Friday, December 18, 2015

Welcome to Skane

You guys... this place... is hicktown! I can't stand how they speak here.... Skånska is literally the worst. Haha. An investigator asked me if I could Swedish and I said, "Yeah, but I've only been in Skåne for a few days so speak slowly." Their vowels are different... and they say their R's like they have a speech impediment. Just when I was feeling comfortable... that's pretty much the story of the mission..

Well, now that that's out.. I will tell you about my last few days in STHLM. Saying goodbye was terrible! But Monday night, we met with ____, and she made us some incredible food from her country (Afghanistan) and told she wanted to be baptized. We had talked with her about it before, but she was always nervous, but this time SHE brought it up and just said, "I saw a miracle. Jesus answered my prayers and I want to be baptized." So her family moved from Afghanistan to Sweden four years ago, but her mom had adopted a baby there (whose parents couldn't take of her) so she was part of the family, but not legally so they couldn't take her with when they moved. They had been trying to get her to Sweden this whole time and it never worked, but she prayed and then a week later they got her! It was a really cool story... and she bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon and how you can find truth in every single verse and apply it. She said she had wanted to read the entire book but she said she knows it's true and she decided she wanted to be baptized. We asked her when and she said, "I have a test on Thursday... so... Friday?" Haha. She is going to be baptized next Saturday though, and I am SO STINKING SAD I AM GOING TO MISS IT. My luck is terrible on these things... But either way, it's happening. :) Best note to leave on ever.

Also, my BFF Alison (a YSA) is going on a mission to SINGAPORE, mandarin speaking... cause she already speaks it.... cause she's flippin awesome. I am so excited for her! 

Other than that we just said bye to a lot of people! Yesterday we made some really sad lasagna that was crunchy due to being burnt and also undercooked (HOW?).... but it made me miss the Pence's so much. They took such good care of us, and if Skåne drives me too crazy I will just run away to their house again. You guys have to meet Jensyn when she comes to Utah. Oh! And I gave Mikael Gustavsson your phone number and address, and he said he might come by when he goes next month. He served his mission in Vegas. You'll love him. 

I can't be too negative about it down here, because there are a lot of good things. First, the people are super nice and way more chill. Second, THE SANDELINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sister (Sara) Sandelin took me contacting my first day in Sweden and she just barely got home. Where is home for her? KRISTIANSTAD. We eat dinner with them once a week and we are going to spend Christmas with them. They're half Chilean, half Swedish. And hilarious. And loud. I asked where the bathroom is and they told me they only had one outside... it seemed so real! They were making me get my shoes on and everything when Sara came and saved me. They made fun of me. They also told us about this 99 crew.... this group of kids on bikes that attack people on the streets in Kristianstad. They told us about how some missionaries got concussions from them... I didn't know whether to believe it or not... but as soon as we leave this group of kids on bikes come screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaming down the street with brooms and crap and who is it? The Sandelins. Haha. They're ridiculous and I love them already.

We had a Christmas Party that was way fun and I've already met a few of the investigators. I love them! Sister Woolsey is the sweetest human on the planet. We are trying to make it feel like Christmas here because it just doesn't... I will get my packages at Zone Conference in Göteborg on Friday. But we have made gingerbread cookies and apple cider... We just really need some snow. Oh and we went to Lucia! Where the girl has a bunch of candles on her head and they sing and have a concert. It was beautiful... but every time I sit down on the mission I just fall asleep haha. I'm used to it. 

En sak till... Our district went out to Kebab, because, as rumor has it, Skåne has the best Kebab. True or false? TRUE. It's really flippin' good. You guys know what Kebab is right? I don't know why I am capitilizing it like it's a proper noun...but it's meat that's cooked really slowly and it's kinda sketch. But anyways, Elder Payne... (I'm around all baby missionaries and they are so cute and little...) ate more than half of the biggest pizza I have ever seen in my life. He was so sick... you would have died, Mom... Pictures will be included. This was kind of random... but definitely in the highlights of the week. You'll understand.

Here's a scripture I like from this week, Luke 4:

 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hathanointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to thecaptives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set atliberty them that are bruised,

Let's do this during this Christmas time! Let's go out and find hearts to heal and do what Christ would do. I've been thinking about what it means to me that a Savior was born and I'll encourage you to do the same. I made a 12 days of Christmas and I'll send it to you guys. :)

LOVE YOU SO MUCH! You're all in my prayers.

Syster Stetler

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