AH! I just LAUGHED when I started reading your letters and realized they were in third person! It was AWESOME! You are ALL So much fun! I love you!
Kay, so Mom told me to update her on Sleeping... The Melatonin did arrive and I switched to using it. Perhaps because I trust mom more than I trust Doctors I feel as though the melatonin has been much more effective than the sleeping pills were. I have yet to sleep completely through a night, but that's ok, I'm getting MUCH more sleep than I was before. I think soon I will be sleeping through the night.
That's so exciting that Scott, Carisa, Lanae and Owen are coming out to Utah! You are all going to have SO much fun! For how long are they staying? You should get Lanae to put the star (or bow) on top of the 11 foot tree... That should be interesting! (And I would definitely want a picture of that!)
I'm glad you got to spend time with both the Fawcett and Mackley sides of the family. Did you manage to shoot everything through one hole? :D
Sad fact... alright so it's not sad, just strange. When you said you went out and played football I initially thought you were talking about soccer... And then I realized you were talking about football... Which is really weird since I don't have anything to do with Sports here in Sweden... so why would I be affected by their name for it? Strange things...
Oh, and I liked what Dad said about Family, Family is so important. And I am SO grateful that I have all of you. Your love and support means loads to me. And it's so important to remember how lucky we are to have each other. In this world of chaos and confusion we should cling to our families and appreciate them, and try not to bring any of the negative chaos within. (The positive chaos can't be helped... we ARE a family...)
Alrighty... This week. Started on Monday Night... We planned to go drop by and visit a less active... But we got off on the wrong bus stop (on accident) (We didn't even realize it was the wrong bus stop) and then wandered around lost (We thought we knew where we were going... but we didn't) for a while in the cold November air (By the way happy December!) And then we finally decided that we were never going to find the house and that we ought to just get to the bus stop so we could be home on time.
So we get on the bus... and the next bus stop comes along and... A girl named Malin gets on the bus... And she recognizes us (And both Syster Richins and I recognise her... but at the same time we don't we have no clue where we met her or what her name is, but in our defence we meet ALOT of people EVERY day! It's hard to remember their names unless they say something that really makes an impact.) And she sits next to us (Again, this is unusual Swedish behavior) and we discover that she's one of the girls from the English Class we taught about two weeks... maybe three weeks... ago. (The weeks start to blur together). And SHE leads the conversation to how we go around teaching people, and then when we (naturally) ask if that's something she's interested in she says, 'Yes, and so is one of my friends!' Well, ok! So we are trying to set something up for this week. :D
And then... let's see... Actually I have to admit, this week was a little on the slow side, no one was able to meet with us, and... I don't know, things were just really slow.
But something super... awkward... happened on Tuesday. So, we were teaching Najib, and we teach him with a translator who skypes in (he speaks very little English and no Swedish but he does speak Persian!) And... he'd brought papers with him and he was talking about them with the Translator, she stopped him for a minute and then told us that he was looking for a baptismal paper that he could give to the Migration office because they wanted to send him back Afghanistan and if he could say he was Christian they wouldn't... We said something about how there was more to baptism than just getting a paper signed. Cue two people arguing in persian for about 40 minutes. It was Terrifying. Persian is an angry sounding language. We tried a few times to ask what was going on but they just kept going at it. Turns out Najib had been coming only for a baptismal paper and this was the closest church. He was mad at us for not having baptized him yet. (He hadn't had all the lessons yet, and ironically we did ask him if he wanted to and he said no...) So, he may have left angry... and Syster Richins and I just sort of sat there a little terrified. I repeat Persian is an angry sounding language. (That and they were angry at each other...)
But really it just sort of made me sad. The covenants of baptism... are so crucial and so important, but they can't be made because you need a paper for the migration office. They need to be made with full purpose of heart, with sincerity and conviction. It's sort of heartbreaking to me. Because despite how we try, sometimes people don't understand that. These are covenants, they are real. You go to a doctor when you're sick, you go to the tailor when you need help with your clothes, you don't go to the baptismal font when you need help with the migration office. (Get down on your knees, yes, but covenants need to be understood...) So that was the sad story of this week... I don't think that there are any other sad stories for this week... Pretty sure.
So Thursday, also known as THANKSGIVING!!! Was awesome, we were in Hässleholm and we were so excited because we were going to meet with Mikael, (we hadn't met with him in a long while because of neck problems)... but then he missed his bus, but he texted us to tell us that he hadn't used Snus since he promised to stop! So that was good! But we looked at our phone and called one of our investigators who lives in Hässleholm to see if he could meet... And he could (name is Shamrad) and it was a great lesson! I think it's amazing that he was willing even though we called him up thirty minutes before.
After that we went to... the Larssons... for... THANKSGIVING DINNER! It was so much fun, and it was so nice of them to invite us, and I really was SO SO SO grateful! (And not only because it was Thanksgiving...) It really is so kind of members to just invite us into their homes the way they do. *Oh, come for Dinner.* *Oh, come teach someone in my home!* *Oh, let us make a calendar for December so you are in members homes as often as possible during the Chirstmas season!* Isn't that SO sweet!!!
But anyways, Thanksgiving was amazing, and the Larssons are hilarious, and everything was great! Actually, speaking of Thanksgiving, I wrote another poem... (I promise, I do what I'm supposed to do! I don't just sit there writing poems!)
I like to look at stars and wonder what they mean
Perhaps they are the blessings that God has given me
The North star is the gospel, which leads me back to him
The brightest is my family, whose love gives hope again.
There's a star for dreams and wishes, that somehow have come true,
And one's imagination, to help me pull on through.
There are stars for tiny miracles, and simple little things.
The grass and tress and crickets, the poems and books I read.
There's a star for every friendship, written in my heart.
For ears that hear, and eyes that see all life's simple parts.
But even if I do my best, I'll never count the stars,
Nor can I count the blessings that God, to me, imparts.
But it was fun to write, and I hope it makes looking at the stars make you think of A) Me... :D B) All those things you are grateful for! But... then there are so many things to think of when you look at the stars.
I love stars.
Friday... Friday... what happened Friday... Ah, that's right. We went to Lyla's... I think I've mentioned Lyla before. But she left for Brazil yesterday, and she'll be there for many many months... 11 to be exact. So we shant be seeing her again. But we shall be hearing from her because she was very determined that we would be best pen pals forever. Which should be fun. We told her that there were missionaries in Sao Paulo... And then we said that we'd refer her to them. She said that'd be good... and then she told us all of the pranks she could pull on them before they got to know her... They should have a lot of fun with Lyla. Have I mentioned that she owns a crocodile farm? Strange right!
Oh... also on Friday, we were doing bus stop contacting, and Syster Richins and I were talking to two different people. And this happened to Syster Richins. She was talking to someone, and then extended the invitation 'Is this something we could share with you another day when you have time.' The womans answer. 'Yes, I have time tomorrow, do you?' Why yes we did! It was super exciting!
So we met with her on Saturday and her name is Selran. (A has an accent... but I don't know how to put that in in the computer) And she brings one of her daughters with her. And she was just so adorable! She asked if we could teach her how to pray, and she was excited to come to church and she did, and she brought her three daughters and her daughters are absolutely adorable... (And one of them asked me why I couldn't speak normal Swedish... she didn't seem to understand when I told her that I'd only been here for 2 months. Apparently I'm a grown up person and so I should be able to speak the language anyways... She was cute.) And one of the girls (They have names, Emine, Gäze, and Madeline (goes by Maddie) but pronounced the Swedish way) drew me a picture (that was Emine.) (Maddie was the one who asked why I couldn't speak Swedish.)
And Gäze asked me why I was talking to God (she had seen me and Syster Richins say a prayer...) It was so cute, and I told her that God was my Heavenly Father and that I loved him and that was why I talked to him. I asked her if she wanted to learn how to talk to God too... (We were going to teach her mom about prayer.) It was so cute, and I loved it.
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| Selran, Marie Strandberg, Syster Richins, Syster Fawcett, Emine, Gaze, and Madeline |
Oh, I am way ahead of myself. So we had the lesson Saturday night, and then Selran came to church, and then Marie, a member, invited us all over for dinner. And that is where all of that other stuff happened in between eating delectable food and teaching the lesson on prayer. I hope that wasn't too confusing...
But then we went to a concert (It was the first Advent) (The Housing Couple was in Kristianstad and they invited us) and it was so good to be at the concert and to hear beautiful Christmas music, and Syster Richins said it best when she said, 'It's nice to be here and see that there are people here in Sweden that do believe in Christ as our Savior and believe in God.' Because more often than not it feels like everyone we talk to doesn't believe in anything. And that is truly sad to me.
Ah, this week was just really good. Not our average week, but a good one none the less... But who am I kidding, I have no clue what a normal week is like anymore. Every week is good, just in different ways, and no week is really like any of the others. Other than every day is like a week, and the weeks feel like less... And months... I've only been here two, so I really don't know how they work yet.
Something I've been thinking about this week is my Missionary Scripture. If you don't remember that would be Joshua 1:9. You might also remember we used it as a family motto a few years back.
Be strong. There are so many different strengths, physical and emotional. We must endure lengthy trials, and we must be able to press forward when a dozen hit us at once. But I like to think of Mosiah 24: 11-16 I believe, when it speaks of the burdens placed on the people of Alma. And that they were strengthened so that their burdens were easy to bear.
And of a good courage. Bravery, there are all sorts of ways we can be brave, sometimes it takes courage to just say hello to someone, to smile, to volunteer, to serve, to give of ourselves, to put ourselves out there. It takes courage.
Be not afraid. Sometimes I feel like that's impossible, but the Lord knows that fear is something we all face, but, that we need to decide that there is something more important, that doing as he commands and asks is more important than our fear.
Neither be thou dismayed. Bad things happen. Bad things will always happen, we can not let dismay and dissappointment stop us. We must always press onward and forward. We see things from a myopic point of view, we cannot see things from the same eternal perspective as our Heavenly Father.
For the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest. I feel as though there is nothing more I can say to that. What a promise. What a magnificent and wonderful promise. We can count on the Lord.
Strength and courage lies within each of us.
I love you all.
I hope you have a good first week of December.
Love,
Kjanela
No questions this week! (Bizarre!!!)
Courage does not mean you are not afraid, it just means that you have made the judgment that something is more important than your fear.
You are braver than you believe, you are stronger than you seem, and you are smarter than you think.
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