Syster Coleman with President and Sister Anderson
Dear Family,
First of all, no, we did not get to see the Young Ambassadors. They were in Jönköping ("juhnshuhping") a few days before I got so Sweden. Jönköping is about an hour away fron Göteborg. I was really hoping to go see them! They were also in Stockholm last weekend, but I was already here. I have seen pictures from some of the ward members though. I get really excited when I find Bailee! Anyway, I had no idea that the MTC was going to send recordings of my songs home! I didn't even know that the were recording. Yay! That makes me very happy. Not much to report this week. We're still trying to get the work goin here. It's hard because we pretty much opened a new area so we have no investigators or anything. We've pretty much just met with ward members and YSAs. I love the YSAs! They're so fun to be around and get to know. We also think we're finally getting the hang of Göteborg. We don't have bikes so we either walk everywhere or take the spårvagn ("spohrvahn") which is like the subway, but above ground. It was kind of sad a few days ago we got on the wrong train and got totally lost on our way to the institute. Also, I just remembered that I didn't tell you about our neigborhood! We live on a little stree called musikvägen ("moosikvehgen"). It literally means music way. Isn't that just perfect for two sister missionaries who have music wherever they go? I think so. We also have pink wherever we go. Seriously. Sometimes our apartment looks like it threw up pink. Don't worry mom, I'm keeping my room clean and everything. We just have a lot of pink....Anyway, we're loving our ward here in Göteborg (p.s. you say that like "yuhtebohry"). The members are so sweet and excited to have sisters! Apparently they haven't had any for like 2 years. Also I think they're bored with the elders. Not that the elders aren't amazing. 'Cause they are. We actually do a lot with them. We are invited over to members' houses a lot and they usually invite all 4 of us. It's crazy, but nice because the more people there are the less I have to say! The Swedish is getting better. I can understand about half of what everyone says now. It just don't know how to respond. I guess that's normal for me. Now there are 2 languages that I can't talk to people in. That'll change though. We were asked to bear our testimonies in Sacrament meeting yesterday. I was so nervous and prayed the entire walk up to the stand. But I was just fine! Mom, the Holy Ghost really is better than Valium! I've learned that over and over again in the past few weeks. We also got the chance on Friday to go up to what is called the Maj Hajk (or May hike...) with the zone leaders. This is their youth conference and it was amazing! We only got to stay for like 2 hours, but I love the youth in this stake already! I think we were introduced to every young woman there. I felt bad because I could only remember like 2 of their names. but it was so fun. We got to bear our testimonies and take pictures. I forgot my camera and I was so mad! But Sister Goates said that she'd give me copies. Saturday was Zone Conference. It was great. Sister Goates and I got to do a musical number and I had to bear my greenie testimony. It was sad because Sister Goates had to give her last testimony. Did I tell you that this is her last transfer?! What am I going to do without her?! I'm not thinking about it anymore. It makes me sad. We had dinner with an amzing family in our ward last night. The Stridbergs. They're wonderful Sister Stridberg is the Relief Society president. and Brother Stridberg is hilarious. He loves American gadgets...and cars. They had a Chrysler minivan imported because he wanted an American car. I swear it's the only car in all of Sweden that is not stick shift. It may also be the biggest car in Sweden. Anyway, he's a gadget man like you dad! He loves his iPhone and MacBook. And he loves the missionaries. After about an hour with them the Swedish part of my brain just shut off...So I had a hard time because he just talked and talked. He's such a sweet man. He drove us home after dinner and during the drive, he said, "I don't think you all understand what a great blessing it is for us to have you here." It made me realize how easy we have it in Mesa. Most of our friends are church members and you don't have to go very far to find missionaries to have dinner with. But here it's different. I'm pretty sure that one out of every 100 people is a church member and the missionaries are so spread out. The church members crave contact and when they get it, they just soak it in. We've gotten to be really close to a few of the YSAs here. It's humbling because I realize how much they need us here. Ooh before I forget...you know on The Best 2 Years when they're fasting and they decide that if they can get one person to church they can break their fast and the the elder meets the branch president's daughter and gets her to come to church...? Anyway, the girl who played the branch president's daughter is one of our YSAs! She's in our ward and she's amazing. Her name is Anne den Hollander and she's here from Holland studying. I love her. She was supposed to teach with us a few neights ago but our investigator didn't show ( we'll talk about that later...). I felt so bad cause she came al the way into town to just have to turn around and go right back. But I love her! Anyway, the work is a little slow like I said. We had 4 appointments set up last week and 3 of them didn't show. The one that did was Tom who's one of our YSAs. He's fantastic. The spirit was so strong and I learned that I don't have to be a Swedish master to be a good teacher. As long as the Spirit is there the message will come across. Tom's sister Caroline is adorable. I'm kinda sad though because she leaves on her mission to Scotland in June and I'll be home before she gets back! Well I think I should stop now because this is the longest email in the history of the universe. I promise I'm getting some letters in the mail today! It's been a crazy few weeks but things are settling down a little. Pray that we can find investigators! I love you and miss you all!
Love,
Syster Coleman
New Swedish Sisters and Elders at Stockholm Temple
Sister Coleman and Sister Goats are Going to Goteborg
1 comment:
She looks so happy. Yeah Syster Sweden.
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