Roller Coaster! Leaving Södertälje, Humbling to get a New Missionary, and Four Trains to Karlskrona

Four Trains to Karlskrona!

This week has been one crazy roller coaster!

Leaving Södertälje was not one of the most fun things that I have ever done but I know that the area is left in very capable hands and I am really grateful for the opportunity that I had to serve there and all of the lessons that I learned while I was serving in that amazing city. We had one last meeting with Kent who was just recently baptized and he is going to receive the priesthood and should receive a calling either this week or the coming week. That is really when people start to feel the immensity and the power in the church and the message of the restoration, when they take part in the whole process. Its the coolest thing to be able to see. Roger, who was baptized and confirmed when I first got to Södertälje is also getting the priesthood on Sunday and we have been teaching him about the priesthood and the responsibilities that come with the calling and authority. We had a couple of member meals and we met with Ville again before I left on Wednesday morning and the progress that he has been making is absolutely incredible and he already considers himself a member of the church so all he needs is to actually get baptized.

Where we Jog in the Morning

The experience of getting a new missionary is a humbling one and it is such a learning experience because you think that you have so much to teach them and, in reality, they just have so much to teach you. Elder William Taft Benson is my new companion and he is from Saint George Utah (just like elder Jones when I trained him). He has got a lot of energy and he is definitely going to catch onto the language really fast he is already super good at it. All of the new missionaries bear their testimonies in Swedish in front of the meeting with all of the trainers and I remember being really nervous about it when I did it. But the most amazing thing was the spirit that I felt with all of their testimonies. They had given up so much and just had a zeal for the gospel and a knowledge that they had received from their Heavenly Father. They may not have so much experience but the spirit was so strong when they testified and that really impressed me sitting there.

Karlskrona

It took us the whole day to get down to Karlskrona because we had to take 4 different trains. Of coarse both of us have all of our stuff so it makes getting on and off trains even more fun. But the first train was late and so we did a good deal of sitting in a train station in the middle of nowhere waiting for another train to get us to where we needed to go. But, we got there after about 8 hours or so and got ready to double in to an area. Its always a completely crazy experience to double in and its funny because Im the one who needs to know whats happening and sometimes he looks at me and Im just thinking.... yeah I got nothin I don't even know where we are haha. But it has been a lot of fun to just go and try to do the things that we know how to do and we have been blessed with people to teach and things to do and we even had a few people show up to church that we had met during the week!! The weird thing was that we had stake conference but we just watched a broadcast so I didn't actually meet all of the members just like 10 of them. But I already love them they have such a fire for missionary work and are so willing and ready to help us with everything that we need and that helps us so much!

Our miracle for the week was when we went tracting for the first time. We had a couple of doors slammed in our faces and elder Benson looked at me and said "does this ever work?" and I just told him to keep going. We went to the next building and the next door that we knocked on we got let into a house with 3 guys that just sat and listened to us about the book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel and it was so cool to see. We got some new investigators and one of them showed up to church! They are all from Siria but have really good English so that was pretty exciting to be able to just teach and witness for them and for elder Benson to get to teach as well. We have a few other people and one that we have a baptismal date with for the beginning of April so we are excited to get to that point with him and work with him and the ward.

Goodbye Elder Larson

I am so excited to be here in Karlskrona and I love the opportunity to serve the Lord in different places and learn from new people and new experiences. I have learned so much and if there is something that I have learned from my mission it is that there is always something new to learn. Always.
I love this gospel and the joy that it brings to people that live by its precepts. If anyone has doubts about that just live it and your answer will come. I am excited for new possibilities and new adventures to come. Have an amazing week!!

Love
Äldste Israelsen

1. Leaving elder Larson
2.elder benson and I
3. where we jog every morning
4. Karlskrona