One of those weeks!

Hejsan kära familj som jag älskar av hela mitt hjärta!

It's good to hear about the family and that everything is doing well! Congrats to Emma tomorrow for turning 8 and I hope that you can feel of my love to you as my present for your birthday! I will write you a little letter today! Good to hear that andrew is doing better! Tell that fooboo to take it easy! Anywho...

This week has been a pretty good week. We taught a man from Indonesia named Daniel about the Word of Wisdom this week. He told us that he has a real desire to change and recognizes that we are the people to go to for that change to happen. But just doesn't put his words into action... which, turns out, is what the gospel is based off of. We caught him the next day smoking andhe told us that it happens when he thinks too much. So a couple of days later we preached nothing but repentance to him. As he recieves a testimony of the Book of Mormon I am SURE it will be a lot easier. Li from China is still getting closer to baptism. We told him to write a letter to the representatives in China about his communist situation. Allan (one of our recent converts from India) was able to come with us to a teach and bare testimony to him about Baptism and how much BETTER life is after it. Li then promised us that if his situation in China would be safe, then he would be baptized! So we just are awaiting for a reply from the representatives. Michelle has been busy this week but what we are planning on doing is meeting with all of our new converts and our positive investigators at our Ward Mission Leader's house on Tuesday, where a very spiritual member will talk about the Book of Mormon. We can feel that this will be a very special experience tomorrow night! So we are bringing Michelle to that. This last weekend the Borås Ward took a trip to the stockholm temple. For the past weeks we were working super hard to get our recent converts to go on that trip. The ward mission leader and us thought that the men needed to have the priesthood before they went. They asked the Stake President and he said they didn't have to. So we taught them about the temple, got them interviews to go, and they called the temple presidency and told them that they did, indeed need the priesthood.
So we got them excited for some other, soon in the future, trip to the Stockholm Temple! A central focus right now that we are working with the ward with is getting the 6 recent converts to the temple during this next transfer! Of course, if we find some prepared on the way and they accept baptism, we will do that. But there is no point in doing missionary work if you don't hang on to the fruits you have already been blessed with! Colette, our recent convert from the Ivory Coast has been told from the government to return back home. So she will be eaving in a couple of weeks. Sad story, but these things happen a lot. Our Swedish man (who has a little case of autism) Henrik continues to progress. He goes off topic a lot which keeps it really hard to stay on topic and invite the spirit. But just this last teach with him we finally got our point off he told us he knew the Book of Mormon was the word of God but he just wasn't accepting the authority only in this church. So we showed him the scripture in D&C abot the Fullness is in the Bible and Book of Mormon and that it is only those with authority that can baptize. that invited the spirit. We asked him to give the closing prayer, and he gave a long, heart-felt prayer searching for truth. When he was done, he looked up at us and he had tears in his eyes. Knowing he felt the Spirit, we asked him how he felt. Being autistic he wasn't sure. But we told him that it was the Holy Ghost testifying to him the truth.

I was able to go to Trollhättan area to see how the work is going there. The student from Portugal wasn't home, which was too bad. But it was a good time to be with Elder Erickson. They spend a lot of time with their recent convert and don't have many investigators right now. So not much is going on with them. When we switched back Elder Nelson told me he was glad to have me back. That felt really good when he said that to me. He said the elder he did exchanges with pretty much ate food all during studies and wasn't that obedient. So I am really glad and blessed to have a companion who is humble and diligent. He is a good man!
Yesterday, Sunday, was a pretty rough day for us. We taught a man named Yassine who said that he really wanted to go to church and said he would see us there. He wanted to come to all 3 hours! But he didn't show up. Nathaniel from Nigeria came up to us a while ago and asked us what he needed to do to become a missionary, we told him he needed to be a member in our church, he then asked us how do i do that? And we told him he needs to be baptized. So we had lost contact with him for a while, then saturday night he called us and said he would meet us in the bus place so we could go to church together because he wanted to come! But he didn't show. We didn't have any investigators in church. Bishop came back from his trip to Utah and saw that and gave me a look of "you can do better" but I was still comforted in the fact that we really tried our best to get our investigators to church. And then bishop realizes that. It's amazing what a bishop trusting the missionary can bring! Over this past year I have realized the following. 1. Get the trust of the Bishop and the Ward mission leader 2. Work your hardest with the members 3. Hit the pavement and bring investigators to church so they can see you work!
Then miracles really do happen and the impossible becomes possible! We have both 1 and 3 down pretty well but are focusing on our #2.

The work is going great, last night we went tracting after a hard day and a man from Turkey told us to come back tonight and we also tracted into a family of 6 from Lebanon. Who were christian and were interested in talking to us! So we shall see where these take us!

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and for writing me! I really am thankful for it.
The Church is TRUE, and the U of U... as long as they beat... the infamous TCU! (P.S. that rhymed)

Go Utes!

Love,
The Wad

Mid October!

Hello dearest family! Just wanna give a shout out to Andrew, McKenna,
Russell and Emma's Birthday all coming up so soon! You guys are
awesome! You probably can't even read this or don't even remember me
but your uncle Adam loves you! haha Congrats to Whoosie as well I hope
you all had a fun week up there in Mantua! To Mother: yes I have
gotten your ONE package and it is almost gone. I also heard the other
one is on its way to my apartment! SWEET! Thanks so much! By the way
Borås is a ward. Also the best one. Well this past week was pretty
exciting... Started out with Zone Conference! We each gave a 5 minute
talk about the Sacrament as we were paired off and one gave it, the
other coached. Sister Anderson was in charge of them. We were taught
about working with the members, receiving revelation through church
attendence, and talking with members! Just so happened to be something
that I desperately needed! It was a great experience to learn about
different ways to interact with members, getting our investigators to
church while involving the members in the process, and a lot more. The
assisstants talked a lot about the Captain Moroni story in his letter
to Pahoran. the moral to the story was United We Stand... Divided we
Fall! It is so true. It really brings missionary work to a whole new
level with gaining the trust of the members in order to bring the
prepared children quicker to the fold of Christ. My district is made
up of 3 areas or.. 6 elders. One of the areas called me the other day
and said that they found a student from Portugal! So this week we will
go on exchanges and I will be able to brush up on some of my lost
portuguese! haha There aren't that many baptismal interviews going on
right now at the moment my district has a hard time finding
investigators so I am planning on talking about pretty much restating
what was said in Zone Conference! GO TO THE BISHOP! That's where it
all starts.
Our investigators are doing pretty well. You will see some familiar
names that have been taught for a while, we just hope to get them
going. Unfortunately this week we had planned to meet Alinda after a
while and she left us a text that said that she appreciated what we
and the ward have done for her but she wanted to be Muslim like her
parents. We were pretty shocked but I remained comforted in the
knowledge that the Gospel is based on ACTION... we have to actually
APPLY it in order for it to change our lives but that was something
she never did. So we move on! Li chao who has now felt the spirit and
wants to be baptized has the fear of communism. He is a member of that
party so if he joins the church and goes back to China, he isn't sure
what would happen. Neither were we! So we called a chinese member in
another ward during one of our teaches and he didn't know either! So
we hope and pray that it will turn out ok! Michelle has a testimony of
the Book of Mormon and has felt the spirit, but is looking for a
bigger sign because she has always grown up Atheist so she feels like
she needs a bigger sign. So next time we will be going through Alma 32
with her and show her how we recieve a testimony. Henrik is a semi-
autistic man from Sweden and took a long time to teach last time
because he got off on a lot of tangents. We have been emphasizing the
importance of Authority with him but it doens't get through to him. So
we tell him to read and to pray about the Book of Mormon. It works
everytime if people would just DO IT! During the week we have tracted
into a couple of Albanian and Serbian families that we should be
teaching soon so that will be super exciting to get some Families into
the Teaching Pool! We have also met a man from Indonisia who is super
excited to read the Book of Mormon, his name is Daniel. He said that
he would be baptized once he recieved an answer about the Book of
Mormon. Other than that we are staying busy with teaching our 6 New
converts and making them feel comfortable with the members of the
Ward. Well, the weather is starting to get cold again and I am going
to go purchase a nice Swedish coat! Other than that Stake Conference
was this weekend and Henrik came with ALL of our new converts where we
had a super spiritual new-convert meeting with a member of the seventy
Craig T Wright. Super awesome meeting to build up the new converts! We
had an amazing time! Well dearest family... the Work moves on and I am
loving it! My companion is great, happy and pumped and we are both
getting along and happy and healthy! Once again I have procrastinated
the day of sending my pictures to you but I PROMISE they will be GONE
this week! haha

I love you all! The church is true! Do what you love, love what you do!
Äldste Wad

Fwd: Familjen Toskic

This was from an elder in Germany about the Serbian family.

Hey here is the picture that i told you about. Not even everybody is in the picture there were more of them there! Ramo says to tell you guys hi and thanks for everything that you did for him. I hope this works if it doesnt let me know and i will try to send it again in a different format.

- Elder Badger

Picture is attached! That is the family and some friends they brought with them to church!

Love,

Äldste Webster

Dop squared

Dearest Family!

Once again an amazing week! Well, some quick really good news... my companion Elder Nelson, recieved an email about his relation.... to MY grandfather! Take a look...

"Well, I don’t know if you remember our family history stories, but you and your companion are related! You are both the descendents of Mads Peder Nielsen. Mads was born in Denmark in 1833, later joined the church, then left Denmark at the age of 29 in 1862 and settled in Ephraim Utah. While living in Ephraim Mads and his wife had 4 boys -- two of which were named Andrew C. Nelson and Charles Christian Nelson. Andrew C. Nelson is Elder Nelson’s grandfather, and Charles Christian Nelson is Grandpa’s (Garn) grandfather. Charles was called back to Denmark on a mission in 1905, leaving 6 children and his wife. Just after he arrived in Denmark one of his son’s died (you’ve seen the gravestone in Redmond). A few years later, while still serving in Denmark, another son became very ill. Back then the only way home was by boat, and when he left Denmark for Redmond he was aware that his son was critically ill. The story is told that Charles’ brother Andrew (Elder Nelson’s grandfather) met Charles at the train station in Salt Lake and broke the news to him that his critically ill son had died while he was en-route back home. Thus, two of his sons died while he was serving in Denmark. I remember my Grandpa – James Hilton Nelson – talking about how hard it was on the family when his father (Charles) was on a mission, and how the deaths of his 2 brothers devastated the family. He was 10 and 12 years old when his 2 brothers died while his dad was serving in Denmark – much different from the way missionary work is done today with mostly 19 year old boys. Anyway, it turns out you and your companion are very closely related to each other. Mads is also buried in the Redmond cemetery, and I’m sure you’ve seen his grave, too. "

Pretty neat huh? So we have the same great great great grandfathers! Who knew We would be both serving together in SWEDEN?! Anywho... This week was amazing! Unfortunately Li wasn't able to make the baptism... he had conflicts with being communist, so we will be helping him a little more with that. BUT! Allan and Elvis were both able to be taught the necessary things and be baptised on September 9th, 2010 at 5 p.m. It was amazing! Elder Nelson gave an amazing talk and I was able to baptize Allan Raj Raju (from India) and our ward mission leader Björn Engelbrektsson baptized Elvis Kika Tumba (from Congo). It is probably the coolest experience to listen to what the baptismal candidates say after! Allan as we were about to get changed said, " I AM A NEW ALLAN NOW!" It is amazing that I don't remember much from when I was eight years old except my BAPTISM. And it was a neat little deja vu relating back to MY OWN baptism and how I felt. I could honestly feel the Love the Lord has for him and his faithfulness. Elder Stoddard and Barlow (both in Jönköping and my previous companions) both got permission to come and see! After that we went to our ward mission leader's house, had dinner and had a very spiritual meeting with Elvis and Joseph (who was baptized a couple of weeks ago).

My first district meeting was pretty cool. I got a chance to see my whole district for once and feel of their spirit! I talked about WINNING the PRIZE and split that scripture up (Mosiah 4:27?) into 5 different parts. Perseverence, Duty, Balance, Priority and Capacity. Anyways, it was pretty fun!

Pretty much this past week has been preparing the district meeting, Teaching the New converts, and making sure the baptism was planned out perfectly. The confirmations on sunday were done my Elder NELSON ( I am proud of him) in English to Allan. And Elvis got his done in French by a member in the ward! Count your blessings! so cool! It was fast and testimony meeting and Elder Nelson was called to go up there and bare his testimony! Super good swedish. Last night was pretty interesting, we had a teach planned and we called him and said he wasn't there. So we had to leave. we were walking down the street and my companion asked me if I have ever gotten past locked apartment buildings before (little did he know I like to do that a lot) So I told him that was how we got 4 investigators in the same building one time nd he said OK! So we kept walking nd we felt like we should both go into the building, went up to the door... it was locked! But we knew we were prompted to go there. We waited for 30 seconds, a guy came up and opened the door to the complex and let us in. I looked at him, and winked and we just laughed together. Our first door we knocked on was a Finnish lady who is in her mid 40's and been in Sweden most of her life ( by that backround one wouldn't expect them to say yes) But she did! And she wanted a Book of Mormon in Finnish so she could read the next day! So we will be going to her tonight! So cool!

Anyways, tomorrow is Zone Conference and I will have my leadership training! Pray for me! Nah, but it will be good!

Happy Birthday to all of the little one's and especially Whoosie Paizinho! You're 29 right? HAIGH! But because of that, I will be sending you some pictures this week of last transfer, my newest companion, and the BAPTISMS! Fun stuff!

Anyways, go UTES!

I've got nothing else. Love you all!

Äldste Webster

Serbian FAMILY NEWS!

Turns out that serbian family is safe in germany!

Dear Pres. Anderson: I am pleased to report that an investigator from Serbia who came in contact with the Church while he was in Sweden is now in contact with our missionaries here in Germany. His name is Ramone. He was last in Sweden in August and wants to us to pass along that he has made contact here. He is meeting with the missionaries and attending Church in the city of Oldenburg, Germany. He asked especially that Ralph Murray and Björn Engelbrektsson be thanked for their help while he was in Sweden. If there is relevant background that would be helpful for us here, please send it along. Many thanks and all the best. President Jay Pimentel, Germany Berlin Mission

That is a letter from the Germany Berlin mission president to my mission president. My Mission Leader also found out that the family also brought 12 friends to church one day! MIRACLES HAPPEN!

Love,

Wad

General Conference 3 of 4

What a crazy weekend! but well worth it! Last wednesday I had to say bye to Elder Stoddard... sad times but exciting! then me and two other elders took a train up to stockholm that night. The next day we had our trainers meeting with 13 new missionaries coming in. It was good to be in that meeting and actually know what I was talking about. After watching the inspiring video from "The District", we went into the room with the new missionaries and remember feeling that amazing spirit and love that the Lord had for these VERY potential missionaries. They each read their letter on where they were going and I got Elder Nelson! From Alpine, Utah. Super Happy missionary ready to work! I couldn't be any more grateful for who I got. It was sad that I didn't get to see anyone in my group train, but they are called with inspiration. We then had a great train ride back to our area! I got this card (because I travel so much) that gives me unlimited hot chocolate. So that made him happy!

We had a crazy weekend to plan for! It was amazing to have him come in at such a great time to be a missionary! Have 3 Baptisms planned for next saturday, many investigators planned to invite to General Conference, and plenty of teaches to get him used to SWEDEN! The following day I was so grateful that the Lord provided so many miracles. The teaching went smoothly, we commited 2 to baptism (once they knew the Book of Mormon is true), and a family dinner that night. The following day was awesome. We had planned to play innnebandy in the morning if an investigator could come. As we called, no one was able to come and play. So, trusting in the Lord, we decided to find for 2 hours. Realizing that it was Conference that night and the next day we thought to ourselves who WOULDN'T be interested in listening to a prophet?! So we went and did. After much rejection we recieved a number from a person who lived in stockholm. After more rejection it was time to go home and plan. After those hours... the Dad (me) was getting tired. But Elder Ray Nelson, not allowing one thing to get him down, as soon as a person sat next to him, he was ON IT. With his broken p Swedish, trying to find the right words so the Swedish teenage girl could understand, she accepted a Book of Mormon, she was for the idea of having a prophet today, and gave us her number so we could teach her. How thankful I am for missionaries like this who come to the mission ready to hit the ground running! I am so thankful for the many lessons I have learned from my companions. After planning, we went to our ward mission leaders house to watch the Saturday Morning session. So many investigators we had planned on coming didn't show, but Henrik (a swedish investigator) and Elvis (the boy from Congo) came with willingness to listen to a prophets voice! The next day we had to go into Göteborg to watch the priesthood session and Grandfather did such an amazing job! Many prayers were answered on how I could become a more effective instrument in the Lords hand. His remark on having the Lord's countenance shine in our eyes struck me and gave me that desire to do everything I can to have that Light shine to those we meet. AMAZING talk. President McConkie's talk has so unexpected and AMAZING! Also an answer to me prayer about teaching with the spirit. It really is about our attitude. Mom has always told me Attitude determines my altitude and with his talk I really do agree! It isn't taught... it's CAUGHT! Love it.It is so great to see familiar faces such as Elder Arnold and his sincere testimony, Elder Andersen and his commitment to the Lord. These great men reminded me of my Highlights in Brazil (both being authorities while I was there)! Per Malm (whose grandson is in Borås ward) also did amazing.

After conference we asked our investigators about baptism. I patted Elvis on the shoulder and asked him how he felt about this saturday, and he said "EXCITED! I am looking forward to it!" Then I went over to Allan (from India) and said soo... are you still excited about Baptism this saturday? And he said, "I already told you! I am ready to be baptized!" haha you can imagine what kind of relief those remarks brought to a missionary's heart. Li is also planned for this saturday but wasn't able to show up. We called him during conference to see why and he said... I am listening to it here... we didnt believe him. But him in his funny chinese accent said "I promise you! There are ladies in white dresses singing right now! Listen!" And sure enough it was the Mo Tab. I am so thankful for the investigators we have right now that are so willing to feast CONSTANTLY on the words of Christ! As of now there is no doubt in my mind that they are ready for baptism!

Now this week will be extremely busy, with my new district, district meeting (by myself) on thursday, and planning Baptismal interviews and services for 3 men this Saturday! Seeing so many miracles happen on my mission really does humble me and make me so proud (in a good way) of the investigators who choose to use their Agency in the right way and Choose to Follow Jesus Christ. Well I am really looking forward to this week and what it will bring! I am grateful I have chosen to serve the Lord here in Sweden and love doing His work.

Well family, I love you. I really do appreciate that you all write me so diligently even with your busy schedules. I'm sorry to hear about Andrew and the Doddlies. And I will pray for them! Good to hear that the Cabin is in good hands, the Utes are kicking trash as always, and BYwho? is a sad story... what a great life! Eat an extra doughnut for me. Love,

Äldste Wad Webster