Week 20 Great Week, 2/1/16

Hej alla! 

So. Quite a few things have happened this week. But I definitely want to start with an experience which was by far the most important. Basically to start off (and I'm not sure how well I've mentioned this before, maybe I have), we have the HARDEST time getting investigators to church in this area. We can teach lessons and contact all day long. GETTING investigators is not hard, but getting them to church is near impossible, because 

1. the church is about 50 minutes away by a 5 dollar(ish) train ticket, which is tough. Hardly anyone has their own car. 

2. There are hardly any members in Landskrona, there are 4 or so active families. And only 1 has their own car. and 

3. No one here EVER answers their phone. Like ever. It's annoying. Idk why.

The view out our apartment window. Church in Landskrona 

My companion who has been here 2 transfers longer than me has not ever gotten an investigator to church except for Victoria who was baptized. Well, I mention Jose last week, that awesome Peruvian man we have a baptismal date with. He told us he could meet with us this last week on Wednesday, Friday, and that he'd come to church. We were stoked! But Wednesday came around and he wouldn't answer the phone! We were supposed to meet at the library and he didn't show up. Friday the same story, we called him the night before and the morning of. Nothing! We finally call him Friday night and he answers the phone and says he'll be waiting outside of the library at 10 to be picked up for church at 11. Yay! We were stoked!....Until we found out that the one member family with a car in Landskrona was sick and couldn't take him. And that AGAIN, the night before and the morning of Sunday he wasn't answering his phone. So we loaded an extra bus card we had with some crowns (our bishopric 2nd counselor said he'd pay us back) and were going to have another member wait for him at the library to take him with the extra bus card because we had our ward correlation at 10, but we found out at 9 that morning that he was already in Helsingborg! We were stuck! It was either leave right then for church to make our meeting or wait at the library in the hope that he would still come to the church to take him. 

☝ Kind of a hassle right? This is ONE investigator at church. One. You see the problem? 

Well, my companion was STEAMING. He was so mad! This area stinks in this regard! We had been praying for hard all week for Jose to be able to come to church so that he could get baptized. And every prayer we said we mentioned it. It really felt like God wasn't going to answer our prayer. Afterwards, I got the weirdest feeling that we just needed to go on a walk. It felt crazy. My companion asked where to somewhat incredulously. I said we should just walk around town until 10 and wait to see if Jose showed up. 

Random trumpet statue

That walk was absolutely inspired. It was just what we both needed, and one of the most revelatory experiences I've ever had. I realized something I had already known, that God loved me a LOT. And he didn't love anyone else any less. Including Jose. God had a plan for Jose. If he is supposed to become a member of this church, he will. God is in control. Our job as missionaries is not to create our OWN plans for our investigators. It's to have the privilege and learning experience of being God's tools on earth, for Him to accomplish HIS plan! (see Isaiah 55:8,9) What a blessing it is to be able to serve the Lord in whatever way we can and know that in the end, the Lord wins. He always does. His work will be accomplished, whether I do it or not. But that's why I'm here! To give Jose a chance even if I know he probably won't take it. Isn't that great!?

The morale of the story: Jose did not come to the library, but I would've waited for him even if I knew he wouldn't. 

I know I'm crazy. 

Turning Torso, world famous building

Oh! btw, I forgot to mention that Richard is doing great. We've actually met with him a few times and his testimony is so strong! We gave him a copy of the Twi Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, he still is looking for work and we think he lives in Landskrona right now. In any case, he's not getting baptized until he can settle down and go to church. 

Anyways, I've got some cool pictures for this week! We went down to Malmö for zone

training which was super fun! The first one is of a member dinner. They put ketchup on their spaghetti here. So weird. The second one here of me blowing on a random trumpet statue we found. Next is me standing in front of the turning torso, which is a world famous building because it...turns....And the 4th one is my cooking!

I've been trying all different kinds of recipes and I'm getting pretty good if I say so myself. That's some fried rice I randomly made one day. Oh, and the last of is of a church in Landskrona. I realized a lot of the pictures I was sending were coming from Helsingborg, but there's some pretty cool stuff here as well. Believe it or not, but that picture was taken from our apartment window. You can see the rain drops on the window if you look closely enough. 

Well, I love all of you and hope you don't drown in Roseville! I heard it's been raining a lot. 

Ha det så bra!

Aldste Mason