This week was another good one. We had a baptismal interview on Saturday, and Daniel, our investigator, passed! He was super nervous going into it, but everyone is. We helped him be ready, and went through the questions before so he knew what to expect and felt ready, and he did a great job. So he will be baptized this upcoming Saturday. He's an awesome guy. He's got lots of faith, and really is taking this seriously. He was referred to us by a recent convert who was taught by the missionaries in Handen (a neighboring area), then he moved into our area and got baptized, and wants his friend to learn about this. They have since then referred another one of their friends to the missionaries in Handen and he is working towards baptism. Great things are happening here in Sweden.
We worked really hard this week and saw lots of success. We went on splits in Jakobsberg, and I was with Elder Dean again, but this time in his area. We had a great day teaching a less-active lady who wants to get active and her samba (boyfriend that lives with her). The samba was really cool though because usually you'd think that kind of a person wouldn't want their samba at Church, but when she went and he wasn't there, he said, "You should've told me you were going so I could've gotten work off and come too!" He went once by himself to the Jakobsberg ward without knowing anyone there, just because she was a member and liked the Church. So things are looking good for them in that area. She's super positive, he's really positive, and I'm sure that they'll find the right way as they keep meeting with the missionaries. We also ran into a new convert that I thought lived in Gubbängen, but apparently has moved to Upplands Väsby. I was at her baptism about a year ago, and was called to be a witness last minute. Crazy how things just connect like that on a mission.
Sunday was also really good. A brother in our ward who just moved to Södertälje gave basically his good-bye talk, and talked about the sacrament. He explained how it is like a funeral. The teachers dress the body before hand. An honor given to those close to the deceased. The younger male relatives of the deceased act as pall-bearers, the deacons. And the body lays on the altar with the burial cloth covering it. It is passed around to each of us, symbolic of us coming forth to the altar, where we make a special promise before the altar. It is not a ceremony with jubilation and shouts of praise, but a reverent remembrance of the sufferings and death of Him who did no sin. It's not the hallelujah shout of Easter, but the solemn remembrance of the Sacrificial Lamb. He then compared our covenant with us playing, "let's pretend." Kids are really good at it because they can make it seem real, but the rest of us are "too smart" or other things to pretend to be the Savior because we think we know it's not real. He pointed it out how we should be sacrificed for our sins, and in olden days they would put a lamb on the altar instead of the person and that lamb would be sacrificed in our stead. Then God was offered in our place, and it became a whole other ball game. We now come forth to the altar step up and He says, "get down off that altar. You be Me, and I'll be you. I'll sacrifice Myself for you, and you will try to be like Me. And as you do so, my Father will treat you like Me." And week after week we repeat that process, failing every time, but progressively getting better, until we shall become like Him. "You be Me, and I'll be you. Try hard to do what I would do, and I will pay the price." I know that our Savior lives and that He loves us. He payed the price for our sins.
Mvh,
Äldste Liddle
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