Hello from Sweden!
Well I have arrived. The weather is so awesome here, and so are the people. my first day about three hours after I got off the plane I placed my first Mormons Bok. First President Newel and his wife gave us a tour of Stockholm and then we had a short meeting and then we contacted on the streets of downtown Stockholm. I went with Elder Haddon who has been here for about 8 months, I tried to ask a couple of people at first but they weren't very receptive. In Sweden though if people are not interested they just say no right away or they ignore you completely, so thats nice. I heard that Elder Oberender got yelled at though. anyway as we were walking up the street we saw a girl and her boyfriend who was smoking (everyone smokes here) and I walked up to them and said in Swedish, Excuse me, do you¨believe in God? at first they were a little taken aback so I asked them if they had hear of our church they said that they had not. the girl said that she was a Christian but her boyfriend said that he believed in Christ but not in God. my companion then pretty much took over and talked more to the girl she was really happy when i handed her the book of Mormon and she abruptly gave us both hugs. We talked for a while after that and I explained that it was my first day in Sweden and they could sort of speak English.
After that we got to go to the mission home and Sister Newell took us for a walk by the Baltic sea. it was gorgeous and I took some pictures... remember that I had just gotten off the plane like five hours before so I may look a little tired. Sweden is so green! I feel like we live in a fairy land or something... funny thing though our whole apartment complex is Muslim. so all the people are either Iranian, or really black, and all the women wear berkahs. The mission home was great! their neighborhood is the most expensive neighborhood in Sweden and I saw a few Porches and Ferrari's, and everyone else drives BMW's. the mission home is in lantmannavägen 125.
My first area is called Trollhättan, it is really great and our ward is awesome... mostly older people but there are a few families and there is this little girl I talked too who is six her name is Alice but she pronounces it the Swedish way, I told her that I had a little sister her same age and she thought that was cool. she likes Barbies and her Barbie's name is Rapunzel, I asked her if she had seen Tangled and I think she had. She is really funny and she corrects the missionaries Swedish.
My first area is called Trollhättan, it is really great and our ward is awesome... mostly older people but there are a few families and there is this little girl I talked too who is six her name is Alice but she pronounces it the Swedish way, I told her that I had a little sister her same age and she thought that was cool. she likes Barbies and her Barbie's name is Rapunzel, I asked her if she had seen Tangled and I think she had. She is really funny and she corrects the missionaries Swedish.
My very first lesson we taught an investigator named Hjalmar that has been taking the discussions for 10 years, he was married to his wife two weeks ago though, so now all he has to do is quit snus, he and his wife anna have two boys one of them is 13 and the other is 8 or 9. he was born in Iceland and grew up in Skona so he speaks Skonish, We taught him in English though and he speaks it very well. I think he is pure viking and he has axes and swords on his walls and an extra apartment full of parakeets and other birds. '
The second lesson that I taught was to a Swedish girl named Sanna who is 21 or 22 years old, this was her 4th lesson and we challenged her to be baptized and she said that she would! we set her baptismal date for the 31st of august. She was not able to come to church this week because she is going to Spain for 10 days, but she said that when she gets back she would like to come.
One other lesson we taught was to a less active member named Lennart, I could not understand what he said at all but we challenged him to come to Church and he came yesterday!
I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting and a lot of people said that I spoke Swedish really well. We ate dinner at the Bishops house later that night and she said that the people behind her said "it sounds like he's from Germany" (apparently I still have a strong German accent) funny thing though I have talked to two Germans and I can understand their Swedish the best. This week we also taught the bishops son who is going on a mission to Phoenix Arizona (we help him with his English and he helps with our Swedish) and he said that I sounded Danish, they thought that it was funny that I had Danish ancestry.
My trainer's name is Elder Faylor, he is super great. He really knows how to teach the people here and so I am really happy. we ride the bus alot, and I actually got to take a couple of trains from Stockholm to Trollhättan. The views here are amazing!
Today for P-day we are going to Göteborg for the day I am really excited!
Love you all and I hope you are well,
Hans
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