really getting along great, I really like him and hopefully he feels the same about me... probably not. I would say that we work really well with each other. Like I am like all over the place and I through out ideas things we need to do all the time and he is like super good at like catching the ideas and putting them to paper so they actually... you know... happen. We make a good team! We are also like super funny and no one can really appreciate it except for us. We don't care though.

I would say I had one of the coolest things happen this week. I have wanted to translate my Patriarchal Blessing for a while now, basically my whole mission. My Swedish has just never been good enough to even start. SO I said and I was off to good start and the blessing just CAME ALIVE. I was like "is this real?" I just couldn't believe. Having to focus on EVERY sentence and translate it really made it just like the most amazing thing ever. Swedish is the most beautiful language and it is like so great. I then sent it to someone that I really trust to correct it and she did it really fast and gave it to me and now I just feel like I got a whole new blessing.

That has really got me thinking about how importance Obedience is. I think of all the blessings that are mine through obedience and also all the blessings that the Lord will so badly give us all if we would simply allow him. We have to do our part for him to be able to do his. He is our lovely Heavenly Father, I just know that he loves us more than we can imagine. He wants us to have forever happiness. He is there for us, He really is. 

Last night we had an awesome night. We had a Bishop Devotional, we had this guy who has a really awesome life. He has done a lot of great things in his life and he talked about goal setting and how important that is. It was really cool. There was all the youth from 3 wards there, which was still only about 15 people but we had a great time. I love the youth. They really are smart and ready to be the leaders of the church of Sweden! They are the future!

This is pretty cool. 

Well I have to much to do and not enough time, so I will stop there. Pray for the missionaries, we need those blessings. More importantly pray for those we work with! I love Sweden.

 Love you,

Äldste Farnworth

This is a little "I'm alive" email (1/12/15)

Hey Family!

Well everything is just different! In the beginning of the week we packed up all of Elder Nielsen's stuff and on Wednesday I put him on a plane and sent him on his way to Umeå! He is really going to enjoy the adventures there and he is going to see a whole new side of Sweden: The cold north. I got a new missionaries, not new to Sweden. He is actually experience, he is going home in 6 weeks. So we are just getting going very quickly and it is really nice going from the green to the oldest! It has been a new change and it is really great. 

Aldste Farnworth and Aldste Gray

Fufu?

We have found a lot of great people in this last week and that has been awesome to see the effects of working hard and opening our mouths as we are out and about. We talked with this one guy about he importance of the Book of Mormon and how that is really something that can really change his life. He was really hard on the fact that he couldn't believe that it could happen, but we testified really strongly and we were really able to get him to see that it could happen. It was really cool when he offered the closing prayer and the spirit was really strong, the man really pleaded with God to answer his humble prayer. I left really happy, and in that moment I trusted the spirit to stay and testified. 

We got a random call, and we are moving apartments! So we lost our Swedish bachelor pad in Stockholm but we just moved a little south into our area and closer to the church and that is REALLY nice place, it is a lot bigger so we aren't living on top of each other any more so that is really nice. I will try to get some pictures soon, we will see!

Well this is like a really short email. I have a lot to report on but I have so much to do today (we moved into the new place like 30 minutes ago) so we have to continue with that. SO this is a little like "I am alive!!" email and then I will try to get a big one out this next week!! 

Pictures from Galve:)

**Any one who is super offended that I am replying to a personal letter with a general one, know that a personal letter is on the way! I am sorry we literally have 30 minutes today

I love you all.

Äldste Farnworth

Tis' the Season and Happy New Year!(12/22/14 - 1/1/15)

Dearest Family and Friends, 

Well I haven't really written one of these for like 2 weeks so this one is just gonna have to be super jam packed! Sorry about all the confusion with when I am actually going to to be emailing, because of the Holidays and stuff they moved all of our P-days, so I haven't just been ignoring you guys! 

I have a lot to report on! Where should I start? Maybe with last Sunday! We had our baptized and it was GREAT! It wS so stressful and a lot of work but when it came time to start the spirit filled he church and it went off without a hitch! I was so happy. We put in the program for Mosoud to say a few things at the end and he bore one of the best testimonies I have ever heard it was amazing. He is so strong and now that he has taken the step that leads to happiness and greater joy I am just so excited for him! Another really neat thing, Elder Nielsen was asked to baptized him. That was really neat to see, he was sooooo happy to be able to do that. I was asked to confirm him and it was a really neat privilege! I am just really grateful for the spirit, being the one to bless the Gift of the Holy Ghost upon on him was really something very special to me. I have thought a lot of what that really means to have the Holy Ghost and how amazing of a gift from our Father in Heaven that is! What a blessing! 

Such a great moment!

Well I have got basically 3 words for you: Best Christmas Ever. It was amazing, I don't know how I will be able to do it justice writing it out. We were able to spent the two days with the Sjökvist family and that was the greatest Christmas present ever! They were so awesome. I felt right at home there, we watched a lot of movies and ate so much food and just had a great time. It was so nice to be there, a Swedish Christmas is like my new favorite thing, if you are wondering what that is... Allow me to explain. Food. Towards the end of the two days basically you are no longer eating because you are hungry you are basically eating but the food is so gosh dang good and it is the social thing to do! So that was fun just stuffing my face over and over and over again! We also had a White Christmas! It snowed the day we got there and it was awesome! I don't have many pictures cause it was almost completely dark the entire day but we had a classic snowball fight and made a really cool snow fort! It was a ton of fun. Even though it was -17 degrees Celsius! Crazy Swedish winter!! We stayed warm though and have so much fun! It was truly the day I wish never ended! Thank you to everyone who helped with that!

This awesome huge goat! 

The greatest people ever.

This is a missionaries dream Christmas.

Between all the Holidays we work as normal, it wasn't just a 2 week long Winter break! The holiday, like I have said before, are so good and so bad! It is hard to find work between them! Everyone is busy with family and trips to have the missionaries over so that was struggle. But we worked hard and made it through!

New Years was as amazing as it could be! We didn't get any invites but they doesn't mean we didn't have a great time! We watch a few movies in the church to start the night off and then we went to the apartment  to end the night there. Two things about Firework in Sweden, they are: Cheap and Legal. So basically the sky was like lite up the entire night. So right at midnight we have a really nice balcony on the top of our apartment, so we went out there and just enjoyed the many "shows" that were happening! It was amazing! I loved it. There were so many fireworks the sky was literally filled with smoke it was so cool!! Then we just went to bed. A little lame but I would quite eventful for a bunch of Missionaries!

All in all, you don't need to be worrying about Elder Farnworth, I am doing just fine! Skyping with my family was awesome, Christmas was the best ever, and now I am just going to work as hard as I can in the last few months I have! My time is short and I really want to give all I can to the Lord while I still can in this way! I love the Gospel, I love what it stands for and what it means to me. I really am thankful to be a missionary, people are amazing and way nicer than they should be! I love the church and I love the Swedish people. This is my home! 

2014 was the year I have completely to the Lord. I can say that although I may I have given it to him, in 2014 I have received more than I could ever explain, the things he has allowed me to do, the people he has given to me, the experiences I have experienced... ALL because of Him. He really is a Gift. I love him and am excited to serve him for not only the rest of my mission but the rest of my life.

2015 will be a great year. I welcome it with open arms, I am excited for the blessings and challenges it will bring, I am excited for the great times and the hardships that will allow me to grow. Bring it on! 

I love you all.  I love my family and the support they are to me! Thank you so much! Happy New Year! 

Äldste Farnworth