The Lord is Teaching Me What I Need To Know (1/20/15)

This last week was a ton of fun. We did a lot and yes, Elder Simmons 
and I have a ton a fun. We work hard too, don't get the wrong idea we
just know how to do both! It is a good thing. I think the biggest
thing that I have learned from having companions is just learning to
let little things go and to look past little things that bother me.
It's been really good thing to learn! Also to just see the good. That
is really important. I have also learned that I can not wait to be
alone again. I cherish my time in the bathroom (The only place we are
allowed to be alone.) I don't know if this is what a mission is
supposed to do, but I also learned that I don't want to get married
for a long time. I am not ready to do all of this 'eternal companion'
stuff yet. But overall with companions, I am learned that working
together requires sacrifice and you have to be willing to compromise!

That is really amazing your missionary story! We have some statistic
here in Europe, they tell us that if we are trying to finding people
to baptism about 1 in every 30,000 people that we contact (stopping
people on the streets or by knocking on their door) on average will
accept our message and enter the waters of baptism. However, with a
member referral 1 in every 3 people that work with the missionaries to
be baptized will accept the message. It is so important to help the
missionaries and you are doing that! That is so amazing.

This week we have really done a lot of finding. It is something that
we are really trying to improve. We can't teach until we have someone
TO teach. Yesterday at about 2pm President Newell called and he told us
that we would be stopping by for interviews. So we went home and he
came shortly after that. During the interview he stressed the
importance of having strong goals that will push ourselves to go
further and further. He told us about all of these times that people
that he knew or even missionaries in Sweden have exercised their faith
and they planned with the Lord and prayed for a baptismal date. The Lord
helped everyone of those people achieve those goals. So I am sure you
can guess what Elder Simmons and I did that night. We prayed very hard
and set a date we feel was inspired by the Lord that we are going to
baptize by. I am really excited. I feel very strongly that our faith
will pay off. However, I do understand that this needs to be the will
of my Heaven Father as well. At any rate, I am excited.

Another exciting thing that President Newell told me is that this
upcoming transfer on the 5th, I will be transferring! I don't know
where yet but I know that I will be moving. So my mission is just
about to be turned upside down. I am very exciting. I really feel that
this is going to make me grow as a missionary! I have only a few weeks
left in Skövde so I am going to give every I have into this area
before I leave.

So my spiritual message for that this week has taught me is the power
of an effective studying of the Book of Mormon. Lately I was feeling
off. Not in a negative way I just like I felt off. Sorry I can't
explain it. Anyways, I tried to look back and see what it could be
that is wrong. I went through my days and didn't see anything that
really stuck out to me. Then I was watching a talk from a video on
lds.org that really helped me realize my problem. It was my morning
studies, I was doing them, I just wasn't giving them all the focus I
should have been. So within the next few day I really tried to refocus
and set goals to get back to the studies that I was doing in the MTC.
Over the next few day I could see the difference in my everyday
missionary work. Since then I have seen that even on days that I may
not have taught a ton of people, I know and that I strengthen my faith
with my personal faith that morning. It is so important and I am sure
that the Lord watches and is running my studies in the morning. He is
teaching me what I need to know. I am so thankful for that time.

Thanks for all you do for me! I love you so much! I can't believe you
are my mother I am so lucky! I hope you have a great week! Love you! I
am praying for you and am thankful that you are praying for me! I can
feel it!

Äldste Farnworth

Winter Wonderland in Sweden

ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD (1/13/15)

This week was nothing short of amazing. We are finally back to teaching a ton and really doing great things! I really enjoy Elder Simmons, he is a lot of fun and we are always finding ways to make every day an adventure! I really am enjoying my time with him. This week has been really busy also, so that is awesome. We are quickly coming back from Winter break and we are coming back stronger! I love it. I can really feel the Lord helping me out every day. It was interesting something that we taught and I learned when I was teaching it. The Lord is always doing things for us, it is never a matter of Him not, the only thing that changes is us noticing and showing gratitude for them. There are days that I have had that I feel like maybe the Lord was as present, but when I really look back and think of all the things I was grateful from that day I realize that the Lord played a huge role in that day and I was just focused of other things to notice all he did!

On Monday we learned how to knit from this Member. I am in the process of making a Tie. Don't judge, I have a lot of down time at night so I have to creative. The Tie is going to be so cool. We found this huge stack of CD's of talks from Church Leaders and there was one that I honestly think it was made for me. It was amazing, the name is Lot's Wife by Jeffery R. Holland. I love that talk so much, I have never felt more like the Lord was speaking to me through a talk. It really talks a lot about how we need to always look forward and not look back. It really just stood out to me because we can not let the past drive us. Whether it's something we wish we could take back or something that we are wanting to go back to, I realized this: If I had a super fun day in the past why can't I make today or tomorrow just as fun? I really am making this my new goal, ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD. I feel this talk was a answered pray. I am very grateful for it.

Church was also such a blessing. We had 3 investigators come and a lot of Less Actives came as well. I know that we worked hard this week, but I know that the success we had in church today was only part of us and the Lord did the rest. I am so thankful for that. I see the Lord in everything. We got this call from this girl in Norway on Saturday night and she told us that her father is very sick and he is living in our area and he was wondering if we could visit him on Sunday and give him a blessing, bring him this special water and bless and pass him the Sacrament. We hurried and ran to the store to buy him the water and then the next day we were able to go and visit with him. He is the nicest man ever. He has cancer and on top of that he has had the flu. He was so nice and humble. I had the honor to give him a blessing, and that was such an amazing moment. I am so grateful for the Power of the Priesthood and how is can help and change lives. When we asked the man if he knew how a blessings worked he replied: "Of course I do, they are the reason I am alive." What a blessing that they are, I am so grateful to have that power and to be apart of this Church. I am reminded daily how blessed I am to be in this church and how blessed I am to be here sharing this message!

I love you all so much. I am grateful for you thoughts and prayers! I can feel the love! I hope you all have a great week! Just know that you always have someone in Sweden praying for you!

Äldste Farnworth

Elder Farnworth and Simmons

Glad The Holidays Are Over (1/6/15)

Haha I'll be honest with you! I am so happy all the holiday are over! I was talking with this funny elder from Utah, that goes home in like 3 months. He told me that as missionaries you start to hate holiday because it means that the investigator work is harder. And I agreed with him! These last two weeks have been really really hard. But I am so excited for this week! It is going to be great! We have a ton planned and me and Elder Simmons get along great! He is a lot like Jacob personality wise. Very easy going and not one to talk down to me! I l really love it! Sorry we have not taking pictures of us yet but we will soon :)

Your New Year's Party sounded like a lot of fun! I wish I was there. I sure you had a blast. We went bowling for the New Year here. We went to this really fancy bowling alley. Like you have to pay to check your coat. Everything that is normal in the US is like really fancy here. I think it is because they know Americans will pay a lot for the little things. Well they were right, but a young adult in the ward in Göteborg paid for like 20 missionaries to go bowling. How freaking nice is she?? It was amazing. So fun! Okay that is all that happened.

Editor's Note: I asked Kaleb if he had anything I could tell my Sunday school class. Like something that he wished he knew (or believed) when he was the kids in my class' age. Here is his answer.

I wish that when I was that age, I understood the Atonement better. It has only been out here that I have really realized that because of Christ and what he did we can be 100% percent clean. Also to LOOK FORWARD. I have a story. So I was walking through the mall trying to get missionaries to follow me so we could go bowling. And trying to get a group of missionaries to walk is like next to impossible. SO I ended up walking backward to try to keep there attention. While walking backward I totally nailed this old lady! I felt so terrible! I can liken this to always look forward and then you can better see what is going to happen in life. If we are so focused on what is behind us we will not be prepared to meet what is in front of us! When we make mistakes we repent. But just as important we need to then look forward and MOVE ON. We need to leave that mistake in the past and not dwell on it. If we do we might miss something in the future (or run in to old ladies)... :)

Hope that is good. Love you so much!!

Äldste Farnworth

Happy 2014! (1/2/15)

Seriously I can't believe that it is 2014 already! Where is the time going? This last year has been a big one for me! I really am so grateful for all that has happened and I am super excited for 2014! It is the only year that I will spend 100% on my mission. So that is just awesome. These last few days have been slow days for missionary work.

In Sweden, the New Year's holiday is huge. We had plans to go and visit with another family but because we would have to take a train home we weren't allowed to go. The train from Falköping to Skövde is super dangerous, I guess. So we ended up spending the whole night with the Säilä Family. They were amazing. We had the best lunch ever then we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (which is like my favorite movie ever). They played it in English for me since they all can speak English as well. Then we watched Bolt. But that one was in Swedish. It didn't even have English subtitles! It was really hard, but I kinda just figured out what was going on based on the pictures. Like a child would, but hey, it worked! Then we made homemade pizza and watched the Swedish version of New Year's Eve in Time Square... The American one is a little better. Just saying.

We stayed up super late and we were out until like 12:30. Crazy! I can't believe that. It was a great New Year and it was a great Christmas as well! I am so grateful for all the people that played a role in my holiday's. My family back in the states, and also my new family here in Sweden. I love it here so much!

So I bought all my Christmas presents last week! I got such a "Lisa Deal." I found this suit top for super cheap and the best part was that they matched the church pants that I already had and the pair of pants that you sent me for Christmas! SO then I still have enough money to get a pair of Swedish shoes as well! It was a Christmas Miracle! I love it. I have a picture with it all on so look for that! 

After a Super fun day in Göteborg we went to the one of the greatest family in all of Sweden. The JELK's. They are trying to move to the states so I really am happy that I can have Swedish friends in Utah! We had a super fun dinner. They are really loud so I fit right in! Then we watched Monster University in Swedish! That was a ton of fun. I seriously love that family. Göteborg is the place to be. I am going there today again! We are going  bowling. I have really gotten so good at bowling. Okay not really. Oh well...

I have began reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning again and I really feel so happy and thankful for that book. We can come so close to God through it. As I read it I feel the Spirit so strong. I have gain such a testimony of all the stories. We can learn so much from it. Our Mission President gave us this challenge to read the Book of Mormon by July. I accepted and added my own goal to read it TWICE. I invite you all to read with me! I have seen and felt it change my life! It can change anyone who will allow it! I love it. I love this Church. I was talking with a member about how lucky we really are to have all the knowledge we have. If you sit and think of all we have we are so BLESSED. I love gratitude. This gospel is the reason I am who I am. Have a great week and I love you all!

Äldste Farnworth

GOD JUL! That's Merry Christmas in Swedish! (12/26/14)

* We had such a great time skyping with Kaleb on Christmas!!  We have all missed him over this holiday season, Kaleb loves Christmas:)  We were able to talk with him for several hours.  He shared with us his love for Sweden and the people there and his opportunity to teach the Gospel.  He also showed us his new coat and how he is teaching himself to play the piano.  He played "God Be With You Til We Meet Again".  He was able to visit with each one of  us and then had a few minutes to talk to Zac!  We loved our visit and the time flew by.  This was an amazing Christmas gift!

Merry Christmas from SWEDEN!!

Tell us how you really feel...:)

He better love this coat, it cost $400:)

Kaleb is teaching himself to play the piano

The AP's tease Kaleb about his last name, they can't seem to get it right.  This is a joke nametag:)

*This is Kaleb's letter received on December 26, 2013.

GOD JUL!! That is Merry Christmas in Swedish if you didn't pick that up.

Holy cow this week has been so amazing. This blog will not be too long because I was able to talk with me Family Yesterday! That was such an amazing experience! I am so grateful for them. It was the best thing I could have gotten for Christmas!

Here is Sweden out of Christmas and Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve is the big day. They hardly celebrate on the 25th Christmas Day, So for Christmas Eve we went to the Fhors Family. They were amazing, I thought it was going to be super awkward and stuff but they treated us just like family. I was so blessed to be able to go. We have a huge dinner. Like HUGE. It was so much good food. I loved that part. It was funny after I finished my first plate. I just sat and kinda of waited for someone else to get seconds so I wouldn't be rude. But then the dad looks at me and says "Elder, you have been here for dinner before I know you want seconds. Get up and get some." So I just laughed and then got seconds and later Thirds. Sister Fhors really know how to cook. Toward the end of the night she gave me this alcohol-free drink that is really popular. Then we played some board games drank a ton of JUL MYST and just had a blast. It was amazing. I am very blessed, to have them.

Christmas Day was so awesome also, we spent the Morning with the Sahlberg Family and there was just played the piano and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Then I talked with me FAMILY! That was great, there were so many answered prayers through the talks I had.

Made me really realize that the Lord is listening to me and ANSWERS!

This week has been so great I am been able to focus on Christ this year and really find out what is important to me this season. Family and my God are the things that I have found really matters most. I am so grateful to have both of those people in my life so strongly. I am so grateful so my time I have here in Sweden. I know that it is going to fly by, I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already. I just am so happy that I was able to talk with my family and be with the people here in Sweden that treated me like family. I love you all.

Hope you have a GREAT NEW YEAR! 2014 is going to be a great year!

Love you all,

Äldste Farnworth

We Had A Baptism!

This week was amazing. How could it not be? WE HAD A BAPTISM! The baptism was probably the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. The Spirit was SO strong the entire time. The day was really stressful of course, we had to make two desserts and set it all up, but the second that the meeting started all I could feel was peace and happiness. It was so amazing. We had the member that introduced us to her give a small talk about the importance of baptism and she was just so awesome. Her testimony was so strong and she really was very emotional and happy about what was happening. After she spoke her daughter (who is like 9) sang I Am a Child of God, and she sang with the sister missionaries in our District. They are so awesome, the girl didn't want to sing alone so I volunteered Sister Vaarola and Wilhite to sing and they were totally fine with it. They sang it in Swedish and then when they were finished they switched to English, and sang it again. I was not expecting it. I didn't know that this little girl knew English too! The Spirit was so strong. Pretty much just the greatest day of my life. Then we had the actual baptism and that was just amazing! She is from Iran so her last name is a little crazy so I was super nervous that I would say it wrong. But I prayed and it all went smoothly! It was unreal. Words can't really describe the feeling that I had. Just like 100% pure joy and bliss. That still doesn't do it justice. It's a happiness that I have never felt before. Like a whole new kind. So amazing. I was so blessed to be a part of that process. 

The rest of the week was really great too! We had transfers calls come and both Elder Olson and I are staying in Skövde for Christmas. They only moved the missionaries that they had to in order to support the new missionaries coming in. So the transfer was small. However, there is going to be a bigger transfer right after Christmas on the 30th. So I don't think we will remain unaffected by that one. Elder Olson has been in Skövde for like 5 months so we are pretty sure that he will be going then. It's pretty unlikely that we will both stay.

Christmas in Swedish is Jul so to say Christmas in Skövde you say "Jul i Skövde" I am so excited. I can't believe that I will be talking in 9 days! Crazy! I feel like it was just Thanksgiving. But that is how it goes. The time is just flying. This Thursday is going to be my 4 MONTH mark. Four months... I can't even start to think about that. I feel like I am been here for like a month... maybe.. Not 4 months. I really love it so much. It's funny before I came I felt like two years was going to be forever. I can say that now. But honestly I feel like now, two years is nothing. I really just feel like I have to work so hard to get done what I want to! It is a good motivation to work my hardest. 

So I have been teaching myself the piano. I can play almost every hymn with my right hand. I just starting to add the left so that is really hard. It is not even cold here. All the snow came but it is all melted! I don't even know if I will get a white Christmas this year! It sounds like the weather in Utah is worst than here in Sweden. I have the better deal and everyone told me that it would be so much worse. Little ironic, huh?  Well I love it. My jacket keeps me warm and I am happy. They say that it will be worse, when January comes. So I am sure it will switch very quickly. Today for p-day we are going to Göteborg and I am so excited because there is this big amusement park and we aren't allowed to go because of the rides, but at Christmas time they close all the rides and put up tons of lights. Sorta like the Swedish version of Temple Square maybe? I am just really excited to go. 

There is a Swedish dessert that I will tell you about that will make you all wish that you were here. It's called Kladdkaka. It's almost the same thing as a brownie but the thing that makes it so heavenly is that they don't cook it all the way. They cook it maybe like 55% so that the top is all crusty but the bottom is super runny. Oh my gosh, it is so good. In this last week, I have had four. That is so much. One day, Wednesday I think, we went to a member's house lunch and they had it and then that night we went to another member's house for dinner and they also had it. Plus we had it at the baptism and then another night we just made one. SO needless to say it is my favorite Swedish food, but don't worry I haven't gain a single pound. Loving life.. 

Well another great thing that happened this week, was I got the greatest package in the entire world from my lovely mother. Thank you so much. I am to lucky of a kid to have you! You really got me by surprise with the TOMS. They are the greatest things ever. My pride and joy. I was scared that they weren't going to fit at first but I tried them on and they fit perfectly! You are an amazing mother! Truly remarkable! Thank you so much for all you do everyday to support me on my crazy adventure. I love it here so much. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love all the people and at times I feel like I am learning more than I am teaching. Hopefully that isn't true but I love really working so closely with the Lord. I have learned to have a plan and to work toward my goals, but to also allow the Lord to insert or change things to allow His will to be done. I love this church, I love the Lord and everything He is doing. I love all of you. Have a great week. Can't wait to talk in 9 days. 

Äldste Farnworth

Getting Colder...

Note: We have been a week behind on this blog for some time. Kaleb forgot to email the blog letter to us last week so he sent it today. So we put it on the new post from yesterday. Plus he sent a letter for this week and so we are catching up and posting twice this week. Hope that makes sense.

Well this week has been great. I'll just start out with saying that the baptism didn't happen. But don't freak out because everything is okay and it is going to be happening this week! Pouyeh had to go to Stockholm for one thing and another other so we just had to push it back for that. Nothing big, I just have to wait. Don't worry though -  I was wanting to work on patience anyways! This is a great way to do that. 

Well I was looking at the attempted Christmas card and first of the tree looks really nice, Good job. Max seriously is huge, like he looks like a bear. Speaking of bears... What is on Jordan face? He looks like a mountain man. You all look so good though! Merry Christmas! We are planning for a white Christmas here for sure. We have had about 3-4 feet of snow in the last 3 days! It just snow and never stops. I got my jacket right in time. I love it so much. It is just the perfect jacket. 

The day of the first storm (Friday) was the day that we had so much travel. We had to go to Borås and that is like a 2 hour trip in GOOD weather. In this weather it took forever and we had to take a bus and it was a mess. I thought Sweden would maybe be a little more prepared for the snow but seriously they were canceling all the trains as if they have never seen this before. It was funny but they have figured it all out and now the train and roads are all back in function. 

We have this member named Rolf, who lives like 15 miles from the church, He usually drives but his car broke down so he has been riding his bike lately. He is amazing. I don't think I could do that. Plus he is like super old. Anyways, this Sunday he was pretty late for church and the members started getting worried that he got affected by the storm and fell or something. So I went out with Daniel to go and look for him. We looked forever and didn't find him and so we went back and everyone was pretty nervous about it all. And then like 2 hours later in comes Rolf with just a huge smile on his face. He was just so happy he had made it! He is amazing. He biked for 2 hours in a crazy snow storm then walked his bike the rest of the way for probably another hour just to get to church. How amazing is that? Seriously such an example to me. 

This Saturday night we were in the church doing some family history and we have something amazing happen. In walked a man looking for a place to pray! He had come to the right place! We talked for just a little bit and explained what the Book of Mormon was and who we are as Latter-Day Saints. Then we invited him to church! He said he would come and the next day at church he was there! He can't speak any Swedish so we had a member translate for him! I loved it, such a cool moment. We had 4 investigators in church yesterday! How amazing is that? I see the Lord so clearly in the work here is it an amazing thing. I love my mission and I am have only been out like 3½ months. I know that I have the Lord to thank for all that is happening. I am working hard but there is no way that I could do this alone. He is real, and He is helping me. I love it. I love Sweden. I love you guys!

Äldste Farnworth

Just some girls from the high school In Falköping. 

They were all so nice!

Swedish Vikings