Wedding Round 2

Running errands for the wedding

Hi everyone!!

So I think instead of calling me Syster Mod, you guys can all just start calling me Wedding Planner 2.0...hahah. Beckstrom and I had another crazy week. The zone leaders called us Friday night and asked if we had an extra CTR ring lying around...and then proceeded to tell us that they were dying and needed help planning a wedding for 2 of their investigators who are getting baptized next week! Their names are Brandon and Stina and they are the CUTEST. We pulled their whole wedding together--bought the cake, flowers, decorated, made the program, did Stina's hair and makeup, pretty much the works.....and we pulled it off! Haha it was so small and simple and perfect. Everything turned out really nice, and they were really happy. We get to go to their baptism this week too, so we are really happy about that :) And for future reference, if anyone needs a wedding planner in a week or less, I'm your girl. Haha!

Äldste Downing, Äldste Beck, Syster Mod & Syster Beckstrom: Wedding Planners

With Syster Jacobs in Malmö.

I was able to go on splits with Syster Stoughton this week in Kristianstad too! Beckstrom and I are now done with splits for the transfer and it feels gooooooodd. Haha. But I learned so much from Syster Stoughton! We did service for a member and helped out in her garden, and both the member and Syster Stoughton were just the happiest people, willing to work all day to get the job done. I love being with people like that :)

On Wednesday, the ward had a talent show type of thing called Arena. The Lund ward is so incredibly musically talented! Our investigator, Matilda, sang with Isabelle and Rosalie, members in the ward, and it was PERFECT. Beckstrom and I took a video and we have relistened to the song they sang maybe 20 times over. Haha!

Thursday was probably the best day of my mission. We did some service, and then Elder Held and his family came to visit us in the morning!! I served with him in Uppsala, and he just finished his mission. He is from Denmark, so he was just driving home with his family (haha so weird) and they passed through Lund so he came to say hi!! I LOVE my mission friends. I honestly feel like I have family here and it is so fun. They are such a blessing!

Then we had the coolest lesson with Matilda and one of the members, Malena! We talked about baptism and how we feel like the time is right, and Matilda agreed. She is talking to her family about when they can come right now, and we are going to be having her baptism in the middle of August! Oh we were so happy!! It was probably the most powerful lesson I have ever been on. The Spirit was so strong and after the closing prayer we all just sat there for 20ish minutes and didn't say anything and cried together. Haha I don't know if elders do that, but sisters do.... :) It was just amazing. It's one of those feelings that you get and you never want it to leave. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I love being here. I love finding my purpose in an area, and I think Beckstrom and I are here because Matilda needs us right now. No one else could do it. It just has to be us. I love the Spirit and I just love my life right now. I don't know if I will ever come home....haha!

But yeah. We just had a really amazing, miracle-filled week. I just wish everyone could feel the happiness we feel as missionaries. That one lesson was worth every single tear, every hard moment, everything I have gone through on my mission. I don't care if I was called on a mission only to be there for that moment. It was worth leaving my family, it was worth melting my brain learning a new language, it was worth frustrations and anxiety and heartbreak that I've felt....I wish I could explain myself better. I just know that the happiest I have ever been has been on my mission. I needed this more than I even knew. So thank you all for supporting me and helping me along the way :) I love you all so much!!

Have a good week!!! Do missionary work! Invite the missionaries over for dinner! Make 'em feel loved ;)

xoxoxo Erin

Wearing their 24th of July attire. Can you tell they're from Utah? ;)

Missionary selfies!

Because I'm Happy

Just cutting down a tree with a handsaw! No big deal.

Helloooo everyone!!

Life is just so good in this cute little country :) Beckstrom and I are still doing awesome! I feel like I could stay with her the rest of my mission and be completely content. Life is just happy :)

We taught Matilda again this week and it was so good! We talked about the temple, and when we asked her what she knew about it, she said "Not much at all. I just know I want to go there!". She is just the real deal people. She gets it. :) We want to take her to the temple soon just so she can feel the Spirit there and be happy and maybe make a goal towards baptism! I LOVE how it feels in the temple. Even in the waiting room. It just feels different, and it feels good.

We had such a good zone training on Tuesday! President and Syster Beckstrand came down, and we had a training on the Book of Mormon. The first half was a lot of what we learned at MLC, and it was way nice to get a refresher. I have loved the focus this transfer. The second half of the training was like the funnest thing I have ever done. We had a "family home evening" with the Beckstrands, complete with the treat at the end. That was President's favorite part. Haha! The whole zone sat in a circle and went around and said one thing about themselves, and then we had a little Q&A with the Beckstrands and got to know them better. Syster Beckstrand is the funniest storyteller in the world....oh it was so fun! Haha! We heard the 20 minute long story about how they met and it was so funny watching all of the elders just eat it up....I love this mission!! I love everyone that is here and I love the Beckstrands and I feel so happy. Life is good when you are with your fam :)

In front of the Turning Torso in Malmö

We did so much service this week...oh my goodness. Cleaning a lady's house and sneezing like nobody's business because she has a cat and the hair only gets cleaned up when we come....it's chill. Always here to help. ;) BECKSTROM AND I CUT DOWN A TREE WITH A HANDSAW. I have never had so much fun in my whole life. Hahaha! The elders were way impressed with us and the member that we were doing it for was just laughing at us. Sweat, splinters, and tears people. Go hard or go home. <3

We taught the coolest member named Szilvia this week. She fed us falafel, so she was automatically my favorite. She is originally from Hungary, but has lived in Sweden for who knows how long. She went on her mission to Temple Square, and she just loves the sisters. And we love her!! She is so cute. She has a lot of really cool life experiences, not to mention her pictures with President Hinckley on the wall...Temple Square. I'm telling ya. It's the promised land. Haha I really love every member I have met here. Wards are fun. There are so many people to actually meet! :)

Cutest little town called Hjärup. It looks like a movie set.

Swedish fun facts:

-Elders don't get asked out. Sisters do. We don't know why. Haha Beckstrom and I had an investigator come to church and ask us to come running on the beach with him sometime, so we made a quick exit....hahaha.

-We are given like 1800 swedish crowns every month for food, but we ALWAYS run out....it may be the fact that we eat ice cream every day? Hahaha! It's been a rough transfer for the healthy eating thing okay? We've forgotten the 6 months to sexy thing...maybe 3 months to thin? starting next week? Haha

-smörgåstorte=something way gross that everyone has at birthday parties. It's mayo and fish and shrimp and roast beef and tuna....AWFUL. But it looks pretty. Beckstrom and I went to a party this week where that was there and got Burger King after the party because we couldn't stomach it. Haha!

LOVE YOU ALL! Have a good week!!

xoxoxox Mod

 

The Lund missionaries. 

 

 

The bridge in the background goes from Sweden to Denmark.

 

Malmö

Danmark

Eating danishes in Denmark!

Hiiiii everyone!!!

Oh it was such a good week! The weather has cooled back down to the 60s and I don't think it will get hot again....Yay Sweden for the fastest summer known to man ;) I wore my fall jacket on July 9th. LAME. Whatever. Everything is still green and pretty and that is all that matters. :)

On Monday, we had Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults in the stake. A bunch of people come to Lund every Monday night to the institute center we have here to get together and hang out :) We listened to an RM who just got home from his mission in Utah talk all about it and I was in HEAVEN. It was so fun hearing about the place I love most! He told me about one area he had where he baptized every week...*Erin's jaw drops* like okay ZION. It's fine. You're killin' it. It was so fun though. We even chatted about Cafe Rio. Every time I hear the word Utah I feel like I mention Cafe Rio...the obsession is real? Haha!

We also got to teach Matilda on Monday, who I just love! She has been investigating the church for 2 years, and the only reason she isn't baptized is because her family does not approve. She has read the BoM, prays all the time, comes to every activity, never misses church, and even came to mission prep last Thursday. Haha! She is just perfect. Total dry Mormon. We feel like we shouldn't push her to baptism right now because of her family, but she could be baptized today if she wanted to. She could have been baptized last year apparently! She is so cute and I love her! We watched a Mormon Message together and by the end we were all crying...I LOVE THE HOLY GHOST. I love the sensitivity I have to it that I have developed on my mission. I know it is with me 100% of the time. Best feeling in the world.

Then I got to go on splits in Malmö with Syster Jacobs!! We were in Norrland at the same time, so I knew her a little (we lived like 7 hours apart, but still in the same zone. haha), but it was super fun getting to know her more. We had lots of fun exploring Malmö and I really have fallen in love with Skåne :)

Then we had a super good district meeting on the Book of Mormon! That is our focus this transfer, and we went through objections our investigators have had to the church and answered them with the Book of Mormon. I am so impressed with missionaries in this mission...We have one convert of 2ish years in our district who was pulling out these awesome scriptures that I have never noticed and I was really feeling the need to work on my scripture memorization...haha! I LOVE the Book of Mormon though. There is no better book in the world!

The Copenhagen temple. How lucky is this girl?

And we got to go to DENMARK to top the whole wonderful week off :) YAY TEMPLE! I am obsessed with the Copenhagen temple now. The inside is one of the prettiest I have ever seen....It just felt so GOOD to be there. Coming to the temple feels like coming home. We met a few families from Utah that were there too (haha, of course) and it could not have been a better day.

We were able to do some sightseeing after the session, and I fell in love with Copenhagen!! I'm not a fan of the Danish language....but everything else was great. Haha! #swedenforever but we saw the real Kristus (the one that has been redone and is at the Temple Square Visitors Center), the Little Mermaid statue, and a tonnnn of stuff. It was so fun. I think I need to get rich and tour Europe ASAP.... :) Daddy? ;)

It has just been a picture perfect week! I have loved every second :) The work is going sooooo well right now. Elin is doing awesome and finished 2 Nephi. She is a beast. And B and I are still loving each other! Life is good :)

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Have a good week!!

xoxoxox Syster Mod

 At the Copenhagen temple

Getting to see the original Kristus in Denmark.

This is a garden they walked through for a RS activity.

Taking groceries home on the bus.

Erin said that she's obsessed with citron peppar (lemon pepper). She puts it on everything!

These next few pictures are of Denmark.

fjärde juli

Must wear red, white & blue on July 4th!

Hello everyone!!

It has been a great, crazy week! I really am so sorry I say that every week. Haha. It's always true I swear!!

We started the week by going to Stockholm!! We went up Monday night, stayed the night with the sisters in Täby, and had Mission Leadership Council the next day. I always love MLC. We talked about the power of the Book of Mormon and I got so pumped. Haha I love the Book of Mormon! In my patriarchal blessing, it talks about how the Book of Mormon will become one of my most treasured possessions if I study it every single day. I remember being at home and getting ready for church and blowing the dust off of my scriptures, or not even being able to find them...Now, they are falling apart. Sometimes I spend the entire hour of personal study just reading the Book of Mormon. I've made it a goal to read 3 chapters every day, and I eat them up. Promised blessings always come true! :) As a mission, President gave us a challenge to read Enos and 2 Nephi 9 every night, and see how our lives change. We have just been doing it since MLC, but I have loved it. I start my day with the Book of Mormon and end it with the Book of Mormon too! :)

The STLs -- Kamauoha, Bolton, Beckstrom, Mod, Allred, Powell, King & Sandberg

After MLC, we kind of got stranded....and ended up sleeping over at the mission home! I LOVE THE BECKSTRANDS! They are seriously the best. They bought us McDonald's for dinner (complete with McFlurries----everyone in the mission knows my weakness) and Sister Beckstrand made us french toast in the morning. We felt so taken care of and loved.....And I got to sleep in the same bedroom as I did my first night in Sweden! It was so weird. Fun memories :)

We fixed both Beckstrom's and my visas on Wednesday, and then we FINALLY got back to Lund that night. We were able to teach that night, and we have been busy with lessons ever since. We have been able to teach a super cool girl named Elin, who is friends with one of our members. She got the Book of Mormon on Wednesday, and when we met with her yesterday she had finished 1 Nephi....like okay. Genius. We love her!! She is super positive!!

Aaaaaaaaaaand then it was the 4TH OF JULY!!!! Everyone knows how much I love America. :) We did a little barbecue with the elders (our poor Finnish Elder Kiikko felt a little out of place) and had a lot of fun :) We talked about our favorite president and favorite truck and favorite fast food restaurant....oh how we love our home. Haha! The rest of the day we just taught and carried around the American flag! It was perfect :)

Oh yeah. And it's HOT. B and I each have a bag of frozen vegetables (she has peas, I have spinach) that we use to cool us down....God bless air conditioning. I wish this country had it. However, after my dear winter in Luleå, I am appreciating EVERY second. ;) 

Anyway I just love being here!! Soaking up every minute of Swedish summer :) And final shout out to my best frieeeeeeend akmod who will be ak hunter this week! Love you buddy!!!!! And if everyone could stop getting married while I'm on the mish that would be cool. Thanks. ;)

Love you all!! Have a good week!!!!

xoxoxo Erin :)

A street in Stockholm

People in traditional Swedish costumes

Most of the missionaries from Erin's Luleå days -- Elinkowski, Mod, Archibald

Riding the train

"This is our house and our new way to street contact. lol"

A beautiful girl in a beautiful country.

The girls in Malmö

The delicious salmon dinner that the girls made. Wow!

This is a picture from Luleå. It's old, but so cute I had to post it! From L to R: Moa (a member in Luleå), Mod & Savage