Date: Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 8:11 AM
Subject: Swedish Rain!
Subject: Swedish Rain!
Its been a crazy week!
Lots of ups and downs and all arounds. We have had a few bumps in the road
still since last week but each day I think we have come to a clearer road, that
we are just two different people with different mindsets trying to accomplish the
same thing. If we rely on the Lord and do things his way we cannot fail! So
that's what I am working on this week.
Each and everyday I am
able to speak more and more Swedish! I am so thankful to Heavenly Father who
has been helping me along this great and treacherous journey of
learning Svenska. We have had many member middags (member dinners) and we get
to share a spiritual thought as always. Its intimidating sometimes to speak
Swedish to the natives as they listen intently to what you are saying but all
in all its an awesome experience and the Spirit is ever present as we both try
to speak to the best of our abilities even if they are still of little
vocabulary.
We had an interesting
experience as our less active member who we are teaching English to in the
mornings called and asked if we could meet earlier one day. We got to the
library and he had his laptop up and loaded an email about a green card lottery
for the USA. That he had won and all he had to do was pay 800 dollars. He was
really interested in if it was true or not. I read it and caught lots of
grammatical errors and things so I thought it was fake but to make sure we
looked around online and emailed someone to find out more information. It isn't
everyday that you run into those kinds of things.
This week we met
Gabriel- from Nigeria and he is awesome! We went contacting in the rain and
borrowed someones umbrella from the center. We taught him on the street that
night, the next night we taught him in the center and then we invited him to
the baptism on Saturday in Utby! He came! He also kept us posted on
the US Women Soccer game. We then figured out that he is in the Elders area of
Göteborg so we have to transfer him to them. Which is a bummer but he is
awesome anyway!
We have continued on with
our Swedish course, teaching Swedish to foreigners, even though our
numbers are dwindling because of semester (vacation). We are going strong and
its really awesome to help others understand the language and learn it. Some
people have lived here for 4 years and don't know any Swedish. Its crazy!
We went trackting for
the first time here in Västra Frölunda. It was a fun experience as many doors
people let us teach them a little even though they were not necessarily
interested in us coming back and teaching more.
The weather here is
crazy, you wake up and its raining, after studies its raining even worse, we
get to the spårvagn stop at Musikvagen and its not even raining at all, so you
put your jacket away and by the time you are in town (15 minutes) its pouring
once again. I absolutely love it! Most swedes are fair weather people so many
don't come out when its sprinkling unless they are on there way and in a hurry
so the weather does put a damper on the work but we have had some success, like
I mentioned before with Gabriel.
On Sunday, I was asked
to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. I was nervous about doing it, just
because our ward is huge and we have someone in the ward translate everything
into English, which was super distracting from the pulpit. But I went up and I
bore pure testimony. I didn't write it out, or have an outline. It was a great
and powerful experience. I didn't know that I could bear my testimony and
actually communicate so much in Swedish. The gifts the Lord blesses us with are
really real and come when we put our faith to the test and just speak from the
heart.
So today, the reason why
everything is later then normal. We had a fast active study, shopping, and
cleaning experience this morning as we hustled to get everything done and make
our way to Hesingin (no idea on the spelling) to the Volvo Museum. It was a
cool place all in all but I wish I new more about cars, all the statistics on
the displays and things talked of how many of this and all the details of the
engine. I know some of those things but not much, I needed Dad or somebody
there to give me a little more information. Then since we have Zone Conference
with President Newell tomorrow our Zone met and had an activity today, American
Football in the park. So we went straight over there after the museum. Its been
pretty fun. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, he has made lots of changes and we
are up for some more it seems. Ill keep you all posted with next weeks email.
Challenge time! I've been
having a lot of thoughts about the different ways we rely on the Lord. Its a
tough thought to nail down in just a few sentences. This week I want to pose a
question, How and what can we do to rely on the Lord to overcome our
weaknesses? I'm working on an answer for this one. With this transfer of
difficulties so far Its been quite apparent to me that I have some major
weaknesses to overcome. As we all know, the Lord has overcome everything. How
can we unlock the key that he has found already? Maybe this is a little
farfetched of a question, nonetheless I know that the Lord will help those that
help themselves, serve others and have faith in him. No matter what we do He is
willing to help us to be a little bit better and to do a little bit more, even
when we think we cant. So what are your thoughts? Write a missionary an answer
=) Then, this coming week, search for ways that you can do a little more, be a
little better, and serve a little bit more. I know that as we put these
righteous desires into action and pray for guidance along the way that we will
be shown what we can do and we will be given help along the way. The Lord
doesn't always take our problems away but I know that He strengthens us so that
we can rise to the challenge of overcoming that trial. He has done it so many
times for me already in my life and continues to do so while I'm here in
Sweden! I love you all and hope that you will take this challenge and
experiment on my words! =)
Love you all
Love
Syster Juker
Picture time!!!
Halmstad goodbye, me
with Familjan Acevedo =), the halmstad apartment, Göteborg center (institute),
Our apartment, My bed and bookshelves (which side is mine? its tricky!), A
swedish book I want to own about a penguin!, various pictures from last
pday- botanical garden, Syster Brown Talitha and I at the garden, whats called
a halv special (hotdog with mashed potatoes ketchup and a mayo relish thing, it
was weird), spårvagn, pictures at the volvo museum, a taxi experiment car-my
favorite of the museum, more to come next week! =)
To see pics go to facebook. =)
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