So I guess I'm 20 now.. (5/18/15)

Dear Family and everyone,

Classic.

So I guess I'm 20 now.. This week has been a pretty great week! I have had the best week ever, so get ready for a big email. 

We started with a really cool Monday, like it was really awesome. So we live right next to a giant lake and I am pretty sure I am talked about it before but there is a island in the middle of the lake and we often go there! Today there was a member that wanted to take us and who ever we wanted to bring to go and visit a old castle or something! So we had a pretty great group show up! Victoria, Alex, Lasse and the sisters were there and even Sam came too! It was really the best time. We went to this giant field ran around and made a ton of Slow-Mo videos and then had a big Fika! It was really fun. I love how we are doing missionary work is really fun ways here. It makes it a lot easier to take motivate! I love Jönköping. 

The highlight of this week was MY BIRTHDAY! My mother sent me a really nice package and I just got a ton of love from all those around me! It was like probably the best day of my life. It was so much fun, I was in the dark the whole time. There is a member here, Marina, who is a totally boss. She planned the whole thing for me! It was like one of the nicest things ever. The day started completely normal until I got a phone call telling me that I have 2 minutes to get the following items in a my backpack, a toothbrush, a red tie, a suit, a pair of socks, my pillow... etc. Then they called back and said that I had 15 minutes to get to the church. So I gathered the crap and as soon as I walked out the door I was ATTACKED! Then I was blindfolded and taking to a car and driven to a unknown location, they took my in somewhere and made me (while still being blindfolded) show them all the items I brought with me, there were a few I didn't have so they made me do push-ups. After I finished it was relieved to me that I am standing in the middle of IKEA. It was a total surprise to me, then we went and had the buffet breakfast, it was awesome. There were a lot of people there and I felt the love! 

The best people ever.

After a really great breakfast we went to this place Boda Borg! It is like a team building place that is pretty amazing.Like it is a building that is just full of different rooms, you walk in and there are a bunch of things in the room, different for each room. There is always another door that you are trying to get through, but you can't open that door until you complete the current room. It was really cool, we had a lot of fun. For example: we walked into one room and it was a bank that was being robbed, we had to figure out how to get to the money without setting of the alarm. It was like a really quick thinking thing! We had a ton of fun. It was totally awesome. Out of the 15 rooms we were able to get though about 9 rooms, so it was pretty challenging but we did good! We ended the day with a Book of Mormon study class at the home of our ward mission leader. That was really cool, he is really good at explaining the gospel in a way that makes you completely get into it. It is really amazing! I came home to a package from the Sjökvist family. It was really amazing and thoughtful that they remembered me on my birthday! They are the greatest!

Sweden is a bit ridiculous. 

I had my first District Meeting this week were I was in charge, that felt really different but to be honest. I loved it, I loved being a part of helping  the missionaries see the good that they are doing. The topic was on teaching and working with our Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength. It really made me feel super good to be able to teach that! My district is amazing though, we have some of the greatest people in there and I am just really excited to work with them and serve them too! This transfer is going to rock. We got a new sister in Jönköping, I was really sad to see Sister Gardner leave, she was the best and had the sweetest heart ever. She is really going to change so many lives on her mission! Sister Brink is the sister that replaced her though, she is really awesome too and I am super excited to work with her! 

Now that I am 20.. living the risky life.

Our investigator Sam, lives out in a really small town, Gränna. He is so awesome. He invited us to come out and talk with him, we didn't expect anything other than that, but when we got there he had a whole dinner for us and everything! He told us to this beautiful place and we talked a ton about life and everything. Ah! It was so awesome. Like he is just the greatest person ever. He is really a nice guy and really open to learning a lot! This week has just been the best. We are really blessed to have such amazing people to work with.

We ended the week with a great Friday night Activity! It was a huge success, we went and played Beach Volleyball. By the lake here, there are a few courts and we got a good group together and if you ask anyone they will probably tell you I suck. But they just don't know natural talent when they see it. We had a great time and there were a ton of people that showed up.

Cool Swedish House

This week there has been a lot of different thoughts that have come into my mind, one of them being "what is the worth of our efforts" as people. I, of course, am talking about being a missionary and the efforts of my action that I am doing here. This is something that I feel like is for everyone though. As we go through the days here, we find myself thinking and asking: "Am I making a difference here? Is there something that I am bring to those I teach, those I encourage and those I befriend?" At times in the past and a little here and this is the a thought in my mind. It has really lead me to search deep within myself and in pray with my Heavenly Father to receive an answer. I have come to the conclusion that sometimes we just won't know. Very solemnly have I had someone come to me and tell me that I changed their live or that directly because of me something amazing happened. However, this cannot be the reason that we work to change lives. We need to work with the faith that our efforts are not wasted.

We sometimes may even get into bed at night thinking that the world wouldn't be much different had we never left the bed that morning, that is not true. To believe that, would also say that the Lord does not use his children to help bring his will to the earth. We all play a role, we choose how much effort will put into that part but the role itself is not chosen by us. The Lord has given us a role that was decided long before we got to the earth. We just choose to amplify that role, to live it to the max. So on the days I have had that no one listened, the people were rude and that I have felt like a failure I just remember that I was called to be here for a reason, that I may have not realized it but I help further God's plan that day. We are all important, we all make a difference! Don't forget it!

How I look when people tell
me I have grow up now.

I love you all and am so grateful for all the amazing people in my life! Hope you all have a great week!

Äldste Farnworth