Week 27 - Glad Mid-Sommar allihopa!

Happy Midsommer everyone!

Hey Friends and family! 

Hope you all have had a fantastic week! Because I sure have! Kind of a crazy one though! Last Monday we had the 3rd annual Viking Volleyball tournament which was a blast! We got everyone together in the zone a played volleyball for the whole P-day! My team ended up taking 4th place. But I will have better results next year I promise! Tuesday: The only normal day of the week! We did some tracting and contacting. So the good old stuff. :) There is a joke that goes around the mission that is, "Backup plans in the Sweden Stockholm Mission is CONTACTING" haha You can never talk to too many people. Wednesday was my birthday! Thank you for the birthday wishes everyone! They put a smile on my face, so thanks for that! We went out to lunch with the sisters and had a member dinner. Did some tracting as well! Thursday: I went on splits to Skövde which was really fun! This was my first time like actually going on splits, because in Handen, the other areas were so close and so small that it hardly even made a difference! It was a good time. Then Friday was Mid summer Eve! Here in Sweden they celebrate everything on the Eve. It was a non-proselyting day, so we just took a chill at the church until the party started! We went to the party and it was really fun! I had a great time. Then, Saturday since it was Mid- summer day we had a P-day and since it was a holiday, nothing was open! So we just hung out at the church and watched "The Living Scriptures", that you watch as a kid. Which was really fun! Sunday, Elder Payne, or Jared I should say, haha came to Jönköping! It was so fun to see him and hard without with him for a bit. So this week was full of good activities. Not a lot of proselyting, but this week should be back to normal! 

Last night at dinner, the sisters gave the message. They talked about how blessed we are to have the Holy Ghost in our lives! Think about how big of a blessing it is to have the Spirit of God as your constant companion! I feel as though sometimes I take it for granted. But in the last 6 months, I have realized how much he is able to lead and guide my life! He is there to help me. All we have to do is to live worthy so that he can dwell with us. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week full of summer adventures! Love you all. Don't forget to Keep the Faith. :)

Love,

Elder Baggett

Elder Payne came back to Sweden to visit.  He came to Jönköping to visit.

Me, Elder Blattman, Elder Payne and his sister visiting from USA.

PDay basketball

Me, Elder Liljenquist, Elder Martineau at Midsommer Eve.

The midsommer pole (May pole) is a tradition that is celebrated in June.  It used to be used to celebrate in May (hence Maypole), but it was always too cold in May and not enough greenery.  You will see these all over during Midsommer.  Swedes decorate it with greenery and dance to celebrate the upcoming summer.

My birthday!  A great member had us over for lunch and even bought me a birthday cake!

Happy Birthday to me!

Me, Syster Hill and Botchway,

Elder Liljenquist, Elder Martineau at Midsommer Eve.

Midsommer Eve celebrations.

Viking Volleyball

Week 26- I made it 4 1/2 months before they found me!

Hej hej mina kompisar! 
(Hello, Hello, my friends!)

Awesome week this week! Our District leader gave us a challenge to try and tract at least one door everyday. So we have been doing a lot of knocking doors. Nice thing is though, the doors open out in Sweden (unlike the doors in the U.S. that open in) so it in nearly impossible to slam the door in our face! Not a whole ton of success has come out of it yet, but I know it will come if we keep working hard! 

To explain my subject. So I have now been in Sweden of 4 and a half months and this week was the first that I got asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting! Crazy huh?!? I was really nervous about it, but I went really well! No problem with the language, it just went smooth as butter which was really nice. :) 

Oh yeah, another kind of big deal, I hit my 6 months this past week which is super exciting! Kind of crazy how time works on the mission. It just seems so slow! But as soon as you look back at haow for you have come, it feels like no time has gone by. Crazy to think that I am already 1/4 of the way though my mission! I'm just getting into the swing of this. I'm excited to continue to learn and grow and receive more spiritual experiences to cherish. 

This past week, as I was studying for my talk, which was on the scriptures, I was thinking a lot about why it is important to have a testimony for yourself. You cannot always rely on your parents or your friends. So I would challenge you all to look at yourself and if you don't have a personal testimony about the Book of Mormon, do what you need to do to find that. If you will do that, I know that it will help your life dramatically!

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful summer! And Happy Mid-Summer!

Love, 

Elder Baggett

Kebab Rulle. CLASSIC. Super good Arabic food that missionaries love. (super cheap)

Over the city of Jönköping

Vättern. The 2nd biggest lake in Sweden. Super pretty sunsets over this baby. (at midnight lol)

Jönköping

Flood after this giant rain storm we had. It doesn't look too bad, but that sucker is like 6 to 8 inches deep. haha

I have found that puzzles really help me relax after a long day of missionary work

Jököping missionaries! (Sorry bad pic..) Elder Blattman, me, Sister Botchway and Sister Hill!

The Rönndahl family.  Super awesome family in the ward.  With ADORABLE kids:)

)

"Knocking doors" with Elder Blattman.  The door is locked, so we call people through the port code.  Pretty entertaining!

Week 25 - Transfers

Crazy week this week!

We had transfers this past Wednesday, which are always super fun and hectic. But I said goodbye to Elder Chugg and sent him on his way back to the Land of the Free! I had a fantastic transfer with him and enjoyed it a lot! But I have been transferred to a city called Jönköping, which is like right in the middle of the bottom half of Sweden.  I took about a 4 hour train ride here, and I was all alone.. haha it was really weird, but kind of nice. Not going to lie. But it is beautiful!! I love it here already. Elder Blattman is my new companion, he is from Houston! Cool guy, I'm excited to get to know him better and to work with him and learn from him! He is also going home this transfer, so I will be sending home 2 missionaries in a row, so this will be interesting. haha But everything is going well! We have some investigators that we are working with here that I am excited to meet and work with!

This week, we went to go swing by a less-active and we got there and she wasn't home.. So we thought, obviously, we came here for a reason! So maybe we should tract the building! So we  did. We started at the top and got about 6 not interested's in a row. And we knock on this door (background info: right now for muslims, it is their fasting season. They can only eat during the night time hours, so sometimes there are a little cranky.) and this guy literally throws the door open and says "Who the f*** are you?!" and it threw me off my groove a bit. haha Then I said we are "missionaries with our church" and he said " I see that, but we are fasting my brother, so goodbye" and slammed the door. haha It was a little change up from what we usually get when we knock on doors. But a good experience I probably won't forget.

This week, we had ward conference! So the Stake Presidency came and talked in Sacrament and taught Priesthood and such. So, in Priesthood, they were talking about "Walking with Christ" and it was super good! I really liked how they talked about how we aren't just told to follow him, but to walk with him! He is right along side us helping us when we need it and even when we think we don't.  So walk with Christ this week! Be an example and rely on the Lord because He is there for you! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all. :)  Don't forget to Keep the Faith!

Love,

Elder Baggett

My Sister-In-Law's family lives in the city of Jönköping where Charlie was transferred.  They were so excited when they met him on his first Sunday saying "My cousin, my cousin!  We're cousins!" The cute little Swedish boy is Linnea's cousins son.

Here's a little video of Charlie singing Happy Birthday to John Paul in Swedish

This is High School graduation in Sweden. All over Sweden students are celebrating the completion of their final year of secondary education. It is the annual outpouring of emotion and champagne that is widely known as studenten. As Swedish rites of passage go, this one marking graduation from gymnasium is by far the most exuberant.

Week 24 - It's Transfer week!

Hallå mina vänner!
(Hello my friends),

Awesome week this week! Highlight of the week, was definitely the baptism of Sam Paris! He was baptized 15 years ago but we had no record of it. The bishop gave us the go ahead and we got it done! It was really fun. He wanted to keep it small, so it was just missionaries and the ward mission leader there, so that was nice. It was a really nice service and he is very happy, so that's all that matters. 

In other good news, I am being transferred to Jönköping! I was really surprised when we got transfer calls, I was convinced I would be staying here! But the Lord had another idea for me I guess. I am really excited though! It will be really cool. :) My man, Elder Chugg will be heading home this week which is crazy! He is an awesome missionary and I am so glad that I was able to serve with him. :) 

Other than that I have been reading a lot of everything this week. Jesus the Christ, D&C, PMG, Book of Mormon. and it got me thinking how lucky we are to have all of this! We have so many different things to study from and learn from. We have prophets on the earth today that are here to help us! So don't take that for granted! Read the scriptures and the words of the prophets. Learn from it. Let it change you into a better person.

I hope you all have a wonderful week this week! I love you all so very much! 

Love,

Elder Baggett

Baptism of Sam Parris

Looks like the same Charlie!  haha