November 18th, 2013

My Dear Peeps, 

Well this week was good, I got a new companion! I really liked my last one, but Elder Tanner (my new companion) is from my MTC group so it has been super fun. We had a Zone training on Friday, about adjusting to missionary life. I got to see a few people from my district in the MTC and from my group which was really fun. I was sick on Saturday which was not very fun because I had to stay in bed like all day. I still think that I have a cold... so that's been a little rough, but other then that it's been great.

I got to introduce Elder Tanner to Hjalmar this week which was funny... Hjalmar put him on the spot and asked him all sorts of questions. 

Life is good, and the work goes on.

Sincerely 

Äldste Peterson

On P-day we went to a castle and on the way we stopped at this old windmill.

 it was cool

this was the castle

I knocked on the door but no one answered. 

This is a picture of the church in Trollhättan

November 11, 2013

To whom it may concern, and perhaps to some whom it may not concern.  

Well this week was good... and Hjalmar came to church yesterday!!! I am getting a new companion on Wednesday, and I am super excited because he was in the MTC with me. today we went to a castle for P-day which was cool but unfortunately I slipped by the lake and got my shoes and shins wet... so I was freezing for the rest of the day... we didn't get to go in because it was closed but it was cool nonetheless. I find it hard to believe that I am fast approaching my 6 month mark! Time goes by very fast.

On Wednesday I was on splits with Elder Krebs, due to an Elder getting lost on his way to a leadership meeting we had to escort him back to his area in Borås, but on the bright side we placed three Book of Mormons which was really cool.

I am doing great as always!   

Sincerely,

Elder Peterson 

November 1, 2013

Whats up!!!!

Well sorry that this is a little late, we got caught in Göteborg because of a storm on P-day and our trains were canceled. Luckily we had spent the day with the elders from Skövda and there train wasn't canceled, so we took their train with them and then we took a bus from Skövda back to Trollhättan, by the time we got back we had hardly any time. 

This week has been good! I think that it rained every day, and it gets dark at about 4 in the afternoon, which is a little weird. It has also started getting rather cold. So to sum it up it has been cold dark and wet. That's OK though, I have decided to like it. After all I won't have weather like this after my mission.

We have still been meeting with Hjalmar. He didn't make his date to quit snus, but we hope that he will improve in the future.

We had a bunch of dinners with members this week which was super nice!
We also had a Halloween party which we called a "Höst fest" because the Swedish don't rally celebrate Halloween. It was great and Hjalmar came and painted faces. 

I am doing great!

Äldste Peterson   

November 4, 2014

Hey everyone!

Well this week has been good. On Saturday we went to a graveyard for all souls day. There were a ton of candles on the graves and I got some pretty cool pictures. 

I got to go on splits with Elder Marcus, one of our zone leaders, in Utby, it was really fun. 

We have started open church on Wednesday and Friday, we have not had anyone come yet but we are hopeful that there will be visits in the future.

While we were emailing a guy from our ward was at the church and he had his accordion with him, he let me play it! it wasn't pretty but it was a blast, I took a video, but I guess I can't send video over email, so the picture will have to do. Super fun, and I think I want one. haha. 

anyway the rest of the week went well, Hjalmar unfortunately has not quited snus yet, but we are working with him. 

I am doing great, it is still cold, wet and dark.

med kärlek

Äldste Peterson

October 21, 2013

Hey guys!

Apparently I talk in my sleep, in Swedish. Swedish is pretty tough, but I am getting the hang of understanding most things now which is great. I think back to when I first got here and I can hardly believe the progress that I have made. It has been a little hard not being able to communicate as well as I would like to though. 

The work here is going ok, it is a bit slow but we just keep plugging away. This week went pretty well though, we met with Hjalmar twice and he is still trying to stop snus, he expressed to us how hard it was and I do not envy him... at least he is trying. We played Innebandy on Saturday with some of the youth from our ward which was fun, and after we went to a less active from our ward who's name is Hernan Medinez. Hernan is originally from Chille and he used to own a restaurant in Spain ( his food is really good), he invited us to come over some time next week for food, so I am excited for that. 

We had a funny experience coming home a few days ago... we were walking towards the bus and as we got on a Muslim man started talking to us. He was well past being drunk, and he had a bag full of beer cans, some full and some empty. On the ride home he talked to us the whole way. He turned out to be a Somalian and according to him he could tell the future, so he told us that I would become the Governor of Wyoming, and that I was more of a leader. He said that my companion would be a business man, and he said that he would become the president of Somalia. It's always interesting talking to drunk people because they say the weirdest things. I am sad that so many people turn to alcohol to numb their problems. 

I am doing great and I love hearing from you all... Brother Card, Bjorn Anderson is in my ward, he served his mission in Ireland as well and he said that he knew you and Sister Card when he was their. What a small world it is. 

Med Kärlek,

Hans  

well the internet is back up and running, so here are the pictures. This is my new companion and me.

for stake conference we went to this cool place in Gothenborg. Justin Timberlake is going to play here in a few weeks.

Lennart took this picture of me and Elder Tietjen.

this is me and Lennart, the man that we reactivated.

foggy night, walking the streets of Trollhättan.

so today me and Elder Tietjen were in uddevalla and while we waited for the bus back to Trollhättan we took pictures with this guy.

October 15, 2013

Hey

Well I will have to make it a little short this week because the internet didn't work at the church yesterday so we got library cards and we can only email for an hour.

This week was great as always. we had Stake conference, and Zone Training, both were great. but we ended up haveing to travel to Gothenburg three days in a row. I will have to send pictures next week because I can't here at the library. We taught Hjalmar this week and it went great! He is down to three pinches a day this week and if he keeps it up, he is on track to quit by the 31st which has been our goal for a few months now. My new companion is great, he loves to talk so we talk a lot. I saw Elder Trotter, from my MTC group in Zone training and it was fun to catch up with him. I will have to wrap it up now, but in a few words, This week was good, and I am doing fine. 

Kram,

Äldste Peterson 

October 7, 2013

Hey,

Well this week was a roller coaster ride, I got a new companion and so on Tuesday, Elder Faylor my last companion said goodbye to a lot of members and less actives that we have visited. My new companion is Elder Titjen and is from St. George, he's a really cool guy, and we have been getting along well. We got a baptismal date with Hjalmar! We went over to Hjalmar and Anna's apartment on friday so that he could meet Elder Titjen, and we read with him the definition of baptism in the Bible dictionary. I asked him how much time he thought that he needed before he got baptized and he said that he wanted to be snus free for at least a month. I told him that November 30th was great and that it would work well as it is a saturday, I am really excited for him and I really hope that he is able to quit snus. Pray for Hjalmar that he will be able to have the strength to resist the temptation of snus and that he will be able to have the will to choose the right.

On P-day last week we went to Göteborg and took an elevator up to a high part of a building, I got a cool picture of the city.

The weather here is getting consistently colder, but it is still a beautiful part of the world to live in. I am loving it here in Sweden and I hope that everything is going well back home! 

Love,

Hans

here is the picture of Göteborg

September 30, 2013

Hey Everyone,

Well this week was great, we were able to teach 22 lessons! On P-day we went to Goteborg and just walked around the shops, it was pretty warm out which was really nice. The weather is growing colder and fall is definitely here. It is normally about 5 degrees centigrade when I get up at 6:30. But it usually warms up to about 14 during the day. I cut my hair again, it is pretty short so that I won't have to cut it for a while. 

We got to teach the restoration in English to a 22 year old. We talked to his Mom on the street and she asked us to come and visit him (she is Christian) she is from Syria and has lived in Sweden for 20 plus years. It was a really cool lesson and we gave him a Book of Mormon. 

Also I am getting a new companion this week, I am excited for a change. I did enjoy my trainer Elder Faylor though. I am interested to see how it will be different.

We also were able to teach Selim (the guy from Kosovo) again, and we gave his wife a Book of Mormon in Albanian and it was super funny because she pretty much only speaks Albanian. She seemed really positive though and I told her to read Alma chapter 32 for next time. So I hope that goes well. On Saturday we played Innebandy which was really fun, and afterwards on the way home we walked a members dogs. I got pictures of the walk. Then we showed the Restoration the long version to Hjalmar and Anna, we are still trying to get them to stop snus. The video was really good and I think that it helped them towards baptism. Anyways the work is good and I am very happy to be able to serve the Lord here in Sweden.

Love you all, I hope everything is well back home

Äldste Peterson

 so on P-day we went by this old church... pretty cool.

walking Bell and Balou

I cut my hair... nice and short.

this was a picture of my zone as of a few weeks ago

September 23, 2013

Hello from Trollhättan,

Well this week was good. We helped a less active in our ward paint some of her furniture, it was pretty fun, but it has started to rain a lot more and the weather is getting chilly.
 last P-day I bought a coat (due to the cold) and at the same time I bought a back pack because my shoulder has been hurting from my shoulder bag, I am happy to report that my shoulder doesn't hurt anymore.

That was pretty much all we got to do on P-day, but it was enjoyable. It rained pretty much all day really hard. 

On Thursday we got to do splits with Skövde, it was really fun. We visited a less active in Uddevalla called Hernan, he is from Chille, it was a good lesson and at the end we gave him a blessing. After we got back to Trollhättan we visited Lennart, who as ofthis Sunday is now active again!, The lesson with him was good as always. The next day we had lunch with the Sisters at the Church and then had a sacrament meeting with a lady in our ward who cannot be around very many people because of germs or something. Then we took the 2 hour bus ride back to Skövde and I rejoined my companion, and then we took the 2 hour bus ride back to Trollhättan. I am a little sick of buses, because we ride them at least 5 times a day, but I am glad that we don't have to walk everywhere which would be rough. 

On Saturday we had a ward clean up day, where we did yard work around the church, it was a pretty nice day so I had a good time. 

Also we finally met with Petronella after a month of trying, it went well, and I really hope that she will get baptized. We had an appointment with Sanne yesterday, but she stood us up again, we will hopefully meet with her this coming week. 

Other than that I am doing great.

Love,

Äldste Peterson      

September 17, 2013

HEY!!!!! 

This last week we did a lot of traveling. 

On Monday for P-day we went to Göteborg as usual and ended up hiking up this really cool staircase that led up to a castle type tower type thing, I took pictures, It was also really cool because we were overlooking the whole city. We also met two Americans! I didn't think it would be so weird to hear their accents, but it was. It was also super nice to speak American English to someone other that my companion or other missionaries. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were just normal days with a few lessons and then on Thursday, we went to Köevda for district meeting, it was a 2 hour bus ride there and 2 hours back. District meeting was really good though, and afterward we went to a Chinese buffet for lunch, it was really good sushi, and when I got up to ask for more water, I got complimented on my Swedish, the guy couldn't believe I had only been here for two months, and he had no idea where Wyoming was even after I explained it to him... although I have only met one person so far who knew where is was so that wasn't really a surprise. the day after, Friday, we had an appointment with Detlef a German guy in our ward who lives on the island called Orust, which is about a 3 and a half hour bus ride from Trollhättan. We went with the plan to visit less actives around where he lives by bike. It was super cool, he reminds me a lot of brother Card, because he makes instruments, he showed us three cellos that he made and I don't even know how many violins and violas, he also makes and repairs classical guitars, book binds and oil paints, and his house here in Sweden was pretty much just a studio to do all of these things. We went to the members house on bikes and I felt like I was in the sound of music, riding through Swedish countryside. The member that we visited was a very old lady, I felt really bad for her because her house was absolutely disgusting and she had no idea. We sang a few hymns for her and taught her a lesson which was a great experience. After we left and were getting on our bikes to ride back the way we had come, Detlef asked us if it was alright that we took a dirt trail into the forest, we of course said yes and about 20 minutes later my companion asked him if he had ever been that way before, he said " oh nej, men jag älskar adveture" which means no, but I love adventure. I was thrilled it had been a while since I had been on a bike and riding through forest trails in Sweden seemed like a fine way to build our relationship with this member so we followed him. It was really fun, he took us to this lake and then more forest trails as we made our way back to his house. when we got back he fed us soup which was made out of pumpkins and ginger from his own garden. We then taught him a lesson and he practiced his talk with us that he was going to give in sacrament meeting. Then we walked back to the bus stop and rode the three hours home. however the day was not over yet, because the Zone leaders wanted to go on companion exchanges with us, so after we got back we went and got my companions clothes for the next day and took a train to Göteborg. We switched companions and then while I was waiting for the next train back to Trollhättan with Elder Lawrence a man walked up to us and started speaking English, it turned out that he was from Palestine, and that he had been a member but that he had stopped going to church because of conflicts with some members but that a few days earlier he had met some other missionaries and he promised them that he was going to go to church on Sunday. He was really nice and we talked for about 40 minutes about strengthening faith. Splits the next day was nice.

On Sunday we had a really cool experience, we got to sing as a zone in an open fireside about Christ. It was super good, a few missionaries played violin, sang and played piano. There was also an organ solo and the bishop of Västrafrolunda ward played a children's hymn on his guitar and sang with it. The whole evening was great and afterward we got to talk to the people that were there as we all had refreshments, it was super fun and I could tell that the spirit was there.

anyway I am doing great, love you all and keep being awesome

Äldste Peterson 

This was on P-day in Göteborg overlooking the city.

           

this was what the tower\castle thing looked like

 This was the lake that we rode by with Detlef... he made us wear the orange vests... and those are the bikes

this was when we were riding through the forest...

we passed a bunch of cows... it reminded me of home.

This was taken earlier in the week in Trollhättan when we were on our way to Overby to get lights for our apartment. There are a lot of trees in Sweden.

September 9th, 2013

Hey!

Well this week went well. It was my companions 21st birthday on Wednesday and a couple of youth from our ward invited us to come over and play risk with them. It was really fun and I think it was the first time that I have won at risk, I will say though it was interesting to play in Swedish. Right after we went to a besoks kvällen which is basically when we visit less actives from our ward with some of the members, it was a great experience, I went with our ward mission leader and we visited an older lady. We talked a little bit about how it is important to have faith and to always pray, I think that it helped her a lot and she was very thankful that we had come. Her son who was just 50 died last month and he lived in Germany so they did not have a bunch of contact. That was hard for her but she said something about being glad that she would be able to meet him again soon (this was all in Swedish so it was a little hard to follow at times). Overall it was a great experience though.

We had Zone training this week on Thursday which was great, we went to Göteborg and after the training we went out to kebab for lunch, it was a good meeting, and also good kebab. 

Later that day we helped a lady from our ward pick up a coffee table, which was good, and after wards she wanted to take us out to kebab. We graciously declined saying that we were full so she said that she could take us next week. right outside of her apartment I saw a super cool little motorcycle and took a picture of it see below... and it was a mustang, haha

We visited Hjalmar and Anna again this week and they were talking about getting a divorce, not because they don't love each other, but because when they got married they stopped getting some money from the government. We taught them about how Satan works harder on us when we do good things and I think that it went well because after teaching Hjalmar said, "were not going to get a divorce, because we are not going to let Satan win" lessons with them are always interesting.

On Saturday we played Innebundy in the morning at the church, it was really fun, it is basically like hockey, but no skates. We also swung by a lady's house who we met the day before, her name is Maria, and she is from Syria, but she has lived here for 20 years, she said that she was Christian, and she wanted us to teach her 21 year old son. 

On Sunday we had a really cool experience. So a couple of weeks ago we met a bus driver who asked us what it was that we did, because he saw us around all the time and we were always taking buses, we told him that we were missionaries for our church, and that we were from America. When he found out we were from America he was super excited, he said that he loved America, and that he even had an American flag in his apt. we met him a few more times, we gave him our number and we told him to call us. On Sunday he called us and said that he did not have to work today so we should come over to his house. We met him at 6pm, and he even picked us up. He came with his girlfriend or wife (they have been together for five years) and drove us to his apt. It was super cool, he and his wife are from Kostovo and they love America. we ended up being able to teach them the restoration and part of the plan of salvation. It was super cool because they had a muslim background and so we even taught them about Christ. we left them a Book of Mormon in Swedish, but we are going to get them one in Albanian, because his wife speaks only a little Swedish. 

anyways that's pretty much it but I hope you all are well.

Med Kärlek

Äldste Peterson  

here is the cool little motorcycle.

here is the couple from Kosovo that love America. She fed us so much!

        

September 2nd, 2013

Hey Everyone!

Well this week was good. We saw Sanne!!! It was actually a pretty cool experience, because first we lost our phone in  Göteburg (we got it back the next day though) which made us miss the train, which made us an hour late, so we had to cancel FHE. all of these things that we though were pretty annoying seems like they happened for a reason because on the last bus we got on to go home we saw Sanne. She said "hey" and we sat by her and talked to her for a bit, it turns out that her phone is broken and she is getting it repaired which is why we haven't been able to contact her. the Lord really does work in mysterious ways. 

Anyway let me just go through the highlights of the week:

Tuesday, We went to Udevalla and met with a less active for lunch, it was super cool because we went to a sushi restaurant, first sushi in Sweden (it was ok). We have been trying to help her get active in the church and she couldn't come this last week because she was going on vacation, but we have strong hopes that she will come to church this Sunday.

Wednesday: I think that one of the funniest things that i have experienced on my mission is interacting with small Swedish children, we went to the Svensons for dinner and they have three small children. It was so funny because they only know a few English words such as "bear", or "lion" just simple words, but it was really funny to try and talk with them because they are just so cute.

Thursday: We have two new elders and a new sister in our district, so district meeting was even more fun than normal, and we ate at Fontana again which was great. Elder Farley, Elder Olsen and sister Willhite are the new peoples names.

Friday: Our ward had a music night on Saturday which was awesome, but we handed out flyer's the night before just the neighborhood around the church... the funniest door we knocked on was actually one that we didn't. We walked up to it planning on knocking on it and just as we were about to it opened and a middle aged man marched out in his shirt and underwear... we told him who we were and we invited him to the music night, this was all as he went to his car and got his pants, so we just followed him around, as he got his pants he asked "vad har du för budskap" which means what do you have for a message... he had a really strong accent, I think that was was Irish, but it made it really hard to understand him. anyway we followed him back to his house, we just stood at the door, and were talking to him as he was putting on his pants. He asked things like... "so you guys can't get blood transfusions right? oh wait not that is the Jehova's witnesses" or "so you guys have a lot of wives?" It was an interesting discussion and at the end he said "well I need to go and drink some spirit, do you guys drink spirit?" we said no and then we bid him farewell and he got in his car and drove away, and we kept knocking on doors. It was actually a really funny experience.

on Saturday we played soccer with the youth, went to a baptism in Kunsbaka, and finished off the day by going to the music night that our ward held. Unfortunately none of the people we invited came, but there were still a lot of people there.

anyway I love you all and I hope that you are well,

Med Kärlek

Äldste Peterson 

August 26th, 2013

Hey Everyone!

This week was pretty good. We taught Hjalmar and Anna twice and the first lesson was on baptism and why we as missionaries focus so much on that. It went really well and at the end we gave Anna a blessing. Also Hjalmar has been making huge leaps in quitting snus, he went a whole day with only taking one pinch! He says that he is in constant withdrawal and that it is really hard, because he sweats and shakes. Dad, could you sent me reasons why tobacco is bad for your mouth, because Hjalmar is convinced that it fights cavities and is only bad for your gums.

We got to eat at a few members houses this week again. we went to Lil Forsberry who is the sweet old lady that fed us the american pancakes last week. She is so funny, this week she had us come over at 1:00 and she fed us a fish soup, it was good, and for dessert she fed us apple pie. She is such a nice lady.

We were also treated to a dinner by a Less active from our ward. He is from Chile and used to have a restaurant there so it was really good. We went with the sisters, and we actually have a new sister named Sister Varrola, she is from Finland. 

Sanne has not contacted us and she does not respond to our texts or our calls. That has been sad to see, but we are still hoping. Her best friend Petronella talks to us and we are planning to meet her next week, so we hope that will be a chance to talk to Sanne as well.

last P-day we played Vollleyball with a bunch of missionaries and some investigators, it was really fun.

This P-day we went to Göteburg on the coast and took a boat out to these cool islands.

 It is crazy how good the public transportation here is... the boat we went on today is basically like a bus and we just used our bus passes to get on. We climbed up this mountain on the island and I took some pictures.

I hope you are all well,

Elder Peterson  

This was before we took the boat to the island at the docks in Göteburg.

I thought that these docks and all the boats were so cool. 

This was at the island.

This was the view when we got to the top of the mountain.

more of the view.

here is a picture of us grilling meat at a members house

this was our zone a few weeks ago

it was raining when we were grilling... this was a few weeks ago I just now got these pictures from my comp

this was also a while ago when we washed a members car for her.

This was the P day that we stayed in Trollhättan... we were picking raspberries

August 19th, 2013

Hello Everyone!

Well this week was good. On P-day we played mini golf in Göteborg, it was really fun, I got a hole in one (pretty sweet rhyming right there, but no, I really did, haha). We also went to the same pizza place as last week and I got the same thing, but, it was not raining (so we ate outside) and I got a picture of the pizza. 

We also got to go to a lunch this week at an older Swedish ladies house. She is so funny, she made us "american pancakes" which turned out to look more like rolls, and for efterrätt (dessert) we ate an interesting Swedish dish, pretty much like yogurt and strawberries, like I said, it was interesting.

Well I think that we kind of scared Sanne a little bit with the law of chastity, because we have not been able to contact her this week, and because she didn't come to church this week we are going to have to move her baptismal date back... bummer, but we did talk to her friend Petronella who we are meeting this week and she said that there was no problem with Sanne, she was just busylast week. So we're crossing our fingers. 

We are still visiting with Hjalmar and Anna, lessons there are always interesting. I think that this week though we are going to focus on getting a baptismal date for Hjalmar to work towards, obviously pretty far in the future because he needs to first quit snus. A really funny thing about Hjalmar that I found out about this week is that he has hometeachers, an investigator with hometeachers, crazy stuff. He is practically a less active. 

last week I forgot to write something funny that the bishops wife said when we were visiting them (I think that one of her hobbies is to come up with ways of nicely saying that people are not all there because she has alot, this one was particularly funny) she said "the wheel is spinning, but the hamster is dead". 

Anyway I am doing really well as always and I really enjoyed the letters that I received this week, thank you so much. I realize that it costs more to send things to Europe though so if you want, feel free to email me at hans.peterson@myldsmail.net I really enjoy getting mail. 

med kärlek,

Hans  

Here is my district, still happy even after we got stood up.     

Remember how I said that we lived in Iran... well this is the nameplate of the person that lives right below our apartment. Cool neighbors right?

So this is the coveted kebab... seriously soooooo good. Go district meeting lunch!

Last P-day on the way to the church my companion got a flat tire, so we walked them home... at least it didn't rain. I think we literally walked over ten miles that day.

This is a picture of the mini golf course that we hit up on P-day... super fun, hole in one. haha

Me. golfing like a champ.

August 12th, 2013

Hey Everyone,

Well this week was great. We received two new investigators this week, both of them are older ladies. Rachel, who used to be a member, was really nice and fed us pineapple pie which actually tasted pretty good. She was really cool, it was hard to talk about the gospel, partly because it was all in Swedish and partly because she is really good at answering without really answering, and she likes to talk, she told us about when she went to Tonga which was pretty cool.  

  We are still working with Hjalmar and Anna, but it is difficult because I think that they both have ADHD to the max, so it has been really difficult to keep them on topic, Anna has been sitting in on the lessons though so that is good.

 Thursday was District meeting, and for lunch afterwards we went to this cool Kebab restaurant near the church, it was raining so we used umbrellas and walked there which was fun. Kebab is really good, basically it's just pizza, but the crust is thinner and the toppings are more diverse. 

Rain was a recuring theme this week but I think that I recognized it the most on Saturday when we were stopping by less actives all day... I definitely used my umbrella. 

On P-day we went to Göteburg and climbed Utby mountain which was really fun but it is more like a hill, or a large rock... I bought a pair of clippers, and gave myself a haircut which was cool, and I was glad that the Swedish style is pretty simple to cut. 

anyways I am doing great. I hope that everything back home is going well. 

Love,

Hans

August 5th, 2013

Hey Everyone!

It is so great to hear from you and it sounds like you had a very full week. 

Well this week was great, as always. For P-day we just stayed here in Trollhättan which was actually kind of nice. On Tuesday we had a Zone Conference which was great! President Newell and his wife came which was good. It was a really inspiring meeting and I think that it motivated all of us missionaries. 

This week I got to go on splits with one of our zone leaders, Elder Carpenter forThursday and Friday morning, we had a great day and ended up teaching a lot. One of the teaches was quite interesting. So last week Elder Carpenter and his companion were on a bus trying to contact someone (who was not interested) when a German guy asked them "hey are you guys from the states?" the responded yes and then they started talking to him, eventually he said "hey you guys should come to this grill (BBQ) I'm having at my house on Thusrday night." so they accepted and they got his number. On Wed he texted them and told them "just bring your own meat to grill and some chips, but don't worry about drinks I have plenty of German beer" so we brought our own drinks haha. 

When we got there there were a bunch of people. We sat by Henrike (the German guy) and one of his friends who was Swedish. We actually had a good discussion with them about the church and it was funny because the Swedish guy looked just like Bruce Wayne.

 After the grill we went to a less active lady's house, because she wanted a blessing. She is very English and like Elder Carpenter said "she is basically a nice version of Beautrix Lestrange from Harry Potter" he was "spot on". We talked with her for a while and then we gave her a blessing of healing (she is struggling with addiction to prescription drugs). The blessing was very nice, and she said that she felt comforted right away.

anyway we are still working with Sanne who is back from Spain and her friend Petronella who is also back from Spain. While I was on splits my companion taught Sanne the word of wisdom, she said that it seemed logical and that she would live it.

Hjalmar and Anna are still using snus but Hjalmar said that the scriptures we send him everyday have been helping.

Also this week I was excited to find out that missionaries in our mission are allowed to have guitars! I actually got to play a very nice 12 string guitar in a music store last week when Elder Carpenter was buying a harmonica, the guitar sounded great, the harmonica... not so much. The 12 string was 1200 SEK though which is around 200 dollars, I don't know if I will buy one or just find one that has been left by another elder (which happens a lot but they are not usually in great shape) either way I have a lot of time to choose.     

Anyway I am doing well and I hope that everyone else is also well. I love getting letters from people so keep them coming!

Love, 

Äldste Peterson

July 29th, 2013

Hey Mom 

I don't think that I am allowed to go onto blogs, but if you could send me the letter that would be great. Proverbs 31 is a super good chapter, and it made me think of you. I am so glad that you and Dad are always trying to do the right things. I have been realizing more and more what a blessing it was for me to be raised by you.

This week was great! We are still teaching Hjalmar and Anna, we are really trying to get Anna to participate in the lessons but it has been a little hard. We set a date for Hjalmar to quit snus and we have been trying to get Anna to want to quit suns, but as of yet she does not.

Also Sanne who has a baptismal date for the 31st of August is back from Spain and she sent us a text asking when we could meet, so we will be meeting her on Wednesday. I am excited to see how she is doing, while she was in Spain she texted us and said that she brought her Book of Mormon with her to read on the beach and that she was praying every night and morning. It has been great to see the progress that she has made, she seems like she has more of a light in her eyes every time we meet.

An interesting experience we had, yesterday on the way home from church the bus driver turned around and asked us, "what do you guys think about all the confusion of all these religions and all the wars and things" so we taught him about the restoration and the great apostasy, he said that he was born a Hindu in Africa and learned English there, he also said that he was confused by all the different churches because they all taught a lot of the same things but then there were all these wars and bad things that happen because of them. He said that he tries to be open to all sorts of different beliefs. It was a great discussion and we gave him a Book of Mormon and a card. He said that he was interested and that if he had any questions he would give us a call. That was a cool experience, and I hope that he calls us.
  

I have noticed a little bit of improvement in the language, it is coming slowly but surely. This week we went on splits with a couple of the members from our ward... and no one we visited or the guy that I went with could speak any English, so that was fun. The scriptures are really great to have and they help a ton when it's hard to understand people. One of the people we visited while I was on splits was a man named Lennart who is a less active from our ward he is about 70 or 80 and has some interesting ideas. One of which is that he thinks he is Jesus, and that one of his friends who he showed us a picture of in one of his scrapbooks is John the baptist. He is very hard to understand because of his dentures which are not very well made, but we have been meeting with him at least once every week and he has come to sacrament meeting every week I have been here.

I also found out this week that great grandma Edla Peterson was born in Karlskrona somewhere... which is down in the very south right part of Sweden. I thought that was cool.

anyway I love you all and I hope that you are doing well!

Hans      

Here is a slug that was on a path... yesterday I saw like a hundred of them I think that it is because of the rain.

Here is a picture of a tie that I got for 4 bucks and I am standing on a massive rock.

seriously massive rock...

We trackted all of these houses and we even placed a card with a guy and talked with him for about 20 minutes about the Church. we offered him a Mormons Bok but he didn't take it. He did say that we could stop by again if we wanted to though.

some pictures of a forest right by the houses that we trackted in the picture above.

This was in the same forest. they are just some cool stone stairs, and my only other Swedish tie, now I have 3.

This is a stone bridge in the same forest.