Monday, November 28, 2016

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. :)

Monday, November 21, 2016

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...

Monday, November 14, 2016

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!

Monday, November 7, 2016

Leaving the Mother Land

This week was crazy. We had a fun Halloween with our district at the church on P-Day and all dressed up to the best of our abilities. ;) Our little tripan came as minions lol. Pumpkins are too expensive here too so we just carved some bell peppers. We played some uno and found a really creepy graveyard to walk through. It was a great Halloween! Later in the evening we had a lesson with this guy and we kept laughing because he kept thinking we were saying Kebab during the lesson when we weren't lol.

The next day we went to swingby this lady who invited us over for dinner but she never answered so we just went trackting. We knocked on this door and this cute little asian lady opened. We started talking to her telling her who we were and then she just said, 'Vänta!(Wait)...' and came back with all this candy. We were like wait what no we aren't trick or treaters we are misisonaries with our church. :) Don't think she understood swedish or english that well but just said, 'Jag vet inte' and closed the door. ;)

The primary this week set up this big dinner for us and the adults so that was fun! Little Mya came around and filled up our drinks and served us food. Such a cutie.

We met with our favorite Gabriel this week as well! We taught him the last half of the plan of Salvation and he loved it. He said it just made sense (the three kingdoms) and that he had a desire the reach the highest. It was me and Campbell's last time seeing him so we took so goodbye pictures together and he kept saying 'Oh my gosh we are so cute. I love us.' Such a sweetheart. ;)

We met with Alan this week as well who was planning to get baptized on Sunday but ate a bad case of chicken kebab and got the stomach flu so we had to postpone sadly. Stinkin' Kebab lol.

Sadly we got transfer calls this week and our tripan will be coming to an end. :( I will be heading to Örebro with Syster Christoffrsen and Campbell will be heading to Södertälje with Syster Andersson and Eldridge will train in Helsingborg. We are so sad to leave eachother but it was a beautiful transfer together. So excited to see what Örebro has in store! :) Especially with the christmas season coming up!

The last sunday here was so tearful. Only being here for one transfer breaks my heart and I've gotten so close to the people here in such a short time. They feel like family and I am going to miss them dearly. Helsingborg has my heart. Seriously missions are the hardest. You have to say so many goodbyes constantly to the best people ever.

Love the time I had here and I know I will meet more amazing people in Örebro. :) Thanks for the love and hejdå for now!

Med Kärlek,
Syster Davis


​Happy Halloween!


​My favorite Alicia. :)


​Gabriel!!


​Malmstens. :)


​Bonnie!!


​Cute Lucy from Cebuno.


​Last family pic.


​House trackting. Game face. On.