My Imaginary World

Hey-Nonny

2011-10-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

This week I'm guest-blogging on a blog my sister-in-law contributes to. Check it out!

http://www.hey-nonny.com/2011/10/21/lessons-in-assertiveness/

Winter and the amazing bread basket.

2011-10-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I remember that if I have something I wish I could share with other people, I have a forum for doing that. The other day I walked out of my front door and saw the mountains for the first time since the rain-fat clouds had enveloped them the night before. Something about them was funny. I've seen mountains after the first dusting of snow before, but these were strange. I never quite was able to put my finger on it, but I think it might have been because the line was so uniform. My first impression of the gray and white trees and rocks topping the mountains was that someone was holding an "old-movie filter" up against the landscape. But it was stark gray, like the evil queen's hand in "Willow" when she catches the acorn, and it starts to turn to stone. It was like someone had come and painted a stripe across half of the mountain, leaving one half other-worldly. It was a fleeting impression, though, and today, the mountains look as they normally do in fall.
Well, late fall. I feel betrayed by the weather. Sweden did this to me last year. One more taste of the glory of summer and then winter comes and slaps me in the face the next week. Thank you for the adjustment period! It would have been nice to have.
But the point is, when I saw and felt all this, I wanted to write about it and have it be read. I realized that's just one more thing to add to the list of post-mission adjustments--there's no more audience. I no longer have my arena full of spectators cheering me on each week as I take on the evils of the world in a gladiatorial battle (as Kathy once described my weekly readership). So, maybe I'll take up blogging. I probably should. It'll help my academic ego take root.
Another triumph this week (if remembering that I have a blog can be termed a triumph) was finally being called an enigma. I've waited years for people to realize how mysterious and wonderfully nuanced I am. Sadly, I didn't expect it to be over my excitement about the bread basket at a restaurant on Tuesday. For me, the bread basket, when it is a quality bread basket, is one of the best parts of the restaurant-going experience. I had already eaten my appetizer, salad, and a few bites of my entree when I realized I had completely missed that the waitress had brought out a superb assortment of breads at the same time as the lightly fried calamari. I was so excited at the unexpected turn of events. Bread! My favorite! So, in an act that I saw as completely logical since I was already getting full, I declared my intention to save the entree for lunch tomorrow and just eat bread for the rest of the meal. I was just being myself, but this to my date (it was not supposed to be a date, but that's a whole other story) was mysterious and surprising. "You are an enigma!" he said in a wondering tone. Ah, the fulfillment of a dream. Funny how our dreams never turn out quite the way we want them to. At least he didn't call me a pig (that's my mom's story...). But, I don't regret it. The assortment of breads was the best I'd had in a long time, and lunch the next day was amazing.

Week 67

2011-07-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

Subject: Signing off

Hi everybody!

So, the days of dominion have begun. Just kidding, but President Newell has already implemented some changes in the mission, namely changing transfer day to Wednesday instead of Thursday. We found out yesterday via text message from the assistants. Surprise! This is the last full day of the transfer, tomorrow's p-day, you're leaving on Wednesday! I was shocked and wasn't sure if I was happy about that or not. We were over in the tourist area of the city, actually, so we sat down and made some plans and quickly cleared our schedule. It all has worked out really well.
President called late last night to tell Sis Brown that she would be staying and getting a 2nd transfer missionary. She's very nervous, but I know she'll be ok. I packed this morning and because of the box I sent home and the stuff I don't want to take with me, both my suitcases are barely full. I don't really know what happened, but I'm not complaining! One of my suitcases' wheels are non-functional, ok, ripped to shreds, so I was able to pack that one lightly. It's great! The train ride tomorrow should be really fun. Elder Rowley is going to Sundsvall, Elder Olsen is going to Gubbängen, and Elder Alder is going home, so the face of our district is totally changing. I get to take the train with a ton of fun people. We have to be at the mission home by 5pm tomorrow and then on Thursday they have a whole day of activities lined up for us. Supposedly, the changes are so it makes it easier for the dying missionaries to adjust and for the new missionaries to get to their areas sooner. I think that sounds good. We'll see on Thursday. I hope the activities include being introduced to the king and queen. President Newell knows them pretty well :)

We had our combined Malmö-Göteborg zone conference on Saturday to meet the Newells. They are lovely people. Very real and sincere. We could tell they already loved us, and though apprehensive about everything, ready to do what was required of them. Amazing examples of faith. I've never had an up-close look into the life of an ambassador, but Pres. Newell described their experiences here in Sweden and they were amazing. 40-bedroom house, fancy dinners, meeting everyone important in Sweden and tons of foreign dignitaries. He's also had quite the career in the US it seems. Really cool to hear about. He of course is humble about it, but honest, so it made for a really fun couple of hours.

Right after we ran over to Utby's chapel for Kleber's baptism. It was absolutely beautiful. It worked out that the Portuguese member from our ward was able to come and speak. Her husband, Anders, did the confirmation the next day in Portuguese as well. Elder Webster did the baptism in Portuguese and I spoke in Spanish. I was so nervous because I hadn't practiced or anything. I had Elder Bednar's talk, 'Receive the Holy Ghost' in Spanish just in case I blanked, but the Spirit filled my mouth and I was able to say what I needed to. All the Portuguese speakers said they understood perfectly and complemented my clear Spanish. Anders even said that he understood me better than anybody in Spain. When I told him I'd learned in Guatemala, he said, "That's why!" It would have made Maria, my Spanish teacher, proud :) They always said Guatemalan Spanish is the best.

The baptism and confirmation made my life. It was so wonderful and Spirit-filled. K was so ready and expressed so much gratitude and sincere dedication to continuing to change his life. After the confirmation we went back to our ward for Sacrament meeting. It also made my life when the 2nd counselor thanked me for all my service and asked for me to come and bear my testimony. I said, "You like me! You really like me!" Just kidding, but I felt like that. Per G. Malm was sitting on the stand that day. That was a little nerve wracking at first, but maybe not so much since I know most of his family and love them. It also made my life when R got up near the end and bore a confident, sweet testimony about how the Spirit had helped him understand better the nature of God, something he'd been seeking to know for a year. He's normally very shy and doesn't say much even when we ask him direct questions. We could see that our baby was all grown up and feeling more comfortable. We were so happy.

Otherwise, we've been trying to wrap up and prepare for the changes ahead. I'm so grateful for my mission and the multitude of lessons I've learned along the way. See you in 3 days!!

Love,

Syster Maxwell

Week 66

2011-06-27T03:41:00.000-07:00

Subject: Beginning the week of lasts

Hello family!

Dear me. Last week was kind of bad as far as numbers go, but wonderful otherwise. On Tuesday we started the week with 6 teaches at the Institute. 12 pm, 3:30pm, 4:30pm, 5:45pm, 7pm, and 8pm. We essentially said goodbye to each investigator and said, "Next, please!" It was amazing and exhausting! It made me feel a little like Aaron Lee, actually :)

We started and finished teaching a guy from India who was here on a business trip. We gave him a Hindi Book of Mormon and pamphlets and he said he'd love to have missionaries in India come visit. Also, M is leaving this week to go back to Colombia. We keep hoping he'll say he wants to get baptized before he goes, but we aren't sure how practical that is :) He's ready if he wants to. K is still on his way to get baptized on Saturday. He's so excited! We introduced him to a girl in the ward in Utby and really hoped they'd hit it off. Maybe... They both thought the other was funny. We've been making steps to transition him over to the other ward, but he went to church there this week and then called us asking why we weren't there and said he wanted to go to our church. No! Not allowed :) We felt loved, though. I asked him yesterday how it is going not drinking coffee. He said in his jovial broken English, "Fine! Great! But I drink some beers and smoking cigarettes. Ha ha ha!" I said, "What!? Are you lying!" He was :) It was really funny. You have to know him. Everybody loves him. He came to midsummer with us on Friday and had fun trying his hand at American Football and dancing around the midsummer pole.

Midsummer was awesome. It started out rainy and cold. We went first to a party in Utby with other members of the church and community and braved the rain. We had a small cook out after with the other missionaries and some of our investigators and new members and the rain started clearing. Later we headed over to Slottskogen for part 2 of the celebrations. We danced around the midsummer pole again, but this time it was led by people in traditional garb who performed traditional dances before hand. I was in heaven. I wished we could have stayed and watched longer, but the other missionaries and our friends had moved on to play football. We are allowed to participate in the dances, but there was one that caught me off guard. I don't think we danced it last year. It's one where you turn to your neighbor, shake his hand, and then give him a hug. Agh! I didn't know and then all of a sudden the kid in traditional clothes was putting his arms around me. It was funny to just me, of course. He probably thought my reaction was weird is all.

We watched the new version of the Joseph Smith movie online with C. It was weird in some places with the editing and chopping they did, but they addressed all of the concerns I had about the last one. He loved it, so it did its job.

We finished the week out well, and are on to the next. My last full week! It's crazy. This shouldn't be my last letter. I'll write again on the 6th probably and report on the new mission president and K's baptism if all goes well. I think it will. Got good feelings about this one. Well, I love you all. I'm excited about this next week and the hard work we've got ahead of us. Good luck getting ready for the family reunion. Save some of the fun until I get there!

Love,

Syster Maxwell

Week 65

2011-06-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

Subject: 15 minutes!

Hejsan,

This week was really long. We had sharpening and it always makes the week seem longer to not have district meeting on Thursday. But, the week was just fine.

On Monday we went to a fort near Göteborg and spent a couple of glorious hours running around taking pictures, climbing on rocks, listening to Elder Bloomfield mimic Gregorian chant in the tower and having fun make believing we live in a storybook. I love Sweden!

Tuesday was Sharpening with President and Sister Anderson and my last one. It was very emotional and powerful and I felt that confirmation that my work here has been good and approved of by the Lord. I've done what I came to do (or am doing it still), and have learned a good deal. It's the beginning of something greater which I look forward to. I am so very grateful for President and Sister Anderson. I've learned a ton from their examples and the way they have dealt with challenges with consideration, care, and trust. They'll be missed, but more and more the missionaries and members here are preparing for really big things to come with President Newell. The work here will only go forward and I'm excited to be a little part of it, but sad to be leaving when it feels like the best is yet to come. It's amazing to see.

On Wednesday we set a baptismal date with K, our Brazilian friend. Elder Webster again happened to be at the center when we had our appointment. Coincidence? I think not. He should actually be here on the 2nd for a special zone conference where we'll be meeting the new mission president. We have dreams of him being here to baptize him. That would be so cool! K didn't come to church on Sunday because of work, so our plans for a big last baptism for me might be changing, but it doesn't matter. K was hesitant about the word of wisdom because he's a push over and is afraid of giving in when people offer him a drink and because he drinks a ton of coffee. He agreed to try though. He's really awesome.

E finally read! He's the guy from Iran. I was able to talk to him about baptism. It actually came up because Z called us on Thursday and said that he didn't feel like he could go through with the baptism because he has family still in Afghanistan and he realizes if he gets baptized he can never go back. There are also some issues with his residency here. I guess if he does something wrong, they can still send him back. He's also worried about his friends here jumping him or something. We, of course, respect that and have to let him do what he feels is right. We just hope he'll keep coming to church and being a part of things. So, I told this to E, who asked about the baptism, and he said that was also his concern. We talked about how we understood that and thought it was still good for him to keep meeting us and seeking it because it will bless his life in any case. Perhaps someday the situation will change.

We've had some good teaches with M who is interested in continuing to meet the missionaries when he goes home to Colombia in a few weeks. Yay!

I also received the compliment of my life this week from an American member who said that I have 'bomb Swedish' and that I'm a really good missionary and things have been really good since I got here. He said, 'You have a strong Spirit. Whatever you're doing it's right'. Made my week and life. :)

We also had stake conference. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake with President Eyring, Elder Bednar, Elder Malm (whose family is all in my ward), and Sister Beck. It was awesome! M loves Pres. Eyring. I do too!

Anyway, so I must be off, but those were the highlights. It's been kind of up and down, but lots of up. I know we are cared for and protected every day. I love the Spirit that we feel and just like mom wrote about it, I hope to be able to live worthy of it even at home even without the missionary mantel. It's essential. Hope everyone is being good and doing what you should be. I love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 64

2011-06-13T03:47:00.000-07:00

Subject: the trunk-o-meter reading looks positive

Hejsan allihopa!

During district meeting this week, we made a scale of trunkiness, and it turns out I'm only a 4! Woo hoo! Well, this week continued as normal. We had teaches and rain. Lots of rain, but not so much rain. We went to a graduation ceremony for the girl who I've been helping with editing her thesis. I realized that I am going to be weirder than I expected when I get home when sitting in an auditorium for a graduation I was surprised there wasn't an opening prayer. Oh dear. Listening to them talk about their theses and all the hard work they put into them made me realize that that's my near future. The reality of next month hit me in the face. I remember the real world, and I'm not sure I want to go back there yet. Oh well. It's inevitable.

We met a couple on the street the other day from China who said we don't know much about God, can you tell us? But, you have to tell us now because we are going back to China tomorrow. Sadly, we had to catch a bus, so we did the best we could with the 10 minutes we had, her translating for him, and us leaving her with an English Book of Mormon and website. Those are the moments you wonder what the future will hold for them, but you know you'll probably never know.

We also ran into M on the street, the man from Palestine who doesn't believe in God and thinks we are brainwashed fools and liked to call us his angels. Because of cancellations and problems finding people to come along, we ended up eating with him twice once at a cafe and once at his house. He's always frustrated by how little time we have even though we explain it to him every time. The funny thing is that both times, he introduced us to Christian people interested in talking about God. He runs with an interesting crowd, for the attitudes he has. We really liked the girl who came to dinner yesterday. She is into praise dance and has a sweet faith in God. We were able to introduce her to the church and the Book of Mormon at least.

Otherwise, teaches have been wonderful. R is doing great, and so is Z. We taught him about tithing with the bishop on Wednesday and he said, well, of course! The bishop asked him some interview-like questions about his feelings about the Church and about Christianity and such and he bore a sweet testimony of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, Thomas S. Monson, etc. He's awesome and has a fun, biting sense of humor. We're so grateful we found him again!

Well, the weather is nice again today, and I'm excited about the rest of the transfer. It's going to be great! I hope everyone is staying healthy and putting on sunblock. I love the gospel and I know the Church is the Lord's! Have a great week!

Syster Maxwell

Week 63

2011-06-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Subject: I swear the air in Sweden is fresher

Hejsan!

This has been a fantastic week. Summer is finally here and my sister missionary shoe tan is starting to emerge. Hurrah! We were getting ready for R's baptism, and were able to meet with a number of our investigators. We had some incredible, Spirit filled teaches and were overwhelmed with how prepared R actually was. The only thing he seemed concerned about was a living prophet. He wanted to make sure he wasn't some kind of a cultist leader. We had him watch some of his talks online and explained what his role really is and he was fine with it. Crazy! He told us he had a dream that angels were flying around the church building. He also entertained us this week with stories about his parents' matchmaking and how that really works in India (at least where he's from). I've always heard about it, but never from a person who has actually lived it. We also found him a buddy in the ward. He gave a talk and confirmed him and we hope he'll be a mentor to him as he finds his place among the members. He's going to be great. The confirmation was amazing. At the words, 'receive the Holy Ghost' the Spirit flooded the room and the blessing that followed was personal and beautiful. He was beaming the entire day and the members just took him in. It was wonderful to see. C (got baptized in April) came to the baptism and helped us fold programs. He even bore his testimony in church, reporting on the baptism and how meaningful it was. It was awesome. He's a great ward missionary without even trying.

We finally found a perfect member to follow along on teaches with our African investigator who knows the Book of Mormon is true. She's in her 40s and outspoken, so he listens to her and she can keep him on track. We finally got to teach him something! We found out that he in turn teaches his wife, who can't speak Swedish or English, and his son. When I heard that, I knew those people needed the Plan of Salvation, so even though we were short on time, we drew it out for him and gave him a pamphlet so he could start teaching everyone else. He wants so much for his wife to come around, but he says it's hard when she's illiterate and brainwashed (his words, not mine). We told him to pray that the Spirit would touch her heart. Hope it does!

We found out that the trick with H is that he needs friends for his kids so that they will come with to church him. We are really excited to have him come to an FHE with a family in the ward. It's all just hopes and dreams, but I can see it now. And then his wife will come around. And then they'll go to the temple together. It'll work!

Everything's been wonderful this week. Except for losing two of our favorite investigators. The 17-year-old Spanish speaker doesn't really want to meet with us and hasn't been making progress, and D, our miracle contact on the street, texted us and said that praying is going well and that he has decided our church isn't for him. Sad day.

Well, we found two women potential investigators yesterday. One of them was having a family barbeque. She asked for a Book of Mormon and said we were welcome anytime. Lovely! I was making the weekly report yesterday and was a bit sad that they were all men, so here's hoping that changes soon.

I also met a lady from Guatemala yesterday! She is from Huehuetenango. I'm pretty sure I've been there, but I can't remember. It was nice to hear that wonderful accent again.

Well, I think that's the news. We have so many wonderful things to look forward to this month, and I'm trying not to think about the weeks. I love you all and I love this work!

Syster Maxwell

Week 62

2011-05-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

Subject: This is short.

Hey all,

It has rained all week. That always puts a damper on everything good that has happened, but we've had a great week nonetheless. We had a miracle with our Brazilian man. We couldn't get our Brazilian member to come with us this week, but we realized that Elder Webster, one of the assistants, was going to be at the Center that day for District Leader training. His dad was a mission president in Brazil when he was about 13-16, so we asked him to help out. I still get about half of what is said, but it was so good to have K be able to express himself and ask his questions to someone who understood everything. He's still moving forward and we have dinner and a teach set up with the Brazilian lady this week.

Everyone is just moving along wonderfully. R is overwhelmed learning everything so quickly, but he's still positive and happy about it. And Z is still really cool and more and more willing to take part in activities and church. Something really exciting that has happened recently is with the former bishop and his wife were made ward missionaries. They are such a big help mostly with their enthusiasm and willingness to help. It makes us feel like people remember us and love us.

I'm trying to think if there were any fun highlights this week, but I can't recall any. Oh, it's been gay pride week this week I guess. I haven't seen or heard anything other than rainbow flags everywhere. That was a bit of a disappointment. We also had fun on Monday playing football. Elder Todesco gave Elder Olsen a run for his money and we all had a really fun time. The both have played or will play for the U of U. Yep, guess you had to be there. I'm also in heaven because it's avocado season again. Yay! Well, have a good week everyone. The Church is true!

Syster Maxwell

Week 61

2011-05-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Subject: The blessings of consecration

Hejsan allihopa,

So, this has been quite the week. We saw so many miracles this week. We found a guy from Brazil who has a friend on a mission in Australia, so he was excited to meet with us. He hardly speaks English, but we can fill in the gaps with Spanish and we have a Brazilian lady who can help as well.

On Saturday, we saw part of the Göteborg half marathon. We were there when the first runners came by. They were mostly Kenyans and broke the course record with 1:00:02. They all looked so pretty like they could run that fast all day. It was cool to see live. They run the race all through down town Göteborg. There were maybe 45,000 participants and all the public transportation was closed down. Getting home was fun, but it worked out. I think it would be fun to run someday.

That evening we met a guy from Nigeria who seemed really positive at first, but then his questions got more and more accusing and pointed, until we were defending our faith and the fact that we actually do follow Jesus Christ. We couldn't get him to end the flow of questions and ended up getting home late. On the way home, the drunk who we'd met with once before (he was sober at the time), happened to be on the tram with his Indian friend who was also drunk. I decided it was a tender mercy. Put me in a much better mood. His friend told us all about Mormons, and the first guy told me how much he liked me, patted me on the head, and blew me a kiss as the tram pulled away when we got off. They made me laugh and the positive sentiments about our faith lightened my mood. I love the people we meet!

We also met, R, a PhD candidate from India. He didn't show up to an appointment on Sunday with us, but he came on Tuesday. The Spirit was so strong and he was so ready to hear and accept our message. He agreed to meet again on Thursday, and when he came on Thursday, we found out that he knows a guy who just got baptized in the Utby ward from cricket (they play on Saturdays. We're going next Saturday!). In the teach, the Spirit was again there in abundance and he gladly agreed to be baptized. The 4th felt like the right date. I didn't realize until after that it's really only 2 weeks away. Ah!

On Friday we had a nice chat with Z about everything going on in his life, and during the opening prayer, I felt prompted just to go ahead and ask about how he felt about baptism. He said, 'I was going to ask you about that. What does someone need to do to get ready?' We were overjoyed and he is enthusiastic about the idea. We are praying really hard he gets his driver's license the first go around because the classes are keeping him from coming to church. When we got home that night, as we knelt in prayer, I got a strong impression that these are the blessings of consecration. I want to continue to put off my own desires to help those who are here. This is my time to serve and I am so grateful for it. Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 60

2011-05-16T05:41:00.000-07:00

Subject: Donations gratefully accepted

So, this has been a good week. The weather turned chilly and rainy, but the sun is shining today. Well, it was. It looks gray outside again. Elder Olsen wants me and Sis Brown to wrestle today. I'm feeling very passive today, so I don't think it's going to fly. She'd probably kill me on any day. So, if I don't write next week, that's why.

Otherwise, life is wonderful. We had some really good teaches this week and people kept giving us stuff. Food, jewelry, small children, etc. It's been fun.

On Tuesday we started out meeting a guy I talked to on the spårvagn over the weekend. He told us how lonely he is and that he wants to hang out with us all the time. We finished teaching him which basically entailed giving him pamphlets and a Book of Mormon to read at home since his Swedish was worse than I'd initially thought. As we were leaving he pulled out a little package for me. I thought it was food, so I was going to open it later, and then later I realized it was a bracelet. It's actually pretty nice, so I was grateful. He brought one for sister brown the next time we met. That meeting was especially fun because we brought, F along, the new member who hardly speaks English. We really just wanted them to get to know each other (they both speak Arabic), so M would talk and talk and talk and then F would turn to us and say, 'it's good!' or 'I don't know... sorry,' and give us a big grin. It all cracked us up, and most importantly we found out M was mostly after money. Oh well.

On Wednesday we had another language adventure and a fun little success story. There is a girl who we've been helping with editing her master's thesis who is interested in the church once she's not busy anymore, so we've been waiting and helping her feel comfortable at the Institute. We had a stroke of inspiration which all worked out beautifully. I contacted another guy a few weeks ago who doesn't speak much English or Swedish, but he speaks Farsi. The first time we met him he brought his own translator, but we realized that M (the girl) would be a great help to us (she's from Iran), and it would be a way to start teaching her. We had Swedish class, so we got help from the zone leaders who's investigator the guy really should be. It all worked wonderfully! The rest of the story is that M and K (the guy) when to church on Sunday and really liked it! M is willing to translate any time for the elders and said that one day she will eventually be a part of this church. It was wonderful! There's again the whole being Muslim issue, so we'll see what happens in the future, but for now, I'm really happy. She's my social science buddy.

Otherwise, Z is making progress and has been responding really well to the men we've been bringing along (cultural thing?). He also really liked the whole women in the home value we've got. Sigh. He's really great, and once his driver's ed course is over should be able to come to church again...

We also met another lady who wanted to be our friend. She's really sweet and 81 and our 'teach' with her consisted in us listening to her for an hour and being able to teach her about the Book of Mormon. She's from Romania originally and is an interesting lady.

Ack! My time is up. I got a bit carried away, but to wrap up, my birthday was really fun. We had Thai food for lunch, the elders made me a cake, and they all sang to me at the restaurant. It was humiliating for me and the Finnish elder in the other district :) Well, hope you all are well. Have a great week!

Week 59

2011-05-09T04:59:00.000-07:00

Subject: Short week. Nice weather.

Hey all!

So the weather is lovely and warm again, so all is well with the world. Transfers were surprisingly non-stressful. Sis Jenson was all packed before Wednesday and we had time for everything we wanted to do. It was lovely. On Wednesday night we got to see all the people who have been too busy or too sick to meet with us, but weren't able to teach them anything because they came to our 'goodbye everybody' ice cream social at the institute.

Thursday was really relaxed. We dropped all the people being transferred or going home off at the train station in the morning and then headed back to the institute to study, play games, and start working on the video Elder Olsen was going to put together for Elder Carlisle's parents when they came through. We had everybody say nice things about him. It was fun to try to find the classiest spot in the institute and get the perfect shot. The lighting was all wrong, but it was a good try. All the elders left about 4, so I spent a blissful 3 and a half hours alone. I'd forgotten what that felt like. Elder and Sister Anderson were around, but they were doing their own thing. I tried unsuccessfully to get members to our teaches and Swedish class and then wrote in my journal. Wonderful!

On Friday we had a busy day. The highlight of the day was probably the interview with the high school students that started out as 'Where do God's morals come from?' A delicious question, but half the discussion was really not what we should be discussing as missionaries. It was fun nonetheless and we got in the first two lessons. The best part was when the guy breaks and says, 'But there are so many religions! How do you know which one is right?' I love those moments. It helps me feel like our sociological discussions actually do some good and put some of these students on the right track.

Saturday we went to go do service for a less active and ended up having an afternoon barbeque instead. Merg. I was really excited to paint, so the unexpected leisure was unpleasant. That's the second time we've tried to do (outdoor) service on my mission for a less active Swedish woman and it completely backfired. Remember the snail throwing last year? Afterwards we got blåsted by a member, so we couldn't teach our Spanish boys, but we taught a lady on the street right after and gave her the Spanish Book of Mormon we'd brought. The Lord doth provide.

Yesterday was lovely. Sorry the phone call was weird with me being on the bus. It was really good to know everyone is hanging in there. Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 58

2011-05-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

Subject: Party week

Hejsan allihopa!

I can't believe it's May already. My birthday is next week! Last week was kind of a bummer week, but there were good things that happened as well. Last Tuesday was a really good day. We went by a lovely lady who was very open to us coming, but explained from the beginning that she doesn't want to feel like she's being taught or that her home is a school. She had bad experiences with Jehovah's Witnesses who came every week whether she wanted them to or not and she didn't like the learning environment they created, so now we can't teach her, but we're welcome to come and talk about Jesus generally :) Mostly she just needs a friend. We're still really hopeful for her because she really wants to come to church and be a part of a community. She was also a member referral, so that's a plus as well. She has a really hard background with years of abuse and being overworked. It's sad, but she's lovely.

We then had our first meeting with, H, an inactive 23 year old who misses the church and wants to come back but is afraid of the changes he will have to make. It was a really positive experience the first time and then he came to the Institute for the activity on Friday and then we met with him again yesterday. It was wonderful. It was one of those teaches where everything fell into place. Brick wall, brick wall, spiritual breakthrough. Sis Jenson was inspired to challenge him to pray. I was inspired to quote a song we'd been listening to earlier, and Sis Jenson had wanted to play him another song, so she'd brought her iPod. The song I had thought of was perfect. It all worked out in a way we hadn't expected and in the end he said a prayer for the first time in 5 years. It was cool to be a part of. Of course this description doesn't do the Spirit that we felt justice. That was the coolest part.

Last Wednesday we met with the drunk we'd met on the street. He was sober! I was pretty sure he wasn't when I made the appointment. We'll see how that goes...

On Thursday we were privileged to be a part of a baptism in Borås. I love being the only one that can play the piano! :) It was a beautiful experience. It was at a nursing home, so he was baptized in the pool. The water went up to their chests, so there was no question about if he'd gone all the way under or not. Every baptismal service is a miracle and I always come away feeling uplifted and grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary.

At the Institute activity on Friday we had 7 or so investigators come. Two of them were people I'd contacted 2 months or more ago and have been trying to get them there. Miracle of the day! There weren't that many members there at first, but they all trickled in. It was so much fun! We played kubb and then ate treats. The weather was beautiful and everybody had a good time.

Saturday was Valborg again. No bonfire this year, but we watched the parade the local college (Chalmers) puts on every year. It was wonderfully political with plenty of social commentary which we didn't get because we aren't Swedish. It was fun :)

Sunday was awesome because C got up and bore his testimony of his own accord and got the Aaronic Priesthood. We also remembered that our new bishop speaks French, so he can counsel with F, the one who doesn’t really speak English very well. We were really, really excited. We started tutoring F in English yesterday and it went surprisingly well. We were grateful to help him in some way.

Yesterday were transfer calls. I'm staying here! Sis Brown is coming. She was in sis Jenson's MTC group, and I'm excited about her coming. It should be an awesome last transfer!!!

Well, looks like this last week was not so bad after all :) I'm so happy to be here, and I'm so happy summer is coming. I hope you all are doing well. Happy Mother's Day! Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 56 and 57

2011-04-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

Subject: There are feathers in the bushes again

Hello all!

So, I wrote this a week ago and just found it in my drafts! I wondered why Dad said you hadn't gotten much. This week was terrible as far as numbers go, but we've had a good week. We've met a number of interesting people and the weather was terrible, but now it is absolutely beautiful. Therefore, we are happy again. We have loved being just two of us again. We miss Sis Lövgren terribly and often shed a tear or two when we put ketchup on our pasta or walk past the liver paté in the grocery store, but two is so much easier to take care of. It's been good for me and Sis Jenson to finally get to know each other. We also don't feel so self-conscious about our Swedish but have to carry a dictionary around again :)
I forgot to mention that we found a large American foods section at one of the grocery stores here (we were tipped off by a member in the ward. He's from San Jose, actually...). We bought Reese’s, Dr. Pepper, maple syrup, and black beans. I was so excited to find black beans. That's one thing I really did miss when I first got here. I also realized how much I didn't miss anything else. I don't really need to go home, actually. I'm perfectly happy here. I've even started using the deodorant. :)

Well, our week started off well with a visit to a man from Gambia who is Muslim by birth, but is seeking the truth with his grown up kids. He was a name left us by the elders, but he hasn't had time to receive visits. We went there, and he started off by talking a lot about his family and then told us that it had taken him a long time, but he'd finished the book they gave him and he thinks it's the right path to follow. Turns out he was talking about the Book of Mormon. His daughter in England has read it and he's giving one to his son as well. The funny thing was that he didn't even know who Joseph Smith was. We left him the Restoration DVD and set up a return appointment. He knows it's true but isn't in a hurry to be baptized. He said we could come once a month. We compromised with once a week if the visits were very short. :)

We met with the Rastafarian man from Barbados we met last week. Turns out he lives in the Elder's area, but he said he'd rather go to church in our ward because it was more acceptable. I'm not going to lie, I want to keep teaching him. He's awesome! He said that everyone has an inner Rastafarian, but many people are afraid to accept it. I was almost convinced to try dreadlocks when I get home :) He talked about how Isaiah 11 prophecies about the Rastafarian way of life. It was a really interesting interpretation and I'm pretty sure not exactly in keeping with what the Bible actually says. He was quoting stuff I've never read before.
We also met a guy contacting who is a member of the Exclusive Brethren. I hadn't heard of them I don't think, but their website is exclusivebrethren.com. He said there are only 400 members in Sweden. He seems to have a very strong faith in Christ, but they take the teachings of Paul about women and their role in church seriously. They have a role, he said, but they don't preach.

C is doing really well. He made a comment in the combined Sunday school yesterday at ward conference about Jesus Christ and asked me when he'd get his membership number because he really wants to pay tithing. He's so great!! He feels great and he looks great. Such a complete change is a miracle.

Well, life is good. We are rallying for the last few weeks of the transfer. We're actually both hoping we'll stay, but we'll see what happens. I hope everyone has a glorious Easter. I don't feel like I can put into words how grateful I am for this opportunity we have to dedicate a weekend to Jesus Christ and his atonement. I hope you all have an opportunity to reflect on it. Love you all!

Amy

Subject: A little sun makes all the difference

Hey all,

So there was a question about how many Swedish investigators I've had. I've actually had quite a few Swedes that I've taught, but most come from other places. C, who just got baptized, is Swedish through and through. Swedes are looking for truth too, turns out.

We had zone conference on Tuesday and it was lovely. I gave a surprise five minute talk (we do that every zone conference, but I hadn't given one yet). I had a feeling it was my turn the day before, so I was ready. I also played the piano and sang for the musical number. Elder Wood and I sang 'The Lord's Prayer'. I heard it for the first time at the MTC. It's beautiful! But the singing was a little rough because we weren't next to the piano and he got behind us, so I cut out on the high part. Oops! Surprise Elder Wood solo! I was also going to talk a little about our recent baptism and following the Spirit, but that got cut because of time. It felt a little like the Sis Maxwell show. I love that!

On Wednesday we went to eat with a part member family. The husband is Swedish and uninterested, but we started our little lesson and it turned into a 45 minute discussion about whether or not the wife could be sealed to the husband because she'd been married in the temple before to a man who didn't keep his covenants, but has since died. There seemed to be a lot of pent up bitterness about the whole thing and I kept wondering how we'd gotten in the middle of this. It worked out ok. We got the Spirit back and felt prompted to make some pretty big promises to him if he'd just try. It was cool.

It's actually been a pretty cool week. We've had some good teaches with a few people who are really positive, but just need a push to get their motivation in the right place.

This week was also a musical number week. I sang and played the piano at the double baptism the zone leaders had yesterday. I sang a Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief and Elder Rowley played the guitar. It was folksy and awesome. We were going to do a dramatic reading for one of the verses, but decided it was a little much. :) Our investigator, E, was there and said he felt a really strong, indescribable feeling when the baptisms were performed. He's our most positive investigator, but he's from Iran and might be moving back there, so he probably can't get baptized anyway, but we'll keep helping him prepare, I suppose.

Yesterday we had a lovely dinner with the Utby and Kungsbacka elders and Elder and Sister Anderson, the couple that work at the center. We felt prompted to go over and visit F, the one who got baptized a month ago. We made him an Easter basket and went to his apartment. He was alone, so we talked to him at the door. It turns out he'd been talking to his wife who wants to divorce him. We all cried together, and we wished so much we could help in some way. We took him with us to dinner and were really glad we had. We hope it cheered him up. He really respects the elders and I hope enjoys our company.

We also got a visit from the Brays!! That was surreal, but really fun. We went to a really nice Greek restaurant and Sis. Bray's re-enactment of your excited to see me hug was perfect, Mom! She did it justice. :) They came to the baptism Sunday morning and then to church and were on their way. It was perfect! Brother Bray said I have a lot of the same mannerisms as you, Mom, so I'm very pleased to know that I haven't totally lost my identity over the years. More and more I feel like I'm regressing to become a 21 year old boy. Yuck! :)

Well, that's the news this week. The weather is beautiful!!! Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 55

2011-04-11T13:55:00.001-07:00

Subject: Short note

Hey all!

This week has been wonderful. Right now I can't recall what has actually happened, but I remember Saturday perfectly well. It was an amazing day. We had a great teach in the morning with E where he said that every time he opened the Book of Mormon he got a good feeling. We then had a well-attended Swedish class with 5 priesthood holders at the center. The rules of the center are that we have to have a Melchizedek Priesthood holder here with us. We've been having a hard time getting one there, so we had all of them at once :) We thought it was highly ironic.

We then went to the sweetest baptism I've ever been to. C's son is a member of the church in Denmark and came up to baptize him. He was so happy to be there. He was so kind to him the whole time, leading him through the process. He helped him fill out the baptismal record and get changed and stay upbeat and excited. The baptismal service itself was amazing. The Spirit was so strong and everything was beautiful. I finally understand mom's experience as choir director with the angels coming and filling our mouths. Even though it wasn't the most musically pleasing musical number I've ever heard, it was one of the most beautiful. I was playing the piano for one of our zone leaders and the other 2 sisters. There was so much emotion after the baptism and C shared some words at the end and everyone was touched. I wish I could really put into words the experience. It was a wonderful day to be a missionary and I was so grateful that I could be a part of their lives. I felt that day that I really have done something special on my mission.

Sorry, I'm out of time. I love you all. Sis Lövgren left this morning. I'm really sad, but we'll see her again, hopefully.

Sys Maxwell

Week 54

2011-04-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

Subject: Wonderfulness

Hello all!

This week was a great week filled with miracles, the Spirit, and great insights. We had our sister's training in Stockholm on Tuesday and Wednesday and then with General Conference, we had a week of uplifting experiences. We played Ultimate Frisbee for the first time this season last Monday, and it was awesome. I'm ashamed to say it took awhile for me to remember how to throw a Frisbee, but it came back fast and our team dominated.

We had a nice train ride to Stockholm and my first nap in two months. I sat beside the most talkative Swede I've ever met who cried a number of times and told me most of her life story (before my nap). She was really cool. I also realized how long it's been since I've been on a real train. The work here in Göteborg is so much faster paced than my other areas have been. I like it except for being more exhausted than usual. Sisters' training was so good. I think you had to be there, but there was a perfect mix of girliness, story telling, laughter, and good missionary work. (We might have had a hairy winter legs contest and I might have won...) My favorite part is going out with the elders to contact because we get to see a different style. They are always a lot more forward than I am. Go figure. I also want to say that I love President and Sister Anderson. The more I interact with them, the more I realize that they are perfect leaders/examples for me. They have taught me so much in the last year. I'm really grateful I've had so many opportunities to get to know them.

While we were gone, the zone leaders were contacting by the Institute Center and met one of our potential investigators on his way there. They got to know him a little bit and gave him the phone number to an Iranian member in Stockholm. They called each other and talked for 3 hours about everything!! On Saturday we had one of those miracle teaches where his questions were guided by the Spirit, and he recognized that what he was feeling was the Spirit. It's just incredible. I also was prompted to ask a member to come with us on the teaches who turned out to know him from school. Pure inspiration. He's the perfect fellowshipper.

C is also still really excited about his baptism next week. He smoked once this week, but said it was nasty. He loved Conference and had such a glow about him when we all walked home together last night. Wonderfulness!

I love this!! I hope you all remember to share the gospel with you friends just like we heard yesterday. It is possible if we just seek the opportunities and they may not come in the form we expect. I really hope I can continue to be a good example and missionary after my mission. I got really excited this last weekend about the future. It's going to be marvelous.

Love,

Amy

Week 53

2011-03-28T04:55:00.000-07:00

Subject: Read this when you’re in the mood

Hi everyone.

So this has been a really good week. Not quite as good as last week. We were really busy. Spring is coming, and I'm starting to catch back up on sleep. We are looking forward to Sister's Conference tomorrow. I'm going to be leading one of the discussions with Sis Sumner, and everything else should be really fun. Especially the 3 hour train ride. It's been a long time since I was on a train. It's weird.

I have had a really interesting week and a lot has happened. I know the Lord takes care of His missionaries. I left home with nothing and am returning with so much. I'm starting to see what the future will really be like and realizing that it is all going to be ok. I know the daughters of our Heavenly Father have a special role to play. We are just as important. It's hard for me to see that sometimes, but I am understanding it more and more. I hope I can live up to the examples of the wonderful women who have gone before me. I have two wonderful grandmothers who are pillars of faith and hope and an extraordinary mother who seemed to learn it all on her own through her diligent study and self awareness and improvement.

I also have grown tired of doubt, pessimism, and fear. There will always be nay-sayers to everything. It's just up to us to decide what is most important and stick to it. In the end, it's the Spirit that we feel that determines how we should act. People always have an angle and can find 'facts' to back anything up. If you take everything that's 'true' and put it all together, there seems to be a mess of doubt and contradictions. I've heard a lot on my mission. Numbers of people telling me they know what they know to be true because of such and such a reason. They all make sense and they all are sound reasons, but I cannot deny the experiences I've had. If what we are doing today wasn't of the Lord, why all the miracles? Why the joy? Why the manifestations of the Spirit?

I just want to bear my testimony that I know that God lives. I know he strengthens His children when they turn to Him. He never forgets us. I don't understand how He does it, but I know that it's true. I found my Spanish speakers this week. Over a year of searching, and I've found them. They are three teenage boys that live below a Spanish-speaking member of the ward. I know the gift of tongues is real. The power in the room was tangible yesterday as we bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith in the language they understood best. It had been a long time since I spoke Spanish last, but it came back almost completely. I can testify that the hand of the Lord is in this work. I want you all to remember that. I am so grateful to be His representative. My mission just gets better and better. I'm so looking forward to these last three months, but I know that I will have a joyful return, knowing I gave it my all. I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful Spring and General Conference Weekend. It should be glorious!

Syster Maxwell

Week 52

2011-03-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

Subject: Our apartment smells like tobacco now

Hey everybody!

What a week it has been! I've been having some trouble sleeping and haven't had much of an appetite, but otherwise, I'm holding up just fine. There's always some kind of challenge... I woke up at 3:30 this morning and was wide awake, so I got up at 4:30 and cleaned the kitchen and bathroom. It helped to make our p-day smoother, so maybe it was a tender mercy in disguise :)

This week brought so many unexpected surprises. Our contacting miracle, D, the one who came up to us, came to FHE on his own on Monday and just joined right in! Everybody loved him, and the Institute president begged to come on teaches with him :) Funnily enough, after our teach with him on Thursday, he asked us not to bring a 'chaperone' who talks 90 percent of the time and doesn't let us fulfill our role. It was refreshing, actually. It's really frustrating taking members who take control of the lesson. I wonder, though, if he saw it as a male-female thing. Being dominated by the opposite sex and all... It was a good lesson though, and he stuck around for a long time talking to Elder and Sis. Anderson afterwards. He's played World of Warcraft professionally before and was in one of the top guilds. Not my thing, but that's pretty awesome.

We also had that surprise with C. We met him on Tuesday and felt impressed to just ask him how it was going quitting smoking. He said he had reduced his smoking, but wasn't quitting, per se. We asked him if he'd like to and he agreed to go on the program! It has been a really special week with him. He gave us his pipe, so I decided to keep it as a souvenir. We've got it sterilizing in bleach in our apartment. It's awesome! We went to clean up his apartment too, and absolutely scoured the place. It needed it. There was loose tobacco everywhere, and he was very grateful afterwards. Poor Sis Lövgren used an entire roll of paper towels in the bathroom and I took wads of tobacco, cigarette paper, and leftover food out of the old dish water in the sink. We hoped it would help him not fall into the habit again if everything was fresh. He helped us with the baptismal program for Fadi and then came to the baptism in a suit his son had bought for him!!! He looked so good, clean, and happy. He said that he had had one cigarette, but it was nasty to him. I was so proud of him. And then during the closing hymn of sacrament meeting, I felt like I needed to just go over to him and ask him when he wanted to get baptized. I asked Sis Lövgren about it, and she gave me the go. So, I did just that. I went over and said, C we've been wondering when you would like to get baptized. He said that he'd actually felt that at the baptism yesterday, that it was leading to that, and that he'd like to. So, we decided on a date! It felt so good and he was so excited! We've still got a little ways to go, but he's basically ready. He's made so many big changes, going from being anti-religion to ready to be baptized in just over 6 months. It's a miracle. He also has really awesome longish, shaggy hair that I half hope he doesn't cut.

Saturday was also a wonderful day. Everyone in our district had a baptism, so it was a full, fun day! We baked a ton of cookies and sang 'Be Still My Soul' three times. The last time was the best because we did it a cappella right in front of the baptismal font, so the acoustics were awesome. F's baptism was really sweet. I'm grateful we were able to help him get there despite all the texts about my beauty. It was S's first time baptizing and he just couldn't get the prayer right, so he had to do it three times. The Spirit was so strong the whole day. It was wonderful. The confirmation was done in Arabic and everyone in the ward thought that was really cool.

I have been so grateful this week for how much the Spirit has been with us, guiding us. I know more and more that the Lord really is always with us. I'm just so grateful for all the miracles this week.

I also made my first from-scratch layer cake for Elder Carlisle's birthday. It turned out really good! You would have been proud, Dad. Oh, I also decided that I'm going with the money, so I'll be going to Utah State for my master's program. I never thought I'd go back to Utah, but I dont' think it will be that bad :) Plus, I have mission friends who will be there, so I won't be as alone as I would have thought. Well, we have to go play some football now, so I best be off. I love you all! Keep me in your prayers, if you will...

Love,

Amy

Week 51

2011-03-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

Subject: Decision time!

Hejsan allihopa!

So, this week was pretty good. It is light outside when we wake up now and the sun is starting to rise by the time we are getting home from our run. Härligt! It's also warm enough today that I didn't need my second sweater. Things are looking up.

We watched the Testaments with C on Saturday night and he was really touched. It was really sweet. He's the one who's son is a member in Copenhagen. He's had a really rough life and his turnaround the last few months has been a perfect example of the way the repentance process works and the power that comes with it. He is such a kind, sweet man, and we feel so privileged to be able to meet with him.

F seems to be doing really well. We're getting his baptism all planned out, but the ward has been really confused about the situation. They keep wondering why the elders keep showing up to church. Luckily, no one has really demanded a reason, so that's safe with us. We texted him a scripture today and are trying to be kind, but not too friendly so he doesn't get the wrong idea. I remember being told once that I give out mixed signals. I never thought that would come in handy on my mission, but I think it saved me from making a wrong move. I think it's all going to work out fine.

We had a really fun teach with M this week. After debating about expressions of gratitude and whether or not they were good or appropriate, we finally helped him understand that the prophet doesn't preach social commentary. He's preaching God's standard. M said, "But giving without ever expecting anything in return is humanly impossible. So what you're asking me to be is humanly impossible?" "Exactly!!" we replied. It was a funny moment, but helped us tie in the Savior and why he's important.

I forgot to mention last time that Sis Jenson is from Draper. Well, I'm sorry this is insanely short, but I must be off. I beat the Elders bowling today! I've still got it. I have finally reached the point where I don't want to got home anymore. Luckily, the Lord has taken care of me, so I can go back to something. I just have to decide where that something is. (I got into grad school...ask my mom). Well, I love this work, and I know it's the Lord's. Ha en bra vecka!

Sys. Maxwell

PS I heard about BYU's seed in the NCAA tourney. Not bad. Not bad at all...

Week 50

2011-03-07T05:49:00.000-08:00

Subject: Three's company

Hejsan allihopa!

The apartment feels a lot more spacious with just the three of us, but that might just be because we got rid of all the clutter that's been accruing. It was such a relief to clean off the desk.

The last few days have been crazy trying to get everything organized for the other sisters' departure. We tried to make it as smooth as possible, but we called one of their favorite investigators yesterday and he gave us the, "We're really busy right now" line, so we asked one of the members in the ward who has had them over for dinner before to ask them over if they have a chance (in a polite way...). We've also been calling a lot of people who have no idea who we are :) We've also picked up Swedish Class and Saturday Innebandy (like floor hockey--maybe even the same thing), so that's fun.

We are really grateful that someone said the words 'splits' because that truly hadn't crossed my mind. We hope we can continue to work as four (as our mission leader said yesterday) if we get those who are preparing for missions and the young women involved. We already see the need for it because as it always happens, everyone wants to meet at the same time... With the combination of the sister's teaches and our teaches, we killed the zone in numbers last week. It was awesome! (and cheating, really)

On Friday, Sis Jenson's first day in Göteborg and one of the elder's first day on the mission, we did a chalk drawing of the Plan of Salvation by a local shopping center. I asked the elders if this was legal and they said sure. Elder Francis said they'd only had a problem with the cops once... That didn't do much for my confidence, but we went ahead and did it and it was the prettiest chalk drawing of the Plan of Salvation ever. (Sis Lövgren is an artist...). We'd been there about an hour when a guy came up to us and got really mad that we were there and that we weren't planning on cleaning it up. He said it was illegal. We saw him on the phone talking quite angrily and realized he was calling the cops. We all panicked and left. I realized later that the responsible thing to do would have been to stay and clean it up... oops.

On Saturday we finally had a teach with the guy who came up to us on the street. He's really smart (IT guy) and knows a LOT about the church already. We skipped over the restoration because he basically told it to us, but he missed the spirit world on the plan of salvation when he explained it to him, so we taught him that :) He loves the sense of community and thinks we're really interesting. He just needs to pray and understand the spiritual part. We had a very talkative member with us, who hijacked our lesson, but it went ok anyway. Saddest thing was that he said he requested a Book of Mormon from representatives 2 years ago on mormon.org and never received a visit or the book. He had another friend with the same story. If there's anyone out that that reads this and knows how to fix that, that might be an important thing to know. Maybe it was the missionaries' fault. I don't know. We are very glad he passed by us, though.

We met with Si, the other sisters' baptismal date, and found out he didn't realize he had a baptismal date or what baptism even was. So, that was too bad, but once we helped him understand he seemed ok with it eventually...

Sis Jenson is from Utah and likes math. She was studying Engineering and Technology Education at USU. She likes math. She's also really sweet and gives killer back massages. She says I have good posture. Well, that's all for this week. Love you all!

Week 49

2011-03-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

Subject: Here’s our number. Call us sometime!

Hello everyone!!

So, we are at the institute center on this fine P-day. We had an amazing game of football this morning. Elder Olsen (who played football with Aaron Lee, and loves reading his letters. Thanks, mom!) was our quarterback and Sis Gotberg showed all the elders up. He actually throws the ball to me, and I made a few good catches today and a touchdown! Sis Gotberg then put everyone to shame by tying with Elder Olsen and the 6'7" Elder Carlisle. I kept up with them until 7, but when they hit 9 and I fell behind, I just lost the drive. I thought Elder Carlisle was going to cry at the end there, or just puke.

Well, the weather has been cloudy and colder the last week. Maybe it's warming up again...maybe? This week was up and down. Last Tuesday we met with Mo who was totally willing to pray, but insisted he start his prayer by addressing Heavenly Father as Energy, because that's his relationship to him. At the end of his prayer he said, "in the name of Energy, Amen." I told him he should say Jesus Christ's name instead, but he's pretty stubborn. We'll see. He agreed to pray and read from the Book of Mormon every day until we meet again.

The next day we had a lunch with a man who I think is Dad's age. I think I mentioned him last week. Atheist from Palestine. He likes to call us his angels and told us what he believes 'God' is this week. He explained that to find truth, you have to fight against your own soul, and if you are strong enough you can tear it away from your body and look at it. He said he's done it and has seen what is really in charge of us. He says there are legions of beings that breed our souls to feed off of us. Their relationship to us is like a herder to his cattle. It's quite a sad outlook on life. I asked him how he knew he wasn't being deceived, but he insisted he's seen it. At the end Sis Lövgren and I compared our reactions. I don't agree one bit with it, but if I had not been a missionary I would have asked a lot more questions. Sis Lövgren said she would have started an argument with him and walked out. We both agreed it didn't feel very good.

On Thursday we got 6 numbers contacting!! We were out for 3 hours in the wind and cold and by the end, my hands and feet were blocks of ice and I thought I was going to be sick from the cold. We got back to the institute and warmed up though. One of the numbers came when we contacted a guy and another man came up said, "Where are you from?" When he knew who we were he said, "Can I give you my number? I'm interested. Do you have a phone?" That got us pretty excited, of course, and helped the other guy we were talking to feel more willing to give us his number too! Little miracles!

On Saturday we had an appointment with a guy we were nervous was more interested in me than the gospel. Turns out he had no idea I was a missionary and when I asked him what he expected from meeting us said, "I'll tell you some other time." He looked just shocked the whole time. Poor guy. We tried to make it better by being nice and talking about all the great activities we have.

On a positive note, our miracle woman from 2 Sundays ago came to church and loved the Word of Wisdom! She’d even been wanting to cut back on green tea recently when she found out it has caffeine. She invited us to an organ massage (the instrument). I got confused and thought it was some kind of a mass or something. We found out later it wasn't, so it was good we didn't go. We almost did. Since the debacle on Saturday, we have been blessed with 2 new women investigators! We also found out that we will be staying here (of course), the other sisters will be leaving, and we'll be a trio with Sis Jensen. I'm really excited about making it into Indiana. I got the email, but the computer didn't have adobe to read the attachment. There was a slight moment of panic, but Sis L's had it, so I got to print out the letter and show everybody! Are you going to be leaving, Ted? That would be sad. How long will you be in St. Louis, Jeff? 2 more years? I have to hear back from USU and pray about it first, but it's cool nonetheless. Well, the pizza is starting to settle, and I should go play pool now. I'm so excited about this transfer! Spring’s coming!

Kram,

Sys Maxwell

Week 48

2011-02-21T05:55:00.000-08:00

Subject: I want to touch me and you a cup of coffee

Hey all!

Time sure does fly by. We have transfer calls next week, but at our zone conference, President Anderson said he was planning on keeping me in one place for awhile. I told him I guess I'd unpack my bags now :) He also said he figured it would just be one set of sisters in Göteborg, so we can kiss the 4-woman apartment goodbye. We've had so much fun!! It's cramped, but a lot more exciting.

Well, the miracles are still flowing in. We really wanted to make our goals this week and we ended sunday one teach short. We decided to contact on the way home for weekly planning and the second person we talked to said, "I know a little about your church, but not much. What do you stand for?" We were able to give her a short first lesson there on the street. Though she wasn't interested, it was a positive interaction for her, and the Lord showing us again that He cares.

We also had a cool experience where we didn't know exactly where to go to contact on Saturday, so we just went to the spår vagn to see how we felt when we got there. We decided to take the first one that came and talk to those we felt we should. We got off at Marklandsgatan and took the first one that came again. We got off at another random stop and had 5 minutes until the next tram. We saw a few african ladies carrying a couple of kids, so we decided to talk to them in the meantime. They said they had been here for a week, were from Rwanda and on an exchange program with Gothenberg university and were looking for a doctor for the baby. Sis Lövgren asked a passing couple and we went with them to the emergency care. We sat with them for a good 3 hours and then went with them to get the prescription for the baby. He had some kind of infection. Sis Lövgren was able to give one of the ladies a Book of Mormon and teach her about the restoration and they said we could come over next week. The coolest thing was being able to help someone. It's so hard sometimes to find ways to be helpful to people here.

So, our zone got 9 baptismal dates this week! We were very excited. The saddest part about that is that one of them was ours (who really only speaks Arabic and French), but the next day he sent us a text that said "Hallo maxwell how are you i want to touch me and you a cup of coffee outside the church as possible? And at the same time i do not want to bother, and i hope that my call receptive, the spectrum of week, thank you" First of all, no coffee. Second of all, I have only met him once and he's a bit older than me. And third of all, I'm a missionary!!! We sent him a text back and said we didn't have time, but we'd like to meet next week, and had he read anything from the Book of Mormon yet? He texted back saying "Hi, i am for you and for your beauty saghere all the books and i did not asittie to sleep and i'm thinking of your beauty and the book. lol lol"

We had a good laugh over that one and so did the elders when we had to call and ask them to take our investigator. There seems to be quite the epidemic of this. Maybe it's because it's february?

Otherwise, I am happy and things are going really well. Sis Lövgren and I are starting to annoy each other by our similarities, but it's funny. We take it in stride. Well, the work goes forward. It's amazing to see. Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Love,
sys m

PS forgive the type-os! Ack!

Week 47

2011-02-14T18:06:00.000-08:00

Subject: These boots were made for walkin’

Hejsan allihopa!

It's been quite an interesting week in preparation for Valentine's Day! With our investigator calling us 'baby' instead of sister and then the other Sisters' baptismal date expressing his love to Sis Gotberg, we've had quite enough of the Valentine's sentiment :) He told her he's going back to Africa this week, and wouldn't she like to go with him? When she said no in her usual Sis Gotberg manner (nicely and with a sense of humor) he followed up with a texted poem about his love for her. He tried calling over and over and after a lot of agonizing conversations with the rest of us told her that she wasn't practicing what she preached because Jesus wouldn't avoid people. That was mature of him. So, in the end we gave S to the other sisters and they gave M to us. We are trying to meet with M again to see what his real intentions really are and if he is interested in continuing to learn more and set up a new baptismal date.

So, it's been quite cozy with all four of us in the apartment. It seems to take forever to get out of the door in the morning, but we can run and be ready for study at 8, so that's been impressive. Otherwise, I can never find anything and all my clothes seem to be permanently wrinkled from being stuffed in half a closet. After 2 weeks, we've worked out the kinks. We haven't divided up the area at all--we just communicate to make sure we won't be at the same place at the same time. The other sisters have more responsibilities over the institute center and teach Swedish class and such. It's been really nice to have the center to teach people. No more sitting at the library! It always struck me as funny that we didn't have a good place where we could go to teach people. It feels much more professional to have a place of our own to meet (in Örebro and Sundsvall, the church was a bit out of the way).

In other news we've seen so many miracles this week. I have done this three times now it seems. Go to an area, find out there are 1-2 investigators and then spend the next two weeks working as hard as we can to try to build up the area. It seems that on that day where I just don't think I can contact one more person, the Lord blesses us so much. Last weekend we gave pass along cards to 2 people who contacted us either that night or in the next few days. We met with one man, M, 3 times last week and found a fellowshipper who clicked with him immediately! Even when I feel so inadequate, the Lord shows me that He's the one who's taking care of everything. We had another miracle. We'd had a really poopy day the day before and I was sitting on the tram pleading with the Lord to give me strength to keep going and I got the strongest impression to just get off the tram and start contacting. The first person we talked to was a man from Colombia (Spanish speaker!!) who has Mormon friends and a Book of Mormon at home! He invited us over :) These things happened over and over again this week.

Just one more really cool thing...Last night we went tracting and the first door we knocked on the lady said, 'jag vet vem ni är. kom in!' We were so shocked we didn't really know what to do at first, but we took our coats off and sat down. She gave us tea and kladkaka and we showed here the new translation of the Book of Mormon. She was really excited about it. She said she likes to open up the book at random and see what the Lord has for her that day. She demonstrated and the scripture she read at random was Alma 10:8-9. I just got chills. The Spirit was so strong, we tried to explain the story, but we don't know if she really got it. In any case, we got her number and an open invitation to come back. It was really cool. Another tender mercy was that I was feeling bad making Sis Lövgren work while she was sick. We got to have a nice chat and drink tea. Wonderful.

Well, I love Sis Lövgren. She's just fantastic. We are so similar that we laugh about our same quirks. We both have a tendency to micromanage each other. It's great. I also got to wear Sis Gotbergs new boots to stretch them out for her and she wore mine. It was nice to trade in my clunky boots for nice sleek ones for a while. They have no tread, so I would hold onto her backpack and she'd pull me along the ice. Who needs ice skating? Anyway, that's the news. Oh, Elder Olsen is my zone leader. He played football with Aaron Lee. I gave him all Aaron's letters. He was very excited. 30 seconds left! Have a great week!

Love,

Sis M

Week 46

2011-02-07T05:41:00.000-08:00

Subject: 4 girls in a 1 bedroom apartment spells trouble

Hallå

So...It's been an interesting week. We've had a few miracles and lovely weather. It's been above freezing all week and we've watched the ice slowly melting. It also rained on Tuesday, making the sidewalks and roads a slippery icy mess. It was like walking on a bumpy ice rink. I haven't fallen all winter, but fell twice in two days last week.

The other sisters let us have one of their investigators, a lady who has been in contact with the church and coming to activities for 8 years. She's very chatty and nice and just needs to read the Book of Mormon because she thinks she knows what it's about, but turns out she doesn't really.

We also met a man from Jordan who is very Catholic, in his late 50s, and quite debonaire (I have no idea how to spell that). He's met the missionaries before who gave up on him after a couple times teaching him, but he came to church on Sunday and brought a friend, so we'll see how it goes.

We also had another miracle investigator pop up. The Utby elders called us and the other sisters and we were the ones who were available. He's from Nigeria and relocated here from Denmark 2 months ago. He was introduced to the church in Romania where he went to the University and one of his friends got baptized. He's really nice and really positive, but also looking for a place to live, so we'll give him some time to see what his real interest is. I also had to have Sis Lövgren start calling him and answering his phones so he'd stop answering the phone, "Hey, Baby" or "Hey, Sweetie". I had a feeling the other sisters should teach him, but they encouraged us to keep him. Hopefully it will be ok if we always have a member when we teach him...

He absolutely loved the center for young adults when we showed it to him. And so do I! The Stockholm center is really fun, but the Göteborg center is absolutely beautiful. It's in this old building with marble stairs and an elevator straight out of the 20s. The center is on the 3rd floor and out of every window you can see all the fun, architecturally wonderful buildings around it. It's on the same street as the main building of Göteborg Universitet. Vasagatan 46 if you want to google earth it, dad. There are also all these really fun cafes along the street beside it. Sis Gotberg and I went to one of them after we renewed our visas. It was empty and dark in the day but seemed like it would be a fun place to go in the evenings.

It's been fun having Sis Lövgren as my companion. She's been teaching me Swedish and I teach her the little English she doesn't know already. She also picks up on things I wouldn't hear or don't pay attention to. For example, when we got on a bus, I heard two kids in the back say, 'Controllen!' (The people who check that everyone has valid tickets). I stopped listening after that, but Sis Lövgren said that one of the kids was freaking out trying to get his card to work, touching it to the reader over and over. His friend asked him if he was sure it was the control, and he said, "Yes! Didn't you see their nametags?" They got off the bus before us and looked back at us to figure out who we really were.

Well, the work goes on and Sis Gotberg keeps talking about when we go home. I still have a good 5 months left, so it's definitely not time to start talking about it. Oh well. I'm excited about this next week and the new people we'll find and the creative brushoffs we'll hear. Well, I love you all, and hope you are doing well. Don't forget to get your last minute letters in! I promise I'll write back now. Love you all!

Amy

PS I had one of those moments this week where someone was praying for the missionaries and it dawned on me that I'm one of those and in Sweden. Strange.

Week 45

2011-01-31T12:41:00.000-08:00

Subject: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east

Hello everyone!

I don't have very much time left to write today. I had to get a library card. I have a nice collection now. I have a library card from every area I've been in except Sundsvall, sadly. Well, the big news for today and the reason for the subject line from Amos is that I called president Monday night to make sure going on splits to Örebro this week instead of next week would be ok. He told me that it would be, but that he had a little wrinkle to the plan. There would be a short time missionary coming from Umeå and he wanted me to train her in Göteborg. We'd be living with the other sisters that were already there, Sis Gotberg (from my MTC group) and Sister Hedström, another short time missionary. I was of course really excited, but sad to leave Uppsala so soon, and Sister Dabb and Kiser were a excited but really nervous. They were in the MTC together and have been in Sweden about 4 months. They'll be fine, but it'll be an adventure.

So I spent Tuesday and Wednesday packing when we had free time and trying to keep my head in Uppsala for a couple more days :) On Thursday I went to Örebro to go on splits with Y, the member from El Salvador who had to come here because of problems at home and only sits at home all day because she can't speak the language and her sister works long hours. We picked her up on the way back from district meeting and I showed her how the bus system works and how to get a bus card and how to get to the church. We then went to go visit an almost investigator from El Salvador. They exchanged information and I told Y that they were now her project :) (The daughter only speaks Spanish). We met up with the other sisters and got Y back on the train. It was so much fun being with Sis Porkka again. It was like old times.

On Saturday, the sisters dropped me off in Stockholm with Sis Lundquist, the office secretary who was my companion for the day. I became the 2nd official sister secretary after Sis Wood who did the same thing before going home. It was really fun, but I was feeling really anxious to go out and work by the time I got to Göteborg with Sis Lövgren, my new companion. We stayed at the mission home the night before and that was really fun too. Sorry, this is all really vague because I have no time. We are really excited to be 4 sisters here. That never happens, especially not with two Swedish sisters, so we are excited for the next couple of months. They are both 19, and really excited to be here. Well, take care everyone, I'll tell you about the weather next week!

Sys Max

Week 44

2011-01-24T12:14:00.000-08:00

Subject: Keep Jesus in Your Heart

Dear everyone,

Well, it's been a week. Quite a week. Everything has been picking back up again and we are feeling really excited about this next week. We have a baptism on Saturday for the Mongolian orphan who just moved up to our area. 'His people' as he calls them gave him permission to come to church on his own, and he is really excited about everything. The elders who taught said that when they found him, he had already read the Book of Mormon all the way through and knew it was true. They've been mostly teaching him with the pamphlets since neither his English nor his Swedish are very good. He didn't want translation in church, though, so he must be learning Swedish quickly.

We had a couple of crazy days last week. On Friday we met with two theology students. They were very respectful and open and have recently put their studies on hold because they are exploring the concept of discipleship. We didn't get to talk long about their new plans for the future, but they aren't sure the path they were on was right. More on that next week. We went from them to another Swedish kid who grew up in the Pentecostal church. It was cool hearing him describe the Spirit as that warm feeling you get when you pray sometimes. Also open and pretty cool. Right after we had a lesson on the restoration of the gospel and half of the plan of salvation with a group of mortuary students. Also open, interested, and respectful. 3 for 3! It was great.

On Saturday we went to go visit our new investigator from Cameroon and it went ok. He needs to think about the pre-mortal existence a little more. It was a little too much to swallow. But, when we were done, there was this guy who sat down and asked us who we were and what we were talking about. (We were in the kitchen of a dorm) After we told him he was still really interested in learning more and coming to activities. He and his friend both wanted us to give them a call the next time we'd be back. It was awesome! They are both from Pakistan. Then that night we had a really powerful lesson with another Muslim from Pakistan who wanted to know more about Jesus Christ. He felt something and knew what we were saying was true.

Well, as far as funny things this week, I think the only big thing was this guy who started preaching to us by the bathrooms in the train station. He said he was impressed with us because we were wearing skirts. He asked us if we had Jesus in our hearts and when I said yes started preaching to us about how important that was and how to do it. I told him we were missionaries and we gave him our card. "Keep Jesus in your heart!" He told us. I wanted to point out that I do that literally because I was wearing a name tag with His name on it, but I didn't. We saw him the next day on a train station and he said he wanted to read us a scripture that would open my heart in a new way. It was the scripture from Matthew about a man cleaving unto his wife and them becoming one flesh. I tried to show him a scripture from the Book of Mormon and he refused to even touch the book. He started preaching to us on a train full of people about how it was evil to practice polygamy. I asked him if we could do this later and he left us alone. I didn't want to be responsible for being another example to the Swedish people to support their views that religion only causes conflict. He told us he thought it was a sign he had seen us again that he needed to save our souls. Anyway, that's probably pretty standard other places, but i haven't run into here very often.

So, basically, a great week with lots of fun people. Today I'm sitting with Sis Waite, a sister missionary whose husband is gone for the day. She fell and cracked her kneecap on the ice. I hope everyone is doing well and that I haven't forgotten anyone or anything. Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 43

2011-01-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

Subject: The new normal

Hejsan allihopa!

Well, remember last week when I said we were looking forward to a normal week? Nope. We actually got a call that night from president asking us to pack our things and move to Uppsala. There were two sisters going home mid-transfer. One of them had been in a trio in Göteborg, but the other one would be leaving her companion, well, companion-less. I don't think having us double out of Sundsvall and have Elders come instead was really his plan until last minute. The assistants told the Uppsala sisters on Monday-day that Uppsala would probably be closing and Sis Dabb would be moving elsewhere. But last minute moves by a kid who has a date to be baptized may have helped him rethink the decision. Based on the miracles we've seen in the last couple of days, we think the Lord's hand was in it to keep the area open. I'm not going to lie, I never felt totally settled in to Sundsvall. I would absolutely love to go back there, but our first day in Uppsala felt like coming home. I'm back in the Stockholm district and have actually been here a couple times. Unfortunately we missed both the Stockholm and Norrland zone conferences, but President let us listen the afternoon hours of the Norrland zone conference on Saturday via speaker phone. It worked out really well and was so much better than nothing.

So, some awesome things about Uppsala...Swedish class! I love teaching Swedish class and they actually have people who come. Sister Dabb! She was MTC companions with Sister Kiser and is just top notch. 2 Baptismal dates! They had this really awesome kid walk into church on Sunday and ask how he could become a member :) The other one is a Mongolian orphan who was living in Hägersten and then moved up here. We haven't met him yet, but he sounds really nice. The Waites! They are a older missionary couple in charge of the missionary apartments and are living here in Uppsala. They are fantastic. Elder Waite knows a ton about Swedish history, so he offered to take us on a tour one day. Stockholm!!! I'm really excited to be back :) We live about an hour away. The sun! It was shining until 2:30 when we got here!

Anyway, double transferring out was really hectic. Sister Kiser hadn't moved up to this point, so packing took her all day. I packed and took care of everything else for the new elders coming in. I left as much info about the area the people we were working with as I could, but it seemed like we were missing something. It seems like they are getting along alright, though. One of them is Äldste Codling from my MTC group, so that's been fun. A couple in our ward were nice enough to come pick us up at 5:30 in the morning and help us onto the train at 6. The news was so unexpected that most people didn't find out. We went straight to Uppsala and then sent Sister Smith on the train to Stockholm. We've got a lot of work to do here still, but things to do and people to see are just popping up. Sis Dabb is excited to start over and find new people. Anyway. I am so happy to be here. We are going to have so much fun and do good work. I love you all and I know Heavenly Father is mindful of each of his children. His plan is perfect and he orchestrates everything to our best. I have seen that these past few weeks. Take care, everyone!

Sys M

Week 42

2011-01-17T05:33:00.000-08:00

10 January 2011
Subject: The Lord giveth…and the Lord taketh away.

Hejsan allihopa!

Don't worry, no one was injured. But, we'll get back to that later. First, the weather. It's been absolutely wonderful this week with temperatures hovering right below 0. But, that means we've gotten tons of wet snow. The only up-side is being able to throw snowballs at Sister Kiser. And that I can go hatless again without feeling like my ears are being frost bitten. Down south I hear they've been getting rain and slushy snow, like Utah, right grandma?

We almost had the first normal week of the transfer without a holiday or something bad happening. We did a lot of tracting this week. And contacting. Everyone's trying to get pumped up during the post holiday let down, so we are having a zone Book of Mormon contest to see how many Book of Mormons we can give out. We are leading right now with 8.6. The .6 is one of those mini Book of Mormons that one of our investigators wanted for her baby. We'll only count it if it means not losing :) The prize is being able to eat at zone conference if we beat the zone leaders. The also said they'd be the winners' slaves for the day. I don't know what good that would do anyone. We've talked to some really nice people who I hope the missionaries contact again or that they meet a member at some point. We also got chewed out yesterday by a lady who thinks us going around trying to change everyone's religion is absolutely despicable. There's a lot I could say about that, but I won't. I told her we just offer what we have to people because it makes us happy and it's up to them to choose to accept it or not. Sigh.

We got some sad news on Thursday. One of the elders in our district has to go home for medical reasons. He has a really big infection and is only not in pain when he's laying down. He is on the plane home today. We were very sad as was he.

On Friday I was told by a member that the lady I contacted who was really positive and I could tell felt something as we talked to her was just being nice and nothing would ever come of it. (she didn't give us her number or want to meet). Thank you for you positive support. I am aware she probably won't just show up to church next week, but you never know what might happen down the road. The lesson taken from this is please don't pop missionaries' bubbles. We take what we can get and have faith the Lord will take care of the rest. Thank you.

On Sunday we had 8 investigators in church! Two in Hudiksvall with me and 6 up in Sundsvall with Sis Kiser. She didn't know what to do with herself. It sounds like everything went really well.

I guess the big news of the week was that we wrecked the car on Saturday. I guess technically it's my fault since I was driving, but if you go by the missionary driving safety video it was both of our faults. We were driving to Hudiksvall and about 5 km outside of it we both fell asleep. I had registered that I still had my hat and scarf on and that the music was turned off and that Sis Kiser was already starting to doze off, but by the time I thought to myself, "I'm getting drowsy, I should drink some water," I was already past the point of logical thought to do anything about it. We were very lucky though. There were no cars passing on the other side and none right behind. A metal divider started right after we hit the side, so we swerved to miss it and hit the back right tire on the sign that marks where it starts. Then we pinballed back and forth between the dividers a few times until we regained control. This was all accompanied by the sound of shattering glass which was actually the bottles of frozen water in the back of the car, so the damage wasn't as bad as it sounded. The car drove straight when the wheel was pointed to about 2 o'clock and it was difficult to get it to respond. It drove well enough that we were able to take the next exit which was where we wanted to get off anyway. There was a bit of body damage, but it seemed like most of the damage was with the axels and alignment. We called the mission office and then went to our teaching appointment. The irony is we were on our way to meet a man who won't let us come visit him when it's snowing outside because his first wife died in a car accident on a snowy day. The weather on Saturday was perfectly clear. Even more ironic. We left the car at the train station and took the train back to Sundsvall. The next day we came down of course for sacrament meeting and Pres. Stegeby from the District Presidency took one look at it and decided he'd drive it back (it's an hour and a half away). When he called later that night he'd said it's been really hard to drive. Anyway, that's the sad news. I'm still trying to figure out what the lesson really is from all this. I really don't know why it happened. Oh well. I know we were protected at least. I feel really bad about it still.

So, we are back to taking the bus for awhile. Well, it's been an interesting week. Maybe next week will be normal again. Or maybe this is the new normal? I love you all and I know the Lord is taking care of us.

Syster Maxwell

Week 41

2011-01-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

3 January 2011
Subject: Narnia is lovely this time of year. All that snow.

Hello dear family,

I got the packet from Grandma Win this week. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! This was a good week. It was relatively warm--between -10 and -4 all week! Nothing much else exciting in weather news. We were driving to Örnsköldsvik on Thursday for District Meeting and the entire scene was shades of gray, blue, and white. It was beautiful. The sky was a light blue and fairly matched the landscape.

We've found a few more people to teach this week. One man comes from Greece, another from Colombia originally, and another from Sierra Leone. We also contacted a lady who was interested from somewhere else in Africa. We were very blessed. Hopefully our appointments will go through with them.

The stories this week are all sad it seems. New converts who are still without a home. I think I mentioned before about the one guy who was sleeping in the train station, but since has been moving from hotel to hotel, living off their charity while he waits for a job. The other recent convert whose apartment burned should be getting a place for the next couple of months, so that's happy. There's a less active whose kids we are teaching who is married to a lady in Colombia. He hasn't been able to get ahold of her for over 2 months. The last time he talked to her, she said there was no money for food and she'd have to sell her phone. He said I don't know if I have a wife left :( We finally met with a 14 year old girl who has started imitating her father's own apathy towards church right now. That seems to be so common. People are sorry after they come back and their grown children have no faith. I also met this girl who is a champion belly dancer of her age group back in Azerbaijan (sp?). She was really nice and I hear she was really positive about learning about the church, but we can't teach her because her dad doesn't like us. He's nice when we are just visiting, though. They got a negative on their application for residency and might have to move back soon. They made us 'juice' out of coke syrup. Flat coke. Yum!

New Year's Eve was really fun. We went home and did weekly planning. There had been fireworks going off sporadically throughout the evening, but about 9 they started going off all over town. We have a view of the city, so we could see a good number of them. The coolest thing we saw was these little bags with some kind of ignited something or other that would rise up somewhere in the city and float away to better places. We have no idea what they were still, some kind of mini hot air balloon contraption. We asked someone at church and they said they thought it was a Finnish tradition. We forgot to ask the Finns in the ward...so maybe I'll let you know next week.

Last night I was calling some former investigators and called one guy who said he was going to be getting married in Cuba this spring (which is why he can't meet with us now...go figure) and I asked him if he can speak Spanish. He said yes and I told him I could too. I was done and going to hang up, but he asked me about why I could speak Spanish, so we chatted for awhile in Spanish. It was fun. Maybe he'll remember that the next time the missionaries call him :)

This week I was told for the third time that I look like Princess Viktoria, the crown princess of Sweden, and the one who just got married, so I am accepting it as true. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the first two times were both at Stake Conference. Elder Herrey, father of the famous Herreys, told me I looked like her and then later the assistants told me they had decided that I looked like her the night before. I was quite flattered. I'll have to buy one of her books.

Anyway, the work is picking up. The last month has felt like we were driving in thick snow (figuratively), so it's nice that the new year is finally here. I can't think of anything else. I love being a missionary and I'm grateful for the chance to be here. I love you all. Good luck going back to work and school. That's always the worst, but it'll be fine once you get your head wet.

Syster Maxwell

Week 40

2010-12-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

Subject: Red Beet Salad and Meat Jello

God Jul!

It's been a fine week. Just like the US a couple of weeks ago, we had
some extreme weather swings here as well. After the snow cleared up, the temperature dropped to -25 C and then the next day was -30. (the 23rd and 24th). It was crazy! We were really excited to take pictures of that formidable -30 on the car thermometer, but not so excited to be out in it. I decided that -25 is just too cold to go out contacting. Maybe -20, but I reached my limit at -25. Plus Sis Kiser doesn't have any proper tights, so she just curls up in her jacket and disappears at that temperature. We are also really excited about the fact that it hasn't been this cold before Christmas in 150 years! Yay!

They are expecting -40 C in January, February. Yay! (I actually am excited about that). It's a balmy -7 today. With the heavy snow on Tuesday and then the Christmas weekend and everyone going out of town, we didn't have very many appointments this week. We are teaching E, this really cool Pentacostal guy from Nigeria. He is open to reading the Book of Mormon though he won't accept that it could be scripture. He did say after we read Moroni 10 that he likes it better than the Book of the Maccabees or the Apocrypha, so there's something.

Christmas Eve was the big day, so we went over to the Stegeby's for the whole afternoon. They had almost all their family over and another family from church, so the house was just packed. I must admit that most everything I've eaten in Sweden to this point has been fairly standard. If reindeer sandwiches are standard. But, the Jul Bord was definitely an experience. I love the pickled herring and the rice pudding with fruit and juice on top. And red beet salad was already a favorite. But I must say the jello-y meat stuff that I still don't know what it was is interesting. Probably won't make that part of my Christmas tradition. After dinner we watched Kalle Anka, which is little clips from Disney cartoons (it's tradition!) and then had a little Christmas program. Then jul tomten came! It was the Norwegian son-in-law. They were making jokes about him putting on a Finnish accent so that they kids wouldn't recognize him, but sure enough, one of the older boys knew immediately because of his particular way of speaking. The kid almost spoiled it for everybody. It was funny, though. He gave out gifts to the expectant kids, and I even got a present from him too! It was a fun day. Freezing cold, but fun.

Christmas was slow. We baked and got plates of goodies for our neighbors together which we gave out the next day. They were all very surprised and appreciative (I'm pretty sure Swedes don't do that). Talked to the family. That was wonderful. And then we went to dinner at a part Scottish family. We did the popper tradition thing (see Harry Potter?) and had turkey and cranberry sauce and and brussel sprouts and chutney! It was delicious!

Oh, yes, we opened presents as well. Thanks everybody for everything. I'll get thank you cards out in February probably ;)

In church yesterday we had a musical Christmas program as usual and I got to play the flute. There were some glitches, but it was still a lot of fun.

Both Sister Kiser and I have colds which makes life fun. Especially the foot of snow we found in the church parking lot when we got here today. Yay shoveling snow! We could only get halfway up the drive with what we'd done, so we hope the plow doesn't come while we are in here. If not, we have a lot of work to do before Sunday...

Well, I think that's it for this week. We are hoping everything will pick up again with the new year. It should be fantastic. Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 39

2010-12-20T06:49:00.000-08:00

Hejsan Allihopa!
One more day! It's 2:45 now and almost dark. It's been snowing the last few days, so the snow is about 2 ft deep now I think. Or maybe more. It's hard to tell. It might be up to my hips, actually, so that's deeper.

So last Tuesday we had a miracle day. Everything we planned happened, and we were on time to everything. This included a really positive teach with a girl who missed her baptismal date last year, but still wants to be baptized :) Wednesday we drove to Hudiksvall, about an hour and a half away to teach S & E, a couple who the missionaries have been teaching pretty consistently for the last 3 years. S has been in contact with the church for 40 years, since his first wife passed away. It's really hard. He's so ready and knows everything. Just stubborn. We of course have that faith that all new missionaries to an area do that we can be led to say something that will change his heart, but it comes down to his agency. He has to choose.

So from there we drove back to Sundsvall and caught the train to Stockholm for the combined zone conference/Christmas party. Our train was delayed because of a wreck, so we didn't get in until 10:18, so that made for a late night. We stayed at the mission home with all the other sisters, so it was a party :) It was great catching up on how the work in Örebro is going. It hasn't been long, but everyone is doing great and RR was baptized on Saturday. Yay!

The conference was fun. We sang and played and learned. We had a gift exchange and I got a Santa beard and hat. It was very exciting :) Another highlight from the week was Saturday when we met with a recent convert who just moved up here and his non-member friend. They are from Africa and came to Sundsvall to look for work. They were living in the train station here, but someone found out and hotels in the community offered them a place to stay for the short term. The branch offered them help getting to church and made sure they were ok, and they said, thanks but no thanks. We've seen them off and on and this time went and read Mosiah 24 with them to help them feel comforted.

The Spirit was so strong, but after we had borne testimony, the friend started a rant about how what we give him does him no good and he needs something tangible. He'll go to a church that can help him. We listened to him rail on white people for a good 15 minutes. He blamed our ancestors for his misfortune and said if his friend was American, the Church would have helped them a long time ago. I let him know that they had said no to our offers of help. Once he realized that he was nice again and they both said that had been a miscommunication and they did want a place to stay and help from us. It was sad to hear him talk about Europeans in such a derogatory way. A lot of what he said was true, but there was much that wasn't. He said a lot of things I could comment on (which technically I'm not supposed to), but in the end, their situation is really sad, and I wish I could do something to help, but all I have is my testimony and the scriptures, so that has to be help enough for now.

Well, in lighter news, I get to play the flute in church on Sunday, and we had a really yummy dinner with the Muslim couple we visited last Sunday. They are so nice and I wish we could be their friends...

Well, it's 3:15 and dark outside. Just going to get better from here!

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas! It's such a great time to remember our Savior and share that good news with those we love. As the advertisement in the window of Lindex says, "Do good. Feel good. Look good." Not in that order. I love you all!

Syster Maxwell

P.S. Thanks Mike and Shelley for the Christmas package. We were very excited to get all your greetings and treats!

Week 38

2010-12-13T11:44:00.000-08:00

Subject: Christmas time is here!

Hey everybody!

Just 8 days until the winter equinox! It's a nice -15 C out today and gray. I christened my long down coat yesterday. It was wonderful! I love it even though it looks like a sack.

I finally saw the driver's safety video, so Sis Kiser is allowing me to drive :) I'm finally getting used to sliding around the round abouts.

The work this week has been slow. We have a lot of finding to do! We also are going to really try and work double hard to get us through the winter.

We went caroling on Thursday as a district. It was really fun and we only got made fun of by 2 kids :) and we got a phone number! Elder Argyle is our zone leader and he's really fun. He whooped and hollered Merry Christmas after every set and just loved it :)

Last night we visited a lady who is Swedish but converted to Islam. There was another couple visiting them. The wife was also a converted Muslim. It was weird to come upstairs and see a Christmas tree and two veiled women making Christmas ginger cookies with their kids :) After that we had Christmas rice pudding with the ward and watched the rebroadcast of the Christmas devotional. It was lovely.

Well, I have to go. We have to cut P-day short to drive out to Bräcke. I love you all. Your prayers and letters as so appreciated. When I finally get my grad school stuff written (very slow process), I promise I'll write. Love you!
Syster M

Week 37

2010-12-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

Subject: Laundry day...

Hey everyone.
I don't like being transferred. It's really fun to have new adventures, but I think I've decided I don't actually like change. New people and adventures, yes. An overhaul of everyone and everything that's familiar. Not really, no. It's amazing what a difference the light makes. Even being in a dark car instead of a lighted bus for a lot of the day is more depressing. Only two more weeks until the winter solstice! It'll just get better from there. It actually doesn't feel as cold as Örebro here either, so that's nice. It's a balmy -5 C today.

My new companion is Sister Kiser from West Virginia. This is her second transfer and she's already a pro. She still struggles with the Swedish a little, so it puts the pressure on me a bit. I actually have to closely pay attention to everything now. It was strange how much I already knew about Sundsvall from Sis Robinson and Sis Porkka. I've had 4 months of reminiscing about Sundsvall. Like Dad said, it's picturesque...in the summer. We'll see if I stay that long. I might. This transfer lasts until the first week in March, and if I stay one more, I'll get to see it at almost spring (end of April).

The people in the branch here are great. Lots of faithful members. There are about 70 people that attend every week, so smaller than Örebro, but larger than Jakobsberg. But, going back. Thursday was transfer day. My newly attached wheels held up just fine except for the fact that they only roll straight when the suitcase is at a 30 degree angle and pushed. I think they might have helped support the other wheels a little at least. I was always bad at that part of physics, they whole visualizing the angle things move.

Funny thing happened on Wednesday. As we were finishing up emailing, Sis Porkka was reading the travel plans that they zone leaders get. She has them forward them to her because they have funny comments. She looked at the Lund sister's plans and said, "What?!" Turns out they were coming to our place to stay the night in about an hour. We thought maybe plans had changed or it was a mistake, but sure enough, we called them and they were on their way. They missed their train, though and came a little later, so that gave us time for the dinner and lesson we had scheduled. We were at the teach for-e-ver, so we found the poor sisters sleeping on our stairs when we got back. It was eyelash freezing cold that night, so luckily they were inside the building. The next day we were up at 5 to catch the train to Stockholm. I was at the ring for 5 and a half hours. It was ok. Then sister Kiser came and we left for our 3 and a half hour train ride up to Sundsvall with a couple of elders who were also going up to Norrland.

The last weekend has been weird and I feel like my mind is mush. We've met a number of people and I think after some time I'll like it here. The apartment is beautiful and the kitchen is well stocked. And there are plants! I was sad to leave my little guy behind, but I've still got some green this winter. One of them has grown up against the window in a position that looks like he's screaming, "Let me out! Let me out!" or "Come back sun!" I'll have to forward the picture next time.

Well, that's it for now. I'm excited about Christmas. It's such a wonderful season to remember our Savior. I hope you all can do that amidst all the chaos :) Yay for being a missionary!

Love,
Syster Maxwell

PS Laundry here stinks!!! Literally.

Week 36

2010-12-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

Subject: It’s Cold Up Here!

So this week has been crazy. There is so much to tell and I have no time. First of all, responses to people. Grandma, can you please tell the lady in your ward that the hat, mittens, and scarf have been absolutely wonderful. You can tell her 'tack så hemskt mycket' (roughly said tahk so hemskt micket) from me. :) Also, Sis Lee, the snow looked like it would melt that first day. The temperatures got up to 8 degrees, but then this last week it snowed the entire week. We didn't see the sun until Saturday. It was lovely though. It was like living in a snow globe. But, now, there is about a foot of snow, so I think it's here to stay. Today and yesterday have been nose-hair freezing cold. It's beginning!

The big news is that I'm getting transferred to Sundsvall, so it looks like you were in inspired to buy me that awesome winter coat after all, Mom, since I'll be able to use it. I might even get to see the northern lights if I'm lucky. I hope so! Sister Porkka will be training here in Örebro. The irony is that each of us got what the other one wanted, but I've wanted to go to Sundsvall since I came, but not in winter... We will have a car though and I'll have some bragging rights when I get back.

It's hard to describe the last week and a half. We've have some really cool teaches with amazing people. We had a little miracle this last week. We got back from Nora and had 15 minutes before our bus came to go to another teach. I really felt like we should go contacting. We got to the intersection, and I felt like we needed to go around the building to the right. I pointed to that direction and said, "We need to go that way and we are going to find someone to teach." We walked a block and contacted the lady coming. She is Iranian and has been here 5 years and thought it would be ok for us to come over. She gave us a typical Muslim reply about liking all religions, so I was just grateful for the appointment. Turns out she really likes Jesus and one of her daughters is even Christian in the US. The teach with her was great even though her Swedish is rough. That probably sounds run of the mill, but that hasn't really happened that often on my mission.

Last district meeting was really weird. There was a new convert that came to go with the elders to a baptismal interview who is trained in Russian Martial Arts. He taught us how to punch with impact and how to take punches, so we spent the last part of our time together practicing on each other. It was a great unity building activity and would have seemed very strange to an onlooker, but it was awesome. That was Thanksgiving. It was the lamest thanksgiving ever. My district leader did try to make it nice by buying ginger ale and cranberry juice, but really it was a blip. We shared a spiritual thought about thanksgiving, then he said, 'Well, Thanksgivings over. Now on to Christmas!' and then talked about our mission goals for December. I celebrated properly by making a sweet potato pie last night. They don't really sell canned pumpkin here.

Well, I'm out of time. I'll report next time from Norrland! Oh, and, Mom, it was probably good I didn't get the packages because then I don't have to move them too! It all worked out! Thanksgiving at home sounded really fun! Have a great week everyone!

Sys M

Week 35

2010-11-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

Subject: Well, I’m still here.

Hello everyone!

I like my mission. It's nice. I came to that conclusion this week. It gets dark now by 4 pm. And isn't fully light until after 8 sometime. It's hard to tell because it's been cloudy the whole week. It's been snowing again. I was surprised when Dad said you all are still enjoying the fall colors. At least the people in Utah understand. This week we woke up one morning and the air was thick with frozen mist. I guess it's comparable to being in a freezer. Over the course of the morning, everything grew icy, spikey hair. It was crazy! The bikes even looked like they'd turned punk. There were little spikes all over the seats, handle bars, and wheels. I've never seen anything like it before. Sis Porkka thought it was really cool and rare as well, so that's saying something. Most winter things are ho hum for her.

Anyway, this has been a good week. We had sharpening on Tuesday, which was fun. Sis Porkka finally got her birthday packages, so she knows her mother loves her after all and Elder Shear got a 30 lb Christmas package. He started opening his Christmas presents right there. I think he would have eaten the marshmallow (that's a reference to Elder Uchtdorf's Continue in Patience talk).

On Wednesday we met with JC, the one who got baptized in March, and reconfirmed that he doesn't have a testimony of the restored gospel. At all. I kept wanting to ask him why he got baptized, but I already knew the answer. The sisters who found him were both very pretty and he's proposed to a lot of the sisters who have been here. We've escaped the topic until now, but he asked us at the end of the lesson what we are looking for in a man. We both emphasized being a good priesthood holder and having a testimony. I wish he would just understand that if he followed what we taught him, he'd be someone a good Mormon girl would want to marry. Sigh.

On Thursday we told A we weren't going to meet with him anymore, but he's very welcome to come to activities and such. He didn't seem so broken up about it, surprisingly.

On Friday we went up to the middle of nowhere to visit R and Al. Then we had to walk back. Al came with us, so it was enjoyable, but took an hour to get to civilization again. Never again.

On Saturday we had 7 people at our Swedish class!! Hooray! They are all from Pakistan and so very nice. The next day was Stake Conference, so we went that night and stayed at the mission home because there are no trains in the morning. It was lovely to sit around and talk with President and Sister Anderson and the Rasmussens, a new older couple who just got here. Stake Conference was nice. We sang in the choir. On the way back we got a ride with the Keanns. A half American family who drive their RV around to such events. They are fascinating to me. I've never met anyone like Brother Keann. I'm sure other people in his situation exist, but I just don't know. It's fascinating because he's American. His wife understands and can speak English. His children can speak English, but they speak Swedish at home. He speaks only Swedish to us. He just seems Swedish now. This probably betrays how terribly...um...something I am, but I would just have assumed they would make English their lingua franca. I don't know. It's not a big deal, but I just think it's interesting.

Anyway, after that we visited B about an hour out of Örebro and missed our bus because of the Latvian-Estonian-German-Russian 77 year old man who talked nonstop for an hour. He kept making lewd comments I didn't understand, so I had to be careful what I smiled and nodded about. He was there with his Finnish wife who can barely walk and seemed to be in pain and on the verge of tears the whole time. He was talking the whole time about his wives over the years and his escapades as a sailor. Sis Porkka described the whole experience as being in a Russian novel or a Samuel Beckett play and was existentialism embodied. Especially missing the bus. The next one came two hours later, so we went back to B's and ended up talking about why she left the church, her desires to come back, her illnesses and her fear of water. It turned out ok.

Well, another P-day almost over. I tried fixing my suitcase this morning. It might work, but I'm in the process of failing at the moment. I'll let you know how it went. This letter is always too long! I hope you all have a great week. Happy Thanksgiving! The church is true.

Syster Maxwell

Week 34

2010-11-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

Subject: Boots!

Hey all,

So, I've just spent 40 minutes trying to get grad school stuff organized, so I'll keep this brief. It's strange to have to think about things like "cover letter", "writing sample", and "resume". Ick!!! That's why I came on a mission--to get away from all that! Just kidding. I came because I had nothing better to do. Oh, no, it was because that's what the Lord wanted me to do and I have a testimony. That's right... I'm such a missionary. I can't believe it. :D

Well, the most exciting thing that happened this week was probably getting a decimeter of snow this week. All on Tuesday. During the day. Luckily I wore my boots (I found them in the apartment. They are warm and woolly and wonderful!), but we had sadly decided on biking. We couldn't ride home because the pelting snow made it impossible for Sis Porkka to see (she wears glasses) and difficult for either of us to want to keep going. I rode around a little and had fun slipping in the snow, but mostly we just walked the whole way home from downtown. I think the best part was going into a few Pressbyråns looking to buy a bus card. The first ones didn't have the ones we needed, but we finally got them at the last one. We laughed about the two drenched, mascara smeared missionaries walking into the store carrying bike helmets to buy bus cards. I had mascara all over my face the whole day. Learned me a lesson! Go with the water-proof in the winter.

On Wednesday we had a teach with our new investigator who is schizophrenic. She is really sweet and doing really well right now, but we are not quite sure how to help her understand that the founding of our church didn't happen because of a scheme by aliens. It's a work in progress, and we are taking it slow.

Also, on Saturday, we finally had two guys show up to Swedish class who aren't members and are planning on coming regularly! We had given up hope and were unlocking our bikes to leave when they came walking up and said, "are we in the right place for Swedish class?" Yay! They are from Pakistan and are really nice. I hope they come back!

Anyway, it's been a good week other than losing most of Tuesday to the snow. I don't have any money on my card because I used it all to pay for the bus card. We're hoping the advance (little late now) comes in soon! Sorry, not important for you all to know. I've been reading in Our Heritage this week. It's like a condensed version of The Work and the Glory. Or rather...the Joseph Smith movie. Or maybe history. But the examples of the early saints are really inspiring and it's been enjoyable. Have a great week!

Love,

Syster Maxwell

Week 33

2010-11-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

Subject: Sick and tired of being sick and tired…

Hi!

So, the weather warmed up a bit early last week and the temperatures got up to about 10C every day, but we're back to a cold snap. It was -12 degrees Celsius this morning and the frost was still thick at noon. It's amazing! It's November! We were looking at a globe yesterday with a few new members at a family´s house yesterday. I was amazed at how high up Sweden was. I'm on top of the world! Ok, that's terrible...But, it's good to look at a globe every now and then so you can remember how ridiculously out of proportion maps on paper are. Speaking of terrible, my friend, Reid, told me once that I would listen to and enjoy EFY-type music because that's all you've got. I never thought it possible. My fears became reality this week when listening to Michael McLean's song, 'Sick and Tired' from his Mission2BeHappy CD (it's on a sampler we have in the apartment), a rock-a-billy tribute to feeling old and out of shape, and actually thinking to myself, 'Ok, maybe this is alright. It's kind of catchy...' Oh dear. I blame Sis Porkka.

Anyway, this week was long. I don't feel like we did very much. We are going down in people we teach, but can't seem to fill in the gaps yet. We've also been spending a lot of time with A, who still doesn't want to be baptized, but basically wants to be a missionary. We've tried to explain to him he's too old, not baptized, and doesn't even believe in our message... It's very strange. He wants to do something, but won't even come to church! We're going to have to have a serious DTR (define the relationship) this week.

Yesterday was Sis Porkka's birthday, so I made her a freezer cheesecake. She wanted regular cheesecake, but I didn't get the recipe until yesterday. So I'll have to make that some other time. I made her a big sign out of an old sheet which also doubles as a door to our closet now. Door for your birthday! She was excited :) And we put up Christmas lights. It was great :) We then had a surprise dinner with the Svenssons after church and it was lovely. We sang to her in three languages, English, Swedish and Finnish because their son served a mission in Finnish and taught us all. We finished off the day tracting. Hooray!

Well, the elders are here, and we have to go roast sausages over a fire :) We got up this morning and collected wood from the woods and took it back to apartment to melt and dry off. Actually, we took it from huge piles of wood by our apartment building that have been there since I got here. Probably for public use, right? I've heard so many stories from Elders about them getting yelled at for doing un-socially acceptable things that I expected someone to come out of no where and give us a hard time. Nope! It was great. I'll tell you how it went next week if I remember :) Oh! RR set a baptismal date! She is absolutely fantastic!!! Have a great week everyone! Love you all.

Syster Maxwell

Week 32

2010-11-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

Subject: Up an hour of sleep and feeling great!

Hejsan,

Nothing funny happened this week, but it was an ok week as far as I remember. We've started trying to take A to families' houses so he can actually feel the Spirit. Last week was wonderful. We took him to Family Home Evening at the Svenssons last minute and it was fantastic. We actually invited him to come before we had anyone lined up to host us, so we were kind of nervous about the whole thing. We finally got a hold of Brother Svensson at about 5:30 and A was already on his way towards the church. I kept thinking about mom's story about grandpa and not being able to sleep over because she didn't ask him first. But, the only problem we had was we had told him an hour earlier than they would be ready for us, so we went to eat something before. He paid for us and it felt oddly like a date. FHE was great though and he was really impressed by their family and actually stayed longer than half an hour :)

On Tuesday we had zone conference. It was marvelous. I sliced 6 bell peppers and my team won General Conference Jeopardy :) Pres Anderson ok'd applying to grad school, so I'll try to get that done as soon as I can.

Wednesday was a good day, but left a bad taste in our mouths. Thursday was also kind of blah, but we had a couple of teaches and got the Swedish Class flyers in Swedish done and printed out. Now we just have to get people to come.

Friday was just fine. We had a teach with H from Nigeria who also came to church yesterday. He's really interested but feels too nervous to study the Book of Mormon. He's trying to learn Swedish and has been waiting a year to receive a response about his status in the country. He hasn't heard anything yet.

On Saturday we went to Arboga to meet the member from El Salvador who, turns out, is running away from gang violence that she accidently and innocently got swept up in. She was so active in the church back home and had her mission papers all done except for the medical part. There are a couple of nurses in the ward here that we hope can help with that, but the bishop isn't sure about sending her out from here. She probably could leave from El Salvador if she just went for a weekend and then left again. Right now she is just sitting at home during the day doing nothing. We thought it would be so fun to have her come and stay with us for awhile and be like our full time ward missionary. Only problem is she only speaks Spanish, but we could teach her Swedish or English real fast...maybe :)

Yesterday we went to an awkward dinner with 4 young adults at one of their parents’ house. The mom is no longer a member of the Church and two of his sisters who aren't members anymore either came with a boyfriend. They were all lovely people, but we got stuck there longer than we'd planned and really had nothing to say to anyone except the mom who is studying Somalian and loves foreign grammar. I told her a little about K'iche' and that was the extent of my contribution to any conversation except to confirm or deny details about American culture. It was Halloween yesterday and they don't really celebrate it here, but there are some that have tried to get it going. They have parties and some kids try trick or treating. It was so funny to hear them tell about trying to explain to people what they were doing! They would say trick or treat (in Swedish) and no one would get it. "What do you all want?" They said that one guy actually said trick and so they pulled a tame trick on him and he got mad. Anyway, you had to be there, but it was funny.

Also, there is a missionary from Örebro going to the Pocatello, ID mission next week if he gets his visa. I wasn't sure if the Lee's actually live in that mission or not, but I gave him their info just in case. If you meet an Elder Edvinsson, take good care of him! He's really cool and reminds me a little of Brian. I think it's his hair (think pre-mission). Also, there is an Elder Lindquist who is in the MTC right now and will be in the Salt Lake City mission. Again, I have no idea what that entails as far as boundaries go, but if any of you Salt Lake people happen to see him ever, tell him hi and that he's awesome!

Anyway, that's the news. I'm working on patience this week. Turns out I still don't have any. Sigh. Daylight savings ended this week (or rather summer time), so it's dark at 5 now. We are looking forward to Guy Fawkes Day and Sis Porkka's birthday this week. We'll probably have to burn something. It's tradition! (Not in Sweden...)

Love you all!
Syster Maxwell

Week 31

2010-10-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Subject: Chocolate Croissants Make Any Day Better

Hello family,

The weather is good today. Sunny and chilly. It snowed twice this week. Once on Thursday night and on Sunday morning, but the snow all melted by the end of the day. The ground and roads have a layer of icy frost every morning and Sis Porkka is starting to complain that it's getting too slippery for us to be riding bikes still, but I'm holding firm. I'm not ready to give up the bikes. Not until the snow really comes.

This week we broke up with the 7th day Adventists. They said it's been nice, but our beliefs are just too different. Oh well. It was mutual at least. He plays the mandolin and let me play twinkle twinkle little star on it. :) Thanks mom!

I also went to IKEA for the first time ever this week. It was very exciting. We got the 16 SEK plate of potatoes and meatballs with a member who took us to a teach. It was everything I'd ever dreamed of.

It's been really interesting being able to watch the immigration process from this end. We found out that one of our recent converts got a negative response to his application last week. He was kicked out of Swedish classes, but is still looking for work. He had approval for that before, but we can't tell if he still has approval for that or not. He won't really tell us. All he said was that he was going to be doing this whole thing a different way. He'd look for work and then be able to apply again in 4 years. But, without Swedish, he won't be able to get a job very easily, so we'll see how that goes down.

We had a few first lessons with people this week--one with a Swedish lady who has had a number of run ins with spirits and things which has made her feel crazy. We tried to assure her that there are other things that exist out there (things unseen), so she doesn't need to be so worried and instead accept the gospel :) That probably sounds weird, but I guess you had to be there. We also had a first lesson in Spanish with a girl who really didn't know why we were coming. She's from El Salvador. We've had so many run ins with people from El Salvador in the past couple of weeks it's starting to seem like it's not a coincidence. It makes me thing of Gerhardt and how we are all working together as missionaries. It doesn't matter if you are in Sweden or El Salvador. It's all connected.

We also had a really cool teach with A, the one trying to quit snus, at the bishop's house. We watched the restoration and he said that he believed that it happened and it just went straight to his heart. We explained that was the Holy Ghost and tried to get him to see that since he believed it was true he should do something about it. He didn't get it (coughbaptismcough). Guess we should have been more clear. Whoops! I'm still working on that.

On Thursday we missed two trains and a bus. One was my fault, the other was Sis Porkka's, so we're even. Not such a happy day except for a chocolate croissant and Pizza Hut.

Friday and the weekend were lovely! On Friday we had a teach with D and got him ready for his baptism. Then we had a teach with E, a recent convert who is having a really hard time right now, but is hanging onto the gospel as much as he can. He is from Sierra Leone and has been a great friend to the Africans that have been getting baptized. We asked him to baptize D last Sunday and he was so honored! And the teach on Friday was so sweet! The Spirit was so strong as he bore testimony that he felt worthy and ready to perform the ordinance and was still so honored. I can't really do it justice to describe how wonderful it was to be there and then to see them both in white. It was a beautiful baptism and he did a great job. Everyone thought it was great.

Sunday went well too and I baked bread for an investigator who basically said, don't call me, I'll call you, but I like her as a friend, so I wasn't willing to accept that :) The bread was an experiment, but it turned out nicely. We attached a nice note and an excerpt from the last general relief society meeting. Hope she liked it!

Well, I think that's it. I found out this week that it's tradition to eat pea soup and pancakes on Thursdays in Sweden.

Have a good week!

Syster Maxwell

Week 30

2010-10-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

Subject: And really bad eggs!

Family!
So, this week has gone by faster. Sis Porkka is starting to adjust and get to know everyone, but she still doesn't know the way around which I keep forgetting and give her a hard time and then I realize she's only been here a little over two weeks and has only been to the place we are going once. Oops! It's ok. She's lived in England forever so she doesn't get offended by teasing. :) Many of the African investigators and new members have complained that I don't speak very clearly, so Sis Porkka is teaching me to talk proper. For example, we were practicing the phrase, "I cahn't get the bottle from the attic. It's hahlf pahst," with all the t's properly. It reminds me of those days I used to pronounce the t's in the word button. I don't remember why I did that.

Sis Porkka always has a blank CD, a plastic bag, and a bar of chocolate in her bag. She's prepared for all types of emergencies.

Well, the fall is starting to draw to a close. I don't know if I mentioned going to Svampen last week. It's a mushroom-shaped water tower in Örebro which has a restaurant and deck up top. We went and took pictures of the terribly disappointing fall colors. It was exciting.

Everything went as normal this week. We got the mission standard this week with 21 teaches and 10 of those being with a member. That was exciting. We made our pie extra buttery to celebrate. Don't worry, I also found this week that I weigh less than when I was a junior in high school, so no worries there (for now). Anyway, one of those teaches with a member was with the wife of an inactive lawyer. She speaks mostly French and a little Swedish, so we decided to read from the gospel principles book. We randomly selected a chapter number, and it happened to be honesty that we prepared that morning for them. He actually decided to sit in and defensively asked if his profession was breaking the commandments because they tell people to not tell the whole truth so they can win. I can't remember what we said, but we just repeated what it said in the book. He left a few minutes later saying he felt sick. Oh well, she liked the lesson at least! Luckily I don't think very quickly in situations like that else I might have started in on how his job is to help deal justice and correctly represent a person, etc, etc, etc.

The other teaches with a member worth writing about are two we had on Saturday with the recent convert who is notorious for liking the sisters and doesn't fully grasp the concept of restored gospel and has a new concern every time we teach him. We couldn't get anyone else to go with us, so we had to turn to him. The first teach we had he seemed bent on sabotaging us. He broke the word of wisdom in front of us and started a whole conversation about the benefits of substances we don't use with a man who we've only taught the first lesson. Argh! Then he went off on how the Garden of Eden has been proven to be in Iran. We were short on time, so we had to cut him off. It was so sad! He enjoyed the whole experience though :) In the second teach he wasn't so bad and only invited someone who is clearly too old to go to young single adult activities to come and be with. Oh well!

Well, we're all set for the baptism this week. There is a sad lack of enthusiasm from the ward, but hopefully people will come. Well, that's it for today. We have to run off to a teach. There have been a number of rapes in the area of late, so our investigator wants us to come visit her and get home before dark. Hope everyone is well! Love you!

Syster Maxwell

Week 29

2010-10-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Subject: The Joy of Missionary Work

Hello friends and family.

I am well. This was an incredibly long week.

Love,

Syster Maxwell

(next email)
Subject: PS

No really...Tuesday feels like an eternity ago. I do remember that it was a really long day, but it was busy and fun. I introduced Sis Porkka to all of our favorites and we had a teach with RR, our Chinese investigator who studies at the University and her friend G. People kept poking their heads in and once they saw we were reading the scriptures, G would invite them in. At one point there were 6 people besides us. It was quite the party. It's hard to teach to a person's needs when they are all from different religious backgrounds and cultures. RR loves the Book of Mormon, though and came to church on Sunday! She's always so happy and it was fun to have her with us in Relief Society. She's our age, so she's also a good friend.

On Wednesday we cajoled A to fast with us on Sunday. We told him we would all start at 6 and go until 6 the next day. "Without anything?!" he said. "And what time is church, 6 pm?" "No, 11am," we replied. "You all are going to kill me!" was his perplexed reply. He did it, though, but he didn't come to church. He tried to come to the recent convert/investigator dinner afterwards, but Sis Porkka was in a bad mood and wouldn't tell him how to get there. No church, no dinner! He has already cut back more than planned for on the snus, so he's doing great. We just have to get him to activities before 2 pm.

After that we tried to get to the 7th Day Adventists' house. I'd never led the way there before, so that was an adventure. I got us completely turned around and she had to come get us. But on the way we asked a few people for directions. The first people were three people who we saw walking out of the park. I could tell they were drunk and told Sis Porkka not to ask them. She obviously didn't hear me because she immediately asked them for directions. While the two ladies were trying to direct us toward the street, the older gentleman came up to me and tried to grab me. I protested and he told me to hold still. I did so he would stop making a fuss, and I could get away, but he tried to grab my face and give me a kiss. I think he was going for my cheek, but still.... I pulled away, and Sis Porkka also immediately came to the rescue and scolded him, "No, no, no!!!" He was wondering what the big deal was and one of the ladies said, "Not them. They're Mormons!" or something to that effect. It was pretty funny and silly. I wouldn't like that as a non-missionary either.

The teach with the 7th Day Adventists was interesting. They basically said that they can't accept the Book of Mormon because the Bible makes no mention anywhere of a person being both a spirit and a body. We gave them as much evidence as we could think of, but he always said the words meant something else. Typical. So, we thought that was over. We read parts of 2 Nephi 33 together and bore testimony of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon and left expecting that to be that, but they called a couple days later to set up an appointment! Sis Porkka has taught 7th Day Adventists before and just doesn't know what to do with them. We'll see how it goes.

We keep finding English speakers to teach. On Sunday the English speakers outnumbered the Swedish speakers in the Gospel Principles class. There were five of them and there was one more that meant to come, but got lost on the way. It was ridiculous.

Anyway, the rest is just the same, finding, teaching, seeing them slip away or being frustrated by lack of progress. It's hard to understand why some people keep meeting with us even though they don't want to read, pray, or go to church.

Well, it's getting colder, so we've switched to long underwear, socks and tights already. The Jul Must (a popular Christmas soda) is already in stores and some people have started putting lights in their windows. I also have found that a person can't get Jimmy Dean sausage here, meaning the kind that you can fry up. Also, there is no vanilla extract, only vanilla sugar which is basically powdered sugar with vanilla flavoring. Also, Sister Porkka said that inviting yourself over for dinner isn't a weird thing, but just dropping by to visit is. You can drop by, but don't take your shoes off and expect to stay. I'm trying to remember cultural things I haven't shared thus far. Anything anyone wants to know about? Well, have a great week. Hope you all are doing what you should be.

Love,

Syster Maxwell

Week 28

2010-10-04T10:19:00.001-07:00

Subject: The Moose are Everywhere!

Hello everyone,

So, we finally got Sis Robinson settled, packed, and saying her goodbyes. We are supposed to make a transition report every transfer with appointments for the next 10 days all lined up, but it was hard to make appointments with people and give them commitments to follow up with next time when Sis Robinson was lining up appointments for when her and her family came through. We had general conference this weekend, though, so we were able to make it over the hump.

Going back to Wednesday afternoon, we started cleaning and planted tulips in the back yard. We really hope we planted them not too deep and not too shallow so that they actually come up next spring. We thought it was a nice touch to finish off our garden-themed transfer which ended up consisting of getting stung by a lot of stinging nettle, making a lot of raspberry pies, adventures in composting, and then buying a house plant. We finished off P-Day by going into downtown and going to a lot of different shops to try to find scrapbooking things for Sis Robinson. We visited a couple more people that evening and then finished up the night cleaning. We got in bed at 11:15 and got up at 4:45. Yuck. We took the 6 am train to Stockholm because Sis Robinson wanted to go to the temple one last time without her family there. We missed the 9am session we were aiming for, so we had to wait until the 10am, but a couple of the elders who were also going home joined it, so that was fun. We spent a couple hours at the ring afterwards. It really seems like someone official would tell us we needed to disperse. There are a lot of missionaries there and we were right in the way of a huge Levi's display/advertisement. Sorry travelers of Stockholm! How will you get your jeans now? There were a lot of new missionaries and my MTC companion, Sis Page, is training one of the new sisters. Elders Gardner and Bloomfield who were also in the MTC with me will be training as well. That's weird.

Anyway, it's me and Sis Porkka now. She's a lot of fun and quite different from Sis Robinson, and more like me in certain ways. We think the same about a number of things particularly household things and cultural (and pop culture) references. It's lovely. I think the transfer is going to be grand. I hope we continue to see the miracles we saw last transfer.

On Friday we met with D, our next baptismal candidate and taught him chess in our extra time before we had to catch the bus. Then we met A, who has the tobacco addiction and got him to make a plan for quitting. He was excited about it, but basically refused to live the rest of the Word of Wisdom in the process despite our promises that he would have extra strength as he tried to live a commandment of the Lord. I had actually wanted to stop teaching him if he hadn't wanted to do the program, but he set up his own program which will last for 6 weeks. Oh dear! We decided that maybe helping him stop snusing will be our community service for the month, if anything. He came to General Conference though, but just doesn't seem to be soaking anything in. He often buys us yummy nectar-y stuff made with goijy or something, (some super fruit), so that's a plus.

We had a cool thing happen on Friday before that teach. We were walking down the street, and this guy stopped us and asked us in English if we knew the place he was going to buy good boots. Uh....no idea. Turns out he's a trucker from everywhere and nowhere and drives from Denmark to Sweden all the time. He had hit a moose the day before and was getting his truck repaired. He described in great detail the demise of the poor creature. It was really sad. But...he's also a former member of the church. Got kicked out, he said. We told him that general conference was this weekend and he said he'd come if he could. Turned out he could! After the Relief Society session, we biked to a nearby store to meet him. He came rolling up in his head tractor and we showed him the way to the church on our bikes. That was the first time I've had to outbike a big rig. It was so funny, seeing him pull his cab into the church parking lot. It was great! He really liked the conference and seems to want to make steps back.

Anyway, conference was fantastic. I think I got the most out of it than any other one I've seen before because I actually wrote down my questions and studied my notes after. Imagine that! Well, I hope you all enjoyed it too. We are going to watch the last session now. Also, we bought horse and moose sandwich meat today at the store. It's hunting season! Funny thing about the horse meat is that it's labeled 'hamburger meat', but if you look at the label, it's definitely horse. Sad! It was good though. And the moose was terrifically tender. Mmmm! Well, I love you all! Have a good week!

Sys Max

Week 27

2010-09-29T13:10:00.001-07:00

Subject: Raindrops on Roses

Hej på er,

So, it's been a long week, but not so gut wrenching as other transfer weeks have been. It's really nice to have a dying companion because I was fairly positive I would be staying and she would be going. The week was spent loaded with appointments and trying to make the transition to next transfer. Sister Robinson was finally breaking the news to everyone that she was leaving this week. We had more than one teach that ended with, "Well, I'm leaving this week..." followed by shock from those we were teaching. Some of the outbursts of emotion surprised both of us, but it's nice to know people care. President had to go pick up the new missionaries from the airport, so he didn't call us until almost 1. We were one of the last ones to know, but I'm staying as expected, and sister Porkka, a Finnish sister who I did splits with once and also loves This American Life is coming to be my companion. I hope we have a lot of fun together and get along well.

I'm keeping this short because we have A LOT to do this afternoon and we are going to be taking the 5:55 train to Stockholm tomorrow so we can go to the temple, so it would be nice to go to bed early. I guess we'll just hit the highlights of this week. First, the Word of Wisdom lesson with A who is addicted to snus, a popular kind of chewing tobacco here. His family kept coming in and out and he would go off on tangents on how important it is to take care of our bodies and how he knows all about the body and how the woman's body is especially a temple of God because she carries children, etc. Then his dear, sweet sister came in who is very sick and takes lots of medicines which affect how clearly she thinks. Her Swedish is only ok, so she often misunderstood what we were talking about. It was almost funny, our attempts to keep the lesson going so we could get home on time, but being sidetracked by her random comments about us and what we were teaching and then A replying and commenting on them too. For example, we went to the teach fasting, and she just couldn't understand why we didn't want anything to drink, so she kept asking over and over if she could get us something and then insisting that we needed to eat. I wish I could better describe it, but the long and short of it is that we got home really late, but they invited us back to eat food :)

On Sunday we took our recent new convert (R) to meet a lawyer who is an inactive member of the church and, frankly, isn't living the commandments. R needs help with his application to stay in Sweden and specifically needs a lawyer, and this man was the only way we could think of to be of assistance. He was willing to see him and gave him some good advice, helped him to understand the situation better, but we had to do some serious damage control afterwards. Basically, honesty. Always honesty. Something else that is very common here is for people to find a sambo, or live-in girlfriend, so they can stay. It's like getting married to get a green card in the US. We had to discourage that one too.

We had a really sad teach with a guy who is a member but has lost his faith and isn't really willing to take the steps to get it back again. He's willing to keep meeting, but isn't really planning on doing anything on his own until the desire hits him again.

Well, I'm off. Thanks for all your letters and prayers. Love you all!

Syster M

Week 26

2010-09-21T14:45:00.001-07:00

Subject: Baptism Week

Hello everyone,

Still here. This was an interesting week. We took a lot of long bus rides through the grey countryside. We only got soaked once though. The highlight was the fact that the fields are really green from all the rain and we saw a few late blooming lupines and lavender. The weather has taken to being a little warmer this week when it's not raining. We're back to wearing tights though. It's just too cold now for footies. Yesterday was beautiful. The air was just slightly crisp and smells like apples. There are apples everywhere. It seems like everyone (who has a house) has an apple tree and rotting apples litter their yards. We've had quite a few dinners with the members this week and almost all of them gave us a bag up apples to take home. We are rolling in fruit! I also discovered last week that the brown paper bags under the sink are for compost. No more burying my own compost in the back yard! There is a little place to put it next to the garbage depository. It's so convenient. Oh, we finally bought some bulbs which we'll be planting in the back yard. We've decided it's symbolic for not seeing the fruits of all our labors here in Örebro since neither of us will still be here when they come up (I hope--that would be a long time here!)

The big news this week was that R got baptized. His was the second baptism I've attended since I've been here. He also was denied his asylum seeking status and was said that he had two months until he had to leave Sweden. He's going to appeal and we hope the best for him. It was really hard to hear. He's so humble and good we hope the Lord will guide him to the place where he can feel settled and build a new life. AW, his roommate and the one who introduced him to the church when he was baptized a couple months ago, got his approval to start language classes. It looks like he'll probably be able to stay then. The baptism itself was lovely. We had it right after church, so many from the ward stayed. Sis R and I sang, but it was only ok because I got nervous as usual. We only had a slight glitch in that R's pants were too big. They couldn't find any belts, so they held them up with a tie :) He's very shy, but he got up and said a few words afterwards. He just thanked everybody and said that he would never forget this day. It was very sweet. Sadly, they all had to run and catch the bus right after, but we snuck some cakes into a bag for them. D is getting baptized next month, and the baptism made him really excited about it. Hopefully having all three of them come into the church around the same time will help them keep coming. We made apple pie and apple cake for the baptism. The apple cake called for 4 cups of grated apple, so we got rid of all the nasty ones :) I also had orange fingers the rest of the day.

Now for the rest of the story... We went to Nora again and the ice cream place is closed for the season!!! We had no idea how much of a tender mercy our getting the ice cream that one time was.

Sis R is going home in like 10 days now and she's trying really hard just to stay with it. I think she's doing great, but the district leader and his companion think it's funny to try to get her trunky. I think it just makes us all feel bad. Well, gots to go. I love what I'm doing and you all are in my prayers!

Love,

Sys Maxwell

Week 25

2010-09-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

Subject: I dry vegetables on the dish rack

Hello all!

So, this week has been fantastic! Or, at least interesting. I was feeling quite distraught about the weather in August and the season quickly turning to the dark side, but the words of an older ward member a couple weeks ago were prophetic. He said that sometimes in September there is a short 'second summer'. Ta da! It's been lovely this week! We're still holding out on the nylons as long as possible.

So, on to the week. On Tuesday, we got up early to be out the door by 6:30 to catch a 6:55 train to Stockholm for Zone Conference. We got everything ready the night before and were out the door by 6:35. Sis Robinson stopped dead in her tracks just staring at the bikes. We were in a hurry so I pushed her a little and said, "Come on! What are you waiting for?" "Look!" she said, pointing in the direction of the bike rack. I looked, and there was only one bike. We went and checked it out and found that someone has cut the wire. Oh the irony. I had been so careful about locking the bike securely. Sis Robinson thought I was paranoid at first. Nope. They didn't take my bike probably because it's not a very good bike and the back tire was locked. We quickly ran through our options. Couldn't take the bus, we'd missed it. We decided to just both go on the one bike. We grabbed another lock from inside and started off with 15 minutes to make it to the train station with a double loaded bike. I drove and Sis Robinson sat on the back trying not to let her feet drag. We get stared at a lot on any normal day, but today, everyone that passed us did a double take. We were crawling along two grown women, helmets on, in suits and tights, sweat streaming down my face, and can't forget the name tags. Needless to say, we didn't make the train. We got to the station, mascara all over my face, and 10 minutes too late. We talked to the lady at the desk and our only options were to take the really expensive, fast train, or to wait and hour and 15 minutes. Pres. Anderson asked if we could just come tomorrow to Stockholm South's zone conference. We decided to just wait for the next train because we had a lot of appointments the next day and this was Sis Robinson's last conference. We had prayed for a miracle, but thought it hadn't come. We had been on the train 15 minutes when we got a phone call from the district leader. The power in the Gubbangen chapel was out, no explanation, so we would be holding the conference in the institute in Stockholm which cut 30 minutes off our trip, and allowed us to get there just in time. Wonderful! We got sis Robinson's brand new, shiny bike yesterday. Our saintly mission leader bought it and had his son put it together. Yay!

We bought a plant today. If I get transferred in a few weeks, I'm taking it with me. It will be my friend during the winter. We also have been trying to germinate avocado seeds. They germinate rather slowly, but they are making progress. I think I'll take those too.

Sis Robinson and I were discussing the quirks of having a companion and how you have to adjust to each person's peculiarities each time you work with someone new. She leaves the bathroom cabinet door open all the time. I don't like to step onto a wet bathmat (Brian's fault--he doesn't like it either). Sis Robinson had a companion that demanded that the toilet seat be left down. She said that after that transfer, she missed putting the toilet seat down. Today, I put a carrot in the dish rack to dry after rinsing it. Sis Robinson said when she saw it later, "What's that carrot doing in the dish rack!?" I said, "Drying off. What do you think?" That was very strange to her. I didn't think it was so strange. Things like that. It's like getting married every two months. Or so I've heard. I'm not sure if Elder's really deal with that or not because I have shopped and cooked with each of my companions as well. Also interesting.

Anyway, yesterday was amazing. We've had almost no one come to church all transfer. We had 10 non-members come in and out of church yesterday. Some were there the last half, some only the first half, but they all came! It was crazy. We had a lady with her two kids come yesterday. Everyone was really excited about that, but we aren't sure if she'll come back or not. She goes to the Syrian orthodox church, so our church was rather strange to her. She's great though!

Well, I am trying to keep Sis Robinson's head on. She goes home in 3 weeks and is starting to get tired. She says she's losing her mind. That might be true. She never knows what I'm talking about. But she's not trunky, just crazy.

Let me conclude by saying the Lord is mindful of His missionaries. We see miracles (though usually small) every day. I love you all! Thanks for your prayers and support.

Love,

Syster M

Syster Birthday Princess

Week 24

2010-09-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Subject: Blackmailed!

Hejsan allihopa!

So it's been a big week this week. Mother, I'm going to be making big tortellini soup this week. I'm very excited. I was even more excited when, after looking for sausage a couple of weeks ago and finding the selection slim by the deli meats, we found the real sausage/hot dog section this week! It was beautiful!

On Tuesday we went to a little tourist town, which according to Lonely Planet, was supposed to charm the pants off us. We had an appointment with a friend of the man who is getting baptized in a couple of weeks. When we got there, he wasn't at the library, and his phone was busy. We had an hour until our bus left, so we made phone calls. About the time we had to go, a man I recognized as a visitor in church last week came up to us and said, "I have a picture I'm going to send to your mission president unless you give me $50...Blackmail, an American tradition! Are you supposed to be here?" Busted! We were supposed to be there, but it looked rather suspicious, us sitting in the sun by the quaint plaza. We explained, he and his family bought us ice cream, and then we had to run to the bus. They were really nice, and I hope they don't think we were slacking. It was fantastic ice cream. If you are ever in Nora, get the ice cream!

We had a fun little miracle on Wednesday. We went to Storå to teach our investigator with the baptismal date. It was rainy and cold and the library was unfortunately closed. We were sitting waiting for him to come when a man passed by us and said, "Hello! Praise the Lord!" He stopped to talk to us and said he is from India and was a preacher, but had to leave because his life was in danger. He preached a little too much for some people's liking. Or maybe it was what he preached. We don't know. He then told us that he had gotten baptized into our church a year ago. We will be getting a Hindi Book of Mormon this week, so we'll be able to take it to him. We were happy he found us.

This week I also agreed to buy a sewing machine from a man we taught a first lesson to. Oops. Turns out just nodding and saying ok to everything you don't quite understand is not always a good idea. Otherwise, the language is going well. I still have a horrendous accent, but most missionaries do.

Anyway, the rest of the week was filled with teaches with lots of great people, crazy train schedules, and trying to pack everything into 4 days. We went to Stockholm on Friday evening for preparation for our meetings with Elder Nelson and the area presidency the next day. We got to the mission home a little after 9 and found out that Elder Nelson had just left at 8:30ish. He'd been there to have dinner. Just missed him! We got to meet him the next day, though. I also got to meet Elder Kopischke who served with Dad in the office in Germany on his mission. That was fun! We took a picture. The missionary meeting was awesome, and the conference the next day was great! Also, spending the evenings at the mission home and with Sister Anderson was really fun and we went on splits in Uppsala with the sisters serving there. We have sharpening tomorrow, so we are going back to Stockholm bright and early. Mixed feelings on that one. Anyway, the church is true. This is the Lord's work, and I am happy to be on His errand. Have a great week!

Love you all,

Amy

Week 23

2010-08-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Subject: A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Hey you guys!

So last week, I thought the fall weather would go away and it would be summer for just a little bit more. Nope. It's been raining all week and getting colder and colder. The sun penetrates the forest in the mornings less and less. Normally I wouldn't be so obsessed with the position of the sun and the temperature in the mornings, but the fact that EVERYONE who isn't Swedish automatically goes on what Sis Robinson terms 'a winter rant' as soon as one mentions snow or winter makes me nervous for the coming 6 months. Oh well. They say I'll make it through. It's still light when we get up and just getting dark at 9, so I still have some time, but all the geese are flying south. It's weird seeing them so early, but they have a long way to go. It's understandable. There are also huge flocks of black birds that come and hang out in the winter, and they are already starting to trickle in. No good.

The irony is the only beautiful day we had was Monday, and we decided to make it a nap day. It was much needed. As a result, Sis Robinson can now run twice as fast in the morning. Tell me how that works. Still sad about missing the sun, though.

We taught the two Spanish speakers we met last week on Tuesday. One of them had a 14 month old baby who was hilarious! He kept slipping around on his little socks and rolling all over the floor. Nice for laughing, not nice for teaching. They also think I'm a ditz.

The rest of the week we put up flyers for a Swedish class we want to start here. We realized after we'd put them all up that we can be there the first time, but the next two times, we will be in Stockholm. Oops! This weekend is our big meeting with Elder Nelson and then we have sharpening which is zone conference pt II the next time we have class. After that there are only like 3 weeks until the transfer ends.

One of our investigators moved back to Uganda this week. He finished school and went back home. That was sad. We liked him.

Also, we've been teaching our baptismal date a little more. He lives way out in the middle of nowhere and the train rides there are beautiful! We got off at Storå on Friday to meet him and there was nothing there when we got off! Just a little shelter, time table, and cement. We went down the hill a ways and found a small little town on the edge of a lake. We took lots of pictures. Oh, and I saw my first Swedish moose! It was a girl moose. I missed the boy moose because I was sleeping. Too bad!

We also played in the first game in the stake soccer tournament on Saturday. Rather, I played until someone better came. It was fun, but one of those, "people care about you because you’re the missionaries, but don't really want to spend too much time with you because they have real friends" thing. They appreciated that we played, though and I'm starting to be able to tell the difference between all the tall, blond young men.

We made lunch for the district on Thursday. We made this delicious Hungarian soup called Lesco I think. Meat, peppers, tomatoes, onions. Served with lots of bread! We made the bread and baked it during the meeting. It was all so good! Our District Leader has been sick recently and keeps going to Stockholm to figure out what’s wrong with him. He had a weird rash thing and then just felt horrible. They told him he must have ulcers, so we thought having him eat lots of bread would be a good thing. Turns out it wasn't. We got a text on Saturday that said, "Was there basil in the food on Thursday?" (He's also allergic to basil) Nope! He said that he thinks he has a gluten allergy, then. It runs in the family, he says. Celiac's strikes again! We were very sorry for him, but even more sorry that we were the ones that helped him realize that :( In other food adventures, we made a beet, mango, tomato, hot dog pizza on Saturday. We liked it much better than the cucumber, zuccini, tomato, onion, banana pizza we made a couple of weeks ago. The beets were good, I think. It was Sis R's first time not eating beets pickled. She thought they were ok.

Anyway, I think that's it.

Love you all,

Syster Maxwell

Week 22

2010-08-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Subject: They do exist

Hejsan allihoppa!

So this week was back to normal and filled with little miracles and awkward moments. Monday was a stressful P-Day. I'm glad it's not Monday anymore. Or rather, that Monday anymore. We went shopping for Sis Robinson's going home presents for her family (don't expect any from me, people). I did get to take a nap, though.

Tuesday we set a baptismal date with a guy from Uganda who is seeking asylum here. He doesn't have any paperwork, so I'm afraid he won't get approved. We'll see. The recent convert who is actually the other guy's roommate thought ahead and made a clean exit from his country. Sure, he only had a small bag and the clothes on his back, but he has good proof about why he needed to leave his country. They won't just take your word for it. Something I'd never talked to people about before. It's interesting. Well, we were very excited about the first man's desire to be baptized, but the problem is that he lives an hour or so out of Örebro and is currently dirt poor. The people who would be able to give him a ride can't right now or ever in the near future because they have a puppy who has separation anxiety, so they have to take him to church with them. They train sled dogs. It's a big puppy. So the puppy goes to church and the man with the good heart stays home....

Wednesday was one of those strange days. We had a kid teaching with us who is going on a mission to Salt Lake Central? North? in a month or so. Sadly, both were strange teaches where we dealt with a lot of concerns, so he didn't get to say much. Needless to say, he was out of there as soon as possible. He didn't even stick around for the fish pies we were given from another Ugandan friend. We ate them, though, after we had pulled up to the nearest patch of rugged wilderness. The ground around here is rocky and flatish for the most part. It's also very lake-y country. Is that glacial, Scott? Anyway, we had a nice lunch where we were attacked by mosquitoes and then angry yellow jackets. It was strange. For the most part they were normal--annoying and all over the food, but one of them got aggressive and came up and dive-bombed my face, commandeered my sandwich, and right in front of me while I was still holding my open-faced, vegetable-laden turkey sandwich, did a little dance in a circle and came away with a perfect little circle of meat which he rolled up and took away, almost crashing from the weight, but he managed. It was incredible. We started holding out little bits of apple and then when they were found acceptable by the nearest yellow jacket, we set them down on the ground and continued eating. Sis Robinson dubbed me the Wasp Whisperer and likes to call me Dubb Dubb from time to time. It was funny, but maybe you had to be there. And that's all I've got. Nothing else funny happened this week.

Well, that evening we were talked to by the Jehovah's Witness family who were all very frustrated that their logic and telling us over and over again that the Bible was complete didn't seem to stir us or sway us in the least. Sis Robinson is experienced at offering proof from the Bible, or what maybe could be termed by some 'Bible Bashing', but we didn't even want to go there. They asked for the evidence though, and promised that they were open and ready to learn, so she gave it to them. They could offer no logical response, and were obviously not open for rational discussion. They also completely misread Hebrews 11:1, but I can see why. Oh, well.

Well, I'm getting better at soccer (sort of), and we are going to teach a former investigator that doesn't want to be baptized, but her husband is basically making her (and making us teach her). The story is that there was a missionary here last year who came back for a visit. They actually named their baby after her and love her, so that's what prompted the change, it seems. We'll see how long that lasts, but we are being positive. Always positive. We met a really cool girl from China who when we set up the appointment said, "I'm Buddhist. Is that going to be a complication?" She's really cute.

I spoke in church on Sunday which is always interesting, but it went ok. We also found three Spanish speakers we will be meeting this next week. Yay! They do exist! We also talked to a guy who grew up Orthodox in Turkey. Hasn't really read the Bible, but he is sure that Jesus was born out of the left side of Mary, not in the normal manner because that is what has always been preached. Anybody know where that comes from? We also almost saw the king this week, but we got there late because we were teaching. Too bad! We stalked the castle a little and then went home for weekly planning. :)

Anyway, I hope my letters aren't becoming boring. It's a lot of the same. But Sweden is beautiful. It already feels like fall. I love what we have and I hope to continue understanding more. Have a good week and don't forget to write!

Syster Maxwell

Week 21

2010-08-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Subject: If you want to destroy my sweater...

Hej på er!

So this has been an...interesting week. Don't worry, there is a happy ending, so don't be distraught. We had a 80% blåst rate this week; only 3 of our appointments went through, and two of those were with recent converts who meet with us every week. Blåsa in Swedish means to blow, so missionaries use it in the sense of to be blown off, but I'm pretty sure that normal Swedes don't say that.

So Monday started with us emailing, doing laundry, getting ready, personal study, cleaning, buying food, packing, and catching a train all before 11am. It was slightly intense. We did an abbreviated companionship study on the train which consisted of me reading to Sis Robinson from Preach My Gospel because she gets sick if she reads. We were in Stockholm by 1 pm and spent the day getting souvenirs she wanted, taking pictures, touring Stor Kyrka (the big cathedral where the princess just got married. It costs money now. Too bad.), and waiting for a lot of other missionaries to show up and to decide what they were doing. We went to Vällingby that evening which was weird, but fun.

Tuesday was zone conference which was fantastic. They are doing new infield training which I like. I think it will be really beneficial and backs up some of the opinions I've had but have never felt justified in expressing. It also means doing more things that are uncomfortable. But, I think it will be fun especially because of the training videos. They are fun, and I could relate.

Wednesday was one of those typical missionary days that they like to scare people with. It was lovely though. We had 4 scheduled appointments and only the one with a recent convert went. Our back up plans weren't home and no one was especially interested. We ended up eating fast food (not our first choice) at the place where we were most recently stood up and then headed off on our bikes to tract the night away. Only problem was that it was pouring rain. Imagine trying to carry a side bag, an umbrella, and keep your skirt from flying up while riding a bike. It was slightly ridiculous. We got to the point where we had to cross the rail road tracks and then take a sharp turn down a ramp. Sis Robinson already has a hard time with tight spaces. Needless to say, we both crashed. She actually got across the tracks to the other side and then crashed hard into the railing. I did a sympathy bail right after the tracks and into the stinging nettle. Very wet, but not so stingy. It kept raining the whole time we were tracting, and we even taught a guy a first lesson. Problem was that he was Muslim but didn't believe in any prophets, ever. They are all after their own gain, he said. Problematic for people trying to share that God called another prophet. :) On the way back, we biked out of our way to talk to a lady and her daughter who told us she was in no mood for discussing religion because she had just gotten back from Göteborg, so leave them alone! Sad, wet, and bruised, we started on our way home. I saw a guy who I felt like I should talk to, so I stopped and talked to him. We have a system where we ring the bell if our companion is ahead of us. I rang the bell, and went to talk to the guy. I talked to him for a good while always expecting Sis Robinson to come back, but she never did. He was really nice and curious about our message, so I got his number and wrapped up quick, because my companion was gone. I biked and biked expecting to see her coming back any minute. I biked for a good 10 minutes before I found her. She had gotten almost all the way home and was freaking out when I found her. Oops!

Friday and Saturday passed with not so much happening. We did go to Karlskoga to search for some less actives to teach, and had a fun little "teach" outside an apartment building we visited with a Kurdish speaking family from Iraq whose son (our age-ish) kept asking us if we wanted to convert to Islam. The mother was fasting for Ramadan which is really hard in Sweden since they have to eat after 9 and before 3 right now. They were really fun and really brightened up our week. Tender mercy. One of the son-in-laws said that he has a sister and brother-in-law who live in NC, Raleigh area. He asked if I knew Manhatten Bakery. I assumed he meant Manhatten Bagel (Manhatten Bageri in Swedish) and told him we had gone there almost every morning! He said they had had a deli in NY, but then moved to NC. Isn't that the story of the Manhatten Bagel people, Dad? They thought that was really cool. I didn't tell them I hadn't ever really met them but once though because I'd always wait in the car. Yes, Ted, that was that time of my life when Dad drove me to school every morning. See how important it was?

Anyway on Sunday we had our miracles. We set up two appointments for next week and talked to the first really interested people we'd talked to in a week. Great conversations. Lots of laughs. 5 new investigators. We tracted into a Jehovah's Witness family. They are awesome, but out to convert us as well. We didn't want to go in really, but we did anyway. Don't worry, they threw scriptures all over us, but we just bore testimony and didn't succumb to fighting about it. I had some great logical arguments which they kept asking for, but decided not to pursue it so much. They really wanted us to come back, so we agreed to it because they were so nice. So, we got three new investigators, and they got two. :)

Anyway, again, this was far too long, but there was lots to tell. Last Monday I ruined my favorite white sweater and the pajama shirt that I got from Mike and Shelley for Christmas last year. They didn't react too well to the boiling hot white wash. :( A very sad day. I also don't think I ever told about trying your eggplant recipe, Mom. It was delicious except for the nutmeg that we put in that tasted like pine sol. Unfortunate. We will try again with nutmeg we can trust.

Well, it's weird that Brian's going home this week. I'm still here, and it's great. Love you all! I love the Spirit! It's really nice.

mvh,
Syster Maxwell

PS Here's Sister Robinson's take on the whole experience:

So we kept going. I was pretty tired by then. And we had to get home. So home we went. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure Syster Maxwell was behind me. And we were nearly home when the biker I THOUGHT was Syster Maxwell passed me and...well, didn't end up being a sister at all. I thought, "Wait...where's my companion?" I turned around - and she was NO WHERE in sight. I panicked! I'd lost my companion! I started biking back in a frenzy, praying out loud in the rain. What happened? She get hit by a car? She get kidnapped? Did she just give up on Örebro and make a break for it? Should I call President? I biked back a ways and saw NOTHING. Oh no! Worst thing you can possibly do - lose your companion. Oh no! But five minutes later she came riding up, big smile on her face as though nothing was wrong. "Hej," she said and kept biking towards home. I was like, "What do you mean Hej? I thought you were dead!" Turns out she'd stopped to talk to one more person and thought I'd have seen it. Well, with her being behind me and it being dark and rainy and me being half blind anyway - didn't happen. But she got their number. Later, upon calling them, they didn't seem too positive though. But that was the kind of night that missionaries live for. That is just a hard core missionary night. And you know what? Sometimes when the opposition is thrown at you, it's a test to see what you'll do - if you'll keep going, if you'll talk to that last person, if you'll still trust in the Lord. It was awesome.

Week 20

2010-08-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Subject: Brännesla Nätel? No idea how to spell that

Hello all!

What a terribly strange week! We spent a gazillion krona at the grocery store because Sis Robinson's bike tire was still flat and we had to go to the expensive one. Then we spent most of the afternoon fighting stinging nettles and mushy weeds, trying not to destroy the raspberries. Now we are experts at identifying stinging nettles by sight, sound, smell, taste and feel. Not very pleasant. Sis R got some nice welts on her arm. Ok. Not really by taste. They are all over the place here, turns out, lining the bike trails. Dangerous. We also had some of the young men from the ward come over and fix Sis R's bike tire. It had five holes in it, they said. They did a really good job patching it up, but the next morning it was half flat. Slow leak! So we just carried the bike pump with us everywhere and pumped it up every time we had to go somewhere new. I liked to tell people it was my night stick or billy club when they asked. Don't worry, we just decided to change the inner tube on Saturday, and we did it ourselves. Our apartment is swimming in tools! So exciting!

So, we had a lot of appointments fall through this week. That's been depressing. A run down of what we've been doing: Bike contacting. Very interesting. You have to get over any geek complexes pretty quickly. Helping an investigator quit smoking. Challenging a family to baptism who Sis R felt like she stayed here for. Getting our challenged laughed at by said family (we are not deterred!). The daughter really wants to be baptized, actually, and we'd love for them to be baptized all together, but they've already been baptized. So they don't feel like they need to again. I have many thoughts on that one, but I will spare you all, and I only have 10 minutes left. We are going to Stockholm today and have only a little time.

We also had a cool experience (I hope) where we had a guy come up to us and start talking about the church. We set up an appointment with him and got his address. Then, later in the week, we called the guy that I had talked to in the train station on Saturday. We set up an appointment with him and got his address. We set them up one after each other and turns out they lived in the same street! We felt like the Lord was telling us something. We still don't know who we might find there, but when we got there it was student housing! We've been looking for some way to talk to the students from the university here! We'll see how it goes. We actually had a great teach with two graduated students from Africa (Ghana and Uganda). They know the bible really well and are very smart. We went back last night to tract and at 1A we got caught in what Sis R terms "an old man trap". An 65 year old man answered the door in nothing but his briefs and proceeded to talk to us for 45 minutes. We tried to get away, we promise! But neither Sis R nor I are bold enough just to say, "ok! See ya!" and close the door. He chatted with us about how he'd already lost 30 kilo and wanted to go down 20 more by just eating pita bread and vegetables and how we needed to only read the Bible. Not even commentaries. It was really a non-stop stream with no break. Amazing! Well, we'll try again some other day.

Love you all! No time left! Laundry to switch!

Syster Maxwell

Week 19

2010-08-02T12:42:00.001-07:00

Subject: The Garden State
Hello Beloved Family,

Well, I'm in Örebro. Transfers went nice and smoothly. I was packed and ready to go by 3:00 the day before and we could just take it easy the rest of the time. The day of transfers we had our studies, finished tidying up and decorated our planners with the flowers we'd been collecting and drying the whole transfer. I put lavender on mine, so now it smells delicious! I'll just try not to smell it in public. We took both of my overloaded suitcases on the bus to Vällingby first to meet IA. That was great! He still wants to get baptized and come to church, so we gave him the number of a Spanish speaking ward missionary and my number in Örebro. The only question is, why did he avoid us for 2 weeks if he's still excited about everything? I don't know.

So then it was off to the ring to meet all the other missionaries. Sis Wood got tranferred down to Lund for her last transfer which is an answer to prayer. She really wanted to get out and see something different since she's basically been in Stockholm her entire mission. Only trouble is that they speak a different dialect of Swedish down there which is hard to understand. I'm sure she'll have fun with it though. Elders Gardner, Bush, Wood, and Dean were at the ring too. They were in my MTC district and are basically switching places too. Elder Bush didn't think too highly of us sisters in the MTC and now sister Page is in his district. Hope he's gotten over that since she was the rowdiest of the group... The sisters all went out to eat at a café we would eat at for district meetings. It was pouring rain on the way back, so our shoes got slightly soaked. Quick goodbyes and off to catch my train. My first real train in Sweden! None of this commuter train stuff. I said goodbye as we passed by all my old haunts and then off to the west. We're still in the Stockholm stake, but we are two hours out, so there will be no more Stockholm trips which I'll miss, but I already like Örebro, so I'll think I'll stick around.

It's been raining basically since I got here. Hard to take after our rainless, hot July. So getting transferred out of my first area felt like moving away from home. I keep feeling like I'll be going back sometime. I even find myself thinking, "back home our shower..." and then I remember how ridiculous that is and it's not my home. The whole mission slang with 'being born', 'dying', having a 'mom' or 'sisters' or a 'grandma' is making a little more sense to me now. Also it's so much easier to say you are going to 'kill' someone than saying 'I'm going to be their last companion before they going home' or even 'they are going home thing transfer'. Rather, 'she's dying' or 'I'm going to kill her.' So much simpler... or maybe it's still just ridiculous.

Anyway, they had a baptism here last week and he was confirmed in church on Sunday, so as happens after a baptism, there is a void in the people for us to teach (because not so much energy is focused on teaching the baptismal candidate even though we still teach him once a week), so we'll be doing a lot of finding work. My favorite! Örebro is like an actual city and the castle is right in the middle of it, so we pass by it to go contacting. We bike everywhere which is awesome, but we need to buy baskets. I just can't live without a basket for my bike. I was being silly, but they are nice, and it's so Swedish!

So, Sis Robinson tells me I've come to Zion. Örebro is an actually functioning ward with the sacrament actually being passed by youth, about 20 young single adults, and 100 active members. Crazy! Our ward mission leader is AWESOME. He is starting a program to have members of the ward bring people into their homes to be taught. Not people we find, people they invite. When people get baptized, the members take care of them. They've had five baptisms within the last year and 4 our of 5 of those is still coming to church (5 if you count the man baptized last week). It's so wonderful. I hope we can really do some good work here.

The best thing about this week is (maybe not the best...most ironic) that when sister Robinson told me we were on the bottom floor, I got excited and asked her if we had a little yard, then. (Most of the bottom floor apartments here have little yards that people like to dress up and actually put money into even though they are just renting. It's a different mentality). It was a "yard" she said, but there was no way we could go out in it since it was covered in very tall weeds. When I saw it, I got excited about cutting everything down and making it look nice. She was not so enthused, so I figured I'd just do it on my own for therapeutic reasons. So on Friday, we get a knock on the door and the community people tell us we have to clear our weeds within a week else, they will come in and do it for us and then send us the bill. Sis Robinson said, "well, I guess you get to have your garden after all" Yay!! It's raining today, but we are going to clip as much as possible. Our mission leader brought us some small clippers from the church, but after he got a look at it he went and got us bigger clippers and said, "You're gonna need these." Fun times! So Sis Robinson is also into transfer themes, so we decided to make the theme "The Garden" and relate it all back to Jesus Christ. We will be studying different aspects of garden symbolism as relating to the plan of salvation and atonement each week as a companionship. Her favorite CD is also "the Garden", that musical production that came out a while ago. Didn't they do that in Apex or somewhere? So, it all ties nicely together and would make for a nice seminary video.

Well, I'm really excited about this transfer. Sis Robinson is really sweet. She is from Palmdale, CA, studying to be an English teacher at BYU, and is more soft spoken upon first meeting people than I am. Weird. She's fun and open to new things, so that's nice. We also have a dryer now, so I don't have to have a stinky towel anymore!!!

Well, that's all for this week. I hope everyone is doing fantastically well and enjoying August. I love this work. It is the Lord's. I know we will see miracles this transfer as long as we truly desire it and stick with it. I discovered Helaman 3:24-30 this week. Love it!

Love,
Syster Maxwell

Week 18

2010-07-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

28 July 2010

Subject: Missionary’s first transfer

Hej på er!

So, transfers are this week. Hence, the late email. I'm getting transferred to Örebro and Sis Robinson will be my new companion. I'm really sad to be leaving, actually partially because Stockholm is really fun. It's fun to be able to go there for P-Day and District meeting and there are so many missionaries around. I also love the people here. That was my first reason not to leave, but really, it feels like the right time. IA disappeared on us. No explanation. And the Spanish lady I felt like I wanted to stick around to support is going back to Chile until February in September anyway. Sadly, they decided to put an end to the Spanish Sunday School class on a Stake level. I had a hard time with that one, not going to lie, because it was a draw to Spanish speakers that we meet and was keeping some people active because they had at least one class where they could fully express themselves and understand. Of course the reasons, were the usual ones, unity, the ward is small anyway, so giving the other Sunday school class more numbers. I see both sides, but if they can't have their class, why is it ok for us to have our English Investigator class? It's hard for me to get coming from the US where we have Spanish, Chinese, Tongan, even Cambodian branches in some areas. We want everyone to hear the gospel in their own language, but we also want to be a unified body. Difficult.

Something else difficult from this week is that our investigator who has been trying to kick his coffee habit and actually threw away the coffee he had, chatted with some guy from Utah this week who told him that he's Mormon and he drinks coffee and some Mormons do too. It's ok! No big deal! Don't kick your habit! That made me so mad! It's just like Swedish, for every rule, there's always a list of exceptions a mile long. One thing I've realized is you don't teach people the exceptions because they will live by them and not the rule. They'll pick up the exceptions along the way and find their own ways to rationalize things away just like we all do (I'm not condoning that, I'm just saying that). I've also found it difficult with teaching the Sabbath Day because that is such a widely interpreted law itself. We try to stick with what the prophets say, but some of the things don't apply here to the people we are talking to. But it's hard to draw the line between culture and doctrine. But don't worry, we teach them correct principles.

Well, yesterday we helped one of our investigators move from Kista to Husby. He didn't have anything to pack his stuff up in, so we took over our empty suitcases to help him pack and move. I discovered in the hour of rolling our suitcases all over the place that one of the wheels on my gray suitcase is bent and rubs against the plastic casing. Problematic since I have to move 60 pounds of stuff in it tomorrow. Moral of the story: don't buy cheap luggage? Or maybe don't overpack your suitcase? Probably the latter. Last week we bought 170 SEK worth of fruit. It was two huge bags and we've been eating it slowly with bread, cheese, and vegetables mostly. Yay for the summer!

On Sunday, we went to Jenny Kempler's house and made phone calls while she made lunch (I helped). We ate a very red lunch. We had boiled beets with salt and goat cheese, fried herring with lingon jam, potatoes and carrots and cherry juice that she made herself which was thick and tart. It was delicious!! She ended up coming out with us for the two teaches we had that evening and it was really nice having a ride everywhere and her awesome testimony. Every time she opened her mouth, the Spirit was overwhelming. It was amazing! We've been averaging about 4 member teaches a week which is really bad. That's July in Sweden for you.

I bought some (tame) leopard print footies because that was better than the electric blue or orange that they had (end of the summer selection, you know). I thought it would be ok because no one would see them in my shoes. I forgot we have to take our shoes off at people's homes. Oops. It's been ok so far.

On Friday last week we were sitting in Bro waiting for someone who didn't show up, but another guy came up to us and said hey and walked past and sat down on the bench right behind and to the side of us. Sis Swenson had her triple out and when he'd almost finished his cigarette, he asked us what the book was. We talked to him for awhile about it and the church and then he told us all about his history and how he'd seen God while he was on drugs, but he wasn't sure if it was real because he was on drugs, ya know. He doesn't do drugs anymore, and wanted to talk more sometime, but we haven't been able to yet.

Well, I can't think of anything else right now. There was something...nope. Not coming. Anyway, Sweden is an interesting place. So many people and so many interesting issues. Do your home and visiting teaching. Love your families. No excuses.

Syster Maxwell

Week 17

2010-07-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

19 July 2010

Subject: An outside perspective

Well, I'm still here. We are just plugging along. This week was weird because we taught about 6 Swedes. That is more than usual. I have also been sharply reminded about how bad my Swedish is. I don't feel so bad about it when we teach people who also don't come from Sweden. I also heard a lot more swearing than usual this week.

Our French-only speaking investigator is back in town for awhile, so that's been exciting. On Sunday one of our less active ladies, who only doesn't come every week because her husband won't always let her, came up to him and started speaking French! We were so surprised, but it makes sense since we met and taught her sister this week who lives in Switzerland and also speaks French. Turns out they went to a French school growing up. It was a real blessing because we were actually able to communicate with him during our lesson during Sunday School. She said she had been able to come to church last minute. Miracle for the week.

We had another lesson with the Jehovah's Witnesses who are very nice. It was really fun because we were able to ask them questions about their church and beliefs and there was no argument. It was just a normal exchange of ideas. They kept asking us questions about the resurrection and the timing of everything with the second coming. I think it's been years since I thought about it, strangely enough, so we had to get back to them on that one.

We also had a little mishap where we were offered either rice and sauce or rice and strawberry filmjölk which is like thick yoghurty milk, but not so good. But I didn't know that and thought I would try it. Sadly, it was hard to choke down the entire bowl and the man who gave it to us is quite poor.

We also talked to this guy in Vällingby who was English speaking and told us he doesn't share his thoughts with anyone because the powers that be will steal it. Then he went off for five minutes on how terrible the world is, especially the United States Government and what would he termed 'big business'. He must have known we were Americans, but maybe not.

Also, there is a couple that we go eat food at their house sometimes. They have a garage that they did up with a couple of couches and a table and the husband's music and stereo and such. It's a really cute little gathering place. When some of the other guests were commenting on it this last time, they mentioned how uncommon it was, but the wife turned to us and said that this type of thing was common in the US, right? We responded with blank stares and uh....'s. Then she said that it was on TV at least. The King of Queens? Anything else? Seems like it, but I really struggled to find a real life example of that. Maybe they were thinking of basements? That makes more sense.

Well, the only other exciting thing is that we went to a few fun museums the last couple of P-Days in Stockholm including the Dance Museum and the Ethnographic Museum. It's weird to go to museums as a missionary. We also ate lunch today in a tower that over looks all of Stockholm. Fun!

Well, that's all I can squeeze out this week. The church is true and the work moves on even if it is at a slower pace than we'd want. Take care. Love you all.

Amy

Week 16

2010-07-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

Subject: Weird days and lovely muggy weather

Hejsan hejsan!
So it's been an interesting week. Lots of ups and downs and I think it was really long. Last Monday we went to the Nobel Museum and learned a lot about Alfred Nobel. We were sad that there wasn't more information about the people who had won Nobel Prizes. They did highlight a few controversial prizes like the one awarded to Sartre which he rejected until a few years later, but he couldn't get it because the time was up for him to collect his money. Interesting. We saw a little clip about Martin Luther King Jr. and I had forgotten how inspiring the things he said were. What I've read and heard of his speaks to my idealistic hopes.

Sis Swenson and I have talked a lot about our teaching methods this week and things have gotten a lot better. I thought she didn't like what I would share in lessons, but turns out she just had no idea where I was going. Typical. I'm working on clearly expressing myself.

On Tuesday we had 'Sharpening' in Gubbangen. We get together and have short learning activities put on by the Zone Leaders and then President Anderson speaks for a little and then we have district meeting. In the meantime we have interviews with Pres. Anderson. That was followed up by running over to Spånga where we were supposed to meet IG and take him to a Spanish speaking member's house for a lesson on tithing. The members are a great asset, but it's hard to get a word in edgewise because they probably figure they can explain it better. I felt like maybe I wasn't doing a good enough job teaching him everything until he told me he didn't understand the concepts they had explained to him. I realized he probably understands me because I speak slowly and clearly since Spanish isn't my second language, so that's all ok.

The next few days after that were weird. We sat around a lot waiting for IG to show up and having a lot of other things fall through. Part of the weirdness is that Sweden basically shuts down in the month of July because everyone has 5 weeks of mandatory vacation and for some reason I still don't know they all seem to take it in the month of July.

On Friday we ended the weird days streak with a teach with a former member who wanted to talk about the Priesthood and blessings and things. So, like I said, we've been working on teaching together and I've been trying to finish the things I start, so when I asked him what he remembers about his own priesthood and service he started talking about the Priesthood as the power that keeps the universe in motion or together or something (Big words in Swedish...). When he had finished his thought, I was like, "....Uhhhh...." Desperate look at Sis Swenson, and then I just dove in with something about faith and God's love and our potential and it all connected and came back to the lesson, but in Swedish, who knows if it made sense. So that was fun. And embarrassing. But everyone was nice.

On Saturday I was reminded about the non-status that missionaries have in the ward at our ward grillfest. Everyone loves us, but we are tied to no one, and there's always a lurking distrust that we will freak out there friends or "eat them alive." It's sad that missionaries lose common sense of what makes people uncomfortable and that members don't trust us. (All the ward members are very nice and I feel a part of the ward, but we still are the transitory ones that no one really feels particularly attached to in most cases).

The last memorable experience of the week was yesterday evening. We went to go teach a guy who is a former Jehovah's Witness and is now seeking the truth. He said it would be him and his friend (a girl). When we got there, the apartment was decorated really dark but creatively, it smelled thickly of smoke and such, and there were not 1 but 3 big young guys and their friend (the girl). So, not what we were expecting and rather intimidating and borderline creepy. But, it was really cool. They listened intently and respectfully and had seeking questions, not skeptical questions. It was lovely and they were lovely people.

Anyway, that's too much. It's raining and we left our clothes out to dry. I knew it was going to rain. Why didn't we take our clothes in? Or bring an umbrella? Typical.

Well, do your family history work and "watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives...And now, O man, remember, and perish not." Mosiah 4:30--one of my favorites but not one I get to share very often :) Have a lovely week! Love you all

Syster Maxwell

Week 15

2010-07-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

5 July 2010
Subject: Short sleeves and flip flops

Okej, not flip flops, but it was beautiful all week with temperatures in the mid to high 20s and I think we even broke 30. I have 3 short sleeve shirts which aren't really cutting it. Time to shop! I've become more of a shopaholic on my mission. It's strangely hard not to buy new things. I think it's my way of breaking up the sameness of it all and trying to feel normal.

This week was interesting. We had the sister's training (which we are not calling a conference because that would sound like a sleepover). It was really fun to see everyone again. We found out that the unnamed companionship that I thought would be an interesting and difficult combination actually has been really rough, so it was good for them to have people to talk to. It's hard to protect privacy and make that interesting at all. It was also really fun to have our MTC group back together again. Everyone had their group of sisters that they were being reunited with and it was fun to see everyone so happy to see each other again. We had great sister themed workshops complete with an abundance of tears and emotion. We also went out and did contacting training with the office elders and some of the others in the area. It was a little strange contacting with the elders but worked really well and we learned a lot from them. We split up so it wasn't paired off, but someone had recently told me that having an elder go out with two sisters was a little awkward because people would ask if the sisters were the elder's wives. Inget bra. So, I was a little wary of the set up, but it worked. As a grand finale we all went to the temple together. It's amazing the difference it makes to understand the language and to not be jet lagged. Much more uplifting.

We lost contact with our Portuguese-speaking baptismal candidate last week and were freaking out because we didn't know why he had just disappeared and then didn't come to church like he'd said. We had given him a quick Word of Wisdom lesson and he asked if he could drink leite. I didn't register that he was talking about leche, or milk, and we thought he meant latte. So we said no. He said that was going to be really hard! We were surprised because he's accepted not drinking coffee easily. Finally I realized he was saying milk and we had a good laugh about it. Oops. But then we didn't see him again. But, we were in Vällingby yesterday teaching a Muslim man and were finishing up explaining about Joseph Smith when we saw IG go by across the way with a big smile on his face motioning for us to follow him. We were so surprised and happy that we quickly wrapped up the current teach, made a return appointment and ran after him. A lot of times I feel like a stalker, but this time he told us to follow him, so it was ok. Turns out he lost his phone and met someone, two reasons he wasn't making us a priority anymore. We told him we'd have to push back his baptism and then I gave him a law of chastity lesson in Spanish! All by myself! Obviously.

So all is well there. We also went to a BBQ on Saturday at a friend of Nick's who also comes from the states. I've turned into a real missionary because I 'forgot' to bring the wine down and made jokes about the Word of Wisdom to Niklas and Sandra, two members who Nick had also invited. I've succumbed! It's good though.

We also set up a baptismal date with A, an investigator who actually lives in a different area, so we'll be passing him off. It's a really cool story though. Lawal was really late to his confirmation on April 11th and was standing by the train looking really distressed. A saw him and asked him was wrong. He said "I'm really late! I 'm really late!" A offered him a ride to the church and Lawal was surprised, but gratefully accepted. A thought to just drop him off, but Lawal said, "Brother, I think you should come in," so A went in and was greatly impressed by how calm, happy, and stable all of the members seemed. He is really nice and has been fun to teach.

Oh! On Wednesday we went from the Sister's Training to the laser doctor who lasered Sis Swenson's feet! It was gross, but really fun to watch! She is much happier now. Sis. and Pres. Anderson came and picked us up which was really nice of them. When we got home the water was turned off and came out brown and in sporadic bursts for the next few hours. Ok. Not that interesting, but we were worried for a bit.

Well, I am loving what we are doing here.

Week 14

2010-07-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

27 June 2010
Subject: Hey!

Ok. We booked computers at the Stockholm City Library, but we think we might have missed our time on accident, so we only have 30 minutes. Back to the MTC days! Also, the mouse wasn't working, so I switched them with the comp next to me, so people keep coming up and jiggling my mouse. Anyway. Crazy week this week. We went shopping on Monday. I got some silver earrings b-c that's all that seems to work for long periods of times in my ears. Then we had the Örebro sisters over on Monday. They waited with us at the Spånga station while we waited for our Baptismal Date to run to Spånga from Vällingby. He wasn't even breathing hard when he got there. Then on Tuesday we had zone conference which was amazing. Then on Friday we had Midsummer which was super fun. It is the biggest holiday here next to Christmas. So we went to a big activity on Friday with the Stockholm and Stockholm South stakes and others from the community and we went to Tyresta, the national forest south east of Stockholm. It was great fun! All the missionaries were there and we brought an investigator, Nick. We started the day playing frisbee, then ran a 5K (28:30 b/c I had to stay with the other sister and we really didn't train for that, but it was fun nonetheless, we borrowed shorts from the elders) our investigator got lost on the 5k and didn't come back for 2 hours, then we bbq'd and waited for the dancing to begin. They dance around a large cross dressed with leafy branches. There are two rings that hang from each side of the cross. It was fun to see them set it up. and then the dancing began. They form a few rings around the pole and follow a 'caller' I guess you could say. It's kind of for kids and very silly, but it was so fun. Sis Swenson and I agreed that it was kind of surreal. She felt like we were in the movie Big Fish. It was a really cool thing especially when we went around the circle with all the rings together in one giant spiral. Then tug o war and ice cream in Stockholm. It was a day off for us, but we worked extra hard the next day. This is terribly written, sorry.

Anyway next day was a day of miracles. It all came together and we had 7 teaches. Real teaches. Not fake teaches. Anyway. Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 13

2010-06-21T18:04:00.001-07:00

Subject: Weddings and Bicyles

Hello everyone,

On Saturday Princess Victoria got married. She's up to be queen next, so it was a very big deal. There was a lot going on in Stockholm in celebration, but we didn't go. We saw lots of pictures of all the dresses and things, though. The tunnelbana was free over the weekend, which made us excited about getting investigators to church, but then we realized it was only the tunnelbana. Not the buses and not the pendeltåg, which is the train that runs by our house and the church. So, on to the exciting things.

On Monday we went to Sigtuna to celebrate Sis Wood's birthday. Sis Swenson made her a Princess Torta which is a layer cake with jam, pudding and whipped cream in the middles and covered with marzipan (fondant?). It was not as pretty as the ones in the stores, but still very impressive. When we went to eat it the next day, much to her chagrin, all of the pudding and whipped cream had leaked down the sides and been absorbed by the marzipan or the cake itself. Not quite the same experience, but it was still fun. We ate it at a picnic table by the ruins of St. Olaf's church and accompanying graveyard. Very picturesque. Then we went into St. Maria's I think it was and saw stained glass windows from the 14th century and a baptismal font from the 9th century. Everything else was old too. Very cool.

On Tuesday, the miracle of Vällingby Centrum continued. So I said last week that "we went to Vällingby to contact for about 40 minutes before an appointment and found a guy who was really excited about getting the Book of Mormon. He thanked us for it and we set up a return appointment with him." Turns out he wasn't interested. It was weird because he had actually called us a couple of times to schedule appts that fell through. Well, we didn't have his number at first so, we went one day to just see if he was there. He wasn't, but we talked to this Ghanaian woman who really liked Jesus and wanted us to come back to talk more on Tuesday. We came back on Tuesday and she wasn't there, but we contacted another guy who was there who was really interested in the Book of Mormon and said we could come back the next day. When we went back the next day, he said he was more interested in the World Cup than talking to us, so we just did some more contacting and talked to a guy who is from Portugal and speaks no English or Swedish. We gave him our number and continued on our way. About half an hour later he was still sitting there and motioned for us to come over. He wanted to know more, so I gave him an explanation of the restoration in Spanish. We met the next day to give him a Portuguese Book of Mormon. Basically, long story short, we've taught him a few times this week and yesterday he asked me how he could be a missionary and when he could get baptized. I was like, "Uhh....." I'd never been asked that before, and it was kind of surprising especially since I didn't think my Spanish was that impressive or that he was actually very serious about the whole thing. So, we'll see. We set a date for three weeks out. He doesn't smoke or drink because he's a runner. He's here training for the Olympics and is determined to be the fastest man alive (meaning, he runs the 100m and 200m). He says that people here only like him because he's fast and awesome and not because they like him, so that's why he likes hanging out with us. We didn't know he was going to be rich one day when we talked to him :)

Yesterday we took him to lunch with Niklas Salo (speaks Swedish, English and French) and Sandra (Swedish, English, Spanish), his fiancé. They served us this cool French thing where you melt cheese in little dishes in a little hot double tiered skillety-oven thing and cook meat on top. Then you eat it over potatoes. It was really fun, but I don't remember the name. So, our French and English speaking investigator was also there, so it made for an interesting experience. There were five languages flying around the room. We would teach in English, Sandra would translate into Spanish, IG would answer in Portugues, and Niklas would answer explain things in French because IG can also understand French. Quite the brain numbing experience.

Also exciting this week were our interactions with Waldemar, a Polish member in our ward. He served us some jello with fruit this week and it was one of the funniest things I'd seen in a long time. It was just like a foreign film. The jello kept falling off the spoon and he would mutter in Polish as he tried over and over to get the jello from the bowl to our plates. I couldn't help but laugh. He lives in a tiny little apartment next to a row of greenhouses just down the road from us. Sis Swenson has been having problems with her bike, so we decided to take it by on Friday for him to fix it up. On Thursday, we took the bikes 5 min away to a trail through the woods because we were short on time for running and Sis Swenson has shin splints. We hooked them to a tree and had a nice run. When we came back, I unlocked my bike, but Sis Swenson broke her key in the bike lock. Bad news! We couldn't get it unlocked with the nub we had and when we came back the next morning, the pliers just broke the key more. No good. We called Waldemar and he went with us to cut the lock off. He thought it was very strange that the bike was locked in the middle of the woods. But it was nice of him and then he even fixed her chain and gave us more jello!

I think that's it. We also met a really cool kid from Portugal on the train on Friday. Found him by a miracle too. Sis Swenson felt prompted to sit by him even though the train was empty. Very awkward, but it turned out to be really great. He was very open, so we'll see if anything ever comes of that.

Man, a lot of cool things happened this week, but I can't talk about them all because this is, as usual, very long. Well, have a good week each and every one of you. Don't forget to write. Don't forget I have a new address. :)

Love,
Amy

(see Week 9 post for her new address)

Week 12

2010-06-14T16:30:00.001-07:00

Subject: Miscellaneous
Hej på dig,

So, I remember this being a good week. ´The weather has turned gray again which is unfortunate. I finished decorating my planner. Don't worry. It's quite classy, complete with a spiritual touch. It's Chinese and faith themed, or at least I think it's Chinese. I got all the clippings from an Ensign article about a Chinese family. Sis Swenson let me have some dried flowers that she brought with her from Uppsala which are a nice accent.

I don't think I've talked about our Swedish class before. Or maybe I have. It has not really been a success. We had a good showing for awhile and there has only been one time where no one has showed up. The Latvian couple that used to come stopped coming when they went on vacation. Then they never came back. We don't know what happened. There was another man who used to come, Tamaz, from Georgia to practice his Swedish and English. Then he would bring people with him. Once he brought 3 other Russian speakers, so we had to do the class in Swedish, so Sis Wood taught the class because I was too embarrassed to teach Swedish in broken Swedish to people whose Swedish was just as good or better than mine. But it was ok, because she's a teacher and likes that kind of thing. Ever since the new transfer, though, we've had an average of 1.3 people in class each time because Tamaz is in Russia for two weeks. Hopefully he’ll come back, but we'll see. We had a guy come last week who was displeased that we were going over fruit and vegetables and demanded that we start over from the beginning. "Teach us the alphabet so we can read!" he said. "We are all educated people here. I have a PhD and speak 5 other languages!" So we started over with pronunciation with him telling us what to teach and how to do the examples. I don't think he knew we weren't Swedish, but he's never been back. It's mostly been a good way for us to have more contact with investigators.

We have a new investigator this week from New Jersey who came to a YSA activity last week and then Swedish class and then church. It's been kind of intense for him, sadly, so I hope he can take it. The first Swedish class it was him and 4 teachers b/c we had a couple from the ward come to do pronunciation. Then in church he got a talk on the Law of Chastity. Then, after sacrament meeting, he asked if we had any coffee, so we broke the Word of Wisdom news to him, and we took him to our English gospel principles class where he got a long lesson from our mission leader on making covenants, including baptism, and how happy they will make him even though it's hard to be a member of the church and when people become members we have to then be missionaries and try to convince people to join our church, which is hard too... I felt really bad because I felt like we were sitting there trying to convince him to get baptized. Hopefully it came across as sincere; which I'm sure it was. But, he said that if he found out that it was all true, he would get baptized. So that's good.

We've been getting new investigators again, so it's been more encouraging this week. I also am hoping the culture shock phase is over now because that was a little rough. We have seen a few miracles this week as well. We went to Vällingby to contact for about 40 minutes before an appointment and found a guy who was really excited about getting the Book of Mormon. He thanked us for it and we set up a return appointment with him. We also found another investigator when we tracted a building in Yvonne's area. We actually weren't going to, but there were noisy kids in the other one next to it, but we found 3 people who were interested in getting Book of Mormons in Arabic. Cool! We went back the next day and taught one of the ladies and we are going back next week. That's a big deal, Brian :) That was the first time I've found someone who was interested while tracting.

So, tracting and contacting. I think with tracting I almost prefer when people do the 'Sorry, not interested' and shut the door thing. Some people just stand there awkwardly listening and won't cut you off and then say they aren't interested when you could tell they weren't the whole time. It's like killing a dying animal or insect. Have mercy! It's mostly non-Swedes that do that. With contacting I'd rather that people stop and listen just a second before giving us the brush off. It's more like public humiliation when they just won't stop or listen. We aren't salesmen. We'll let you go if you don't like what we are offering. (I will at least). Contacting has made me realize how silly I always must come across when I give lame excuses to people who are taking surveys or selling something on the street.

Well, that's all this week. It's nice to know it's true. And it's always lovely to bear testimony. I discovered 3 Ne 22:13-14 I think it is. It's a lovely thought for those with families. Make your homes a safe haven. Love you all!

Amy

Week 11

2010-06-07T13:17:00.001-07:00

Subject: French and Fanatics

Hej hej,

Weather is holding out nicely in this part of the world. This last week was really busy and weird, but it seems like a lot of weeks are weird. We usually get done with a couple of days a week with the general consensus that it was not necessarily good nor bad, just weird.

We have been developing speed tracting. I'm sure it's been done, but our idea is to knock on as many doors as we can before one of them gets answered and then talk to whoever comes out or just preach to the whole building at once if they all come out. It would be more time effective that way.

So an interesting tidbit. I didn't know about this, but apparently in the Congo and probably other parts of Africa religion has been turned into a lucrative business (and South America for that matter--a certain gold toothed minister asking for money on the bus in Guatemala comes to mind. Ok probably everywhere in the world). But when disasters or bad things occur preachers go around and tell the people that they are being punished or that this is just a type of things to come. Lots of Hell fire and damnation. Then they urge everyone to be baptized. All they have to do is give half of all they own, their car, their house to the Lord and they will be saved. People will believe and get baptized again and again. One of our investigators does not want to be baptized because of this. We've explained over and over how he can know if it's right or not, but he won't pray about it for some reason.

We had at least three lessons this week where the people were willing to let us come because they just wanted to chat and we were nice, but there was no real interest in anything we had to share with them. We made a few elderly ladies happy, though, I think.

We also went to visit a guy from Eritrea who spent an hour showing us a string of scriptures from the Bible about why Jesus Christ and God the Father are the same person. The funny thing was a lot of those same scriptures are ones we would use to prove otherwise. We kept telling him we interpret them differently. He said he was not interpreting, but just taking them literally. Semantics, my friend, semantics. I showed him Exodus 11:33 where is says God talked to Moses face to face and the first thing out of his mouth was, "But that can be interpreted...." Oh the irony. We showed him the Restoration and I bore testimony about Joseph Smith and tied it back to Stephen's vision in Acts. The Spirit was so strong and he seemed to have felt it, but he couldn't get over his own thesis enough to even consider something else. Oh, the best part about this is that when we went in, he asked if he could wash our feet. Ummmm...no thanks. Not as a sister missionary. Would have been uncomfortable. Sis Swenson has terrible warts on her feet (I had her permission to say that) because she hasn't gotten them taken care of, so we had 'her injury' as an excuse.

We had a few days this week where we just couldn't get anything to work. I had the realization that this is what it's going to be like. Event planning. Trying to get everything to work perfectly every day in an effective manner. Making phone calls, confirming appointments. Sales. Business. Doing inventory for books and other supplies. Meeting everyone's needs. Meeting goals, going hungry until you do. *Sigh* But, I was thinking today about the nature of Eternal Life and how we don't believe in Eternal Vacation. Work with no deadlines. No stress. That actually sounds nice--being productive without the negative feelings that accompany it.

We had a lesson with a guy that only speaks French this week. Interesting. A guy in our ward speaks French, but he couldn't come, so we showed a video and told him to save his thought for next time. We think. We also gave him a Swedish lesson since he was the only one that showed up for our class on Saturday. They say that's the best way to learn a new language, but it just seemed frustrating to him.

Well, life carries on. Sis Swenson's bike chain keeps falling off, but there are flowers everywhere! I need to create a tag line like Eric or Aaron. Don't forget about me from Sweden, where the children do what they want.

Love,

Amy

PS We don't actually Speed Tract. *Snap, snap* That was a joke.

Week 10

2010-05-31T10:22:00.001-07:00

Subject: Jakobsberg Again

Käre familj och vänner,

So, Sister Swenson is very nice. She is from Logan, Utah, plays the viola (which she brought with her), was studying Physiology at BYU and is an amazing ballroom dancer from what I hear. She has a great enthusiasm for the work and likes to work hard. Both she and sis Wood crack their necks a lot. Not a good sign for me.

Well, I have been sick with a full blown cold since Wednesday. I thought I was safe, but I guess not. Sis Wood left it behind for me to remember her by I guess. It was good though because it gave Sis Swenson an excuse to stay home and get a feel for the area instead of just going out and working without knowing anything.

On Saturday we actually went up to Uppsala for a display that the young single adults had organized. It rained only for about half an hour, but was fairly clear the rest of the time. We kept getting caught in the pouring rain this week which was fun, but cold.

Yesterday we went to church and had no investigators there for the 4th week in a row. It was mothers day so all of the kids in the primary talked about how much they loved there mothers. All the women were crying. We got rice krispy treats and roses. They gave them to us too which was nice, but kind of funny being a missionary. "You'll be mothers too some day... " they said. We just don't think about that right now, do we?

After church we rode our bikes to Vällingby and talked to people in the plaza there. We talked to a few interesting people. Of course there were those who rudely declined to chat, those who wouldn't even look at us, those who pleasantly said, "Too bad! I'm not interested," those who stood there awkwardly not knowing how to get out of the present situation, those who would talk, but said they were already Muslim, orthodox, or something else, and those who didn't speak Swedish or English and had no idea what we wanted or why we were talking about a book. We talked for a few minutes with a young man from Bosnia whose family was killed in the civil war there. He blamed religion (clearly) and because we were missionaries, us. I've met a few people who lost their faith because of the horrible things that they have been through, but there are others who cling to their faith. He told us we were addicted to religion and that we were just pawns in a political machine. We have no choice and we need to wake up to that. That always helps me to reevaluate why I am here. I lack that motivating burning fire of testimony (it comes and goes as needed), but I always feel the calm reassurance that I'm in the right place.

We also had a long conversation with a young man who had a psychotic episode right after a car accident and is studying epistemology, I think. We asked him what the meaning of life was and he went on for 15 minutes about how we know what we know and was throwing words around like 'emic' and 'etic'. I realized it's been a long time since school and I had to switch back into that mindset. It was a very interesting conversation since a lot of what we do is epistemological. Helping people know what we know through the Holy Ghost. I wished my Swedish was better. We set him strait about a few things on our church since his knowledge was based on episodes of South Park and sent him on his way.

So to end, fun fact about Sweden. The street names here are very creative. They are more often objects than names. For example on the 541 bus we go down 'Flower King's Way' and 'Childhood Home Way'. Those maybe aren't that great, but I can't think of any others right now. Well, times definitely up. I hope you all are doing excellently well. Write me. The Church is true and we are part of a great thing.

Much love,
Syster Maxwell

Week 9

2010-05-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

Hejsan allihopa,

Well, we've made it to the end of my first transfer. They say the first one is the longest. This wasn't all that bad, so I'm not too worried about time feeling like it's dragging by. We have P-Day on Wednesday during the last day of transfers here, and our transfers are 9 weeks long. I'll be staying in Jakobsberg and Sis Wood will be transferring up to Uppsala with Sis Virkemäki who is staying there. Sister Swenson who was in Uppsala will be transferring down here with me. Uppsala is in our district, so the Sisters will be staying the same. It's just an extended exchange or split. It's funny how exciting transfers are. Transfer predictions weeks before and mad texting the morning of the phone calls to see where everyone else will be. Tomorrow we will all be gathering at "the ring" (a big gold handrail which encircles a hole looking down to the lower level) in the Stockholm Central Station to go to our respective places. All of the luggage and missionaries makes for quite a spectacle. It's a big deal.

We actually went up to Uppsala last week for district meeting and did splits for a finding activity and I went with sister Swenson. She's fairly aggressive when it comes to talking to people. Not like she corners them or anything, but she just has a different style than I do. She'll probably teach me a lot and it will probably be an adjustment. I just need to stay humble.

Also, the PO Box address isn't going to be used anymore, even for letters, so all mail that is sent to me should go to:

Sister Amy C. Maxwell
Enebybergsvägen 38
SE-182 46 Enebyberg
Sweden

Oh, and Happy Birthday to everyone... Miles (1!), Lindsay (25!! Ack! What's happening to us?), and...anyone I forgot.

So, we had another Music Night on Sunday. It turned out really nice even though it was really thrown together. We hadn't rehearsed most of the numbers more than twice and some we hadn't gone through at all, but the Bishop said he thought it was the best one yet and a lot of people were really touched by some of the numbers. Sister Wood and Elder White did "Homeward Bound", not Simon and Garfunkel, Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He figured out the tabs for it on the guitar and it was really good. I did Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring with him which was pretty. Sis Wood and I sang The King of Love My Shepherd Is, which was one of those ones we hadn't rehearsed at all. It was going about half the tempo it should have and I missed an entrance, but we actually had someone say it was the best number! Miracle :) We had a few non-members there and our entire Swedish class came! All 4 of them :) I actually knew that Sister Wood was getting transferred because I had the feeling that we needed to sing The King of Love this time or I wouldn't get the chance. There's no one else here who comfortably gets up to a high A.

With spring have come the slugs and the snails. They are huge and everywhere. The snail shells are about 2 inches in diameter and they are long and white. I've seen bigger slugs back home, but not in such an abundance. Their remains are strewn across the sidewalks. It's gross and Sis Wood says there are even more later in the summer... Yum! I helped a lady get the snails out of her yard the other day. I threw about 30 into the woods. The first one I threw I accidentally hit a tree. I felt terrible! But then Elder Blackhurst told me he used to use the snails in his grandmother's yard for batting practice. Gross. That service activity was supposed to be us helping this lady wash her house to be painted, but in the end, we stood around while she stressed about lunch and how to put plastic down, so though we were there 2.5 hours, we only worked about 30 minutes.

Another funny thing. We went to a lady's house that we've been meeting with. She’s from Belarus and loves to chat and drink tea. This time she continually praised Sis Wood for her musical ability, and her blue eyes, and said that they would be friends for life. She looked at me and said nothing. Later I was teaching about the celestial kingdom and she asked if I had come in contact with a dog because I smelled like one. (I didn't. We checked later.) Some of the things she said made me think that maybe I had been coming off as condescending while I was explaining things. I feel bad if that's the reason she has taken to putting me down, so I'll work on that. I knew she liked Sis Wood more than me – most people do, but it was just so funny how obvious she made it. I'll try to work on being more demonstrative too I guess... Well, life goes on and we'll see what happens when Sis Wood leaves the area. She's been a great friend to me, so I'm glad she'll be close by. Oh, and her mom met Brian. She said that she saw two missionaries on the street, so she pulled the car over and hopped out and asked if one of them was Elder Maxwell. She said he seemed like a nice kid.

This email is way too long. Sorry. Well, the Book of Mormon is fantastic and the saints here are amazing (those that come. I bet some of the ones that don't are great too, but they don't come). Love you all! Thanks for the letters Berkeley-ites! They made me so happy. I'll try to write back sometime soon!

Much love,
Syster Maxwell

Week 8

2010-05-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

Subject: Sweden has decided it's time...

....for Spring! It was in the 60s and 70s most of this week with scattered sun. The country just exploded into green. In my neighborhood, the streets are lined with nicely manicured yards full of flowering trees and scattered wildflowers and tulips in the grass. Yummy!

We exchanged our tights for footies this week which was permitted after April general conference, but it was still too cold. Sis Wood kept telling me that was the protocol, but it was never officially mentioned. Then, at zone conference in April, Sis Anderson came over to us sisters and explained the rule just as Sis Wood had. She said they don't announce it generally in newsletters or in meetings because they don't want the elders checking :)

Also, this week, I found out that Sis Swenson who is in my zone's dad was the California Arcadia mission president from 2005-2008 or so. Did that overlap with you at all, Ted? I might have accidentally spilled the beans that you didn't think your mission president liked you very much. Hope that's not him! :)

And in Brian Peterson's letter home he said something about Mitch having big news. What happened!?

I forgot to mention my conversation with the Queen of Sweden. So, last Sunday we wanted to see if Drottningholm would be open the next day, so we called the number in our guide book to see if they had the hours in a message (it was 10:00 at night). It rang and rang and while it was ringing I was making jokes about disturbing the royal family and what if they pick up? Suddenly a woman picks up on the other end of the phone. I was so surprised that I couldn't even form a proper question. "Är öppet imorgon?" I said (Is open tomorrow?). Then she said yes in a way I didn't understand and gave me the hours and then I repeated myself just to confirm and she said yes. That is a fairly typical conversation on the phone for me and why I don't call people that aren't in the ward and don't also speak english very often. Anyway, I am just positive I spoke to the Queen of Sweden who I disturbed as she was watching the nightly news. It was very exciting :)

We did a lot of less active work this week. We are going to try to keep meeting with a lot of them next week and keep asking for referrals. We'll see how that goes. We went to visit one lady this week who has had it rough. She doesn't like Swedish women in the least because "they stole her husband and her son and always take what isn't theirs." Sad. She also had a living room full of latin-style artwork that made us blush. Not something i would choose to display.

Oh! I also had my first attempted conversion/Bible bashing experience this week. We met a guy who Sis Wood and her last comp had taught the Restoration to. He is very active in his own church and when we invited him to the music concert we had last month by text, he responded, "Come to Arken. It's nice." We didn't, but he texted us this week and said we could meet again. We were a little wary, but planned for teach the Plan of Salvation just in case. We knew when he turned up with another man from his church that we weren't going to be talking about the gospel. The man had an incredible story about being healed from his life threatening illnesses by a miracle and being brought back to life basically. He was healed immediately when he got baptized and they have a strong belief in the laying on of hands for healing. We tried to explain that we believe in that too, but they would have none of it because we believe that sometimes it's not the will of the Lord that we be immediately healed. Sometimes it is and miracles happen. Nope. Not good enough for them. They tried to convince us our religion was false for about half an hour. We were just very nice and I sincerely said thank you because they read us some nice passages from the New Testament. Then they asked if they could take our hands and pray for us like they do in their church. We declined, but let them pray for us. Sister Missionaries don't hold hands with men. Sorry. Well, that was probably too much detail, but it was interesting and frustrating.

Well, I hope all is well at home. We have another music night this sunday. Not really sure how it's going to go.... Grandma Win, thanks for making me feel ok comparing myself to Ms. Hepburn ;)

Well, keep reading and praying, teach your children, and go to church.

Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

PS I forgot my birthday! Thanks for the Disney Princess party in a box, mom! I put the rest in the closet for sis Wood's birthday (if she doesn't get transfered). Also, the deodorant was perfect. And the Happy Birthday sign was missing a Y. Happy Birthda! It was funny. Sis Wood had her mom send out a yellow cake mix, so I got American cake with chocolate frosting. Yay! We also went out to lunch at a little Chilean place. Yay, Spanish! Yay, dulce de leche! We got a discount and a free dessert. We even went back for Ceviche on Saturday.

Week 7

2010-05-10T12:48:00.001-07:00

Hej hej allihopa,

So, I feel a little nauseated at the moment because we were outside in the cold for a while, I tried to write letters on a bus, and we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples. For me, a deadly combination.

Well, Sis Wood said today that she was not going to have much to say to her family because she talked to them yesterday, "but you still will because you didn't say much to your family." She didn't mean anything by it but that you all did a lot of the talking. She talks a lot because her family talked a lot and she had to speak loud and often to get anything said. I took the opposite tack. Speak when spoken to. It's easier that way.

So, the weather this week has been cold and gray which means the 50s and spurts of rain every now and then. One woman said she thought it was because of the volcano. Maybe, but I don't know.

We are having to do a lot of finding this next week because all of our investigators disappeared. George went to Kiruna. Michael has "been busy". And Zebedee's family is more interested in shopping then hearing about the gospel. Ana likes social issues instead of doctrinal issues. And Francis disappeared after Sis. Wood broke his heart. So, we continue to hope for more people to teach.

We went to Drottningholm today which is where the Royal family lives. They have half of the downstairs to themselves and then the rest is open for tours. That would be so bizarre. I can't even imagine living in a place where half of it is open to the public. I also can't imagine living in a palace. We went with Elders Ahola and Edmunds. It wasn't supposed to be just us four, but the Stockholm elders bailed. The palace is being fixed up for Princess Victoria's wedding in June. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but it's a big deal. There are commemorative postcards, table settings, chocolate, t-shirts and so much more. The rags here are like shammies (I know it's French, but I really don't know how to spell it), and I even used one at Yvonne's house which had a picture of the lovely couple on it and the word 'kitsch' in the corner in case anyone was wondering. The palace was wonderful and it was weird being on a tour with a tag on.

Also, on Thursday we had a conference with half of the mission because Elder Teixeira was here for Stockholm's stake conference. He was a great speaker and his wife was so cute and sweet. They are both very accomplished and can speak a number of languages. The APs said that his presentation was different from the one he had given the day before. They sat with us (the sisters) during lunch and asked us about what we were planning on doing after our missions and how long we had been out.

Later that evening we went out on splits with the sisters from the Norrland zone since they were flying back up to Sundsvall the next morning. I led the way for Sis Porkka, who is Finnish and lived in the UK for 5 years while earning her undergrad and Masters in Art. She liked me immediately because I mentioned 'This American Life' which she loves and hasn't found anyone else here who loves it. So, we had a good time, but first of all, she took her time getting off the bus, so the bus driver drove off before we could get off. She said they would have waited for her up north. Welcome to Stockholm! We had to catch the next bus back at the next stop and then I got turned around finding the place, but we made it. We talked about the armies of Helaman and their mothers with a new convert and her catholic, teen-age son. I explained it in such a way that she thought it was weird. "So, because I and my husband have been baptized, we should encourage our son to do the bad things we have promised not too?" Ummm....oops. We tried to explain, and I think they got it, but it was funny (afterwards).

Anyway, off I go. I like it here. I think I'll stay. I feel like my attitudes have changed quite a bit and it's interesting thinking about things I valued before my mission and how they don't matter as much anymore. I'm sure that happens to everyone. Elder Wright, at stake conference said, basically, "Youth, if you feel yourself in the middle of a tug of war between the world and the Lord, just let go of the world." It's difficult for me to still care about the world while I'm here. I just want people to realize I'm not a weird-o. I don't want to suck away their souls or free choice. I'm a person with feelings and interests and education too! But they don't usually see me that way. I just have to remember why I'm here and why I believe. Well, the church is true. The Book of Mormon is still amazing, and I love the New Testament more and more.

Syster Maxwell

Week 6

2010-05-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all.
I've forgotten my planner and am short on time, so I just don't know how this will turn out. Won't be my greatest work. We are going over to the mission home today to help Sister Anderson clean for Elder Teixera coming this week for a mission tour and Stockholm's stake conference. It's going to be a party. Sausage, jeans, and glass cleaner. Nothing better.

Well, this week we were quite low on teaches. We haven't been doing much finding work because we had so many people to teach, but now it is swinging the other direction again. We had no investigators come to church yesterday. Sis. Wood said it's been a long time since there was absolutely no one. Lawal came though (recent baptism). That's a plus. We wanted to get him involved in his family history work, but he's from Nigeria and the missionaries here don't know how he could do it from here. If anyone happens to be an expert on doing African family history work remotely, do let me or my mother (who will tell me) know.

So, Friday was Valborg. I might have spelled that wrong. Anyway, it's a spring welcoming holiday on April 30th. People clean up their yards and then have a bonfire with all the clippings. It looked to me like communities just cut down trees and burned them. I didn't know how I felt about that. The fire was cool though. I would send pictures, but they are on Sis Wood's camera and she forgot it. Oh well. Next week? We got to wear jeans and hang out with 4 elders from our zone and the Stockholm south zone. We got permission to leave our zone and go the one in Västerhaninge, but we ended up going to Handen. One of the younger elders felt inclined to throw an empty pudding cup and a banana peel into the not yet started fire in front of the entire community. The other elders found a trash can at least. Dignity. Always dignity. Sis Wood has discovered how easily embarrassed I am and thinks it's hilarious. Luckily she also has some sense.

My Spanish is coming back. Hooray! There is much rejoicing in the land. We went to a member's house that comes from Chile and I was able to almost carry on a conversation with them without mixing in Swedish. They gave us two bags of groceries when we left.

Well, I can't think of anything else exciting this week except that there are now little leaves on the trees and I have allergies. Where did those come from? They seem to be getting worse every year. I also just bought a really cute shirt for the summer time. Yay!

The church is true. Don't be lazy!

Love,
Syster Maxwell.

Week 5

2010-04-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

Nice story, mom. It gives me hope for the people here. I was actually thinking about that the other day, how 60 years ago, North Carolina was no stronger than it is here and even less so. People here have to stay strong in a land where God has no importance. It's really sad that they don't even have the opportunity to choose to believe in God because they don't ever learn to appreciate it.

Last P-Day we went into Stockholm and wandered around Gamla Stan, the old part. It was fantastic! I had never been in a real, old (or real old for that matter) European city before. It had all the crooked, cobblestone streets I could have ever asked for. Fun color, great angles, cute boutiques, sidewalk cafes, old churches, a bridge or two and water on all sides! I wore my best outfit and my red shoes, so I felt like I fit in quite well, like I was in an old spy movie or something (Charade? Dare I compare myself to Audrey Hepburn? Yes!). It was great! We walked past the Nobel Museum which is closed on Mondays as is most everything else, sadly, and took a picture. I tried to attach some pictures, but it didn't work, so we'll see if I have time.

Speaking of which President Anderson is not very strict in rules on time spent on the internet and music. He lets us decide, which is quite nice for me and tells a lot about the missionaries here on the whole. We can take the time we need as long as it's not excessive. And we can listen to any music we want as long as it is uplifting and does not detract from the Spirit, so my music is a go! Sister Wood, being a musician herself loves classical music as much as I do. Last week we were listening to Brahms' A German Requiem and she mentioned how she loves the Faure requiem. Ta Da! Whipped it out! I would like to say though, Dad, that I chose to take off all the Mahler except the 2nd symphony and yesterday I put it on and Sis. Wood said that her favorite was the 5th she thought. I couldn't find it even though I remember that it was in my list. I must have deleted it! Unfortunate! We usually save the classical music for our unwinding, journal time at the end of the night and stick to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or the like in the mornings before study.

Another fun happening from this week...We have our district meetings in Stockholm, so we get to go into the city on Thursdays. This Thursday was terribly gray and rainy, but as we went up the street we could hear a drum beat. My first thought was, "who would be beating a drum on the street," thinking it was some street musician. Then, to our surprise came a 25 or 30 horse parade with royal guards decked out in their blue uniforms and lustrously shiny, pointy helmets. They had instruments, but were not playing them. We watched them and Sister Wood took some pictures before they disappeared up the street and we continued on our way. We hear that wasn't normal. There's a changing of the guards, but that's closer to the palace.

After district meeting we went over to one of our investigator's houses to clean up for a dinner we were having over there with a member, her inactive daughter, a young single adult from the area, us, and this investigator. She's in a wheelchair because of her weight, so she can't clean very well. She has a home service that cleans for her a couple times a week (provided by the gov't), but they don't really clean anything. It seems like they just wipe over everything and leave what doesn't come up on the first try. We finally cleaned up the slice of cucumber and melted something or other that has been on the floor since I got here (month ago) and vacuumed the cat hair off of the couch, pillows and chairs. I thought about Ted while sucking clumps of cat hair up from their favorite cushion. Good thing I'm not allergic.

Also, we had kind of a bummer week as far as weather and lessons went, but Saturday we met with our investigator from the Congo and the man he lives with. We showed them the Restoration video in French. They both speak French and Swahili, but our investigator only speaks English while his friend speaks only Swedish besides that, so we all translated for each other. It was really interesting. So, after the movie and talking about the Book of Mormon, this man said that he did not doubt Joseph Smith's experience because he too had an experience similar to Joseph Smith when he said that if he had not seen the things he had, he would not believe them either. He was in prison and was able to escape miraculously. He didn't go into details, but it sounded like he had just been able to walk out without anyone noticing. He believes there should just be one church and one faith. God would not want his children to be confused. The Spirit was so strong and when we left, I said to Sister Wood, "So is that what they call 'golden'?" She said, "Yep, that was pretty golden." I hope he is able to read and come to church and find what he's looking for.

Last thing. We had our music night last night. I sang with Sis Wood and played two flute pieces. They were way easy, but sounded nice. People loved it and said I sounded great, but then they started talking about a Sister who had been here 3 years ago who supposedly played for general conference this last time. Music and the Spoken word? There's always someone better :) But I was pleased and people enjoyed it. There was also a Russian choir that came and sung which was so fun! Anyway, off I go. Hope everyone is doing well. I keep you all in my prayers. I am still happy to be here and enjoying it. The other day we discovered a nature reserve with great bike trails which was actually the fastest way to bike from Jakobsberg to Akalla. The Lord loves me! I know he loves you all to and I really hope you are all doing what you need to be doing to remember that. I'm understanding our part more and more. I always knew it was important, but I'm seeing examples every day of how faith is a principle of action and without doing something we lose it. Funny how rich the simple things of the gospel are. Love you all!

Syster Maxwell

Week 4

2010-04-19T12:01:00.001-07:00

Hej hej!

So, I ate my words last email. That afternoon was lovely and there were little leaf buds on our trees outside. We also saw our first flowers. Yay! No trees yet, but I'm sure they'll be creeping out soon. We went on a bike ride on Monday to test out our bikes. It was a gorgeous day and all you needed was a light jacket. I was supposedly the bike expert as I think I said last time since I had some bike experience recently. So, I took the lead. We were going along nicely for about 10 minutes until the sidewalk suddenly ended and I tried to stop and turn around. Bad idea with 1/2 an inch of loose gravel still on the sidewalk from the winter. My bike skidded sideways and I took a dive head first off the side of my bike. I really wasn't going very fast, so I just scraped up my left palm and dirtied my right knee. All-in-all not so bad, but still maddening. Luckily there wasn't anyone on the street so only Sis Wood saw my spill. So much for my expertise. We had to buy Sis Wood a new seat since hers is rather uncomfortable. We found some great seats at the store that I may need to invest in as well. We biked to church on Sunday. It was only 3 km or so, but we'll have to work up to the 10 km rides we had planned on. It's been awhile since Sis Wood rode a bike. I'm surprisingly in ok shape still I think.

So, Dad, my area is specifically from Ekerö to Äkalla and Bro to Spånga. We are taking in another area that's closing too which is past Äkalla, starting at Sollentuna and going somewhere to the North and East. Clear up to Märsta, but we probably won't be doing too much work up there.

We've been getting a lot of referrals from other missionaries and our investigators this week. It's been great! Hopefully we can get a good group of Africans coming to the ward, so they all feel more inclined to keep coming. We had 5 total at church on Sunday. We also had a big lunch afterwards for the Bishop's dad's birthday. They had two huge smörgås tortas (sandwich cake) and princess torta. Both really good! Smörgås torta has layers of meat or other sandwichy spreads on flat bread and is covered with creamy cheesy stuff and vegetables. It's pretty!

Another interesting thing this week has to do with the complications of being a Sister missionary. I have a hard time talking to men on the street because I don't know what they think my intentions are especially with the cultural mix that we have in our area. Not everyone would view us the same way. On Friday we went to visit one of our investigators at the library. The lesson took an interesting turn when he started talking about marriage and expressed his opinion that we were all just trying to find a place to put our hearts. Then he asked about if we could go out with people while we were on our missions and are we on our missions forever. We told him no, no dating and no, we are normal people that do this for a short time. He insisted that we should take opportunities that arise on our missions since we are building our homes while we are here. We quickly ended the now-awkward lesson and left. We had our suspicions that he liked Sis Wood after that and sure enough he sent a text message expressing that. So, now we don't know what to do. He came to church on Sunday and left after Sacrament Meeting. We aren't sure if he's been coming to church and taking lessons because of Sis. Wood or because of the gospel. I guess this happens to missionaries a bit on the mission.

Anyway, I'm out of time. We are teaching a lot (for here). Our goal is 18 lessons a week. Well, we found a flute for me to play at our music fireside next week. Yay! And thanks Grandma Win for all your letters! They are so great! Love you all. Be good. Play nice.

Love,
Sis. Maxwell

Week 3

2010-04-12T05:17:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

Spring here is hardly Spring at all. There are no leaves on the trees. There are no flowers. There is lots of wind and gray. Luckily, those days are becoming fewer and fewer. We are hoping to take the bikes out soon; though, I tried riding them and they are only såder (so-so). One of them had a hard man-seat and the other one has a rack on the back which scrapes against the tire. It also has a gear looking thing that rolls along the tire. I don't know what it's for exactly, but it creates more resistance. There is also a wire basket on the side of both bikes. Most people seem to have those on their bikes, but I'm not used to it, so when I tried to get off the bikes (on an uphill--we have a steep driveway), I fell off and got a nice bruise next to my knee. This happened both times. Not like I was riding both bikes at the same time. That would be impressive.

So, we had our first baptism this week. It went off really well. Sister Wood was freaking out the whole day about the font getting full enough and then that Lawal would actually come and then that everything would be perfect. Not to worry, the font got full, in part because Lawal didn't show up until right when the baptism was supposed to start. All the missionaries in Stockholm came because they were going to bring investigators. They didn't end up having anyone come, but they made up half of the congregation, so that was good. Also, 2 of them were the ones that found Lawal, so they came and took part. I said the closing prayer. I feel like I helped a little because I got to teach him most of the commandments. Yeah!

So, we just hope that he stays active. One of the problems they have here which is the same the world over is that people who don't speak the language and come from another culture have a hard time staying active in the church because they feel like they don't have a place or role. We actually have a number of African males that we have been teaching and another one that joined the church in November. If they all came, they would have a great group and be a great support for each other. Another problem is that transportation is expensive here as is everything else, so it's a burden to come to church. Lawal for example takes an hour to get to church because he takes the tunnelbana and pendetåg (trains) instead of taking a direct bus because he can't speak Swedish and it's easier to buy a ticket for the train with a real person than trying to use the machine to buy a bus ticket. That's our theory anyway. The awesome thing is that he got confirmed yesterday. He was 40 minutes late, but he brought a guy he met on the train with him! He loves saying hey and talking to all the African guys on the street. It's great.

So another struggle I'm facing is the missionary culture. I suppose I should just accept it. Sis. Wood has missionary voice really bad. And she loves to decorate her planners. And tell lame jokes. And let go of personal appearance (not that I ever was very big on looking so fashionable). It's not just her. It's everyone. I realized those things and other things I can't recall at the moment are very important to her and I need to find a way to compromise. We are going to decorate our planners. I will just make mine classy. Don't worry, this isn't affecting my testimony.

So, another thing about Swedish people that's very interesting is that they have a wall up against religion. They were painted to me as a cold, closed people, so I was pleasantly surprised when people were pleasant and even friendly to us when we had a question or needed help. But bring up religion, and there's nothing. Not even a discussion about it. Unless you are talking to a Jehovah's Witness or someone who isn't originally Swedish. We got preached to by a young Islamic man this week. He told us to go home and sincerely pray to God to know that he was there and that he promised us we would receive an answer. He also talked about the perfection of the Quaran and told us to read it to know that it was the word of God. We were like, "Hey! That's our line!" It was funny. Anyway, one of the members in the ward said that she thinks they may not talk about it because they have no way to defend their beliefs because they have nothing backing up their non-belief. That's interesting and I want to understand that better.

Anyway. I need to get going. We have zone conference tomorrow. We have Sisters staying at our house tonight and tomorrow, so I get to see Sis. Page and Gotberg from my MTC group again. Yay! It will be a kärleksfest! I hope I've explained that, so it doesn't seem weird. It's an inside joke (See 'Come Ye Disconsolate, verse 3).

Well, I am starting to see the miracles happening. Scriptures I happened to read being perfect. The bus being 5 minutes late when we are too. People seeing their lives improving and becomíng closer to their Heavenly Father. So, things are picking up and I'm still happy to be here.

Love,

Syster Maxwell

Week 2

2010-04-06T12:06:00.001-07:00

So, week two. Seems like things are still going well. Mom, your Easter basket was at the mission office the first night I came. It made everyone sick and they exclaimed how typical it was that I would have mail. Not in the least, my friends! I didn't actually get that many packages in the mtc, thank you very much. It's ok. They won't make fun of me for it any more because they are gone. All over Sweden that is. Not home. I got your first letter to me grandma and, mom, your two. This weekend was Easter weekend, so the libraries were closed and there was no post. Yes, I said 'post' to be cool. They celebrate Easter here with witches, trick-o-treating, and decorating with feathers and birch branches. I saw Elder Dean who was in the MTC with me at conference on Sunday. He said they saw a girl dressed up as a witch dancing on top of a felled tree in the center of Västerås with feathers everywhere. It has to do with Easter chickens and the coming of spring, but I don't know what the witches are all about. We were out tracting a little on Friday and people kept coming to the door with treats and we had to skip a floor because there were kids going around with faces painted like they were cats (I think--mice maybe?) Mostly we had to deal with people being gone and busses and trains that ran less than normal. We bought and drank some Påsk Must which gave me a headache, but it was good. Luckily we had conference this weekend, so we didn't have time to do much finding work. So the way conference worked here was they broadcasted it to a few stake centers in the area in Swedish, English and Spanish. There were actually more people in the English because so many people understand it and I assume they preferred listening to it in the original language. We watched the Sat morning session live at 6pm then went home. The next day they watched the taped priesthood session at 10 or 12 I think. Then we came and saw the taped Sat afternoon session at 2pm and waited for the live Sunday morning session at 6pm. We didn't watch the Sat. afternoon session at all and will have to catch it in the Liahona next month.

So, we have had a lot going on besides that. I think I mentioned last week that we have a few investigators from Africa (Nigeria and Cameroon) one (we hope) from Russia and one from Peru and a Swedish lady. There are some other people we are working with (less actives and recently baptized) that are from Chile and Peru. So, we don't seem to speak Swedish very often and it still freaks me out and I still have only a slight idea what people are saying to me. I still do silly things when I teach, but I know that when I bear testimony of the important things, the Spirit is there, so that's a plus. I've gotten over the first week of feeling lost and wondering, "Is this really what a mission is like?" We seem to spend a lot of time on busses which Sister Wood says is not typical, but we have to because our area is so large. The church gives us a card that works all year in the Stockholm area, so we don't have to worry about paying or having enough money for busses and trains. It's fantastic!

I still get freaked out by stopping and talking to people mostly because my Swedish is so bad and I feel awkward. Sis Wood reassuringly told me that a mission really is one long awkward moment. Great. I feel ok about it though because we are out to talk to people that want to talk to us. If they aren't interested, they aren't interested, and we find people who are. A few times people are interested in chatting about religion, but not hearing about ours, so they will spew their (oftentimes cynical) viewpoints all over us and we smile and let them go in peace. It's fun because I get to just listen and nod knowingly. I love that! I usually have to ask Sis Wood what the heck they were talking about, but I usually get the gist.

So, the style for young women here is no pants. We as sisters have the tights part down, but the long skirts really set us apart :)

Anyway, I think that's everything. Baptism on Saturday. Everyone is still nice. Elders are awkward but funny. Running for 15 minutes in the morning really doesn't cut it. Oh, and it snowed yesterday, but it's lovely today.

I'm starting to like this. I love sharing my testimony with people who are eager to hear it and truly seeking the truth because I know how and where to find it. I love that!

Love,
Syster Maxwell

Week 1 in Sweden

2010-04-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

29 March 2010
Hello all!

So, I'm in Sweden. It's finally hitting me that I'm actually in Europe. It was all surreal the first few days, but the different architecture, food, and language not to mention the fantastic public transportation system are starting to sink in. Everyone told me that Stockholm was one of the most beautiful, clean cities they'd ever seen and that the entire country of Sweden followed suit, but what I found when I got here was a gray, grimey place with just as much litter as in similarly grimey US cities. It came as a shock, but after a few days I realized these were effects of the still-clinging winter and my companion says they clean up all the gravel and junk when winter is over. I started trying to imagine what it would look like when everything is green, and I can say that I'm very excited for the summer to come.
The darkness is normal now. It's light by about 5 in the morning I believe and gets dark about 6:30 or 7, so that's not too much different yet. The sun has only been out half of the time, but they tell me it is also sunnier in the summer more often. I came at the end of the worst winter they have had in 40 years, so I'm very grateful for the timing. On our last Sunday in Utah it was beautiful! I swear it was in the 60s, sunny and clear. A lady came up to us and enthusiastically let us know it was going to be like that all next week. We told her we were leaving the next day for Sweden. Oh the irony! It's been in the 30s when it's cloudy and the 40s when the sun is out, so I've just been wearing a jacket another sister left in the apartment. There's a huge bag of clothes in the apartment that I'm going to sort through today and see if there is anything worth the wearing. I'll save my big coat for next winter. It will be perfect!
So, the 11 of us going to Sweden plus 2 senior couples going to other European couples had an overnight flight to Paris. The airport was lovely and we all bought something French to eat, so we would feel like we had officially been there. I got a stamp in my passport. It might just be an exit stamp, but it's a stamp nonetheless. I got to see a bit of England and France, though it was mostly clouded over, but on the next flight, it was fun to fly over what might have been Denmark. Lots of lakes. I sat next to a lady from Scotland who's lived in Sweden for many years. She was nice when I actually had the nerve to talk to her since she looked so severe at first. The food they served was the prettiest airplane food I'd ever seen. French airplane food! I wish I'd taken a picture, but I felt silly.
So, president and sister Anderson met us at the airport and were very kind. We spent a couple of nights at the mission home getting acquainted with the country and the culture. We did a session at the temple all in Swedish and went contacting in Stockholm later that day. Not a good experience, but it's gotten better :) We went to the young adult center they have in Stockholm. I didn't know about these, but they are like institutes with a missionary focus and have lots of activities. They have them all over Europe and have been really great for the young single adults here. I didn't realize that Elder Kopishka (sp?) is the Area President for this part of Europe (all of Europe?). Cool. You did say that you were on good terms now, right, Dad? Also, Sis. Anderson was your mom's visiting teacher for years, Aubrie, and they said their son climbs up mountains with your dad. Ted, you really should try that new-fangled-emailing-missionaries thing. It's awesome.
Well, we got our assignments on Thursday with the usual pomp and circumstance. They have you read a letter with your assignment and trainer, but the trainers don´t have their nametags on when they come in. The goal is that you´ll go and talk with each one in Swedish to figure out who it is. Luckily for me, we had met my trainer on Wed when we did contacting and she had accidentally revealed her true identity then, so I just went and gave her a hug. We all then had kebob pizza (i.e. pizza with kebob on it. So good!)
So, I'm now in the Jakobsberg area which is the northwestern part of Stockholm. It's the Järfälla commune. I live in Barkarby specifically. I think that's ok to say. Our area is fairly large and we take public transit everywhere, so half of the day is spent traveling it seems. Swedes don't talk to each other on the bus, so mostly we've been striking up conversation with people who don't look Swedish. Half of the ward is Spanish speaking, so I should technically be able to speak spanish to them, but I now have a problem speaking all Spanish and not mixing in Swedish. It's very distressing. Anyway, I should wrap this up. I love the ward. They are all such wonderful people. There are about 30 people that come and about 200 or so on the ward list I think, so we have a lot of inactive finding and visiting work on our plate as well. There is also one investigator with a baptismal date. He is way cool. Also, we are starting a Swedish class for people who've just moved here, so we've been putting up a lot of posters for that. It's very exciting, and we're hoping to have a great transfer!
Oh, and my companion is Sister Wood from Cedar City, UT. She's outspoken and very nice. Also very patient. I hope feeling like dead weight will soon pass :)
This email is far too long, but I am feeling great. I am getting less and less self conscious about my clothes, and more and more excited to share the message of the restored gospel with those that are ready and willing to hear it. I have so much more I could say, but I should probably save it. Love you all. Pray for the members here. They need it!
Syster Maxwell
PS Jet lag is not too bad. I feel like I did all through school.

Week 8

2010-03-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hello All!
So, many thanks to everyone that has written me during my time at the MTC. I want to write to everyone before I go, but I may not be able to and it's really expensive to send a letter from Sweden, but I'll try! Ted, I found a scripture for you this week: Luke 2:23 and Exodus 13:2. I guess your ok after all. Also, thanks to Penny, Renee, Carter and Berkeley for the Easter basket! I love grown up Easter! Also, I shared with all the elders and they were VERY grateful :) They confiscated the light-up spinning egg toy and have been fascinated ever since. They will periodically take it out and stare at it. Probably not good for the eyes. We've been in a white cinderblock room too long. I think. Also, I got the bag Lisa! Thanks, Mitch! We had our training with Bro. Gruber and after that I completely understand the purpose of the first night activity. They were supposed to use the skills from "How to Begin a Lesson" in Ch. 10 of PMG. That's what was missing! We were all a lot happier about our role in this. Oh, 3 companionships from our district are being the missionaries that demonstrate getting to know an investigator for the new missionaries the first night. We think it's because we were awesome (we hope it wasn't because we are a bad example :)). Miriam Deaver is also in the group that is doing it. Mom, I saw Sarah Hite. She recognized me even though my hair was wet, my skirt was on sideways and I was going back for my name tag which I'd forgotten. It wasn't a good day for me ;) So, I had a break down on accident again this last week. Everyone was being really rude to me partially because I had been ornery all day. Fancy that. So, I was all contrite and going to say I was sorry and then they were really rude to me again. Imagine me when I was 8. 9? 12? One of those classic dinner scenes where I ran to my room crying. Really embarrassing. The only difference was that no one was laughing at me when I left. They all felt really bad.

So, we got our travel plans this week. We are flying through Paris. We go straight there from Salt Lake. It takes all night. Then we have a 6 hour layover and then go straight to Sweden. We get there at 6:30. So, Sweden is supposedly 8 hours ahead of Salt Lake, but there was some confusion because of daylight's savings here and there (they have it at a different time), so it might only be 7 now. We get to the airport here about 2:30 I think. So, I'll probably call around 3-3:30 our time, so 5-5:30 your time, mom and dad. I'll call until you answer. Ok?

Also, I was sad to hear about Uncle Ray dying. Mostly because he felt like the patriarch of the maxwell clan and it's the end of an era. I'm so grateful I got to meet him last year. And turns out Grandma Maxwell was right.

All our prayers were answered yesterday when Quentin L. Cook came to speak. Every week we'd say, "this week it will be an apostle. We just know it!" So, we were so grateful we got to hear from one our last week. We sang "Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands" in the choir. I remember when we sang it in the ward choir (right, mom?). I think that was one of those where you sobbed through it, right? I understand a little better why now. It has such a powerful message. So, what Elder Cook said answered so many of my prayers and concerns and questions. It was amazing! I knew it was for me. And everyone else felt the same way. It was so cool how it was so personal yet for everyone. Kind of like the atonement, yeah?

Well, the MTC has been great. We have loved it. There was a protester here yesterday. He's a paid protester who came all the way from England. I hope he's there today so we can see him when we go to the temple. We tried to go listen to him yesterday, but he was already gone. We won't talk to him, of course, but it's always interesting to hear.

Well, any last MTC words? It's like girls camp, but better because these are friends that we'll have forever. I will miss all the powerful speakers and meetings and my district, but they tell me the miracles haven't even started yet, even though it seems like they have. I love you all. The church is true.

Amy

Week 7

2010-03-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

Subject: 12 Days.

Hello All!

We get our travel plans tomorrow. Supposedly I get to call home from the airport. We'll see what they say. I'll let you know next week mom. We are all hoping to go through Paris. That's what they normally get to do.

Things are still really good. I asked Mitch to pick up the backpack for me, Aunt Lisa. Turns out we are going to be staying overnight for two nights at the mission home and they mentioned an overnight bag. I sure don't have anything like that and I don't want to carry that blue plastic bag they give you on the first day through the airport. If you don't have it anymore, I will borrow a bag from Sis Sumner. Thanks!

So, Melissa wins the prize for first letter from someone in my immediate family writing me. And she wrote me an email! Dear me! So, thank you Melissa, I was really excited to get your email. I've been reading your blog, and things sound great (except for you all being sick all the time...ok, mostly the butterflies and other adventures sound great).

So, we had Bruce C. Hafen come and speak to us yesterday. It made me think of Grandpa Maxwell since Elder Hafen was the one who was made Dean of Ricks when they went to Brazil, right? I had the overwhelming feeling that Grandpa would be proud of me and is. I don't know how much interaction people who have gone before have with the spirits who are waiting, but I've always felt a special connection to Grandpa, so I felt really touched by that. Elder Hafen shared some amazing remarks about having a 3 legged testimony built on reason, spiritual feelings, and the test of experience. He related gaining a testimony to falling in love. :) Overall, it was fantastic and I wish I could write more about it, but the point was, give your testimony time. I love how all of the speakers who come are reflecting back to when they were 19 and just as unsure about things as the elders are now and we can see the fruit of their life long dedication to the Lord. It takes a life time for us to sometimes see the fruits.

I shared that yesterday in the district meeting we have after devotional where we discuss everything. I shared how cool it was that they look back on being our age, but in my mind I thought, "No. Your age." Decided not to say it. It's funny how my age will come up and surprise me every now and then. The sisters are all exactly Brian's age which I often forget. Sometimes they call me mom. Oh well. That's just part of my personality I guess.

So, I've been thinking. I want to collect conversion stories on my mission, so if you feel like reflecting on that, please, send me your personal conversion story. A lot of what we do is to guide that process, and I'd love to understand it better through all of your experiences, so don't forget that dearelder.com is free until I leave!

Ok, love you all, you are amazing!

Amy

Week 6

2010-03-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

Subject: Heysan! Jag kan (inte) Svenska!

Hey all,

So, we have started doing English fasts this week. We had our first one on Friday plus a food fast, so that spelled disaster. No food plus inability to communicate creates a very distressed Sister Maxwell. It was fine though. I got over it. Today is P-day (of course) and we decided to do another one except we can write in English to you all and when we go to the temple. Aldste Bloomfield is down the table from me entertaining some English missionaries with his Swedish. We don't even speak to other people (non-Swedes) in English. I think it was a bad idea to do this today. It's hard to run errands when no one else speaks what you are speaking. I guess that will be how it is when we get to Sweden :) So this week went by incredibly fast. We only have 3 weeks left. Am I ready? I don't know. Probably.

So just a few choice tidbits for this week. So in the MTC you can buy t-shirts with your destination country or state. I chose not to purchase one because I don't think I'll wear it either in Sweden or when I get home because it has a huge gaudy Swedish flag on it. I prefer something classier :) So, the rest of my district bought their Swede shirts and wear them to gym each week. Sister Page wanted to start doing a district 1/2 mile run around the track to start gym and foster unity in the Swede shirts, but we all nixed that idea because it was silly and would look too much like a gang. We already look like a gang when we all play volleyball.

So part of the purpose of my letters is to capture a little of what it is to be in the MTC for those that haven't been here. I was incredibly shocked when I got here and hadn't heard about most of the things that go on here, so I apologize if there are any returned missionaries that think this is dull.

Someone told me before I left that Sundays are the best days at the MTC. Turns out that is true. We get to go see Music and the Spoken word in the morning which seems to have double the cheese than I remember from times I've watched it before Conference before. There was a choir from China this week. They were so good! And so cute (they were children--that's important to note). I ate it all up, but some of the other missionaries thought it was weird. Especially the instrumental numbers. We have Relief Society meeting after that. This week Pres. Monson's daughter came and spoke to us. She was really good. Had some different insights for us. Also, she told us Pres. Monson's favorite color is yellow and one of his fav scriptures is Provs 3:5-6. I had a dream we met him the night before. He was very personable and made a thumbs up sign to Sis Page :) We have sacrament meeting after. We all have to prepare talks each week and they randomly call 2 of us up to speak. I already spoke, so there's less pressure every week. Then we have another lesson with our district, then we go to the temple and then we go to choir and then we go to dinner and then we go to a fireside. The fireside on Sunday was the director of the missionary department. He told all these stories about disobedient missionaries that ended up going home, in jail or dying, etc because they didn't follow the rules. All of us sisters agreed that we didn't want to listen anymore. It was a bit of a downer. They aren't all like that though. Then we get to watch a movie or talk! We watched Mountain of the Lord this Sunday. I am glad that LDS cinema is slowly but surely improving. That's all I will say.

I had to put out a fire this week. The District Leader has been mean to us sisters, telling us to be quiet when the other elders had been loud just a few minutes before. The sisters didn't like being so unjustly called out and embarrassed. So, I had to talk to him. He actually was rude to me when I went to talk to him, so I was a little sterner than I was planning on being. He's a great elder, though, and we worked it out. They have started treating us with more respect now and we are trying to be quieter and more on task.

Mom, I liked your thought yesterday. Covenants I think also mean nothing anymore because we don't really value keeping our word anymore. A verbal commitment has no weight. We also can't often see immediately the effects of breaking covenants in their full force.

Well, can't think of anything else to start with two minutes. I love you all. I love the gospel. My love and understanding is growing every day. Thanks for the letters! Keep 'em coming.

Amy

Week 5

2010-02-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hello all,
I'm going to go ahead and express my thanks at the beginning of the letter since I never get to at the end since I'm usually out of time. Thank you Mike and Shelley and fam for the valentine's package. It was really fun! My comp, Sis Page was happy to get the other treat. Also, thanks to the Utah gang for sending me letters. It made my day so wonderful! Tell Kirsten I'll write her when I get a chance. Promise :) And thanks for everyone else supporting me and being wonderful. I wrote a letter to Katy Lang, but I got a letter from Cris Castellon that would suggest that she didn't get it, but you never know... just throwing that out there. Thanks to the Lee's too! I shared what Bro. Lee wrote with all the sisters in my room. We all appreciated it because we respect the elders we are with very much. We always try to encourage them to be their best and it often ends up that they have to put us in our place or tell us to stop giggling or singing :) Oh, there is an Elder Winters here who is in our zone, going to Norway who is from Pocatello that says that Bro. Lee taught his mission prep class there. Cool! He says it was awesome :) Which reminds me, the Norwegian elders came in this week. There are two of them. Also, all the sisters left from our branch to go to the field (Oregon). We are getting five new sisters today who are going all over the place (English speaking). We are going to break into their room later and make their beds for them and write them a welcome note. Turns out sisters are still girls here and do that kind of thing. The coordinating sisters meetings are interesting. Lots of complaining about other sisters being too loud or airing grievances. Not sure if I wrote about that last time.

So we hit our month mark this last week. On the 20th we had Karleksfest which means love party in Swedish. It's a joke because we sang "Come ye Disconsolate" one day at my prodding and one of the lines says roughly "come to the love party" or karleksfest. Everyone started laughing included Bro. Killian, our teacher. I felt bad about it until it became a joke and now we have karleksfest everyday! Karlek is also the word for charity in the scriptures, so it's all appropriate loving :) So, the language. We love the fun phrases and the elders love making things like, "You are so nice" to sound like insults. They will shout at each other, "You are so nice right now!" and storm out of the room. We try to get them not to shout in the cafeteria since we get in trouble for that, but one of these days I'm afraid there will be a whole scene. We also love the phrase, mumsfilibaba which means roughly, scrumdiddlyumptious. We also were teaching one day going around in a circle each saying one line of a lesson and sister Gotberg, instead of continuing on about Joseph Smith say, "Hur smackar det?" or how does that taste? We cracked up! She was on the wrong page :) Also, when we don't know the Swedish word, we will say them in a Swedish accent so at least we pretend we are still speaking it. Sis Page said something in English the other day when we were out in the hall and then said, "I had to say it in an accent so they wouldn't know what I was saying" (meaning the other Scandinavians). It was funny. Maybe you had to be there.

Also, I got a letter from Karina that said when she was in the mtc the rumor was to stay abour (that’s what she wrote – away?) from the orange juice. I'm pleased to report that is still the rumor today and we heard that on our first day here. She was year a few years ago. I wonder how long people have been passing that down :) Ted, Jeff, Scott? Comments? Oh, and yes, no more "tree of life" in the showers I suppose I should let you all know the miracles that I've been seeing since coming here. I just want to bear testimony that the gift of tongues is real. I feel the blessings of the Lord pouring down upon me every day. I don't feel sad. Ever. Miracle.

Love,

Amy

Week 4

2010-02-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Another week, another breakdown. Just kidding! All is well in Zion... I mean at the MTC. Ack! Missionary humor. It'll kill ya, or at least your social life.

So I loved Brian's news about the Provo Mission split. We actually had the new mission president of the new NM mission come yesterday. His wife spilled the beans in her devotional talk to us. It's Elder Spencer Jones of the 2nd quorum of the 70. Funny.

Oh, happy anniversary Mom & Dad and Jeff and Melissa. Sorry I missed your birthday, Jeff. I thought about you on the 24th! I swear I did!

In other news I was called as coordinating sister this week. I get to go to lots of extra meetings and be the high and might enforcer of the rules :) Oh and make people feel happy and good about themselves. The Norwegians left this week, which is why I took Sis Bergren's spot for that. Elder DeCosta, the previous zone leader recommended me for it, he said. He told me once that I should be a school teacher because I looked nice. And he thought I was a genius because I've already graduated. We took pictures with all the scandinavian missionaries and their flags on sunday before they left. It's a lot quieter around here now, but our missionaries focus more, so that's a plus. Another result of their leaving is that we are now friends with the Dutch sisters. We thought they hated us and they thought we didn't like them. The Norwegian elders put a wedge between us because they weren't allowed to talk to them anymore because they had started flirting a lot, but they would talk to us. That's what Elder DeCosta said anyway. He liked the rumor mill.

Last week, I got my mascara stolen while I was in the bathroom. My comp had been out there and said it was probably the short haired sister going to the SL Visitor's center who never smiles because she was the last one there. I asked her about it and she said she didn't have it. A few days later, I saw her bag of stuff and she had two mascaras! Sure enough, a few days later, I found it neatly waiting for me by the sink. Mystery solved! It was quite the scandal :) I ran into Miriam Deaver this week. She is a coordinating sister too. Turns out we are next door neighbors and we had no idea! It was really fun to get to know her a little better. She talked about how Dad put her at ease the night before she left. It's always fun to talk to people who know your parents too. It's also nice to know that people don't find Dad scary ;) So, a little bit about gym. The elders love 4 square. It is their passion and they would come in every day reveling in how long they were king or who got who out. Funny. 4 Square. I also had an elder ask if I was a marathon runner this week. He said it was because I am always running laps when he comes. That is true. I run almost the whole time (I've started memorizing scriptures while I run. It's great!), but it's only about 30 minutes--far from a marathon. I was flattered nonetheless. Also, I ran into an elder the other day on the track. He was standing in the way, I moved, but he moved and we collided. I hit him pretty hard, and was really embarrassed the rest of the time. It's amazing how much more awkward things are here. Any talk or show of anything boy-girl, related and it's a big deal. Oh dear. I feel like I've gone back 10 years. In the TRC me and Sis Page taught two recently returned Elders. That was awkward. Probably the worst lesson we've ever taught because we felt so self conscious.

Also, the other day, there was a cacauphony of hymns being hummed in the shower after gym. Then, out of the chaos someone started singing Beautiful Savior and a three part harmony broke out. Anyone's humming is fair game in the shower and we often get little anonymous choirs going. It's fun.

Ok, times up. I love the gospel. I love the Lord. I'm glad I'm here. I love you all. Don't forget Dear Elder.com :)

Love,

Amy

Week 3 - Tired

2010-02-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

Hey all.

I couldn't sleep last night until about midnight, so today I am tired and grumpy. the missionaries sitting here around me as I type are being loud and getting on my nerves. Mostly tired-ness related. I think.

So this last week was fantastic. Don't know where to start.

Alright, I've seen quite a few people this week. Carter Chung came into the mtc on Wed (friend from Berkeley ward). I got to see him on Thurs. and we have meals at the same time, so I get to see him all the time! It's fun. I also saw Jordan Milot in the Bookstore and called out to him. He wasn't as excited to see me as I was to see him and at first I didn't even think he remembered me. Turns out Kendrick Turner was right behind me in line, so it was all three of us chatting for a couple minutes until E. Milot left. Fun! Also, Sis. Jones is Cammi jones from Grandma Win's ward. More about her later. Also, I forgot to mention that there was a meeting about proper dress and grooming the first sunday we were here, and guess who was one of the good examples? Lindsey Meyers, one of my friends from Sophomore at BYU! That was fun.

So I feel bad for Sis. Jones. Last night when I couldn't sleep I found her out in the hall too. She said that her roommates are really good at gettting the lights off at 10:30, but then they laugh for another hour or so. I'm exhausted with my 7 hours of sleep, so I'm grateful for roommates that want sleep too. It's been hard to sleep in the mornings b/c the other sisters will get up early to get ready or go to gym, and they always slam the door when they come in and out. Yuck! So, I've been falling asleep in class. I fell asleep yesterday when Sis Gotberg and Sumner were teaching us in Swedish. Sis Gotberg saw me and said she almost started laughing.

These elders are driving me crazy!!!! Stop shouting across the laundry room!!!!

Oh, I'm grumpy. :) So, I picked hymns this week like "Rock of Ages" and "Come Ye Disconsolate." All the elders started making fun of me saying that I only picked obscure hymns that no one knows. I argued that they needed a musical education, so we compromised that I could pick every 4th hymn. They like the easy songs so we can sing in four parts and out sing the dutch and norwegians (they aren't very good even with an Osmond) I felt this week like I had no one to talk to. How do you get out your angst when the people that are part of the problem are the only people you can talk to (the other sisters). It was great that Mitch came to lunch. I was able to talk to him about some concerns about things that some speakers had said and just release a little. It was great! Thanks Mitch!

So, we love movie quotes. That's how we get our entertainment. We relive movies every day. We also have started making up our own scenes. We have an MTC musical in the works which may or may not include Donny Osmond, John Stamos with an eye patch and peg leg, and a song about P-day and the TRC. We might just have to perform our p-day song in the laundry room before we leave here.

Well, devotional was fantastic yesterday. We heard from Elder Grow. He inspired all of us to get to work and love it! I get more excited every day. I think this will be better than I imagined :)

Much Love,

Amy

P.S. We always slip when we refer to ourselves in the third person. Still don't think of myself as sister maxwell.

Week 2

2010-02-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

2/3/10

Hello all!

It took me a full minute to remember my password, and then I had to read emails, so I'm down to 20 minutes to type my guts out about the exciting happenings of week 2!

In no particular order:

We have had a few run-ins with "famous" people. First of all, the wife of my branch president, Sister Ahlander is Neal A. Maxwell's daughter. She's awesome. Next, there was an elder whose last name was Archuletta at the temple last sunday who acted strangely and asked if he looked familiar. Sis. Page said it didn't look like david archuletta, so I wonder if he's related or just likes to keep people guessing. Last, in the classroom next to ours, the very next door, going to the Netherlands is Elder Osmond, son of Donny. We like to act all giggly and try to get pictures of him on the sly just for fun.

Which leads me to my next topic: embarrassing situations for the week. First of all, we think Elder Osmond noticed us trying to take pictures with him in the background b/c he hid behind his companion and I accidentally made knowing eye contact with him when Sis Sumner said, "let's take a picture here!" Next, we think our teacher Bro. Killian thinks we like him or something because every time we say anything about him, there he is! I guess you had to be there for that one. The last embarrassing thing was that someone's hand was resting on top of a divider we were sitting by in the Teaching Resource Center (TRC)[and Sis Sumner touched it] with her pen at the goading of Sis. Gotberg. It turned out to be an attractive teacher that teaches on our floor. Bro. Killian said, "Sis Sumner, don't flirt wtih Bro.... He's engaged! And then told him that he had permission to come down on us for flirting with any of the teachers. Sis Sumner was more embarrassed than I was and had a dream the next night she was getting sent home for flirting. We had a good laugh about it :) At devotional yesterday Elder Hinckley came. He gave a great talk and told some fun stories about President Hinckley.

On sundays the missionaries get to walk up to the temple. I saw Cami Jones there. She got here this week. She didn't remember me, but was excited to find out who I was. She didn't like the temple walk b/c it seemed to her like a ward party on temple grounds. Very true, but it's our only chance to be social and take pictures.

I gave a talk on Sunday. It was good. On following the propet. Got to use Prop 8 experience. It's not as overused here :) I also sat by Sis Jones at Choir on Tues. We have choir practice on sunday with a younger guy that sounds like Brian Reagan and on Tues with an older gentleman that sounds like Prof. Harold Hill. The choir is a quarter of the missionaries here I swear. It's fun!

On Monday I was despairing that Mitch hadn't come to eat lunch with me. I figured I just had to stop hoping he'd come and then he would :) Then there he was a lunch! It was so great to see him and get some inside perspective on the teaching at the MTC.

So a little about MTC culture. One thing for this week. We all call each other by our nationalities. Those sisters over there aren't going to Germany, they are the German sisters. Our elders have rivalries with the German and Spanish elders. We were told not to speak to them which we promptly disregarded :) On Sunday Pres. Smith told us it was up to us to keep the Elders in check. They do silly things to impress the sisters most of the time he said. Let them know they are being immature, he said. At lunch that day, Elder Bloomfield was talking to me about a silly thing he had done in high school which is fairly inappropriate in nature, but not unheard of, so I was just treating him like I would when Brian would tell me the silly things he and his friends did. Another sister next to us chided him and told him that wasn't appropriate to talk about on his mission. The spirit is not in the conversation she said. He replied that it was for the sisters in his district to keep him in check, not her. I agreed but didn't say anything. I don't want to be one of those sisters.

Ack! out of time. Thanks aunt lisa for the weather and grandma for your letters and everyone else! You are all wonderful and I love you. I'm doing great and learning tons. My testimony is strengthened every day and I'm coming closer to the Spirit and getting better at teaching every day (and probably swedish too, but that's debatable). Hope this all makes sense. Until next week! Love, love, love!

Syster Maxwell

1st Week

2010-02-02T15:15:00.000-08:00

27 January 2010

Heysan, min familj!
So, it's been a week. This computer keyboard is no good. I'll do my best to type like a maniac. I'm in the laundry room. Turns out the guys always wrote from down here because they tell you to stay with your laundry.

It's been an interesting week. I don't actually feel like a missionary yet and have called myself Amy out loud twice this week. It's also strange to be surrounded by Elders when talking to them very much has always been taboo. My district is great. There are 7 elders and 4 sisters (including myself) going to sweden in this group. The group before us had only 3 elders. They were studs apparently. Everytime anyone sees us, they say, "Wow! 4 Sisters! You guys are so lucky!" I suppose we are. Except that we do a lot of things as a possey, and it's hard to convince 3 instead of just 1. We also hear all the time about how talented the sisters that are already in Sweden are. The branch president asked me if I could play hymns in church on Sunday and then proceeded to tell me how good one of the elders that had just left had been. He could play anything! Imagine my chagrin when I messed up throughout all three hymns on Sunday.

The Elders in my district are a lot of fun, love to laugh, and are all so sincere. They seem to really want to be here and improve in their Swedish. Their testimonies are a great strength to mine and they make class time fun. The sisters in my district are all so funny! I'm like the old, crochety one compared to them :) It's been a challenge because I get really into my studying when it's important to me or I feel like I'm falling behind, and it takes 10 minutes to get everyone quiet. My companion and I have different learning methods, so we are still working that out. I struggle speaking languages, so I'm the worst in my group. Give me a grammar test, and I'd be just fine, but that's not the method emphasized for learning here. So I go on struggling. We learned how to pray and bear testimony in Swedish this week. The first time we went to the Teaching Resource Center was on Monday and I forgot everything I had practiced! All I could think of was a weird mix of Swedish, Spanish and K'iche'. Surprisingly, I think of a k'iche' word instead of the Swedish all the time. My teacher encouraged me to keep up with my Spanish while I'm here because there are so many immigrants that need to be taught in Spanish in Sweden, which I knew, but it made me feel justified and hopeful.

The food here is killer. I'm still adjusting to it. Everything for lunch and dinner is so heavy unless you just get a salad. It's going to get old. I also need to learn to slow down when eating again because I keep eating when the Elders are eating. it reminds me of being 12 again when I'd take multiple portions of spaghetti, but I don't have Ted here to tell me to stop because I'm getting fat :) Having gym every day is helpful, and they have a half hour class at 6 am for the sisters every day but sunday. Sadly, I need the sleep. I fell asleep in devotional yesterday.

I'm surprisingly pleased with being a missionary. The regime here takes some adjusting to, but I feel like I was able to step back into being perfectly obedient easier than I expected. I've already learned (or relearned, rather) so much about my own faith and testimony. It's been refreshing to get back to basics.

I've only cried twice; which is good. Turns out I'm the weepy sister in the group, dang it! Not surprising to the Boys, I'm sure :) I'm not homesick though, and am very happy.

Thanks everybody for all your letters. Turns out that dear elder sends a letter for each page, so when you sent all those missionary letters, mom, I got like 5 letters! It made everybody so jealous. Thanks everybody for the support. It's nice to know my friends haven't forgotten me :) I'll write to whom I can. I love you all! The Church really is true, turns out.

Love,
Syster Maxwell

P.S. Excuse the spelling. No time to proofread.

My Hand at Vagrancy

2009-10-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

Last week I set a record. I slept in a different place every night for 6 nights in a row. I was going for a whole week, but I did a repeat on Tuesday. So why the vagrancy, you may ask? It all started last June when I got it in my head that I was completely disatisfied with my current situation and that chasing after a boy I hardly knew would be much more fulfilling. My lease ran out at the end of June, or rather, my period as a rent-paying squatter since I never signed a lease and wasn't legally supposed to live there (the apartment was capped at 2 by the City of Berkeley, and I made 3). I then moved back to Danville to my Uncle Mike and Aunt Shelley's house. I prepared to leave first by the end of June, then changed my date to the end of July, and then the middle of July, and then the end of September, and then indefinitely. In the midst of all the plan changing, I packed up all my things, sent half of my clothing home, and sold my car because I was "moving home". I came to the realization that I needed a change and that my current job wasn't cutting it as far as making me feel like I was accomplishing anything. I decided not to take the promotion they were offering me and find another job in the area. It was then that I was finally in the position to heed the prompting to go on a mission. It took quite a lot to humble me, but I was finally ready to listen. I already had my doctor's appointments set up, so I thought it would be a breeze to get my papers in quickly. They are in now, but it took a little longer than expected and since I put my availability date as essentially immediately, I am stuck in limbo, not knowing how much time I have left here. That leaves me in a weird situation. The bulk of my stuff is in Danville. I work in Pleasant Hill. The majority of my friends are in Berkeley. And I have no car to get between the three.

Therefore, I've become a vagrant, a mooch, and an avid public-transportation user. I've become fairly adjusted to this type of life-style. When I started, I often went hungry or made other people feed me. I grew weary of always packing an overnight bag, but I've become accustomed to always having a change of clothes on my back. Biking in the street no longer causes me anxiety, though biking up large hills still does. I have claimed one of my uncle's bikes as my own, nabbed a sleeping bag to cart around, and even taken all my clothes to stash in the basement of the Berkeley Institute building. I keep food at work for breakfast and lunch, so I'm fairly set. I used to have stuff across the US (CA, UT, and NC), but now I mostly just have stuff strewn across the Bay Area. It reminds me of my dad complaining about how my socks and snot rags were everywhere in the house. I just want everyone to be reminded of me always :) I try to rotate through my friends, so they don't get tired of me. I always find a place to sleep and have yet to sleep at the institute itself or in People's Park in Berkeley, but it's just a matter of time...

Next time...Life lessons learned as a vagrant...

Some thoughts on the deteriorating state of the world

2009-08-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

Not really. Just one thought.

I went to the Pleasant Hill Library today to get my Contra Costa County Library Card! I got really excited about it as I was leaving work because it brought back happy memories of all the time spent at the library growing up whether checking out books or looking at romance novels with my Cross Country friends instead of running. Imagine my horror when I saw the sign that said I must provide proof of my current residence. I left the building dejected, but after some quick remembered a recent paycheck that I had stashed in a book in my car that had my Danville address printed on it. Thanks Lincoln Law!

I quickly filled out the online registration and hurried over to the accounts desk where the man issued me my brand new library card! As he was finishing everything, I pondered on how wonderful it is that we have a place where we can check out books and movies for free. Education for the masses. Thanks Benjamin Franklin! You're the man!

I hurried off to find my book, and there the fact that indeed things are going downhill in CA became real to me. I couldn't find the book I wanted (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon) with the other books by the same author. I went to go ask the volunteer nearby that looked nigh unto death, she was so frail. She flashed me a big smile and informed me that she was deaf. I somewhat communicated my problem and she told me that since they no longer have funding, they can't afford to have "the kids come in," and the number of volunteers has been seriously reduced. She herself was a volunteer and could only come in a few hours every week. So, I had to look on the carts for my book since none had been shelved. I knew that California was going to cut Insurance for children and state parks, but I didn't know about the public libraries. Goodbye health, recreation, and education. I got my book and walked out, saddened by the deteriorating state of things.

On a lighter note, I flirted with some tattooed, muscular men in white vans on the way home from work today. I caught one guy's eye completely innocently, I swear. But we exchanged amused glances as we passed each other back and forth in traffic. I didn't mean to flirt; it just happened. They all waved at me as I was exiting. I think they were prisoners. It makes it all the more exciting.

Also, I got a voicemail at work from Jane who sells crocheted hats in San Francisco. She never showed up to her appointment yesterday, and I had so wanted to meet her. Sadly, she had been at the BART station waiting for the bus which must never have come! She always called by pay phone, so we can't reach her. Our phone system is stupid. We can't get our clients calls because they are all routed through Utah. I hope Jane tries again.

That's it. Maybe I will actually blog in the future.

Day Tripper

2009-04-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

I am super excited because I'm going to LA next week to go check out UCLA and see grandma maxwell and all the extended family down there. I called my Uncle Raymond up and said essentially, "hi. I'm your great-niece. Can I stay at your house?" He was very welcoming and said there were a number of pull out couches, so plenty of room for both me and my grandma. He's going to have a big dinner at his house on Friday night with my Dad's cousin Deena and the other cousins, so that will be fun. Anyway, the question is, what is a good gift for an extended family host who you have never met? Bread? Pie? Any suggestions?
I also am a bit nervous about checking out UCLA. It's so hard to grow up and decide what to do with one's life. It's the normal thing where I've let it go so long without dealing with it (talking to the admissions people I mean), that I'm afraid I've missed some deadline and people will think I'm flaky, so I end up being so. It's a terrible cycle.

Speaking of whatever...

2009-03-02T21:42:00.001-08:00

Speaking of illegal immigration (see Ted's comment on my last post), we had two people come into our office today that we were unable to help because they had received all their credit with false Social Security numbers. Sad for us because we could have gotten more money. Tragic for them because one of them has a number of houses and the other a large amount of credit card debt.
Speaking of tragedy, one of the most educational parts of this job are the interactions with people and their varying situations. There are the young couples steeped in credit card debt and the divorcees that have been cheated and abandoned to deal with their financial ruin by their former spouses. I'm interacting with people trying to keep their businesses from going under and others that are struggling to get by on food stamps and social security while the child they care for is in juvenile detention. Some are more tragic than others. Even in the short time I've been there, I've seen a few that look broken under the stress of their failing health and growing financial burden. I am grateful for the situation I have since the news continues to be bleak. The radio is full of the same news and the same songs recycled over and over.
Speaking of recycling, I got to send out a letter demanding money from a creditor that violated the automatic stay that our clients get when they file for bankruptcy. Just because they sent them a letter asking for money, we get to demand a large fine. Also, my roommate, Maria, is a recycling fanatic and even recycles the wrapper from the Costco toilet paper. I completely approve of this since ever coming back from Guatemala, where the wrapper was also quite useful, I have felt it a waste to throw it away. She's been researching on the internet for at least half an hour how to dispose of water filters, if anyone knows. She would prefer something green.
Speaking of waste, it smelled like sewage at work today.
Speaking of smells, when I came into my building it smelled like cat urine and tortillas. When I got into my apartment it smelled like stir fry and perfume. Outside in the hallway it usually smells like smoke. I would say it was marijuana, if I knew what marijuana smelled like.
Speaking of marijuana, I passed by the famous hippie craft market on Saturday. I need to actually go in person next week. There were real hippies! Not, the neo-hippies with dreads and cut-offs, but real 60s hippies, still wearing their tie-dye. A piece of living history right near my home!
Speaking of home, I like it here. Maybe I'll stay.

New inspiration

2009-01-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

Blogging for me doesn't happen. It's like writing in my journal or calling my friends back in a timely manner. The days and then the weeks go by. It's always in my mind, but it just never gets done. For a person who likes to spill the inner contents of her being to almost anyone who cares to listen, it surprises me that blogging wouldn't be more of a draw. So I've decided to try again.
I was inspired this morning by all the facebook invitations telling me to vote no on SB81 and to tell the Utah Legislature of my dissapproval. Not living in Utah and generally being unaware of such things unless someone tells me, I really have no idea what this bill is all about. I will research it, but the main thing is that I felt rallied to the cause. I feel an overwhelming desire to protest something. Something that is fundamentally wrong, something that I have no doubt is a bad move for society. I guess I'm just feeling feisty, but if anyone knows of something that is perfectly evil and that many people will be holding signs up over in the area, do let me know.
Hopefully I will continue writing my thoughts as well as the events of my life. I lost my job two weeks ago and found a new one a week ago. I only have a week and a half left in this one. I feel like good times are ahead and a new beginning is just around the corner. Who knows, could be... There's something just out of reach, down the street, on the beach... OK, enough of West Side Story, I don't remember the words. I commiserated with a girl who used to work here who is in the Berkeley ward. She just kept saying over and over, "I'm so happy that you are getting out! You won't miss it." Something's coming, something good. Yay!

Fall is here...

2008-10-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

The leaves are turning and it's starting to get colder. Ok, not really. This is California. It's still in the 70's every day. I think of You've Got Mail around this time because of the opening scene where they discuss how the fall inspires a desire to buy school supplies. Tom Hanks says that he would send Meg Ryan a bouquet of sharpened pencils if he knew where she lived.
Anyway, I bring this up because I recently found a rubber band on my desk that smells just like those rubber playground ball we used to play four square and Greek dodge ball with in elementary school. I always loved the way those smelled. This little strip of stretchiness took me back to the times when I'd open up the coat closet and the dense aroma of rubber and fun would envelop me. Anyway, I guess I could finish up about nostalgia for a simpler time when my only worries were catty girls on the playground. But really, I just like the smell...

Wernicke's Disease

2008-10-02T15:02:00.001-07:00

So I've started my job as a receptionist as I've mentioned before. I always considered myself good receptionist material. Warm, friendly, nice smile, etc, but I never realized that something lurked within that would destroy my hopes of reaching the pinnacle of receptionist-ness.
I always knew I had a problem. My friends knew it. My parents knew it because my mother suffers from it. There's nothing wrong with my hearing, but I'm pretty sure there's something not quite right in my Wernicke's Area. Slight brain damage? Maybe. Judge for yourself. Not uncommon are comments such as this:
Me: Did you say you are in love with Michael Buble?
Whomever: No! I said I want to make a cheese souffle!
Oops. So yesterday a man by the name of Wif called. I had no idea that anyone in the world is named Wif, so I told me boss, Bob, that Wes was calling. He later corrected me, saying that his name was indeed strange. Near the end of the day, a man who I swear said his name was Brian King calls up Bob, and I transfer him.
Me: (Sweetly) Bob, Brian King is on the line for you.
Bob: (Gruffly and obviously annoyed) Ming! His name is Ming! He's Chinese!
Sorry Bob that my disability has come between us. I'll never get promoted to favorite receptionist now.

Who knew telephones were quite so complex?

2008-09-29T18:58:00.001-07:00

I have a new job. I answer the phone and read people's resumes at a job recruiter. The first day was almost a disaster. I sat there learning how to answer the phones for the first two hours. The only problem was that the phone only rang a few times. When Carol (the other receptionist) left, I still had no idea how to get phone calls successfully across to my ornery bosses. The first time I tried to transfer a call to the head boss-man, I put him on what I thought was hold, then proceeded to hang up on him after telling my boss that he was on the phone. Pandemonium erupted. Everyone became very stern very quickly and my boss said loudly, "He's not on the phone. He's not on the phone!" The girl who had been talking to me when I answered the phone tried to recover the phone call. Who knows where I'd pigeon-holed the fellow, but his call was out there somewhere in oblivion, waiting to be picked up. When all the hubbub died down, he called back. Crisis averted. Since then it's been almost fine. I'm still on the job hunt though. Being a receptionist is definitely not my cup of tea.
The other part of my job is searching for resumes that match available positions on CareerBuilder. I'll learn something at least. The first thing I've learned is that Hogi Yogi really is a blight on my cv, just like I thought it always would be. Nuts!

I heart Smetana

2008-09-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

So September is turning out to be a stressful month, and I'm guessing October will be the same way. I'm attempting to study for the GRE which I recently found out has changed in the past months, so the prep materials I have are partially obsolete. Oh well. I'll do my best, and I can always retake it. I also am trying to get my paper prepared for publication (I need to have a draft done by the beginning of October), and upon reading over my paper from last year, realized I have some major revisions that may amount to rewriting half the paper. More work than I expected, but I'm excited about writing it, which I guess is a good thing.
Oh, I'm also trying to find a job. A full-time one that gives me lots of money or at least more that $11/hour. Uncle Mike introduced me to a guy who's job is finding people jobs, and he said he had a position for me answering phones and helping him with internet research part-time until I find another job. Of course I lept at the chance. Then I realized that I've got a lot to do in the next few weeks on top of trying to be social and make friends. Bleah. It'll all work out and come out fine in the end. It always does.
I also would like to apply for grad schools this year. Hmmm... Maybe I can squeeze that in somewhere.
Other than that, I'm really enjoying myself, making new friends and getting to know the area. I walked on the Golden Gate Bridge, rode a trolley car (singing that song from 'Meet Me in St. Louis' while swinging off the side), spent way too much money making public transportation mistakes, ate at a restaurant in China town, went to Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero, and drove through Castro. Still much more to see, and I'd post pictures, but I currently have no camera since it got stolen in Copan. *Shakes left fist*
So last Monday I saw this guy on BART who seemed really nice and even said something to me, but I just responded and didn't strike up conversation. I was kicking myself days later. So then we go to the visitor's center by the Oakland temple to see an art exhibit that's up there. We're taking the tour and the sister missionary opens the door and... there he is! Amazing! He recognized me, but couldn't place me. He remembered once I told him. He was going to the same regional young single adult fireside that we were going to, so that's why he was there. Anyway, we are going to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the SF museum of modern art on Thursday. He seems nice, so hopefully he's not a creep. In other news, Spencer (my cousin who's room I have temporarily occupied) left his mate bombillas and stuff here. Yay! There's a guy in my ward who said he'd drink it with me. No one here will touch the stuff. Sad day for them.
The moral of the story is that 'The Moldau' is like a bubble bath for the soul. Thanks Aaron for making this possible!

When it rains, it pours (from June 4th)

2008-06-12T15:42:00.001-07:00

This week…It's hard to remember. I've been working at Copikaj, the basket cooperative. Mostly it's been office assistant work. The first day was fun. We went and helped a family of weavers finish off their products to turn in that afternoon. They let me work with them and talked to me a lot in K'iche'. I was trying really hard to understand, but really I only got about half of it. It was really fun. They asked a lot about life in the United States. For some reason people have this idea that it is common for people to sign contracts upon getting married that say they are only going to be married for 5 years or whatever. I know that there were those who would get married to get a green card then get a divorce later and maybe they are thinking of pre-nups or the high divorce rate. I don't know, but it's one of the common questions I get all the time. If anyone has experience with that, do let me know.
Anyway, the second day, I helped Julio (the guy in charge of basket production and commercialization) organize the warehouse which was full of rat droppings and dust. The baskets were in fairly good shape for the most part, but it turned out that it was pretty disorganized. I tried to help by sorting the baskets according to type while he was out talking to a woman about buying land. When he came back in, he basically said, I was planning on putting something else in those spots. Then he threw all the piles I had made on the floor and did it his way, throwing baskets in whatever container. Oh well. Because of what I had done, he did keep most of the different kinds together, though, so that's something.

The next day I went in and worked in the office and did more organizing and pricing. Today we did inventory. I think they are taking advantage of the fact that I'm there to do the projects they've needed to do. That's what I'm there for, I guess. I'm excited to get to know some of the basket weavers and do interviews with them. My new goal this week is to get a bit of data on the people's concept of their town identity and traditions. I'll let you all know how that goes.
As far as fun and games go, I've been playing a little more with the little girls that are 2 ½ and 4. Ramona's (the older one's) favorite show on Discovery Kids is Lazy Town, so we do exercises in the kitchen after dinner. They are really cute, but really disrespectful to their grandparents and get into everything not to mention that they are constantly at each other's throat and touching each other and rough-housing. Kind of reminds me of me and Brian growing up actually. Sorry if we were annoying guys. :]
Anyway, we also went to San Pedro on Saturday night to see the election of the town queen. It was really stressful because the whole group decided to go because if more than 2 of us are going anywhere, it becomes a group activity. No one wants to be left out. I respect that. It was raining and we missed the first bus. Another bus came almost immediately though, but there were doubts cast by Craig's host mom about whether it was actually San Juan that we were supposed to be going to. The ride made Jessica sick and she threw up in the street when we got there. We had to find a hotel which ended up not being too bad. After dinner (about 8:20) we headed over to the program which was outside without chairs set up, so we had to stand the whole time.
The others weren't enjoying the program or felt gross, so they left after about 45 minutes. Craig and I stuck it out to the end (because it's his project and I'm interested in representations of their own culture). It didn't finish until almost 1 am. I was pretty sore the next day. I'm not used to standing in one place that long.
It was raining when we left that next morning. We had to wait almost an hour in the boat to go to Panajachel for church, so we missed sacrament meeting. Everyone was cranky on the way back because they were hungry (not because it was fast Sunday because they forgot. Craig reminded me luckily. I don't like surprises like that.), tired, sick, and wet. Anyway, we all love each other again and we got home fine.
Oh and it's been raining since Friday. We've had two tropical storms pass (probably depressions by the time they get here actually), Alma and Arthur. There has been flooding across the country and mudslides on the road down to the pacific coast and one by Nahualá (inter-american Highway) that I've heard of. We've been fine here except for the laziness (and depression) that accompanies the rain. Craig had to go to Momostenango on Monday, so I was worried about him ending up dead at the bottom of a muddy gulf, but all that happened was a delay because they had to go through the center of Nahualá to get around the mudslide. They said there is another storm that might be coming through, but I get confused information all the time, so I'm not sure how many more days of this we are going to have. According to the newspaper here, the ground is already to the saturation point of September. Yikes!
Anyway, the rain is driving me nuts and I just want the sun to come out again. The sun came out for about 5 minutes today and I went out and looked at it. It was so warm and happy! It reminded me of the story mom always talks about where they lock that girl in the closet for saying it is going to stop raining and when it actually does stop, they forget about her and she misses it. I'm glad I saw it.
Anyway, I think that's it. Life marches on and takes me with it.

So this is actually from May 26th

2008-06-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

last week was slightly unexciting. Finished my basket. Read a lot. Got more behind. Yay! Anyway, I really only have about twenty minutes to write anyway. I'm still alive, still not sick, and still fairly (fat and) happy. I kind of went on an eating binge last week which I'm still recovering from. I love tienda food! (i.e. cheap fatty snacks). On Friday most of us went to Sololá to buy weaving materials. I went to go check out the basketmakers that come from Santa Clara to sell. It was fun. They were all (ok just one) really excited to hear that I am living in Santa Clara and learning to make baskets. That night I was feeling sick from the greasy chicken and snacks we ate on the trip, so I went to Craig's house to watch Shrek II. We were half way done when his computer shut off and wouldn't turn back on, so we just called it a night. My family gave me a stick to beat the dogs off with, but I got home just fine. As he gave it to me, Don Pedro said, 'Now people make fun of you for carrying a stick, but it's worth it.' Not the thing to say to someone who's already self conscious about being who she is where she is anyway. Oh well. I told Chad's family, who I went to visit on the way, that it was for bad children when one of the girls mentioned it (Aracely). Her grandma laughed.
On Saturday, we went to San Marcos again (we promised Juan we would) and jumped off the big rocks. Ok, I'm not as brave as I thought. There's something about throwing yourself off of something into something you can't see. I'm not sure how high it was exactly, but I think it was about 5 meters tops. The shorter one was about three. I'll send pictures next week. We got some cool ones. The lake is pretty deep there. I didn't touch the bottom when I jumped really couldn't see all the way down to the bottom even though the water is pretty clear. I ended up jumping off about three times, and the first time took about 15 minutes for me to finally just go. After, Craig and I swam around to the beach (I don't know how far it was). There were women by the beach washing their clothes and one woman was bathing. It made me wonder how far they had come to wash since a lot of the places that are right around there are pretty touristy and would have water. I didn't really get a chance to look around much of the town though. We went to a restaurant and had huge plates of spaghetti. Yum! We were home by quarter to three. Sad news is I left my umbrella in a tuk tuk. Goodbye trusty friend that been by my side for four years now. It has survived rain, wind, and snow only to go the way of my bag of snickers. No going back now. It's time to move on to a cheap Guatemalan umbrella. Everyone shed a tear for my dearly departed.

Anyway, we also had a fiasco getting to church because no buses passed and Craig was half and hour late. We didn't get up to the highway to catch the 20 minute (25? I can't remember) bus ride to Chirijox until 9, so we decided to go to the 10:00 Nahualá branch instead. We got there half an hour early, so I decided to play the piano a bit. I don't know what I was thinking. Of course I doomed myself to play the hymns. It was fine though. I've gotten better in the last year thanks to the piano in my apartment (or maybe the hymns were just easy). Anyway, it was the most successful sacrament piano playing I think I've done.
So that was good. And life is good. My bath water was actually almost hot on Sunday and I cut a mango successfully this morning, so maybe they will trust me more with things. Anyway, they love me and I love them. I also am going to start working at the basketweaving cooperative this afternoon, so that will be awesome too, hopefully. Well, until next week...when we run to the coast and back (that may only slightly be a joke).

I only cut my finger once, but don't tell Tat Lu' that!

2008-05-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

This week has been lovely for the most part. I made my first basket of the year with Tat Lu’ whose teaching method is to do the work for me. Hopefully by the end, I’ll be making baskets completely on my own from splitting the cane to putting the rim on. Maybe. I’ve been learning a lot about their family and it’s amazing how different their family is from the one I stayed with last year. Last year I kind of resented the lack of nitpicky care I got from my family, but this year I appreciate it. The family this year takes such good care of me that it makes me feel bad and stifled all at once. No longer do I burn my tongue on the food or drink, I am always at home before 9:30 else they come looking for me even though they know where I am, I am not allowed to help with dishes or cleaning (though I do get to make tortillas and take the kernals off the dried corn-cobs) and my bucket baths are nice and luke-warm. Sometimes I think they think I don’t know how to care for myself, and I get annoyed. Then I remember that they are thinking of my family back in the States and want me to get back just the way I came. So no worries mom and dad. They have let me do my own laundry which makes me at least feel slightly autonomous. I decided to live with a different family to get a different experience. I’m definitely getting what I wanted.
Last week I had a wonderful birthday. I made pizza with Yohana, my host-sister from last year and we invited all the students over (all four of them). They also made a small dinner complete with roasted chicken, broccoli, and yucca was it? We also had the pizza, and they surprised me with a cake! Yummy. This was the first year that I actually was subjected to the mordida tradition were the poor birthday girl’s face is pushed into the side of the cake. It was all very fun. Who doesn’t like having whipped cream all over their face?
Last week I also started really working again with Lucia and her group. Right now they are mostly doing crochet, so I’m learning how to do that. They actually let us work with them and with their materials even though there is no way that my stuff is good enough for sale in the market. Who wants a crocheted cell-phone bag made by a gringa anyway? Actually, Chad is also learning to make baskets with Tat Lu’ too, so we have big plans to make our own set of a dozen baskets to take to the market to sell. I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t sell any, but it would still be fun(ny). On Saturday I went with Craig to San Marcos, a town on the edge of Lake Atitlán that is a prime spot for tourists. It’s always a shock going to tourist areas after being in the communities even if it’s only been two weeks. We were only there a few hours to see a friend of his and pick up a newspaper clipping (unbeknownst to the other students at the time, they were in the Diario for being tourists at Tikal. I was already in Santa Clara. It’s ok. I’m not that jealous). Anyway, for some reason the pot-smelling, long haired tourists made me nervous. Small pathways, lots of people. Why was I afraid they would touch me? No idea. It would be more logical to be nervous in the place where I’m the odd-ball. Which reminds me that a man that was slightly drunk came up to me in the street yesterday asking me something about Venezuela and telling me they were all wonderful people and that I should love them too. He then said in the politest way that he could that they didn’t want anything from the United States in their town. “Bueno,” I said with a smile and walked home. Slight paranoia ensued, but it was all forgotten in a couple of hours.
I also have been having crazy dreams about home and people I haven’t thought about since high school. Why? Maybe it means something. Maybe it’s the tortillas. Anyway, I want to go back to San Marcos one day and jump off the huge rock that’s there into the lake. Most everybody’s afraid to jump off of it. I’m pretty sure it’s no higher than the second platform at Candler. No biggy. I’m going to wow them all with my fearlessness.
As far as everything else goes, I’m way far behind in my coursework and getting things typed up. Typical. Oh, and last night was the first big rain since I’ve been here. The water was streaming in through the windows in the kitchen, flooding the floor a bit. The sound is always deafening. We have to shout to hear each other and the little girls kept talking to me. They are hard to understand anyway, so I just smiled and nodded.
I forgot that last week we also went to the election of the queen of La Salle, the school that I learned to weave at last year. Each candidate had a short dance that they did with others of their age-group as an introduction. One of the girls’ groups reenacted a Maya ceremony and actually sacrificed a chicken by dramatically chopping off its head. The kid who was acting as the priest then poured the blood onto his face and danced around. At the end when they were cleaning up, they left the head out in the middle of the basketball court where they had danced. “The head, the head,” everyone shouted. Eeew. We heard that the director of the school though it was inappropriate. It was cool though. The other dances were pretty typically traditional with marimba, incense, and baskets of corn and other greens.

Well, that's all there's time for this week. Stay tuned for next weeks grand adventure in basket making!

First Post from Guate

2008-05-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Titles are so stinking hard to come up with. There's just so much pressure.
So it's my birthday. Well...the news...or maybe first an explanation of exactly what I'm doing this time around since I didn't really explain it last year, so a lot of confusion insued. Basically, I'm continuing my basket research to hopefully write something publishable or presentable. I'm going to apply for folklore programs when I get back, so I'm focusing on the significance of the basket (I'm more interesting in material culture-dance, music, art-than the english type of folklore). This year is slighly different because I am the facilitator for the group of students that came on the Guatemala field study program. There are four, in random order--Chad, Jessica, Craig and Aaron. They each have their own research project that they are working on. Now to my doings...
I got here fine last Thursday the 1st after taking an all-night flight of sorts. I left at 7:40 from Utah, then left again from LAX at about 11. I left again from LAX at about 2. We had been up about an hour when they told us there was a problem with the engine and we were running on auxilary power or something, so we were going back. 'That's kind of scary,' I thought, then promptly went back to sleep. I didn't even get to see anyone famous, so it was definitely not worth the trouble.
A really nice family who worked with the field study when they were in Nahuala (we had to move locations last year) picked me up from the airport, fed me pizza and dropped me off at Km 148 to take the bus in to Santa Clara. I arrived in the pouring rain taking a bus that charged me double "because of my suitcases" and a tuk tuk that charged me cuadruple because they were a couple of punks. I didn't care to argue too much because I was getting wet. In transport, I only lost my bag of mini snickers in the tuk tuk. I would have been ok with it except those little twerps charged me too much. They didn't deserve it. :)
The next few days were spent with my host family (Tat Lu's family who taught me how to make baskets and to embroider last year) and visiting old friends. I was going to find all new host families this year, but Tat Lu' had already talked to the families from last year when I got there. Oh, well, best just to go with the flow.
On Monday, I went up to the Capital to spend the night where the other students were staying. We had a cinco de mayo party complete with carne asada and cohetes. No piñata though, they were expensive and had no candy in them. I actually don't know whay a piñata costs, so it's possible they were cheap. Whatever. I
The last week I've basically been getting distracted by the other students, running around town seeing people and eating food. The pan dulce is going to be the death of me. Luckily, Yohana (my host sister from last year) said she'd go running with me a few times a week. It's not socially unnacceptable to run! Hooray! Also, we tried to go talk to both the mayors and neither of them were there. Does that make me a bad facilitator? Possibly.
Yesterday and Saturday I went up to the top of Las Cristalinas, a mountain peak that overlooks Lake Atitlan. It's not very clear this time of year, but it's still cool to go up and see what I can see. You know, like the bear. The second time was fun because we went up with Craig's host parents, Cecelia and Miguel who were all up for exploring the mountain and trying different paths. We took pictures of all the gringos just to see how they'd like it as well as destroying the lovely foliage Guatemala style in order to take flowers back with us. We did actually learn something about the plants and I found a ton of mint up on the mountain. It was fun. There's a lot of hiking to be done while I'm here.
Anyway, not too many flea bites so far. I'm only sleeping on a box spring, so that's interesting. But, I'm taking bucket baths every other day which is marvelous! So far adjusting to the food hasn't been all that painful either. I'm going to be working again with Lucia's group of women that make crafts (including the pine needle baskets) among other things. I'm also hoping to learn baskets well enough to work with someone a few times a week making different styles. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, happy Amy's birthday to everyone.

My First Post

2008-04-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

I've decided to join the ranks of the bloggers. This way I can send weekly Guatemala emails to the people who actually want them, and if anybody else wants to check up on me who just happens to love me that much, but isn't on the list, CAN! I'd like to thank Ellie Crandall for being the other inspiration for my blog. I wish she would also live in the basement of my house forever.