Guess who came to town today?

This week has been pretty awesome! Life as a missionary in Sweden kinda is pretty awesomely fun and hard, but ya know, time really flies. I have been on a mission for over two months. How crazy is that?

Sorry they're late, but I'll attach some pictures of the Denmark Copenhagen Temple. For some reason in both pictures we weren't with our companions. And the pictures aren't very good. But the temple is awesome, the baptistery is two stories underground and has an awesome mural of the baptism of Jesus Christ, and if you look closely (Well, you guys cant look closely because you guys probably never will see it!!! Hehehe!!!) you can see vikings and danish kings in the crowd on the bank.

Someone gave away their personal collection of church literature (Not sure who or why, but it may be an old man who recently died in the ward) and I managed to snag a nice copy of Jesus the Christ. It's a real miracle, the whole book is over 800 pages but this edition contains every page and is still less than an inch thick. It makes no sense.

Also, fun fact of the day, my mission has iPhones. I believe we are the only mission in the world with iPhones, but they have existed here for a while and they are awesome. I have never loved google maps more. As such, I decided to grace you all with a panorama of the apartment I took when my companion was opening mail! Unfortunately, we don't have any big pictures of Jesus in our apartment, so that's rough.

The last picture is the goal: the baptismal font. Except the glass in front of it is super reflective so you cant really see it. But it looks super cool in real life.

So ya, I just thought I'd take this time to clarify something. You all may have noticed that I don't really spend a lot of time talking about my investigators. All I'm going to say is that the number of investigators I have is roughly proportional to the amount of time I talk about them.

Quick trivia question based on the past life of Elder Wilson: What random obsession came before Sweden? The correct answer is... Baptizing the Pope! And guess who is coming to Lund today? None other then the Pope! I mean, how cool is that? If I can ninja star a pass along card into the Popemobile, not only will one of the Lund Elders buy me a kabob pizza, but I could also fulfill my second prophecy. Go to Sweden on a mission? Check. Baptize the adored leader of the catholic church, and in so doing convert roughly 100 percent of South America? We'll see... You can all watch the news to see if I succeed or not.

MVH,

Äldste Wilson

Jay-walking a highway! Twice!

It's Halloween time! All the pluckgodis stores are going on sale, which means the amazing Swedish candy Saltlakrits is super cheap, so I can eat a lot of it!!! Pluckgodis stores are amazing though, the way candy works in Sweden is you walk into a massive store and all the walls are filled with shelves of open bins of candies, and you just walk around with a bag and scoop candy into it, then pay based on haw many kilograms you have in your bag. There is this one Swedish candy that's a flavored marshmallow-thing wrapped in an almost fondant candy, then sprinkled with sour sugar, it's the second best candy ever. The best is saltlakrits, salt licorice. It's these super black licorice candies completely covered is salt. When you put them in your mouth, your mouth completely explodes with satlyness, but once you suck that away you have an amazing piece of black licorice left that tastes absolutely amazing. Just as the great apostasy makes the restoration seem even more brilliant in comparison, the licorice's taste becomes even more fantastic after the salt overload leaves your mouth.

Yesterday we had dinner with the Röndahl family, and brother Röndahl was an apprentice to one of Sweden's best chefs or something like that, so dinner was kinda super duper amazingly beyond good. We had meatloaf wrapped in bacon served with boiled butter potatoes and lingonberry jam, then for dessert we ate an awe-full raspberry cake. And when I say awe-full I mean every bite made me full of awe for how beautiful life is. Absolutely amazing. Between all the pluckgodis, Kebab pizza, Julmust, musli, potato and korv, bacon wrapped meatloaf, raspberry torta, and Swedish cheeses, it's a true miracle that the kilos keep shedding.

This week the ward council went to the Copenhagen temple, so I got to confirm over 25 (there is a super bad shortage of names in Europe, so the youth are limited to four temple names or as many personal names they bring, and the endowed can only do family names) people that day, but Äldste Gergetz wouldn't let me report that to the zone leaders :( But I did go to Denmark, so that was cool, and I got to learn the confirmation prayer is Swedish, so that was good, and I got to hold my breath for a super long tunnel which was also great.

Also, something that makes life in Sweden super fun is in city limits pedestrians always have the right-of-way, no matter where they cross a road, and jay-walking is legally protected. Then on the high ways between city limits pedestrians don't have the right of way, but are still allowed to jay-walk, and they have massive roundabouts instead of on and off ramps. So on the way to and from dinner at the Röndahls I may have jay-walked a highway roundabout twice at night. It's actually pretty awesome. A little sketch because any oncoming traffic is coming at 70 kilometers per hour and I'm wearing a dark suit at night and they are turning, but everyone has to have something unsafe with their mission and getting told to wear a jacket doesn't count.

Just so everyone know, I did finally get a jacket. It came from a second hand store, which is nice because that means it was pretty cheap, and it has this weird quality to it which makes it look like a thick jacket, but it really isn't. The thing is, it still hasn't dropped below 7 C during proselyting times, and I don't really think Sweden gets super cold this south in Sweden, so I don't really anticipate getting an actual coat this winter unless I get transferred to Norrland, the north third of Sweden.

The relief society president in Lund is a laser physicist and I overheard her after Sunday school asking another scientist in the ward a great question about the electrons in a water molucule and I just wanted to go and sit with these two geniuses and listen to science and look at the drawings they were making, but with a lot of self restraint and encouragement from my companion, I went to Priesthood instead. Then on the way home I saw that they had changed the boards at the bus station to advertisements for Doctor Strange, and that also made me sad because that looks super good. Then during dinner with the Röndahls someone started talking about the Nightmare before Christmas, and once again I felt the desire to watch that movie, or at least listen to it's soundtrack. Those last two instances I got over pretty quick, but I still find myself wondering what a laser physicist would not know about the electrons in a water molecule, and wanting to ask her about it, and talk about what she does as a laser physicist, and wanting to do more science and watch Cosmos and do calculus and study how DNA packs itself into spindles and ugh. I miss science. 

MVH,

Äldste Wilson

Da Jesus Book

I love Sweden. The first four pictures are the view from the YSA center. For those of you who don't know what a YSA center is, which was me until 21 days ago, they are centers for young single adults. Basically thy are buildings where young adults can come anytime and hang out, they teach seminary and institute in them, they hold family home evening and have game nights in them, ward council meets in it, they're pretty useful. It's kinda like a second church building, but the entire building is treated like the gym. But ya, they have one in Lund and it's the fifth floor of a building, so it's got a pretty nice view of Lund. I love Lund. I love the weather here, even though I do keep getting weird looks for not wearing a jacket. Actually, three days ago we were exploring an apartment complex, looking for a way around port-coded doors, when we tried to stop this man with the usual stuff but he said "No, I'm not interested. Put a coat on, it's cold." and kept walking with out changing speed. That is probably the bluntest a Swede has been to me.

 
Lund is strange. I cannot get a feel for how big it is. I have walked and bused to almost every side of town, but it keeps getting bigger. They the other day I was in Malmö on splits with a Zone Leader, and when we were driving back to Lund I found several skyscrapers. And I was like "What? Since when did Lund have skyscrapers?" I mean, I know there's one in the picture I just sent, but I saw multiple skyscrapers that I have yet to find. On the topic of skyscrapers, look up pictures of the Twisting Torso, in Malmö. Super cool building, I've seen it in real life. It's real.

Anyways, we have an investigator that could use some prayers. His name is Johannes, and he's coming to a fork in the road and can't decide what direction to go. He doesn't really want to believe in God because he knows that he has not lived Gods commandments and doesn't really want to follow them. But he knows he feels the spirit testifying of the truthfulness of our message. We have only taught him twice, so we haven't gotten to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but he said he wants some time alone to think about whether he wants to listen to us. Can you all pray that he will decide to continue meeting with us? I know that if we get one more lesson to talk about the Atonement he's as good as in the water, but Satan is really trying to get him to stop listening to us.

On a more trivial note, the sixth picture is of an amazing book. Da Jesus Book. It's the new testament translated into Hawaiian Pigeon. Emma, if you have Mrs. Write the Gov and Pol teacher, tell her that I found this book in the possession of a Priest in Sweden. She has a copy in her class room and she read to us The Lords Prayer, it's good stuff.

Anyways, life is good. Sleeping is awesome, my bed is literally the most comfortable bed I have ever been in. My apartment is kinda small, but has some amazing views out the window, picture five. What a beautiful tree. Just beyond the tree is a cultural center that likes to play loud music late at night, but it's ok because my bed is so soft the sound just gets absorbed. I got stung by a bee two days ago while hussing to catch a train, so my thumb is a little swollen, but I was mostly just surprised that bees are still active in the rain and cold of mid-October Sweden. 

They have two meats here that taste amazing, Korv and Kabob. Korv is like a sausage, if they have it at IKEA you all should get it and try it. It goes with pasta, in eggs, fried then sandwiched, it's the perfect missionary meat. Kabob is actually banned in the USA but I don't know why, so that's a little sketch. But it's this massive slab of meat (I don't know the animal) that is skewered and cooked like a rotisserie chicken. They shave off thin slices and put it on pizza with fries, best pizza ever. If I were to come home now, Kabob pizza would be what I miss most.

Brooke, Link and Addison are so cute! I sure hope you show them pictures of their God Father at least twice a day.

Well, that's all I got time for.

MVH

Äldste Wilson

How would a 3D character be expressed in a 2D world?

This week has been amazing and full of lots of great hard work. My companion does a great job helping me learn Swedish, and learn it I am! Jag tro.  I can speak decent Swedish, but on the streets my pronunciation gets caught in my nose and I have a super hard time speaking because I'm trying so hard to match everyone's pronunciation. It's weird, but ya. In Skånland people talk super high in their mouths, like the end of the Y in 'by' while breathing out of your nose with your tongue along the roof of your mouth, but they do that for everything. So when I stick out my hand and say my normal routine it ends up sounding like I'm trying to blow my nose while I talk. But the worst part is that's kinda normal. Especially for the girls. The girls here in Lund talk super weird, like, if you didn't know Swedish it really would sound like the Swedish chef. There you have it! The fun fact of the day! The Swedish Chef if actually a female!

As for our investigators, the work is slow but successful. We don't have a ton of investigators, but the ones we do have are all very interested in our message. Unfortunately we did have to drop a couple of people this week because they were not so much interested in conversion but bible discussion. They were super nice and funny and open to sharing what they struggle with and stuff, but they firmly believed in grace saving everyone and did not accept the BOM or Joseph Smith or even the need for Priesthood. Anyways, I still love them and something my companion keeps saying is even if someone doesn't accept the gospel and Gods plan now, they have kept their first estate.

The picture is a great one my comp took. For those of you who can't read Swedish, it's a poster for a missing cat named Wilson, full of a nice description on the characteristics of Wilson and pleading to call some number if you see him. Sorry for not a lot of pictures, because Lund is super beautiful and has cobble stone roads and massivie stone churches and all this cool stuff, but I never really think about taking a picture, sorry. I'll try to get more this week.

Back in the MTC, one of the Öldungers enjoyed deep theoretical questions, and he was talking about dimensions one day and said something I keep thinking about for some reason. Basically, if I were a 2D character and I met a 3D character, I would only be able to see his 2D characteristics. So if I were to draw a 2D box around this 3D person, I would be unable to comprehend how this 3D person stepped around the box.

So basically, I have created two events in my head. Both of them occur on a football field, and height and width are the same for both characters. In the fist situation, the 2D characters time corresponds to the 3D characters time, but mr. 2D is stuck on the 50 yard line. Then if mr. 2d puts a 2d box around mr. 3d, mr. 3d steps sideways, forwards, then back to the 50 yd. line and, to mr. 2d's eyes, magically escaped an inescapable box. Basically, mr. 3d has unparalleled control over mr. 2d's physical world.

In the other situation, mr. 2d's time corresponds to mr. 3d's depth. So at t=0, mr. 2d is on the 0 yd. line. At t=.00001, mr. 2d is on the .00001 yd line. In t=.00002, mr. 2d is on the .00002 yd line. Do this for the entire length of the field, and you get a mr. 2d tube, a solid shape that represents 100 seconds of mr. 2d's life. Now put Mr. 3d on the field, and he has a very strange ability to interact with mr. 2d's time. If he stands on the 20 yd. line and watches mr. 2d draw a box around him, the box doesn't even start to exist until t=20, so mr. 3d can step to the 19 yd line and get around the box, but in so doing he also changes when mr. 2d first sees him, changing when mr. 2d begins to draw the box. Well, time's up now, so I'll have to leave this with you with this not fully explained. I have more thoughts on the matter, but they'll have to wait 2 years. Basically, the moral of the story is that I need to better anticipate what to write about, so I can email home better stuff about my mission, not about mr. 2d and mr. 3d. 

MVH,

Äldste Wilson

So, Sweden kinda rocks...

Well, I made it to Sweden! After long flights and much half-sleep, we landed in Stockholm roughly 9am on the 27, then did a little photo shoot and sight seeing, then met the missionaries serving in the Stockholm area. A short devotional and quick walk later, I was giving en Mormons Bok to a Swede while Äldste Behle (Just who I was assigned to temporarily) talked about something along the lines of either miracles or the baptist faith. Not entirely sure. That night though all my MTC district slept in the mission home and awaited our doom.

The next day we all gathered in a small chapel and had a great fireside on missionary work and working with members. Then we actually got our areas and our comps., and I got sent to, drum roll please, ... LUND II! Lund is a collage city just north of Malmö, but still definitely southern Sweden. I was actually hoping to get sent some where south because they don't speak Swedish here, they speak Skånish. Basically, Skånish is a crazy dialect of Swedish so if I learn it first I can learn it the same speed everyone else learns normal Swedish, and then wherever else I go the Swedish will only be better! Unless I go to Gotland, Gotlandish is special.

My new companion is Äldste Gergetz, he's a pretty cool guy! He's from Wisconsin and has been out for a little over a year and I think we work pretty well together. And don't worry Kristy, I make sure to give him plenty of opportunities to come closer to Christ by serving me.

Probably the weirdest thing I've noticed so far is the toilets. Instead of having a lever on the side there is a button on top to flush. Other than that, everything has been pretty normal. Also, Sweden has a pretty high tax on cars so only the rich can afford them, and the rich only buy nice cars, so literally every car I've seen has been super nice. Like, over 60,000 USD at least. In Stockholm I saw a Tesla literally every five minutes, and I've seen two Model X's.

Now, picture time! 

That's all I got today, so ya! Sweden kinda rocks!

Elder Wilson