Twas a good week indeed!

Käre vänner

Så this week.. Twas a good one indeed!  We started out by going on a hike for P day.  We hiked up to Jungfru rack.  It’s just this really big rock on a cliff with a cool back story.  So we hiked up there next to the ocean and it was really pretty.  We were then notified that we needed to take the boat to the mainland for a zone training on Tuesday night.. spend the night.. then have conference on the next day.. then take the boat back that night.  Pretty typical, but the boat back did leave until 9:00pm so that’s never fun taking the late boat because we don’t get back home until about 12.45am haha. But it had to be done.  We couldn’t take our car either because the boat was too full so we just had to take the trains, but it worked out!  

Zone training went really well.  We are prepairing to have a mission tour in a few weeks.  That is when we have some big leader in the church come and speak to us.  A few times ago it was David A. Bednar, but this time it is a counselor in the Europe's presidency for the church.  I don’t remember his name but it should be cool.  We also have been challenged to do something called, "Project Purification.”  It's a way that we can clean our self up to be more open to the Spirit and feel it more when we teach and testify.  It’s very simple actually.  You start it with a fast (no food or water for 24 hours) and you pray and ask Heavenly Father to show you things that you need to change about yourself in general and as a missionary to help you focus more and not get distracted from the spirit.  Throughout that day, you write down the things that come to your mind and then you have a list.  For 40 days, you look at the list every morning and ask for strength to over come those things and then at the end of each the day, thank Heavenly father for helping you with those things. You are guaranteed to see results and change in yourself, your work, and the spirit in which you teach by.  Äldste Scott and I started yesterday and I can say I have already seen a difference.  I was surprised with how many things came into my head that I wrote to down.   So that’s some thing fun we are doing! 

Since we were in Stockholm all day on Wednesday with a lot of extra time... We had the opportunity to clean the Stockholm temple! That was fun.  Man, the spirit in that temple even when cleaning was still so reverent and peaceful.  It really is the Lords house. After that we went and worked with the other Elders in a nearby city and stayed with them until we had to take the boat back! 

This week has been crazy with tourists... For the first time since I have been here on Gotland, the streets have been packed shoulder to shoulder in the inner city with tourists!  Äldste Scott and I were having a ball talking to everybody!

 

Another cool thing is that we had a member here ask us to swing by there friends house in the country.  She told us that it’s a really nice couple with kids our age.  She also said that the husband is from New Zealand so him and my companion would have something to talk about.  We went over there and they were both sunbathing..  We walked up and asked if this was the right house and they said yes!  So we explained to them that this member friend of theirs asked us to swing by and say hi to them and that by companion is from Australia.  We quickly switched to English and we became friends fast haha.  We sat down and began to talk, and these two people are so real and awesome.  They thought it was cool that we chose to come out here on missions, are also from different countries, and were asking a lot of questions too.  They showed us around their house and he showed us his hunting bow and guns.  He was a legit hunter and farmer American style. They then showed us their kids rooms and my companion saw a gaming computer in the sons room. My companion, Äldste Scott was a huge computer gamer back at home, got money competing and stuff.  So now there son wants to meet us too haha.  So we swapped numbers and they want us to come back soon to  meet their family!  They are not really religious but are awesome people.  We want to  go back there sometime this next week to say hi and maybe bring up the gospel again. 

There was a "senior couple retreat" for all the older couple missionaries in Sweden this weekend.  They all came here to Gotland and the Mission president and his wife as well.  Having them all attend our little Branch (church) Sunday was fun! 

But that’s pretty much it!  Getting back to the grind and soaking up the sun talking to  people. 

Love you all! 

Äldste Blackburn