Revelation of the Temple

From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 2:31 AM
Subject: Revelation Of the Temple

Hello Family and Dear Friends!

I miss you all lots! Its been a difficult week this week, but it sure has its blessings as well!

On Sunday we found out that our investigator lives in Utby area and so we made the switch this week. He has really taken to Utby and the Elders so that's good. He is going to be baptized on Saturday! =) Its awesome! He has really gotten to open up to all of us missionaries and likes to tease us when we are late and things. Its good.

Tuesday we taught him with the elders. He taught us in analogies all his own the plan of salvation and how it all works its awesome. We had an interesting teach later on as Syster Sprague and I taught a man who couldn't really English or Swedish. (I just realized that that's not how we speak in English, that's a Swedish phrase, "Kan du svenska? kan du engelska?" Yeah, it’s cool I know =))  He called his friend who could speak Swedish to translate. As we were teaching he directed a question to me "Vet du vem jag är?" (do you know who I am)I had igen anning vem han var. (I had no idea who he was) So I told him, Nej jag tro inte det.(No, I  don't think I do) Han var en undersökare som vi har inte traffat för lange sen.(He was an investigator we had not me for a long time) He is one of the many who want to meet with the sisters alone. That doesn't go. The teach went well and it was a miracle that we could all understand each other.

Wednesday we did some splits with the YSAs I and Mette went to the library as Sprague and Jenson went to red cross to get some service set up. It was cool Because Mette is from Norway and we just spoke in Swedish. It was crazy to see how natural it was for me to communicate in a different language. It just happens, plainly and simply by the spirit! We had another lesson with Tony and he tried to teach us the plan of salvation simply. It was awesome! He can barely Swedish and he got it done pretty well. Syster Sprague and I taught! It was cool. The spirit was strong and he could understand us speaking! A miracle!

Thursday was our amazing District Meeting! My companionship taught on Unity and relying on The Spirit! It was oddly fitting because we have not been unified and haven't been able to fix it. I came up with an object lesson about making cookies but in order to gain an ingredient we had to answer a question right about our companions. It was pretty crazy! Then we talked about the things we need to be in unity with and how we can do that. We turned to pg 94 in PMG and talked about pleading with the Lord for his help and blessing. Its a pretty crazy concept but it works! I'm living proof!  After that we did a surprise for Talitha, who might have to move back home to England soon. We heart attacked her room and Mette got her to come all the way there so we screamed and surprised her! It was awesome! She has helped all of us missionaries so much with teaches and insights to things so we all just felt like we needed to show her some love so we headed it up. It went lovely.

Friday we had weekly planning and we made some scripture cases for the less actives we have been working with who have been coming to church. They liked them a lot. We had Chill night at the center and sang Karaoke! It was pretty fun. I had to stay out and talk with investigators that were coming as my companions taught Tony again. It was pretty awesome as one who spoke English walked in and then another who spoke just Swedish. I was talking with both of them and translating! It was amazing to feel the spirit so strongly and being able to communicate all of those things to each of them. At one point
Äldste Anderson came up (only speaking English) to the one who only spoke Swedish. I had to translate and I ended up speaking Swedish to Äldste Anderson and English to Ali. It was pretty funny.

Saturday we had an awesome teach with one of our less actives who wants to get back on track. We talked about  ovenants and the blessings of the temple. I shared an experience I haven't really thought about since it happened. On the way back from that Arizona Road trip not that long ago. We stopped at the temple. It was way late at night so naturally it was closed. We went to the fence anyway and looked into the temple grounds. Knowing the spirit on just the other side of the fence. I realized that I never wanted to be that close to the fence from eternal happiness. I want to be as far into the temple and Gods kingdom as possible. I lost it in emotions as I remembered this experience. I'm not sure that I shared it with anyone before. It was amazing how the Spirit could help me remember such a sacred experience to me and I was able to share it and that same Spirit that witnessed to me at the time of my experience witnessed it to all of my companions and our member who was there. Its a great lesson to learn, listen to the spirit and do. We then had a baptism in Utby where we sang the music number. It was cool We sang a hymns lyric that we didn't know to the tune of I know that My Redeemer lives It was awesome and went well.

Sunday we had a great day at church, a lovely family dinner with a family with many little children that love the missionaries. We taught an object lesson on Helaman 5 12. and a great CES Fireside from President Boyd K. Packer. It was last months, I'm not sure what it is called or anything but these two experiences create this week’s challenge.

Challenge: To find out and watch that Fireside and apply it! He has so many great quotes and then to study the temple. Find out a way to visit one before the end of the year. The lights are always GORGEOUS! Can you do it? Take a picture and send it my way! =)

Times almost up, we are at the library! I love you all! Ill try to get pictures sent later today after we play football! Tomorrow is our Zone Conference so we have zone pday today. I'm excited! I love you all have a great week and be good!

Love Syster Juker

A Privilege to Partake

From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 3:36 AM
Subject: A Privilege to Partake

Hejsan!

Jag hoppas alt är bra med er! Denna vecka gick jätte snabbt! Vi har gjort mycket för att hjälpa människor kom närmare Kristus! Det känns underbart! Jag vet inte därför jag skrev på svenska just nu men jag gjorde det ändå! =) Kan ni förstår vad jag skrev?

I måndags vi bara skrev brev till våra familjer och vänner. Oh that needed to stop because I only have a certain amount of time to write and it takes forever to translate what I want to say into Swedish because English is still first! But I am working on it so no worries! =) We had a really nice teach with one of our investigators about God and how he is not only our creator but our Father in Heaven. We cant seem to create a desire within to know and ask if He is her Father as well. Any suggestions? 

I tisdags vi hade många som vi skulle träffa med men det går inte. We taught our investigator with a baptismal date and he is still progressing and now knows that The Book of Mormon came from God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet without a doubt. When he bore his testimony about the things that he has learned and how the Holy Ghost had testified to him of the truth It about had me in tears, the Spirit was so strong! We then visited a less active whose parents are visiting from Mexico. They only speak Spanish and very little English. This is where it pays off to grow up in Visalia! I was able to understand again through the Spirit what he wanted to say and translate it for my companions. It was such a wonderful experience to understand what he was trying to say to us. Her son speaks Spanish and some Swedish. He was playing in a little fort and so we tried to talk to him in Swedish. He brought his toy cars of Lightening McQueen and The King out to play with us! I was stoked! I had just put one of the stickers Mom gave me on my name-tag. So I showed it to him and we were immediate friends. I think my companions were jealous! We had another lesson with one of our investigators who knows a little Swedish and no English, we taught the Plan of Salvation and it went pretty well. We had a member who knows Portuguese with so that he could translate our Swedish more clearly into Portuguese.

I onsdags vi gav en UV en heartattack! Another lesson with our investigator with a  baptismal date. Where our member taught me a new word! Topan! It means like thats awesome, all rolled into one single word! Its topan! =) We had a lesson with our newest investigator, she lived up in Norrland with a member family who owns a farm and they gave her a Mormons Bok and she wanted to learn more. She is super sweet and reminds me a lot of Monica! I love it! We had an awesome experience where we deceived one of our YSAs who is less active. We wanted to heart attack her room while she was at school but her class got cancelled and she was just going to go home, but after our teach she was at the center. So Syster Jenson went on splits with her as Syster Sprague and I "went to put up Swedish Class Flyers" aka heart attack her room. She lives a good deal away by tram so we hopped on and I knew we had to switch trams midway through at Mariplan. So we hopped off grabbed some goodis and then hopped on the other tram. About 20 minutes later I realized that we were back to where we started from. We took a big gigantic circle. We jumped off and did some cool Swedish practice as we had one minute to teach the Plan of Salvation. We finally got on the right one headed the right way. I blame it on the fact that I had only ever been there once and I wasnt entirely sure where I was going. We got there and got it all decorated. Syster Jenson called and told us that since we were taking so long she and our YSA were going to go get some shoes she could wear for Pday from her house. They came and we hid in the corner of her dark room and scared her really badly. It was pretty funny. People in Sweden dont do Heart attacks sadly. We then had an awesome experience with another of our less actives as She shared with us how she was able to talk with her best friend about things and resolve the problem that had kept them from speaking for years and years. 

I torsdags we had a cool district meeting on effective study and then ended up going to the Vårdcentral to have Syster Sprague's heart checked out. While waiting my companions were able to teach someone in the waiting room. It was interesting but it took a turn for the worse as he realized that we don't date while we are on missions. It was comical being on the outside of the situation and being far enough away that it would be super awkward for me to say anything. We had to cancel a member dinner because we were stuck in the vårdcentral for approximately 2 and a half hours. it was crazy!

I fredags we got to do weekly planning and made cards for the children of the Holdaways. It was super cool! It was pretty much just a way to show them that we loved them and they really ended up liking it a lot. The Systers had the spiritual thought so we used Helaman 5:12 and used an object lesson with Jenga! I loved it and the kids enjoyed it as well.

I lördags we had multiple teaches and they went pretty well. My favorite was with our scientific investigator. I thought about how we could connect his scientific mind with his interest in the church. I was reminded of the Scientific Method a week ago and figured we could use that in some way. He wasn't able to meet for a couple week so we put it on hold. On the way into town I thought of Moroni's promise of the Holy Ghost witnessing of truth. (10:3-5) We took the Scientific Method and created an experiment for him to test the Holy Ghost. He seemed stoked and I really felt the Holy Ghost working through us. It was awesome! We hadn't seen one of our new members whom we usually see multiple times because he lives close to us. We stopped by his house and no one would let us in. We are nervous about it so we were secret agent systers as we tried to figure out if his lights were on or not. Sadly they were not so we are still nervous. 

Igor, I söndags, We had church where we had planned on having 4 investigators and 3 less actives there. EVERYONE canceled =( It was a bummer. We had one unexpected investigator show up which made things feel better as everyone slowly cancelled. Our member dinner cancelled and so we ended up going home after getting some appointments for the week. Syster Sprague and Jenson made pancakes and then we worked on a surprise we have for some of our investigators. Its pretty awesome. We also worked on our lesson plan for our district meeting, yup we actually get to teach it this week! Im super excited for it actually. Its on Unity and relying on the Spirit. Its an interesting topic considering what explosion happened and how we are at a loss as to what we can do to fix whatever is broken. Not entirely sure what is broken but It certainly is broken. Its been super quiet since last night between the few of us. Its lame. 

Challenge time! So during personal study today I found a talk that a friend of mine had sent to me while I was in the MTC, about the sacrament. Its called "Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament" by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone. It was an awesome talk about the privilege that we have as members to partake of the sacrament. How the meeting itself is something wonderful and that we should be aware of our part that we have in the meeting itself be it if we are just attending or if we are actively involved. I hope that you all can look it up. It really strengthened my testimony on how much we need to prepare and attend the meeting. If we are not there we cannot participate in the meeting, feel of the Spirit that uplifts us and makes life so much easier to go through each week. I hope that you can read this talk and apply it in your life. My wish is to see you all in church on Sunday. If you can make it happen I know that the Lord will bless your obedience with blessings that you cannot fathom! 

I love you all so much! Thanks for all the emails! Be good and have a great week!

Syster Juker

A Week of Miracles

From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 4:19 AM
Subject: A Week of Miracles


Family and Friends! How goes it?

Miracles happen, even if we don't recognize it. This week has been a week of miracles! How was your week? I know that these seem like rhetorical questions but I promise they aren't. I really would like to hear whats going on with you all. Your struggles your successes. I still love you guys and want to help in anyway that is possible. So respond every once in a while! =)

Last Monday, we went on a picture adventure for pday. I did a photo shoot! Just like I used to do at home! It was a lot of fun. I got to use my talents as well as have a lot of fun with Mette, Maria, and Talitha! It was a lot of fun. Ill send a few of these pictures attached here. After Pday we had a good chat with a new member and learned more about his conversion. After FHE I was able to talk with a girl who comes to practically every activity here but doesn't meet with the missionaries at all. We talked for 2 hours! It was so cool! We cried, hugged, and she opened up a lot to me about her situation. We switched back and forth between Swedish and English. She is a great woman of faith and has lots of experience of following the holy ghost.

Tuesday we had a great member teach with one of our investigators who wants to be baptized! He has a hard time sometimes understanding our accents in Swedish so our member was able to explain more what we were teaching. Right now we have an investigator who cant read, and speaks Portuguese and is learning Swedish! Its crazy difficult to teach but with the Spirit and the help of a translator we are able to help him understand more of Christs doctrine. We had a great member dinner! I love going to families with kids for dinner. Lots of families don't have kids and invite us over but the kids always make it more fun. We talked about prayer and the importance of it. We gave a commitment to say personal prayer as well as their family prayer together. Their son reported back on Sunday that he had prayed by himself every night as well as with the family. It was cool to be a part of just a little testimony builder for a young man. 

Wednesday was crazy busy. We set up a schedule to teach regularly our baptismal date! We made a choice to be more obedient and the Lord provided lots of ways! We woke up with one plan for the day, because of weekly planning and by companionship study we had a whole completely different one! Busy Busy Busy! We had Syster Vistaunet and Syster Kaiser here from Stockholm for an hour so we went on splits for a teach. It was so awesome to see Syster Vistaunet again, I miss her a lot! Then since everyone else had been with Syster Kaiser besides me I decided to take the dive. We did some study after walking around for a while. It was a pretty interesting. Not so much the normal routine of going and going! We got to meet with our chinese investigator from about a month ago. He got busy and we couldn't meet, but because of our obedience we were able to meet with him again. He never had a belief in God and since meeting with us he has developed just that! He is awesome. We then had a meeting with a new investigator who is having a difficulty comprehending that God is her Father in Heaven not just her creator. Anybody have any suggestions? We then had a good dinner with the Holdaways. They are an amazing family! We joked with Sisla on how she is "in sweden but not of sweden" like in the world but not of the world because she is practically American =)

Thursday, I had a flash back to home stuff! It was awesome! We had a great district meeting on our goal about 90 baptisms before Christmas. Made lots of good goals to help us on the way! But the flash back from home came as we all (Äldste Smith, DeLeuw, Sprague Jenson and I) Were on our way to our service project. There is a family here, who while his wife was away he decided to redo the house. She was on the way home from Stockholm. I was super surprised what he did! We walked in and there was a hole in the ceiling, wood shavings everywhere, nails and wood everywhere. Just like when building our house in Utah! It was super awesome! We worked hard for a couple hours and got lots done, but not all of it! We took out the floor, took nails out of the ceiling, fixed the hole, and then we offered to come back when they are ready for drywall. I sure hope we are able to! Its crazy how many different things I have learned to do from my parents. Not many other missionaries and  members know how to do so many things. 

Friday we did a crazy schedule that didnt make sense but we did it! Had a great teach and a good chill with the YSAs!

Saturday We got to meet with an awesome 18 year old. She is awesome and we really enjoyed talking with her! We had lunch at the center before Swedish class. With Swedish class we had four new people come who could already speak Swedish but just wanted a place that they could just speak Swedish in a safe environment. After our class we did some language study as we waited for our Elders to get out of a teach. We then planned with more detail our plan for our mission fireside. Since that day was a holiday we all went to the kyrkagård to sing. (graveyard) It was super cool to stand singing as people walked to different graves to light candles. The spirit was so strong. I got a bit teary eyed a few times as I thought of different things. It was awesome to know that we will see our loved ones again! We made it late home but it was well worth it. 

Sunday we had studies, church and had an awesome fireside with the YSAs. We talked of the two kinds of conversion (as mentioned in last email from Diana) The social and spiritual conversion. How much more willing we are willing to invite people to an activity instead of teaching them about the law of chastity. Its really awesome! That talk is great The Missionary Nextdoor. Way worth finding and listening too. =) They all felt like missionary work is something that they can do and that they had a misconception of what missionary work is. It was awesome!

So this week has been a testimony to me of the importance of doing what the Lord requires of us so that we can have success. When we do what He has asked us to do we have bound Him to bless us. Isn't that a pretty cool situation. He wants to bless us so he has given us commandments so that we can use our agency and follow His way and receive His blessings. When we don't do what he wants us to do we have no promise! So how can you do this in your own life? My challenge this week, is to make a decision to follow Him more closely to receive His blessings! I know that we can all work on these things. In PMG there is a section on Christlike Attributes, pick one and work on it. I know that even if you don't think you do have something to work on PMG has an activity at the end of the chapter that will help you narrow it down. Heavenly Father loves us enough to give us ways to improve take those moments and show Him that you are serious! 

I love you all and are so thankful for all the love and support you all have given me!

Love

Syster Juker

The Missionary Next Door

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 6:14 AM
Subject: The Missionary Next Door

Hello Family and Friends!

How has everyones week gone? It's halloween! I'd like to see pictures of who you were this year! =) Currently we are at the center like normal and our friends just came for our Halloween photo shoot! I'm going to take pictures of everyone today! So next week I'll have pictures to share! =) So this last week! Here is the shpeal!

Monday: We had pday, we played basketball at our chapel in Västra Frölunda with the elders. We had great laughs as they would sing "Everybody clap your hands!" a song from home and then everyone would jump in and clap/sing. It was funny. I spent some of my time writing a letter to Mom and playing some lightening! Then we had a lesson with Zaher before FHE. We had an awesome lesson on the Godhead and he decided that he wants to be baptised! So we set a date! It's so awesome!

Tuesday: We had a few teaches. We have one investigator who doesn't know English, knows a little Swedish and speaks mostly Portuguese. Äldste Bush and Jenkins wanted to do some split thing with the Systers again. So this time Syster Jenson went into the teach with Jenkins and Sprague and I stayed out with Äldste Bush to do some role play and language study time. But because he was having a hard time understanding the lesson started late and due to our plans in the evening and being double booked. Syster Jenson had to leave and so we went in to the teach and watched Faith in Christ. He really enjoyed it and said he had a much more grusome one at home, and asked for a copy. Then Syster Sprague and I went to Forsamlingsråde. (ward counsel? in English i think) It was cool. I'm in charge of the missionary part of our Christmas party with the ward so I needed to be there. The first meeting I didn't have to say anything and just took notes on what was discussed. This time that all changed. Since we were there on time. They gave us time to talk about our investigators, what our goal with the Julfest is and many other things. I was nervous as could be and wasn't all that prepared. I looked at Syster Sprague and she didnt understand what was going on so I took the "stage" so to speak. I shared all of the info and plans that we 5 had talked about and was scared out of my mind! They all understood and I felt super accomplished. We then went home to plan and eat dinner before Syster Jenson got home from the member middag with one of our YSAs.

Wednesday: Seemed to be a day of recognization! We had the hardest time focusing on those things that we needed to do! Whenever there are a bunch of missionaries at the center the work is difficult to get done. We prepared stuff for our Swedish class to start back up again and put the flyers up around town. As we were out we tried to swing by our new members house but she wasn't home. So then we walked back to the bus stop Syster Jenson and Sprague stopped to contact a women. To contact in three is just awkward so whoever is farthest away continues going. So I did and as usual. I walked to a nearby bench because no one was around. I began to sit as I saw a women struggling to push a stroller and another kid on a trike. So instead I walked over and asked her if I could help her out. We talked about the day and the cold weather. She was really sweet! It didn't get to the gospel before she got her attention drawn away and shooed me off a bit. It was an amazing situation just because I jumped out of my comfort zone and spoke in swedish. I'm just a chicken to do it in front of my companion. But I am getting better. The YSAs are awesome at helping with that as well! 

Thursday: We had an awesome district meeting about finding work. About jumping out of the box and doing the things that we don't normally do. We did roleplays and it was fun! After that we did some preparation for our fireside next Sunday and listened to a talk titled The Missionary Next Door! It is awesome! This is the challenge this week! I want you all to find this talk, I can't remember who it is by. Her voice is a bit different but the message is amazing! The line that applied a lot to us as missionaries was "call us weird, make fun of us, it's ok we don't care because we are getting transfered!" She goes through the aspects of member missionary work and how we can do all these things in everything that we do. My challenge for you is to listen to it, take notes and apply it! Use the peer pressure you have to give people the greatest gift they can ever have! The Gospel of Jesus Christ! The Atonement is the only way and we know this and everything because of the Restoration of the prophet Joseph Smith! I know that as we do the little things and be the example of the believers that we should be we can do the most good in the world! We visited one of our less active members and she is super cute and shared her blanket with me again because I was freezing cold. It was sweet! We talked of President Uchtdorf's talk on the Forgetmenots. I love that talk. That's a good one too look it up! =) We also witnessed miracles as we had just talked of how people came to him because they knew that He was of God. When we were on the way to her house we were known! Two people came up and asked questions, then once in Frölunda Torg three more people asked to speak with us! It was so cool! We found a new investigator who has a faith in Christ because he helped him overcome addictions.

Friday: Wowzers we had a meeting with the Relief Society President to talk about those who are less active in our ward. There are so many people that dont come to church. We can see the second harvest as we just work with the members who already have at least once upon a time had a testimony of the gospel! Its my passion I think! Its an amazing experience to stimulate a manifestation of the Holy Ghost and bear witness of his presence. Then to see the look in their eyes as they remember all of the times that they have known what to do just because of that gift and following its inspirations! Its the way we can relight the flame! I know that this is the way the gospel changes lives! We can do all we want to do, but when we cant find the equated happiness in other ways we long after what we have already had! Be the one to help those near and dear to you remember the truth and make the changes required. We are the biggest strengths to those who are around us! Just do the best you can and help all of those around you! We can rely on each other and make it through anything!

Saturday: We had Swedish class and a great experience with an investigator! The night before I talked with him on the phone and someone had robbed him of clothes in his storage unit. It was stressful. I asked if he could meet at a specific time and experiment on Christ. Put him first and then be able to do all of the studies that he needed to have done. He said when. But he talked of how he had laundry time booked. I made a joke of he didn't have many clothes to wash so of course he would have time to meet with us. I had never heard someone laugh as much as he did. So He agreed to meet. Then during Swedish class he called but we were teaching and missed the call. We called him back and he was super excited to share what had happened with his experiment! We found that his phone call was him canceling. But since we didn't answer he just continued working and finished half an hour before we were supposed to meet! It strengthened his faith so much! He was so happy to know that he could rely on the Lord that much! Its the truth too! If we (btw listening to A more excellent way! still reminds me of Äldste Juker!) put Him first in all things we are blessed with the things we need!

Sunday: We had an interesting Sunday with two investigators and a TU in Relief Society/Elders Quorum. We had a combined meeting on indexing! I cant believe how easy it is! We've got to spend more time doing that! I want to do that when I get home! I knew I  bought a laptop for a righteous reason! Can you guys help with that? I certainly think so! We had a Member middag with the Elders where Äldste Smith read the kids minds and talked about prophets and how we can recognize righteous men! It went well! We had to wait for the bus for an hour or so. Then we finally got home and did companion study and language study! I'm working on translating my patriarchal blessing its awesome! I'm learning a lot more Swedish as well!

The work continues! We have a goal of 60 baptisms in the mission by Christmas! We all know that its a righteous desire and as we all work diligently and prayerfully we will be able to reach this goal! The Lord wants it and we are his servants! How else would it work besides through us and the members? I'm ever so thankful for my membership in this the only complete True church on the Earth today! We are guided just as the people of old by a living Prophet Thomas S. Monson! I know that he is Gods mouth piece on the Earth today. I know this not only because I was born of goodly parents who taught me truth but because I have taken the test and asked God for myself to know. When teaching people how to pray who have never prayed to God before we tell them its exactly like a conversation with a good friend. You make sure He is on the line, you see how He is doing, Thank him and listen to what He has to say to you. Then ask Him the questions and desires of your heart. He is there to listen and strengthen we just have to ask for help. If you haven't done this in a while that's your own personal challenge from little ol´me. Prayer works! We are all living proof of that! No matter the stupid mistakes we make through life we always have those who know the truth and pray intensely for your favor, your help and guidance. I know that without prayer its hard to keep those "primary answers" alive. Just like we can't expect a plant with shallow roots to live in the desert our testimonies roots have to be continually nurtured and loved with prayer, scripture study and those three hours in the pews at church. I know that its tough but stop limiting yourself and take His hand He will strengthen you I know this because he has strengthened me. There is no way that I could do this work without my Savior in my life everyday strengthening me each step I take!

I love you all and hope you all have a great week! 
Love 
Syster Juker

Jag har orkester I min magen!

From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 3:28 AM
Subject: Jag har orkester I min magen!


Hello Near and Dear ones!

It's getting dark and cold here in Sweden! It's fun! Syster Anderson teases me about being from California because I have a hard time having a jacket with me. So this past week I brought my jacket with me everywhere. One evening as we entered the Institute she told me "Congratulations on taking the first step in bringing your jacket. Now step two is to actually put it on!" I'm working on it! Don't worry I am not usually too cold. Just enjoying the chilly breeze! When it's rainy dark and cold I have my jacket with me and on, buttoned all the way up with a scarf! It chilly!

This week has been interesting! Last pday we were going to go hiking and take in a good view of Göteborg but it was rainy and overcast so the Elders changed plans. They decided to go shopping so we did some of that with them and they all tried on onsies. Like gigantic footy pajamas without feet and with a hood that zips all the way up. They are cool and I would wear them at home but certainly not out like people do here. I'll attach a picture of such nonsense. The elders in our ward try to pull pranks on us and on monday night they tried to get us to carry 7 or so Book of Mormons home in our bags but I noticed and pulled a switch. It was funny, although they didn't make it home with them either. 

On Tuesday we finally got our visiting teaching assignments from our ward. So we went on splits with Eva and Mary Malm. Syster Sprague and I went with Eva, She's the relief society president and we were visting the less actives that we figured would be home on a rainy cold day. So they were older. We tried one of our less actives, Kirsten, she didn't answer. We went to another lady's house and she didnt answer and her name wasn't on the plaques so Eva rang all the other doors until someone answered and we learned that she had died and no one in the ward had known about it. 

We had some fun missionary memories in that trip. Then we had time enough for one more visit. Instead of having her pay for parking and take her two month old baby again out in the rain we just jumped out to go try to visit them. The address said 5I (im glad you cant tell if its a number or not because she just told us to go check its number 51. But once we got out of the car we noticed the building was 5 and the doors were A through K. So she said it must be 5 E. So we didn't think anything of it and we got to 5E and checked it out on the nametag plaque thing inside of each building and she wasn't there. Then we just started laughing.We remembered an "E" sound in swedish is the English I. So she was telling us in swenglish where to go and we just took it for english. It was really funny! We had to share it with everybody. Who also got a kick out of it!

On Wednesday we had a spirit-filled lesson and lunch with a YSA who is adorable! Then as we were waiting to get on the spårvagn to go into town a group of little boys came up as we were speaking in english with each other and one just stopped and stared at us. We started talking with one of them in Swedish. He asked where we were from in swedish and we would answer in swedish and then any question we would ask him in swedish he would respond in English. It's pretty nice when it works out that way and they will speak to you in enlgish and you can speak to them in swedish. We are both happy people. His name was David and he is 11. He was pretty nice to talk to, we all understood each other. Not like some swedes who talk incredibly fast in swenglish so you can hardly keep up. We had our weekly meeting with the institute counsel and a teach sceduled at the same time so we got to go on splits and I was chosen to go into the meeting. It was good we got a lot accomplished. As always we had Syster Andersons delicious dinner at the institute after the lesson finished. We met a members younger brother who joked around about how the only reason why I haven't been translated yet is because I like strawberries more then raspberries. I told him its because Im from California and he determined that that was ok. 

Thursday I got the most adorable suit from my Mom and Dad! I love it! I sadly forgot to take pictures in it but I LOVE IT! I cried when I read the letter and pulled it all out! So much love in every stitch! 

We are working with a less active who has some issues with pride and I sent him the scripture in Alma 26:11-12 about boasting of Christ and doing all things through his power. He kinda got upset with it so we had to talk about that and relieve some concerns in the teach that night. He ended up giving us a wonderful closing prayer and my first kneeling prayer with someone else besides my companions or by myself. It is an amazing experience. The Spirit is really evident as we reference ourselves and show our humility in a kneeling prayer. 

For Friday I did something drastic! We had some time before an appointment at lunch and I couldn't do anything with my hair and Syster Jenson offered to cut some bangs. So we did! It feels like I have a Caterpillar on my forehead! it's definitely different than anything I have ever had before. I have to actually blow dry or straighten them everyday. But I didn't want to today so I just pulled them back. I'll send a picture in this so you can see and make fun om du vill! =) We had weekly planning and ran into Klebber- a nyomvand who left for Brazil the next day. We were able to set up a time to meet for later on and say goodbye. We had a teach with Sampath and he has developed a desire to believe in God! This was the one who prayed to energy the first time he ever met with missionaries. We showed him the video of the scientist who testifies of God and he really enjoyed it. He wants to look at more of the videos on our church website and things its awesome! Im really happy for the progress we have been able to help him with. 

This weekend was called Halloween Weekend where YSAs from all around the world really, come to celebrate Halloween together and have a couple days of partying and a special sunday testimony meeting. On Saturday they had a devotional that we were invited to so we attended. It was really good and about ways we can make our lives better by acknowledging things we can't change and moving on. He showed us a slide in the slideshow that had the top 5 fears of sweden. They were death, war, the dentist, sickness and speaking in front of people. So I made the comment to Syster Spraugue that they would really hate to have to speak at a funeral while sick after having gone to the dentist in war time and the YSAs in front of us overheard and laughed. It was silly! The YSAs here are amazing and have such strong testimonies! After lunch we had time to do some language study and then we had a teach. The Elders had made another prank and locked our bags together with a lock. So we had to find a lock before our member dinner with them. We are plotting revenge its funny. We made our way to the families house and we learned that they forgot us. It was a little depressing but instead we ended up having to buy dinner so I picked a salad and we all chipped in and made a gigantic chicken salad and soup as a district and finding out our color personality. It was fun.

Sunday we had lots to do because our church was at a different time and we attended the testimony meeting with the YSA. They are crazy strong! I felt so good coming out of that meeting! We had two less active members go up and talk about how they knew that they were missing something but they would have never guess that it was the church. Everyone was crying it was really cool to be apart of and knowing them each and what they have gone through to be able to do what they have done. Being a missionary rocks!

Challenge Time! This morning in my personal study I was studying from the conference before last in a talk by Cecil O. Samuelson Jr. on TESTIMONY ITS AWESOME! (I CANT FIGURE OUT WHY THIS IS IN CAPS SO YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT) TOWARD THE END OF HI S TALK HE BRINGS UP 10 POINTS "First, everyone has worth because we are all children of God. He knows us, loves us, and wants us to succeed and return to Him. We must learn to trust in His love and in His timing rather than in our own sometimes impatient and imperfect desires.

Second, while we believe fully in the mighty change of heart described in the scriptures (see Mosiah 5:2; Alma 5:12–14, 26), we must understand it often occurs gradually, rather than instantaneously or globally, and in response to specific questions, experiences, and concerns as well as by our study and prayer.

Third, we need to remember that a fundamental purpose of life is to be tested and stretched, and thus we must learn to grow from our challenges and be grateful for the lessons learned that we cannot gain in an easier way.

Fourth, we must learn to trust the things that we believe in or know to sustain us in times of uncertainty or with issues where we struggle.

Fifth, as Alma taught, gaining a testimony is usually a progression along the continuum of hoping, believing, and finally knowing the truth of a specific principle, doctrine, or the gospel itself (see Alma 32).

Sixth, teaching someone else what we know strengthens our own testimony as we build that of another. When you give someone money or food, you will have less. However, when you share your testimony, it strengthens and increases for both the bearer and the hearer.

Seventh, we must do the little but necessary things daily and regularly. Prayers, scripture and gospel study, attendance at Church meetings, temple worship, fulfilling visiting teaching, home teaching, and other assignments all strengthen our faith and invite the Spirit into our lives. When we neglect any of these privileges, we place our testimonies in jeopardy.

Eighth, we should not have higher standards for others than we do for ourselves. Too often we may let the mistakes or failures of others, especially leaders or Church members, influence how we feel about ourselves or our testimonies. Other people’s difficulties are not an excuse for our own deficiencies.

Ninth, it is good to remember that being too hard on yourself when you make a mistake can be as negative as being too casual when real repentance is needed.

And tenth, we must always be clear that the Atonement of Christ is fully and continuously operative for each of us when we allow it to be so. Then everything else fits into place even when we continue to struggle with certain details, habits, or seemingly missing parts in the mosaic of our faith." tHE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS TO READ HIS TALK, APPLY IT TO YOUR LIFE. EACH ONE OF THESE POINTS HAVE A GREAT EFFECT ON THE HAPPINESS WE FEEL IN LIFE AND HOW WE CAN OVERCOME THOSE HARD TIMES. i KNOW THAT IF WE JUST TAKE THE TIME TO BE MORE OBEDIENT WE WILL BE BLESSED! 

I LOVE YOU ALL AND HOPE THAT YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT WEEK AND WILL CONTINUE ALL THE WAY THROUGH!

LOVE ,

SYSTER JUKER

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

Triple Vistaunet!

From: Jennifer Juker <jennifer.juker@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 3:25 AM
Subject: Triple Vistaunet!


Hey Everybody!,

This week has been a bit of craziness! Plans always change, no matter how solid they seem in personal study has no reflection on what actually does occur throughout the day! On Monday we went coat searching! It was a lot of fun! Talitha, Syster Visaunet and I went to some secondhand stores to try to find a winter coat. It was really fun to find all the miscellaneous things that were just so unique! Syster Vistaunet found a great carpet skirt at a shop that I found a gigantic red coat at. They didnt take cards so we had to leave and get cash. It was only 100 krons and I took out 500 because I felt like I needed to. Upon walking back to the shop to purchase our things we noticed a different shop to go to. We found THE PERFECT coat for me! It was 499- the Spirit guides! Its so warm and perfect!

On Tuesday we had lots of plans made and they didn't really go through. We got a phone call to go to a school for their Religion day. They had all these different religions at their school and we got to represent our church. We got there and waited for the Elders to come and get us. As Äldste Smith and Norr came and got us they shared that they had been there for a while and had not stopped speaking Swedish. I froze! I am not skilled in this speaking Swedish all the time. It seemed like walking into a nightmare! I freeze when trying to speak with people of our own ages and younger. I am certainly more willing to talk to those who are younger. But in this situation I had no choice! It was a must to be able to make everything work. We had many missionaries and many students come to talk with us. People would come in, be greeted and then the conversation would go to the tables. Meanwhile other conversations would end and we would wait for more people to come in. Multiple times Syster Vistaunet and I would notice that out of all of the missionaries who have been out longer then us we would be the two set up for greeting. We took on the pressure with ease. It was really an awesome experience to rely completely on the Spirit so that I could answer their questions. I developed a lot more confidence in making mistakes and recovering. 

Wednesday Syster Jenson was sick and Syster Vistaunet and I had a really awesome teach with Paul a man who has no idea who God is or who Jesus Christ is! We were able to develop a relationship with him and let him teach us about him. It was awesome! He is very busy but we hope to be able to talk with him again and teach him more about what gives us all so much happiness! 

Friday we were able to do awesome weekly planning and had an opportunity to do an FHE activity with Rich and Sisla. He is an American and had taped a bunch of 9\11 rememberance things and invited all of the missionaries over to watch it with them. It was interesting to remember all of the emotions and things that were around as that occured. We all remember exactly where we were and what our first thoughts were. I really loved seeing them. 

Saturday is a special day! We made cookies for Elys baptism. During lunch we received the elusive phone call from President Newell, regarding transfers. Our dear Syster Vistaunt is headed to Halmstad! My beloved Halmstad! She is going to do wonders there. It's really sad to have her leave. We all shed some tears but we realize that the Lord knows what he is doing! Elys baptism went without flaw! The water was cold, because we had a child's in our wards baptism before hers. It was super cool to be on the font side of things. Her Brother was able to attend. She thinks he will follow in her footsteps. We had a fika at her house and talked with many of her non member friends who were there and we were home 10 minutes before bedtime! 

Sunday was a funny mistake. We all thought that since it was the weekend after conference we were fasting. All the missionaries fasted. We sat in the chapel preparing for the meeting to start as we realized that there were speakers on the stand. We all chuckled a little to ourselves as we realized all 5 of us missionaries were fasting and no one else was. We all fasted with purpose so it counts, but it was just funny to see the difference between here and the states. Evidently they don't usually fast in the months of General Conference. We thought it was different. Also, we realized that we were only going to be able to wear Syster Vistaunet's clothes for a few more days. So we all got dressed in her clothes and we were a triple Vistuanet! It was awesome!

Challenge time! I actually got this challenge from an experience I had this week. We were trying to figure out a scripture to help one of our investigators on his journey in learning the gospel. We all had differentiating opinions and none of us would budge. It was a terrible situation. I felt really bad about starting the contention. We just had a difference in opinion. We all realized that we were all being stubborn and not humble and acting in the Spirit. Its an interesting situation to reminisce on. We can learn so much by just becoming humble and trying to put others needs before our own. In order to do this I have realized my reliance on sincere prayer. When we are able to sincerely communicate with our Father in Heaven and tell him how we are feeling he is more able to bless us in all that we do. When we forget Him we seem to be forgotten. It is not the case but we are the ones who distance ourselves from Him. I am reminded of the story of Enos and his mighty prayer. My Challenge for you all this week is to take into consideration your sincereity of prayer. Put others needs before your own and live worthy of the Spirits guidence! Can you do it? I know you can Believe in the Lord and Trust in His care and you will be blessed with happiness.

I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!
Syster Juker