Erin's 20th birthday is NEXT WEEK!

The infamous birthday banner :)

Hej hejjjjj

Okay number 1: My mom sent me the best birthday banner ever with everyone I love (almost ;)) holding up a letter to spell out "Happy Birthday Syster Mod!". I have the CUTEST friends and family in the whole world!!! Thank you guys for thinking of me on my birthday!!! Ask Syster King, I have been staring at all of your faces every time we come home....haha it's so pathetic. I just love you guys so much!!!

Number 2: My. Life. Is. Crazy. I loved this week! I feel like I haven't had 2 seconds to breathe since coming to Uppsala, but I love it anyway! We did a lot of traveling (as always) and had a lot of fun.

One of my favorite days this week was Thursday! We had sisters conference in Gubbängen. I seriously just love all of the sisters in the mission way too much. The theme was The Wizard of Oz, and we got fun treats and had a photo booth and got red nail polish as our "ruby slippers". Have I ever mentioned how much I love being a sister? I love it. A lot. Haha! We figured out just how cute The Wizard of Oz is, and we got to watch a few parts of the movie. Syster Beckstrand talked about the unexpected blessings of the mission and shared a Glenda the Good Witch quote, "Home is a place we all must find." That's true!! I have two homes--wherever my family is, and here in Sweden. My heart will stay here forever!

Erin & Syster King with Syster and President Beckstrand. Gotta love them!

Syster Powell, Syster Beckstrom & Syster Mod

 We met with Kim on Friday, and that went super well. She had texted us a few days earlier with "some exciting news". We were thinking she had like found American candy for us or something, but she surprised us by telling us that she has been praying and praying, and Heavenly Father has answered her prayers, so she wants to be baptized! We freaked. Hahah. I was so so excited!! We set a baptismal date for August 1st. It is pretty far in the future, but she wants to get her last name legally changed first, and August 1st is her birthday. We may move it up because she is SO prepared, but we are just excited for her right now!

Other than that, we have just worked and worked and worked. On Saturday, we did spring cleaning with the ward at the church for a lot of hours....if anyone ever is in need of a really good raker, I'm your girl. The church looks awesome now though! Yesterday at church was fun too. I had to give a talk (so scary), and the elders brought a Romanian family to sacrament. They took up the entire back row, bringing church attendance from what it normally is (around 40 people) to 56ish. Of course on the day I have to speak! ;) (I realize this probably seems lame to you guys...let's just say I am going to be freaking out when I have to speak in a Utah ward again. Haha!) It was really cool, actually. They needed English translation, so I wanted to just wimp out and speak in English, but I didn't. Mom & Dad, I hope you're proud.

Fun facts:

-We had a lesson with a lady on Sunday who told us she heard that Mormons are allowed to marry their own siblings....uhm like my brother is adorable but nope that's gross

-We watched the Testaments in Spanish when I was sick this week because we have seen it in English too many times. Our lives are sad. We only lasted like 20 minutes though because Spanish is hard

-We get woken up by natural light now around 5 am or 6 am every day. I am still appreciative of the sun, but good laws. That is annoying.

LOOOOOOVE YOU GUYS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE SISTER PAIGE!!!! Swwwweeeeetttt 16 :)

xoxoxoxo love Mod :)

 

Syster Mecham (sitting next to Erin on the left) went to Lone Peak High School too!

Such cute companions!

 

At Mission Leadership Council

 I think this picture of the systers backpacks is cute. Photo Credit: Äldste Brown

Syster Mod & Syster Spencer....the 2 sisters who have been in the mission the longest for now.