BlackburnBlazingSweden: "An All American Boy"

More fourth of July fun!

Wow it’s been an amazing week! The weather here has been really hot. Like 27 degrees Celsius. (almost 80 degrees fahrenheit) Crazy for Sweden! Hopefully I’m getting some of my tan and blonde hair back! haha.

Were the new models for "Euro Missionary Mall" (Just kidding)

We had some great lessons and some awesome contacts on the street this week! Right now we are doing a lot of work with old investigators as well. One cool contact we had was when we were walking down the cobble stone streets in Borås and there was a group of like 6 teenagers sitting on a bench and we looked at each other and said, “ Lets do this”. So we went over there and introduced ourselves and started talking with them by asking them a simple question. “What does family mean to you?" (in swedish of course) and that really got them talking. We tied in how families are central to God’s plan for us and we went on from there and shared more. They were so locked in to what we were saying as we talked with them for about 15 minutes (a long contact). We ended up getting all of their numbers. I love talking to teens because first of all they love Americans and second they are really open and have open ideas.

Fourth of July the American way at an American's farm!

We also had a bomb 4th of July party at Brother Murphy’s farm. He’s from Mississippi, is in the ward here in Borås and is the most American guy EVER. There were Swedes at the party too and it was fun because we had a competition ~ "The Manliest Man" contest. It consisted of: fence post javelin throw, the tree trunk toss, the log throw, and longest Frisbee throw.

There were about fifteen guys competing and it was about half Americans. I ended up winning the Frisbee throw and there had to be an overall “winner” of the games and it was between me and 3 other Swedes. The last "tie breaker" game was, who could throw an american football the farthest… I didnt realize that Europeans have most likely never thrown a football in their LIFE (haha) so I ended up winning! LOL Great time with american food and stuff!

The weather this next week should be cold and rainy. Found an incredible deal on a bass guitar! (Yes, approval from the President :) It’s been so great learning hymns and such. Also, I’m glad I was able to ditch my "side pack" and get a Swedish back-pack. Been crazy this last week trying to figure out the area, etc and the members live pretty spread out in the surrounding areas of the city. We walk and take the bus most everywhere. The ward is a decent size and they are good to us. We are still very new to the area but getting better every day. YES, this week has been amazing!

Let me know of any other specific things you want me to include in these letters! Love you all!

-Äldste Blackburn