Transfers! Staying in Uppsala :)

Transfers! 

Watch out people of Uppsala..
Äldste Bailey and I comin for you!

This week we got transfer calls and my companion, Äldste Johnson, is getting transferred all the way down to Malmö (lowest city in Sweden).  There were supposed to be a bunch of new missionaries coming in but the missionaries from the United States visas were delayed.  Äldste Bailey in our apartment was supposed to be training one of them but because they are not arriving for 6 more weeks everything changed.  (The NEXT transfer in 6 weeks, there will be 27 new missionaries coming from the MTC in Utah.)

My new companion will be... Äldste Bailey!!!  He’s just moving down the hall and were going to kill it together!  Cant wait!  Äldste Walker, in our apartment, is getting his greenie (newly arrived missionary) that he’s been waiting for since last transfer.  He is an Elder from Canada and he comes in on Tuesday.  Our apartment will be us four minus Äldste Johnson.  The sisters here in Uppsala are staying the same, and My trainer Äldste Stoeltzing, who is still in Boras is going home!  Love that guy!  He has served a good hard two years!

This week we did a lot of finding work and got some new investigators.  We have been teaching more students too. I’m feeling more comfortable now here in Uppsala with things and I think this next transfer will be really good and Äldste Bailey and I will be a power team.

Beautiful Sweden

A cool thing that happened this last week was actually the other day.  I saw a guy holding a Mic stand for a recording microphone and I proceeded on with my musical contacting strategy.  I was then talking straight up music with him and about recording, etc….  "what software" "what mic" "what music?" and so forth.  We quickly became bros.  Got his number and we are going to” jam" AND were going to teach him.  He will hopefully be coming to Family Home Evening tonight with his brother!  So many young people and musicians in this city and it’s awesome!

Another thing I want to share.  We are working with another girl I contacted on the bus last week and she is so cool.  What’s even cooler is that we brought along a girl from the ward to the lesson and now they are good friends!  I just wanted to say that members are super important.  Missionaries come and go, but members are "constant" and they can really fellowship investigators and new members.  Missionaries and the members working together is super important! :) 

This next next transfer will be so cool and we are ready to work hard.  We will also work-out hard and get in shape!  Hope i can get as buff as Äldste Bailey by the end.:):)  I dont think that is possible.. 

Love you all and have a good week! 

Äldste Blackburn

3 Elders and a member of the Ward

Coming with love and a desire to serve!!

Aldste Johnson, Bailey and me

 

Bikes, lessons, and splits! You can know too, if you want to...

Hey this this last week was a blast! 

Swedish meatballs anyone? 

I'll just say that I worked on a bike for the first time in like 5 months and it felt awesome!!  haha  We went to a members house for a lesson and he said he had a problem with his mountain bike, and I said “Maybe I can be of some assistance?....” haha.  So I fixed his bike and it felt amazing!  I miss my mountain bike so much but it's ok.  I have the rest of my life to do that stuff :) 

I went on Splits this week with Äldste White from Borlänge, and that was fun.  He also gave me a hair cut so that's cool.  We went up to Gävle for work overs to do a baptismal interview.  When we got off the train, we did splits with the Elders there for about 20 minutes to contact people in the city.  I went with Äldste Swenson (a greenie) and my companion went with Äldste Liddle.  We then split up and went our separate ways.  When we were walking down the road, Äldste Swenson and  I saw a big group of Somalians and thought “Lets teach all these guys!" So we went over there and I took 3 guys and Äldste Swenson took the other 3 guys.  We began talking to them in Swedish and they were surprised that we could speak (Äldste Swenson’s Swedish is really good for a Greenie).  I started teaching my guys about the Book of Mormon and several more of their friends surrounded us with curiosity.  At this time I was surrounded by about 5 or 6 guys teaching them all about the Book of Mormon haha.  I would say by the end there was about 8 to 10 guys present to listen to both of us.  That was a super fun experience.  Just open preaching!  Crazy!

The Systers baptism was awesome.
Loyd is an awesome guy.

Two of the super cool Theology students from
the local university studying about the our Church!

One more cool thing that happened this week was that we got a call from the university asking us if some students could come to church and learn about what we believe and see how our church organization functions. There were 4 people that came on Saturday.  Äldste Johnson and I gave them a tour of the church and answered a lot of questions.  We then sat down and taught them pretty much the whole “Restoration" of the Gospel and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Super cool.  They then said that they would come to church the next day and the Systers had a baptism so they said would come to that too!  The next day (Sunday) before church we had a lesson that with an investigator and after that 6 people from the University that showed up to church and stayed!  Besides that, we had 3 others who are our Investigators come to church as well!  The other missionaries all brought people to, so at least half of the congregation were not members!  Super cool and it was a great day!  Our Bishop is awesome and was very professional.  We got a picture with 2 of the students who were in the group we taught on Saturday and they said that something was different about this church and that they felt something special. 

I just want to say that this Gospel IS true.  Of course, the organization can follow with that but people are imperfect.... the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not.  This IS the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and you can know that as well if you want to….

 

Love you all and have a good week! 

Äldste Blackburn

Aldste = Elder in Swedish

Syster = Sister in Swedish

Greenie = New missionary

Work over = staying in a different city for a couple days

Splits = Being with a missionary other than your companion

Went up to Gävle for a baptismal interview, and got this
awesome pic with the Gävle Systers contacting
someone in the back ground.

Playing some cool basses this last P-day!

Äldste Bailey and I keeping it real with our Nordic heaters.

If you look, you can find Him...

Hey!!

Old rock marker, marking the
 boundaries between cities.

So this last week was an adventure!  I'll start off by saying that is was really cold this last week and fall has really kicked in to high gear!  All the trees are becoming naked and almost every morning and night it has been below 0 degrees Celsius.  That’s really not super bad but it’s just a wet cold so it pierces through almost everything.  It’s already snowing up north haha.  Also, a crazy thing happened. The Northern lights appeared all throughout Sweden!  Usually never happens, only up North. But there was a big solar storm that hit and I guess they could see the Northern Lights all the way down to the South. Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to see them that night because we were planning our week in our apartment, but we went out the next night that same time but there was nothing. :(  I heard it was cool though haha! 

Gettin' nice and chilly! 

I went on splits up to Gävle and it was awesome.  I went with Äldste Little and he is an elder who served in the Mission Presidents office for a long time. (Lots of experience)  He taught me a lot and we had some fun.  After a few days up there, we had an awesome district meeting at their Chapel.  There is a member (of the church) who is a Kung Foo instructor in that ward to, so after District meeting we had a Kung Foo class!  haha  It was awesome and we learned some awesome fighting techniques that would be perfect for missionary work :):)  Lets just say that once we got back to our apartment in Uppsala... we applied what we had learned on each other and we are still "practicing" with each other ;)

Aldste Bailey and me.

Äldste Johnson and I had some good times this week and some hard times as far as contacting.  Like I have said before, there are a lot of scientists and Atheists here in Uppsala and for some reason they feel like they all need to try and prove to us that God doesn’t exist and this was bothering me.  You can take it either way ~ You can’t prove that God doesn't exist, but these people are stuck on “facts” and not open to spirituality or even searching if there is a God!  They are trying to use there human mental capacity to over rule Gods. FRUSTRATES ME. 

This world.. life.. this universe.. space! ~ Everything is so insane (incredibly vast, detailed, and sophisticated) and there is no way that we can comprehend it!  For me, that makes me more curious and really shows that there is God at the center of it all.   AND what do we have to do?  SEARCH. We need have that open heart and open mind to find out for ourselves if God exists.  If you search for the right reasons I can personally promise you that you WILL find Him.  After a long day of rejection and this frustration, we were heading home and stopped by a big duck pond.  We saw a man feeding the ducks and we went over to contact him and he immediately recognized us.  He then started talking about his love for God and how much he respects us and what we do.  He then went on and stated a scripture. Matthew 10:22 "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name´s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”   The first part really stuck out to me, that as missionaries we are representing Jesus Christ and who cares if people hate us for that.  I just need to do my best to continue on with my purpose by inviting people to Him and if they dont want to, that’s too bad but I´m not going to stick around and chat about it.  I need to find the people who are ready.  This Church is so true and this is the restored Gospel of Christ…. 

Love you all and have a good week!

Äldste Blackburn

Found American Take Out!

Wow... Broke my bass string :( playing hymns too hard I guess...

 

PIMPstensvägen

We found Christ on this guys car! 

Äldste Bailey and I trying to see the northern lights! 

Busy productive week!

Dome Kyrka

This week was great.  It started off with me going back down to Stockholm for splits with the zone leaders which was awesome!  Worked hard with Äldste Hemmingsen.  Man!  Stockholm was a culture shock!  Super busy and we took these commuter trains everywhere and we were always going through Stockholm Central Station.  People everywhere = contacting paradise.  We came back to Uppsala the next morning for district meeting which was cool too.  I finally went into the Dome Kyrka!  It’s the biggest church in Scandinavia and it is super pretty and old.. REALLY old..  

We also had the chance to help a lady in our ward move back to Utah.  We packed up her piano and brought it to the church and switched it out for the one that is out of tune.  haha.  It was us 4 elders here in uppsala that picked it up and moved it, haha but it sounds good! 

A cool experience I had was earlier this week.  We were out helping with home teaching and then we got a call from the other Elders asking us to swing by one of our less active members birthday party.  He’s super cool. 14 years old and it was just him, his mom (who is less active), and his moms friend (he’s not a member), and the other Elders at the party.  We got there and it was so fun!  Äldste Bailey and I were talking to the mom and her friend and they just opened right up to us ~ Especially her friend.  He was super interested in what we we do and who we are.  They both were pouring out their feelings about God and how He has helped them in there lives.  Äldste Bailey and I then began talking about God and his plan for us and the spirit bacame even stronger.  He felt it and every one in the room felt it.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it.  We invited him to learn more.  The other Elders are planing on meeting with him.  I know that that man was touched by the spirit of truth because I was and most of all I could see it and feel it. 

They have the weirdest sculptures here

I have been reading the book, "Jesus the Christ" lately and read about when Jesus was in the Garden and paid for all of our sins.  If you think about it, that one moment in which Jesus paid for every sin, every trial, every pain and affliction (of you, me, and everyone and anyone who has or ever will live) ... that was satans biggest blow.  Every tool satan had was put on Jesus in that very moment.  That’s insane!  and "if we want to give satan a punch in the mouth, open your mouth and preach!”

Love you all!

Äldste Blackburn

_______________________

EDITORS NOTE:

Ward - the congregation in the area you live in 

Home teaching -  visiting and seeing if there are any needs for a member/family of the ward/congregation

Splits - going out for the day with a different companion than your assigned one

Elder = Aldste is Swedish for Elder (which is a missionary)

Getting ready to go for a run in the COLD

Taking a break for a selfie.

Massive Cathidral 

Dome Kyrka

(Statute)

 Dome Kyrka

My companion and me

Splits were fun!

Sweet Ducati in Stockholm with Äldste Hemmingsen

"Fear no man".

So this week has been very productive here in Uppsala! 

Uppsala crew making our
appearance in Stockholm

I have begun to realize why Sweden is the second most Athiest country in the world.  Lots of discussions this last week about that and I feel so bad because I know that they are missing God’s love in their life. The hard thing about missionary work is that if someone is not ready, you gotta move on and wait longer….no matter how much they want to talk or discuss.  Time is not to be wasted out here and that take a judgment call between companions.  So there has been a lot of that but there has aslo been a lot of blessings this last week :) 

Something fun that happened this week was when I was on a bus with the two other Elders in our appartment and my companion, and I saw a man that was Asian (I just love contacting Asian people).  I  sat down next to him and started talking to him in Swedish.  I could quickly tell that he could not understand Swedish so I tried English.. same thing ~ Couldn't speak any English.  Then I thought... "Google Translate!"  I pulled out the iphone of ours and put in the translation from English to Chinese. I then began the conversation through the the microphone of the phone and he heard and saw the translation of what I said and he was super excited!  haha We were talking back and forth and people near me on the bus were cracking up.  They thought it was so funny!  I began to talk to him about what we do out here and taught him a little lesson!  He then gave us his number.  Super cool.  I love contacting Asian people because my Step Dad, Joe is from Hong Hong and he taught me a few words in Cantonese before I left.  So these people thought it was pretty hilarious that a white boy was trying to speak Chinese.  I now always think about a quote. “I fear no man.”  That is how I’m trying to be out here on my mission.  Being afraid to talk to people is the biggest problem one can have.  I’m trying to get over that and I see the blessings come from that.

It's getting darker and colder every day!

I think the most spiritual experience I had this week was this last Wednesday.  We were really wanting to go hard that day and get lessons with people.  We said a very specific prayer to Heavenly Father asking him if we can find the prepared people that day that were willing to here us.  Right after that, we went contacting on a street.  I kid you not, literally every single contact we had turned into a lesson and we only had time for 5 contacts because they all went on for a while and we then had to head over to a planned lesson that we had. That day we had a total of 8 lessons. That’s A LOT for one day.  Especially in Sweden.  The Lords hand was definatly in that and we had the biggest prayer of thanks after!  

Love you all and have a good week :)    "I fear no man!"

Äldste Blackburn

Doesnt this amusement park look so welcoming?

Yes. It does when there are two strapping young missionaries
out side of it willing to share the Gospel.

RAINBOW! post service with Äldste Bailey.

Lunch at Tita Lanies lägenhet! (aunt Lanies apartment) 

Look at all of these beautiful missionaries in Uppsala!

In Stockholm for Zone training!

Traveling north, a huge city, a new companion, and a HUGE apartment.

The last wave... On to a new city.

The "goodbye" at the bus station from Borås.

                                                                                                                                             

Hey!

I'm in love with Uppsala!!  :)   It is so beautiful here and massive.  I haven’t gotten any pictures of the city yet but it is so big!  I feel like I’m in New York or something.  Super busy streets and lots of people.  Total change of scene!  Before I left Borås I said goodbye to everyone and got pictures with them.  It was cool to see everyone one last time.  Also sang with two other guys on Sunday ~ A Swedish version of  “I Need Thee Every Hour.”  It was an accapella barbershop arrangement.  Super fun!I

Liking my new home :)

I left Wednesday at 11:00am to take a bus to Göteborg, then got on a train to Stockholm Central Station.  From there I took a train to Uppsala.  I would say the hardest part was hauling around my luggage!  I had my bass (gutiar), two suit cases and my backpack and had to come up with a system to get them on and off trains because my bass is so big and tall that I cant wear it on the train (haha) so I kind of had to maneuver my self around.  

Äldste Johnson, my new companion, picked me up and he’s super cool.  He´s from Sandy Utah and is an incredibly smart scientist and competitive ultimate Frisbee player.  Super hard working and is an awesome District leader as well.  We have two other Elders in our apartment ~ Äldste Walker and Äldste Bailey.  They are both awesome.  Every night is a party. :)   I actually served with Äldste Walker in my last district in Göteborg.  Everyone in the apartment is really obedient to the rules and are hard workers.

District meeting in Gävle and we found
this wonderful creature.

OUR APPARTMENT IS HUGE!  I´ll just say a few cool things about it.  We have a dish washer!  Usually missionaries here don’t have such a luxury…  We have a real piano!  Our neighbors must love us. :)  AND the best right here….  a Sauna…..  that’s right!  We have an apartment sauna and it is amazing!! 

Literally the biggest majority of people that live near us are students and we get so many lesson appointments!  There are a lot of atheists but it’s cool because many of them are into science, which is Äldste Johnsons specialty.  The ward (congregation) here is pretty tiny compared to Borås.  There are about 40 members that attend church but the church here is spreading fast.  There were two baptisms here these last few months.  The members are SO SOLID.  I love it, and they are super welcoming.  They found out I am a musician so they recruited me to play the piano for Priesthood on Sundays.  Elder Bailey and I are both going to switch off every Sunday and just learn a song every week.  I did it yesterday and it was super fun.  We have a total of 8 missionaries in our ward! 4 elders, 2 sisters, and a senior couple.  We are hoping the work will go fast here.   We are ready to go hard this transfer and see miracles happen! 

Another thing that is helping me is that three days a week we only speak Swedish... all day.  We did it Sunday and it was awesome.  I’m feeling a lot better and can understand people for the most part now which is pretty cool. 

Love you all!!  We should have some cool things that will happen next week! 

Äldste Blackburn

Beautiful city, with the Dom Kyrka in the distance. 

Äldste Johnson and Äldste blackburn are
out searching for the spiritually hungry.

Thinking about all the people were going
 to baptize this transfer.

Dom Kyrka!! Biggest church in Scandinavia

Tennis with a member family and Sister Lund

Scenery from our run...  

Morning run with Elder Bailey!

Saying goodbye to a family in Borås.

Will miss these missionaries in Borås.

I have come to the conclusion that
Uppsala has good music stores.