So....Mom, guess what? My piano skills did something haha. So we talked with N___ about the baptismal questions and she got nervous about tithing and about the word of wisdom. She was expressing just how much of a sacrifice these things would be. We listened and tried to comfort her and asked her to pray about them. This was Thursday night. We planned to see her Friday night and talk things through and figure out if she would have her interview (and have the elders come up from Malmö). Friday comes and she can't meet because her daughter is really sick... so we call her and she says she still wants to do the interview. She came Sat. morning and we had planned on going through things one more time and reading scriptures but she was feeling nervous and stressed and it just felt right to play some hymns (not super well) and calm down before the elders came. So we did, she got a blessing (the priesthood is so real), then got her baptismal interview and decided to be baptized. :) It will be Saturday. Please pray for her! She is so strong and faithful, she just relies on God and Jesus Christ even when things seem impossible.
S____. She is so cute!!!!!! She is swedish and 23 and SO CUTE. We talked with her a lot and she told us how many "coincidences" she has had starting with meeting the missionaries and we told her that is the spirit and God's hand in her life. We explained what the spirit is and how we can feel it and how it testifies of truth. After the lesson she quietly asked us, "What is that ticklish feeling in my stomach and I feel tingly and cold?" That's the spirit! She is doing great, we are going to dinner with her tonight :)
We also had zone training and we talked about conversion and building up our areas. It was really great. I thought about my own conversion and the conversions that I have seen on my mission and it's so beautiful. It answered a lot of my questions that I had. President Beckstrand talked a lot about how it's hard to keep strong when you are in a place that challenges your beliefs (like Sweden) but we can do it through LIVING the gospel. Know the gospel is true by being true to the gospel. And then we went on splits! I went to Lund. Such a cute little town. But seriously, we were trying to get to a train and Sister Irene fell then a minute later I fell into a puddle. Seriously, superman dive into the only puddle as far as the eye could see. Haha. That luck... And then we had Albanian food! The most delicious food ever. We seriously made such good friends with this family already! Haha.
Friday was interesting.... Sister Poulson thought she had lice.... so that brought me back to elementary school for a second... but she doesn't! Just an itchy head. But in the meantime we washed everything in our apartment and threw so many things away. .... No lice and a clean apartment. All good things. :) And Sister Poulson is incredible. We work so well together and we have a lot of fun. She is really patient with me and understanding and we just work! I love being a missionary. :)
I've been studying joy. Do you feel joy from the gospel? "Men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25) That's our purpose! But the word "might" inidcates that we can choose not to. Some people find it easy to be happy and others feel like they were destined to be miserable. But I like this quote. Are you seeking true happiness? Or pleasure?
“Happiness includes all that is really desirable and of true worth in pleasure, and much besides. Happiness is genuine gold, pleasure but guilded brass. Happiness is as the genuine diamond, which, rough or polished, shines with its own inimitable luster; pleasure is as the paste imitation that glows only when artificially embellished. Happiness is as the ruby, red as the heart’s blood, hard and enduring; pleasure, as stained glass, soft, brittle, and of but transitory beauty.
“Happiness is true food, wholesome, nutritious and sweet; it builds up the body and generates energy for action, physical, mental and spiritual; pleasure is but a deceiving stimulant.
“Happiness leaves no bad after-taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction; it calls for no repentance, brings no regret, entails no remorse; pleasure too often makes necessary repentance, contrition, and suffering; and, if indulged to the extreme, it brings degradation and destruction.
“True happiness is lived over and over again in memory, always with a renewal of the original good; a moment of unholy pleasure may leave a barbed sting, which, like a thorn in the flesh, is an ever-present source of anguish.
“Happiness springs from the deeper fountains of the soul, and is not infrequently accompanied by tears. Have you never been so happy that you have had to weep? I have.”
If you or someone around you is searching for pleasure, it's probably because you or they don't have the happiness or joy that they desire. It comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I promise it does. Remember to be thankful, count your blessings, rely on God, and do your best and happiness will follow. I'm working on that too. :) The church is true!
Love,
Syster Stetler
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