God Jul Allihopa!

Merry Christmas!!

This week was sensational. On P-day we had a party at the Ysa center with a lot of the göteborg missionaries and we played some games and we did a meditation game with Elder Cox and we all found out spirit animals. Mine was a dalmation. Det var roligt. ;)

So many sweet members invited us over for dinner for the holiday season. :) It was nice especially when we were having a rough day to look forward to be with members in a nice warm chirstmasy home. We love the people here. :)

This week we knocked on so many doors inviting people to the Christmas Sunday service telling the world how fun it would be. :) We found that to be very effective inviting people from door to door. This sweet old lady opened up and told us we could come back and talk to her more! We came back a few days later and she happily let us in. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and the stories it contains. She said she believed in god but she just didn't really know where to turn. We invited her to read and ask him if it was his word. She said happily and said we could come back another time. :) Toppen!

We got to practice the restoration in swedish this week as well with a member. It was nice getting tips and improving our skills since we don't get to teach it so much. He gave us some language tips too so that was nice!

We had a fun distrikt meeting this week as well! It was the one right before Christmas so we decided to all go out christmas caroling in stan (in town)! We brought some hymn books and sang to the world! This cute little old lady came up to was and was like 'Wow!! You guys sing beautifully. What church are you from?' We told her we were mormon and she was like, 'Oh I don't like Mormons...but that's okay at least you sing nice.' lol. We came back to the center and the Watsons surprised us with this huge lunch! They are the sweetest ever.

We then had Julafton! (Christmaseve)! :) Which is actually bigger celebrated than christmas day in Sweden. :) We met with the elders and watched some disney movies and then headed to the sweet familjen Malm! We played games with their little kids and watched Kalle Anke (Donald Duck) cartoons together. Eva made us this beautifull christmas dinner and we had a grand ol time together. After, we acted out the nativity with the family and and played some charades. :) Then one of the younger sons who was about 11 years old dressed up as Jultomten (Santa) and brought presents for everyone! It was cute because the little sister was like, 'What the! You're not Jultomten, you're my brother...' haha Såå gulig. We then thanked them for everything and they drove us home.

The next day was Christmas! It was fun because we had church that day and we got to see everyone in their fun Christmas outfits and the christmas spirit was so strong! One of the lady's houses we knocked on came for the service too so that was fun! :) We combined with the Utby ward as well so it was fun to see some more missionary friends. Us missionaries sang a musical number and there were many more beautiful musical numbers. It was a great meeting. We then headed to the Johnsons after church and they made us this delicious ham and we had a nice relaxing evening together. :) We got to skype our families while we were there too!! Wow it was so weird. 7 months without seeing my family! Such a treat to see them. :) I love and miss them so much. So many tears were shed lol. Where did the time go? Weird to think the next time I see them will be in person! So excited. We then finished the night with some more disney movies. :) It was a great Christmas!!

Hope you all had a great christmas as well and felt the wonderful spirit of love during it. Grateful to have got to spend two christmas' here in the beautiful land of Sweden as a missionary for the Lord. It's hard not being with my family but it is worth everything being here for Him. I love the gospel and the feeling of peace it gives us not only on Christmas but all year round. :) Love you all and till next time!

Med Kärlek,
Syster Davis

Contakting the swedes

​Singing carols to the swedes

Christmas with my sis. :)

​We love the Watsons.

​Christmas crew.

​Göteborg denna underbara plats... åååh!

My dream come true.

Hello hello everyone! So much happened this week and sadly I don't have much time to explain it. Gonna sum it up quick. :) Had a last few couple of days in Örebro. Said goodbye to some of my favorite people including Syster Christoffersen, Äldste Petersen, and Äldste Richardson. shout out to you all and miss you all.

It was December 13 this past week so we got to see the St. Lucia concert which was beautiful! Feels like yesterday I was watching it last year in Sundsvall. Where did the time go?

We did some service and played some ukulele for Vedel one last time and sang 'Come Thou Fount.'

I then packed all my bags up and hopped on a train to my new area Västra Frölunda!! Still kind of in shock I get to be in Göteborg. :) Always been a dream of mine to serve here. I know it's gonna be amazing.

Met Syster Heaps and Syster Wagner at the station and they helped me with my stuff. :) So excited to get to be with Syster Heaps this transfer! This first week together has been such a blast and she has been showing me around the whole area.

We have this sweet investigator named Yunlong who is from China and got us flowers! Such a sweet guy. We've had so many sweet members invite us over for dinner so that is always fun. It is such a treat to be in peoples beautiful homes during the holidays! Such Christmasy vibes everywhere we go. :)

This is going to be a good 7 weeks.

Sunday was fun too. :) Got to meet the whole ward! Such a big ward full of such nice people. We were in the choir too singing some Christmas hymns. Got talk to Felix as well, eller former Äldste Sahlin who was the assistant when I first came to Swden! :) So fun and so good to see him. It was a nice sabbath and felt the spirit so strong from this returned missionary's talk who just got back from Greece on her mission! So great talking to her too.

Anyways, love you all and hope to be able to give more details next time.
Merry Christmas!! and see you next week!

​St. Lucia!

​Örebro crew

​My new comp Syster Heaps!! :)

Undersökare Yunlong. :)

Christmas Conference in Handen!

Hello allihopa! Such en eventful week I don't even know where to begin. P-Day was pretty normal. We helped Äldste Richardson get some normal person outfits since he will be going home so soon. He needed some fashion tips from us lol. We then find out later in the evening that Syster Christoffersen will be training so that was some fun news! Also meaning I will be transferring out again. I found out I will be heading to Göteborg and greenie-breaking Syster Heaps! :) I am so pumped. It has always been a dream of mine to go to Göteborg. And I am even more excited to be with Syster Heaps. :)

This week was also special because it was Christmas Conference! :) We got together with the Stockholm South Zone and had a huge Christmas meeting. We stayed the night with the sweet Västerhaninge sisters Syster Hansen and Syster Nelsen. They are the sweetest. We all gathered at the new Handen chapel. It was beautiful! We had a spiritual meeting about Christmas and about loving one another. We then had a delicious feast for lunch and I caught up with my good friend Äldste Hart who is going home this week! Crazy how fast the time goes out here. We then did a white elephant game which was a blast. we had some Christmas musical numbers and another spiritual meeting. At the end the Beckstrands came out and told us they had a surprise for us. They said since we all have been such hard-working missionaries this past year we deserve a present. We gathered into the gym and they have this huge projector set up to watch a movie! They let us all watch the new Saturday Warrior movie! haha Even though it was a cheesy mormon movie we were all so pumped and happy to get to watch a movie! :) Such a great present and such a fun conference. :)

After the fun conference we all headed back to our areas. We went to go visit this member in the senior home named Sonja. She was the cutest thing ever and was so happy we came to see her. We read some of the Liahona with her and she told us all about her family. She kept saying she was so grateful we came to visit. Such a sweet lady. :) We promised to come back every week!

The next day we headed down to Stockholm because Syster Christoffersen had train the trainers! That means I got to go on splits with the Täby sisters!! Syster Trotter and Syster Olsen. :) It was so fun catching up with them. We contakting a ton of people togther too which is always fun to do in a tripan. Me and Trotter gave out a Mormons Bok to this guy who said he needed evidence that god existed and we said 'Okay here you go. :)' and He was like 'hmm, tack!' haha. After splits I went back to the mission home a little early to wait for the trainers to finish their meeting. While I waited I had a little fika with Syster Beckstrands assistant Bianca. She made us some hot chocolate and we talked about life and stuff. She is so nice! We then headed back to Örebro.

This weekend we had the Örebro ward Christmas party! It was such a fest and the cute little primary kids did a mini St. Lucia show for us. They also had a swedish trivia game about all these swedish christmas traditions and I literally guessed on almost all of them. They went went through all the answers at the end and the winner got a gingerbread house. At the end, I got everything right even though I guessed and won the prize haha! Everyone was shocked an American missionary won lol. I just said I guessed on everything and they all laughed.

The next sunday was my last sunday in Örebro so they had be share a goodbye testimony. I was only here for 5 weeks but it already felt like home. I thanked everyone for the love and said I hoped to come back someday. :) After church the Lohman's invited us over for dinner since it was my last sunday here. We talked about how much we loved Robert and Tiffany Davis and they showed me this fun Midsommar book with all these photos of them. :) Pär even called Tiffany while we were there haha. The Lohmans are the best. :) Gonna miss the amazing people of Örebro!

Anyways sorry this letter is really rushed and probably a lot of mistakes but it was quite an eventful week! So much happening and excited to get to be in Göteborg this week! Wish me luck!

Jag vill bara lämna er med mitt vitnesbörd att jag vet Kristus lever! Han är där och det här är hans verk. Varje dag ser jag underverken som bevisar mig att Gud är där. :) Han verkligen bryr sig om var och en av oss och vill att vi ska hitta honom i våra liv! Jag är så tacksam för att jag kan vara här för honom. Det finns ingen ord som kan förklara hur mycket glädje evangeliet har givit mig. God Jul alla och ses vi nästa vecka!

Med Kärlek,
Syster Davis

Familjen Lohman. :)

Splits with Täby! my littleTrotter. :)

Sonja!

Örebro crew.

​Camel in stan!

Missionary funerals and Mustaches

Hey again. :) This week was just grand. We had a fun P-day with one of our less-active friends and we went to this cool shopping center and got some IKEA for lunch. We then ended the day with a fun family home evening with the Svenssons and friends. So fun.

Tuesday we had our usual service with Vedel and fika. Gregor let me play the organ so that was cool. Never played one before in my life!

This week our friends familjen Knuttson was moving and they asked us to help move out. We happily said yeah and helped them clean out their whole house!

Sorry don't have a lot of time but to summarize. We had a great last distrikt meeting together! It was Äldste Bailey's and Äldste Richardson's last one so we threw a huge funeral for them! We all did a little musical number for them. Me and Syster Chrostoffersen sang a little song on the ukulele for them and we all took some fun pictures with mustaches after. It was a fun last distrikt meetng.

We visited a lot of members this week too and showed them the new chirstmas video! Love this years initiative about service. :)

We met with former Syster Jackson (Savannah now) and Elias and watched the Restoration film with them. It was fun to see Savannah again.

We had a great Sunday as well too! Lots of new people came to church which is always fun. :) After church the Svensson's invited us over and we all went to this christmas concert together in stan called O helga Natt! Det var jättefint och roligt.

It was a great week and love the Christmas spirit around us everyday.
Till nästa vecka
Med Kärlek,
Syster Davis

​P-Day fun

​Savannah and Elias

Slottet

I'm thankful for...

Hello friends! Hur mår ni? Hope you all had a nice thanksgiving. The week here was just great. It started off with a nice P-Day at the top of Svampen! This huge mushrrom building we live by. We just had to climb to the top and see the cute little view of Örebro! Later in the evening we met with the sweet Knutsson family had us over for family home evening. They said we provide the spiritual thought and they provide the game and fika. ;) It was such a fun homey evening.

We had our normal service with Vedel this week so that was a treat. This time was special because we got to put up the Christmas tree in the church! So fun getting into the holiday spirit here. :) The STLs Syster Campbell and Syster Anderson came to for splits so that was fun! It was fun getting to be with my old comp Syster Campbell! I showed her all around Örebro and we kontaked the whole day. Loved being with her again.

Vedel and his cute wife Kerstin had us over for dinner this week too! They made us the Christmas traditionals and explained to us about the Swedish advent calendar where everyone in Sweden lights a candle 4 sundays before christmas every week for a little count down. We showed them the new christmas video too and they loved it.

Thanksgiving was this week as well. :) On the actual thanksgiving day we had nice distrikt meeting and did some funny roleplays together. Chatted with Äldste Harrell from San Clemente and Äldste Scott about life so that was fun. We went to a chinese buffet afterwards and had a grand ol time together. We then went kontakting for a while and then had a mini thanksgiving with us and Äldste Williams and Richardson at the church. I accidently bought alcoholic apple cider so that was a bust lol. It was a great day i alla fall!

We met with Ann and her daughter Vanessa this week too. We met Ann on the street a few weeks ago and she told us to call her anytime! We called her and she treated us to Lasanga. :) She spent most of her life in Rio so it was cool hearing about her life there. we taught her the restoration and she said wow, I believe it. Such a spiritual meeting and she said we could meet again soon. Her daughter Vanessa is a little autistic and she just had the sweetest smile whenever you would look at her. Love the amazing people we meet everyday. :)

Sunday was härligt! I shared my testimony since I just got to Örebro. We had a few investigators there so that was great. We had a little fika after church and then the Keanne family invited us over for a riktig Thanksgiving! :) Such a treat! They drove us to their beautiful house out in the nature and we had such a great time together. They had the cutest little kitten as well. Such a great Thanksgiving together. We all went around and said what we were thankful for.

I am grateful for hope. We have so much hope thanks to the gospel. Hope is something that gives us so much comfort and peace. It also gives a drive, and a purpose. With the gospel, knowing exactly why we are here and where we are going is such a burden lifted off our shoulders. That dosen't mean life is always easy but with hope in our Savior Jesus Christ, we can overcome any trial that comes into our lives. With him, we are promised happiness. We just have to endure and stay strong to the finish. Hope is what keeps us going everyday and having gratitude for the little things everyday can bring happiness to the soul. 'With joy, wend your way.' Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgving! :) Till next week!

Med Kärlek,
Syster Davis

​Svampen!

​Christmas is coming. :)

​Örebro kapellet. Cutest chapel som finns!

Tjena

​Splits with Cambie. :)

Dinner at Pablo's!

Hej hej! This week was just wonderful. :) Me and Syster Christoffersen had a great P-Day shopping together. We got some new winter gear for the winter which is coming upon us. We hit up the nearest thrift store and got some really good buys. We then had a fun family home evening hos familjen Svensson! It was so fun and we played this Swedish word game with some of the Örebro ysa and ate some popcorn.

Every Tuesday the missionaries here do service with this sweet member named Vedel. :) We got to the church and rake all these leaves and vacum the whole church. We had a little fika afterwards with Vedel and Gregor. Gregor liked this winter hat I was wearing so he put on his Adventure Time Jake hat and said 'if you get to wear a cool hat so do I.' ;) Vad sött.

We had a relief society activty this week as well. It was by this lady who had depression and she shared with all of us her story and advice for anyone who was struggling with depression. We texted a few less actives to see if any wanted to come with us and this one called us and said she wanted to but was scared to go alone. We told her we would come with her and she was so happy. :) The whole night she kept calling us her daughters and how much she was grateful for us for inviting her to the activity.

We did a lot of kontakting this week as well. We have been trying to find some people to teach. It has been a little hard because rejection after rejection can be a little draining. Maybe 1 out of 20 people are nice to us. And even with that they usually aren't interested. There were a few days I just felt like a sucky missionary because we have not too many to teach and everyone was just putting their hands in our face or getting mad at us. This one personal study during this blue day, I read in the New Testament about Paul and it just lifted my spirits again. Paul was a missionary for so much of his life and it wasn't easy for him either. I loved reading and relating myself to Paul the whole time. I didn't feel like I was alone anymore. Thank goodness for the scriptures! They seriously are a life-saver. Being a follower of Christ is the most rewarding thing ever.

We had zone training this week as well in Södertälje! It was fun to see so many old missionary friends again. :) I got to see my baby (trainee) Syster Matwaychuk too! That was wonderful. I love her with all my heart. Our STLs Syster Anderson and Syster Campbell did a great section on how we can come closer to Christ in our life. These trainings are always just what I need. Our zone leaders Elder Carrigan and Pärkää shared with us the new Christmas initative #lighttheworld so that was fun! Love getting to do Christmas kontankting. It makes people a little more open. :) We then went to a pizza resturant and got to catch up med varandra.

The next day was stake conference!! And because us Örebro missionaries were in the stake choir, we got to go down to Stockholm to sing in it. :) Man it was sooo fun. It was the Stockholm stake so I saw so many members from Jakobsberg! So many great reunions and hugs. We stayed with the stockholm sisters and the Uppsala STLs were there too. I got to catch up with Syster Hall so that was great. :) Singing in the choir was so fun too. I've grown to love singing here on my mission! There is something so spiritually uplifting singing in Swedish. Love it.

After church, Pablo, this member from Gubbängen invited all the missionaries at stake conference over for dinner! It was such a fun gathering and we helped Pablo made 40 meat patties for everyone. It was such a great week and full of light and christmas cheer. :) So excited for the holidays coming up! Love you all and have a great Thanksgiving.
Med Kärlek,
Syster Davis

Me and Christoffersen. :)

​Beautilful Arboga!

​Distrikt goals

​When Pablo invites 40 missionaries over...

Hjärup and first week in Örebro

Hallå allihopa. Well this week has been crazy. We had a fun last P-Day tillsammans with our Malmö zone. We took a little pitstop to this cute little Swedish town called Hjärup! I saw pictures of it before my mission on the internet and requested we go visit it! It has all these colorful swedish houses and a little village to walk through. It was adorable. :) We then hit up TGI Fridays with our Helsingborg crew for one last hurra and then went to the chapel to say goodbye to all our Malmö zone friends.

Transfer day for us was on Tuesday since we'd be travelling far! Äldste Murtonen coming from Gubbängen came early so we all got a little kebab together and then packed all our big suitcases and hoped on the train to our new areas. It was sad saying goodbye to our DL Elder Adcox. We've been in the same district for 6 months and finally were parting ways. It's been so fun! Gonna miss all the fun times.

Saying goodbye to Sys Campbell and Eldridge was the hardest of all. You seriously meet some of the bestest friends on your mission. Getting of the train and waving hejdå to them was so emotional. Can't wait to see them again and luckily Cambie is my STL now!

I arrived to Örebro safe and sound and Syster De Souza and Syster Christoffersen came to greet me! They were so sweet and took my bags for me and helped me to my new home. There was snow EVERYWHERE. Well that happened fast lol. There was no snow in the south and now I just entered a winter wonderland. Excited to be in this snowy place for the winter. :) We arrived to the apartment kinda late due to the long travel so I unpacked a little and then headed to bed.

We had a great first few days in Örebro. Christoffersen showed me all around the town while we talked to people. We got to know eachother a lot so that was fun. :) She is from Salt Lake City and has been on her mission for 6 months. She served in Helsingborg too so she knew how great it was! So many people we talked to asked us about Donald Trump as soon as they found out we were American haha. Typiskt. We ran into the Örebro elders a few times too! Elder Richardson and his greenie Elder Peterson. They're super nice.

We had lunch with our mission leader Philip Lohman and his wife Deborah too. :) They were so cute and made us this delicious shepards pie thingy. We talked about the restoration together. The Lohmans are great friends with my stake president's family at home so it was fun to have that little connection. :) The world is so small!

Distict meeting was this week too. It was fun to see some old friends again. We are the only two sisters in this district so we learn a lot of patience with so many elders...lol jk they're great. We made some goals for this transfer and then went to a Chinese buffet for lunch. The Örebro chapel is so magical! It is in the middle of this cute little forrest and the snow everywhere makes it so pretty.

We met the with this nice old man named Folke this week too! He was such a sweetheart and the elders shared a little scripture with him. His friend Eva who was there also said she knew the Davis' as well! Fun that so many people know them here. :)

The first Sunday was great too. It was the primary program, such a treat! There were so many primary kids and it's so cute to hear them and their little testimonies in Swedish. :) Elder Svensson who was my zone leader in Stockholm just came home from his mission too! He is from Örebro so it was fun to get to see him come home. Fun chatting with him after and saying it was weird to see him without a nametag haha. We had a nice sunday school taught by Robert Lohman about repentance. I always love Sundays and the spirit felt during them.

All and all hope you all had a great week. Excited for the holiday season and keeping strong through the cold and walking on sunshine! Till next week.

Med Kärlek,
Syster Davis

​Hjärup!

​Helsingborg crew

​Oh yeah Happy Birthday Eldridge!

​Örebro Chapel

​Hälsa stig. :)

​Me and Christoffersen!