Christmas visitor!

Swedish chefs!

Christmas games!

First Swedish snow!

Letter dated 26Dec2013

Dear Family and Friends: What a great Christmas we just had! We went to the Karlsson family in the morning for the traditional breakfast of rice pudding (LOTS of rice pudding) and smörgåsar (sandwiches). That was really fun, and I got a few extra stickers on the back of my name tag from their energetic daughters. Then we went to the Lundkvist family and enjoyed board games, Kalle Anka (Donald Duck shows, which is a huge Christmas tradition here!!), a huge 'Christmas table' of food with them. And guess who came to us at the Lundkvists!! It was Jul Tomten!!! He's the version of Santa here, and everyone got to meet him except, remarkably, President Lundkvist, who unfortunately was taking a nap. That was all on Christmas Eve. Then it was great to talk to the family on Christmas Day! It felt like I hadn't been gone from you and it was fantastic to see and hear everyone :) It made me happy to realize that I can now bring the happiness of the gospel to the families in Sweden. The work is going forward here in Eskilstuna. A great tender mercy this week was that our branch mission leader, Sa'ad, just became the missionaries' home teaching companion. In talking about how he wanted to do things, he said "President Lundkvist just said to visit all of our homes once a month, but I was thinking it would be really good to just go every week instead." He is such a great guy and it's exciting to see his excitement for going out and visiting the members of the church. Oh, and we got Turkish Delight from the Karlssons, so it's not just something that you see Edmund eat in "The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe" nor just something that dad always says he's making, but it's a real thing! It's quite good. It's a thick jelly with a nut flavor and is surrounded by powdered sugar. The pictures are of us four elders and our investigator Marie doing some good work in the Karlssons' kitchen, us playing "Sindbad" with the Lundkvists, and the magical coming of Jul Tomten!! I love you all so much! Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas-and-New-Year season. Next week, my preparation day is on Thursday, so talk to you then! Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Letter dated 16Dec2013

Dear Family and Friends: The church had its Christmas Party on Saturday. We had a Swedish "Jul Bord," or Christmas Table. The Christmas Tables are full of awesome traditional Swedish Christmas foods, like ham, meatballs, rice pudding (by the cauldron), Jul Must (a type of soda) and gingerbread cookies. We also had some Apple Pie (from us missionaries) and lots of great Arabic food (from a really awesome family from Iraq!). We sang lots of songs and had a great time! A great highlight of this week was that our investigator, Marie, said that she wants to be baptized! She really loves coming to church and has a wonderful desire to follow the Savior. She is from Nigeria and speaks French, English, and Pigeon English (very different from normal English). She is neighbors with the Iraqi family whom I mentioned earlier. It is quite funny: the family only speaks Swedish and Arabic, so they can only communicate with Marie very simply. But they are best of friends! She goes over there every day and just spends time with them. It is sorta funny but super cool that they are such good friends with each other! One pretty funny thing that happened was Elder Cahill and I filled our bike tires up with air one night. Even though we are both science majors, we forgot that air expands when it's warmed. So after bringing our bikes into the apartment for the night, the tire warmed up and exploded! It was super crazy! So we've been off our bikes for a bit. This week we're having a multi-zone Christmas zone conference which we're super excited for. It will be a really great week, and then it's Christmas!! All super, duper exciting!!! I won't get a chance to e-mail until the day after Christmas, but I hope each of you has a very merry Christmas :) I can't wait to talk to the family on Christmas day!! I know that Christ was born in order to redeem the world, and I am so thankful for the scriptures which testify and teach of Christ. Here's a picture of Sweden's first snow, about a week and a half ago. Pretty exciting :D Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Daniel with cool knocker!

A Swedish Literary Yule!

First Swedish Snow - 2013

Letter dated 9Dec2013

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter we received from Daniel this morning! I will post the pictures he sent on his blog. If you have a Christmas message you would like to pass along to Daniel, simply hit reply and I will forward it to him! Thank you for your love and support! Daniel's editor - BWS] Dear Family and Friends! This week was sweet! We had the first snowfall, and it's actually feels really good to finally have snow because it had been just a lot of water on the ground that would make your feet wet. And it's starting to feel like Christmas as well, which is always a huge plus. I also got loads of letters -- thanks family, Andrews, Sister Huggard, Sister Richards, and Elliotts! A lot of the work we've been doing here has been with less-active church members. One family, the Pavones, are really great. The dad is from South America and the mom is Swedish, and they have 3 kids; they're the funnest people! We played soccer as a branch on Friday night and they came with us to that. Their 5-year-old son was really quite good, and it was a blast! Then they, as well as several other people we've been meeting, came to church on Sunday, which was super! And our most positive investigator, Marie, came to church also. It was especially cool when everyone came into the chapel in the last 10 minutes before church started, making it a little bit dramatic. Everything is going great. It has been difficult finding people who want to learn and progress in the gospel, but it is always rewarding to invite people to come unto Christ. Pictures: 1st snowfall, Christmas-tree art in the local library, and a really incredible door-knocking invention! I really love John 14:15, where Jesus says 'If ye love Me, keep My commandments.' It is both easy to remember and profound. I've been thinking of this now that it's Christmas time and am so grateful for the gift of Christ and His Atonement which we can use through keeping Christ's commandments. I love you all so much and hope and pray that everything is going in the best way for you. Have a fantastic week! Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Beautiful catherdral

Home sweet home!

Statue of forgers!

Letter dated 2Dec2013

[Dear family and friends, here is the latest letter we received from Daniel on Monday. I hope you enjoy it. I will be posting the pictures on Daniel's blog. I will forward any replies to Daniel. I hope you are staying warm and enjoying this Advent Season! Thank you for your love and your support. Love, Daniel's editor - BWS] Dear Family and Friends: On Saturday I finished my pre-advent-calendar advent calendar, which means it's just about Christmas! Sunday was First Advent, a moderately big event in Sweden. For it, Elder Cahill, Elder Gray, Elder Hewitt, and I (the Eskilstuna district) went to a concert in Fors Kyrka, which is a Swedish Church building, part of which is some 800 years old! The building's accoustics are fantastic, and the Swedish Church choir was fantastic too! It's great that Amanda's going to Finland for her mission! [Amanda is our friend from Bay City!] There are lots of Fins who live in Sweden. About 80% of the Fins I've met are retired women. I'm not really sure why it is proportioned that way... But each of them is extremely nice. And Finnish is such a cool language to listen to, very, very unique! The pictures here are: 1) Eskilstuna is a steel-industry town, and this statue of the two blacksmiths commemorates the 300th anniversary of Eskilstuna. In the background you can see the Kloster Kyrka, which is the biggest church of its type in Sweden. 2) Another picture of Kloster Kyrka. 3) It felt good to take this picture of our living room after a long day of biking! [I'll post these pictures in Daniel's blog.] I know that the church is true and the sky is blue. I know that Jesus is our Savior. It is so great to be a missionary! I love you all!

Letter dated 25Nov2013

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter that we received from Daniel earlier today. I hope you enjoy it! Send a reply and I will forward the reply to Daniel. Wishing you a very wonderful Thanksgiving week! Daniel's editor - BWS] Dear Family and Friends: In Sweden, Christmas lights have been up and advent calenders for sale for the last month and a half, so it was with quite a bit of surprise that I realized that it's Thanksgiving this Thursday! I hope that everyone has a great time with family, food, and being grateful - we are all so blessed! We are being so blessed in Eskilstuna! We had a pretty difficult time meeting with many people this last week. But in the coming week we are already busy with great appointments. We had a chance to help someone who is moving to the Netherlands (isn't that crazy?! You don't really hear of that often in America. On a side note, I'm remembering when I flew through Europe with a Dutch flight attendant. There was a baby in the seat in front of me and she started talking to the baby in a very Dutch, scary-to-baby way -- lots of throat growls. The baby was ok with it, but it was so funny to watch!), and the Branch President, President Lundvist, helped us. He is a really great man with a lot of tenacity to help others, and everyone who knows him loves him. It is so great that he is in the branch here! I got to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday and teach Sunday school with Elder Cahill. It was kinda funny realizing that because I was the last speaker before Sunday school, I would end up being up there for the same amount of time regardless of how long my talk was. It was really good to get ready for and give both of them. I spoke on the pattern of small and simple things accomplishing great things. I hadn't realized it before, but Alma (Alma 37) talks about an important application being to give the words of Christ diligence, faith, and heed -- which is pretty simple -- and the result is great receiving great spiritual blessings. I thought that was super neat. It is so great that we have the words of Christ in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and from Thomas S. Monson today. Elder Cahill and I learned some pretty funny things about Swedish this week. First is that Mormon is really similar to 'mormor,' which means mom's mom. So Lahja, someone we're teaching who's Finnish and super funny, thought that the Book of Mormon was called 'Grandma's Book!' That was super funny :D The other thing we learned is that the plural of 'cactus' in Swedish is 'kaktusar,' which sounds more like a dinosaur than a plant. It sort of reminds me of the giant walking cactus from 'Digimon.' Lately the weather has been really nice. It hasn't snowed yet, and it's been around 32 degrees all week. Something pretty crazy is that a few times it's been warmer at night than it has in the day. I think it might be because the street lamps give off more heat than the sun :P Sweden really does have an astounding amount of street lights. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I love you all! Love

Mailing packages to Daniel

Dear Family and Friends of our Missionaries, We want to pass along some important information and tips that will assist you in getting mail and packages to your missionary. Letters and packages sent through the Postal Services that are four (4) pounds and under are forwarded immediately to your missionary. Things that cause delay to your packages: • Packages over four (4) pounds • Overnight packages • Certified or Registered mail • Using any carrier other than the Post Office We suggest the following for your packages to arrive in a timely manner: • Send your packages through the Post Office • Don’t put more than four (4) pounds in a package, send more packages if required • Plan ahead to meet your deadlines Packages heavier than 4 pounds may be sent directly to the missionaries’ apartment. However, if your missionary is transferred and your package arrives, it will be the responsibility of your missionary to pay to have the package sent to their new area. Please keep in mind transfers do not always happen at regularly scheduled times. If you send a package, be sure to write the address exactly as it is given to you by your missionary. In Sweden there are names on the doors that are required to be part of the address in order for the mail to be delivered, otherwise it will be returned. The tithing funds can not be used to forward packages to missionaries. If a package arrives in the office that is over four (4) pounds or if it is sent by a carrier other than the Post Office, we will inform the missionary and ask if he/she wants us to charge their personal account for the cost to forward it to them, or if they are willing to wait until someone will be visiting that area, which may take up to a month. . Please remember that ALL medication sent need to be listed as Missionary Supplies on the customs declaration (green) form. Be sure you tape all boxes well, especially corners. We have received several packages where the corners have been torn and contents have been lost. Be sure to use this address when sending mail and packages to your missionary through the mission office Äldste/Syster Missionary Name Enebybergsvägen 38 182 46 Enebyberg Sweden Please share this information with your family members and friends to ensure that your missionary receives packages and mail in a timely manner. Thank you for your understanding and support. Sweden Stockholm Mission

Beautiful Sweden!

Daniel and friend!

Beautiful Swedish view!

Old Viking Boat!

Sweden!

Viking ship in color!

Viking ship!

Looking up!

Anyone home?

Cool castle!

Temple

Finding his way in Sweden!

Daniel on lonely road

Snack time!

Daniel with Swedish horse!

Letter dated 18Nov2013

Dear Family and Friends! This week has been really great! I left Jakobsberg on Tuesday with a high note, we had 3 surprise meals from the investigators and member we saw, and then an additional huge dinner from Antonio, who has the missionaries over every other week! It was quite the experience, and I didn't really eat much for the next day and a half :) It was super sad to say good-bye to Äldste Sargent and everybody else in Jakobsberg. But it was such a privilege to have been there, and it is just as good to be in Eskilstuna now! Eskilstuna is only about an hour and a half's travel from Jakobsberg, and it requires the use of a passenger train, which is really nice and feels somewhat like an airplane. I met Äldste Cahill, my companion, on Wednesday morning. He is a really bright, loving guy. It is fun to be his companion. He has been in Sweden since March and will continue majoring in electrical engineering at BYU after the mission. He's from Redding, California and is 20. We live in a division of Eskilstuna called Valhalla, which means 'Viking Heaven.' I've heard that Viking heaven is for all the Viking men who died in battle and all the Viking women who died giving birth to a son. And the perks are you get to spend all day eating in a big Viking hall, then everyone fights each other at night, and the winner of the fight becomes the next day's lord of the feast. So pretty much the best thing ever. And yeah, that's where I live :P The branch here is full of fantastic people! We played volleyball as a branch on Friday, and had a blast! There are lots of young parents and kids in the branch, and everyone is incredibly nice! Yesterday, my bike broke as we were pulling into the church parking lot, but President Lundqvist gave us and our bikes a ride home after church. And after church, we met with Jim to help him move. He's from Florida and has a really sweet hat that's from Australia. I think it's the hat that Crocodile Dundee wore... In any case, it is the coolest hat I've ever seen. Eskilstuna is really beautiful! The center has really old buildings and a river running through it. The area seems to be very well off financially as the streets are clean and the stores are all nice. And the people are really nice and friendly! On Saturday, we were trying to get in contact with some people who had said they want to meet with us. Twice, we were in a building whose doors had recently been knocked by missionaries, but we felt pretty good about knocking on the neighbor's door to the family we were trying to reach, and from the first door we got a positive return appointment, and from the second door, a really nice Iraqi family invited us in and we taught them the first gospel discussion! It was really amazing to have had those two promptings from the Holy Ghost! Love you all, and hope everything is fantastic! And thanks everyone for the happy birthday wishes! It was a really good day yesterday, and I even saw a rat for the first time in my life! It was outside, so don't worry about my apartment :) And here's a picture of Eskilstuna's square! Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Letter dated 11Nov2013

Dear Family and Friends: This week has gone so well! Last week we were beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by a number of people whom we are in contact with but haven't been teaching. So we listed everyone's name on a white board and prayed about it and then made an action plan and then executed the action plan. The results are super good, that many people are very positive. Vladimir comes to church weekly and when we go over this week, chances are high that he'll pull out his accordion and play it for us. Gabby is doing super well, and we had dinner this week with his family and Stellan, who is also doing super well. The same day that we ate with Gabby and Stellan, we had two other meals at members' houses. It was all delicious food and such a great day! We started teaching Ashik couple of weeks ago. He is a computer programmer from India who is a super interested in the gospel message. After church on Sunday, Bing came showed up and wanted a lesson of Swedish, which we said we could do a couple of weeks ago on the phone. He speaks English and Mandarin and is also a computer programmer from China. I taught the lesson (and was relieved to hear him say that I sounded really good in Swedish and that he trusted what I told him) and he is super comfy with hearing about the gospel next time as well! Kristian came to church and made lots of friendships. He also wants to start going to the center in Stockholm for church activities that happen in the week. And Erfan came to church and wants to be baptized at the end of this month! He is from Iran and has a really strong testimony of Jesus Christ. He sort of fell from the sky, and had actually been taught by some other missionaries in Stockholm before meeting us on Sunday, and it was so fantastic to meet him! I got to speak in church on Sunday, which was my first talk in Swedish. I talked about being child like and humble and talked about how Christ, King Solomon, Mormon, and Joseph Smith did amazing things in their youthful years. This Wednesday I will be transferred to another city, Eskilstuna. About 100 km west of Stockholm. I'm really excited! Love you all and miss you! Hope everything's great! Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Letter dated 4Nov2013

Dear Family and Friends: It's great to have this chance to let you now about what's happened this week! It was really great to hear from all of you. It sounds like lots of great stuff is happening! This week was good for us as well. Not very much has changed from last week. We met with Gabby and he is doing really well. He is doing the things he need to in order to prepare for baptism. And Vladimir is as well, and we are just waiting for the problem with his daughter not wanting to talk to him if he joins the church. It is so great to be a missionary and to see how much of a difference relying on the Savior can make in people's lives! I love in Moroni 7 where it says that through faith in Christ you can lay hold upon every good thing. [Here is a link to that scripture if you're interested in reading it in full!] http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/7?lang=eng Love you all and hope you have a great week! I hope the play sells out every night and goes great! [Andrew and the twins are in a musical this week -- My Son Pinocchio. Andrew is the lead; Julie is the musical director!] Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Top of dryer after drying!

Top of dryer!

Daniel's new town!

Boy leading snail!

Swedish sea!

Lunch!

Swedish folk story!

Letter dated 28Oct2013

Dear Family and Friends: This week was so good! I love being in Jakobsberg and am amazed by how dynamic one place can be day after day and week after week. On Saturday, for the second time, we met with Daniel. He's from Sir Leon, has a Master's Degree from Cambridge, and likes to chill. I like him a lot. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and while he does not know for sure if it is true yet, he thinks that being baptized would be super great! Äldste Sargent and I are really excited for him. On Sunday, we met with Kristian for the first time! He is also great! He has Finnish parents and was born in Australia. We had a really great lesson with him where we gave him a blessing and taught about the Restoration. He felt warm from the blessing and is excited to meet with us again! He read the Book of Mormon once 8 years ago, and as we were talking about it, he remembered a couple minute details that really impressed me relative to his memory! Before this, on Tuesday, we had two dinners with members. One was with Brother and Sister Miranda, and the other was with Brother Grez. They are all from Chile and are the nicest people! I felt like we were so loved as we were with them and they fed us amazing food. They also gave us lots of food to take home! The second picture is of the fridge shelf that has all the food and only the food we received that night! It was really heart touching for them to have been so kind to us. The story continues to the next morning where we had a huge breakfast from Brother Milano (also Chilean) who gave us food afterward as well! Today, we went to the Nilssons house, where they had one of the biggest dinners I've ever seen! We had fish and a really great chocolate pudding (I learned the word for pudding today; it is very similar to the word for moss, which I also learned today, and the word for hat). Brother Nilsson is in the bishopric here and he is really fun and funny. He often calls Sister Nilsson 'fru Nilsson' which means 'wife Nilsson' and I suppose is a pretty Swedish thing to do that I find really funny. I love Sweden! The people are so great and always friendly, and the nature is also really neat. The last picture I sent is of the sea between the cities Kungsägen and Bro, is at noon, and also captures some of the urban art that you see a lot in this area. There was a ward party here on Friday to which a lot of people came and that was really fun! At the end, I played a version of ping pong and racquetball with Nikolas (9 years old. Reminds me a lot of Nicholas my brother) and David (5 years old). It was in the same room that had been used as the dancing room, so we had loud Latin music in the background which made understanding Swedish impossible. So I hit the ball with Nikolas as best I could while trying to figure out the rules (an unsuccessful venture), as David was the referee\announcer\coach. It was so fun! The third picture is of a statue of a goose-riding boy which is a part of Swedish lore. It is right next to the 20 crown bill, which depicts the same story! I know that this church is true and that we can be together as families for eternity. This give me so much hope and joy! I love you all and hope you have a great week! I also love getting letters from you, so thank you so much when you send them! Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Daniel and his companion!

Attendees at Family History Seminar

Beautiful Swedish sky!

Letter dated 21Oct2013

Dear Family and Friends: The past few days have been really sweet! On Friday, we had a conference with President and Sister Newell and about 50 missionaries. The theme was to begin talking and teaching more about families and family history! The following day, the Jakobsberg Ward hosted a family history event. I was the picture and technical support guy for that, so I got to go around, get in unnecessarily awkward positions, and take pictures of everything and I got to fix computers by reading Swedish instructions and looking at Swedish pictures. That was like Everest for me, but I did it :D I also got to go on the family search website and work on family history, which made me so happy to see my family tree and learn some things (for example, my great-great-grandpa named Daniel played the baritone in a marching band!). There's a new mission policy to stay at the church buildings two days a week and mostly help people work on their family histories. And as missionaries, we also are doing an hour a week of personal family history work. I am really psyched for it all! In the book of Mosiah, King Benjamin and King Zeniff's people were very family-oriented societies, and they were super blessed with a knowledge of the Savior and in prevailing in war against their enemies, respectively. I am really excited for the blessings that helping people's families will bring! Other happenings: it's become quite cool here. It doesn't sound quite as cold as Idaho right now, but it's definitely a step below Michigan. And I got my first Swedish suit! It was only 45 dollars and is of top-notch quality. So I'm pretty much Swedish by now :) On Sunday I fasted and had some really good ideas about how I can become a better missionary. Also neat was that 4 people we've been meeting came to church, and someone else just sort of fell from the sky! She is a German woman named Katja whom we hadn't met before came and is really interested in the church. She said that she had a really good feeling in church! This is something that our investigators who come always say! It is so neat that they so reliably feel the Holy Ghost when they come to church. I have been taking lots of really neat pictures lately! Sorry about last week's picture ... I accidentally and randomly selected a picture, so that's why it was so random. But today's are pretty good, and there are many more good ones! They are of yesterday in Spånga, the city south of Jakobsberg; the sky here is always really pretty! The list of attendees at the ward's family history event next to some stylish pen art. And Äldste Sargent and I some time two weeks ago! I hope that everything is going super well with all of you! Love you! Love,

Planning time

Letter dated 14Oct2013

Dear Family and Friends: This will be a shorter letter, but it was such a fantastic week! Really, just the most miraculous things happened! We called a woman who had been referred to us by a friend, and she was really excited to meet. But she asked 'Could you come an hour later so my husband can be present?' So we met with the couple and had an incredible lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel, and they really want to pray and read to know if it is true. They seem like they are so prepared, and it was so incredible to meet them! They are also super nice and from Jordan, and speak great Swedish. And they referred us to a friend of theirs also! We met a reporter on teh train who wants to follow us for a day. Sweden's really pretty. Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Letter dated 7Oct2013

Dear Family and Friends: On Wednesday of this week, I got a new companion named Äldste Sargent. He's from Orem, Utah and is not very much at all like Sargent Schultz. Although, when I asked him if he's seen Hoggan's Heroes he said 'I know nothing...,' which is Schultz's famous phrase! He is really kind and really bright. His Swedish also sounds really great, and everyone we meet compliments him on it. I feel like my Swedish is getting to be a lot better! I usually understand what people are saying to me and can say most of what I want to say. It is really fantastic! When I was in the MTC, Elder Scott spoke to us about the gift of tongues - that if we seek for it by faith and by diligence to the language, it will come. I have certainly felt heavenly help as I've done these two things. Last Friday, I discovered a new Swedish phrase: det är bara ät. It happens when someone feeds you and it means 'it is only to eat.' But I only heard the last two words of it, which sounds like bara ett, or 'only one.' There was lots of food, so I thought he (a great guy named Lennart) was joking and laughed. I wasn't really sure what to think when no one else laughed, but realized it a little bit later and thought that the whole thing was really funny. Friday was also cinnamon roll day in Sweden! Cinnamon rolls are really popular here, and people have given me probably a couple dozen of them in the past. But on Friday, we really got them in full force. So we ended up taking 10 cinnamon rolls home that night :) It was so great to listen to General Conference! It was such an inspiring conference. It seemed to be very targeted on a number of specific topics. Not all of them have aired in Sweden, so I still have to watch a couple more sessions. I'm so excited to watch the rest of it! I know that the church is true and I love being a missionary! I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Letter dated 30Sept2013

Dear Family and Friends! This week has been so great! Äldste Haddon [Daniel's trainer] actually got sick on Friday, so we stayed inside most of the day. But we worked extra hard all of the other days to make up for it, which was neat as we worked extra hard even before Friday. And I am actually getting a new companion on Wednesday! His name is Äldste Sargent. I am not sure if he's related to Sargent Schultz, but he is Swedish and Sweden was independent in WWII, so the likelihood is very slim. I will still be in Jakobsberg, and he and I have loads of work to continue here. It will be sad to say 'good-bye' to Äldste Haddon. He's been a really fantastic companion. I need to tell you about Tuesday! One of our zone leaders is named Äldste Nieminin, and he and I were companions on Tuesday. He is Finnish and has the most Finnish accent of all the Fins (this is basically replicated by being perfectly monotone). He is a really exciting and an extremely hard working missionary. So we had a really full day on Tuesday where we worked from about 10 to 9 and finished with a game of chess, which finished with me saying 'Check mate!' It was very epic. Then, on Thursday morning, we rode the bus of the most crazy bus driver ever! He was literally driving on the side walks, in two instances. He was also shouting to other cars and even to some passengers. It was really an experience. And I learned that Swedish is a lot more difficult to understand when it's angry Swedish. On Saturday, we went to the temple. It was really fantastic to go as a missionary, and it is a beautiful temple! I know that the church is true and love being a missionary! It is so good to hear all the news from everyone. Thanks so much for all your love and prayers :) Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Daniel with companion, new member and Bishop

Letter dated 23Sept2013

[Dear family and friends, here is the letter we received this morning from Daniel. We hope you enjoy these letters as much as we do! If you have a reply, simply reply and I will forward the reply to Daniel! I hope that our new season (Autumn) is treating you well! Sincerely, Daniel's editor - BWS] Dear Family and Friends: This week has felt very busy, it's great to have that feeling when thinking about a week! Each day is pretty varied from the other ones, but they still all manage to blend together. On Thursday, we made goals as a district (which is made of two companionships) for how we can become more involved with the ward and be missionaries together with the members. It was a really good meeting. So this week, we've met with families of the ward often, gotten to know them, and tried to help them. After the meeting, I went on splits with Elder Sheldon to an newly opened area that doesn't have quite as much activity as the west side of Jacobsberg. It was a change of pace, to go from more teaching people to more finding people to teach. I go to this area about once a week, and it's good to have the change of gears so often. I really love being a missionary and helping people by teaching about the restored gospel. As I'm getting to know Swedish better and better, it is neat to be able to talk to people more and become better friends with them than I was able to the previous time we met. I really love getting to know everyone, and am so glad that's part of missionary work. Also pretty sweet is that when we go through a train station, there's often a street musician playing either the accordion or violin. These people are always either really good musicians or very peppy, so it's always entertaining. I read in Jacob 5 and really liked verse 72, where it says that the Lord of the vineyard is laboring with his servants, and that his servants are completely obedient to his commandments. In the allegory, the Lord of the vineyard represents Jesus, and missionaries are included in what's represented by the servants. It is really encouraging to learn from this that Jesus is helping people come unto Him, and that through obedience, I can be helpful in this as well. Here is a link to Jacob 5: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/jacob/5?lang=eng I love you and hope you all have a great week! Love, -- Äldste Daniel Schindler

Letter dated 16Sept2013

[Dear family and friends, here is Daniel's letter that we received this morning! I think you will find it as "un-boring" as I did! If you have a response for Daniel, you can simply reply to this note - and I will forward the note to Daniel! I hope you are having a wonderful September! Wishing you all the best! Daniel's editor - BWS] Dear Family and Friends: This might be a little boring, but I'll start off by talking about the weather. It's super comfy and nice! It seems like this week it's rained most every day, but we never got rained on (except for this morning, when it came in force) but just get off at train stops in other cities where it's just rained. So we've mostly just experienced the good smell and cool feel that follows rain. There are also lots of snails (or in Icelandic, snigill-s, as I've recently learned) that come out on the side walks. I've never seen so many before. This week was also very good in that it was busy with good things! We got to teach several people for the first time, which is neat because it shows how many people the Lord is preparing for us. Each one was a really great experience. One especially good experience was with a man from Iran named Hade. He is a very kind and sincere person, and I felt the Spirit so strongly in that lesson. We had a member whose name is Mats with us. He comes with us to many of our lessons and is just a very kind and giving person. This day was especially cool for him because he actually got married right after the lesson! It was sort of a secret wedding, as he hadn't planned to marry his fiance for about a year. so it was a surprise to us! When we called to see if he could come, he said 'Well, I'll be at the church at 3, so I guess I could come a couple hours early.' He came in a suit, and he said 'I'm getting married today.' (he's also a very stoic person, so there wasn't really an exclamation to this); I thought I just misunderstood him, but it was correct and he got married right after we said good-bye to Hade! There were just 8 people in the wedding and it was very nice. His wife is also a very nice person and it is so fun when they have dinner for us at their house. We have been fed so much by members and investigators, it's just crazy! There is a lot of variety to the food, as many people come from different cultures. It has all been pretty similar to American food, with an emphasis on sandwiches and potatoes. This coming week, we have a dinner appointment most every day and two in one day! You can always look forward to these because everyone is so great to get to know and build a relationship with. I read some scriptures that I've been thinking of lately. John 14:13-14 says that if we pray in the name of Christ, or pray as Christ would pray, we shall be given the things for which we ask. Moroni 7:48 says that if we pray with all the energy of heart, we will be filled with love and become like Jesus. I've not really thought of prayer being so important before, but I know that it is because that's what the scriptures say, and I have found that Heavenly Father always answers my prayers. I know that prayer is a great way to build one's foundation on Christ, about which Helaman 5:12 says causes one to be sturdy and protected from the adversary. I hope you all have a great week! I know that the gospel is true and love being in Sweden! Love you! Äldste Daniel Schindler

Daniel with pig!

Swedish scriptures

Island

Swedish door!

View of city

Daniel's city

It's all in the name!

Cooking dinner!

Random picture

Amazing building

Swedish sea!

Swedish word

Sweden!