Leadership Training in Göteborg‏

Hello lovely family!

Sorry my letters are getting smaller and smaller, but once
again we had a Leadership training. This time on the west side
of the country! A highlight of the training actually wasn't in the
training itself. While we were preparing for the training and setting
things up, the sisters in that area came in and asked me if I spoke
Portuguese, Itold them that I could try! During I training I slipped
out and taught a man who came from BRAZIL! I real live Brazilian.
He came from Zona Oeste... of sao paulo. His name was Cleber!
It was so cool to be thereand translate for the sisters. This man
took the message full-heartedly! We read through the plan of salvation
with him. And as we were reading he would always stop and ask a question
that would be answered right on the next page! It was so amazing to see
the FULLNESS of the Gospel be unfolded to him. He had always believed
in God, but as long as you follow your heart, God won't lead you astray.
He didn't know what the atonement was, the sisters and I were able to bear
strong testimony of the cleansing and enabling power of the atonement.
He felt it was real! He had so many questions that he realized
couldn't be answered in the first visit but the sisters there will be
meeting with him more. Experiences like that are really special for
me, yes it was a VERY ACCEPTING brazilian, but the memories that came
flowing back to my mind about how much I love those people and also
came to a realization (as we drove back to Stockholm) on how much my
love has grown for the people here in Sweden! As I think about this...
In and outside of missionary life, one tends to generalize, judge or
assume things that we shouldn't. The atonement has been done so that
we don't have to judge! What a blessing! In the wise words of mother
teresa...“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” You
often search for ways to make things easier, unfortunately in
missionary work, we tend to do the same. "This is how you contact a
swede" or "this is how one can teach an african" My testimony has
grown more and more that there is no formula to teach people from all
over the world... but there is a way. Let the spirit teach you what to
say as you listen with Love and a desire for the salvation of THIS
loved son or daughter of God. What we do in our life isn't as
important as who we have BECOME. The objective is to BEcome as he IS.
Anyways...
Yesterday my companion and I had a great day. We taught a lady from
Vietnam in the house of a member and it was really great to see them
bond as bothers of young 3 year olds. The down-side of it was that the
kids were there. We had a plan to invite her to baptism, but it just
wasn't happening with their kids hitting, screaming, running and
climbing around to make it a spiritual experience. We had a plan to
teach an inactive member with a non-member wife but he was out of
town. So we decided to tract the area! And what a blessing that was.
We found this man who is from California who said he had a very strong
Orthodox belief and he would be out of town. We asked him if he would
be interested in talking more later and he gave us a card, told us
what we worked with and we found out that he worked with skateboards
"tip technology" to improve thm in some way. We asked him if he could
show us a board so he ran upstairs and grabbed a board, explained it
to us and then said "here" and gave us the deck. Now... for all of you
who don't know how much skateboards cost... look it up because I don't
either but I know it's expensive! He insisted that we keep it! So we
got a skateboard! The floor just below him was a Swedish lady with a
10 year old daughter and they were AWESOME! She had met the
missionaries before in a different city. But loved having us over. The
girl was talking so much and telling us how she felt towards religion
(really positive) and how the family insisted on the fact that there
is no way to know what will happen to us after we die. But we showed
them a scripture and they loved it. We asked if they could read the
Book of Mormon and come to church. The mother said YES we can read
together tonight and throughout the week. Then the girl said and if
she doesn't read with me then I will read by myself! haha The mom
didn't want to come to church but the daughter said "But I want to go
to their church so I can sing!" They had plans this sunday but we look
forward to seeing them in church and getting to know the members!

Well thats just a little summary of what's been going on. I'm loving
life, my area, the members and my companion. There's also a guitar
laying around here in the office, so I have a goal to learn to play
the guitar, so I will be off doing that!

I love you all and thanks for your support!
Love,
Äldste Wad

Leadership Training in Stockholm‏

This past week has been pretty great! It was great to hear from Mother

this week (as always)! And Brynn too! (oh wait... that was just a
hacker warning)... Last weekend we had leadership training and it was
a good experience. We had all the District Leaders from Stockholm and
Stockholm South Zones come to the mission home. It wasn't as amazing
as Zone Leader Råd was. But we did have a great time. These district
leaders will be leaders as the new mission president will come in...
and they are all young missionaries. So we were really just teaching
them the basics of being a district leader. So I had the chance to see
my 2nd Son (elder Nelson) there and other fire-filled young
missionaries! As we got back from Training we taught a lady from
Tanzania who has a 7 year old son. We watched "Finding Faith in
Christ" movie with her, and challenged her to be baptized. She
accepted the invitation and is set for the 18th of June! It's going to
be exciting! We made up a little calender for her and she is excited!
her name is Saada. Keep her in your prayers. This week we have made a
HUGE focus on our members. Elder Jorgensen and I have really felt like
Member work hasn't been a big focus in our missions. The other day we
went to Ward Council and it was amazing! it was so cool just to be
there, ask some questions, and turn it into a missionary work
discussion. As we walked into the Ward Council, the Bishop told us
"hey! I am so thankful that you will have come today. We won't be
talking about missionary work that much, but names that we as a ward
are focusing on." That was a downer.... but with time, and just being
there and showing our interest... they began to ask favors and trust
in us more and more, the focus eventually led to how they can carry
out their Ward Mission Plan! It was an exciting time. So we are going
to help out the Ward council by going around to the members and
talking about Prayer and Faith in Missionary work! It is exciting!
Other than that this sunday we were able to see some fruit that came
from our day of consecration. instead of eating lunch at home, we took
sack lunches out with us. During Lunch, we sat on a bench and this guy
came up to us and asked us for a lighter. we told him we had a
different fire that he could take with him. Talked to him about the
book of mormon and he came to church the following day! It was a great
blessing to see him there.
Other than that... this week is going to be a NORMAL MISSIONARY WEEK!
So we look forward to teaching a lot more. We will also be preparing
for Leadership training NEXT week in Göteborg. I can't wait!

Thanks for your love and letters and we'll talk to you next week!

Love,
Äldste Webster

Pictures courtesy of "Blue and Yellow" Mission blog

I LOVE it when the mission posts pictures on their blog! With Adam being an assistant, I get to see him more! (Can you find him??) :D I LOVE IT!! Anyway, here are pictures of their zone conference groups, plus some commentary by the Andersons. I love the idea of this training, being blindfolded and relying on each other to do what is needed!! We did that in our mission... VERY effective! Adam and Elder Jorgensen also made an incredible video for all the stake presidents/wives... I'm still trying to figure out a way to post it here, but until then.... Enjoy!

Norrland Zone Conference April 2011

SS Zone Conference

Stockholm Zone Conference ... April 2011

Malmö Zone Conference April 2011

Goteborg Zone Conference

"The past month all the zones met together and were edified by our leaders and the spirit. We were taught about extending commitments, revelation through church attendance and how we can work with the church members to help full fill the prophecies in the Re-Dedicatory Prayer of Sweden. We learned from the Assistants that it is only by working with the members in our area that we will see the work in our Area's progress."

"Part of the Assistants activity was some activities on how we can work better with our ward leaders. All the senior companions were blindfolded so the junior companions had to take control and lead them around during the activity."

"And as we learned about working with our ward members, we realized that it would be the key to seeing success in the Sweden Stockholm Mission Explode!!
(Working with Members, works!!)
Because............ In the Sweden Stockholm Mission........... We BAPTIZE!!"

I love my Mother!

Hello!
Long time no talk! This saturday is going to be a "day of
consecration" so we decided to change P-day to today! What an amazing
time it has been to talk with you all! I think my favorite was little
Reed telling me his memorized Article of Faith! The man knows it
better than me! David and Laurie should be proud! It was also really
good to hear Brynn and Brian's voice! (I had started to forget what it
sounded like!) You guys are the best family one could ever have thats
for sure! It was funny to see (Elder) Jamon Winegar hold baby
Oliver... lucky man!
These few days have been amazing! Yesterday we had an amazing Zone
Leader Council. We started out with personal studies in the mission
home. Then at the end of that, we blindfolded them all... and read
(because after their studies they were filled with the spirit) "And
being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision"
So the theme of ZL Råd was "making your Vision your mission"
Meaning... brainstorming what their vision is... and then, with Faith
and Prayer... going out and realizing your vision! We walked them to a
castle and took them to the top where they could all overlook
Stockholm! And it was beautiful! A while ago, grandfather came to the
mission. Elder Jorgensen got up and asked a question, how can I have
the Eye of Faith (that it mentions in Ether 12) in missionary work?
Right after, grandfather answered with a scripture out of Joshua 4. It
is amazing that we didn't realize how exactly this scripture could be
applied, but we knew what it meant, and it sufficed us for a season.
As we became companions, we began to see a deeper meaning. It talks
about the lord commanding Moses and then making Joshua great in the
eyes of Israel. Now with the new mission president coming.... we
compared Moses to President Anderson and Joshua to President Newell.
Joshua commands the 12 priests ... who is that? (10 Zone Leaders and
Elder Jorgensen and I) to take the Ark of the covenant to the river
Jordan (what is that?) Well you have the Wilderness (where we are
now), the Waters of Jordan (the barrier), and the promised Land (the
second harvest). And so it is the Ark of the Covenant that will enable
us to pass through the waters of Jordan! What is the ark of the
covenant? (see "a child and a disciple" by Elder Eyring) It is the
testimony that the members and the missionaries have of Christ and
Prayers of Faith that will get us there! It made perfect sense, and as
the Zone Leaders counciled together, we could just see the Lord's hand
work through us to make this possible! We showed The Stake Presidents
and their wives a video, and also the Zone Leaders this video about
the prophecies of Sweden, what the Lord has blessed us with in the
past, and what we are doing in the present to make these prophecies
come to pass! I will send the video to you guys (translated in
English) that we will also be showing Elder Teixeira. The work is
moving along! And I am so grateful that I can be a part of it! Ahead
this week we have some more trainings for district Leaders. This week
is very important because these are the training that will carry over
for the New President!
I love you family, not much to write about but I have a good feeling
about the future here in Sweden!
Love,
Äldste Webster

Pictures

Elder Winegar before he left

some guys on the tower

Zone Leaders on top of the tower

Celebrating

our MTC group together again

the Andersons and I