Happy 2 months :)

Hej hej familj och vänner!

Ah sweden is te best :) I finally found the apostrophe mark so you can all be happy that I can now use a swedish keyboard haha

Last week I was able to buy myself a real swedish coat so hooray for warmth and quality jackets :) Swedes know how to make durable stuff. ALSO. I made spaghetti. Be so proud.

We tried tracting together last week. It was super awkward cuz people answer the door and their apartment smells disgusting and then the neighbors hear us talking to them in the hall and don't answer the door and then they have these weird creepy swedish elevators that are like a closet on a pulley and I secretly never want to tract again. Hahaha missionaries have the best job even if it is really awkward sometimes.

We had open church and the elders were supposed to take over for us but then Ä. Simonson was sick. Again. Like the kid has been sick since the first day here in Karlskrona and he hasn't been able to leave the apartment. So we ended up staying at the church for their open church time too. And we took over their appointment with Lina because she was already in Karlskrona when they cancelled on her and then we had our pingis (ping pong) activity at the church. THAT'S LIKE 8 HOURS AT THE CHURCH. THAT'S A LONG TIME. But Heavenly Father knows about sucky days like the ones where you spend 8 hours stuck at the church. And then he sends you stuff to brighten your day. Lina brought a friend to pingis and we taught him the restoration and he was really interested and had a lot of questions and we had a really really great member present lesson with him and Lina. Lina is like the coolest person in the entire world. THEN, this Iranian guy basically came in off the street and started playing pingis with us and like, he's coming back next week and we wanna start teaching him. THEN, Pres. Jusinski showed up with his kids Jakob and Simon (p.s. Jakob is secretly like pingis master) and we were able to talk to him about the area. AND THEN we finally got out of the church and went contacting and we met these 2 indian guys and had a lesson ON THE STREET and we got their phone number. We had to stop in the middle of contacting and say a gratitude prayer because everything was just going so well!

We visited this super cute member named Gun Britt on wednesday and she's like this really awesome swedish grandma and I love her. I could write books about all the members here, they are the best people in the whole entire world and they are so SO strong in the faith.

For språk study I've started translating songs into swedish. I'm currently doing Fancy by Iggy Azaelia (?) and it's hilarious.

ALSO learned this week that heavenly father directs your path when you don't even realise it. We were doing a lot of swing by's one day and we were trying soooo hard to get to this one less active lady's house and we took the wrong bus, got on the right one, missed the stop, took the wrong street. It was bad. We we're like, "maybe we're not supposed to visit this lady for some reason." But then in the middle of all the weird traveling confusion we ran into Paulina, one of our investigators with a baptismal date, and were able to talk to her for a little while. We were able to change our appointment with her and just say hi and it was good! We did make it to the Less Active's house though! She was home and she was like, "yeah I don't go to church." and we want to start stopping by every week and leaving cookies or something with her and just love her. She's totes gonna be on the straight and narrow by the time I'm done with my training.

One day while we were contacting this dude was like, "mmmmm I don't know if I wanna meet and talk about religion." and Sister Allred was like, "just take the card and look at the website" and they just walked away and like, I guess that's how missionary work is done. I may as well just drop the mic and walk away. Hahahah she's like "I'm so sorry you got me as a trainer, I suck sometimes" but we have literally had so much fun together!

We have a baptismal date with Ereleng for valentines day :) we are super excited! I told him I worked at an ice cream shop for 2 years and he was like "so ice cream is your specialty eh? whats the best flavor?" and we chatted about ice cream for a while. I like Ereleng. He's like my new swedish uncle.

We met a less active woman in Ronneby and she's into bead work and jewelry and let us make bracelets while we were there. Also she TOTALLY KNOWS highland utah and lehi and american fork and I'm gonna have to go back and bring my pictures and we can talk about our common places. Her daughter and her family live in Lehi and she's really cool. Gonna get her back to church in no time! 

Zone Training in Malmö this week and that was fun. We ate at an asian buffet and the asian buffets here are just as bad as the ones in the states so none of you are missing out on anything special.

The elders FINALLY went to the doctor to figure out what's up with Ä. Simonson. He's totally fine. lol.

Paulina didn't come to church this week so she won't be eligible for baptism. Which might actually be a good thing. She doesn't really have a testimony about the Book of Mormon and she basically just wants to be baptized because she's never been baptized before. We were able to have a really REALLY great restoration lesson with her and I was able to really bear testimony of him and the spirit was totally there. We're gonna move her baptismal date to March.

Cool thing, I got drunk texted like 5 times and basically proposed to twice this week. So. that's really cool. The first guy that proposed was some dude we texted about our pingis activity and he's like "can you send me a picture? I wanna meet with you." and we're like "we only talk about god" and he's all, "Oh i wanna talk about everything! God, life, everything!" and then he proceeds to try and sell himself to us like "I'm 25 and tired of single life, I have a job...." and then he sends us this weird picture and he's like "I took this last year in morocco." and we never texted him again. The other guy was one of our potential investigators that drunk texted us like 5 times at 3 am and was like "I am god's warrior" but we were like, It's chill he was just drunk last night, so we texted him and invited him to church and he's like "wow, you are so forgiving and nice, can I marry you? I'm 35, can I get married?" and we were didn't respond and he didn't come to church but we have an appointment with him today and we think we're just gonna pass him on to the elders.

Finally, today is my month mark! HAPPY TWO MONTHS OF MISSIONARY LIFE!!! To celebrate, Sister Allred and I bought swedish godis and ate some smörgåsar and saft. Let me just tell you missionary life is the complete best. I'm loving serving here and I meet the coolest people every single day. The other day some african girl chased us down in centrum and insisted we met with her. The Lord prepares people and he prepares you, he directs your path and puts you in the right place. I LOVE THIS CHURCH. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL. I LOVE SPREADING THE WORD.

Frid och kärlek,

Syster Janessa Brink

^this is how you celebrate two months. saft, smörgås, mustache straws, cool home made bracelets, and my sister missionary fjall backpack. I'm a swede.^

^penguin steps in ronneby, celebrating the two month mark like a swede! Smörgås, saft, mustache straws and cute bracelets made with less active members^

^cool graffiti wall in ronneby, we were excited cuz we got a baptismal date!, miss kebab (?), me in front of an antique shop in the middle of nowhere^