Hej, HEJ! Vilken underbar dag det är :)

I just hung up the phone with a guy who said he was too tired to meet today from the AC/DC concert this weekend. Haha. Elder Oaks is apparently in Stockholm too. 

Ohhhhhh, Stockholm. I don't even know what happened this week. We'll just go in chronological order, I guess. 

Tuesday: got dropped like it was hot.

Wednesday: ate incredible salmon with incredible Finnish members. hit my nine month mark. Decided to celebrate with shakes from Max. So we walk in, and a guy says hi and we ask if he knows us, "Nah, I just wanted to say hi." So we ask if we can sit down and talk to him. We do, and we get ready to talk to him and his friend comes over, sits down, and freaks out because she just got baptized a few months ago. So she tells this guy we need to teach him! We got his number and have an appointment set up with him. So we go get in line and a German guy is staring at us, and we told him all about our church. Then two guys contacted us and we gave them cards. It was the strangest fast food experience I have ever had. #secondharvest

Thursday: heading to a less active lunch, meet strange guys from Malmö. These two guys asked us where we were from because we were speaking English, then followed us for a while and asked to meet with us later. We told them we could meet with them ONLY to talk about God and our religion. They said they'd be interested in that. So we set up a time and place. They seemed pretty weird... the most forward Swedes I have ever met in my life... so we made the elders come. They show up, all dressed up, and were just tickkked that we brought the elders. It should have been awkward... but we just laughed super hard, and ended up having a really good discussion about the church. 

Friday: We did service for a Persian lady with the elders. She made the best food ever. 

Saturday: nothing interesting. 

Sunday: Alan came again! Second week in a row! He's the beeeeeeeeeest. Sister Beckstrand just loves him and always talks to him during the lessons. :)

As for the week over all, I got asked a few times if I was from Norway. Elder Aabo must be rubbin' off on me. We found two less actives on the subways! That never come to church. I can't wait to work with them.. I still miss Gävle.... I talked to Johnny for a while. And Eric is getting baptized this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) He's such a special guy, and has come so far... He's ready though. :) It's hard to not be there. 

That was basically the week. Pretty funny, but also really good. I found a quote that I really, really like. I found a ton, but I thought I would share this: 

“What weight is thrown on the scales of pain when calculating the hurt of innumerable patients in countless hospitals? Now, add to that the loneliness of the elderly who are forgotten in the rest homes of society, desperately yearning for a card, a visit, a call—just some recognition from the outside world. Keep on adding the hurt of hungry children, the suffering caused by famine, drought, and pestilence. Pile on the heartache of parents who tearfully plead on a daily basis for a wayward son or daughter to come back home. Factor in the trauma of every divorce and the tragedy of every abortion. Add the remorse that comes with each child lost in the dawn of life, each spouse taken in the prime of marriage. Compound that with the misery of overflowing prisons, bulging halfway houses and institutions for the mentally disadvantaged. Multiply all this by century after century of history, and creation after creation without end. Such is but an awful glimpse of the Savior’s load. Who can bear such a burden or scale such a mountain as this? No one, absolutely no one, save Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of us all” (The Infinite Atonement [2000], 105).

I know that's true and that he did it for our benefit. He did it so that we could find joy even in our trials. Men ARE that they might have JOY. That quote fills me with awe, thankfulness, and hope. None of us rely on the Atonement NEAR enough, and it's something I really want to work on. Study it!

Love you all so much, 

Syster Stetler

Takin' on Stockholm!

HEY!!!!!!!!! I don't even know where to start. This week was full of new things: new investigators, new ideas, new nightgowns.... #grammas Yes, Sister Jackson and I bought nightgowns. Best purchase ever. I alla fall....

I SAW ANNELIE!!!!!!!!!!!! We went to lunch!!!!!!!!!!! It was so so so fun. She is the cutest, nicest person in the world. :)

We got a very small English class going! We are teaching two friends from Ethiopia (and yes... they can run.... 14:18 & 15:30 5ks). They are so cute! One is really good already, so Sister Jackson is just helping him with his pronunciation and the other can't hardly speak any, and so I teach am helping him from Swedish. It's the best thing ever. I love helping people with their English because I know it opens so many doors for them. So I just taught him how to introduce himself this week! Also, everyone stares at us wherever we go when we speak our English. I didn't think they would, because everyone can, but people ALWAYS ask us where we are from, and it's super nice when they talk to us first!

So the first week here in Stockholm, we were just running around trying to figure the area out. But now we have it down, and it's just been a struggle to get it going. Especially compared to Gävle... So we thought a ton about what we could do, because Stockholm is not the friendliest place in the world haha. So I decided I was going to talk to everyone possible in more natural situations, and that if I did that, I would ask God for a potential investigator every day (getting their number and giving them a Book of Mormon). We had been talking about the power of faith and good desires, so we go out and I am super excited, but then I get some of the meanest rejections I have ever, ever seen. And I was walking up to our apartment and just trying not to cry. It was not fun, and Sister Jackson was not having fun at all either. But we just HAD to be out talking to people. So we go home and eat dinner (just straight pb&js and we ate them on the floor...) And I pulled myself together and realized that the day wasn't over and that we could still find someone. So we go back out, and nothing.... But we had a lot better attitudes. 8:50 comes, and we find someone. He was SO excited about the Book of Mormon and he wanted to meet with us. We were thrilled and I felt God had really answered my prayer... so we were heading home and I see this guy sitting on a bench and I go and talk to him and he is Christian and was really interested in the idea of the Book of Mormon- 8:55. We got two potential investigators with 10 minutes left to go of our day. I felt so humbled and grateful for God's help and guidance. By Saturday we had a full schedule of lessons... It was a huge lesson in faith. I've been focusing on that principle a lot. "But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out. Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof." Alma 32

So everyone is on semester here... #vacation. And the whole country just takes it easy haha. Church was super small, so we basically ran the whole thing! All of us four missionaries spoke! I talked for 20 minutes. I had a lot to say haha. And President was there! Sister Beckstrand was so cute, she was like, "I understood what you said!!!!" But I switched off with an elder for translating in sacrament. Then we taught Gospel Principles, an investigator came! And so did President haha. So then we conducted Relief Society, Sister Jackson played the piano, and I translated. It was ridiculous haha. 

It was a really good week though. I learned a lot! I love training and I love Sister Jackson so much. She has taught me SO much! I love you all as well. Have a great week. :)

Love,

Syster Stätler

Baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barbara got baptized!!!!!! I really wanted to go and President said I could, but it was too expensive and we had a lesson that night. But I heard it was amazing. Syster Kimball said she bore her testimony and it was really powerful and she just had a glow about her. :) ALSO, Jerry is getting baptized on the 25th and now Danl has a baptismal date. I hope you remember me talking about these people.. Gävle is just blowing up. I am really sad I am not there anymore. Also, Markus (the football player), that came to church right before I left told Syster Kimball "I feel this tingly feeling, I have never felt it before!" I am really sad I am not there... but good things are happening! Also, happy 4th!!!!!! I hope it was really good! I missed having fireworks. We had a great time with the American families here though! There 4 American families in our ward and everyone is just obsessed with this ward haha. It's really fun, and crazy diverse. Our bishop is German, 1st counselor is Chilean, and 2nd counselor is American. I dropped a hint hard that I wouldn't be mad if that couple made us those Chilean hot pockets.... (empanadas?) and he said he'd have us over and make us some. :) And the Pence's are going to pick up their son from Salt Lake who has been serving in Santiago as well. Weird connections haha. 

Training is awesome. Sister Jackson is perfect. Seriously. She is so cute. She is super calm and sarcastic and fun. She isn't scared to speak Swedish even when she knows it's not perfect (unlike me in my greenie days) and she is patient in how much she understands. She is so excited about the work and willing to try new things. She is a great teacher and has a powerful testimony. I could keep going and going. It's not even been hard because she's so great. I really hope I am being patient and loving enough because I know I felt so dumb when I got here. She knows more about Swedish culture than me and she shows me stuff all the time haha. We know where we are going most of the time and if we don't we just ask someone. I don't know why I freaked out so much... Haha. 

But on the other hand, the work needs some serious help. We got dropped this week and we really only have one progressive investigator here, and that's Katrina. We met with her and she is down for keeping commitments and living the commandments but she doesn't know if God exists. And Karl, from Syria, told us he believes in the Book of Mormon but can't live the commandments we have. We met a few people this week and received some referrals so I hope they go somewhere! 

We had a zone meeting on the Book of Mormon. They brought up the talk "Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon" (read it) and I got this strong feeling that we should invite everyone in our ward to A) if they haven't read the Book of Mormon, read it and B) if they have, to give one away to a friend. So we started doing that. The members are really excited about it! And we are going to teach English and try to find people that way. 

There is an American guy here that is seriously so funny. We were playing soccer and someone kicked the ball but it missed the goal but he just yelled, "TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!" I lost it haha. Also, there is this corner where people perform and there was an ASIAN doing MICHAEL JACKSON. It was amazing. 

Oh, and look up "Gamla stan" in Stockholm and I live like 3 minutes on a subway from there! Tell me what you think. :)  (Here's a picture of Gamla stan in Alyssa's area)

Love you guys! Have a great week! Also, don't forget to tell me about exciting things in the news there, whether church or national! I like knowing what's happening! 

Love,

Syster Alyssa Stetler