Crazy Transfer and a proud new trainer with a baby

Dear Family,

Ok wow. I don't know where to start! These past few days have been insane. I'll start with Sister Sumner. She's my baby and she's super cute and a hard worker and a morning person. That makes one of us... She's from Virginia and is 21 and super good at Swedish! We're going to get along just fine! Anyhoo, now for the rest of last week. Thursday we had transfers. Sister Hegstrom and I were up pretty late packing and cleaning and leaving info for the new sister in Örebro. I won't tell you what time we went to bed, but I only got about 20 minutes of sleep Wednesday night, partly because I was freaking out about transfers and partly because I was SO ITCHY!!!! We got up at 4:15 Thursday morning and made some last minute preparations and at 6 we were out the door. Goobye Örebro apartment, I'll miss you and love you forever! Story: I had my 2 big suitcases packed to the brim and because I have waaaaaaaaayyyyyy to much stuff, I'd packed a big plastic tote bag full of the stuff I couldn't get in my luggage. I had it balanced on top of one of my suitcases and of course as soon as we got out the door, it fell off. Well I tried to grab it by one of it's wimpy handles and wouldn't you know that that handle just ripped right off. So now I had a predicament getting to the bus stop...lets just say it took about 20 mintues and a lot of sweat, prayers and tears. So we get to the bus stop (we've missed our bus and now need to wait for the next one. But we still had plenty of time to catch the train so no worries) and wait for the bus. It takes us about 5 minutes to pile all of our stuff on the bus. Of course I'm freaking out because I don't know how we're going to get it all of. But we managed at the train station. So Sister Hegstrom runs on ahead to print out our train tickets and I'm struggling with my massive suitcases and the stupid big bag. Side note: there was this huge group of people just watching me battle these bags and none of them offered to help me. I managed to make it to the elevator (after running over some guy's foot when he didn't move out of my way. Serves him right. that wasn't Christlike...I feel badly about it) and drop the big plastic bag again and...the other handle rips off. Well now I'm in a pickle. So we shove everything on the elevator and get downstairs and pull everything out and I run over to the other elevator (that gets us on to the platform) and push the button and hold it open while Sister Hegstrom runs over with her suitcases. I've already come with the stupid bag carrying it like a box. So the elevator doors open and I shove the stupid bag in there and try to run out to get more suitcases. Well the floor was very dirty and incredibly slippery and of course I slip and biff it right on my bummie. There were about 5 more people walking by and, again, not one of them offered to help, but just walked on by looking at me like I was an idiot. So we make it to the platform and I'm freaking out again because I don't know how we're going to get everything on the train and just started to cry. It'd been a long morning and all I wanted to do was go back to the apartment where it was safe and curl up in my hard, hard bed and sleep till forever. But I had to leave Örebro and Sister Hegstrom had to get home. So I flagged some guys down and they helped us get our luggage on. Turns out it was one of those stupid trains with NO ROOM FOR LUGGAGE!!!!!!! Seriously, who invented those?!! Anyway we manage to find a spot for everything and make it to Stockholm and only a few people yelled at us because our luggage was taking up seats (the folding ones that are never booked...that's where the ticket checker lady told us to put it!). I was like "If you can find a better place to put it, go ahead." Once we got to Stockholm we had help with the luggage. The moral of the story is double transfers are hard and I have too much stuff. I'll be sending things home at the end of the transfer. Well when we got to Stockholm I had to rush off with the other sisters in my group to go to the trainers' meeting. Yes all 4 sisters in my group are training this transfer. 2 of us whitewashed ares. A few minutes on the subway (a few more minutes to freak out about training...) and we got to the Täby chapel. After talking to President for a while we went in to meet our greenies. What a great group they are! There are 7 elders and 4 sisters and I get to be with the best one this transfer (pictures to follow...)! After the meeting we went back to the train station and I had to say goodbye to Sister Hegstrom (just rip my heart right out!) and Sister Lundén (she was also there with her group). Man I'll miss them. Sister Hegstrom and I had a really good time together and we've gotten to be really great friends. It's alway super hard saying goodbye to a companion. I felt lost...kind of like my right arm was missing. Sister Cherrington and us had to stick around a little bit to wait for Sister Williams, who just left Lund and had to give us the cell phone. So Sister Cherrington, Sister Sumner and I went exploring in Stockholm a little. I LOVE STOCKHOLM!!!!!!! It's so beautiful and big and I just HAVE to serve there some day!!! When we finally got the phone and I said goodbye to Sister Cherrington, the Assistants took us to Jakobsberg. Here's where it gets fun again. There was a massive SciFi convention in Malmö, which is about 20 mintues from Lund. Well thanks to the dork convention every single train from Thursday afternoon and through the rest of the weekend. So we had to spend the night with the sisters in Jakobsberg and then on friday morning get on a BUS to Lund. Lund is not exactly close to Stockholm so this was no quick trip. 9 hours later we got to Lund, which is SOOOOOOOO beautiful!!!!!! And the ZLs picked us up and walked with us to the institute where there was an activity. They called it India Night and it was way fun. They had Indian food (WIN!) and then a presentation on India. There were tons of nonmembers there! Elder Rade (the senior couple husband here, pronounced rahduh. They're German and win x 2!) gave a presentation on the church in India, complete with an introduction to the church by me and Sister Sumner. She did a very good job and it's going to be a cinch to work with her! The activity was super fun, but waaaayyy too long. The Rades took us to our apartment, which is SUPER cute, at about 10:15 and we just crashed. Saturday we got up, studied and then unpacked. The Rades picked us up at 12:30 and we went to a baptism in Malmö. . It was these 2 African guys. The first one had to be baptized 3 times because his arm wasn't going under. After the baptism we came back home and had some weekly planning (which was interesting because we don't know anything about our area). Sunday was great. Our ward is FANTASTIC. BTW it's interesting here in the south. We're in a region called Skåne (pronounced skohneh) and they have a waaaaayyyy different dialect. I'm like having to re-learn Swedish. So keeping that in mind, church was interesting. Of course, they asked us to bear out testimonies. Sister Sumner did awesome! She's super brave! There's a guy in this ward whose brother is in the same mission as Jake, BTW. They are in the same group! Also our ward mission leader has met Jake. He was in the London South mission. Anyhoo after church the Rades invited us over for dinner. Then one of the YSAs showed us around Lund. I still don't know where anything is. Today has already been an adventure. We went out at about 9:00 this morning to go to and urgent care clinic to have someone look at my hands...and arms...and legs, which have gotte progressively worse. Oh yeah, and my back. they had me see a nurse, who was a little stand-off-ish until I took off my sweater and showed her my arms. Then she was like "Oh my gosh! Let me look at you!" She told me to call back in the morning to make an appointment with the doctor. Then she was like "I think you may need immediate care. This looks bad." So she referred me to a few clinics in town. So we went by those and got an appointment with a doctor this after noon. He looked at my hands and arms and said that this looks like a bad case of eczema. I didn't think I had eczema. Anyway he gave me a prescription for some allergy pills and a stronger cortizone cream. We'll see how this goes. He said to call him if it doesn't go away in 2 weeks so keep your fingers crossed. Or just pray. That probably works better. We really haven't gotten to do much teaching the past few days. We got to meet our baptismal date at India Night. Unfortunately he didn't come to church yesterday but we're maybe going to teach him tonight after FHE. Sorry this email is super long, random and rambly. I'll close by saying that I know that this church is true. I know that Heavenly Father loves us. I can really feel that He's been with me these past few days. I'm not gonna lie I did NOT want to leave Örebro and I still miss it a lot. I think I left a piece of my heart there. It's always been my dream to come to Lund and I know I'm going to love it here too. But it just hurts a little. The point of this is that I've really felt the comfort of the Holy Ghost, especially as I've been freaking out about training and whitewashing. Heavenly Father must have a reason for calling me to do this and He qualifies those He calls. I'm sure I'll come to love Lund just as much as my other areas. I read Alma chapter 26 today and this is my favorite chapter in...ok one of my favorite chapters in the whole Book of Mormon. Ammon is talking here and rejoicing in the success they've had on their missions. My favorite verse is verse 27:

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

I've seen this verse happen to me! I love this chapter, mostly because it's what I want to be able to say at the end of my mission. Long story short, Alma 26 = successful mission. I know that Jesus is our Savior and Best Friend. I love you and miss you all!

Love,
Syster Coleman