Hallå där mina älsklingar!
So this week was definitely another great one with a lot to share about! So first off, like I said last week, to celebrate Valentine's day (alla hjärtans dag) and show our love for the Swedish language, the whole mission did an SYL week last week and spoke nothing but Swedish. So this email is essentially the first English I have used since last Monday. ha ha It actually feels kind of weird. but yeah it was actually a really fun week and helped everyone's Swedish a lot! Me, Elder Cheney, and the other two that live with us, Elders Christensen and Jenkins, have decided to just keep speaking Swedish as much as possible, we won't be as strict about it as we were last week, but we are going to try and speak Swedish a majority of the time. It seriously helps so much just having your mind in Swedish mode all the time instead of having to constantly translate from English thoughts to Swedish words. Plus, it's kind of cool to catch yourself thinking or dreaming in Swedish. ha ha Even after eleven months I still can't believe I can speak another language!
So I didn't realize until I read your emails this week how much I failed to explain last week! ha ha Sorry about that! Let me go a little more in depth of where I'm at and who I'm with. So I am in the Vendelsö area and the Vendelsö ward, our area is basically just suburbs and tons of apartment buildings but yes there is a national park in our are too so that is probably why it looks so wooded on google maps dad. Well that and the fact that all of Sweden is basically one huge forest. ha ha. Our area is the smallest geographical area in the entire mission by a long shot. More or less we have like three neighborhoods and that's it. So it's kinda tough to find things to do sometimes, and we get yelled at a lot when we knock doors since every single door in our entire area gets knocked every time new missionaries come in. Elder Cheney (the one on the right of me, my left, in the b-day picture) was here with his original trainer for six weeks before I came in, so I am just finishing up training him for the second half of the twelve week training program. So what happened is that the Handen are, needed a new zone leader, and so president transferred Elder Christensen, Elder Cheney's dad, to Handen and then moved me in to take his place. ha ha So Elder Christensen "transferred" to Handen aread but he didn't even have to move desks or beds. ha ha. So yeah there are four of us in the apartment; myself, Elder Cheney, Elder Christensen, and Elder Jenkins. It is really fun, but I'm not gonna lie, I really miss Elder Hart and Elder Leirimaa. Elder Cheney comes from Lindon but went to Timpanogas High so I had never met him or heard of him. He is a really good kid... but a bit of a challenge. for me and for the rest of the apartment. He is just childish at times. For example, if he gets upset over something, he tends to storm out of the room and lock himself in another room or throw some other sort of fit. And that happens about once a day. So that is kind of hard to deal with. But he is a really good kid and works very hard so that is good. President Newell has talked to him and told him he needs to chill out so hopefully he will grow out of all of this with time. I don't want you guys to feel like I'm ragging on my comp or anything! He really is a great kid and all! He's still just very much so a greenie and needs some more breaking in. ha ha
So things are still going great with Nicklas! He is seriously the definition of a golden investigator! He came to Church again yesterday and is coming with us to the YSA center in Stockholm tonight for family home evening! Everything is looking very positive for him to be baptized on the 2nd of March! We also have another pretty positive investigator, Victor, who is very close to baptism. He has had a baptismal date before but didn't quite make it. His situation is interesting, with the baptismal interview questions he can answer yes to every single one of them except for the very first one, which is, do you believe in God as our eternal heavenly father and in his son Jesus Christ as the savior and redeemer of the world? He really likes church and everything and comes often but he still feels like he hasn't received an answer that God exists. We are actually kind of stuck on what to do with him right now so if you guys could keep him in your prayers that would be great!
So this past week on Thursday I had the opportunity to hold my first baptismal interview! For a lady named Louise who was baptized in Väster Haninge on Saturday. She is African and is so awesome and amazingly faithful! It was a really neat experience to sit down with her and just talk about how much god and Christ mean to her in her life. It definitely helped and uplifted me in my testimony! Her baptism went really well and Nicklas and Victor were both there to watch so that was really good!
I'm glad to hear that everyone had a good Valentine's day! and I'm really glad that you didn't have to serve jury duty mom! ha ha.
That is super cool that you got to see Rea in the temple the other day mom! Next time you see her give her a big hug from me! I love Rea. She definitely has a special place in my heart. Especially after putting up with me and Spencer on a daily basis through out high school. ha ha Oh man, we were such weirdo's.
Sounds like you guys had a great stake conference! I always just keep thinking back to D&C 88:73, "se, jag skall påskynda mitt verk i dess tid" I'm not exactly sure how it goes in English but something like "ye, i shall hasten my work in it's time" well, the time is now! the lord is showing us that he is ready to hasten his work and bring about a second harvest, we just need to show him that we are ready to labor for it.
Have so much for in the Bahamas this week mom and dad! Like you said dad, it's tough work but hey, someones got to do is so it might as well be you VP! ha ha Well I think I'm going to had for this week but I hope you all have amazing weeks and know how much I love and care for each and every one of you!
Love-
Äldste McKay.
P.S. Everyone! I almost forgot to tell you the most important thing that happened this week! I fulfilled one of my life long aspirations! I learned to juggle! ha ha ha I was so excited when I finally got the hang of it. It's something that I've wanted to do learn to do forever. Anyways... talk to you next week! ha ha
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