Week 91 - Good week in Sundsvall

Hey everyone! 

I know I say this a lot, but is it already Monday again?!? The weeks go by so fast here its crazy!  Really good week here in Sundsvall! I have been a little sick which hasn't been super fun.. But you just kinda have to deal with it and pray you get better soon. :) haha no it hasn't been to bad so that's nice. Highlights from this week, I actually got to meet the branch! It was so nice! Since last week we were down in Hudiksvall I didn't meet anyone, but now were cooking. :) Some other highlights from this week! We have had loads of finding time! Which is really fun. We knock a lot of doors here and meet so many cool people! I love it! :) We had a few lessons, we had FHE with the YSA in the branch, had 1 member meal. (Super weird not to be having dinner appointments everyday.. Kinda nice though, I can watch what I eat better :)  We saw a garbage truck light on fire! That was crazy. Don't throw away Ion batteries!!! We made a delicious stew to welcome in Autumn.  Ya know, that's really all I can think of! Fun week! Excited for another.

 Cool day last Tuesday! We had a day full the Lord blessing us! We had a lesson with a couple that we haven't been able to get in contact with in a while, since like July! And we had an amazing lesson! We talked about the Book of Mormon and it really clicked for the that they need to be in a habit of reading and praying everyday!! Got a return appointment for next week. On the way home, we decided to swing by and old investigator, and sh was home! and actually let us it! We didn't really know what to say because we weren't expecting her to be home. or even let us in! But we got a return appointment with her as well! Then, that night, we had a Skype lesson with another old investigator that was taught about a year ago. He lives about an hour drive away, so we aren't about to visit him. Only when we are out there for church. But because of out nifty technology, we were about to contact him over facebook and have a Skype lesson over facebook messenger! It was so cool! And he is super interested in continuing to meet like this! So awesome! All in one day! I love being a missionary. :)

So i told you about this 21 day challenge that has been going on here in Europe. Well, I finished this past week and it was awesome! I was able to read scripture that I have read hundreds of times before and get something completely different out of it. :) So cool. The lest day, was How can I know what is true? and it referred you to Moroni 10.  And as I read, my testimony was strengthen. I KNOW without a doubt that the Book of Mormon in the word of God. I cannot and will not deny it. It has helped me through the hard times and guided me in my decisions. One thing I got out of the challenge was that the overriding purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bring people closer to Christ. and it says in Moroni 10.32 " Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."  Read the Book of Mormon! Everyday! It can can will change your life for the better. :)

I love you all so so much! I hope you all have a great week! Aaaaand Keep the Faith. :)

Love,

Elder Baggett

Week 90 - I arrived in Sundsvall

Hey my beautiful people!

I hope this letter finds you well where ever you are. :) this week has seriously been amazing!! Last Tuesday after a long transfer travel of 2 trains 2 planes 2 cars for a grand total of 6 hours, I made it to my new area! The beautiful city of Sundsvall, the dragon city. :) I love it here so much already. My comp elder Nelson is great. We get along really well hopefully he stays here 2 transfers and kills me. :) but highlights of this week, we had some lessons, no member meals which was a bummer, had FHE, district council with all 4 missionaries haha got a ton of finding in. We knock a lot of doors here and it is a way good time. :) like pretty average week I would say.

Cool story from this week. So in the Sundsvall area, we have 1 branch of about 90 members here in the city. The we have 2 dependent branches is Hudiksvall and Östersund. Of about 5 or so members each. We go out to those 2 branches about every other month to have sacrament meeting. We went out to Hudiksvall yesterday. We had a total of 7 people there including us. It was so cool to be a part of. It was very small circumstances, the spirit was still there and we all learned together. :) so cool to see that even where the church is struggling, members are still following Christ. Doing what they need to do to receive the blessings :)

This past week, during transfers, it was super cloudy and rainy and not super nice to be honest. But as we boarded the airplane and took off, we got above the clouds and it was clear as day. It was beautiful! It was a cool metaphor to me and reminded me that no matter how bad our day or situation may seem, there is always light somewhere. Even if we cannot see it. So, when it seems like all you see and feel is rain, remember the light will come you just have to look for it. :)

Sorry, kinda short this week, and sorry it it doesn't make sense. Haha my mind is a little all over the place. Haha hope y'all have a good week and don't forget to keep the Faith! :) love ya!

Love,

Elder Baggett

Week 89 - I'M GOING TO NORRLAND!!

Except for the coastal areas, Norrland is sparsely populated. Approximately 12 percent of Sweden's population lives in Norrland. Except for some coastal areas most of Norrland is made up by the Norrland terrain– hilly and mountainous land covered by boreal forests.

Hey Everyone! 

A lot of amazing things going on here this week! The first of which is we received transfer calls yesterday!! I will be leaving to wonderful city of Jönköping and taking a plane up north to Sundsvall! and get this, my companion is Elder NELSON! We were comps not too long ago in Stockholm. :) Super excited to be with him again and see what kind of miracles we can see up in Sundsvall. :) Other than that, this week we have been pretty busy with lessons, member meals, exchanges, service, etc.. It feels good to be busy. Feel like I have using the Lords time how I should. We have also found the honeypot to knock doors. Im telling ya. Young, Swedish families and college students! We have found a few potentials and had so many great conversations! So much fun.  Lets see, other than that, not too much else to report on.

Cool story, yesterday, we were on our way to a dinner appointment with a member family and we were a little in a hurry, so we were walking fast. As we passed this group of four people, one of them looked at us, so I said hello and usually here in Sweden people try to avoid eye contact and act like they weren't looking at you, but he said "hey! You know, I have to ask, why are you guys dressed like that?" Well my friend let me tell you! So we stopped and talked to them. We taught them a very short version of the restoration right there on the street. :) The guy that stopped us and his wife were really interested so we gave them a Book of Mormon! It was such a testimony to me that no matter what we are doing no matter how much of a hurry we are in, we ALWAYS need to be looking for those that may need us. It would have been really easy for me just not to say hi and just keep walking, but I am so glad I didn't! The lord is truly blessing us here in Jönköping. :) and in case you're wondering, we made it to the member meal and even beat the sisters, so we were in the clear. :)

About a week or so ago, we started an initiative here in the Europe area and it is called the 21 day Book of Mormon challenge! They made a calendar with questions  that everyone has at some point in there life. like, "Is there a God?" "What happened to Christ after he was resurrected?" and gives a quote and a scripture reference to every question. I am now on day 10 and it is seriously so cool! I have read the Book of Mormon quite a few times in the past 2 years and I keep receiving new insights and knowledge about what is in it! Especially when I read specific chapters like this. I would like to invite you all to join in! It honestly takes like 10 minutes max everyday I have have come to know Christ in a more personal way in these last 10 days. I know you can do the same. :)  here's the link! www.lds.org.uk/the-book-of-mormon

Well my friends, thanks for all you do. The love and the support. :) I hope you know how much the Lord loves you and how proud of you he is for the good decisions you have made today. :) Have a great week and Keep the Faith!

Love,

Elder Baggett

Week 88 - POOL PARTY!!

This week was purely amazing! 

So many cool things happening here in Jönköping! :) The Lord is richly blessing us. Some highlights, we had some lessons, we had a few member meals as usual, we had Zone Conference which as always was such a boost! A much needed boost. Throwing us into another transfer. We were able to attend a baptism for an 8 yr old member in our ward and I was asked to speak which was also fun. Aaaaaand last but not least RAUNO GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was such a great service. His mom was able to come and she was really excited. :) The members that came were really happy for him and supportive. The rest of the week, was full of finding and helping other come unto Jesus Christ. :)

Rauno the man. He has quite the back story I am going to try and explain it as concise as I can so y'all can catch a glimpse of why I am so excited about this.  Back to the year 1961. Rauno's mother and father were baptized into the restored church of Jesus Christ in Finland and were very active for about 3 years. Some thing happened and Rauno moved with his mom to Sweden. Fast forward to about 2010 or so Rauno who was living in Uppsala at the time "mysteriously" received one of the seldom used, oversized pass along cards of Jesus Christ with the words "tro på Kristus"(Faith in Christ) on it. He still doesn't remember where it came from. But has kept that with him. Over the years he has visited church here and there wanting to learn more. So of course, he goes to the internet and searches "Mormons" on Google. You can imagine what came up and that man read every last link. Could have been really bad honestly and it was at first. He got into a lot of Anti material and at first was a pretty shaken! But he continued his search in better places, stayed in tune with the spirit, continued to meet the missionaries and feast upon the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon. Through out this time, there were a lot of miracles on the missionaries side finding him and keeping contact with him. He has had constant contact with missionaries for about a year. Eventually, he felt as if he knew enough to make an educated decision. He looked back at his life and realized God has always been directing him to the church. His parents being baptized, the pass along card, meeting the missionaries and all the other happenings. He told of us of an experience he had where he saw himself with our savior and he said to Rauno, "It is time to be baptized, there is work to be done." HOW COOL IS THAT?!? So Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity to baptize him and Yesterday he was confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints by our bishop. We have really grown to love Rauno and have loved seeing him progress in the gospel. My people, miracles do happen!

Another little miracle from this week! So, Saturday morning we had planned to swing by the family that we have been teaching and invite them to the baptism which was that same day. We got out to their house and they weren't home.. Pretty bummed. Got back on the bus to head back into town. About 3 bus stops down the line, another guy that we have been teaching, Iragi, got on the bus! He has a history of being hard to get a hold of. So we seized the opportunity to talk to him and see how he is doing. Come to find out, just quit his job to start studying (which is good news because he can meet more)! So that was cool. Then we invited him to the baptism, and he actually came! It was so awesome! He though it was really cool! After, I was joking with him and said, "You're next buddy!" and he laughed and said "You never know" :) So cool to see the Lord lead us where to go even though our initial plans didn't work out, He knew. :)

I was thinking what I could share with y'all this week and I came across a talk by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf for the October 2011 General Conference titled, "You Matter to Him" and there was a quote in there that really struck me. "The most powerful being in the universe in the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love." The first thing we teach people is missionaries is, "God is your loving Heavenly Father" But I don't think most of us realize the depth of that simple gospel truth. God truly knows, loves, and cares about each and every one of us and wants us to be happy and that is why he gives us things so that we came be happy and someday return to him. :) Think about that this week when times get hard that YOU are loved. :)

Sorry for the long email, hope you didn't get too bored reading it. And sorry for the lack of pictures. I will get better at it one day. Well, I love you all so so very much. I will see y'all in a short 3 months! :) Thanks for your love and your prayers. :) I hope you all have a wonderful week! Don't forget to Keep the Faith!!

Love,

Elder Baggett

Me, Rauno and Elder Oldham