This week though was great!!!! November 23, 2015

Like good week. So on Monday we were supposed to have fufu but we got blåsted :'( but that is okay because we are doing it this week instead. I am so psyched!

anyways besides the food. (It makes it hard to focus sometimes) 

On Tuesday we just did a lot of Contacting and a lot of finding. Got to teach some lessons on the street. It was a good time. 

On Wednesday we had an English class again and I am starting to learn English all over again it feels like. I can speak it still but like somethings just start to Swenglish. We then went to a less active member's house and ate some food. She was very nice. Her name is spelled "Ewa" but there is no "W" in Swedish so it is just like "Eva." and her last name translate to power. So that is cool.

After that we taught Fadih again and just read in the Book of Mormon. It is really cool how much power there is in there. He really feels like it could be the word of God because it feels just like the Bible. 

On Thursday I went on Exchanges with Elder Larson. He is very good at Swedish so that was cool. I got to conduct another baptismal interview and we had a great Thanksgiving dinner and then later realized (like the next day) that is wasn't Thanksgiving. That is okay though because we are going to have another chance this Thursday. 

on Friday I got a ton of very real personal inspiration on how to become a better missionary, leader, and how to better help my investigators. It was at a zone training. The zone training was super duper cool and the spirit was there. The work here in Sweden is just picking up momentum and it is so cool to be a part of it. I love it. They talked about testimonies and about how they are personal. We really got to analyze our testimonies and practice using them. They made a good point when they said, "If everyone has a personal testimony why do they all sound the same." Remember that each of us has experiences that we can share with others that no one else can. I am so thankful for this gospel and for the supreme intelligence that our Father in Heaven has for putting me in Sweden right now when things are happening that help me grow. It isn't always super easy or even super fun, but it is super worth it and mostly super fun ;) 

Saturday and Sunday was Stake conference so we traveled to Stockholm and listened. It was super cool that I can understand what they are saying most of the time now. The gift of tongues is real. On the way to church on Sunday we visited the biggest graveyard in Sweden. I'll attach some pictures.

Thank you all for all the support and everything that you do for me. This really is the church that Christ is leading. I think we don't understand the magnitude of that sometimes.

Love you!

Elder Frankman

"He claims he was itching it."

Another terrifically missionaryie week! November 16, 2015

So this was a cool week. 

On Tuesday we went to meet this guy to teach him. He of course didn't show up but that is okay because we just taught two other people while we were waiting for him. One of them is meeting with us now and is investigating the church. His name is Nikolas and he knows almost nothing about God but it is cool. He is 19 years old so maybe he will get to head out on a mission if he finds the church to be true. 

We also met with the Holmdahls. We do that every Tuesday night apparently to talk eat with them and teach a message. It is such a good time. We use our hour of language study at their place because they teach us a lot!

Wednesday was a pretty full day of just teaching people. It was a good time. We teach an English class every week to three old ladies. It is really funny. 

Friday was looong. Just had to do finding work all day and the sun sets at 3:30 so it just kinda gets hard and cold... It is okay though because you just have to keep on working. Last year around this time the work in Sweden went down a lot. My district is not going to let that happen this year. Our zone still hasn't dropped down yet because we know if we keep working, the Lord will keep preparing people even if we are cold. XD 

At the end of the day though.... Just to let us have a little break: So we knocked this door and this Turkish man came out and couldn't speak hardly any Swedish (which happens a lot when tracting/contacting). But at the same time a member of ours comes out of the elevator and pushes us into his house. Like it isn't the member's house... haha it was funny. She then preceded to take this mans food and feed it to us. She apparently takes care of this guy. She made sure to tell us that she only takes care of him and she still follows the law of chastity. It was really cute. But we got to teach them a little bit out of the book of mormon. It was really funny. Tender Mercies of the Lord

Yesterday we got to teach Fadih again. He was incredible. We were teaching him the Plan of Salvation. First of all he stayed at church all three hours and then met with us. So that is four hours. Not to mention the fact that he can barely speak any Swedish so church must have been a little boring in that aspect at least. Second of all everything we asked him about the plan of salvation like, "what do you believe is going to happen after this life?" or "What do you believe about heaven and hell or after judgement." His answers were almost identical to what this church has received through modern revelation. I thought that was so cool. He is very grateful for the Book of Mormon. He is just incredible. Keep praying that he will have strength to go through his conversion process. 

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers! Have a great week.

Missions are great! November 9, 2015

So this week was really good. We got to go visit a less active who is pretty sick. She has cerebral palsy but she is very strong and faithful. This branch really takes care of it's members. It is great. I just found out that she is visited twice a week by branch members. We got to give her a blessing and I really got to feel love for her. 

We had Zone training on Friday and it was really inspiring. My current zone leader is Elder Burgin who was my first district leader and his companion is Elder Featherstone. (I don't know how closely related he is to the 70 if he is) They are very talented missionaries who really inspired us to do better. The zone I am in right now is ready to work and it is awesome. I think the work in Sweden is about to explode!

Then I got to take home with me from zone training Elder Baquedano (The French one) and we did splits here. He is a funny guy and very skilled at the language. He is almost as good as me if he isn't and he has only been out for like 8 weeks. He inspires me to do better!

We swung by a less active who has not been to church in over a year and so I figured there would be something stopping him when we were going to commit him but we asked him to come and he just said sure. Like whatever?! It was awesome. He also recommended the best pizza place in town so I am super excited for that. So we had two Less active members in Sacrament meeting this week so that was really good :) It is one of the most important indicators if they come to sacrament meeting I think. 

Yesterday we met with two investigators  that we just got. One's name is Lilly. She came to church as was genuinely curious and said that our church just felt different. I hope and pray she will do her part. We had some members with on the lesson and it was really good. 

The other person is named Fadih. He is Christian and thinks that in our days today that we really need more scripture and more guidance and he thinks The Book of Mormon could be his answer. He is just happy to meet and we will meet him next week. 

We also met a less active yesterday. His name is Daniel and he moved here about 7 years ago. He is super cool and he said that we could come over tomorrow (today) to eat pizza with him and I said yeah absolutely. He is black and I have heard all about this African dish called fufu (I don't know if that is correctly spelled) so I told him that I would pay and stuff if he would make me some sometime. So we cancelled pizza and next week we are making fufu! Yesss. He told us he feels far away from God sometimes because of his work schedule so I told him we could fast with him. He liked that idea and I told him we would fast next Sunday and break our fast on Monday with Fufu and he LOVED that Idea. I am so excited. He is very humble and very fun. 

That is my week! Like there was a lot more but as usual I am out of time! Thank you all for everything!

Rubber Duckie

Translation: "A pizza a day keeps the doctor away!"

Like what a Week- Nov 2, 2015

Monday we went to Stockholm and we had a good time all together. The last P-day in Stockholm before I headed off to Västerås.

On Tuesday we had an entirely booked day with a member dinner and all. The lesson that we had that day with Thomas went pretty good. He is starting to understand that it depends depends depends on The Book of Mormon and we had some powerful testimony in that lesson. We even had a member with us to teach it. That was super good.

Wednesday I went up to Stockholm and then over to Västerås to meet my new companion Elder Purkey. He is great. The area right now is pretty dead again. I mean I guess we have a few investigators but I have never seen evidence of their existence... They don't answer text or call. It is okay though! We are going to kick start this area. There used to be four Elders in this city but now there is only two due to the "great greenie drought of 2015." This just means we get more city to work with though so it is okay!

On Thursday we had my first district meeting! I was scared and unsufficient feeling in about every way but it worked out splendidly. I am the youngest missionary in the district besides the trainees which was why I was a little scared but that gives me a lot of experience that can help me. Everyone in my district is awesome. If you could keep them in your prayers that would be great. The work load in this district seems to be higher. I just feel like Sweden is picking up pace as a mission. If you want there names they are:

Karlstad Elders: Elder Castleton-Rudolph and Elder Loumeir

Örebro Elders: Elder Larson and Elder Baquedeno (he is French)

Örebro Sisters: Sister Beckstrom  and Sister Hoke

I am sure they would appreciate your prayers!

Then we met Edi. He is a great guy. We are going to teach him. He lives in the same apartment of one of our less active members. He is very nice and kind.

On Friday we went to see the Frid family. They are very cool. The wife used to go to BYU-I about 6 years ago. They like to speak English but their son doesn't so I got to do a language study with him. (He is 11) He likes mine-craft and he likes motorbikes. :) After that we left from our area (The middle part of the country) to go to Stockholm (The eastern side of the country) then to Karlstad (the Western side of the country). Don't ask me why that was supposedly "faster" but whatever!!!

On Saturday we walked out of the apartment and some guy asked us to walk him back to his apartment and we did. He was limp one side of the body, couldn't remember his name for a while, and didn't really make sense when he talked. I was remembered that this was all signs of a stroke. Right after we dropped him off I told the other Elders and they agreed and so I got to call Swedish 911. They came and then we left. I don't know what happened. I am just thankful for what I am sure was the spirit letting me remember the signs of a stroke. Maybe it was nothing but I am sure glad I acted. I feel good and now I don't have any "what if's" in my conscious.

I also got to do some baptismal interviews.... That was one of the coolest things ever. They were so ready. Baptismal interviews are really an honor to conduct and honestly the highlight of this week. They were so ready for the gospel and so happy to have it in their lives. Sometimes we forget the great blessing it is for us to just have the gospel in our lives. If you could pray for Robin, Adrian, and Mattias as they prepare for their upcoming baptisms, that would be great!

Sunday I just got to meet the ward and establish contact with some great less actives that want to give us food!!! Sounds like a blast. Hopefully they want to listen to the gospel and come to church too. We will see!!!

God has a plan. It is crazy. It is crazy good.

Thank you all for everything! You have my prayers. Thanks for the emails!