Birthday Week :)

Hiii everyone!! Thank you all for telling me happy birthday and making me feel loved :) I love you all!! YAY BIRTHDAY WEEK! ;)

Remember how I said my life is crazy? This week takes the cake. For sure. Haha!

On Monday, I learned how to rope from my cowboy companion. My daddy and grandpas would be proud. King says I am a natural (she didn't really say that--I am just a wannabe but I try really hard. Haha!). We practiced more on Friday at district meeting. Syster King also taught us how to cowboy wrestle with ropes and I was the target for more roping practice. The elders decided I had to marry whichever one roped me first...Can you see why boys are weird and awkward when they get home from their missions? Hahah.

Steve & Liz Rosevear with Erin. So fun!

On Tuesday, we got to go to the temple with the Hawleys!! I got to see some family friends, the Rosevears, who are serving as temple missionaries, so that was really fun. And I just love the temple. It feels like a home away from home no matter where I am. The Hawleys took us to the coolest town ever after called Sigtuna. Apparently it is one of the oldest towns in Sweden, and it was pretty much picture perfect. Sometimes I just really love living in Europe.

The sisters in an old church from the 1500s in Sigtuna

On Wednesday, I went on splits with Syster Allen here in Uppsala! An elder from Denmark, Elder Held, made us meatza, which is pizza made only out of meat and vegetables...it was surprisingly good. I was impressed. Elder Held is like a Danish weight lifting champion, so he loves protein...hahah. Thursday was crazy too. I went straight from dropping Syster Allen back off in Gubbängen to splits with the Gävle sisters! I got to be in a trio for the day and absolutely loved it. I was with my kid!!! :) Syster Stetler and Syster Giles took me all around Gävle. We taught investigators I had when I was there (not super fast progressors mind you haha) and visited everyone I love and I had a blast! I love going back there.

We did weekly planning on Saturday (aka weekly torture) and watched Meet the Mormons!! We had 5 people show up from flyers we posted around town advertising the movie, among other missionaries and members. It was great!! I love that movie. You would think that watching a missionary say bye to his mom over and over again would be painful (and it is), but King and I agreed that the most painful part of it is watching the Navy football team and realizing we are missing football season again...so sad. I LOVE YOU MOM and I miss you more than sports...but I really miss sports. Haha. I've been missing America a whole lot lately, because on Sunday, the Hawleys invited all of the missionaries and the Tolleys over and we had a barbeque! America!!!!!! It was the best. We had hamburgers and chips and real American pie (Swedish stuff is not the same) and I was so happy. It depresses me how happy American food makes me. Haha!

Fun Facts:

-Swedes think root beer tastes like toothpaste. They are wrong.

-At the barbeque with the missionaries, we all were asking for people to pass stuff across the table and it was loud and fun (as Americans are usually). When we all were happily eating our hamburgers, we looked at Elder Held (the only European) who had nothing on his burger. He wasn't loud enough to get anything passed to him....hahah we were all dying.

-My year mark is this week on a Swedish holiday called Valborg!! I have never been to a Valborg celebration, and all I know is that you have a giant bonfire. So I'm pumped :)

Love you all!!!

Syster Modersitzki

At the temple

Liz giving Erin the hug that she promised Erin's grandma she would deliver from Utah :)

The Stockholm Sweden temple

These pictures are in Sigtuna

Erin found more rune stones. She said that she's still obsessed with these.

So beautiful!

At the church. It was a bit windy!

The only people on the bus