Sister Hill's Birthday Week :)

Firstly--SHOUT OUT TO THE BEST MOM IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!! Happy Birthday tomorrow:) Everyone, if you don't know my mom, you are missing out. She is the BOMB!! And 29 looks so good on her, don't you think?:)

This week was SO much fun. I have not one clue how I got so lucky to come to Gävle. I love it here!

It has been really rainy and gloomy here lately, and Tuesday was by far the wettest day I have seen in Sweden. I am not so sure that I am really dry yet. Haha! We got blåsted (cancelled on--in Swedish it sounds cooler) quite a few times that day, so we decided to trek through the rain and do swing bys. We knocked on an old investigator's door, and he let us right in. It was really cool! We talked with him and his wife, they gave us cookies, he sat out on the balcony and smoked a joint...Hahah. I thought it was cool though that they immediately trusted us as soon as they saw our name tags. They had never even met us and they gave us cookies and talked about God! Perks of being a missionary for sure :)

We dropped one of our once-promising investigators this week named Daniel. He is such a kind guy, but the last two lessons have been him telling us all about how Christ is actually a conspiracy and that he is not really sure why he is meeting with us. We finally had the do or die lesson (basically get baptized or we can't meet with you anymore) this week, and we all agreed it was best to go our separate ways. It kind of felt like my first break up. Haha! The saddest part was when we were telling him that we are glad he has found something that makes him happy. He just said, "No, this doesn't make me happy. This doesn't make me happy at all. This makes me really sad. I don't think I will ever find the peace you guys have in your lives." If that doesn't make you want to sob, you are just not even human. The gospel is so great! It is the happiest thing I know!

Erin & Äldste Caleb Featherstone--one of her cousin Claire's good friends

On Wednesday, we got to go to Stockholm again for a Mission Tour! We found out that we will get iPads this year, so that is exciting:) It is always so fun to go and see all the other missionaries. And I got to meet the new greenies!! I am not the baby of the mission anymore! Yay! But I am the youngest girl in the entire mission. Fun facts!:)

Sister Hill's birthday is on Thursday, and the ward has really been taking care of her already. It kind of feels like a birthday week! And I just get to tag along and eat cake:) What could be better than that!? Annelill threw Sister Hill a surprise party on Thursday with princesstårta (yummiest cake ever with marzipan frosting) and chocolate cake and cake rolls and oh my goodness. It was amazing. The only problem was that she told us it would be dinner to cover up the party. So we may have come super hungry to find only cake. Annelill really knows a way to a girl's heart;)

On Saturday, she and her husband also took us to this really fun restaurant. It was a saloon theme and had American decor EVERYWHERE. All of you know how much I love America. I almost got a little teary. Haha! It was a little piece of home and I loved it :)

Wow this email is long...haha sorry! I hope you all have the most wonderful week! Say happy birthday to my mom for me please:) Love you all!!

Syster Mod

How many differences can you find in these pictures? Haha! 

Don't forget the delicious French hot dogs too. :)

Doing family history for the WIN!

Syster Jane Taylor (one of Erin's Aunt Jody's good friends) & Erin at the mission tour in Stockholm

Is this snow? Nope. Just hail. In August. No big deal.

Remember when it was hot?

Syster Mod coming at you in 60 degree weather! And I thought Utah weather was bipolar....Oh Sweden. On the bright side I got to buy boots to "prepare" for fall (aka go shopping but whatevs):) But enough about the weather. Because this week was absolutely craaaaazy!

So we will begin with Patrick and his wife. Unfortunately, we have to give them to the elders because they live in the elders' area. We really really really hope that they have a real desire to become members of the church. Because it is a giant blessing and everyone deserves it:)

Olle is still doing super good! We had a really good lesson on prayer. He is still trying to find out if God exists, and it has been really hard for him to begin praying. Which makes sense, I guess, when you think that praying is just talking to yourself. Haha! This week, he and I made a deal about what we would pray for. He has to pray and ask God if he really is there, and I have to pray that I will be more assertive in asking when I don't understand his Swedish. Hahah. It was his idea, so I was happy to go along with it! In my defense, he uses really big words. Ask any missionary in Gävle. But things are going well with him :)

Syster Mod, Äldste Bilodeau, Syster Hill

Speaking of the missionaries in Gävle, we all got interviewed by another reporter this week! A lot of what she knew about the church was from South Park and the TLC polygamy shows...If any big TV producer reads this, make a show about normal Mormons please! For the sake of missionaries everywhere!;) The reporter was really fun to talk to though. I think she was surprised that missionaries are fun and cool instead of sticks in the mud. And that we actually follow the rules we have been given. She asked if any of us had snuck out just once after 10:30 PM, and we all just shook our heads. Like lady. Sleep is way too important here. Haha!

On Friday, we went down to Uppsala for Zone Training and interviews with President Beckstrand. It was so much fun! I absolutely adore President and Syster Beckstrand. They could not be cuter or more fun. Syster Beckstrand talked to Syster Hill and I for like 30 minutes on how post-mission life (including the M word...marriage) is not scary at all, and we shouldn't be worried about it. Syster Hill has 3 months left, so she actually has to worry about it. My 14 months left make me not so scared at all:) This week we get to go to Stockholm for a mission tour and see the Beckstrands again! As well as the rest of the new greenies. I LOVE seeing new greenies. I feel less like a greenie myself;)

Also, just so you all know, week 2 of the lost bus pass: riding bikes edition---completed. I would like to say that I am in the best shape of my life, but that would not be true. All bikes have done is a) made me hungrier, and b) made me feel better about eating more. But, I can almost bike with no hands now. So I am obviously working on the important things here:)

But yeah! Life is goooooood:) I am having so much fun and I love my companion and things are just so good! Being a missionary makes you really notice all of the blessings in your life. For example, I have never been so grateful for my family....like ever. Haha! Everyone go hug your parents and your siblings RIGHT NOW just because you can:) They are the best!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!! Have an awesome week:)

xoxoxox Syster Modersitzki :)

This is the mist at a park near Erin's apartment.

Riding in the mist.

I Love Being a Missionary!

Hi everybody! This week was an adventure, to say the least. Sister Hill lost her bus card last Tuesday, so we have been riding bikes EVERYWHERE!! Gävle is pretty small, but when you are on a bike climbing freaking Mount Everest, it really isn't small enough. Haha! But on the bright side, I am going to be super fit and healthy by the time August ends and we get new bus cards. And right now I can eat as many Swedish treats as I want to:) (not like I had any self control before we started biking...but now I feel like I have an excuse:))

 

This week was seriously sooooooo good! I love the weeks that pretty much plan themselves:) On Tuesday, we got to go to a hockey scrimmage with some members. I LOVE HOCKEY. Oh my gosh. It was probably the coolest thing ever. After playing innebandy, which is basically hockey minus the ice, I feel like I could totally dominate at that sport. Hahah just kidding I have no balance ever but I really did love hockey. Swedes are apparently very un-aggressive when it comes to that sport, but they were still pushing each other everywhere. I can only imagine American hockey. #pain

At a Brynäs hockey game.

On Wednesday, we got interviewed for a newspaper article on missionaries! It was really fun. The interviewee was an old investigator whose mom and sister are members. She was really nice and I am excited to see how it turns out. I will keep you all posted on when my big print debut comes out;) But for real, I think it is going to be a super cool contacting opportunity!

 

We met with Patrick again this week and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And then we pulled out the big guns. And he said that he wants to be baptized when he knows the Book of Mormon is true:) I did a little happy dance in the rain after we left and I think he saw but it's whatever. I am so excited for him!! I hope he gets his answer really soon! But all in God's timing:) He and his wife came to the church yesterday and we gave them a tour, so maybe they will come next Sunday instead of their Catholic church! We really hope so!

 

Our investigator, Olle, has come to church for two weeks in a row! Yesterday he stayed for the entire three hours and it was really cool. We had to teach Young Women's for the last hour and he didn't want to stay in Priesthood by himself, so he and Elder Farnworth came and sat in on our lesson. Our five young women thought it was funny. I also thought it was funny. But hey whatever makes an investigator comfortable in church works with me! He is doing really well and says that learning how to pray has really helped him in his life. So everyone go pray and pay attention to how cool that is that you know how to. Because some people don't even know they can!

 

I just really love my life right now. I can't even explain the feelings that I have here! Being a missionary is like going on this really intense scary roller coaster. Sometimes you are freaking out and it's really hard. And then it totally rocks and life is better again:) I am just having so much fun and I love it! And I also love the fact that I am not going to start school this next week. Have fun all of you who are;)

 

Fun Sweden things:

This week I had a tortilla bread thing filled with mashed potatoes and korv (hot dogs). Apparently that is normal...and it was actually really good. Weird.

Everything here is brown because it has been 90 degrees outside pretty consistently. It reminds me of home in the good old desert:)

Everyone in the branch is concerned about Sister Hill and I because all we eat is cereal...Hello normal college diet people!;) Haha I am learning that not very many sisters in the mission like to cook. But lots of elders do:)

We visited a graveyard yesterday, and they had little watering cans where you can water all of the flowers on the graves! I did that for like...30 minutes. And had way too much fun doing it. It felt like service:)

Watering the flowers at the cemetery.

 

Well I just love you all!!! Have a great week!

Xoxoxo Syster Modersitzki (or as I am known in the mission: Mod, Moddy, Erin, Sister Polish, Sister Solo, etc etc):)

 

The Jehovah's Witnesses left this lovely pamphlet for us in our mail slot (which is labeled Jesu Kristi Kyrka). Sooooo funny!

Hilarious book we found in the library. It says, "Holy Places: From Mecca to Salt Lake City."

 

Gamla Stan in Gävle

Gamla Stan in Gävle

Same day pic! It's really rainy and we biked from the library to the church. #soaked

Shopping!

 

Syster Mod is Still Melting

Hiiiii everyone! How are you all? Is it cooling down in the States yet? Because it is just getting hotter in Sweden and I only brought like 3 short sleeve shirts with me. IT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS HOT. Guess I just have to go shopping:) (Sorry Daddy:)) The last two weeks, church has only been 2 hours because there is no AC in the building. Hahaha. I love Sweden way too much.

Cute Swedish Houses

 

This week was really good! I feel like I learned so much and my greenie-ness is starting to wear off;) On Tuesday we went on splits! Syster Christensen, one of the STLs (Sister Training Leaders) in Uppsala, came to Gävle to be with me for the day.

Erin and Syster Christensen on splits...notice the photobomber. Haha!

I was so nervous! The little greenie inside me was screaming "NO MOM DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE IN CHARGE OF GETTING US ON THE RIGHT BUSES!!" when I sent Syster Hill off to Uppsala. But everything was totally fine and I did get us on all of the right buses:) I had a ton of fun! Syster Christensen is so cool. She is just so chill and fun and has really awesome perspectives on missionary work! Plus her Swedish is the bomb. I learned a lot from her:) And what girl doesn't love to have a sleepover?

We met with Patrick again and taught him the Plan of Salvation! He was super interested. He said that he is still waiting on an answer about the Book of Mormon, so we gave him a lot of chapters to read (I mean reread....what a champ) and we hope that we can meet with him again this week! 

Yesterday, we got to meet with an "eternal investigator" named Baby this week. She is soooo cool! She is from Liberia and has the most darling grandchildren that are with her 24/7. I seriously love Africans. Sweden needs Africans. They are all so feisty and crazy and loud, which is like...the exact opposite of native Swedes. I love both:) But anyway! Her granddaughter was talking to me a lot, and it was super fun. She is 8 years old and hilarious. She did have a really hard time understanding our accents though. It is really common for people to ask if we can speak Swedish instead of English when we start speaking Swedish. Our accents are so strong that everyone thinks we are speaking English no matter what language it is! And I still think it is SO weird and cool that I can speak another language. Yay Sweden! Yay missions! Yay still not understanding people but trying really hard!:)

fun factsssss: I have more Muslim friends now than I think I have had.....ever. #diversity

Grandmas tend to lay out at the park in the middle of town to get tan...sometimes I just want to contact them all and give them a mormon.org towel to cover themselves.

There was a carnival this week and all of these trucks were selling "a real taste of America", aka donuts. Last time I checked the real taste of America was FREEDOM, but okay. Donuts work too.

Haha I love you all!! Happy birthday s/o to McCall! And good luck with school starting this month all of you homebodies;)

xooooooxoxoxoxooxoxox so much love!

erin

Erin on her hike with Annicka and her family last p-day. We all love Annicka! She takes such good care of the missionaries AND THEIR MOMS!! :)

Having a great day with Syster Christensen

Swedish duck faces

#selfies

How could you not love these missionaries?--S. Christensen, S. Mod, Ä. Farnworth

Erin and her companion, Syster Hill

Global Warming is Real

Käre alla,

HOLY GOOD HEAVENS IT IS SO HOT IN SWEDEN. It has been hovering around 90 degrees all week. I am not prepared for this weather, and neither are the Swedes. Air conditioning only exists in stores and on buses, so our apartment is a sauna... And everyone we visit also lives in a sauna. Stores are sold out of fans across the country. Hahah but seriously. We are HOT. I love it:)

This week was soooooo ridiculously good with our investigators!! It was awesome! We got to meet with Patrick and his family on Tuesday. We asked him how his Book of Mormon reading was going and he was just casually like, "Oh yeah I finished it!". I think we probably stared at him for a good 15 seconds just processing that...4 weeks people. 4 weeks. He read the Book of Mormon in the time it takes me to get through first Nephi (#confessiontweet: I am not a fast scripture reader. Like at all.). It was insane. We asked him how he felt about it, and he said he was still praying about it and waiting for an answer. Then we asked him how he expects answers to come, and he was just like, "Whatever way God thinks that I need them!" Um. Okay. I think his middle name must be golden. He and his wife are strong Catholics (she is Filipino) and the Catholic church starts at 11 too, so the next thing we have to do is get them to skip their church to come to ours...but for reals how cool is that family!? That is such a strong example to me of faith. Like AH. It was just the best to meet with him.

We also had an investigator come to church! His name is Olle and he is really cool. He comes and plays innebandy with us sometimes and I think I have a few bruises from that, but it is whatever. I will take one for the team. He is 40-50ish and has 2 kids. He just broke up with his girlfriend this last week, and now he is super into church...Haha I guess priorities? We are sure that we are teaching him right now for a reason! His only issue with the church is that he thinks people can become perfect, just like Jesus, in this life. If that is true, I am really in trouble! I feel like life would be a lot harder if you expect yourself to be perfect. But we are working a lot with him and we have high hopes:)

Let's see...I got to go pick blueberries in the forest this week! That was cool. Sweden is so pretty, plus free blueberries so holla! 

Mini golfing with Mihail, Hugo & Melinda

We also went mini-golfing for FHE last week and it was a ton of fun. Every Monday, we have FHE (it's called Hemafton) and we do something fun. Today we are going to play frisbee golf!

I absolutely love it here. The branch feels like my family and I am just happy!



It still doesn't feel real that I live in Sweden. I am so grateful that I get to be a missionary right now!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!! Have a great week! Pray that we don't melt:)

Syster Mod

At Zone Meeting: Sisters Anderson, Christensen, Mod, Hill & Elders Bilodeau, Farnworth, Forsyth, Miles

Chicken & pigs feet (African food Erin did NOT have to eat)

However, the girl loves her food! :)

The cutest little missionary EVER!!

Erin's BFF (best friend forever)--Marita

Annalil gave Erin this cute watch for caring for her cats while she and her husband were on vacation...

....and then she sprayed whipped cream on her leg. What a joker! :)

Kubb, Cats and Carina

Hej everyone!! It has been another solid week of missionary-ing:) I hope you all had a good week!

This week we have been working a lot with the youth in the branch, and it has been so fun. Swedes are incredibly quiet, but when you get them talking, they are all super funny. We are just bringing out the American in them;) We played volleyball with them last pday and have been inviting them to activities and lessons and I love it! We have also gone to this restaurant with them called American Pizza Place...I miss American pizza. Swedes do not understand. You are not allowed to put bananas and curry on a pizza. We also had a Kubb tournament on Saturday with the entire ward, and I dominated. Kubb is this Swedish lawn game where you throw sticks at wooden blocks....it doesn't sound fun haha but it rocks!

Carina has started her family history work so she can go to the temple to do baptisms next month! I am so excited. She has gotten really excited too. We showed her how familysearch.org works, and the next time we came back to visit her, she had already done a huge portion of her family tree! I think she will love the temple. Who doesn't love the temple?

Speaking of, I got to go through the Stockholm temple this week! A member and his wife drove us down (the entire 2 hours! they are so sweet!) so we could do a session. It was soooooo awesome. I love the temple. The session was in English and I felt right at home:)

I also found out that I am allergic to cats this week...We helped a member clean her house, and she has 3 cats. I have never sneezed so much in my life. It was so funny! But I am actually totally fine with being allergic to cats because I don't think I will ever own one:)

On Sunday we had some American visitors at church! It wasn't the first time, but I just love hearing American accents. Haha. I had to translate back and forth little small talk conversations for them and I was so excited because I could actually do it! Yay for Swedish:) and yay for people who don't know Swedish and make me feel better about my own Swedish;)

After church, we went to the Sjökvist's house! They are a super awesome family, and I am setting up their oldest son with one of my sisters. By the end of my mission, I am going to have all of my siblings set up with Swedes;) But anyway. One thing that is really big here is salt lakrits, which is salted black licorice. I don't know if you can get any grosser, but okay. The Sjökvists think it is so funny that Americans tend to hate it, so they tried to brainwash us by giving us black licorice flavored stuff that you give to babies. ...It was actually pretty good but STAY STRONG AMERICANS. Keep red licorice alive and well. Salted black licorice is not a good thing.

And last but not least, I got asked out this week. My first time as a missionary:) He couldn't speak English or Swedish...so he didn't really understand no..but it doesn't matter because #stillgotit;) Haha!!

Well I LOVE YOU ALLLLLL!!!! Have a great 24th of July celebrating my ancestor pioneers:) I will be here dreaming of fireworks:)

xoxoxoxoxoxooxo

kärlek,

sister mod :)

Draper, Utah connections (the town just around the mountain from Highland): Äldste Farnworth (who grew up in Draper), and a Swede that they met who lived in Draper for two years

It is finally warm in Sweden!

Hi everyone! Just so you all know, I haven't had to wear a coat once this week. Sister Hill and I even got really great farmer's tans. #mishlife Summer is finally here in Sweden!

 

Now that it is actually warm, we get invited by members to have barbeques all of the time. I love it. It is usually burgers and korv with this sauce called American dressing. We do not have it in America...but it is super good. Like In-n-Out sauce in a bottle! Everyone in Sweden loves it and is shocked when we say that Americans have never heard of American sauce before. Haha!

Other than like 5 yummy barbeques (not exaggerating. Swedes love to grill), this week was kind of super uneventful. EVERYONE and their dog is on semester. (But literally, Swedes take their pets on vacation all the time. There is even a section of seats on every train specifically set apart for dogs.) Patrick (the guy who is speeding through The Book of Mormon) is on semester, 2 new, positive investigators we got last week are on semester, half the ward is on semester...we get asked all the time by less actives if we get a semester. Lollllllll just in a year and a half;) It's cool!:)

 

Carina, the lady that was just baptized, has been inviting her friend Tony to meet with us. He came to her baptism a few weeks ago and was interested in learning more about the church. We met with him on Wednesday and it went really well! Carina is seriously the best example of how to be a missionary. She casually brings up the church to everyone she meets, whether she is getting an ice cream or walking her dog or whatever! I told her how cool that was one day and she was just like, "I didn't even realize I did that! It is just part of my life now!" I thought that was soooooo cool. She is the best and I love her so much. And I know the Lord loves her too because she is just inviting everyone to learn more about him;)

 

We met a lady on the street from El Salvador, Armeda, who wanted us to bring her a Book of Mormon in Spanish. We dropped by her this week and she was so open to the Restoration and it was so cool...One thing I have learned on my mission is to listen when people talk to you. Whether they are trying to sell you something or tell you their deepest, darkest secret, you need to listen! Even if it is just for 5 minutes! It makes us feel so good as missionaries when someone listens to what we have to say, even if they say no (politely...sometimes I am glad I cannot understand what people say to us when we contact them. Haha!).

 

We accidentally matched!

I honestly just love it here! I know I say that every email but I mean it!! Everyone should come visit Sweden. It is definitely my second favorite country in the whole world (everyone knows--America has my heart:))

 

and now, swede facts:

-If you have a house here (not many people do, mostly apartments), you are supposed to paint it every 10 years. The missionaries learned this week that the paint does not come out of clothes. #stayinfresh

-A lot of kinds of jam come in these squeezy containers like ketchup. I think it is ingenius, especially when eating Swedish pancakes. Which I love.

 

-There are sooooooo many Africans in Sweden.

Real reaction to fufu. Oh brother!

One thing I have learned is that if African food is on the menu, I need to make up some allergies. A really common African food is called fufu. It is some kind of dough and unidentified pieces of meat in a sauce that you eat with your hands. Fufu = hard pass. Don't do it.

-The biggest cars here are like these VW vans...they look so funny and awesome. I love Europe. No SUVs in sight!

 

 

I love you all!!!!! Have a great week:)

sys mod in sweeeeeden :)

ps--Annalil took us to a sightseeing island off the coast of Gävle this week and decided to have a screaming contest with Elder Farnworth while we were there. And she won. Haha!

On the island of Limön--it's so beautiful!

The Gävle missionaries with Annalil