Wednesday, November 20, 2013
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
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