Kära familj,
Happy Birthday Dad! It's good to hear that you got treated like royalty and ate Nam Stew and shrimp but not together. I hope. I ate fish balls this week and did NOT enjoy them. It's potentially one of the worst things I've had here. But on the same plate I had red beets and they were delicious! I'll have to add that to my list of things I eat now that I didn't eat before. I've started keeping another list notebook here and that's one of the first lists in it. This week I also ate more cashew chicken than I ever wanted to eat, and deep-fried bananas. And deer jerky! I got the package this week and the jerky is delicious! The funny thing is, a long long time ago before Peyton even got the deer, we were saying it's too bad I wouldn't still be with Syster Sjöblom by the time I got the jerky because she wanted to try it. But she's still here and she thought it was great and says thank you very much!
This week has been full of a lot of people not showing up to their lessons. Including Williant after he called us last Monday to set one up. :( We had lessons fall through with him, Allie, Therese, and Hizkias, all of which were set up beforehand. We also have a lot of people who have flat out stopped answering their phones. So we have a list of people that we're praying to meet on the train sometime again, including Petra, Marianne, Erik, Allie, Williant, Sebastian, and Anders.
It started working right away on Monday night. As you may know, P-Day ends at 6:00 on Monday. We had a hard time deciding what to do last week because we couldn't catch the 6:00 train to Ösmo (to drop by Siv, who wasn't home) but the next one that goes all the way down wasn't until 6:30. So we took the 6:15 to Västerhaninge and waited there for 15 minutes for the Nynäshamn (Ösmo) train, planning to contact people in between. When we got to Västerhaninge, the first person we saw was Sebastian! He was going to Ösmo as well, so we sat with him and read 2 Nephi 31 with him on the train. He's really busy and it's hard to set appointments with him but he was really glad to see us and talk to us. Like I said, Siv wasn't home, but on the train back I contacted Anna from Poland and she wants to meet again, but she was sick last week.
Tuesday we helped Cie-Cie clean up her apartment to move. She moved on Wednesday down to Södertälje, so we'll be making sure the missionaries there get ahold of her. She likes our ward though so she said she'll still try to come. Then we came back to Västerhaninge to wait for Allie but he didn't come. Later he texted us and said he'd been called in to work. He's a really sweet guy and he works a lot, but he's really sincere and really wants to learn more. He lives in Jordbro though, so the zone leaders are going to start teaching him instead. If they can ever set up an appointment with him. Also on Tuesday we found out that the supplies we've been trying to order for four months had actually been delivered and the elders took them back to their apartment on accident. We were starting to feel forgotten because we've been ordering Polish Book of Mormons since my third or fourth week here and hadn't gotten any. I may or may not have chewed out the office elders about it...then an hour later our elders showed up with our stuff. Then on Thursday we got two more boxes full of Book of Mormons in Swedish, Polish, and Arabic. That night was when I got the package with the jerky and other goods in it, so it felt like Christmas all over again, complete with snow this time. Except when Williant didn't show up to his lesson...
Friday, though, was a GREAT day! First we got up early to get on the 6:00 train because we were invited to attend seminary at 6:30. They were talking about missionary work. I can't say I really miss early morning seminary but it was cool to go again. We had breakfast at the church with the (three) seminary students. Rice porridge with raspberry jam. It was yummy! Friday afternoon we went and taught Marie and she LOVES the Book of Mormon! We wrote our testimonies in the front of hers this time because she asked us to. She agrees with everything we say and she's really committed to reading the whole Book of Mormon. I've seen God working with her a lot in the last five months we've been here. She even has Sundays off now...which is really convenient, if you know what I mean. I just love her and love teaching her! We also taught Juan Carlos and on the train ride down we taught a guy from Kyrgyzstan named Anders. (Different Anders than the one from Gambia.) He was really interested and he texted us last night to say he could meet this Friday morning!
On Saturday Siv still wasn't home. Therese wasn't home either, even though last week she invited us to come back and teach her about the Restoration! So we tracted the buildings around Therese's apartment. Nobody was interested. We tried calling Sebastian and Williant, because they both live in Ösmo, but Sebastian said he was busy and Williant didn't answer. Then we were waiting for the train back to Västerhaninge and Sebastian came off the train that had just come from Stockholm! So we talked to him and invited him to church of course. When we got on the train, Williant was sitting there with his girlfriend! Luckily I'd grabbed a Libro de Mormon in case we got to teach Yahaira that night, so I gave it to him. His girlfriend (Monique, also from Bolivia) asked what it was so we explained it to both of them. At least, I did, because she only spoke Spanish. She was really interested too, and made sure that we had Williant's number, and they said maybe they would come to church! There was a ward party Saturday night, a "Julgransplundring." Christmas tree plundring. We ate cinnamon rolls and pepperkakor and danced around the Christmas tree. The missionaries were asked to do a part in the program so we sang Jingle Bells, but Syster Sjöblom did a really funny bass line. They loved it. One member said she'll have to invite us over for dinner so we can sing it again because her boys loved it so much. We were hoping to teach Yahaira that night but she's still been busy between work and her mom being in the hospital. But she stopped by Blanca's apartment on her way home (she lives just upstairs) and said that maybe we can meet next Saturday. So she still wants to meet!
Church was great! We had five VIPs! Four less active members (Peter, Juan Carlos, Gunilla, and Hayder) and an investigator. And you'd never guess which one it was. Did I ever tell you about Rockamorah? I contacted him on the train a few months ago first, then again a couple weeks ago. The second time I talked to him he said, out of the blue "I think I'll come to your church on the nineteenth." I forgot about it until I saw him on the train platform in Västerhaninge yesterday morning. He came! And we had a Book of Mormon in Tagalog just for him. Good thing I alphetized the Book of Mormons we have at the church so I knew right where to find it. We gave it to him and told him about it, and he was devouring it right from 1 Nephi 1. I think he enjoyed Sacrament meeting even though it went a little long. He was really excited that he could keep the Book of Mormon and I think he'll read it! He said he might come again next week, which I hope he does because he still wouldn't give us his number. So if he doesn't come to church, he'll go on the list of people to pray that we meet again on the trains.
It's hard to believe how many miracles we experience every day and how involved Heavenly Father is in this work. It's amazing when I look back over the week to see how many times the little decisions we make are really guided by the Holy Ghost so we can be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
Have a great week and do something fun for Martin Luther King day! Jag älskar er!
Love, Delaney
PS-I'd send pictures but they're on Syster Sjöblom's camera. But thanks for the pictures you sent! I can't believe that Cody and Peyton are growing up...they're not allowed to do that
Love, Delaney
