This was a great week! The highlight was...

Elder Renlund came to Stockholm and spoke to the church in Sweden!

This was a special visit because Elder Renlund spent lots of his childhood years growing up in Västra Frölunda (where I served for 6 months) and served his mission in Sweden, and is born of a Swedish mother and a Finish (Swedish speaking) father, so Swedish is almost his mother language! It was so special to see him address the church here in Swedish. He explained how much he loves Sweden because it's his personal Waters of Mormon (Mosiah 18:30) and Swedish because its the language he first read the Book of Mormon in, first prayed in to get an answer to know if the book is true, and first blessed the sacrament in. I connected with him because Sweden is where I've been able to strengthen my personal commitment to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and where I've been able to see my testimony grow the most. While I wasn't baptized in Sweden, Sweden is a holy land to me because I've seen the hand of God bless me and others here more than I've previously seen in my life. He also blessed the land of Sweden and the members here and re invoked previous prophetic blessings on the missionary work here, that was a very special moment for the members. It's not often a Swedish speaking Apostle blesses and speaks to Swedes.

The day after the fireside he also held a mission broadcast where he addressed the missionaries in Sweden, that was amazing. He stressed the nature of our calling a ton, and the blessing we have to serve in the beautiful country of Sweden. The biggest take away I had from him was that he was just a normal kid growing up. He was asked to read the Book of Mormon by a priesthood leader, he prayed about it and got the answer most every 11 year old gets ("it just felt good"), yet somehow he was able to live his life in such a way throughout his life that now the Lord trusts him to be a traveling Witness of Jesus Christ. 

The second highlight from the week is that we had family home evening with the Palethus and ended the night with a hot chili eating contest, that was a party. I'll send a video, that chili was hotter than a summer day in Cambodia.

Also quick explanation, I did not travel to Stockholm to meet Elder Renlund, the meetings were broadcasted to all units outside of the Stockholm and Stockholm South stakes. However, it's good that the Spirit isn't bound to physical locations like we are, because the spirit was plenty strong up here anyways.

Hope you all have a great week!
Äldste Wilson