Many Blessings This Week! (9/29/14)

First, I want to send all of my love and my comfort to my family as they are going through the loss of Max. He was such a good dog and it is really sad to hear that he is gone and will not be there when I get home.  He will be missed, I hope everyone is doing OK. 

This week has been amazing! We are just going to jump right into it. With the recent absence of sister's in Gävle, the workload of the Elder's is sky high. It is amazing. I love it. There are these guys that the sisters had found right before they left. They are a group of guys from Africa and they are awesome. I will start with them. We made plans to meet with one of them in the library and when he got there the other two guys where there too and wanted to be taught too! We kinda ended up just like jumping around answering all of their questions so it was really cool. Then one had to leave for school so we just continued on with the other guys. One of them was telling us his "story" to find the true church and how he has been studying with a lot of other churches and just one by one he found each of them not to be the truth. Then we asked him what he WAS looking for in a church and what he believed that the true church should be like. Just then, he described The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in almost perfect detail. It was amazing and literally the coolest thing ever. He began to basically list points and in my head after each point I was like, "yes, yes, yes we have that, yes that is here... etc." It was honestly so cool. One of the coolest moments I have had in a while. Then when we were together for a bit we didn't want to seem to be overwhelming so we tried to wrap it up. And he just says, "Okay so now teach me about this book you guys have."  Yeah. It was amazing. He is really cool and I am excited to meet with him again this week! 

We also met with this guy that the sisters had been teaching for a while and that was totally awesome. He is super cool and we are really similar in personality so we were just talking and talking and it was really cool. I have met him before at Innebandy. He is just skinny and loves to run - so we just always joked that he was me in the future! He is really cool, so hopefully we can help him. We are going to try to bring him to the Sjökvist this weekend to watch General Conference with us. I think that would be really cool and really fun. Regarding conference, and to answer your question mother, we are going to watching some sessions. I am not sure which one but on Saturday night at like 6:00. So that should be a lot of fun. We are going to have dinner before and, of course, if we are with the Sjökvist it will be a great night!

Okay my new goal is to shorten these posts a little. I don't want to become that missionary that basically writes hour after hour posts every week! I'll end with a short little spiritual moment. It was Fast Sunday yesterday. I started my fast the night before and it was really a great feeling that I had when I set the things that I fasted for (one of them being a renewed testimony of the truthfulness of this church). Literally as I got in bed to sleep I felt some funkiness happening in my throat. The next morning was terrible. I was so sick. But I really wanted to stay true to the fast and I had faith I could get an answer. So the meeting block was long and difficult, but the longer I went without food or water (I have to say I did have cough drops) the more spirit I felt. It was like the Lord was just filling my body with spiritual blessings. Even though the illness never stopped and the fasting never got physically easier, as time went on I started to receive a different kind of strength. It was so cool. I ended the day with an earnest prayer to receive an answer. And in that exact moment I felt complete peace. There is not one doubt in my mind that as I prayed, Heavenly Father was looking down and listening to me. He is real. He is there and He is our Father. It was a wonderful moment that I was given and I am so grateful for it. Fasting was hard. It certainly wasn't just like this easy day, but I received a great blessing in the end. I had worked for the answer and I can testify that the Lord answered me. I love this church. I love this work. I love being a missionary. What an amazing time I have had here. My mission is a huge blessing in my life. Thank you to everyone who is praying for me. And thank you for all you do.

I love you all.  I hope you have a great week.

Your Swedish Missionary,

Äldste Farnworth

Cute pic that Annika sent us.  This is the same Sister who sent the kind message on Facebook and this is her son.  Did you notice their sweaters match?

A video of Kaleb and his comp eating strong licorice candy covered in salt before the conference session.  The contest was to see who could eat it without making a face.  Thanks to the other Annicka for sharing this!

Positive, remember? (9/22/14)

*I received such a nice facebook post from a Sister in Sweden. 

 I just had to include this wonderful message!

This week was just a crazy fast adventure! I loved every minute of it! This week we made a really strong goal that we were going to be positive about everything. I think the exact goal was: "We are going to be the missionary companionship that is annoying positive about everything and every situation!" It was really funny, but we were serious. It made such a difference in the work that we did. We found that we were often negative about a lot of little things and once we actually caught ourselves and try to change it, life was just so much better. For example, one night we were walking and it was cold, kind of raining and dark. We were going to spend the next little while contacting people on the street, so I think I said something along the lines of "Well this is be great, who is gonna want to listen to us, when is it cold, dark and raining? I sure wouldn't..." Not my proudest moment. Then instantly Elder Bilodeau says, "Positive remember? This is the best time we could possibly have to go out and talk to people! Everyone is going to want to listen!!" It was really interesting cause in my head I had already said no to getting any success. I had no willpower, no faith, and a 'no good' attitude. I had created a bad situation of something that hadn't even started! So I changed my thought process and we went out and talked to every single person that passed us! It was great, however, not one person was interested in learning more! But that didn't matter at that moment, I felt great. I did my part and I put forward the effort. Looking back I see the good now, sure, we didn't get any new invesitgator but everyone we talked to took a card and they were all generally polite and nice. Attitude is everything. 

We were in charge of Young Men's this week because the Young Men's President is out of the country. We had an awesome activity, we went to Annika's Sjökvist house and has a Chocolate Tasting Night. Now don't be confused and think that this was your grandma's chocolate tasting night , unless you grandma makes legit chocolate and shows you how it is made and stuff, then it would be very close to that. She did a great job! It was a really fun night! She had like us start with raw chocolate and then we slowly got to like chocolate that you can buy in the store and it tasted like not real chocolate! And sorry to say if Swedish Store chocolate is bad I can't even imagine how bad American store bought chocolate is. Yikes. 

We got some crazy news this week, concerning a mid-transfer. There is a group of about 17 sisters going home and they are having to pull sisters from a few areas! So Gävle is one of those areas! So starting on Wednesday, the Elders are in charge of the whole area of Gävle! Talk about pressure! It will be really insane but really fun I hope! We are getting all of their food and their phone, so it's not that bad of a deal! We are really hoping though that when we get a new batch of missionaries in 3 weeks at the next transfer that they will return Sisters here. The branch was pretty unhappy when they found out so I think they would be wise to have sisters here again. So that is a change that I did NOT see coming, but what can you do! Not to much! 

With this transfer coming up, I would probably guess that I am leaving. To be in area for more than 3 transfer is a big much. That makes me really sad but I have had a really good run here, I can't complain about it. I am excited to see more and meet more wonderful people. I am pretty convinced that this country is full of the nicest people in the entire world. I am super grateful to be able to be serve them in what ever ways I can. 

That is awesome about the Temple Dedication, that reminds me, I was explaining to this members from Albania what the church is like in Utah... It was really funny. Albania just became it's first stake. The whole country, so when I told them that my stake is like within a few neighborhoods they were completely blown away. They could even understand that. It was really funny. Then when I told them how many are in that stake of just a few neighborhoods, I started to freak out. I don't know what is it going to be like to have such a big ward. It will be different for sure!

Well it is cold. I swear it happened over night. But it feels like winter will be here next week. There are goods and bads to that but I am excited! General Conference is coming up and that is like a holiday for a missionary. We are all looking forward to that so much! Should be great! I love you all, I hope you all have a great week! Pray for the Missionaries, also help the missionaries that are in your ward. They need it! 

Love you all the way from Sweden,

Äldste Farnworth

The Gospel has no limits, nothing can restrict the spirit from being brought to the people who are willing to receive it! (9/15/14)

If you remember a few weeks back I take about how there were basically two types of weeks on a mission, the weeks were everything turns out for you and the ones were they don't. Well this we was a week that turn out great. Everyday there was something that was so cool and new. Such a great week!

We can start with the Elder Bednar Conference. It was seriously amazing.  He didn't really give a talk actually, a few days before the conference we were emailed a few old talks from him and then at the conference he had people ask him questions about the talks.  It was really cool because he totally taught us how to be better missionary by showing us instead of instructing us. He is actually like the funniest guy ever, not even joking. He like made jokes the whole time and it was really so great. When the meeting started I was informed that it would be a 3 hour meeting and I was like... What? But those were the fastest 3 hours of my life. It was like be spiritually fed over and over again. It really just showed to me, that he truly is a man of God and there is something uniquely different about him. It was an amazing experience, something I am extremely grateful for. We didn't go to the temple though! I hopefully will be going through the temple soon with Pouyeh soon! It has almost been a year, and my trainer is going home early! I don't know if you remember but he needed surgery so he is going to go home so he can get the surgery before school and still go to winter! So we might be doing that soon! SO stoked!!

The house is becoming so... Swedish! It's really awesome! I am going to feel right at home, everything you guys are doing is just like what they all have here! It is great! haha I miss the family walks that is so great! I love seeing all of your great faces! I just feel like you guys are all doing so great! It makes it a lot easier to be here , I love it all! I seriously love it here. Every Saturday night I am so excited for Sunday, I'll be honest I don't think I have ever been as excited for church as I am here. It is so great to be here with all the members and the KIDS. They are the coolest. I just have to brag about how awesome these members are, sorry but they are top notch. 

This week we had something really cool happen, we have this member who married a women from Thailand and she has two daughters. They moved here and they just got their Swedish citizenship, so he invited us over to see if his wife would be interested in learning about the Gospel. It was really tricky at first cause her English and Sweden is really a bit rough, but as the lesson when on, it just seemed like everything was going right over her head. So I pulled out the iPhone and started typing what we were teaching into Google Translate and then translated from Swedish to Thai. It was like a light bulb in her head! She was understanding! So I guess all that texting before my mission finally paid off cause I was able to type in real time almost everything we taught! It was amazing! The Gospel has no limits, nothing can restrict the spirit from being brought to the people who are willing to receive it! We went the first time on Tuesday and then she invited us back on Friday and it was a great time! We are planning on going this week to teach her daughter so we are really excited about that! The hard work paid off! 

I can tell you guys that the Lord is a patient Lord. I am proof of that, I swear I learn something about 5 or 6 times before it sticks. I just am so thankful for the promises that we have and that we can do our part and the Lord do his. Everything with the Lord is a two-way street. He is so amazing, I just can't ever get over it. Everyday I think that we are SO lucky to have what we have sometimes we just don't even understand what we really have and how big it is! AH! I just get so happy thinking about it, I love sharing this with the people here!

OH! The last great thing that happened that happened this week was Sofia from Linköping came and had lunch with us in Gävle! She was on her way to visit her brother and she had some time so I showed her the city of Gävle and we grabbed some Fika! It was seriously amazing! She is amazing and I am so lucky to have the friendship I have with her, she is so strong and just like a dedicated member! I love the little moments like that, so unbelievably great. 

The week is a blessing, everyday out here is. Look for the good, there always is good. IT is just a matter of seeing it. God gives us so much. He loves us, I know he is there. I know it. 

I love and miss you all! I will be home in no time, seriously. 

Äldste Farnworth

The Bible has already taught me so much (9/8/14)

Well this week in Gävle hasn't been the best week, but it was a really good week towards the end so I am just going to focus on that! Sunday yesterday was the best. So that is all that really matters, right? I just love the branch here so much. These are the best members in the world. I sometimes wish church never ends, it is that good. 

I'll be honest, at times I sit here and I have to use all of my mental focus to try to remember what has happened in the last week. They move so quickly, it is hard to single in on any given day and remember what I did. I often have to look though my iPhone pictures or my planner to even remember. I am super grateful that I have kept a journal every night or I really would be in trouble. 

Well Sister Hill is gone, it is really sad though actually. I miss her a lot, sWehe really become a good friend while she was here and it doesn't feel the same without her. We have Sister Ludwig now, she is really cool. So that makes it a little easier, but I still miss Sister Hill. Speaking of Stockholm, (that is where she got transferred too) We are going to be meeting Elder Bednar this week! That is so exciting! I really am so stoked. We are having a special missionary conference and it should be a very special thing! That is happening on Thursday so we are really excited to have that! Something big that we are looking forward to!

We spent some time this week in the beautiful city of Uppsala (About a hour south of Gävle) My companion is District Leader so he had to go down to do a baptismal interview. We didn't have a way to get to their church other than walking and it was amazing. That city is so great! We got some really great picture, we met with this member of 3 years while we were there and he is SO cool. I really liked him, he walked with us back to the train station after the interview and he was a ton a of fun. 

This week I have been really trying to get to know the Bible, something that I am really struggled with for a long time now, and I really have tried to ask the Lord for the focus to be able to sit down and read it and that has been awesome! The Bible has already taught me so much! It really such a testimony builder for me to see how much the Book of Mormon really goes along with it. It is so clear that they are meant to complement each other. 

We had this investigator that the Sister found and he was in our area so we started teaching him for the last few weeks and that was a lot of fun. He is a really nice guy and the lessons were going great, but then he texted us and said he wanted to wait a while until he would meet with us again. So that was a bummer but he did say that he would continue to read the Standard Works and when he received a answer that they were true he would call us! So we are still having hope, just a little sad. The journey moves forward though! 

I am really excited for this week, should be jam packed and really busy! I am super excited! We have a lot of great stuff planned! I love and miss you all so much! I hope you have a great week too!

Äldste Farnworth

Hopefully this helps you guys stop wondering why I love it here so much. (9/1/14)

Well now it is September and once again I don't know where the time is going. I just feel like I am in the New York Subway station. I am just watching each month zoom on by and I can't even make out where they are going. It really is crazy. To start out with the good news! I am staying here in Gävle! I am so happy to be here another transfer! Saturday was the longest most nerve racking day I have had in a while, but we passed and now it is just smooth sailing for 6 more weeks! YES! I really love Gävle so much, it is like the place for Elder Farnworth. I honestly feel like I am serving in my own ward here. I completely love the members here more than anything. I am really excited to just give them everything I have in the next 6 weeks and go out with a BANG!

The Awesome Innebandy group. We look so legit. 

This week has flown, I understand that I sound super repetitive but I just can't seems to wrap my head around the concept of time on my mission. Months feel like weeks, weeks are days and days are gone in seconds. I just can believe it, we play Innebandy every Saturday still and that is like the greatest sport in the entire world. Honestly I don't know how it is not in the States yet, you guys are missing out on the funnest thing ever. Look up some Innebandy on YouTube and you will see what I am talking about. It is so much fun. It is something to look forward to every week! We will have to do that when I get home! 

Yesterday was an amazing day. It was such a good Sunday, Sister Hill is going to be transferring to Stockholm so we are really going to miss her a ton, she has been so much fun and such a great missionary to learn and have en example from here. I really am going to miss her! She gave a really good testimony and did a great job. We had a lot of people come to church. It was really awesome. One of the less actives we have been working with wasn't there at the beginning and to be honest, I was a little bummed but then I get this text, "We missed the first bus but don't worry we are coming!" It was totally awesome. There were so many people that the Lord prepare to come then. It was a really great scene to quite literally see the efforts of your labors right there. I really was humbling though, I realized that it is not because of me at all, sure I played a role in this but I just thought how great The Lord is and how much he is doing her, I was humbled and also very grateful. I am so grateful for the time and the miracles that I am seeing here. It is truly amazing to me! I just never want this to end!

Marcus with all the missionaries! He is such a stud with his bow tie! Reminds me of Jacob! haha

We got the newspaper that we are in and it is really cool, I have some pictures that I can send it was really fun! And then in the Sunday paper, the Sister's here had another article in that! So the Missionaries are quite the talked about topic here in Gävle. It is a lot of fun! WE biked a lot this week. Like a ton, I am really getting into shape. Not really but sorta! On Sister's Hills birthday this last week we ended up going to The Sjökvist to make dinner with them and stuff and this girl didn't have a way to get there so we offered to give her our bus card and we would bike out there. It was really worth it but biking out there is a lot of work. I found out that it is about 7.5 Miles there and then another 7.5 home. SO it is not like KILLER but lets just keep in mind that we are missionaries, not professional bikers. In the last week, we have made that trip a total of 2 times and in the last transfer maybe about 7 or 8 times. Crazy crazy. I love it though, I really do!

This is the New Article that we were in! It was pretty sick to see it!

I see so clearly now how people always say that not a day goes by that you don't think about your mission. I just can't imagine me ever forgetting this. It really is amazing and I feel like the luckiest kid in the world. I am really just that, a kid. The only way I am able to do all of these crazy things, help these people and spread this gospel is through the divine help of My God. He is the reason that this is all possible. Swedish and all. It is so much fun and so much work. I am stressed all the time but the only way to enjoy it is to learn to laugh at yourself and enjoy the ride! Cause when it is done, it's done. I love this Gospel. I really do. I know that it is true. Through my mission alone I have learned that there is someone there listening to my pleads nightly. He is real and he is good. I love it. Thank you all for your support and your prayers. I am so grateful. I don't honestly feel at times that I deserve all of the wonderful support I get. Thank you, thank you. I miss you all so much, but I just have no desire to come home now. This is too good.

Selfie with my official missionary assistant in church! He follows me around and helps with everything! He is the man. 

This is just like normal Swedish. Hopefully this helps you guys stop wondering why I love it here so much.

Lately I have been listening to President Gordon B. Hinckley and I found this quote and it is like my new favorite. He said: "You can be smart and happy or stupid and miserable. . . it's your choice." That is so awesome. It is our choice. We always are in control of ourselves. We can always Be Positive. Last week, I had to ask a Swede how to pronounce a English word... I just had to laugh at that. Otherwise, I would have cried. It was a great moment.

Ha det så fet!

Äldste Farnworth

This is the Shirt Burning Ceremony! (8/25/14)

This is probably not going to be the best letter in the world. I am sick so I my whole energy levels are just brought down a little bit. The sickness is just a new thing, in the last little bit so this week has not been bad at all! It has actually just gone by so fast I am not sure what I am going to write at all!

 This is the Shirt Burning Ceremony! 

Before...

 

During.. 

After!

We can start with the conference that we had in Stockholm this week. It was really nice to be there in Stockhom and I am loved seeing all my friends there. We had the Area President of Europe come. It was really awesome to hear him, he gave a lot of really great counsel! It was super awesome and on the train ride home we sat next to these people from Belgium, they were so cool so we played cards with them and they were just asking a ton of questions about the church, they were on their way to the north of Sweden to do a huge hike! It was really cool and they were really nice.

Look how old we are! The MTC group that it all started with! (Missing Sister Fawcett)

STOCKHOLM! Everytime.

This member here, Sam, had surgery this week. So we went to the hospital to visit him. It was so awesome. I decided I am freak and I just love Hospitals. It is really so much fun to be there with it all! It actually makes me excited to go back to school and start learning about all of that.

Still get excited by riding trains. 

So here is the spiritual note of this week. I told you it would be short. I am yearning to get back into bed. We have this less active family that in the last week or two have become by best friends! They are from Nigeria and I love them. The mother is a member and her daughter has been baptized, the other daughter will be baptized when she is 8. So we are excited! They are just like amazing. She was like so willing to have us over and they fed a lot of food! Most Africans do that :) We went there for her birthday and they were basically treating us, who they just met, like family! It was amazing! Just really neat. Then they said that they would come to church and the next day they were there! Her daughters are a little shy so I followed the older one around and went to primary with her. It was really a lot of fun. I hope that they had a good time and that they come next week!

Okay I am sorry this is so lame! I am not giving up I just I am sick! I love you all and I love Sweden. Dad was right I am Swede now. In a year, I will be leaving my home to come and visit all of you guys! It so great here. I really am happy! To answer your questions mother, I really like my companion he is a great guy! We talk about pretty funny stuff and we are really hoping to stay together!

Me... On my bike. For you mother.

We will see what the future holds for me next week! I love you!

Äldste Farnworth

This week I will be hitting my ONE YEAR mark!! (8/18/14)

Well this week has been a quick one! It just flew right on by! Pretty crazy! It is insane that this week I will be hitting my ONE YEAR mark! I can't even begin to explain how crazy that feels. Needless to say, we will be having a big celebration here. You can be expecting pictures for sure. It will be great! We worked hard this week and I am quite pleased with what we were able to do! Monday night was a good Family Night! We had like 20 people show up! That was amazing! (You have to think with the mindset that this was more people than ever came to church in Linköping) We were going to have a "Selfie Picture Savenger Hunt" but it was raining for we went with Plan B! So we ended up just playing Mofia. These Swedes are pretty brutal. They will just kill you so fast and they act super innocent after. It was a good revealing of everyone's true colors.

I got your amazing package Mother! Holy cow you are awesome! What a great surprise that was to get that at Zone Conference! That came right in time! It was awesome! All the American Goods! Yum! I finally met with my Mission President! Oh man, he is an awesome guy! It was really great! He is super nice and really like personable. His wife is super awesome as well. They just are really fun and understand that it doesn't have to be so serious all the time! It was really cool. However, when I did ask him a question about the gospel and we were talking about it he was really good at answering my question! It was so sick! I am super excited to work more with him in the future!

One of our investigator was moved on Wednesday... It kinda sucks because the night before we had such a strong lesson with him and I had really grown to love this guy. But the positive part is that he is in an area where is it possible for him to get to church and the missionaries are really excited to teach him more! So it's sad for me but I am happy with the turn out! The other one is still here though! We don't know when he will leave, so we were able to teach him a few more times this week and he came to church on Sunday it was super awesome! He is really cool! There is always like leftover clothes in missionary apartments so Elder Billodeau and I went through and found him a full suit that he could wear to church!  It was really cool to give that to him! He was really happy! He is really progressing as well. We are just dreading having him move as well. But everything has it purpose! We have faith it will all be okay!

Something that was a little out of the ordinary that happened this week was we got interviewed by the newspaper! So on Friday we will be in the newspaper, here in Gävle! It was a ton a fun doing the article. It was about "Life as a Missionary" so someone came and she just asked us a lot of question and it in the (3 hours later) we had taught her the entire missionary lessons. It was really cool and pretty fun! Then she sent us the pre draft for the article and she did a really good job! So I will send a picture of the newspaper when we get it this week! It will be all in Swedish but you can translate it if you want or just look at the pictures :) haha

In my efforts to keep this email short, I have a spiritual thought that a member told us last night and it stuck with me! She was talking about the final chapters of the Book of Mormon and how Moroni is all alone and then she asked us what it would be like for us if we were all alone. If we had no one else on the earth to strengthen us or help us stay on the path. Cause at that time he had no one. He literally was the last person alive. All he had was his relationship with his God. It was a really interesting thought. If we had no other members of the church, there were no leaders and it was just us. Would our own personal testimonies be enough? Would they be strong enough to continue to fight through the Adversary power? We need to find our own personal answer to that question. It was a really cool thought for him so I hope it was good for you guys too!

I love you so much! I hope you have a great week! This week we are going to Stockholm to have a big meeting with a Area Seventy! So I am excited!

 Stay positive!

Äldste Farnworth

 Arts and Crafts at the Sjökvist's house. They are the best. 

#SabbathDaySelfie #AntonandMe 

Swedish Art... #awkwardpicture

 This is my friend Sam. I call him Baloo and he calls me Mowgli. I like him a lot.

 Ocean Selfie! Sister Hill and Me 

Swedish Baseball... Brännboll. It was really fun!