Kelvish and us before the Baptism! Peace!!! Haha He is so funny!
Me at Valborg!! The fire was really hot, and a couple of ashes burned holes in the white jacket I was wearing! Ooops! :)
The crowd and some singers welcoming in Spring!
Hej Familj!!!
Well, this week has been "Alt" of "Ctrl".. haha (notice the keyboard reference..) lol I really hope that I can get all of this on the e-mail and that is doesn't sound too jumbled around! First and most importantly, you are all probably wondering about the pictures I sent along with this e-mail! Yes, they are real!! We had a BAPTISM here in Skövde! Kelvish, my good friend decided to be baptized this past Sunday. It was absolutely amazing! He called on Thursday around 3:00 PM and told us that after praying for a while he felt that now was the time to be baptized and take a step forward! The next few days were FULL of preparing and we were running around like crazy! We had to find clothes and make programs and invite EVERYONE.. haha As you can tell, we had LOTS to do! It all came together though, and on Sunday May 1st, 2011 at 2:00 PM Kelvish was baptized! Tears continually filled my eyes as I watched a near and dear friend of mine take upon himself the name of Christ. He bore his testimony afterwards about the power of Christ's Atonement and how it has influenced his life. I was a mess.. haha Tears were just a small outward expression of that "Pure Celestial Joy" I was feeling inside! He will make an excellent member and bring about much good in the church!
However, I am extremely sad... There was another thing that happened this week, which I am sure most of you have figured out by now. Transfer Time! President called Tuesday afternoon and informed me that I will be........ Moving! Yes, I am serious.. He is taking me away from Skövde!! I will be moving to... STOCKHOLM!! The area will be called "Inner Stan" It is basically deep inside the downtown of Stockholm. Just imagine it.. Me, riding subways and contacting on huge streets in the middle of Sweden's capitol city! What an adventure!!! I will be doing follow-up training with my new companion Elder Woodruff who is from Canada! I don't know much else about him, but I am convinced that it will be a GREAT transfer! Stockholm has a large Institute Center for Young Adults and because I am in Downtown Stockholm I am also an "Institute Missionary"!! That basically means that we will have our own office in the center where we can teach and be working a lot with the YSA's in the city. However, most of our time will be out on the streets of Stockholm during Spring/Summer! Aghh!! I am super excited for what is ahead for me! I will let you all know how things go in the future! It is extremely sad that I am leaving Skövde though.. It has grown near and dear to my heart. The emotions are high... like they are every transfer time, and I look forward to getting back to work and settling in at a new place. The emotional side of transfers and moving are not all the problems though.. There is a physical side! During my time in Skövde, I have acquired lots of things and I don't have room to take them with me.. So, that means I will be sending a box home today. I will try to keep it as cheap as possible, but as we all know, the shipping rates are HIGH! I will talk with you all about it on Mother's Day.. (By the way.. I know you may not like to hear this, but if we could just hide away the box when it arrives I would really appreciate it!.. I want to be there to open it and go through the stuff.. most of it is not exciting so, don't even worry about it!) :) :)
Lets see... what else has happened this week!! OH! Valborg! Valborg is a holiday to welcome in the Spring time. Swedes gather together and sing songs and light a giant pile of sticks on fire! Awesome right! Yup, its probably one of my favorite holidays! I sent some pictures of that along too. Woo! We went with Kelvish and Brother Karlsson and had a blast! Speaking of a "blast", they were having a difficult time getting the fire started, so a man finally jumped on top of the pile and started pouring gasoline on top! haha Most of us forgot about it but a few minutes later..... BOOM!!! haha I was taking a video of the fire at the moment and when you go back and watch it you see a huge fire ball and children running away screaming at the tops of their lungs! It was straight out of a horror movie! Luckily, no one was hurt. :)
Okay... So, I have been hearing some pretty big news floating around Skövde the past couple of days. Apparently Osama Bin Laden was found and killed??? no one mentioned it in their e-mails so I am wondering if it is real? haha I guess that shows how "out of the loop" I really am! :) Anyway, I need to get to responding to the e-mails now!
WAIT!! Before that! I had a pretty funny experience the other day! We went to try and visit Sabina but sadly, she was not home. As we were standing in the apartment building a huge group of little girls and boys came inside from playing. They noticed us, and like most kids do, asked us who we were and what we were doing. We told them and then we showed them our name tags. When they looked at "Äldste Kundis" they were confused by my last name.. Äldste Chipman quickly said the word Kändis. (Pretty close to Kundis huh?? lol) The entire group freaked out!!! haha The meaning of the word Kändis is "celebrity". The entire group of boys and girls thought I was a celebrity from the United States! They all sat down on the floor and wanted to hear a song. So, I sang them a couple! They were pretty impressed! They jumped up and started crowding me. One of the little girls asked me if I knew Hannah Montana.. I replied that I lived in Montana, and they all went nuts!!! They were trying to pull me to the floor! They begged to hear a Hannah Montana song so I sang them part of one. "The Best of both worlds!!" etc.. lol :) They would not let me leave the apartment building so I had to force my way out. Haha I at least made their day! :) Pretty funny and quite the memory! :)
Okay... NOW for the e-mails! First up is my father who I love dearly! Hej Dad!!! I was sorry to hear that Jack Goaslind passed away. But from Mom's e-mail it sounds like the funeral was quite the event. President Monson! Wow! I bet you are loving having Mom back in Great Falls again after all that time! But it was good that you and Matt were able to have some father son time! I love the picture you sent along! That web cam seems to be turning into quite the well invested tool! :) So, no, the curry rice was nothing like what we would have at home.. Sadly.. lol ;) But it was still good! I miss home cooked meals. :( Haha, my body, I believe, has become adjusted to the missionary food style. That is, anything that will fill you and give you energy to keep working! haha I am sure you remember that! Okay, so I am glad that 8:00 AM worked out for you. It should still work out for me, but with transfers tomorrow, it is still a little shaky. If something changes I will try to send you an e-mail quick so you will be aware! Anyway, I will move on since we will be talking soon! I love you Dad! Have a great week!
Okay, now we are at a brother who I also love dearly! Hej Matt! :) Haha I loved your little comment about Joe Giles! It is good that you two have continued to be friends and have so much fun together. You sound happy and loving life! Which is good! When do you start things for BYU?? Have you looked at the applications yet? Shouldn't that be coming up soon here? haha Let me know! Soooo, haha you are having dreams of me huh?!? Thats pretty awesome! However, they sound like they are making you pretty trunky! You can't get trunky on me Matt! I need you to be strong and patient! The time will come, but still not for a while! :) It is good to hear however, that you have not changed and that Molly is doing good! Yay! Have a great week and an awesome time at school! I love you Matt! Stay strong!
Okay, now it is time for my mother that I love dearly! Hej Mom! Wow, you have been traveling a lot lately! I am glad that you had fun in Utah and could be with the family down there. Thanks for the pictures! They are great! :) Landon looks amazing! Okay, that funeral sounds like it was the place to be.. (Take that with as much reverence as possible...) :) President Monson was there!! How cool! It seems like you were really touched by his presence! How could you not be?!?! haha I think I remember Jack. He was the one with the tennis court right?! lol I was pretty young! Hillary's Birthday sounds like it was soooo much fun! With all of the excitement of the Baptism I was not able to send out a Birthday Card to her or even a Mother's Day card to you... I am horrible!! I hope that you two can forgive me. Times just get so busy and stressful that I can't fit it all in! Sorry.. :( Moving on though, I can't wait to talk to you on Sunday! Wow, I can't believe that it is already time to call home again! Its nuts! Just plain nuts how fast time is flying! agh!! haha Well, I will wrap this up because we can talk and talk and talk soon! I love you Mom!
Okay, now I will move on to a Spiritual Thought! It comes from a District meeting we had on the 28th of April. The main thought is expressed in this quote from an MTC teacher, Brother Bond. He says, "Live your life in a way that people who know you and not Him, will want to know Him because they know you." It says in 2 Timothy, "Be thou an example of the believers..." How can we be an example?? How can we TRULY live our lives in a way that people we know will want to learn of our, as well as their personal Savior, Jesus Christ? I believe the answer is different for every person and is one that is worthy and deserves to be explored. It is our duty to spread what we know to be true, and it is also our duty to live what we know to be true. It is in the living, or the application of our knowledge, that we truly fulfill our duty. During my time here I am learning every day. Something new to thank my Father in Heaven for every night on my knees in prayer. In my life right now, the Lord is keeping me in a constant state of becoming. Truly, he is using me to reach others. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to "explore" how I can live my life in a way that others will want to know Christ because they know me. It is something relatively simple... We just need to continually act and not be "content" with what we feel is good enough. There is a large danger in that word. The Lord will bless us in our righteous endeavors if we just continue TRYING. I know this to be true and have a strong testimony of it.
I love you all very much! I can't wait to call on Sunday and talk! It will be a positive and uplifting experience for us all! Have a wonderful week! I love you!
Trogen och Stadig, Är Jag Redo!!!!!
Faithful and Steady, I AM Ready!!!!!
Äldste Kundis :) :) :)
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