Dear Momma,
It's been a week filled with all sorts of adventures. Last Monday night, Syster Kester and I were on our way to our last appointment when we came upon a moped lying in the middle of the road. We didn't see anybody around, so I hopped out of the car to move it, and then I heard someone screaming for help. We found the rider lying in a ditch about 30 feet from the road. We called an ambulance and flagged down other drivers to help, and he lost consciousness on us while we waited. Last we heard from the police before everyone left was that he was conscious again and should be okay. The people who stopped were great. There were a lot of people who pulled over to help. Swedes in general seem to be exceptionally helpful people. Even when contacting strangers on the street, they're very willing to be helpful until they realize we 'just' want to talk about religion. ;)
We've had some fun teaching appointments this week too. There's an older couple we're working on right now that's presenting us with some fun challenges. The husband has been investigating the church for FORTY-TWO YEARS, and I'm dang determined that it's not going to turn into 43. It's a little bizarre - they've changed their whole lives for the sake of joining the church, but they just won't actually JOIN. They've given up coffee and teas, they actually got married so that they could be baptized, they read the Book of Mormon, the Bible, AND the Pearl of Great Price together EVERY MORNING, he's been hung up on tithing for a long time, but we're finally making progress to get him over that too, they believe in the prophets - he can list all the latter-day prophets by year. (I know most members can't do that - I certainly can't...) But they won't get baptized because they don't want to be given responsibilities in the church. I'm confused as to what more they think they'd be asked to do than what they're doing already. Most members DON'T do as much as they've been doing. Anyway, now that they're on the brink of being baptized, they've convinced themselves that it's a bigger step to take than they'd thought (more like a cliff than a step), and they're scared. He tried to make a deal with us that turned out to work 'against' him, and it was pretty funny. They knew I had just arrived in Sweden two weeks ago, and I need Syster Kester to translate for me during discussions because I'm struggling to understand what other people say to me. So he promised he'd be baptized before spring if I would pray for him in Swedish right then. Little did he know, prayer's the one thing I CAN do well in Swedish. Haha! (It's a whole lot easier for me to speak Swedish than hear and interpret it right now.) So anyway, he set the terms. He made the promise. We're holding him to it.
We have a dinner appointment scheduled for tonight, and we were supposed to bring something 'American,' so we made an apple pie. (It doesn't get more American than apple pie, baseball, and Superman!) Sister Kester and I are also planning a Thanksgiving dinner for the branch. I doubt more than 4 people in the branch have heard of Thanksgiving, but that's okay because President Monson's conference talk on gratitude just provided us with the perfect excuse to introduce it. =)
Let Casey know that I love him, and I keep him in my prayers. I'm glad he did his best to get involved in soccer. Even if he didn't get to play, it's good that he had something to do during his free time. Maybe you could start out by letting him have friends over at our house? That would be easier to keep under control than him going out. I never really understood where we were supposed to go or what we were supposed to do when 'hanging out' anyway. Which is the main reason why I didn't do much of it as a kid. And as for Chynna, I definitely haven't dealt with such a rough roommate situation. Frankly, Mormon girls fail at being catty or nasty. They worst they can come up with is playing the 'silent game'. I'll be praying for her too.
Take care, Momma. I pray for you too. Ask Keira to give you and hug and a kiss for me, kay?
I love you.
Syster Hillary Kiser
P.S. The secretaries do know that my parents are divorced, and they have both your/Rich's information, and Dad's. They're not sure how the names and addresses got mixed, but they apologize for it.
And no, I haven't emailed Dad. I actually lost his email address. Could you ask him for it and send it my way, please?
No comments:
Post a Comment