This week was awesome. Monday we had a super cool Familj Hemafton with a member family who are pretty young. We had something that's basically rice pudding with them [see photo below], and some Christmas bread and cheese. They also had a really expensive massage chair that we were happy to test and approve. ;) It was fun. We were assigned the lesson, and taught about Jesus Christ, using the He is The Gift Video. Tuesday I went on splits and was in a small little area called Jordbro. It is home to 8000 people, most of whom have immigrated from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, or South America. A common phrase in contacting there is, "Vilket språk pratar du?" (which language do you speak?) We did really well there though, gave away a Mormons Bok, got two phone numbers, taught a couple of street lessons, and gave presents to some investigators. Great way to go into Christmas. Christmas Eve we weren't allowed to proselyte because that is the celebrated time in Sweden. We spent it with a less active family in our ward, and made some Mozart Kugeln (nougat wrapped in almond paste and dipped in chocolate). We had a traditional Julbord with them, mini korv, meat balls, brown sauce, potatoes, cheese, bread, knäckebröd, fancy korv, pickled herring, red beet salad, Julmust, and a green salad. We watched Kalle Anke (Donald Duck), which is a Christmas tradition in Sweden. It's a bunch of different old Disney clips, like Chip and Dale in Mickey's Christmas tree, or Goofy Mickey and Donald in an RV driving around, followed by a commercial for the new big Disney movie, which this year is Big Hero 6. That night we had a Filipino Christmas Eve, sang songs, played guitar, and had Filipino food. In Sweden Santa comes and personally delivers the presents, so I got to sit on Santa's lap, with 3 other Elders. Kind of weird, especially with Santa speaking Swedish to us. It started snowing, so we got a white Christmas this year (and it got down to -12C while we were out).
Christmas day was wonderful. I gave my companion a scarf and Lego kit, he gave me a knitting kit, so some lucky person back home might get a purple pink and green scarf! That's assuming I figure out how to knit. We again weren't allowed to proselyte, so we were with members all day, had a wonderful time Skyping, and ended the night with a traditional turkey American Christmas dinner with our favorite Swedish Bishop and his family, a new convert, and a couple of less-actives. After dinner we played Dix-it, and then sang for them Silent Night. It was a wonderful Christmas, one of the best I've ever had. I also got some Swedish Christmas music, a ton of Swedish candy, an autographed copy of Nini Bautista's Christmas album (she is an amazing Swedish singer whose parents are in our ward). We got to go to her concert last Sunday (visited with less-actives from our ward, and supported members, so it was approved and productive) and it was incredible. She's really talented.
I just realized I didn't really write last week, so I'll see what I can remember. It was zone conference, and we did skits. My district did A Charlie Brown Christmas, and I was Charlie Brown (shout-out to Jon Rees who was the first I can remember telling me I was just like Charlie Brown). My companion played a wonderful Christmas violin number in church, it started to get a little cold here (-4 was the high today), but the sun is now coming back. [Not sure how long the link will be active on Dropbox, but here's a video of their skit. Here is a link to the full set of skits for all the districts.]
A cool thought from Christmas, this year I'll be reading the Old Testament, because I found out a lot of the New Testament doesn't really mean a whole lot to me, because I don't understand the culture of the time. A lot of the word usage of the language doesn't make sense, and seems at times useless, or meaningless. The Old Testament will help with that, and I've already learned something from my study: the importance of names to the Hebrew language. "El" means God, so whenever you see it in a name, it has something to do with God (Emmanuel, Israel, Michael, Bethel), "Beth" means home (Bethlehem, Bethel, Bethany), but the point where I realized it, was when Jacob's name changes. Jacob means supplanter, but Israel is a much more fitting name, describing his covenant with God, his purpose, and what he now represents. The title of Jesus is "The Christ," which is greek for "The Messiah." By being the Messiah, He is the literal Son of God, the Savior of the world, and He fulfills the prophecies of the prophets about Him. He took upon Himself the sins of all mankind that His people might be free. He is the Savior and escape. On a mission you can see how much God really protects you. Satan doesn't hold back anything from attacking you, but God holds back a lot of Satan and protects you. He allows you to be tempted only to that which you are able to bear. The rest is taken by God. That is mercy, and love.
I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind, that He lived and died for us, but lives again today. He overcame death, sin, and anything unholy so that we may be happy eternally. I know that Joseph Smith restored the true church by the power of God, and that Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet today. Listen to his words, they are the words of God.
Mvh,
Äldste Liddle
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