We don't have much time today, but I wanted to just highlight a few things from this week. We saw the northern lights last night! They were way strong! We were out tracting and I looked into the horizon and saw what looked like a glowing cloud/contrail. Then it spread across the whole sky and started moving in every direction and getting brighter and changing colors. I knew what it was, and was so happy to get to see that! They were really bright, so we were able to get some pictures on our iPhone. Of course this was the first day on my mission I chose to leave my camera at home, but I'll keep it with me from here on out. That was the first wave, then we had to pick up the other elders on the other side of the city, so we were trying to find them, and the northern lights came out again, way stronger. This time you could see the purple and green really clearly, and it was like a giant cloud of northern lights above us. It was incredible. Then we decided to go up the mountain to watch them away from the city lights, and there they were dancing all around, turning purple green, white, and being very clear. A guy came up with his nice Canon camera, and I figured out how to use it just as the lights were ending, but I snapped a few good pictures with it. Then we made it back home before curfew, but skipped dinner to see the northern lights. It was worth it.
We also had a wonderful conference in Stockholm. I played the piano for a special musical number, and it wasn't super good, but I'd give it a passing score. It was an answer to my prayers. We learned a lot about humility, faith, charity and love, and obedience. It was a very good spiritual refreshment and testimony builder. One thing I really learned was the importance of always showing love to everyone. That was one thing I've tried to focus on this week, and it went really well. We taught a family that knows nothing about the Church, and we began by helping the son solve his 2x2 Rubik's Cube. He was so astonished that I could do it, so I helped teach him, then related that to prophets and we taught the restoration. The lesson was fairly sloppy, but they accepted the invitation to read 3 Nephi 11 and they wanted us to come back. The kids really love us, and the Spirit was there, so we feel it went well.
Saturday was a miracle day. We talked to one person that didn't want to talk to us. The rest talked about how much they loved us, and how pleasant we were, and wanted us to come help their family, or get a [copy of the] Book of Mormon and find out if it's true, and so on. We swung by our district president, and he even gave us a less-active to go visit, and a part-member family that would like to see us. So we got in contact with them. We had an outstanding week, and there are so many good things that happened, but I don't have enough time to share them all. The only downside to this week was I hit my head hard twice. The first time was on a cabinet, so I got a big bruise on my forehead, then I slipped for the first time in Sweden and landed on my head. I didn't get a concussion, but I got quite the headache the rest of the day.
Wednesday this week was a really funny day. Everything went wrong. Then we were eating dinner that night, and the other elders asked how our day was. It wasn't until then that we realized it was actually a bad day. We both felt really happy and peaceful about the day, then we realized everything went wrong, but we didn't care, it was a good day! We did our best and had the Spirit with us.
God Jul, och Gott Nytt År! [Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!]
Äldste Liddle
[Here are two of the photos Elder Liddle sent.]
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