My Purpose

"Thomas is getting baptized on Saturday! We got a member to do it so that if he ever falls away, it is his job to grab him back. ;) He has really changed. The gospel does so much to a person. I wish you could've seen how much Thomas has changed. He is still a proof based, intellectual Swede, but somehow someway God makes things work out. Thomas is much happier. This Gospel is true! I will make sure to send pictures next week of the baptism. :D

No more time but Thank you for everything!"

Elder Frankman

Here is a little snip from his letter to me. It might be of interest to the inquiring mind:

"I ride bikes a couple times a week. Not a ton but I do. We just pay 150 dollars to a bike fund at the beginning of my mission and all repairs and stuff are paid through the mission. We eat with members in my area about once a week or less depending on the week. Sometimes it is like three times, but that is when we go into another area as well. I really don't know the size exactly of my area but it takes 2 hours by a pretty fast train to get to the opposite end of my area. The main city where we are stationed is the 5th biggest in Sweden. So it is a LOT bigger than state mission areas."


And  a paragraph from his letter to James a few weeks back:

"Oh yeah, so this week I got invited to go crab fishing with this part member less active family. I didn't go because it wasn't really an effective use of time. But I thought that was super cool!

Oh and we sometimes go to the next area to do service for a member there because he really likes me. He took me in the car and we went on "splits" and bought me and my companion a gift certificate because I "work the hardest out of all of them." I just thought you would be proud that your son knows how to shovel dirt ;) I don't want to come across bragging, but I thought you would be proud and I guess I kinda am...

Thanks for teaching me how to work ".

Cobblestone Roads Everywhere

So on Monday we did some fantastic tracting! That was the best... I think just getting out there and working is really how it is done. It also helps when the sun goes away. I am so excited for this famed Swedish winter where the sun doesn't stay up all the day long making everything super hot. 

On Tuesday we were going to the church when we ran across a person who is Hindu. That was super duper cool. He really listened to the message. I love the opportunity I have to be here to find all those children of our loving heavenly father that he has prepared to hear the gospel. 

On Wednesday I got to teach an English class to a bunch of kids from Somalia. Their parents make them come. I think they are starting to like me though, and I think that it is a great way to plant seeds in their hearts.

On Thursday we swung by a few members and less active members that we got to teach. There is this member that is less active named Joseph. He is a really cool guy and really has a lot of ideas for missionary work. He said he would start coming to church again  so that was really good!

On Friday we got to do some service. We went to a far away city called Kisa. It is really pretty. The members house is up on the "mountain" (not in Sweden...) and it overlooks this small city and a lake. To top it all off, we were working on the roof so we got an incredible view!! Sweden is very beautiful in its own way.

On Saturday I got to go teach the Language class again. 

THOMAS IS BACK!!!! Thomas traveled back from Norway and was dead tired, but he still came to church. He is going to meet with us tonight. We only have one more lesson he needs taught before the interview for baptism. I think sometimes on the surface he acts like a Swede, but in his heart he believes this church is true. 

I am so thankful for the love that, through prayer and the atonement, Jesus Christ can give me for all of our brothers and sisters. I think that it is amazing the love that I have been starting to attain for all of these people.

The church is true! 

That still small ambiguous feeling!

Not very much time to write this week but here is a bit!

So we had an hour before we needed to be back at the  apartment and our plans kinda just fell through. I decided to say a prayer in my heart to know where to go. I felt, not overwhelming, prompted to go to this certain area and nothing happened. Then we went to the buses the long way and found a guy who was not only kind, but also Christian, open, willing to listen, and speaks English as opposed to Swedish. So that was really cool! We are going to meet him soon!

I love to serve and though it is hard work, this church is true and led by Jesus Christ himself. I am so thankful for prophets and apostles that we have the privilege to have in our time! I don't know what I would do without them. Thank you all for the emails and support. Special thanks for the prayers for my investigators.

Some stuff happened and such

So about Thomas.

He has a baptismal date now! 5 of September. I think that he really misses Elder Johnson. I am super excited for him though. He is a real friend and he wants to know what we have to say is true. 

I love that guy. ;)

I left my first companion in Sweden. We were sad to leave each other. I got my new companion though. His name is Elder Kiikko. He is from Finland. If you didn't know Finish is considered one of the worlds hardest languages. He is cool. He has been in Sweden now for about 20 months. He is about to "die" as we call it in the mission. I don't know if they do that in other missions but when a greenie is getting trained, the trainer is called the "father/mother." When missionaries go home, they "die." If you come back to Sweden and get married to a Swede it is called being, "resurrected." 

Anyway Elder Kiikko seems like a good guy and we are having a good time. 

This week we are planning on teach language classes... I am going to teach English and Elder Kiikko is going to teach Swedish. Wish us luck haha

We visited the old man again. He was happy to see us. He says he enjoys our company because his daughter lives in Stockholm. He is so spry for an old guy. (see that rhyming?) 

Thank you all for the support and for the letters and the prayers!

Sincerely,

     Elder Frankman

Good times!

So my transfer is almost over. First off Thomas!

So we talked to Thomas and he is actually genuinely searching now. He wants this to be true. We taught him about fasting and committed him to fast about whatever is holding him back from baptism (although it was phrased a lot better and more missionarily than that). He came to church yesterday and got up in fast and testimony meeting and gave a great testimony on how he sees God in groups. He just like how we organize families. He loves having the branch as friends. We are meeting him today at 6PM (10AM) your time. (probably. Assuming you live in Idaho/Utah) I am super excited. I think that things are going to go really well. 

We were talking to a Potential Investigator and we were going to meet him in his house on Saturday, but he broke his arm and didn't really want to meet. He is such a good person. He is a healthy Seventy five year old man. He always tells us about his mother. His mother was a great Christian and he has been influenced by her example. I have too. She really knew what it meant. But anyways he really loves Americans... He thinks that Swedes are a lot more rude than Americans. He asks us all the time, "People don't spit in the streets in Salt Lake City do they? The Swedes spit in the streets." haha He also tells us this story every time we see him, "My mother always says, 'If I were to do it all over again, I would move to America.' And I always ask why is that? She would say to me this one thing. This one thing she would say to me, 'Americans... they are so fine.'" So he loves the missionaries and he loves the LDS Church. So we happened to run into him on the street right by our church and he said, "How about we go in your church and you tell me why I need to be a Mormon." We of course gladly accepted. He in the course of the lesson said, "What do I need to do again to be a member?" We said baptism. He was like, "I can do that. How is that done?" He said he is sick of other churches just being basically for the social aspect. He said also that he is going to come to our church from now on. He is so prepared!!! It isn't even funny. I really hope that paragraph makes sense. 

I get a new companion in two days! Guess where he is from? come on just guess. Utah? no Idaho? no Finland? yeah!!! I am super duper excited to learn from him. 

We had another lady show up in church names Touhida who is a single mom with a three year old daughter who is sooo cute. God is just tying everything together to work. Please pray that I don't unravel it all XD

Thanks for the prayers, the emails, and everything else.

Sincerely,

     Äldste AJ Frankman