Week 39 - Hallåååå

Hey Everyone! 

How is it going?! The work is going pretty slow here, but we are loving the process! It really is so fun here. I love Sweden! It is such a great place. This week, we had 2 days that were super warm! But then it tanked again. haha time to break out the big guns for good. Winter is on it's way! I am excited though! It really sucks sweating all the time. haha

Funny story from this week, we were at the church getting some help with Family History, and the guy helping us left before us and locked the door behind him, (which activates the alarm) and we had no idea. So when we went to leave, we set off the motion sensors and the alarm went off. haha we didn't know what to do, so we were just going to wait for the the cops or security and tell them what happened. But they never came! haha so we figured out how to turn off the alarm and left. lol That was an adventure.

Some other highlights this week, I gave a talk in church this week. I get pretty stressed about talks before hand, but then I give it and say, "oh that wasn't too bad." I would say this Swedish this is really coming along. :) I love speaking it! It is so great! We had splits which was super fun! I got to go to Gothenburg and do big city contacting which is a blast. We did service for a member and helped a random guy find his keys in the grass. :) Fun week!

This week in my talk, I talked about how we need to stick to the simple point of the gospel. and how important it is to remember to go to church, pray and read our scriptures! God does not expect us to be perfect, He just expects progression. So this week, think about how you can be better at the simple things. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you and don't forget to Keep the Faith. :)

Love,

Elder Baggett

LOLOLOL!!

Definition of Apostasy. An ad telling you to go vote about what the Swedish Church should do. Isn't that God's job?

"I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain" :)

Week 38 - Keep the Faith!

Hey everyone!

How is life in the Promised Land? Things are good hear on the other side of the world! The weather is cooling down, I haven't seen a blue sky, or any sky for that matter, in like 2 weeks. And boy oh boy... the rain. It has rained for about a week straight now. I hated it at first, but then I thought about it, why do I hate this? I'm not going to ruin my clothes or my backpack or my shoes. Well my hair does take a beating... But why hate it? It makes everything that much more of an adventure. :)

Some highlights from this week!  We had stake conference on Saturday and Sunday. We had it in this giant conference center type place called Svenska Mässan in Gothenburg. So that was a blast. We had a Guy from the Area 70 come. That was pretty cool. :) We met some new people, gave out some Books of Mormon, and got shut down a few times. haha

Funny story from this week, ( Background knowledge, Older Swedes usually don't have good English, but they try to speak to you anyway. Especially with us because they know we speak English.) So we stopped this lady on the street and we told her who we were and she looked at us and kept walking. As she walked away, in English said,"I am not interesting" Elder Scott and I couldn't help but just laugh. haha it was classic. 

Spiritual Thought from this week. In the Saturday session of General Conference, the Stake Patriarch spoke. He said something that I really loved. "Try to make everyone happy, but start with yourself" and I love that! It is great to look  outward and see how we can help others. That is what the Lord taught us to do! In PMG there is a quote I think it is in the Book of Mormon chapter. But is says, "You can't convert anyone past your own conversion" So I invite you all this week to look at yourself, see how you can become happier and more converted to the Gospel. Then turn outwards. I promise the closer you are to Christ the more desire you will have to share His Gospel. :)

I love you all so much! Thank you for the love and support and your prayers. :) Hope you all have a wonderful week! as always, Keep the Faith!

Love,

Elder Baggett

Elder Scott man...HAHA

"They see me rollin', they hatin.."

Äldste Scott and I at Stake Conference

Week 37 - Another day, another dollar

Hej allihopa! :)

Awesome week this week! I'm now in my new area of Allingsås and I love it here! The area is beautiful, we have a few awesome investigators, and the ward is the best! My new companion, Elder Scott, is a stud! He goes home this transfer, and told me he wants to end on top, so we have been going super hard this past week! The plan is to keep it up. :) 

Highlights from the week, not a ton, but this ward is a lot like Handen in the sense that we get quite a few member dinners, so that has been fun. You get to know the ward. and I really like that. :) We do have a family that we are working with right now. So that is super fun! They have a Baptismal date for the 30 of September! Coming up very quickly on us. I look forward to working with them on their path to baptism and eventually the temple. :) Nothing too much else this week. haha

Spiritual thought for the week, we all have talents and abilities. Some more that others, but we all need to be humble. No matter what we accomplish in life, it is because it was in Gods plan, and he gave you the ability to do that. Ammon put it best, "11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.-- "(Alma 26:11-12) 

May we all be like Ammon! Learn to recognize Gods hand in your life! He is there. You just have to look for it. :)

Sorry it was so short this week, I don't really have too much to say. haha but I hope you all have a fantastic week! Make sure to Keep the Faith, and don't forget to wear your blue this week. ;) GO COUGS!

Love,

Elder Baggett

From the roof of the Allingsås Apartment

Remember these little suckers? haha Takes me back.

Sweden weather!!

Week 36- Transfers (again)!

Hey everybody! 

Awesome week this week! We have been working really hard here trying to find to people to teach, it is slow, but we are making progress. :) Some pretty big highlights from this week! Elder Domino got a training call so he will be training a new missionary here in Linköping! He is an awesome missionary and do an amazing job. But, that means that I have to leave! I will be transferring to the beautiful city of Allingsås! I am really excited! I am a little bummed that I have only had 1 transfer here, but the Lord knows where he needs me! I will be receiving Elder Scott! He will be going home this transfer. (yes, that is 4 companions I will be sending home in a row) It will be fun! 

So cool story for this week, remember that cool American guy I talked about like a month ago? His name is Owen and he is a retired Marine and he is super cool. Anyways, we were on the bus home, and it wasn't our usual bus. But we felt like we should take that one, so we did. And Owen and his girlfriend got on the bus! So we talked, and when it came time for our stop, they got off too! They live like 5 minutes from our house. He asked if we wanted to get some food and we said of course! So we were able to sit down with them and get to know them. We even got his number and will be meeting again soon! Moral of the story: Follow the Spirit, even in such a mediocre decision as which bus to take.

One thing I have grown to love on my mission is looking up the scriptures that are at the bottom of the hymns that are sung is sacrament meeting. Yesterday, we sang,"Min Gud Är Mitt Ljus"(The Lord Is My Light) and the scripture was Psalms 27:1 but I like 2 and 3 also. "1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident."  Know the Lord is on your side! and is he is on your side, you CANNOT lose. :)

Nothing else that was really too exciting, so I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you all dearly! Don't forget to Keep the Faith. :)

Love,

Elder Baggett

The bro district! Left: Elders; Petersen, Petersen, Domino, Waters, Me, Olson

When you get forever "rim-checked". (I threw this apple in the garbage and missed. lol)

Linköping

A cool old telephone booth.

Pretty Patties! LOL

A missionaries worst nightmare!

Week 35 - Tjäna grabbar! (Serve boys!!)

Tjäna grabbar! (

How is everyone doing? This week was a good one for sure! We have been seeing some fruits from our labor which is always nice! This week, we get 4 new investigators which is awesome! Even though we love Elder Gentry, and it was hard to send him away, it is nice to do missionary with a normal companionship. Our time together was a BLAST though. :)

Highlights from this week: I got a much need haircut, Elder Domino bought a ping-pong paddle, so it's about to get LIT. We did a lesson in Norwegian met a few new people including the biggest highlight of the week! So we were at the train station dropping off the Katrineholm elders after splits, and we got a self-referral text that said "Name: Hans (super common name here) and address: Drottninggatan 12 (the church's address) wants a missionary visit" Needless to say we were pretty bummed.. haha but then, we got a text saying, hey! is this the missionaries is Linköping Sweden? Yeah of course! Come to find out, it is this kid names Hans and he is from Colorado! He is on foreign exchange here. He met with the missionaries in Colorado and wants to start meeting again! It was honestly such a blessing. We went directly to the church to meet with him. He is seriously a stud! Super excited to keep meeting with him. :)

This week I was listening to the General Conference talk by Elder Holland called "Safety for the Soul" and there was a little bit in there that I loved. "For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.” 

I just love Elder Holland.  If this wasn't the work of the Lord, the whole thing would have collapsed a long time ago. This week I would invite you all to listen to this talk. It is one of my all time favorites! I know that if you will show the Lord you are willing to take time out of your day to listen to the words of one of his apostles he will bless you beyond measure. :)

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Don't forget to Keep the Faith! :)

Love,

Elder Baggett

PS: Good luck to Bingham Football this week! Know I'm cheering from the other side of the world. BEAT EAST.

Crawdads for dinner!

Linköping

Elder Domino saw a pillar of light!

When you are paid to recycle.

"Panting" at it's finest.  100 crowns for free!!

Elder Domino and his dang Fidget Spinner!!

Week 34 - Hej dä Äldste Gentry

Hello everybody! 

How's life on the other side? This week has been really awesome! It's crazy, today in my 8 month mark! 1/3 of the way through! Feels like I got here last week honestly. This week I realized how much I actually love being a missionary. It's not like I didn't enjoy it before, I just realized how fast it actually goes by and that we need to love every second!  and the time is going by, and I am seriously just trying to soak it up all that I can. :) 

This past week, we had Zone conference, which is always fun! I is so cool to see how fast President and Sister Youngberg got into the swing of things here. They got here and took the reins, and are leading this mission full force! They are going to do wonders in this mission the next 3 years. :) We also had splits on Friday and Saturday! I was able to go with Elder Waters which was super fun to do some work with him and talk with him. Weird to talk about high school honestly. haha

So, at Zone Conference, we talked more about recognizing the spirit. One thing that President Youngberg, I guess two things, said were; If you aren't feeling the Spirit, do your best to keep moving forward. He will talk to you when you most need it and when you are acting in faith. And another, any good thought or feeling is of the Spirit. No matter what it is. If it invites you to do good and come closer to God it is of the Spirit! I would invite you all this week to look for how to Spirit talks to you and diligently search to have him with you. You won't regret it, I promise. :)

Sorry, it is so short today, I didn't have a ton of time, but I love you all very much! Hope you have a great week! Keep the Faith. :)

Love,

Elder Baggett

Week 33 - Is it August already?

Hey everyone!
How is everything? Just a dandy week here in Linköping Sweden! We are currently listening to Elder Domino's black gospel music and it has a reoccurring message of "THE LORD IS REAL" Yes he is real! He is here for each and everyone of you. Remember that. ;) anyways, haha The work is going forward! Slowly but surely. We have be trying to meet with people this week, but we have had a lot of canceled lessons which is a bit annoying, but it happens! Good news this week, I found 2 pairs of pants for about 10 dollars each so that was a tender mercy. haha


We had a pretty interesting Sunday yesterday. Long story short, our branch president was absent. So one of his councilors was presiding. About 25 minutes into the meeting, nobody was getting up to bear their testimony. so he got up and started to close the meeting! I had to whisper in his ear that it probably wasn't the best idea to end that early. and he said,"Oh, is that too early?!?" haha it was pretty awkward actually. But it ended well.


This week I was reading in 1 Nephi in the 14th chapter in verse 2 it says, "And harden not their heartsagainst the Lamb of God, they hall be numbered among the seed of thy father; yea, they shall be numbered among the house of Israel; and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever; they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded." Pretty cool promise, that we are to be a blessed people and and numbered in the house on Israel. But we cannot turn away from the Lord! He is waiting for us with open arms. We just have to take the step of faith towards him.


Sorry for the boring letter this week.. I'm getting better I promise. Anyways, I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Don't forget to Keep the Faith! :)


Love,
Elder Baggett

Super good soda they have in Sweden during Christmas. A member always saves them for the missionaries because we LOVE them. haha

When you want to ping but have no net, you have to improvise.