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