BlackburnBlazingSweden: Never a dull moment!

Hur står det till?!

Hey guys! Our new mission car just came in. Pretty bad gas mileage tho.. But I guess it will work. …

So this week was nice. I would say I probably met the weirdest man in my life a few days ago. There is a man that has been meeting with the missionaries for a few years. We called him up to see if he wanted to set up an appointment. Even on the phone as we were hanging up we could tell how odd he was…. haha As we were hanging up.. he said "puss och kram" which is a swedish phrase for "hugs and kisses” in english.

His "museum"

His outdoor display

So things were looking positive! He actually lives near the top of Gotland Island, so it took a while to get there. He never gave us an address and just told us to drive to a church in specific city and then he would call and guide us to his house. So that’s what we did! We drove there with President Madden (our branch president and senior missionary here) and he then guided us to his home. Our thought that he was a bit odd was confirmed when we saw a 50 year old man standing in the middle of the street wearing bright colored womans yoga pants with big furry wool socks. He also had a very bright colored shirt that seemed to be a womans as well and he even had a pair of white headphones around his neck for an extra piece of style. haha! We drove in and saw this house that looked like it was falling apart. We got out the car and he gave us all hugs and said he wanted to show us something. (He smelled like alcohol.. but there was something else a bit off...) so he took us around his property showing us the art he made. He even set it up like a little show room! He really likes the dark, scary and not super appropriate art haha. So after the out side show case, he took us back into his “museum.” There was a little shed with a bunch of his art in it. He went on to tell us all about them and told us that he doesn’t sell his art and that it goes in his museum. We walked in and then we walked out not long after we walked in haha! It was pretty weird.. and a bit scary!

So after that we were walking into his house to teach him a lesson and talk to him about the gospel. We went in and it was just as scary and weird…. Not going into too much detail, I’ll just say that I had to move a bunch of creepy porcelain dolls off the couch before I could sit down. We started talking and quickly realized he was too gone in the head to teach or have a normal conversation so we ended the lesson and closed with a prayer. We then grabbed our things to leave and he told us to wait and he left the room and said he wanted to play us a song. He came back in the room with a guitar, played us a song on his guitar and sang to us. haha It actually wasn’t that bad of a song, but after that we got up and left his house and said goodbye to him. He gave us one more hug and said "puss och kram!" again (hugs and kisses).. and then we got in the car and drove away thinking that was super weird. And that was that!

Singing "Oh My Father"
in Sacrament meeting

That kind of stuff happens in the country side of Gotland... But the rest of the week was more of the usual stuff. A lot of talking to people and teaching people. There was one guy we had a long talk with on the street the other day and it was all about how he thinks religion takes the rights away of people with the rules we follow specifically in the church. What’s hilarious is that is totally not even an argument if you think about it. First things first ~ We dont force people to be a member of our church. We invite people to search for themselves to find the truth. That includes testing the commandments we follow to see if they will receive the promises that come with those from God. What’s important to remember is that we don’t make these rules. They are given by God. God has given us something call "free agency” and that is for us to choose what we want in life. That is how we can grow and that is how we can learn. People can choose to follow these rules, or not. God will never force anyone to follow Him and his teachings, other wise there would be no growth…. But I can promise you that I have felt the blessings of following the teachings of Jesus Christ/this church, as well as millions of other members around the world, and it’s not something I have just accepted… It’s something I have prayerfully thought about and lived. I have seen obvious blessing in my life because of following them and I know they come from God.

Ha det så gött!

Äldste Blackburn