Hooray! Emails today!

Alarm sounds and laptop is immediately in hand.....  Not disappointed!  I love starting my day this way.  It totally energizes me!  Two great letters from Elder Milne this morning and some very cold looking pictures.  Here you go.......

Hey Dad!

 

Yeah we are still getting shut out.  Leaving men on base and a lot of base running mistakes.  The pitcher has got some wicked off speed stuff, and his fastball cuts like you wouldn't believe. A lot of my teammates are really discouraged and some of them don't even try when they get up to bat. I'm doing my best to keep my fire and good attitude. I've learned from every at bat so far and every time I step up I do better. Sometimes the calls don't go our way. Sometimes we get some bad hops that we really can't do anything about. Sometimes it seems like everything is against us, but I'm just going to keep moving forward. We've actually got quite a few people on first base this last week, next we'll see if we can get a few to second and third, but there is one girl who has some speed and can make it all the way home or at least commit to it by the end of this next week. We will see.

And you are right, it is easy to see that there are better ways to go about things besides just going around and knocking on doors.  We've got to change things up a little bit.  One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  We are expecting to start using more technology in our efforts through the internet and stuff like that.  As the world changes missionary work needs to adapt. Maybe thats what this new mission president will bring.  Right now my biggest focus is getting the language down as soon as possible so I can start to really do some damage.

 

Dear Fam

First off I love those scriptures mom we studied the same thing in sunday school yesterday, Enochs story. Super cool and super inspiring. Probably my favorite scripture for my mission so far has been Ether 12:27 which also talks about weaknesses turning into strengths.

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ^aweakness. I ^bgiveunto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumblethemselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them.

The key is to be humble and I have definitley been humbled since coming here. And I have seen such an improvement in every aspect of myself since coming on a mission. It has been so good for me. I feel like this week I really settled in as a missionary. I have no problem now stopping and talking with people and asking questions and stuff like that. I can't wait for mother's day so I'll be able to speak some Swedish to you guys over the skype.

This week was kind of like a rebuilding week. Since our main guys dropped us last week we spent a lot of time just trying to find new investigators. We found some and taught some lessons but it just didn't seem like anything special. I had been praying all week for something to happen to get me pumped up again but it didn't seem like anything was happening.  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I was really down just because of the way things were going. On Sunday we had just one appointment scheduled and it was with this guy from America that we had met on the bus who said he was atheist but we could come over if we wanted. I wasn't expecting anything special going into it. But when we got there, it turned out that he had his whole dorm over to listen to us! It was awesome they were all super interested and all asked so many good questions and were all super stoked to read Mormons Bok together and they want us to come back again so we can talk more, and they want to make food for us and invite more people to come because its so interesting and all that stuff.  Long sentence haha but it was unreal.  It was the best lesson we had ever taught together, and the thing was we were just totally ourselves. We got them laughing and joking but at the same time totally into our message. We ended up getting 6 new investigators from that one lesson with a total of 10 for the week. We are pretty sure thats like a record or something for Umeå. It was exactly what I needed. I feel so refreshed and excited to move forward.

Tomorrow will be interesting because my trainer will be transferring down south so I'll be getting a new comp to finish up my training. But everyone says that this Elder Hitch guy who will be my new comp is a great dude so I'm not too worried. I am kind of nervous though because I'm going to have to introduce this guy to the area and all our investigators so I've been studying the map a lot lately and all the bus routes. We take the bus all the time while the zone leaders get the car but I don't really mind you get to meet a lot of cool people on the bus.

Thats great to hear that you guys had a good anniversary and that everything with the book is going good. Carter's telling me that PV bball is doing real well, thats awesome to hear.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, they help so much. My testimony on the power of prayer has grown like you wouldn't believe ha I've never prayed so much in my life. The Lord always answers and he knows what is best for us and what we need to go through to grow and become who he wants us to become. As long as we do our best and keep the commandments we can expect His blessings.

I'm doing well, I'm healthy and we get taken care of pretty good so don't worry too much about me. It would be nice if we could find a place with a decent cheeseburger or mexican food but other than that its all good. Love you all, talk to ya next week!

Love

Äldste Milne

P.S. I absolutely love that quote you sent about Noah hahahaha too good

"If you ever get discouraged think of Noah: He worked for 300 years preaching to the people, and then all his contacts were drowned."

 

Elder Milne sounds awesome!  Everyone keep praying that the hearts of the people of Sweden will soften and they will recognize the truth as it is taught to them.  Here are the pictures he sent:

 

 

Lots of snow!

 

Ohh so cold!