I Need Letters and Pictures !!

Hej Familj!!!

Wow!! It was REALLY awesome to get that massive e-mail!! It definitely made my day to hear from you all. Thank you soooo much! So, first things first. Sandra is progressing very fast towards baptism!! She is really a valiant Spirit! As for her children, not so much. Because she just broke off her Sambo (the man she was living with) he now hates the Church. So, trying to ask him for permission to have the children be baptized will be hard. Most likely it won't happen when I am here in Växjö. :( I know sad.. but hey! Here is some recent good news! We have an investigator that I had never met until yesterday. We were planning to teach him about the Plan of Salvation because his father just passed away from an unexpected heart attack. So during our planning for him I got this really strong impression to challenge him to baptism. So we talked about it, and felt that it was best to follow the prompting. So, his name is Tony. He is from Iraq. Yeah, I know.... Iraq?? But it was really really cool. He told us alot about Iraq, and about how hard life is there right now. I was nervous but I got over my nerves and things went very well. We were able to teach and feel the Spirit very strongly. We had a main focus on the atonement and it was very powerful. At the end we challenged him and he accepted!!! He is very excited about the idea, and his date is set for the 3rd of July... Hopefully we can teach him all he needs to know by that time! We invited him to Church and also to Sandra's baptism so he can see one before his. Hopefully all goes well with Tony! The Lord is truly blessing the work in Sweden right now. Our zone, the Malmö zone, is doing wonders and every week there are success stories! As for the language... It is tough!! haha thats about it! i am trying really hard. Its like learning math, but I actually WANT to learn it!! haha It is sooo crazy to hear little children talk in Swedish and Arabic.. I am really jealous of their knowledge! lol :) I get quite a large headache almost everyday because I am trying so hard to understand what all these people are saying! We are doing ALOT of finding work. So that means lots and lots of walking and knocking on doors. When we are lucky enough to have someone answer their door it goes down one of a few ways. One is this... "Nej, tack."... followed by a swift bang from the door. lol Another way is this, "Not interested"... followed by a mean chastisement which I politely smile through because I have absolutely no idea what they are saying. haha its funny because I will think a door contact went relatively well, and then I will ask Äldste Barlow what exactly happened and he will say things like they are not interested and don't want to talk about it at all! haha Rejection is much a part of the work here. And it's starting to hurt less.. but I feel it will always hurt. They are not just slamming the door on me, they are slamming it on the Savior and his Gospel. THAT makes me sad more than anything. Okay, okay... SO!! This weekend I was going crazy!! I knew that it was Kevin and Annie's wedding, and it was killing me!! I would look at the clock and be like well they are all getting ready. Or, well they should be getting sealed now, or, well they are married and probably having the reception now.. I was just losing my marbles! It was really hard to focus and get my mind off of what fun was going on back home. I am so glad that everything went well. My prayers were with them and all who were taking part in the wedding. Welcome to the family Annie!! I am soooo glad you and Kevin found each other and are so happy with each other! :) I know your love for each other will only grow and grow from here! Okay, so I NEED LETTERS AND PICTURES!!! haha I want to be in the loop one might say. I feel as though I have REALLY been torn apart from all of you right now. :( BUT!! I know the Lord is helping you and watching out for you while I am away! It is so awesome that Matt is heading to EFY this week! He is going to love it there! What is he gonna do when EFY is over? Just a question! lol Josh and Hillary are coming to Europe eh?? Well you are welcome in Sweden whenever you want to come, haha but just stay away from me!! haha I would be uber hard to see you! haha I know missionaries here have seen girlfriends and family seemingly by accident, and it really ruins things for a long while.. I know you won't be in Sweden though, so thats all good! :) I will hopefully get a letter out today with a card for dad for Fathers Day which is coming up soon, and hopefully mail a picture card off to you! So we will see how that all goes. I love you all so much! Sweden really is amazing. Things are different in ALOT of ways, but it is a fun adventure! By the way, the cost of living here is through the roof! I think THAT is the REAL reason I live in the Ghetto. lol But my relationship with the Lord grows stronger every single day. I can feel his love, and I know for a surety that he lives and IS my Savior. I am almost out of time so I need to wrap this up! I love you all.... with all of my heart. You are so incredible!!

Faithful and Steady, I AM Ready.....

Äldste Kundis :)