The 4th of July was pretty good here. We had a special devotional that was a lot of fun (including 2000 missionaries singing Popcorn Popping and Once There Was A Snowman). Then we got to go outside and watch the firework show over The Stadium of Fire from a distance. It was funny to be 2.5 seconds away by sound. I'd never seen a real show like that, so it was way cool to see such huge fireworks. Though nothing could compare with watching all of Marysville blow up. I hope you all had a great day. And Jacob, I hope you had a FANTASTIC birthday!
We all got way into it, even reading 1 Nephi 13 together in class. Elder Tomlinson was really funny. He made fun of us for stealing the tune (pronounced chune) of God Save the Queen for My Country Tis of Thee. The idea at the fireside was that we're celebrating all nations' freedom, but Elder Tomlinson just likes to make fun of America. The way he says the word "dollars" is so funny--it's just not natural on his tongue!
On Tuesday we had Elder Kikuchi speak to us. He told us about how he was sitting on his couch relaxing after just being released from 36 years of service in the First Quorum of the Seventy when he got a call asking him to speak. Lol. :D He's REALLY funny, so it was great to see him! Especially since I have such fond memories of him coming to our stake conference all those years ago.
That's so cool about Kimball's mission call! I hope he really enjoys it. I happen to like Provo a lot, so I'm excited for him.
Elder Tomlinson was telling us about how growing up they would play in the castle in their backyard, which dates back to about 800 AD. What a different world! Our house was forest until 10 years ago.
I leave pretty soon now. Wow! I'm really excited, and I'm striving to make this last week and a half here as effective as possible. We don't have our travel plans yet, but we're pretty sure we're leaving on Monday the 16th. And we do have our visas already. I'm excited.
Sweden is one of the few missions in the world that has 9-week transfers. So I'll have 10 of those while I'm there (with one of them being 5 weeks longer). President Newell was called last June, so he'll be there until just after I leave. Apparently he doesn't do a lot of transfers, so I'll have maybe 4 or 5 areas my whole time there. That should be really fun! I'll let you know where I'll be when I can. Brother Bush, one of our teachers, was an AP and he says that we'll get a chance to email home the first day we're there.
They say paper mail takes about a week and a half to get there and a week to get back. That's not too long. Though it will be hard without the convenience of getting Dear Elders almost every day. That really does a lot to boost me. The work isn't the hard part, it's being so far away from those I'm closest to. But I'm doing fine. I'll have a lot to talk about when I get home! Until then, this will have to do.
Thinking about having to talk to people in the airport and then on the streets of Sweden when we get there is a little scary though. This is real!
Maybe someday I'll come back and be an MTC teacher. That would be a really cool thing to do.
I had a really spiritual experience in the TRC last week. We were teaching a member about the restoration, and when I told Joseph Smith's record of the first vision from memory (in Swedish of course) it was so powerful. That's the strongest I've ever felt the spirit in a lesson before! I'm sure I'll have many many more amazing experiences.
And I like Swedish a lot. Mybe I'll get stuck there forever. :)
Jacob, I hope your health is doing well. Stay strong! I'm proud of you.
Jag kan försäkta att skriv på Svenska. Jag kan Svenska bra nu! Jag hoppas att jag kan lära mig merr Svenka i Sverige.
Jag vet att Mormons Bok är sann. Jag är så tacksam för Guds kärlek till mig! Jag kan känna det varje dag. Jag vet att Han kan ge mig styrke och att jag kan göra detta.
I hope that I spelled everything right! I can say most things now, which is SO cool! Hopefully it won't take me too long in Sweden to be able to speak and understand comfortably.
I love you all very much! Know that I'm doing really well here. I think about you quite a bit, and I'm so grateful for your support. Thanks for everything!
Love,
Äldste Lawrence
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