"You never lose with the Lord." (7/28/15)

Batman Selfie with Brink

This week was a week of accomplishment! If you thought it felt weird before, you have no idea now. It feels like everything just suddenly fell into place and I just no longer nervous at all! I am just excited for what the future holds for me! It has helped a lot that these last few days have been seriously perfect. We are working hard and loving what we are doing. I can't even believe that it is all changing soon! The work in Jönköping, as you have probably notice, is a bit different. We have a lot of young members and a lot of youth investigators. We have worked hard to really try to create situations where these two types of people can blend together and it really has shown amazing results! It is so cool to see friendship that can be created so quickly through the gospel. It is a major reason that I love Jönköping, we have a lot of fun and we see really amazing things happen.

A watch from Elder Pearson and
my handmade reindeer bracelet. 

The closer we get to the end of a transfer I swear that is ALWAYS when things start to happen! It drives me crazy, it always happens. We have had some really nice things happen this week. The top part for me would be the baptismal interview I was able to give. His name is Dudas and he is a really good guy. He is the Sisters' investigator here in Jönköping. He really has a huge heart and a great spirit, he is a little older, about 75 but he really seems to understand the principals of the gospel! Looks like you are never too old to change you life and follow Christ! He showed me it's truly never too late! The interview was a amazing experience for me, when we got to the part of who will be baptizing him, I ask him and he responded: "Well, it would have to be you!" It was super nice of him to trust me to do that! So this Saturday I will be baptizing Dudas! I am very very excited for him! Should be a great ending! 

Borås Par-tay!

We had splits with the Borås elders this week. I went up to Boras with Elder Stoeltzing, an old companion from my Linköping days! We had so much fun together. It was really cool that we were together when we were both so young, we shared an area in Stockholm when we are in the middle and now we were able to compare where we are now, closer to the end! It is amazing how much you notice that someone has changed! He is an amazing person, I loved to being with him and talk with him. We went to help a member paint their house while I was there. It turns out that member was someone that I met in Skövde 2 years ago! We both recognized each other and it was a present surprise! We ended the night with a little fire by the lake with the Sisters there, had a little goodbye time. It was a lot of fun. We took some good pictures and called it a night!

I can't even explain what this picture means. #victory

This week has been full of members, and I LOVE it. The ward is way too good to us here. They make sure we are fed and support us in our actions! I love it, it is such a positive missionary atmosphere. I just love it. The Rönndahls are like amazing, we had gotten canceled with a dinner earlier in the day and I just thought I wanted to spend my last nights eating with members. So I thought of who I could ask if we could come over. Right away, the Rönndahls came to mind. Of course, they were awesome and said yes, but it doesn't stop there. I then realized with the splits and travel the Borås elders would have to take we would not only have us 2 but also them too, when I asked if it would be okay to have them come too, being now 6 missionaries, including the sisters. He simply replied: "Det är Lungt, alla kan komma :)" which means "That is okay, everyone can come!" It like meant a lot to me, I don't know how judgement day will go, but I am sure they will get some extra points somewhere for how nice they are to the missionaries. 

Suiting up for some Volleyball!

I am writing on Tuesday, because we had a pretty awesome Zone P-day in Göteborg yesterday! It was so AWESOME. We played Volleyball, like it was the greatest thing ever. Holy cow, I love volleyball. We were 24 so we split up into 4 teams and then had a tournament. It was crazy fun!! The team names were: Titans (my team), Gold Team, Booty Kickers, and Celestial Crew. We made it to the semi-finals against Gold Team, and lost 24-26... It was such a good game! Oh man, I was very excited and loud. My team was boss and we performed very well. It was a super killer Pday and we had so much fun. Our Zone consists of two districts, we had a quick best of 3 games, district vs. district... Those games we killed. It was so much fun. Overall it was the most jam-packed fun P-day anyone has every heard of. 

We are so cool, we can't even. #boråswannabes

I am so excited to come home! But I still have time to do good! I LOVE my mission, there is a lot of reflecting that has happened lately. I know there will be plenty of time for more on my 12 hours of flying I will be doing. But I am proud of the mission I have served. I am way more grateful for it though, as much as I feel I have put into it, work hard or sacrificed I KNOW that I have received so much more back. All of the people I have met alone has truly made every single struggle worth it, one hundred percent. Something I often tell people is a simple phrase that is: "You never lose with the Lord." That phrase had carried me through the hard times. No matter how much we feel something takes from us, or how much give up.. We will always receive so much more than we put in from the Lord. He is full of mercy and I am a living witness of that. He is the light at the end of the tunnel. He is the Good Shepherd, leading us home again. I am so thankful for this faith I have worked so hard to grow.  

The last week. Here we go! I am so scared but so excited! I hope it is just as great for you guys! I love you all! 

Äldste Farnworth