I cant think of a clever subject line...

(Sister Slade)

Hi everyone! I had a great week. First of all, I hit my 3 month mark on Thursday. How crazy is that?! I'm 1/6 of the way done!

On Monday we had a cool experience for our dinner message with the family who was feeding us. We had a lesson planned but as soon as I walked in and saw their piano, I knew that we needed to do something different. After I started a completely different dinner message than we had planned. I felt inspired to play my family's song Kites on the piano and to ask the family to think of how they can bear their testimony without words. It was a really good lesson, and we had a good discussion afterwards. As we were walking out, sister Mueller told me that she had the same impression to change the message, but that she wasn't going to follow through with it because she didn't want to put me on the spot. It was a good lesson for both of us on how the Spirit works.

For Thanksgiving, we helped yo serve Thanksgiving dinner at a nearby Methodist church to people in the community who didn't have the means or family to have Thanksgiving. It was a really cool experience and we had a lot of fun. That night, we had our Thanksgiving dinner with a family from our ward. Thay night, we decorated for Christmas.

Transfers are in a week and a half, so I won't be emailing again until next Wednesday just before transfers.

Love you!

    ~Sister Slade

Pictures!

1. Sister Mueller drew us and so we had to do a selfie.

2. Our baby Christmas tree

Alma 34:38

(Aldste Cummings)

Hällå everybody!

Grab your popcorn ladies and gentlemen, it's been quite the week.

On Tuesday, the man, the myth, the legend, Espen "Our Boy" Hyldetoft turned 8 years old. Coincidentally, his birthday happened to fall exactly on our biweekly innebandy game 🤔. As a result, the Hyldetoft family decided to have his birthday party at the church and just have one big bandy bonanza with all of Espen's friends--including the missionaries. It was so fun. So many little kiddies with sticks in their hands running around. It was actually a great opportunity as well to talk to the parents of the kids that came who had never been to our church before. Big shout out to Brother and Sister Hyldetoft for organizing the whole thing. All in all, one of the highlights of my life. Thanks, Espen. Hope you had a good one.

On Wednesday, I traveled to Kungsbacka to go on splits with Elder Bird. Oh man. We had so much energy and were just so ready to go out and pump people up about the Gospel. So that's what we did.

While we were waiting for a bus, some 10-11 year-old kids came to the bus stop on their scooters while singing Justin Bieber's "Baby." I joined in and they thought it was kinda funny and Elder Bird and I started speaking to them in English. I was pretty impressed that they understood just about everything we said, but weren't confident enough to attempt a response. So we switched into Swedish, blew their minds, and just talked and joked around with them for about 10 minutes before the bus came. It was so fun. They're always gonna remember the American missionaries. One of them had Yeezys. The 11 year-old Swedish kid had like $2,000 shoes on his 11 year-old Swedish kid sized feet.

Then Elder Bird and I went out to knock doors. We were trying out new tactics to start conversations at people's doorsteps to talk about things that are truly relevant in their lives. The problem is that people always see us as robots who knock on their door and they don't let us get a word out. So Elder Bird and I tried to break down the "robot" barrier with a little bit of creativity. Juggling or holding yoga positions as they opened the door seemed to make the situation a lot less tense and helped to make people open up. When we knocked on this one door, I sat on the porch with my back to the door and did one of those "Oh, didn't see you there" things when he opened like they do in cheesy middle school documentaries. The man thought it was pretty funny. As ridiculous as it may have seemed, it worked really well and made nearly every conversation more effective. We met this mom with two kids who was really touched by the message we shared about families being together forever and she very warmly accepted our invitation to learn more about the Gospel.

The following morning, we woke up at 5:00 and ran up and down this huge staircase on the side of a hill in Kungsbacka. It was intense. We must have run up it at least 8 or 9 times. Oof. Gotta love Elder Bird.

On Saturday, Savannah Stevenson, an actress from London--most famous for her role as Glinda in the London production of Wicked--came to our chapel to perform two concerts. I was pretty blown away. It was incredible. But the best part of the whole thing was that the members brought so many of their friends and we were able to meet and talk to a lot of them. Everyone loved it and it was so fun.

Sorry for the long letter, but there was a lot to share. I'll end with a quick message about the importance of gratitude. Take advantage of the holiday this week to be thankful for everything that your loving Heavenly Father has given you. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to be serving here as a missionary in Sweden right now. I'm so thankful for my parents and siblings back home. I'm eternally thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for me.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. Grabbarna.

2. brotha had yeezys

3. Shout out to my little brother's 5 minutes of fame on the San Antonio News.

4. The Stairway to Heaven.

5. Espen's birthday party.

Follow the Gummy Bear Road

(Sister Slade)

This week was crazy. It was zone conference and Elder Kipishke from the 70 visited to talk to us. President strong also spoke to us about having an island on our missions. He said that if you're on a raft in the middle of the ocean, you're not likely to paddle if you can't see land. In other words, we need to figure out why we're out here and where we want to go. It was specific to missionaries, but it applies to life as well. So, here's my invitation. Find out what your island is. Where are you going in life? Once you figure that out, paddle.

We had a former investigator, Jason, reach out to us this week. He wants to meet with us again! We also picked up a new person to teach. Someone we previously taught wants to treat us to dinner.

On Friday, sister Mueller and I were tracting for a few hours. We were very amused by a trail of gummy bears along the side walk. It was probably 30 or 40 gummy bears but we never figured out where it led. Obviously, our week was very boring if this was the highlight. :)

What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving?

I love you all!

      ~Sister Slade

Pictures!

1. Sister Mueller and I decided we didn't have enough pictures together.

2. Half the missionaries in our mission for zone conference

3. Lunch with Jerry and a few other missionaries

Update

(Sister Slade)

This week, we spent a lot of time tracting. President strong has created a new number to report every week. He wants us to have quality conversations with 22 people a day. Every week, the mission would talk to 10,000 all together if every companionship talked to 22 people a day. Apparently, sister Mueller and I are leading our stake/zone in that number, so yay for us. We've been doing a fun tracting approach where we write "I'm grateful for..." on a mini whiteboard and ask people to respond. It's been super effective and a lot of their answers can be brought back to the gospel. We've had answers from nyquil to Trump's term being almost over. I've had a lot of fun doing this. It's also interesting because President Strong gave us permission to try tracting in regular clothes with and without name tags. People are actually more receptive when we're in regular clothes.

I was trying to think about something else we did this week, but really that's all we did. Lots and lots of tracting. Oh yeah, we also taught one lady English and another math. We also helped one family from India sweep their leaves. Not take, sweep. It was quite fun.

And that's my week. Sorry it is such a boring read. :)

I love you!

     ~Sister Slade

Pictures!

1. A cat followed us around the block as we were tracting. She wouldn't leave us alone. Her name was Butters.

2. Some of the responses from tracting

Jacob 3:7

(Aldste Cummings)

Halloj!

This week has just flown by. We've been having a really fun time here in Gothenburg. I realized this week that I've fallen in love with the city itself. The ward members and the people we're working with are my favorite part of living here, but there's something about the city that's just so endearing.

One of the people we're teaching wrote a full-length musical in 1996 about an Nobel prize nominee oncologist who does tests on himself and spontaneously turns into a woman for a couple hours every once in a while. Apparently it's inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Show business in America is too conservative to risk putting it on but evidently Poland isn't afraid to take a chance. So if you're ever in Warsaw next spring and you're craving an exciting exploration of the sexes full of love, tension, and 90's showtunes, book some tickets for "High Voltage!"

We just went to buy Elder Nelson a new pair of glasses. I felt like a Swede in a candy store. Glasses stores give me so much life. Walking around and picking out glasses for him to try on was *almost* as fun as buying some for myself.

Saturday we had brunch with Pål and LIsa Hyldetoft and then had dinner that evening with Pål's parents Per and Rigmor Hyldetoft. It was Hyldetoft day. Such a party. Love that family. We ate soo much food that day. I ate like fluffy 10 pancakes that morning and then six bowls of soup in the evening with two bowls of rice pudding for desert. Blev mycket mat asså.

Earlier in the week I went on splits with Elder Wayment who was in my district in the MTC and it was so fun to see him again. He's a hardworking, dedicated, and competent missionary. It was a pleasure to be with him. While we were knocking that night, we met two families that wanted us to come back to teach them more about the gospel. One of them specifically was very positive and the mom scheduled a specific time for us to come back. It was an incredibly faith-building miracle.

I don't really know what it is about the Swedish people, but they aren't really interested faith or religion as youths but as they grow up, get married, and have families, they really aren't interested in faith or religion. But that doesn't make them bad people. Rather, they love each other and care for each other and are always the first priority. The sad thing really is that

they reject us because they don't know what we have. They don't know that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ can enrich their lives and strengthen their family relationships. If they understood that--if everyone understood that--they'd take the chance and see the joy that comes from it. Happiness and success in the family is found in Jesus Christ.

Have a good week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. Onward, Christian soldiers.

2. "I'll take the picture," he said. "It won't be blurry," he said.

3. Well, uh, hello there.

4. If anyone can tell me what kind of flower this is, that'd be great.

5. Espen thought he was being funny. Love that kid.

Job 14:14

(Aldste Cummings)

Hey everybody!

This week was quite the party. Partly because we actually threw a party.

So we have this group chat with all the moms in the ward because like they love us and we play innebandy with their kids every other week. A couple weeks ago we suggested that we should have a little Halloween snack after innebandy on Tuesday the 30th and the moms thought it was an awesome idea and they did what moms do best and blew it up into an awesome party. Families came and decorated rooms with candy and activities for children to participate in and the young men made a haunted house in the basement to scare little kiddies and it was so fun. There must have been more than 100 people there including a good amount of nonmembers.

We also did a lot of normal proselyting activities this week I promise.

So in Sweden they can't seem to get the idea that a holiday on a specific date is to be celebrated on that day. Holidays like Easter, Christmas, etc are like week long events. They've started to adapt Halloween over the last 20 years or so and it's the same way. They know that Halloween is on the 31st but still go trick-or-treating before and after. Huh.

Anyway, so the day after Halloween is called Alla Helgons Dag (All Saints Day). It exists in America too but isn't observed as much. Here in Sweden, families go out and light candles by the graves of their loved ones who have passed away. On Saturday--technically after All Saints Day but as I already mentioned, Swedish people don't seem to care--we went out and walked around one of the bigger cemeteries in Gothenburg. It was only 17:30 but it was already pitch black except for thousands of little lights strewn across rolling hills and no one was saying a word.

It was a very powerful experience that makes you reflect on the meaning of life. As Macbeth very appropriately describes it, our lives are but a "brief candle."(Sorry, I don't know the citation but you can trust me on this one). It was surreal to look upon all the candles and ponder on the comparatively small impact each individual had made upon the world.

It was enough to feel a little discouraged concerning the reality of mortality except for the unshakeable feeling that those of us who looked upon the graves that night were not alone. Those people who had died were yet alive in the world to come and we all will too. Though we are mortal, this life is not the only one we have yet to live. Each of us will have the opportunity to live forever because of the eternal nature of our spirits and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

So yes, Job. If a man die, he will live again.

Have a great week!

Love,

Äldste Cummings

1. "Halloween is always October 31st and no other day. Thanks!" Finally, someone gets it.

2. We made some pizza for the kiddos at the party. Spooky.

3. Elder Nelson and I decided to dress up a little.

4. Cemetery on Alla Helgons Dag

5. That's right, I live here (pt 16).

6. When missionaries decide to make a jack-o-lantern.

It has been a week...since I last emailed

(Sister Slade)

Hi everyone!

This week has been great! On Tuesday, we got a referral from salt lake for a woman named Alice who requested a book of Mormon. We stopped by and talked with her for a little bit and she said she wants to be taught the lessons. Our teaching pool just doubled! It was a huge miracle for us.

On Saturday, Jerry texted us and asked us if we could come over and give him a lesson. He then spent the entire lesson telling us his concerns for baptism. This was huge because he's been taught for the last 17 months and anytime someone mentions baptism, he shuts down and won't talk. So him bringing up baptism and specifically his concerns was a miracle. We're optimistically hopeful for Jerry. Keep your fingers crossed.

Here's an update on my headaches. We've found out that my headaches are caused by nerves in my head bumping into blood vessels which sends a shock through my brain. It's probably something I'll have to deal with my entire life, but it's not serious or life threatening. Also, 3 weeks ago, my family held a fast. Leading up to the fast, the headaches were getting worse and more frequent. The day before the fast, I had 20 of these "ice-pick" headaches. The day after the fast, I had 3. Since then, they've decreased in frequency even more. Coincidence? I think not. Thank you for all your prayers!

Love you!

    ~Sister Slade

Pictures

1. Sister Mueller did my hair and makeup

2. The changing seasons

3. Me holding Jerry's cat. His name is Suggly. It stands for so ugly.