Santa Lucia concert and Morgan

What a fabulous week! As Jul grows closer and closer, I have been able to take part in Swedish festivities that I have adored. This week, I was able to go to the Santa Lucia Concert. Santa Lucia is celebrated in Sweden on December thirteenth and is meant to commemorate the sacrifice of Lucia's life for Christianity. Although it is a religious tradition, most of the country takes part in this celebration because it is a big part of Swedish Jul culture. I went to the gorgeous, historic Swedish Cathedral to watch it, and it was a beautiful service. First, the priest teaches about Saint Lucia, shares a spiritual message, prays, then we all sing together. Then the lights go down and a choir enters the cathedral, singing and all holding a candle, except one who is elected Saint Lucia, who is wearing a crown of candles. They then perform a concert, celebrating Christ and his birth. It was a fantastic experience for me that reminded me how lucky I am to be in Sweden on my mission. The culture and tradition here is one-of-a-kind and I feel extremely blessed.

 

I have seen so many miracles this week! The biggest one that I want to share is about Morgan. One day while on the bus to a member's house for a lesson, I sat by a man in a big black jacket. I have been getting into the habit of talking to everyone I have contact with- whether on the street, on the bus, etc. But I did not want to talk to him- not a bit. He seemed very stern and quiet and I felt that he would ignore me like most do when I talked to him. But I took the step of faith and began talking to him. I first asked him about his plans for Jul and where he worked, in which he replied very short and simple answers. But once I brought up that I was a missionary for the LDS church, everything changed. He suddenly began asking me about my beliefs and about my church. I was amazed! He told me that for the past year, he has been searching for the truth and has been meeting with the Jehovah's Witness missionaries and reading the bible. I got his number and called him later that day to decide a time to meet sometime later that week. He told us that he wanted to meet that very day! We taught him a powerful lesson about the Restoration; the spirit was strong and led the lesson, he had thoughtful questions, and he agreed to meet again. He came to sacrament meeting three days after. After the meeting, he asked if we could teach him a lesson right then, and we agreed. After our lesson with him, he also stayed for Priesthood meeting! His coworker is in our ward, and they decided that they are also going to go for lunch two days this week and discuss more about the Book of Mormon. I am extremely hopeful for Morgan! He is so prepared and I feel very grateful that we have a loving ward who welcomed him in so selfessly when he came to church. We have a lesson with him in a few days and we are going to commit him to baptism in January! This experience has been a huge reminder to me of Heavenly Father's miracles. Missionary work isn't easy, but there are things every day that happen that are proof of God's hand in our life.

 

Ah, life is great. :)

 

I love you all! My prayers are with all of you.

 

Med Kärlek,

Syster McKenzie Katherine Hosenfeld

 

 

 

Aina, the cutest old lady in the whole world. We visit her and she tries to pay us every time.  Aina is a non-member. She isn't an investigator, but we visit her as our service because she has no family to visit her. She is the nicest person in the whole world. She tells me that I look like a movie star... baha.

Sweden is gorgeous.

Marcus and I. He is great. His epilepsy isn't acting up anymore since his last seizure. He isn't meeting with us, but we see him in the bus all the time and always talk to him. He is very kind to us, just not prepared for the gospel right now. He hasn't really said anything about the seizure. He is probably embarrassed about it.

VERY sac-religious nativity. Haha. Come on, Sweden. You are killing me.

Santa Lucia night!

(This is an example of my girl's dedication, as well as her comp's)  She said, "Today I am going to run some errands, but we have lessons all day. What a blessing! I am glad that I can sacrifice my P-day time for lessons. I love that feeling."