Midsommar!

So this week was a bit of a party week. Viking volleyball was super fun (even though my team didn't win), then we had splits with the ZLs on Wednesday then district meeting Thursdayay then it was Midsommar! That was super fun, almost all the missionaries in the zone came to Göteborg again and we went to the churches Midsommar party in Utby which was super cool then played games and ran through fountains the rest of the day. Then for Saturday we also had the "day off" so all the missionaries came in again and we played some more volleyball and soccer then more games, way fun. I got a lot of media, I'll send that your way.

Also though we had a cool experience this Sunday. We have a good friend named Ludvig Lagerfors and he is pretty cool and he invited us to teach his friend Audie from the Philippines. So we go and meet Ludvig outside the Library and then Audie shows up, but he also brought his own friend, his Church of Christ pasture. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with the Church of Christ they believe that the primitive church apostated and was prophesied to reemerge in the Philippines in 1914 because of some scripture in Isaiah, and their pastors are "called" to use the bible to prove all other religions wrong (aka Bible Bash). So we're all like "OK buckle your seat-belt, this is going to be fun" and this pasture starts trying to his us with all the normal Church of Christ stuff (basically only proving that the church apostated and was prophesied to be restored and has to be called the Church of Christ, three points upon which we agree) then we start explaining the Book of Mormon at which point the Minister uses the standard "A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible. Revelations 22:19" so we were all like "Do you know how the Bible was made? When John wrote that scripture he put at the end of his own book so it applies to Revelations and thats it, the same scripture actually exits in Deuteronomy 4:2, does that make the entire bible invalid? Because I know that God cannot change, so if he were to stop revelation he would change, so we must believe in an open canon" so then the pasture was like "uhhhh, but the far east man! It has to be the Philippines because everyone knows the Philippines are the far east!" so I was "Ya, just like how Ceaser Agustus caused the whole world to be taxed" and then my man Ludvig was like "Look guys, the Bible is good and all, but you have to try the Book of Mormon. Like, it's pretty much amazing, and it 100% does not take away from the Bible at all. They teach the same message and I love the Bible especially the four gospels but the Book of Mormon is the best" at which point the pasture said "Your opinion means nothing unless you can prove it from the Bible" so Elder Harrell and I looked at each other, mentally agreed that if they were beyond feeling and would not accept the Spirit of Truth and Testimony then we would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible teaches exactly what our church teaches, so we both started asking stuff like "Where are your living prophets? Do you have a Quorum of the Twelve, like Christs church did? How did you get the priesthood, did you take the honor upon yourself or were you called of God, as was Aaron? Are you sure there's only one heaven and one hell? Why would God give us commandments if he didn't expect us to follow them" and showing how the Bible teaches exactly everything we believe and his response was "but the far east man" so we were like "OK, we're going to go now. The person we came to teach isn't listening to us, you're trying to fight us, Ludvig is trying to testify but you won't listen to him, hejdå." So we left. Moral of the story, try your best to teach with the Spirit because without the spirit you cannot teach (D&C 50:17-22. We were trying to preach with the Spirit, but they weren't listening with the spirit). But if the people you're teaching won't listen to the Spirit so you have to Bible bash, Bible bash to win. If they won't be taught it then becomes our duty to defend the truth. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12, D&C 12:2, 14:2, 6:2, 11:2, 33:1)

Anyways, now for lots of pictures and videos!

​​Actually, I have a lot more but the computer is being strange, so that's all for now!

Älskar er :)

Enjoy Hebgan without me :(
Äldste Wilson

Tomorrow we are going to have a mission-sponsored volleyball tournament for the zone that will take almost all of pday so President Beckstrand told us to email a bit today, so that is what I will do. 

This week (so far, there's an unknown day left) has been pretty awesome! Lots of good work, splitz with Kungsbacka, its all a party. Today I want to talk about the miracle of the Nigerian Snap. You see, my companion and I were walking back from the tram stop past a pizzaria and a Nigerian sees us and starts yelling "Mormons! Mormons!" So I'm all like, "Hejsan! Känner du till oss?" And he's like, "You are from Utah!" And my companion is like "I'm from California" Then a drunk Daine is watching us and yells "I'm from Danmark" and all the while we're walking up to this man and eventually start talking to him and find out he was an investigator a while ago but gave up because he loved the alcohol and the woman to much, but he's the coolest guy ever. Bald, super strong, Nigerian, dude's a bro. We're talking with him though and my companion asks if he knows how to do something called the Nigerian Snap, which is done by going in for a handshake and when you're pulling away at the end you snap off of each others middle fingers. The Nigerian knows what he's talking about and agrees to let me film him doing it with Elder Harrell, and when Elder Harrell gets a good snap off of him his mind gets blown. You see, only Nigerians and other west africans know how to do the Nigerian Snap and so when this white kid from the US did it with him it blew his mind. It was so funny, I'll send the video. His laugh was the best. We kept talking though and he said he'd start investigating again, but you never know with Africans.

Also, today is Fathers day! Yay! Happy Fathers Day Dad, you are the man that planted the seed that grew into me! Congratulations! But no really though, you are an amazing dad and a great example of having a solid work ethic and being a man. For those of you that don't know what it means to be a man, watch this video: https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/let-us-be-men-4

Now a favor, we have an investigator named Daniel that is so down for the dop but is also very African (he's from Ethiopia) and as such has a tenancy to not come to places he says he will, such as church. However, it also doesn't help that for his job he wanders around a golf course at night and tries to find golf carts, leading to a very physically exhausted Daniel going to bed at 3:00 am having to wake up and go to church at 8:00 am, a feat very hard for him. Prayers on his behalf would be much appreciated.

Unfortuanly I don't have any pictures, just a video of the Nigerian Snap. Have a great week!

Äldste Wilson

Attachments area

Family and Friends!

This week was pretty awesome. We had Transfers but Elder Harrell and myself are staying together in Västra Frölunda so nothing new there, but the sisters in our ward doubled out (one to Malmö the other to Umeå, almost the farthest apart you can get) and the doubling in sisters are training, so that's awesome. Sister Dargan has been here for almost a year and her companion, Sister Manning, is fresh from the MTC. So that's a party, they are both pretty awesome. Sister Dargan went to a semester at MIT before the mission, and Sister Manning is from Kansas City and went to BYU before the mission. She's also only 10 days older than me so that's super strange. The day the new sister missionaries are your age is a strange day.

What else, lets see, ya, not a whole lot new otherwise. We met that one lady (Ana, the one that thought the church apostated after the apostles died) again and that was super good, the biggest problem is she reads the bible in Yugoslavian and Swedish, and I don't know about her Yugoslavian version but the Swedish bible she uses is the New World Translation (We checked though, she's not a JW) so we're trying to fix that.

That's actually a cool story. Because of transfers we were with one of the ZLs while he waited for his new comp so that day we were running both Utby and Västra Frölunda so we were driving between both areas a lot to catch appointments, but as we were driving I was like "Hey, we have Hitta.se and a name, that means we also have Anas adress so we should swing by her" so we did. Her apartment was portcoded but as soon as we got there a motercycle pulled up and a guy opened up for us, so we went in, found her door, knocked and she answered in a robe that can be described by Joseph Smith: "[her] hands were naked, and [her] arms also, a little above the wrist; so, also, were [her] feet naked, as were [her] legs, a little above the ankles. [her] head and neck were also bare. I could discover that [she] had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that I could see into [her] bosom." Anyways, she immediately recognized us, did up some buttons so her robe wasn't so open around the bosom, talk with us a bit, explained she was just going down for a nap, said she'd meet us outside so we left and she came down a minute later with normal cloths on, we sat outside in the rain, and taught her. An interesting experience, but it was good we came when we did because otherwise she would have been having her nap or been out of the house.

Otherwise, I can't really think of anything that happened this week, so hejdå!

Äldste Wilson

Transfers!

First off, this week was transfer calls, and I'm staying in Västra Frölunda with Elder Harrell! Yay!!! I look forward to staying in Göteborg, it's been a good area.

Honestly though not much else happened this week. We've just been hardly working. I mean, working hard. No really though, we've been working hard. Like, hard work is the life. You see, in Matthew 11:28 Christ addresses everyone who thinks they are possibly working to hard or are to tired to do their gospel duties, then offers the solution in verse 29, forget yourself and go to work. 

Otherwise, not a lot of time, send yall some pictures.

Mycket smörgås,

Äldste Wilson

2770: LDS.org was looking a little strange today ...

5510: The kids love me, especially the American kids

5437: Last week we went the the botaniska trädgården, so that was cool. A lot like Oregon.

Member dinners in Sweden are pretty intense