Picasso strikes again! (|] ^~ % }

This week was awesome. The highlight was this tuesday! There is a family that lives in a little place called Eden, about 2 hours away from Ö-vik. We have permission to go and visit them once every six weeks, and last time we ended up not going there, so this was my first time visiting them, and it was awesome! They're named Hans and Larayne Karlsson and they have a "woofer" (A random young European who lives on their farm for a few weeks or months, just to get away from the world and take a pause by working on a historic farm in Northern Sweden) from France named Marie. Their farm is a special one, it's a historic building and they have some special cows that are native to Sweden or something like that, it's super epic. We climbed up ladders perched on boards that some genius had placed so as to negate the 35 degree incline, spread straw in a cow pasture, and pitched a hay mountain for hours and hours. There was so much hay. Like, the four story barn was full, but they needed us to move the mountain, so we pitched four stories of hay. Luckily both Elder Prososki and I have hay allergies, so we both got destroyed. Not sure why that's lucky, but hey, not every companionship shares a similar allergy which they encounter out of season. We also ate some delicious food, like, the best pork chops and mashed potatoes with mushroom, spinach, and carrot I've ever had before. I've decided that once I'm a millionaire I'm going to buy a historic farm in Norrland and eat tasty foods for my retirement.

Other than that, this week was just fulled of hard work! Nothing beats a week full of contacting, tracting, and teaching! We have this one investigator named Alf who loves the gospel, but just doesn't want to stop drinking coffee. It's sad because we cannot help him until he wants to change (Alma 32:27).

On a more positive note, check out Mosiah 4:30 (and 2 Cor. 10:5, Alma 12:14, and D&C 6:36)! May sound really hard, but there's a simple way to make watching those things a habit, it's called Virtue! PMG says:

"Your mind is like a stage in a theater; in the theater of your mind, however, only one actor can be on stage at a time. If the stage is left bare, thoughts of darkness and sin often enter the stage to tempt. But these thoughts have no power if the stage of your mind is occupied by wholesome thoughts, such as a memorized hymn or verse of scripture that you can call upon in a moment of temptation. By controlling the stage of your mind, you can successfully resist persistent urges to yield to temptation and indulge in sin. You can become pure and virtuous." -PMG pg. 119, emphasis added

One very important skill is to know how to displace the thoughts of darkness that come up, but another skill is knowing how to not let your stage get blank! This isn't only important, it's a commandment! See Alma 37:36 and D&C 6:36. Still sound hard? Memorizing a scripture or hymn works! Not only to displace preexisting thoughts, but also as you memorize and practice the scripture, your mind isn't empty. Listen to good music, and focus on the words! Yet another way to make sure your mind isn't empty. Also, avoid bad media! If you're intentionally filling your mind with thoughts of darkness and sin, you'll have a lot harder time using those memorized scriptures correctly.

Anyways, basically I'm just writing this because I can, because I have time, because no one emails me and everyone emails my companion. Well, that's all though.

Hejdå!

Äldste Wilson