Transfer to Karlskrona!!

Dear Family,

This week we got a call from our mission president on Friday to tell us that Elder Allsop is being transferred and that I am also being moved!  I move to a place called Västerås on Wednesday.  It sounds like a nice place and is just a little northwest of Stockholm and in the Stockholm North zone. Actually Elder Allsop will be the new zone leader there.  Cool!  It was really nice yesterday at our last day at church because of all the nice things that people said to us.  It made us feel like we did a good job in the area which was a great feeling.  

Also my Swedish is getting a lot better and I am getting a lot more confident with it.  On Wednesday there was a missionary leadership conference in Stockholm and Elder Allsop had to go up as our district leader.  I went on splits with the neighboring district's DL's companion.  His companion was named Elder Williams and he has only been out in Sweden six weeks less than I have so it was really good practice for my Swedish because I had to do a lot of the talking.  It is still hard to understand the native speakers sometimes but usually I can understand and say what I want to say.  

Some stories from this week were first on Thursday we went and had dinner with (one of) the Malm families (all are actually children of the general authority from Sweden, Per Malm in the 2nd quorum of the 70).   The husband is a heart doctor,  we had a lot of fun with them and had a fun dinner after.  They are a really nice family.

Also on Friday we went with our investigator, Arthur, the nearly blind, old, American, nice guy who worked with drug rehabilitation people, to a place he said was a cheap lunch and would buy for us.  It turns out it was an old church where the lunch was really cheap because it was to help homeless and like those who are trying to overcome addictions and stuff.  Well it was all pretty good except for there was this crazy guy in there who freaked out and was yelling and threw his coffee cup across his table and then stormed out and grabbed a little metal book shelf thing for papers and threw it on the ground.  I was thinking why he wanted us to go there.  But anyway it was fine and the lunch was fine and we went to a different part of the church and had a lesson with Arthur and his friend.  It was a really cool lesson.  Arthur asked us about the scripture in the Bible that talks about not adding to God's word and we turned to 2 Nephi 29 where it says that God gives more nations his word so that when they are put together they are God's word and prove that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He also asked about the scripture in the Bible that says watch out for false prophets (like in the church movie Legacy) and we told him the same answer that is given in the Legacy movie which is that you will also know them by their works and then he talks about the Book of Mormon and we did the same.  It was a cool lesson.

Other highlights from the week include getting a Göteborg specialty- called the halv special.  It is a hot dog with mashed potatoes on it and it was actually pretty good.  

It was great to hear from all of you.  I do not know what pigs say in Sweden haha but that is funny that they make a different noise.  I also heard that bees make a different sound as well because they don't really have a z noise so they don't go bzzzz.  

A kebab pizza is typically a thin crust pizza (they only have thin crust here) with a bunch of kebab meat (I'm not really sure what it is, I think it is lamb) and then kebab sauce on it.  I have come to realize that putting fries on it is more of a missionary thing, unfortunately because the fries on it are really good.  

We haven't checked out Volvo yet and we probably won't because this is our last day :/.  But a member in the ward works for them and actually we were talking about Volvo cars and stuff a little bit.  But I don't know much about them other than that they have a factory here and that there are a ton of Volvo cars here so I am guessing that most Swedes really like Volvo as their car company!

That is too bad to hear that the week has been stressful.  Know that you all are always in my prayers and I will make sure to pray these upcoming weeks especially.  But Dad that is really cool to hear about that cool case you got with the guy who got hit with the arrow, even though that is so ridiculous that that happened.  So will he be able to use his face again with the nerve all sewed up?  Also Dad congrats, or in Swedish, Grattis!, that you got to go and do that faculty course that was held in Salt Lake!  I am sorry to hear it was a little stressful though.  I think your job is so cool and amazing and how hard you work is such an example to me and I am so lucky to have you as my Dad!

And no getting the sports news isn't depressing at all.  It is just good to know how well our teams are doing!  And I when I have some free time when I come home will be able to watch highlights from a few games or something :) Too bad to hear about Michigan and Utah and the Jazz though...

My companion is doing great and my roommates are doing great too.  They both go home next month so are excited to be going home.  The sisters are also doing great and are great missionaries!

So far I haven't seen any Swedish lines on Mom's side yet.  I have been able to find Norwegian and Danish lines so far though which is pretty cool.  Swedes can understand Norwegian and can usually get the main idea of Danish, or so I am told. 

I don't think I need any of those sad lights, but I am going a little more north now so I will keep you updated.  How exactly do they work? Thanks for watching out for me :)

So as I was writing the very end of this email I received another call from President Newell that said that some things have changed and that I am now going to a beautiful place in South eastern Sweden called Karlskrona.  He said some very nice things about me which were great to hear, like they needed someone who could come into a place and hit the ground running and immediately be effective and someone that could leave in December (the transfer in December is just a few days before Christmas) and not have any drama.  I told him I was their man haha.  He also said I was the most pliable that they could think of or something like that.  I am excited to go there!  So remember that I am not going to Västerås anymore, I am going to Karlskrona :)

 I love you all and miss you and pray for each of you and hope that you all have a great week!  

Love,

Äldste Ward