Sparvagn Contakt!

From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: 2011/10/17
Subject: Spårvagn contakt!

Hello!

How is everything going for you? I have had a busy week of many changes. We have had many different experiences this week. Its been an awesome week!

On Monday we had our final adventure with Syster Vistaunet. We had a great breakfast/lunch at an American diner called Egg and Milk it was pretty fun. We then all went shopping for the last few things that Syster Vistaunet needed before going to my birthplace of Halmstad! We had a great FHE with the YSA and we got to develop our relationships with them.

For Tuesday, we had a day of food! Syster Vistaunet did some packing in the morning and we went and visited Sophia. She gave us a great pizza lunch and we had a great spiritual thought about the importance of scriptures and how the Lord communicates with us through them. We each shared an experience and the Spirit was super strong. After that we met up with the Elders to go to a less active members house. Danika is her name. She is cute! I thought I recognized the name from when we were with another less active. So I was going to lead the way for directions to her house. The sisters were ready to follow me but the Elders came and said We looked it up and weve got to get on a bus. So I figured that it was another person and determined it was a good idea to follow them. We waited for the bus in Frölunda Torg and then hopped off two stops from the place. Hiked through a muddy and watery lawn, up a hill to exactly where I thought we were going. She ends up living next to our other less active. It took about 15 minutes to get there their way and it would have taken 5 or 6 going another way. It was awesome to lead the way back to our next appointment. We had Serbian food! It was pretty delicious, some sort of sausages with tomatoes and onions in it. They have this cabbage, oily salt and peppery salad (that Dad would really like) its pretty good as well. After we ate we went into the sitting room from her kitchen table and prepared for the spiritual thought. She brought out a Bible that was HUGE! Youll have to look at Syster Vistaunets pictures to see! It was so cool. We got oranges and some sort of candy thing from Serbia for desert. To add to all of the food we had eaten today we got to head to The Holdaways to eat a fika. Its a Swedish word meaning coffee and cookies but has come down to as refreshments of all sorts. We ended up taking a different bus then we usual, hoping that we could walk from the closest stop. It ended up being way to far away so we caught a bus going back to town on another street. We finally got up and over the hill but it was all worth it. Rich had prepared us some real american cupcakes with chocolate chips in it. They were delicious and remind us all of home. We had another great "district meeting" as Rich got us all rearing to go and preach the gospel! As we left their house we had to book it back over a hill to the bus stop because the bus was coming. We went super fast, walking down a hill. It pretty much more effort to walk that fast then it would to just run. I shared my opinion and the sisters all started running. Then it was dark and rainy as we were running and Syster Jenson stopped in front of me and I had taken off my glasses so I ran into her and fell twisted my ankle and skinned both of my knees. But we were going to miss the bus so I just got up and walked as fast as I could. We made it before the bus and in time that I could check out my knees. It was gross, I dont remember ever doing that before. We made a video with all of the other missionaries of their input on the situation. Ill have to send it home at christmas!  My foot is good and my knees are no longer infected because I cleaned it all up this morning. 

Wednesday we had to say goodbye to our beloved Syster Vistaunet and hello to our new friend Syster Sprague! She is great we got a lot of getting to know her as she unpacked. She comes from Pleasant Grove and is a joy to be around. We get along great! We had our last teach for Swedish class and it didnt work, our students didnt come and we even had a cake baked for them. We ended the evening with a great lesson with Sampath. He is very scientific so we talked more on faith and ended with us all singing A Childs prayer to him. It was awesome

Thursday we did a heart attack to a member in the ward and got a lot of teaches sceduled. I had my first spårvagn contact and it went a little like this. Syster Sprague and I were on the spårvagn going back to the center after our heart attack adventure. We ended up sitting in a part of it with 4 seats that two face the other two. There was a lady already sitting there so I sat next to her and Syster Sprauge sat across from her. We were speaking swedish to each other and I remembered we needed to text an investigator. We were discussing how to spell the word verkligan. which means really. We didnt know how to spell it so I turned to the lady next to me and asked her. She smiled answered kindly and then pulled the string to set the next stop and stood to wait at the door. We didnt get to the gospel stuff but I jumped super out of my comfort zone and it felt awesome! We are going to do so much good this time together its awesome! 

Friday we got what missionaries say here is blåsted. We got ditched. In swedish its the equivalent of being blown by the wind. Its cool. We did tons of planning and got next week all organized.

Saturday we had Zone Conference which was awesome. The APs had a great message about the power of the Book of Mormon. Then we had Stake conference. We were able to stay and I translated for Äldste and Syster Anderson. It is a difficult task to be able to translate when they speak so incredibly fast. I really enjoyed it though. I would translate literally and it wouldnt quite make sense and they would both turn toward my face and smile and Id try to clarify. It was awesome!

Sunday was great! We had another session of the stake conference and a ward activity afterwards where everyone brought a salad and we all ate together. We did some contacting later after some study time because we didnt have any in the morning. It was a great day, I felt very uplifted.

SO Challenge time! This week my challenge comes from something we did during zone conference! We read the first chapter of first nephi and compared it with the lesson of the Restoration. Every principle is in there! Its awesome! There is such power in that book! I have never really realized that that had been the fact all along. Its crazy that I have read that chapter 20 times or more and I didnt even realize it. My challenge this week is to dust off that book that we love so much and begin with prayer and real intent to be able to learn something new that you have never learned before. I know that as we approach those holy writings we can know of all the things that our Father in Heaven would have us do. Its amazing as you just try to take it one verse at a time. you learn so much! contemplate the whole phrase "and it came to pass" dont just pass it by! I love the deeper meaning!

I love you all and hope you all have a great and amazing week!'

Love 

Syster Juker