This has been my first week in Södertälje! All I can say is... "Where are the Swedes?" I am in Culture Shock over how many immigrants there are in this city. I am in LOVE with immigrants- they have been some of my favorite people on my mission to teach. (Pedja from Serbia, Davey from Gambia, you get the picture.) In this town, there are lots of Syrians and Serbians, which means that I have used my newly acquired Arabic and Serbian phrases I learned in Karlskrona. I love the look on people's faces when I say, "Kafalhal". Gets me every time. :)
With this said, there is also a lot more going on here in Södertälje than any other area I have served in. There is SOOOO much to do and it is such a change for me. The Area Book is FULL of people who haven't been contacted in years. The sisters before me found quite a few positive people that we are teaching. Life is good, and coming here to a quick area has made the transition from Täby less difficult. (I do miss Täby already.)
Awkward story of the week: While on the bus to a lesson one day, I sat by a "bro". We talked a little bit about why I was here as a missionary and what we believe in. We exchanged information and I later invited him to church. He came to the second hour of church, and Sister Sandberg and I taught him a little "base lesson". (Learning about his beliefs, getting to know him, etc.) The lesson was bad. It was just BAD. For some reason or another, I was just silly me and I got SO awkward about the whole thing. So I was blushing and messing up pretty terribly in Swedish, blah blah blah. So that was just so embarrassing to me. After the lesson, we invited him to go to the third hour class with the Elders. He stayed for a few minutes there, then had to leave to chill with friends. BUT... the worst part of this story is that I was calling him the WRONG name the WHOLE TIME!! Long story short. I am such a blonde and unfortunately, it is something that I haven't been able to overcome.
We have been teaching a man from China. Let's call him "Pete". "Pete" is one of the most sincere people I have taught on my whole mission. He has been taught by sister missionaries for a few months now, but you can just tell how much this means to him by the way he talks about our beliefs. While he lived in China, he was always interested in the Mormon Church, but wasn't able to become involved in it because he was a party of the Chinese Party, which makes it illegal to be religious. But since coming here, he has been learning a lot about our beliefs and he adores it. It has really touched my heart to teach people who have been led here to Sweden and then given the opportunity to talk to missionaries. There is truly a plan for us in this life. A quote I think applies to this is, "Coincidences are God's way of staying anonymous."
Training is a very fun experience. I was extremely anxious about it, but I have enjoyed it! Sister Sandberg is just ready, prepared, and happy to be here. Being around her has reminded me of when I was trained in Halmstad, almost a year ago. I remember how difficult it was to be trained. I had an amazing trainer (Shout out to Syster Christensen), but it was still a painful experience for me! It is so humbling to be in a new country, new culture, with a new language, with a new life! Everything is so foreign and hard. But being with Syster Sandberg has helped me seen how much I have grown because of the experience. I still have a long way to go, but it has been really rewarding to see how far I have come.
No comments:
Post a Comment