Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Letter dated 27Dec2014
This is the district caroling! Several of us were out talking to people, so the group was about twice this size.
It was great to skype you! And it was nice to meet Jap. He seems like a nice guy.
I will e-mail on New Years Day next week!
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 22Dec2014
Favorite Family and Friends!!!
It's so good to be able to write you today, "the day before the day before the dipping day (Christmas Eve)!" That is the translation of the subject line, by the way. Christmas Eve is called "dipping day" because in days past, Swedes would make a stew, dip bread into it, and eat it on the 24th.
I haven't e-mailed very much recently, because the computers at the church's institute center have been disconnected from the internet, and the libaries' computers allow one on for only 30 minutes. And we can't send pictuers either, so all the nice Christmas pictures we've taken will have to wait.
It's a wonderful time to be a missionary, though! We have been wearing Santa hats recently and people are much more open and curious to talk to us now! Last Christmas, it seemed rather difficult to meet with people amongst their travels and traditions, but the hats have nicely combated that this year.
Several Christmas miracles have happened! Here's the main one: the neighboring ward's elders contacted a great guy, Arona, whom we have begun teaching. He wants greatly to change his heart and to become a better person. And there isn't a better message than ours for this! He is excited for baptism as well, and we are so pleased that we will be able to help someone be baptized. The way in which he was contacted is remarkable as well. The other elders had met him once, forwarded us his number, and we called it to no avail, and forgot about it. Then they met him again, two weeks later (this was two weeks ago), found out no one had called him, and reminded us about him! It's such a wonderful evidence that God is leading us and helping us when we aren't so attentive.
We also began contacting at the university. They are exceptionally open, and we have found three positive, new investigators through this this week!
This week is going to be so good! We have it planned full of fun and great activities. We will carol with about 20 other missionaries tomorrw, spend Christmas eve, Christmas, and the following day with members, and will go to Julbord (traditional Swedish Christmas buffet) at IKEA!
I cannot wait to talk to you (family) on Christmas -- 9:15! And I hope that Nicholas, Christopher, and dad had a wonderful birthday yesterday. Joseph's new haircut is incredible. Love you all!
Merry Christmas,
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 8Dec2014
Dear Family and Friends:
It sounds like everyone hada great, busy week. I liked reading dad's Christmas story. More suspensful by a lot than previous ones!
This week we had a nice Christmas concert. Several ward members are coming together to help Narchisa. St. Nickholas came. I went on exchganes with a great Finnish missionary, Elder Noso, and another great missionary, Elder Hansen. Next week will also be good.
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 1Dec2014
Dear Family and Friends!
This week was really exciting. Perhaps the busiest week I have lived.
Several of our friends are progressing super well in the gospel. We met Alberto and Dennis this week. They are beggars whom we had passed daily for a while, and we always said hi to each other, but this was the week that we came with a translator and got to know them. Even though he is always begging, Dennis is always happy (in fact, usually the happiest person I see all day), and it always makes me happy to see him and shake his hand as I pass by. Alberto's also a happy chap. They came to institute and really liked it.
Narchisa is also doing well. She is also happy despite the fact that she begs all day. Whenever she is given something, no mater how small, she says "Wow!" and is so grateful. She also says the phrase "Mac mac mac" often. We are not sure what it means, but it is quite funny. All these happy, grateful people attest to how happy each of us can be, and show me how happy I ought to be.
When we taught Abinash this week, we asked "Why do you think we are on the earth?" Then he rebuked us and said "One must not ask 'Why' questions." We were pretty stumped, so we asked "Why not?" That didn't improve the situation. All-in-all, it was a pretty awkward meeting.
We have been showing a movie from the church, called "He is the Gift," quite a lot. It works really well when we watch it on the street and subway. It's a nice miracle.
Äldste Mott has several neat pets in his home in Vernal. He has lots of hedgehogs, foxes, a bob cat, a lynx, etc. Here's a picture of his lynx (on the ground) and bob cat (perched in her home). Although they say there are no polar bears in Sweden, we saw one this week, and caught it on camera. (These baby animal costumes are very popular in Sweden. Have they caught in the States? This is Gabriel, by the way, who's Karina's son.) Brother Ramel has a Kaukalofin, and he lit it up for a good picture. The final picture is of a church we passed somewhere.
I am glad that you all seem to be doing well. Congratulations to Briggitte and Doug for their boy! Everything is going well in Stockholm. I decided this week to study Chemistry after my mission. Next Monday there is a presentation from the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry! It's lucky that it fell on a preparation day, I am really excited!
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Letter dated 22Nov2014
Dear family and friends!
We have preparation day today instead of Monday. So I hope this note finds you well surprised and generally well.
The week went really well. My birthday was really fun. I got the family letter as we came back home on Monday.
Said, who we met on the subway last week, is doing great. We had a really good lesson with him on Wednesday, he's excited for church and the Book of Mormon.
On Thursday we got a call from a great member, Sister Thylne, who said she wanted us to meet her Calina (this is a little funny, as we are also meeting with a man named Karim and a woman named Karina). The lesson was so good! She recently had an experience which has confirmed her belief in God, and she is excited to be baptized!
Yesterday we went to see Johan's baptism. There's a picture of me, Johan, Amrita (whom Äldste Bybee and I had taught in Eskilstuna), Äldste Jones and Äldste Orr, who are teaching them now. Amrita was baptized a month ago. It was so good to see them! It was also good to see other friends from Eskilstuna, and to speak about baptism.
On the way home, I saw our train had been delayed by 40 minutes. So we got some food and were eating on a bench, when I felt like I should look again at the time display. The display said the train was un-delayed and was leaving at the original time -- in less than a minute! So we ran to the train, and caught it. It started pulling away as we sat down. It fits John 14:26, where Jesus says "the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." It is cool that the Holy Ghost can teach us all things!
I love you all. I hope Brigitte had the baby!
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 17Nov2014
Dear family and friends:
The week went great! And today has been a really good birthday as well. Later, we will be going to Norma, Karina, and Gabriel who are giving us cake and a big dinner!
Speaking of Norma, Karina, and Gabriel, we met them this week! Karina just gave birth to Gabriel, and they live together with Karina's mom, Norma. Karina called us, said she hadn't been to church in a while, and wants to come back! They are super nice.
Sweet sak (Swedish for sweet thing) number 1: as we were walking to the subway in Stockholm Central, a Romanian lady who sits there and begs came up to me and asked for a Romanian Bible. We came back with a Romanian, and she wants very dearly to start coming to church, because she hasn't been able to do that in her time here. That evening she came to the ward talent show we put on, and even though she can't speak Swedish or English, she had a really wonderful time! Several members and we marked that she really has the light of Christ, and it's nice to be with her, because she is a wonderful lady. This was a sweet experience, and I am so excited to teach her!
Got to go, no time for the other sweet saks. But each day this week was great. The Lord provides our daily bread is a good summary of the week.
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 10Nov2014
Dearest family and friends!
This weeks pictures are of the state building across the ocean from Old Town (gamla stan). This is where the Nobel Prize used to be handed out each year, before Norway stole this privilege. But still, the Nobel Prize dinner is held here every year. Then there is a picture of us and Karim with brand new ABBA hats -- sick! Then, all the missionaries were at dinner with Sister Stenkrona and Karim. Great food! And there's a picture of some music of ancient date. We found this in our apartment under the refrigerator. Just kidding, it was in the city's cave of records.
Thursday was the first day of snow! We only got a few centimeters. That day we went to an island by the name of Djurholm, and helped a older couple hang up Christmas lights and plant onions. I suspect the onions will not survive the winter, but we will see whether or not our efforts were in vain. But the Christmas lights were fun, got us in to the Christmas spirit :D
Well, next week I turn 20! I cannot believe how old I am! I am definitely feeling this aging in my body, which lacks the pep it once had. Haha, just kidding... kind of :) I remember that when I was a tyke, it was so much more natural to live in the moment. I really miss this tendency, to make the best of each minute (because when you're a kid, a minute takes SO LONG!), which makes it easy to forgive, to be happy, and to be active. So my goal is to be childlike despite my advancing age. Interestingly, I have learned that the word "Muslim" means "childlike," so Islam is largely based off of having these childlike tendencies. (There are many Muslims who live in Sweden, and I have been impressed by how good these people are.) It's also something King Benjamin talks about, when he said that the Spirit of God helps one so that he "putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." That is my focus this week :)
I hope each of you has a terrific week! I love each of you.
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 3Nov2014
Dear family and friends:
This week was on the abnormal side of things, not even including the craziness of Halloween! It was really fun though :)
On Tuesday we had a great zone conference with all the missionaries from Stockholm and up! We learned good stuff from the Pres. and Sys. Beckstrand. Mostly centered on increasing our faith and raising the bar in missionary work. We each got some knitted mittens from the Beckstrands' friends, and they are way nice!
The night before the conference we had the Äldster from Skellefteå (the second northernmost city in Sweden) staying with us in our apartment. They had flown in on Monday night, and were waiting at the airport to go back up when we found they had left their keys in our apartment! That was quite problematic, as the closest missionaries with whom they could stay live 2 hours from them, and the airport was an hour away from us... But their plane did not come for a few hours, so it worked out! Tender mercy :)
On Thursday we had a surprise visit during open church by a friend, Anne. She is literally a little crazy, but really funny. We helped her with family history, and then watched a bible video with her. Unfortunately in the Bible video, Jesus mentioned a milstone to be hanged about one's neck. Anne reacted by dramatically putting her hands around my neck, which I thought was quite funny. Luckily she did not try to actually strangle me. I'll just be more careful next time we get to that point in the movie.
The White family was baptized in a neighboring ward on Saturday. It was so good to be there!! It was terrific to see their big step.
Halloween was terrific! Äldste Mott and I went all out on our costumes. I've included a picture.
There's also a picture of Alla Helgons Dagen (all saints day), where everyone lights candles at their deceased family members' grave sides. It is very beautiful. There's also a picture of our Thai friend Mark, who has fantastic hair.
I love you all! I'm very glad to hear that all the family is doing well. I know that Christ is side by side with us in this work. We have been meeting one of the nicest guys, Karim, who is working toward baptism. It is so good to be able to teach others about the gospel of happiness. It is so wonderful to be a missionary! Thank you for you support, prayers, and love.
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 27Oct2014
Dear family and friends:
I can't wait to tell you about this week!
It is very fun to be with Äldste Mott and in Stockholm. We live in Östermalm, the eastern part of Stockholm. It is a beautiful area, rich with history and architecture, and even the occasional odd-looking statue. We work as well in Old Town Stockholm, which is also very nice looking. I put in a picture of the large state building that in in Center Stockholm, between Östermalm and Old Town.
Äldste Mott's really great to work with. He has a lot of energy and enthusiasm. There's a picture on this of him and me. There's also one of Äldste Bybee trainee), Äldste Haddon (trainer), and me! Äldste Mott's a really hard working missionary as well as very fun to be with.
One of our friends here is Joy, who's from India. He's a professional chess player, and he taught me a little today. There's also a picture of that! In our first game, he beat me in about 30 seconds!! He's really good.
We met Ammar this week. We taught an exciting lesson to him, where, when we gave him the Book of Mormon, he was extremely excited and appreciative, and he said that he is going to read the whole book! He put it in a special cabinet, because he felt it was such a special book. Not such a typical response!
In other exciting news, I met Nabeel, who's friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nabeel was a fellow body builder in days past, and hails from Egypt. Unfortunately, when we were scheduled to meet and exchange a picture of Nabeel and Arnold for a Book of Mormon, Nabeel didn't come. So He is not a confirmed friend.
We also found a woman named Harriet, who's a member, and her roommate Avor, who's not a member yet. Avor is really positive toward the church. We are really excited for her progress! They are both about 60 years old.
The Bible Videos on lds.org are so good! We were watching the one of Paul talking about unity of the faith with Mike, and it helped him accept baptism in the Church. It was a really special moment. All of the videos are so good, especially the one with Theresia in it :D
I really enjoyed reading Proverbs 3 this week. I would definitely suggest it!
Love,
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 20Oct2014
Käre Familj och Kompisar:
On Monday and Tuesday we mostly said good-bye to many good friends in Lund.
On Wednesday I took the speedy train up to Stockholm! It was very quick.
I am with Äldste Mott, who's from Vernal, Utah. He is one of my very favorite companions already. He's really down to earth and hard working. In Stockholm, because there are so many people on the streets, we get to talk to loads of people, and just the pace of missionary work is higher. It's really fun.
Also nice is that we have been praying more frequently and sincerely together and individually and in the companionship, a direction from President Beckstrand, and that has been making it much more fun and miracle ridden!
Through talking to loads of people on the streets and subway we met four new friends this week interested in learning more about the restored gospel! An interesting phenomena in Stockholm is that everyone is very busy, which makes talking to people on the street hard because 80% of the time the person will not talk with us. (Subways are an exception, because they are stuck with us there :P.) But I think a solution will be based off of what Benjamin Franklin said, that you should do everything you can to receive a favor, because if someone gives you a favor they automatically like you. So hopefully asking people for directions\Swedish help will improve these conversations.
We met a beggar on the street who didn't know English or Swedish. But he said "Jesus, Jesus." Luckily we had pictures of Jesus in our bags, and gave one to him. This made him remarkably glad, and he motioned that we should give his wife, down the street, one as well. It made her really happy too! It was so neat to make these two friends!
On Wednesday as I was eating dinner, I saw Äldste Mott put all the dishes in the cupboard under the sink. I thought it was an interesting technique to store the dirty dishes there so as to procrastinate the day of dishes. But to my joy I found out quickly that we have a small dishwasher there! It is so nice! Our apartment is pretty posh, which is fun.
On Friday, Amrita was baptized! She is a friend from Eskilstuna. I and Äldste Bybee knocked on her door, and even though she did not get a testimony very quickly, it was always nice teaching her when we could. Äldste Barnes and I also met her once in Lund when she visited with her boy friend. She is SO happy now! It makes me really glad to see this.
Yesterday I met a wonderful Stockholm ward. The Gueras are in this ward. It was so good to talk with Syster Guera, who lost her son a year ago when he was on a mission in Provo. She talked about how she knows they will be together again. Such a strengthening testimony, and it made my understanding of it grow so much because it was so dear and strong.
I love you!
Love
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 13Oct2014
Dear family and friends:
Next Wednesday I will be heading to Stockholm! However, it is very sad to leave Lund (where I've been for 6 months) and Elder Barnes (with whom I've been for 5 months). But I am nonetheless super excited to go to Stockholm! I will be in inner Stockholm, and our area will cover all of proper Stockholm. There are about 600,000 people who live there, so there will be LOTS of people and it will be very beautiful. I also know that there is already lots of peanut butter in our apartment there from the current missionaries. This makes me glad!
We were talking to our friend Joynul the other day, and happened upon the fact that he is studying Developmental Studies at LU, which makes him the fourth person we've met in that small class of 33, pretty weird, huh?! We have met each of the four by contacting them on the street. This is something that was really scary to me at the beginning of my mission, but now it is way fun and fruitful.
Kevin, who's also in that class, is progressing in the gospel so well! It was really neat to teach him the Plan of Salvation, because he knows the Bible SO well that he each element of the plan of salvation was something he already suspected (except for baptisms for the dead). It was so cool to confirm those wonderful parts of the Bible with the Book of Mormon! So great!
It was a very busy week! On Tuesday we had district meeting with the 12 missionaries in the area. Then I went on exchanges with Elder James. We took a long bus to the Kanolds and helped them more in their garden, and that night's when we taught Kevin.
The next morning I was back with Elder Barnes. We visited a member from Barcelona who has three young boys. Then we watched some general conference talks with Tomas, and talked about fasting. He fasted for the first time yesterday! Then we met Brother Klang and his friend and watched "Finding Faith in Christ" before the ward talent show. For that, Elder Barnes and I played "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" on trombone. It was so fun to play trombone again!
On Thursday we met our new friend, Marie. She is really smart, and she has a question to every second thing we say. She has thought about religion a lot! Then we met Carl. We brought our trombones and got to jam with him. We then went to Patrik and Ole. We helped Patrik mop his apartment. It felt good to serve! Then we met another new friend, Matilda! She is way nice.
The rest of the week went about the same, just with different people.
I love being a missionary! I'm so glad to be able to give people the message of the restored gospel. Nothing better in the world!
Love you all!
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 6Oct2014
Dear Family and Friends:
The mission is so great! Hard, but great.
This week was no exception. On Wednesday I felt like Daniel in the lions' den. We went to a high school to give a presentation on faith. Turns out, they weren't too lion-like, rather were really nice and fun to talk to! We want to do it again, because it was very fun.
A definite highlight of the week was a baptism in the neighboring ward on Saturday. Martin was baptized. He is a 21-year-old Swede, and he has such a strong testimony of the gospel! He was studying to be a priest in the Swedish church, but didn't feel comfortable with that path. Then he found a Book of Mormon, read Joseph Smith's testimony in the front, and felt a clear spiritual prompting that it was true. His journey has been long, but he is so happy to have found where he feels God has led him. I was able to talk with him for his while and hear his testimony and experiences. It was so strengthening and uplifting to hear how his new-found testimony has blessed him! Kevin came to the baptism as well, and loved it! He wants to be baptized too! Both Martin and Kevin are like a just-add-water-ready-mix. Martin's already got the water added, and once Kevin gets baptized, he'll be a fantastic member!
Lots of other great things happened as well, but I'm short on time. Conference was terrific!
These pictures are of a hedgehog, Syster Carlsson, Äldste Downing, Äldste Barnes and me; all the Lund ward missionaries saying bye to the sisters a week ago; the marching band from last week (Tomas is the one behind the saxaphonist's sholuder), and the Brother Schanner and the deck we all built.
Have a great week!!!
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Letter dated 29Sept2014
Dear Family and Friends:
We had a really rewarding week.
On Tuesday Äldste Barnes turned 20 (or, in Swedish, "filled 20"). We went to Sister Carlsson's house and celebrated with sandwiches (smörgåsar) and a cake (tårta), and we then met Kevin. Kevin (Kenyan) brought his friend, Adventino (Ugandan), and we sang "Happy birthday" like they do in Africa. To do this, you sing the first verse with lots of clapping, then sing a "How old are you now" verse, more clapping and add a fermata, then sing a "May God bless you now" verse, with more clapping and a dramatized fermata. We then taught the restoration. It was such a good lesson! I loved teaching them because they already loved praying, and they were very knowledgeable about most of the lesson.
Kevin and Adventino are in the same master's program (studying developmental science), and we also met their classmate Douglas on the street. So the other 30 people in that class should hide, cause the missionaries are gonna find them!
On Wednesday we happened to be in the YSA center when a high school teacher called. She wants us to come teach her class about faith next Wednesday!
On Thursday we visited Eskil, and then helped the Schanners build a ramp and deck at Hund Stund. For some reason I had always wanted to build a deck before. But now that I've done that I have checked that to-do item off and do not want to do it again.
On Friday we taught Kevin again, this time with Malena and Viktor, two returned missionaries. It's a little intimidating to teach with returned missionaries, but it went really swell. We invited Kevin to be baptized and he asked "I haven't seen any rivers around here; where's the river?" That was not what I was expecting, to be honest. It was such a bolstering response! We then ran to the train station, caught a train, and ate turkish delight at the Aarenstrups. Then we ate turkish delight with Äldste and Syster Niebuhr. I love food!
Saturday was sweet too! Brother Schanner came to help us teach Sam. That was excellent! It seems like everyone we are teaching right now, including Sam, is super smart. This is cool. Then we went to hear Tomas's orchestra. As it would happen, this is a marching orchestra, and we joined it for a few minutes. I was on base drum. We then went to the other side of Sweden to a place called Skillinge, and visited the Kanolds. On the way back, we met two delightful sisters who had just been to an apple festival! They were incredibly talkative, and so we shared some apple sentiment with each other. Next week Elder Barnes and I are playing a trombone duet, and one of the sisters is going to see us then!
I like Ether 12:27, where Christ says "If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Perhaps the best way to come unto Christ is through prayer in His name. I love that we can recognize our weaknesses in prayer, have the chance to be humble, and I love that Christ's grace then enables our flaws and shortcomings to be made into strengths.
I hope each of you has a fantastic week. :)
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Letter dated 22Sept2014
[Dear friends and family, here is the latest letter that we received from Daniel yesterday! I hope you enjoy it. If you have a response that you would like me to forward to Daniel, simply respond to this note.
Daniel's editor - BWS]
Hey Family and Friends!!!
Here are the cool pictures from last week. You've got a cool clown bike (Äldste Barnes does not actually ride this. Just liked it ;) ), a statue of a giant Finn who is in the bottom of the Domkyrka (cathedral). His story is that, after being hired to build most of the church, he was unsatisfied with his salary. So he went into the crypt and started shaking one of the supporting pillars, to make the church crumble. But instead of destroying his handiwork he turned into stone. The cathedral is the huge, gray church. It is so cool! You've also got a picture of some cigarette advertisements. In Sweden each advertisement comes with a blatant precaution. Here it says "Rökning dödar," or "smoking kills." Not the most effective way to sell things, but it still works and there are many smokers. There's also a picture of "Allhelgonakyrkan," or the church of the saints. It is so beautiful!
We had an excellent week. On Tuesday we met with Tomas and Lucio. We taught the gospel, and learned a little about overtone singing! That night we helped a member family, the Ahlströms. We were graced to see a hedgehog, which is now my favorite animal! They are super cool and aren't scared of humans.
On Wednesday we had another fantastic lesson with Tomas at the church. We also met new friends, whom we first met on the bus, named Jessica and Sheldon. They are from Belgium and Canada!
On Thursday we met Kevin. He is Kenyan. We contacted him on the street, and he loved to learn about the Book of Mormon, and even though I translated institute for him, he loved it!
On Friday we were housing open church, and I saw a lady whom I was prompted to contact. That usually doesn't happen when I see someone while I'm in the church, but she was the wife of someone we met on the street a week ago, so now they're pretty curious and want to come to church. I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost, who teaches us all things that we should do!
On Friday I was with a really great missionary named Äldste Hemmingsen. He's from Sioux City, South Dakota. He got to Sweden a couple weeks ago, and it was so energizing to be with him! A couple times during that day, we had a lull because our plans fell through. But both times, we kept positive and were led by the Spirit so that the first person we talked to each time was prepared to be taught a full lesson! The second of them was Jure. He's the first Slovinian I've met. He was traveling, and is really cool!
I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost! Every time I am humble and hear or bear a testimony of Heavenly Father and His Son, the Holy Ghost testifies that that doctrine is true, and that they love me. I am so grateful for this testimony! As well as all the other help the Holy Ghost gives us, like to find people who are prepared for the gospel.
I love you!
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Letter dated 15Sept2014
Dear Family and Friends:
It is good to hear all your stories every week. It is brilliant how spread out we are across the earth, in Finland, Scotland, Sweden, Michigan, Idaho, Utah, etc. We had no idea about all this a couple years ago! I think my favorite stories are of the moose and bear by our new Idaho house. Unfortunately, I have not seen a bear yet. Usually the polar bears hunt the Swedish streets by night, which is past our curfew.
This week I learned that Amrita, from Eskilstuna, wants to be baptized! It was so good to hear that. When Äldste Bybee and I knocked on her door, she said "No" 5 times, but the 6th time we asked, she said we could come back. There was just a feeling that we needed to keep pressing her. It is wonderful and strengthening to see how the Lord guides His children to the truth of the gospel.
Another such experience was as we were in open church on Wednesday. We staffed open church for four hours, and after studying for two, doing family history for one and eating, we were pretty eager for it to be done. But a few minutes before we left a man came in wanting help with family history. He had to be in a meeting soon, but said he'd come back in an hour. It's not every week that someone actually comes in to the church, so we wanted to stay an extra hour. Well, he did not come, but as we were about to leave the second time, a second man, Sam, came inside the church! Sam introduced himself as someone open and who loves learning. We taught him the restoration of the gospel and he eagerly took a Book of Mormon. He also came to church yesterday! It is wonderful that the first man came so that we were there for Sam.
Another cool thing this week was that Tomas told us that he is very interested in throat singing! That means that we are meeting with him soon with our throat-singing friend, Lucio with the dread locks. We hope when this happens, Tomas's tenacity to read the Book of Mormon will rub off on Lucio. We hope.
There will be some pretty cool pictures of Sweden's wildlife as well as Swedish cathedrals next week.
One thing I love about Sweden: we saw a "nature bridge today", which is a bridge covered with trees so animals can cross the freeway. I remember in an episode of "West Wing" such an idea was pretty comical. But here it's a reality! Cause everyone loves the hedgehogs and polar bears!
Hope you have a great week! I think and pray for you all the time.
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Letter dated 8Sept2014
Dear Family and Friends:
On a scale from one to ten, this week was a ten!
Yesterday we were in Göteborg for a stake conference and missionary conference. Elder and Sister Halstrom and Elder and Sister Olsson from Sweden were there. It was really inspiring.
On Wednesday we met our new friend, Jan Erik. He has a difficult dialect and a tendency to mumble. Luckily we had Alex, a member who's his neighbor, so there was no language barrier! Jan Erik is pretty cool. He has so many clocks! Probably 26 clocks.
On Tuesday we knocked on Syster Sandgren's door, and she was baking with her granddaughter, Emma. We got really good food, and are good friends with Emma, and we started teaching the gospel to her too.
Perhaps the biggest lesson I've learned this week was how important it is to feast on the scriptures. Sister Halstrom talked about how studying the scriptures should begin with a prayer. Just like we pray over food, we pray over our spiritual food. Scriptures give us wonderful answers and understanding. When she spoke, I was reminded of my past experiences in the scriptures! Some that I think of are Enoch beginning his ministry without self-confidence, only faith in the Lord, and then his ministry leading to the righteousness of his city; Jesus living His life always being tempted in the forty days he fasted but never giving way to temptation; and Joseph Smith finding solace in the Lord's peace when he sat shivering in Liberty Jail. The scriptures give us awesome examples and amazing strength!
Here are some of the reasons why I love Sweden! Swedes are very polite! As well as very good at Swedish. It's fun to hear the many different accents. This takes me to a tale that happened on Friday. We met someone from Örebro, which is part of the "whining belt" of Sweden. When they talk, it sounds like they are whining, about to cry! We had contacted this lady on the street and asked her if she wanted to learn about our message. She said "Unfortunately my dog is ill, so I have absolutely no time that I can meet with you." This lame excuse sounded very funny in her whining accent. I love being able to invite Swedes to come unto Christ. I love the trains and buses, which will take you anywhere you need to go. And I love the members and other missionaries, who are always loving and great.
Hope you have a great week!
Love,
Letter from Mission President
Dear Brother & Sister Schindler
We are writing to express our appreciation for your son, Äldste Daniel Schindler. Äldste Schindler has been assigned to serve as a District Leader in the Lund II area of the Sweden Stockholm Mission. He is a wonderful and well prepared missionary, and this added responsibility will be a blessing to him and to the mission.
May the Lord bless you and yours.
With respect and kind regards,
James E. Beckstrand
James E. Beckstrand, President
SWEDEN STOCKHOLM MISSION
Monday, September 1, 2014
Letter dated 1Sept2014
Dear Family and Friends:
We had a good week. Neither of us will be transferred! However the district is changing lots as Äldste Floyd is moving to Norland (north country) and the 8 Malmö missionaries will join our district. It will be nice to be in a bigger district--16 in total.
This morning we were called by Leonard (ward mission leader) to do an emergency service project. We helped his neighbor, Lucio, move. He is in an overtone choir, which means he can sing in a really cool way. If you have not heard it, I would suggest hearing "overtone singing." Moving was fun, and we made a good friend.
On Sunday our Portuguese friend came to church. We went to the Nilssons with him afterward, it was very fun!
We have begun "train contacting!" That means we go on a train, and invite everyone on it to church! It is fun.
On Wednesday we were asked to be pallbearers for the burial of a lady in the Malmö ward. It was very touching to do that. I am so thankful that we know that we all will be reunited with our families and can live with them for eternity. That means more than anything.
I am glad the move went safely. Take care!
Love,
--
Äldste Daniel Schindler
Monday, August 25, 2014
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