Everyone backed out of their appointments but it turned out to be a wonderful thing, Alma 48:16-17 and Interpretations of the Bible

Hej Hej!! That is actually what I say to everyone that we pass by and it's the best thing to see how they react. Some people get the biggest smiles and say it back and others don't even acknowledge your existence. That's how you know if they are a real Swede, Swedes will just pretend like you don't exist and keep walking. It's really interesting actually and even Swedes don't like it so I'm not sure why everyone does it they should all just say hi to each other and everyone would be so much happier! haha. This week was definitely a good week and it helped me to grow a lot actually as a person and as a missionary. A ton of people backed out of their appointments at the beginning of the week and it was actually really discouraging. I honestly didn't expect that to be so disappointing because you plan and try to find ways to bring these people closer to Christ and then they don't show up to what you planned with them. It was a little bit of a rough start to the week but I saw so many miracles toward the end of the week where we got stood up and we were in the right spot at the right time to meet other people as well. I think the biggest thing that I learned this week is that the Lord knows exactly what is going on and exactly what we need and what other people need. As long as we are doing what we need to the Lord will use us the exact way that He needs us to be used. We lost Elder Trotter this week he went to Norrköpping and we got Elder Millsap who actually was in the same zone as Megan in the MTC which is super cool but it also means that he will be leaving really soon. I think Megan should know him so that's really cool and he seems like a really good missionary. 

Elder Trotter and the Bishop and his wife (Who is my self proclaimed mom in Örebro)

One of the cooler miracles that I experienced this week was on Tuesday we weren't able to get in contact with Adama for a little while which was not cool because he has a baptismal date on the 27th so we definitely be meeting with him. We had a distinct feeling to go contact in a specific place in the city and we ran into both him and his friends! He said that he couldn't answer because he didn't have any more credit on his phone so he's really sorry that he hasn't been able to meet. So that was cool to see that he is still progressing and we can actually work with him and he isn't just avoiding us. We also got to meet 3 of his friends who are now also interested in meeting so that was super cool. The Lord definitely knows what's going on even when we almost never have a good idea of what is actually going on. Another great thing that we got to experience was on Friday which are awesome days because we travel about an hour out of the city with the Senior couple to go visit this group of Africans. New ones come every week and this week we had like 8 in this small room preaching about the Plan of Salvation. It felt almost like Sunday school but with people that are genuinely interested and very curious. That was so cool because we got them all to commit to read and pray about the book of Mormon and we gave out a bunch in like 4 different languages. Also, later in the day we got to meet with this 21 year old in hälefors and have a super powerful lesson on a park bench for like an hour explaining the restoration of the gospel to him. I love when I am able to teach and bear testimony to people about the things that I have come to find to be true and help me so much in my life. That's probably the coolest part about being on a mission is that's what we get to talk to people about all of the time. 

Gold folding doors say it could be any church anywhere in the world!   

 Saturday we met with this lady that is a Muslim that wants us to convert to her religion so that was an interesting lesson. She brings up a lot of interesting things and it really shows me how much the Bible can be interpreted and people all over the world have twisted the words in the Bible into something that they weren't meant to be regardless of what religion. That's why we are so lucky to have the Book of Mormon and the knowledge that we have of this second witness so that we can know what the first witness is all about. We also had a baptism this week for the other elders which was super cool to see his name is Mahdie and he's from Afghanistan and he is so ready to be a member and learn as much as he can about the gospel of Jesus Christ and progress to the temple. It was one super cool experience. My spiritual thought for the week is in Alma 48:16 and 17. This is the scripture that talks about the strength of Moroni and that if everyone were like Moroni the powers of Hell would shake. The way that we can be like Moroni though is through love. He loved God enough to keep all of His commandments and covenants and he loved his people enough to fight for them and preserving them and their religion. 

 Love you all!! I hope this week is awesome I can't wait to hear from you all!! 
 med kärlek, 
 Äldste Israelsen