A suprise picture!

It's always so great when I get surprise pictures from people in Sweden! This was taken from an office couple who are currently serving with Adam in Sweden... The letter follows the picture!

Look how old he looks... and like he knows how to cut hair!! FUNNY THING!!

"Dave: Thought you would enjoy this photo of your son serving in Sweden. The photo is from my sister and brother-in-law working the mission office in Sweden. [The next time you see Dave Webster will you please show him this picture of his son Elder Webster who is giving Elder Overstreet a haircut.]
See you this week in SLC.
Thanks,

Kelly Adams"

Families!

Well this has been a fantastic week! It has been sad but there is
opposition to everything! This week is the beginning of Sharpening
where we have been invited to go around to Sharpening with President
and Syster Anderson for their concluding testimonies! Our part in
sharpening is challenging the missionaries to the MONTH of Invitation!
This month the Europe Area Presidency has asked that the members fast
for MISSIONARY WORK! And seeing how it was a combine fast and the
members will be going the extra mile, we decided to have all the
missionaries go the extra mile and commit ALL of their investigators
to baptism! Unless prompted NOT to, they will commit all of them to
baptism in the month of June on the first teach! It is exciting! To
not be hypocritical, we had three teaches lined up the night after we
did it with a zone in Stockholm. First teach, Miguel (Colombia) is a
man who has been to church once, one time he couldn't meet with us so
he sent his wife to the church instead to be taught and she was into
it. Anyways, we taught Miguel at a new converts place (where he
actually might be moving into) and it was me, elder jorgensen,
Margaretha (new convert) and Elder Oscarson (new financial secretary),
and Miguel. The trick is that Miguel could ONLY speak Spanish. So all
five of us were there and I ended up sitting next to him. And so it
went to all five talking, and me translating (I'm surprised how much
Spanish I understand) for them, to just me teaching him out of a
Pamphlet that we had about the Restoration, and the Gospel. So I
taught my first lesson in Spanish! At the end he completely understood
authority, and he said so... basically I need to be baptized again,
but with the right authority this time? And I said, "exactamente!" Ha
ha so I committed him to the end of June, and he just wanted to make
sure he knows everything before, but he ACCEPTED! Him and his wife
Maricel will go far! The teach afterwards we went to a Korean family
(yes, I told them about the Ringwoods) and they were christian! It was
the parents, a 19 year old and a 14 year old! We taught them the
Restoration and it went so smoothly! We committed them to read and
Pray about the Book of Mormon and the Father said, I won't let my
family read something that isn't true. So I will read and Pray about
it first! So we took that! Very sincere follower of Christ, he'll come
around. The teach after, we invited President Anderson to come along
with us! This was to a Great Chinese mother and Son we tracted into
(2nd to last door in the building) Emma, and ADAM! Adam is a 10 year
old. Super smart, wants to be a scientist, looking for the right
church to join, and reads COLLEGE texts books for fun! We taught him
for the first time the other day and he told us that he didn't like
the catholic church because he they killed scientists so he knew that
wasn't the true church! But we brought President with because he is a
scientist! the teach was amazing because we talked about commandments
and the path that leads to eternal life, and as we taught about the
Holy Ghost the 10 year old said "Well I will DEFINITELY follow the
Holy Ghost ALWAYS because he will never go the wrong way! That give
the phrase "become as a little CHILD." more meaning! As we asked him
where he had read... over 3 days... the 10 YEAR OLD said "Mosiah 12!"
Are you kidding me? All I am saying is ya'll will DEFINITELY be
meeting this kid when mom and Dad come! Stud! So we challenged
him to Baptism and he agreed to it, but he had to ask his Dad
who lived in China before he would accept! So his homework
assignment was to ask his Father in Heaven, and his Father
in China! haha He liked that one. The other day we were

trying to get a hold of an inactive member that we teach who has a
non-member wife. And we were tracting around his house, it just so
happens that my bloody nose, leads me to their house (because I needed
tissue) and they were just outside... plucking weeds in their yard! We
we said hi, and then went in and taught them both the Restoration!
They committed to read and pray so that was AMAZING! the following day
we went by surprised and De-weeded their WHOLE yard! In the last part
of the evening! (you can do that here in sweden... it's VERY BRIGHT at
9 p.m.) Afterward, he called us and said that he was going to thank
us... at church! Charity NEVER Faileth. Another great miracle... My
companion and I have been invited to attend a stake conference from
the Stake President. He told us that he wanted us to show "The Second
Harvest" movie with a 5 minute presentation before at the Adult
Session of stake conference! How crazy is that! the members are
catching the vision! There is a great feeling in the air now in June,
and we can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us! There will
be a broadcast from Salt Lake City the day after from the Area
Presidency and we look forward to see what they have to say!
This is a great time, change is happening for the better, and
President Anderson has laid an amazing foundation for President Newell
to hit the ground running!
Thanks for your support! Congrats mother on your lovely iPad 2 (iPod 5
for Wad with Verizon when I get back why not?) and HAPPY birthday to
you and Brynn! I will be sending you a letter but know that I love you
both! This upcoming week I will be in the Southern zones so I will be
out of town. It's best if the family just writes every Sunday night...
that way I won't miss it!

I love you all!

Puss och Kram,
Äldste Webster

Member Mysteries

Well surprise! my e-mailing is today on Wednesday... but I'll just be
able to see the emails next week! no problemo!
This weekend was pretty exciting! Recently Elder Jorgensen and I have
made a list of members in our ward. We were thinking about all the
great missionaries that had been here before and how hard they worked.
Our first transfer together we were worked really hard. I think we
tracted almost every single building in Täby. So we began to think...
we had been doing everything the sam which we had done in our previous
wards... go to the bishop, have effective missionary coordination
meetings, well thought out progress record, carry out ward mission
plans... and talking to everyone we saw. But something just didn't
feel right. Recently we have tried something new. Member visits. So
what we do is we either plan in member visits (15 minutes each)
throughout the day and in between members we Find people, people who
live around them, on the way to and from... wherever. Come to find
out, that is really what this ward NEEDS! Besides the members that
always invite missionaries over for dinner, the members haven't had
that missionary spirit in their homes for over a couple of years.
Elder Jorgensen and I have found at least 7-8 part member families
that haven't had home-teaching or visiting teachers in 10 years. We
really feel that this is going to be a great way to bring the ward
back in the right focus, and love the people that reside in their
wards! So we have already gone through the ward list with the bishop
and picked out people that he would have us visit. We are also going
by people that the ward knows nothing about to see if there is
potential, and there IS! The other day we went by a "?" member to see
what his status was. We arrived at his house and he was home! he said
that his dad and he were both members but he also had a brother and
his mom who haven't heard much about the church. He said his family
would be busy in the up-coming weeks but we will be meeting him. He
told us that he came from Mongolia and in the stake they have a
Mongolian night every Saturday! So we invited him to that and he was
very excited! So we are going to be taking him this saturday, and
re-activate this kid so his family can be sealed! The other day we
didn't know how to find these people so we typed their address into a
GPS and we were driving along and we noticed that the road was ending,
come to find out that drove us right on top of a ferry! so
unexpectedly we got on a ferry, had to park and it just took us across
the river and we drove along and this ladies' house was probably the
furthest east you can get in our area. But this lady had also not been
visited for 10 years. She gladly accepted to read the Book of Mormon
and to bring someone in the ward along next time. I really feel like
things are just coming together in the Ward. It is something that
Elder Jorgensen and I have never done, because we always just felt
guilty about having our main focus be visiting the members. But we
strongly feel that this is what the Lord needs done here. Not to
mention, the Lord is blessing us with more investigators than ever
before! This is kind of like the Fisherman comparison elder Oaks gave
in PMG about keeping our line in the water all day long, except it
seems like the "bait" we are using is really strong and the fish jump
out of the water and come to us! The Lord's work is a miraculous one.
I found a quote the other day that will probably be my favorite quote
for my mission, which I have a strong testimony of!

"Faith is the power
Love is the motivation
Obedience is the price
The Spirit is the key
Christ is the reason"

I love this work! Talk to ya'll next week!
Love, Äldste Webster

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