BlackburnBlazingSweden: Australian companion, Service, and a Ukulele "Mate"

Äldste Scott and Me :)

So this week was a big change! I had a good few last days with Äldste Jämsä the beginning of the week. He had the chance to say goodbye to people and some different cool families. We also did some service! Since winter is over and there are no more icy roads, it is a law to change your tires from winter studs back to summer tires, so we did that for a member earlier this week and that was fun! Time came on Tuesday night which we had a good last night together while he was finishing packing and getting his suff together. The next morning, we got up and President Madden came to pick us up to take Äldste Jämsä to the boat to take him back to Sweden’s mainland. He picked us up at about 7:00am and we were on our way! We dropped him off and that was that!

I had a good majority of the day with President and Sister Madden waiting for Äldste Scott to come in on the next boat about 3:30pm. So I was sitting and kind of board for a bit…. when I saw sister Madden crocheting…. She is super talented and was making this awesome dress for her granddaughter. I asked if crocheting is hard.. and she said not hard, and then I spent the rest of the time crocheting haha! She taught me how to do it and I am in the process of making a tie! I will show you the product next week if it is done! I never imagined my self crocheting but a hand made tie would be pretty sweet!

We picked up Äldste Scott and by the end of the first night we were best friends! haha We really get along well and he knows how to find the fun in missionary work while still working hard. That is needed in a place like Gotland! So I’m super excited for this transfer. We have set some good goals and things we are working towards. I figured the best way to get a new companion settled into a new area is to do some really good service…. and by "really good" I actually mean really disgusting…. His second day we drove to a persons house we work with to clean for them but their house was very interesting. Almost everything had a nice coated layer of cat hair and gunk made up of who know what on it and probably hadn't been cleaned for a year. SO, we cleaned that mess. We really should have burned it, BUT cleaning builds character. We also changed some winter tires to summer tires for another member as well.

The first week of a transfer is always slower with work because it’s a lot of transfer time and your new companion is getting settled in and learning the area and people. So by the end of this week we decided to go out on Sunday morning and just went hard with talking to people. We split up and talked to people on the streets and had some really good lessons with people! We also had this class this last week that the Stake is doing for the members. (Several “Wards” or congregations make up a “Stake”) It’s a self reliance program and helps a person become self reliant in teaching them how to find jobs and such. It’s a very good tool for our new member friends looking for jobs and how to live in Sweden. We will start teaching them Swedish this next week and it will be good. A lot of time this last week was spent doing that.

Yesterday we also went to an investigators house for her birthday. We went with a member who we are really good friends with. They wanted me to bring my ukulele (mandolen) so that we could play together too. So we got there and it was a little party! We talked to everyone and they all really liked me and my new Australian companion Äldste Scott haha. The time came when we played some music and there were several musicians there. We sang and played songs and then left a really good spiritual message with them. Everyone there were Christians and all had a strong belief in God, so we thought we would share something that we could all relate to. ~ There is a scripture in Mosiah 2:17 in the Book of Mormon and it talks about how when we are in the service of our fellow men, we are in the service of our God. There are so many people in need. Families that are split up and flee to other countries to get away from death and war. This really is just a phase in their lives. It doesn't make them who they are. I want to let you all know that I am doing as much as I can to help these people in every way possible as a missionary. And in return, they are grateful, and our Heavenly Father is grateful.

Love you all and have a good week!

Äldste Blackburn