hello from utah :)

Hi! This is Erin. :) I just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and well! I am loving being home and missing Sweden every day. My cousin made an adorable video of my homecoming and I thought I would share it with you all. Best day ever!!

https://vimeo.com/145047212

Thank you for keeping up with my amazing journey. I have loved every second. :) If any of you need or want to get in contact with me, my new email is erinmod@hotmail.com :) Drop me a line! Love you all!

the last one :(

WOW. Here we are. My very last email as a missionary....This feels like a dream, and when I wake up in my own bed on Friday, I have a feeling I am going to bawl my eyes out because it's over. Haha. But this week was really good. We taught more than I have for a long, long time and I really feel like Heavenly Father has blessed me more than ever.

We got to go do a chalk art event in the middle of Stockholm, where we draw a picture in a big town square and go around and talk to people about it. I taught the Restoration 6 times in two hours and I LOVED it. Missionaries are really special. They have this special spirit to them, and when they talk, people listen. It was amazing to look up and see 8 missionaries talking to all different people around a mural of Joseph Smith.

We also taught a less active named Thudawa. I was being really bold....another thing I love about being a missionary. I learned how to be bold :) Haha I told her that she needed to come back to church and Heavenly Father is just waiting for her, and she started crying and agreed. The Spirit testifying of truth people! :)

I don't know. I have all sorts of stories from this week of fun things we did or saw or taught, but the little things from week to week really don't matter now that I can see my mission with a different perspective. I keep looking back on day one of my mission and I am SO grateful that I came.

I am so grateful that I got to be a solo sister and have Elder Sweat and Elder Pearson as my "companions" and learn so much from them. The MTC showed me that I just need to keep pushing and things will get better.

I am so grateful for my trainer and my greenie breaker and Gävle. Being in Gävle taught me that I am brave and independent--but only if I want to be. I conquered homesickness and what I felt was total inadequacy and I learned how to speak Swedish. I needed Gävle!

I loved Halmstad. Halmstad taught me how to truly love. I was there for only 3 weeks and I still keep in contact with people there. God has a plan for his missionaries! He knows what He is doing with us! And people here need me as much as I need them.

Luleå was one of my favorites. The biggest lesson that I learned was that I can do hard things. I lived through a Swedish winter gosh darn it!! And I trained! And I lived in the tiniest apartment ever! And I ate fermented fish! And I drove on ice and I walked on the ocean and I LOVED IT. I loved every second of it.

Uppsala....how can I possibly describe Uppsala? I met some of my very best friends here. I learned that God puts people into our lives for a reason. I needed my companions and all of the elders there. I still keep in touch with all of them and I am so grateful for each one of them. You just need people sometimes :)

Lund. OH Lund!! Here was where I learned what Christlike love is. I got to be companions with my best friend and teach my other best friend Matilda with my other best friend Malena. I LOVE them. I love them so much. I really learned how to love like Christ loves people. It does not matter who you are or what you've done or where you are from or what language you speak. I promise I will love you no matter what :)

And last but definitely not least, we have Hägersten. I was feeling a little sad about leaving Lund...I wanted to stay with my people. What I learned from Hägersten is that God knows better than we do, and we need to trust Him. He always has our backs. :) And He knows where people need us! I LOVE it here. I can't think of a better place to end my mission.

I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR MY MISSION. I wish I could explain. I guess this is what I have truly learned over the past year and a half:

God loves me. He knows who I am. He knows who YOU are. He knows what we need. We are His children, and he loves us more than we can imagine. He takes care of us. We are the happiest when we follow His commandments and do what He says. He watches over us constantly. Jesus Christ is the most amazing person in the universe. I LOVE HIM. I am so grateful for what He did for all of us. The scriptures help us feel closer to him. Prayer is the best. The gospel can help everyone. And the Church is TRUE.

I love you guys. Thanks for putting up with my emails for the past 18 months :) See you on Thursday :) (WOW WOW WOW!!!)

Love (for the last time :)),

Syster Erin Modersitzki

The missionaries held a "funeral" for Erin because she is "dying." That is mission speak for going home. :)

This is Äldste Bradley, Erin's zone leader.

This is Erin's last district.

It really is fall in Sweden.

With Äldste Bradley. Erin was in the MTC with his sister and now he is her zone leader. :)

Teaching about the restoration.

Everyone Should Serve a Mission

Hiiiiiiii everyone!

This week. Oh this week. Haha it was an interesting one....but I think it was exactly what I needed. You can only appreciate the good by knowing the bad, right? ;) Haha no it was actually really good. Nothing went as planned, but the highlights of the week just made life 2324613 times better :)

We went hiking on Monday with a bunch of people in our zone and it was so fun! There are 3 of us that went to Lone Peak here, so we all got together and chatted gossip until everyone else was bored to death. Hahah. So many more people are married than I thought...time flies I guess? Haha!

On Thursday, we had Sisters Conference! I LOVE SISTERS CONFERENCE. Clearly. My favorite day of the week and probably one of my favorite days of the transfer! All of my friends came up and the noise level in the Västerhaninge chapel was ridiculous. Hahah. Syster Beckstrand seriously outdid herself this time. The theme was Frozen, but called "Chozen". We had the funniest workshops....Every stereotype you have ever heard about sisters conference came true here and I loved it. We learned about "Love is an Open Door" (aka finding your eternal companion), "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" (aka building your righteous eternal family), and "Let It Go" (aka forgiveness). Hahahha I was dying. They

were all really cute workshops! I'm the only sister in the mission going home next week (I KNOW freak out coming later), so I got lots of pokes and jabs during all of the classes from everyone around me. I am not planning on building that eternal family anytime soon guys.....hahah it was so funny. Syster Beckstrand talked to us about sisterhood and how we are all going to be sisters forever. If that isn't the truest thing, I don't know what is...I just LOVE my little family here. All of my comps, everyone I've been on splits with, I just love them all! We all got a chance to stand up and talk about what we have gained from our "Swedish sisters." When I stood up, everyone just started bawling....we LOVE each other. We all just really love each other! I can't wait for everyone to get home already...haha Swedish party every single day. Tears were shed saying goodbyes and I'm gonna miss everyone a lot. This is the best mission in the world. No bias, I swear. :)

We watched the Restoration movie with George this week to start going back through the lessons. It was super good! I love that movie. George showed up to church this week with a new suit coat and shirt and was looking snazzy. He is such an awesome guy. Sorry for saying that every week, but it's true...haha the ward just loves him and he is an awesome fellowshipper too!

This week is my last full week as a missionary....I don't know if this year and a half has gone as fast for you guys as it has for me, but it has FLOWN. I can't believe the end of my mission is coming so soon and it is devastating and exciting and I really just don't know how to feel. All I would like to say is that everyone in the whole world should go on a mission because it will be the best blessing they will ever get :) And on another fun note....if you have ever had a desire to email me and just haven't, email me this Monday or forever hold your peace. :) Haha!

Swedish fun facts:

-It's super cold....it's supposed to be the coldest winter that Sweden has had in a long time. One was enough for me. Haha

-We are going to have a pumpkin carving pancake party today with all of the missionaries in Stockholm! It should be super fun. They don't celebrate Halloween here, so we gotta go hard or go home. American style, ya know?

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

xoxoxo Syster Mod

Besties! Sisters King, Powell, Beckstrom & Mod

Syster Selfie

A family photo: Erin trained Syster Stetler, and Syster Stetler trained Syster Jackson. 

That makes Syster Jackson Erin's granddaughter!

Erin and her greenie, Syster Stetler. Love her!!!

GEORGE GOT BAPTIZED!!

At George's baptism

Hallå hallå hallå!!! :)

I would like to begin with a story that describes my life right now....hahaha this has been the greatest week ever. So. The zone leaders called us on Saturday night and were like "Hey sisters. We have something for you." One of them started banging on this pot thing and all we could hear were the big loud noises, and when they were done, they said "There is your fram-gong!!" It took me a minute (haha everything does) but the word for success in Swedish is framgång, which is pronounced like fram-gong. So they rang a fram-gong for us. Hahahahhahaha we DIED. We had them ring it several more times and we felt gooooood. Success!!! A successful week!!

We started the week with a member dinner with the Garcias, who are from Spain and Peru. She tried to speak to us in Spanish, and I understand like when, what, how, why, where and because in Spanish, so I got like 2% of what she said to us...hahah but I was way proud of that 2%! About half of this ward speaks Spanish. I really should have taken that in high school, but oh well....it was so fun though. Hägersten is such a melting pot and it is so cool to experience so many different cultures. I really love how everyone just respects and loves each other here. We were on the tunnelbana (metro) with a bag of flour that was spilling all over my black jacket (we forgot we didn't have any and needed to make cookies), and a Muslim lady who we later found out is a refugee from Syria took her plastic bag that she was carrying and just handed it to me. Little things like that happen all the time. It doesn't matter what religion or race or anything you are, just as long as you are a kind person :)

We visited a Swedish member, Åsa, and her daughter, Rekell, and alllllll they talked about with us was Prom and Homecoming and fun things we do in America! Rekell is 15 so she is all about the fun dresses and sparkles and jewelry, and she LOVES the idea of prom. I'm 20, and I still love the fun dresses and sparkles and jewelry.....hahah so we got along well. I promised I would get her a prom date if she ever comes to Utah so Lone Peak boys line up! ;) Also s/o to my sister Paige for looking super babe in her Homecoming pics!! ;)

At the Stockholm temple

We saw lots of really cool things this week. We got to go to the temple, which I just love. Every time I walk in, I just feel like I'm in Provo. It is so homey! Until people start speaking to me in Norwegian. Hahah. But the temple was awesome! We also got to have district meeting in the viking graveyard which is like a 15 minute walk from the temple. It was freezing cold but I was surrounded by my people and ancestors so I was happy ;) 

Aaaaaand WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! George is just the best best best. He was SO happy at his baptism and it could not have gone more smoothly. Everything got fixed, a bunch of people came, and he even brought another friend named George to watch. So cool!! I asked him how he felt after, and he just said, "Better." He really gets it. He was confirmed yesterday and gave a talk as well! Talk about baptism by fire!! He talked about his thoughts from Conference and did super awesome. He is a really great example to me and I am so excited to see what he does in the Church in the future. Facebook is the best invention :)

At George's baptism

I gave a talk on Sunday too, and we had a dinner with the whole ward after church made by the coolest Ukranian member. It was this beet soup with hummus and just YUM. I love trying new things!!! I just wish I could describe how much I love Swedes (and adopted Swedes. Haha!)....They are the BEST people in the universe. I want to move them all to Highland!!

So yeah. Awesome week :) We taught a lot and I really felt Heavenly Father guiding us to be in the right place at the right time! Being a missionary is just too fun.

Swedish fun facts:

-Eating at IKEA: literally the best thing in the world. I love the salmon there.....do they have cafeterias in the IKEAs at home??

-MY BEST SWEDISH FRIENDS MET MY FAM THIS WEEK!! A bunch of my friends from Lund visited my family this week and they are all the best and I love all of those people to pieces. Shout out to them. :)

-I figured out Elder Renlund is half Swedish....things keep getting better and better for him! Haha!

LOVE YOU GUYS!

Have a great week!!!

xoxoxoxo Erin

Syster Mod & Syster Mecham....so pretty!!

Fall leaves

Castles and Conference

Erin needs a library just like this one. No problem! Ha!

HELLOOOO everyone!! :)

Well what a good good good week. Conference weekends literally feel like Christmas on the mission.... I have been looking forward to this for so long!

On Monday, we went to this super cool castle called Drottningholm. Apparently it was one of the Queen's many castles that she had around Sweden just for her. Every time I visit a castle, I am convinced I was born in the wrong era. I was meant to live in gold decorations and amazing libraries! With gardens! Haha but it was so fun. That night, we contacted our lives away (pday ends at 6pm), and ended up in the prettiest place I have seen for a long time. It's called Gröndal, which means Green Valley. It was dark, and we hiked up this little rock thing in our skirts and found the most amazing view of Stockholm I have ever seen. There was a boat on the ocean, and tons of bridges overlapping each other to get to the different islands that make up the city. The lights were amazing... I have been having lots of these moments lately, but I was just completely in awe of where I am and what I am doing. I am SO lucky to live in the most beautiful place

Look. At. This. Wow!

in the world. Maybe not lucky, but blessed :) My heart will absolutely stay here when I leave!

The rest of the week has just been typical and it makes me so happy because typical missionary weeks are unlike anything else :) We ran into a guy who was like, "Oh, the Mormons, I'm actually a member. Where is the church?". Haha. Reactivation is my jam. We also taught an interesting lesson to two guys in a park....We got there as planned and sat down, and they pulled out like 3 grocery sacks of alcohol. "Do you guys mind if we drink while you teach us?" Syster Mecham and I: "Uhhhh....like kinda...." haha but they drank and heard the good word of God. I think the alcohol may have been a little bit louder than us unfortunately....haha.

Oh and George!! He passed his baptismal interview and the 10th is totally happening! He is the coolest. He is way excited to be a member. He went to the Priesthood session with the elders and a of couple members and just loved it. Conference just gets to ya :)

Buuuuuut CONFERENCE!!! Can we talk about how good that was!?! I really don't believe I could love Conference more. We watched it in Gubbängen with a bunch of other missionaries and members and I loved it :) I still have the Sunday afternoon session to watch so there is still good happening! My favorite talk was Elder Lawrence, but who can even choose a favorite....It made me sad to see President Monson struggle. That was hard. But I am so excited about the three new apostles!! Elder Renlund served his mission in Sweden so hollaaaaaaa :)

We watched the Sunday morning session live (it was 6 pm here), and the Woods (a senior couple in our ward) invited us and a few members and investigators over to watch and eat Hawaiian Haystacks. My literal happy place...haha it was perfect. I felt so at home sitting on a couch and eating and it made me so happy :) You really feel so taken care of as a missionary. People love you no matter what!

Godis. Yum!

Swedish fun facts--

-Elder Renlund's last name is Swedish for sure, and it means Reindeer Grove, or Clean Grove depending on how you translate it. I don't know why I have laughed so much about this but I have. Hahah

-Salmon is my new favorite food. We eat it so much here.....

-Conference godis are totally a thing. Me and Syster Mecham got a little over half a kilo of godis to eat during conference, which are just the best treats in the world. It was embarrassing. But they are so good! All sorts of candy and gummy things and chocolate and mmm mmm mmm!!! Haha we still have SO much candy left. It is ridiculous.

Loooooove you guys!! Have a great week!

xoxox Syster Erin Mod

The Hägersten missionaries

Erin's zone at the castle. Fun!

Love these girls!

Watching Conference

Celebrating 17 months in the mission!