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
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