When Mosquitoes Attack

From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 2:40 AM
Subject: When Mosquitoes Attack

Nära och Kära,
Its been a great week here in Katrineholm and surrounding areas, we have had many a new adventure! It’s lovely!

I tisdags we had an early morning because we had an appointment in Vingåker at 10 so we had to leave by 920 so there was a bit of disturbance to our studies in the morning but in the end it worked out. We met with Rebecca, who is a daughter in a less active family. She is 17 and engaged, it was rather different because in our heads it didn’t make sense to be able to be engaged and not be able to drive a car yet. But they were really nice. They fixed us a traditional american breakfast with tons of food. Luckily we didn’t really have much time to eat in the morning. Arvid isn't Christian at all he is trying to learn about it so we were able to talk alot about scriptures and the Book of Mormon. Hopefully next time will be about Eternal Marriage.

Since we were a ways away from home we were able to visit a couple other people. It took a while because of the distance but we were able to visit our Ward Mission leaders house and talk with his wife. I hadn't ever met them so it was great! He was out of town so we just got to know her and her family. They are sweet. We barely made it back to the bus stop in time to catch the bus back, have lunch and meet with Alex. We talked a lot about how we can get to know and build our relationship with God. We shared the story of Enos and asked him to develop his relationship even more, because he was unsure that he actually had one. Its great to teach him because we always come up with crazy analogies that just work for him. This one was about a corvette, just because I like them. Now if someone gave you a corvette with all the bells and whistles on it would you just park it in the garage and let it sit? Of course not, you'd take it out for a spin, see how it handled different terrain. Its the same with our faith, its the power we have to do everything, but if we just let it sit in the garage the tires will go flat and we will have to work even harder to get it back in working order.

I onsdags we had district meeting in Norrköping. We first visited Hans and talked with him about the importance of prayer in the name of Christ. Hes been investigating for many years but hasn't prayed in Christs name. It was cool to see the sense of revelation come to his face as he realized the importance of Christ in prayer. The Spirit was strong and then he went off on a tangent and we were about to miss our bus when we had to get up and go. Hes busy next week but really wants help with stoping snusing and getting an answer about the Book of Mormon.We then got to the trainstation a little bit early and as we were walking to our spår we saw a lady accross the tracks who was having a really difficult time standing or walking and she just seemed out of it. We looked at eachother and thought about the alchol intake of many people here and pretty much prejudged her. As we stood waiting for our train I got the feeling we needed to help her. I asked S. Spjut what she thought about helping her, she asked the perfect question, "Is it something you'll regret not doing?" Of course it was, so down the stairs we went and around to the other spår. I had no idea really how to approach the situation so I just asked her if she needed help. She graciously accepted and preceded to tell us that she had epilepsy and needed to find a place to sit down. We helped her on her way until her friend came and made it back to catch our train in perfect timing. DIstrict meeting was about faith and having enough faith to do miracles it was really inspiring. We made it back in time to transfer gears and get back into town for our youth activity. We played basketball and soccer. Stephen was there and we were able to talk a bit about church with him before others came.

I torsdags we spent as a bit of a family reunion with Syster Spjuts swedish family members. It was really interesting and It made me realize how much I want to find out more about my own family stories. As we were going up and down forresty paths to see where her Great Great Great Grandfather was born and such we realized we were not really dressed for the occassion in our tradtional missionary attire. It went well besides walking through some stinging nettle no one else noticed and being owned by mosquitoes to whom i am allergic to. We both prayed a lot for the opportunity to do some missionary work with them. It turned out really well as many of their family have heard about our church and had questions that we could answer and such. One had recieved a Book of Mormon before and we found out that two who were there actually live in our area. So hopefully we willl be able to stop by them sometime soon and see if they are more interested.

I fredags was a bit of a travel day as well. Our new member Elenora moved back and invited us to her house to have cake to celebrate her birthday with her. We agreed and she was excited! It ended up that we had to go early again. Then from the bus stop it was a 45 minute walk to her house. She was excited to have us around and to show us everything! We got to know about her conversion story and a bit about her personality because I hadn't been around her much before. She really seemed to open up to us and consider us her friends. It was nice. We sang her happy birthday and met her grandfather who isn't a member as we ate her cake. We were keeping a point to notice the time and she wanted to talk about missionary work so we talked a bit about it as Syster Spjut did her dishes. We were worried we were not going to make the bus back and she assured us we would and took us on a wild strawberry hunt, along the road. It was a little frustrating just because my bug bites were making me feel pretty woozy. We then had to take the journey back at a pretty fast pace. But we made it back and thus made our connecting bus back to Bie for a dinner with the Palaminos. They are a great family they take great care of us and we always feel their love for us. They speak a lot of spanish, and I took French in high school, so that doesnt really match up. Luckily in California you pick up on a bit of it anyways. We challenged them to keep track of their prayers and each night reflect on how their prayers were answered. They were really receptive and thanked us saying "Gracias" I answered and said "De nada" and they just laughed and laughed! It was nice to see them smile and laugh! We want to see them back at church soon! The branch needs them!

I lordags I was in bad shape, my legs were swollen and I was dizzy we had made plans to go to Bie and meet these people we talked to while there on friday but it didnt happen. I ended up taking allergy medicine and sleeping a little while. We did a great weekly planning time and were able to find those in our area book that we want to contact this week to see if they are still interested in learning more. We met with Amina in the evening and was introduced to many of her friends. One who happens to really be interested in genelogy work and finding out about their ancestors. So we have plans to teach her more about that soon as well as meet with Amina and read more with her.

I sondags I was asked to take the Young Women's lesson so that was prepared and Syster Spjut didnt have anything else that she needed to do, or so we thought. Sacrament meeting started with 9 people, we were a bit worried but as we sang the opening hymn many more people showed up. It was interesting to be in a sacrament meeting in such a small branch but the spirit was as strong as ever, it was great! The branch president came and asked if I could teach sunday school, so by default syster Spjut had to. But both lessons went well and we had an investigator in church participating a lot in everything it was great. We were then invited over for food with Cat and Jock. For something known as Jocks special. It was definitely something I have never eaten before so I was a bit hesitant but after it all I just wanted to eat some vegetables. It was pretty much noodles, ground beef, onions, mushrooms and bacon with sour cream and ketchup. We were able to then brighten up Cats day and walk her home to share the spiritual message we had prepared. She really enjoys and has opened up since we have made it a point to visit her on sunday evenings.

Challenge time! Pay attention to your prayers, be sincere and take notes of those things you pray for. Then each night review what has happened throughout the day and you will come to find that your prayers are answered faster then you realize! I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and that he answers them, even if we cant understand exactly how!

Love you
Syster Juker