Hey Family!!!
I thought I'd let you know that the moment I read your news I freaked out and started laughing I was so happy for you! I'm also super Jealous... :D But maybe will be able to do something the summer I get home... Haha, No, I am SO excited for you! That's so much fun! I love the Nauvoo Pageant! I'm so so Happy for you! And I'm glad that you are so excited about it Mom, I hope everyone else is as excited as you. (Will it just be you, or will Tannen be coming with, or Caris and Scott's family, who all is going?)
I had a thought for Dad, there are two quotes that I absolutely love about Butterflies.
Quote 1: Just when the Caterpillar thought it's life was over it became a butterfly.
Quote 2: 'How does one become a butterfly?' 'You must want to fly so much that you must be willing to give up being a caterpillar.'
I actually wrote a story about butterflies, and I can't wait to hear your story about butterflies!
Haha, I can understand your joy at having a dishwasher, I imagine it must be nice... I'm currently my own dishwasher. :D But it doesn't take me that long to wash the dishes, we only have two people to clean up after!
The pain you asked about was in my lower back and then I was cramping in my waist. But it's all good now, I have been very healthy this week!! And I plan on staying that way! I'm glad Dad was there to help you get to bed, I hope that you stay healthy! All of you!
I don't know, I think a Harry Potter Marathon would be fun... :D But then you already knew that didn't you?
Oh, and I'm hurt that you doubt my skill with the darts. Actually no, I was in shock too that I did that!
Ahh, but on to my week. My week was VERY good.
It of course started on Tuesday. And we spent most of the day in Hässleholm... Where people seemed to be in a weird mood and liked to tell us strange things. One of our investigators started telling us about how people were listening into our conversations on the phone and that pretty much none of us were safe. (He was also the one who tried to convince us that drinking beer would help us live longer.) Ahh, the fun things you hear.
But... we were calling people on our phone to try and set up times to meet and I called someone and she said she needed help and I said, of course if it was possible, but then she started talking about cats and cars and I was so confused and started doubting my Swedish understanding so I put the phone on Speaker Phone and we said we'd find a way to help her (this was last week) so this week on Tuesday we called her to let her know how we could help. And she starts talking about we can help her move twelve hours away. And we're like... eh... no... actually, we can't, that's against the rule. And then she wanted us to buy her a moving truck, and then a train ticket, and a lot of other things, but... well, we can't so we said we could come and help her pack though. And we set up a time, and then arranged for the Elders to come with... we were a little unsure about things. And we call her on Thusday and she says 'Yes, of course, call me back in ten minutes though.' And we try to call her back several times, and we get on the train to go to her house when she finally answers the phone again and says that she's actually in the hospital, but maybe we can come again another day... We'll try to see what we can do. But it was hectic and chaotic and really funny actually... But we were already on the train and so we had to get off and then wait for another train headed back... but it wasn't a super popular train area so it took a while. It was interesting. We bought lemons to make the lemon squares with though.
:D more about that later though.
Anyways, Tuesday night I left Kristianstad for Lund! (Not permanently) we were just on splits, and I stayed with Syster Haynes. It was my first time leaving my area and doing missionary work in a place outside of Kristianstad area. It was super exciting. Wednesday morning we went for a run around Malmö for morning exercise, it was so much fun and I really loved it. It was a good morning exercise. So on Wednesday I met with several people, and had some really good lessons. One in particular was with a woman named Nila, the woman has such a sweet heart, but she's been going through such a hard time. And we just talked about how there is nothing on this earth that can take us a way from God's love. His love is infinite and eternal and it can reach us at all times. It was so heartbreaking to talk to her, she told us she honestly felt as though some of the things she had done had made it impossible for the Lord to love her. But I hope near the end that she felt more at peace.
We also taught someone named Ruben, his brother was baptized the Sunday before, and Ruben wants to be baptized, but... he's a little unsure right now. But he's super fun. I actually also saw him on Saturday... but we'll get there in a minute. But Ruben
Back to Lund, we taught a guy named Olaf. But... before that we were waiting for him in the Library and this woman came up to us and said 'Can you hold my baby' and then put the baby on my lap before we could really respond. But she had to get her other children ready to go and couldn't handle all of them at the same time. I was a little surprised though, that SO is not a Swedish thing to do! They don't like asking people for help and they are very reserved people. I'll be honest, I was super excited about it. I LOVE children. And the baby was so cute and was just smiling the whole time, and I was so happy. So I enjoyed holding a baby for 5 minutes. :D
And then we taught Olaf... Who I got the feeling is more interested in converting us than what we were teaching. But... I don't know. It was still very interesting. And he just kept... I don't even know how to explain that teach. But it was definitely interesting, but he does have pretty strong faith, which is always good to see her in Sweden. So I am happy about that.
Oh, we also had a very interesting contact... Very intresting, he believes in the old Viking Gods... He showed us a necklace that he says is a sign that he's one of the believers. It was interesting.
But anyways, we got back to Kristianstad wednesday night.
And I already told you a little bit about Thursday. That was the day of the exciting trip to go serve that ended up not happening. But we also went and got Gelato for Syster Lowe's year mark. It was very tasty as I'm sure you can imagine. And then also that night Isam surprised Syster Lowe with pictures and cake and dinner. It was super nice of him. Syster Lowe really appreciated it.
On Friday we had District Meeting, and we were going to have interviews with President after... but then he had to cancel because... well, he's super busy. And then... Oh yes, I forgot to mention it. Thursday night I got a call... from our Branch President. In which I learned that apparently he didn't know my name, he thought I was Syster Merrill. (This week several people mentioned something of the sort, so apparently people don't actually know who I am, and that is super frustrating, because I'm trying to talk to people and what not, but apparently I'm failing at that. Now they know who I am.... I hope. Anyways, so when he called he asked me to give a talk on Sunday. Which is all good, I can do that, but I didn't have much prep time, I was busy all the rest of that night and then on Friday I had very little time and I spent all of my spare time on Friday writing the English version of my talk, but then I had that written, but I was a little stressed becaus it takes a while to translate it into Swedish and I only had Saturday and alot of that time was already busy with other things. Stress... Anyways. back to Friday, we had a lesson with Henric, and that was really good, he was willing to try and stop Snusing and also live the law of chastity. And then we had a fireside with President Newell in which he talked about how the gospel can bless families. It was really good. And we provided Lemon Squares... which were DELICIOUS! (So thanks Mom for sending that recipe.. We also gave the Newell's some home made bread, just to show them our appreciation.Ii LOVE the cereal bread. it's super yummy. I think that the Newell's appreciated it. And then Sunday we had a family History day which was super super good.I learned some, and one of our Neighbors came for it and she super super enjoyed it, for which I was super glad. I'm always nervous that people will ahve a bad experience and that that will ruin things for them. But I think she had a good experience with it. But I also had my interview with President, we had a companionship interview and then Syster Lowe had an interview, and then President asked us to drive and pick up his wife at the hotel. So Syster Lowe drove (which is definitely the smart thing to do, A) I have no license, B) I would be a terror on the roads... As I'm sure you'd all agree.)
But then... we had to clean the church which was just super super muddy. (Lots of people had been in the church the past two days and lots of mud had been tracked in.) And we had a lesson planned and prepared so we were waiting for that, and then they ended up cancelling. So we decided to head home and I would work on Translating my talk into Swedish. But someone needed our help with something, and we were trying to figure out how to help them and all of this, and they got frustrated with me because I was worried about my talk and they sort of got mad and said 'Why haven't you finished this already, it's super irresponsible of you.' And I felt bad, I'd been trying to do my best to do everything that everyone needed me to do, but I just felt stretched really thin. But we were able to help them with what they needed, and then the Elders came to my rescue and Elder Maness helped me translate my talk. And I learned a lot of Swedish in the progress, which was really good for me. It was actually a pretty effective Språk study.
The next day I felt super nervous. As I'm sure you know. But my talk went well. And people were impressed with my Swedish, I told them that Elder Maness helped me, my Swedish isn't that good!
But yesterday was good, we had French Toast for dinner... I love having breakfast for dinner. :D
And then... I left my bag in the church... and the PHONE was in my bag. So we get home and we're like, oh, yeah... um... that's not good. But we were pretty sure the Elders were still at the church so we went to our Neighbor and asked to borrow his phone, and we called the Elders and they said they could bring us my bag. So they bring the bag, but they had gotten into the bag and taken the phone out because they thought that someone had been calling. So they accidentally put it into one of their pockets. So we got my bag back... but not the phone.
So I kept waking up last night because I couldn't figure out how to get my alarm to work again and the phone wasn't there to wake us up... It was an interesting night, but it was really funny. I just ended up laughing and laughing. The Elders showed up at our doorstep this morning with the phone. It was... just really funny.
But we now have our phone, my bag, and my planner has been written in by the Elders. Surprise surprise... Not really. :D
Anyways, I had a good week. Only a little stressful. :D But a little stress means that you're alive. :D Right?
Anyways,
For my talk this week the Branch President asked me to talk about why I decided to come out here on a mission, and then what I had learned since I'd come out. It was interesting for me. I had to remember why I came out. I remembered how hard that time was for me, the decision process, how afraid I was, my indecision, Dad's request for me to REALLY pray about it. I remember finally deciding, I remember why. And how it came down to the simple truths, the question 'Heavenly Father, are you really there.' 'Pray... he is there. Speak, he is listening.' And I've learned alot while I've been on my mission. And I'm going to keep learning so much.
But,
I love you all loads! And...
Questions...
I had several but I forgot to write them down and so now they've been forgotten... I hate it when that happens.
1. So the Jews weren't allowed to eat certain meats... when did that change, well, not for the Jews, but Christ was a Jew, when did the pig thing change for Christians?
2. Hmm... Another question... Nope. None. I'm sorry. :( I like sending questions, but I just don't have any I can think of.
Pictures... In Lund-The Dome Church
2. My 'drawing' Yeah... I know, I'm skilled.
3. I enjoy decorating my planner. That's my quote for the month.
4. My other drawing... except not, I traced it. :D
Next week I'll make sure there are actual pictures... of well, more things. I got so used to not taking pictures that sometimes I forget that I CAN! So... I'll be BETTER promise.
Alright,
So, I do believe that that is all for today... And therefore for this week, and therefore for this month. As January is coming to a close, so enjoy the rest of your January!
Lots of Love!
Syster Fawcett
When everything feels like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.
Some of the secret joys of life are not found in rushing from point A to point B, but by inventing some imaginary letters along the way.
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