General Konferensen Kommer!

From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 7:13 AM
Subject: General Konferensen Kommer!
To: john juker <tugcaptn@hotmail.com>, Nancy Juker <njuker@gmail.com>


Nära och Kära,

A week full of learning and growing ending in an interesting email experience today! I hope you all had an adventurous week and had opportunities to be missionaries yourselves. I know that Heavenly Father will always answer a prayer to have a missionary opportunity. Just test it and ask Him. He is 100% guaranteed to answer! I've done it and know His truth!

Last monday, wasn't our preparation day so we were able to get some real weekly planning in! It felt good to get the week planned out a head of us. My testimony of planning and being orgainized has just exploded since being here. So much more is accomplished when you have plans and back up plans set up just in case. Quite a few times this week those "just in case" moments occured and thanks to weekly planning we were able to save some time and stay productive. We had an uplifting experience as a man came to Jönköping from Uppsala and needed some spiritual upliftment. His testimony is strong and he just needed us to pray with him. The spirit was strong and he really made us laugh as he shared some cool stories from his life. The YSA had FHE and we got to talk to them a little beforehand because he came late. It was a nice night to see a scripture help someone to feel the spirit and a prayer to bring the feeling back. 

Tuesday, we had the Nilson's invited us over for lunch. It was the first member "dinner" with Syster Pool. It was great to see her open up and speak in swedish. I wasnt that brave at the beginning! The food was delicious and we talked afterward about General Konferens. We talked about going with questions. Just like Syster Anderson always said while she was here. They hadn't ever done it before so they are going to try it this time. It seems like the members in Sweden prepare for conference a lot more than I did at home. It was great to see them excited to test it out. They are awesome! We then went out to visit some less actives that no one has really had contact with for a long time. We got a return appointment with Marianne and left notes at the other two apartments. We talked to people as we went. It was great. We both feel better about the day if we are anxiously talking with people about the gospel. I now know why Heavenly Father has given me a love for animals. When the weather is nice like it has been, contacting those out with pets take time! We met a woman named Lisalotta. She had a big huge white dog she was walking. I stopped her and asked about what kind of dog it was. We talked about the weather and her dog. I tried to drop hints that we were foreigners. She never picked it up so I ungracefully just brought up faith. She talked a little bit about how faith helped her. She remembered going to school with someone who was a member of the church many years ago. We invited her but she wasnt too interested. It was cool to talk and actually communicate in swedish. They are patient even if you arent sure of the words. She was very kind. I hoped we would see her again. We were then invited to a surprise baby shower for a member of our ward. We felt unsure about going so we decided to make a change of plans. We created our report for our mission leader made some phone calls and were able to go visit Petra. Someone we have been trying to get in contact with for a while. She was home! I knew we weren't supposed to go just to meet her. She was very nice and we talked at her door as she explained her pause from coming to church. I really want to help her when she needs it. We are going to try to keep contact. 

Wednesday, This whole studying for 2 hours as a companionship takes a tole on the time we use in our day. We learn something new everytime we get to practice though so its good. We were then picked up by the Rasmussen's so we could go to Gunvor's house for lunch. It was a great experience as we heard more of her stories from life. We talked about prayers and shared experiences from where we had an answered prayer. She has a great testimony of prayer. We talked about how Alma prayed for his son and an angel came. As we were speaking the Spirit helped me to realize something there. If you look at Mosiah 27:14 it mentions the prayers of the people and the prayers of his servant. Its just like the members in our ward and us as missionaries. We should be praying for the same goal. Its a way to unify the ward. They are really good at praying for us. So we are aquiring names from our members whom we can pray for. Its so cool. We then went and heart attacked Emelie- this time actually going into the correct building. We ding dong ditched to see if we could see her, but she wasnt home. We visited Kjell and finally caught him! He is a busy guy. He had just got home and was just getting ready to go but he invited us in. We followed up with reading, the swedish is still difficult for him but hes working on it. We left the testaments for Elizabeth and he thought it was a great idea. We headed home and ate dinner before meeting with Johannes and Marie. The lesson went great. Marie is such a great woman. She is so kind and wanted to make sure we would be home on time. We talked about general conference. She shared with us why she hasnt been going to church and tried to catch up with the prophet and who was who these days. It was awesome and the spirit was there. We are going to meet again soon!

Thursday We had our first district meeting. We ate at a Thai place before and it was pretty awesome speaking swedish with those whose language was completely not swedish. Our district meeting was great, we discussed Christlike Attributes. We all got awesome ideas to keep the ball rolling in our lives. Afterwards we went to visit those less actives who we tried earlier. We met one and ran into Lisalotta again but this time she was on the phone. She put it on hold and said hello and smiled. It was great. We had dinner with the YSA and taught Sabrina. She is having a hard time putting church before school as she is working so hard with her thesis. We promised her blessings and asked her to read more regularly in the Book of Mormon. She said she would try especially since the thesis is almost done.

Friday We served the Wiklöfs and had lunch with them. We figured they had some cool study tips to help us prepare for conference. But they hadnt ever done that before. So we were able to share our experiences and have a very  nice spiritual conversation. She is going to do some questions as well. We were having a difficult time communicating Syster Pool and I, in a way that we both understood why. So we took some time to study language and then Syster Pool wasnt feeling well. So she took a nap as I made phone calls to get appointments set up. It was a great experience. I realized how important it is to mention what language they speak on the TU record. Its difficult to judge what language I should speak on the way they say their first name. We had a great dinner with Åsa and her family. We are going to do they member program with their who family and get them excited to be missionaries. They hadn't heard of the second harvest so we are going to give them a copy when we get a chance next. We then finished weekly planning because Li had to cancel on us. It ended well and we were able to resolve issues with companionship inventory. Im really thankful for the time that we are given to resolve things. Now we are going to work like a well oiled machine!

Saturday we had the chance to support our relief society as we talked about Visiting Teaching. Its something that sometimes struggles in our ward so they had a brunch and talked about Daughters in my Kingdom to get everyone fired up to do their visiting teaching. I was half expecting a normal american breakfast. You know eggs and waffles or something. But no it was the traditional swedish smörgås. Bread and meat and fruits and yogurt. Don't get me wrong it was delicious, just different then home. We had a lesson cancel on us and we had language study as a back up plan to clear up our evening plans. We did studies and had a member dinner with the Hegyessy's they gave us some soup i had never eaten before and it didnt sit too well, but tasted really good! We talked with them about recieveing revelation throught the Holy Ghost during general conference. It was great to share stories of when the Holy Ghost had guided them. It seems to be a great surge of the spirit whenever someone shares a spiritual experience. We then were able to meet with Li and talk more about the priesthood that he had just recieved. We shared a Mormon message and the spirit was present. He wants to learn how to pass the sacrament and to wear his white shirt and tie to church now. It was great!

Sunday, We had a great lesson in relief society on President Boyd K. Packers Counsel to the Youth from last conference. Then in sunday school Niklas helped relieve some questions that Sabrina had. He is a great teacher and we are grateful for him. We had an awesome sacrament meeting as we were again taken back to the basics of prayer and agency. I loved it. We were able to have a member dinner with the Högbergs, they are awesome and are working on being member missionaries. Its great I felt really sick and couldnt do much. So we took time to take care of me. We got some appointments set up and this next week is going to be awesome!

So this weeks challenge (i read steven making fun of me and all I say is =P) Its General Conference around the corner! Do something you havent done before, study, pray, have some questions and find the answers in this next conference. We have the chance to be in the seat as King Benjamin gives his great record. Except that it will be President Monson and we will be in comfy pews or couches depending on where you are. I know that this is a time that we can receive revelation for ourselves and for those questions that we all have. Heavenly Father wants to give them to us and all we have to do is all we can. Take time and figure it out. Give him some time and He will give you blessings I know it, Ive tested it. 

I hope you all have a great week and remember that I love you all! More importantly our Father in Heaven loves you each individually!

Love

Syster Juker