IKEA is better than Disneyland!!

Hej Familj!!!

Well, I know that I might have upset some of you by using that subject line, but it is so true, and if you really think about it, you know I am right! :) Lets look at the two!! Disneyland has long lines, hot weather, wayyyy toooo many people, and really REALLY expensive food! IKEA on the other hand is alot different. First! It is absolutely free to go inside! Also, not a single line, nicely air conditioned, not too many people at all, and incredibly inexpensive food! Not to mention.... the rides at IKEA are ALOT better! My favorite was the leather recliner. I completely lost myself in that chair. The beds were nice too, and don't even get me started on the kids section! Sure I didn't get to meet Mickey, but I did get to climb through tunnels and slide down a slide! Yay! haha okay, I held back on a lot of things because hey.... I AM a missionary. But I was definitely thinking while we were walking through, of all the things I used to do at the Draper IKEA. So, as you can tell, IKEA was alot of fun! It was a nice train ride, and a lot like the IKEA's in the USA. The roof was a lot lower than the USA IKEA's, and there were three levels. There were only like six check out places instead of thousands haha and the employees could ACTUALLY speak SWEDISH! haha Imagine that! We ate lunch there and I of course had the meatballs! They were delectable! haha Plus, IKEA was probably the only place that I know of in Sweden where you can get free refills! YAY! So, we bought a chair for our apartment and a new brush to clean dishes with! :) When we were done we had the famous ice cream cones that were only five crowns!!! Yum! Funny story lol... The chair we bought caused quite the disruption! Äldste Barlow tried assembling it, and half way through realized that he was missing a very crucial part! Haha, so everything went back into the box. Then as we put it all away we thought we found the missing piece. So, we took everything out again and started over and then realized that the piece we had found was NOT the missing piece! So, we were still down a piece. So... back into the box everything went and later, while i was on splits Äldste Barlow found the piece we were missing. However, the chair is STILL in the box because frankly, neither of us want to take it out of the box in fear that we will be missing another piece! Very frustrating! Hahaha, it reminds me of a movie.. It is the one where Adam Sandler is sitting on the doctor's table and a Swedish doctor comes in and Adam Sandler says, "oh, by the way, I have been trying to build a cabinet I bought from you guys for a few months now!" haha It is something like that. Anyway, so that was my very fun trip to the worlds first IKEA! They even had some office buildings there, and an IKEA Museum! lol We did not have enough time to go though.. Oh well!! So, I know in the last e-mail I may have sounded pretty down. Well, maybe not, haha it takes alot for me to actually sound that way, but I was feeling really down about the work here in Växjö. However, I have some good news. Äldste Barlow and I decided to have a "dedication day". That entailed a fast and five hours of straight finding work. We were blessed! We were fasting for three things. First, to find a Swede that is ready for the gospel, a family if it be the Lord's will. Second, to help me with my Swedish, and third, to help Äldste Barlow be more "bold without overbearance". We were blessed in all of these aspects! We were able to find five new people to teach. We have appointments with a few of them, and the others we are hoping and praying for! One person we contacted is a native Swede, and she seems pretty positive! :) We had originally decided that since we wanted to find a real Swede we would go tracting in the Swedish suburbs. After the first street we had no success. Nothing but rejection as usual haha. I felt the distinct impression that the suburbs was not where we were supposed to me at that time. I felt extremely compelled with my whole self that we needed to go to a part of town called Teleborg. It is basically student housing. I told Äldste Barlow that we needed to go there and so we took the next bus. When we arrived the first building we tracted was very negative. I felt really bad because I had felt as though I had received a false impression. When we left the building and started for the next, I felt another strong feeling that we needed to go to a different building a little out of the way. It was amazing. almost everyone was positive! All five of the people were in that one building! The Lord blessed us!! There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever! Okay, now on to the e-mail! First up to bat, Dad!! Oh wow!! He hits a grand slam!! Wooooo! Love ya daddy! haha Okay, yes I do have a vocabulary notebook that I carry around! It is fun lol. I write in it alot! Quick switch... Those leather slippers were amazing. lol I definitely remember those! Thank you sooo much for what you said dad. I don't know quite how to tell you, but I needed to hear that. I love you so much. You helped me a lot! :) You are definitely right about people though. Alot of times they are just wrapped up in the world! I just wish they would give me the chance to unwrap them in a very non-literal way hahaha. :) What you said about, "letting love become the conduit that the Spirit needs..." was pure gold! I loved that! Thanks dad!! :) I love you soooo much!! Okay, now on to my wonderful brother Matt! Sounds like you had an amazing time up at the cabin! I am glad that you were kept safe, and that you were able to relax! Enjoy it! I hear that Mom was planning on making you work at La Quinta a little bit?? haha how was that!? And you still have yet to inform me of this job you have?? Anyway, I love you tons Matt! Keep taking care of Molly! I got kinda sad when you told me about how excited she was to see you when you got back from the lake. I definitely remember how excited she gets when we get back from long trips! I love that pup!! :) Okay, have a great week Matt!! On to the mother of the family! Mom!! I love you!! :) Sooooo very much! Well, this P-Day is not as exciting. Pretty chill actually. We did laundry and cleaned, then went to eat lunch at a Chinese place that we hadn't tried.. It was delicious! lol, and after e-mail it will be back to the apartment, then out to tract some more!! :) Yay! I laughed at the first part of your e-mail! Sounds like you were having a good time! Thanks for using your IKEA purchases this week in remembrance of me! Sounds like the family was well fed! :) Thanks for sending the stuff!! I haven't received it yet, but I can't wait! I will let you know how it all works out with customs and what not. By the way, the "Knott" are indeed biting less. They still are, but it really doesn't bother us too much. We are too busy to focus on that right now! Thanks so much for your kind words! I can't tell you how happy I was when I read that you and the family were doing scripture study, and that you needed to step away for a bit. That warmed my heart! I am glad that you all are finding that to be worth while!!! By the way, speaking of warm hearts... It has been soo very hot outside here. Today is just terrible because early this morning we had a thunderstorm, and now it is shining really bright. That means, extremely humid and hot! You walk outside for a few seconds and become drenched in sweat! haha Its crazy! I thought Sweden was supposed to be a colder place... I was wrong! Anyway, sounds like Brother Asp filled you in very nicely about Växjö! Thats cool that you found him and that he served here! Well, I love you mom! You take such good care of me! And yes, I did floss this morning! haha Thanks! Love ya.. Okay, now on to the Spiritual part of the e-mail! I am beginning to like this part! My thought actually comes for the book, "Our Heritage" It is another book from the wonderful missionary library! I was reading the other day about the Nauvoo temple. I had always thought to myself that it was interesting that they built at such a fast pace and at such a sacrifice! But it wasn't until I read in the book the other day that I realized why! They were about to travel over a thousand miles across the United States. They knew that this journey would take the lives of some of their loved ones. However, they knew that if they could be sealed in the temple together as families that they would be able to see their family members again. This knowledge of eternal families gave them HOPE!!! They knew that they were going to be together forever no matter what! This hope is what carried the wagons just a few more feet. It was this hope that drove the Saints just a few more feet when everything seemed to crumble around them. This HOPE.... is what we need to share with the world. This in a way ties into last weeks thought about being truly happy and thankful for what we have in the gospel! Some of the stories and accounts I have read recently make me realize the Power of Hope. We can all access this Power of Hope if we only realize the bigger picture! It is amazing how little details seem to melt away... I can testify to this! So, that is my charge for this week. Lets all look at the bigger picture. Take a step out of the world around us which keeps us bound and see what really matters in life! FAMILY! THE GOSPEL!! LOVE!! HOPE!! Lets all look through the dark mists of the night towards the bright shining sun of the morning. Let us access the Power of Hope. I love you all, and love this work with all of my heart! This gospel is TRUE!! :)

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

Äldste Kundis :) :) :)