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