Syster Brink in Sweden: Midsommar. Funerals. Father's Day.

First of all I love getting all your emails! This week has been full of exciting news from people being transferred, engagements, babies, home renovations, summer parties, and other amazing things! I can tell you guys have all had a pretty good week. As for me, this week was AMAZING.

This week has been so much fun I don't even know where I want to start.

We had Midsommar. It's this wonderful holiday they celebrate here in sweden where they put this giant maypole up in the middle of a park and everyone wears flower crowns and we all sing traditional swedish songs and hold hands and dance around the maypole. I'm taking this holiday home for everyone to enjoy. It was so much fun! Our zone got invited to go down to Utby for the celebration and all of us missionaries sang some midsommar songs and handed out ice cream to the children. I even made a flower crown! (I learned some major life skills from this holiday.) Then we had the whole rest of the day to just enjoy midsommar. So we went and walked around Göteborg and got ice cream and went to a zoo. So much fun!

This was also our last week of the transfer. So we had a "funeral" for our friend Elder Cushing who will be going home (dying) this wednesday. Complete with a cheesecake and plenty of singing about America, we read a eulogy and everybody got to drop some dirt on him.

Transfer calls came this week too! We had the Borås sisters stay the night with us for a baptism that happened on Saturday and we all got the call together. I will be staying here in Jönköping. Sister Sandelin will be transferring to Norrköping, and I will be getting Sister Demille who is coming directly from a Sister Training Leader area in Stockholm. I'm so excited!

We taught Shasha the gospel of Jesus Christ this week and she was so happy about it! She wants to study all of it out and she's doing so good! She wanted to take pictures of the board and pictures with us after the lesson and she's really taking to everything that we've been teaching her. We just need to get her to come to church! We'll get her there someday!

Dudas, our 73 year old guy that always gives us stuff and wears the "dangerous" jacket, is doing well. He wend to the ward Midsommar fest even though he knew we wouldn't be there, and he talked to all these different members. Then he came to the baptism on Saturday and was so happy! He couldn't wait until it was his turn. We also taught him the word of wisdom this week and invited him to start following it. He got a little teary eyed because he understands that the only way he can live in the celestial kingdom with his wife for eternity is by being baptized, and to be baptized he has to follow the word of wisdom. He said he would do it! So we're really happy and excited for him! On sunday he came up to me and said, "Today I don't have any flowers or strawberries or soda or fika bread for you, I've got something else." and then he shook my hand and slipped me a scratch off lottery ticket hahahaha! He's got a good heart :)

I want to say happy father's day to my wonderful father, uncles, grandpa's, and all the other fathers in my life. I am so happy and proud to be related to you guys! It's kind of sad that this is my second father's day in a row away from home, but just know that I love you all so much and look up to you guys!

Crazy to think, but almost exactly a year ago this whole adventure started. I can't believe how quickly plans change and how soon I found myself in Sweden when a year ago I thought I'd be in school. I am so happy, and so grateful for my Heavenly Father. For answering my prayers, for having big plans for me, for leading me where I needed to go. He knows me better than I even know myself. And He has put me in places that I needed to be. I took some time this fathers day to really think about the relationship that He and I have, and I am so grateful for how close we have gotten and how close we continue to get.

I hope you all have an amazing week!!!

puss puss,

Syster Janessa Brink