living up

guys. i love you.

starting things off, this week has been crazy. I think I write that literally every week but I keep expecting my weeks to calm down and then they don't haha. 

On monday we traveled up to stockholm and we were going to be playing volleyball but then when we got there they didn't have any nets on the volleyball courts. So we sat on the grass and grilled some korv instead and some of the elders played frisbee and fotball. It was a nice relaxed pday and we had a good time :) 

tuesday was super busy and by the end of the day i was pretty sure I'd gotten blisters on each of my toes. We walked SO. MUCH. We visited basically everyone in Södertälje. It was a big goodbye day for sister nielsen and we got to chat with this sweet member named Linda, who just had a baby. We got to play with her son while the baby slept and talk with her a little bit. Mother life is crazy, and I think I'd be fine putting it off for a little while haha! We also met with Roba (who is a genious) and Rahaf (who is my best friend) and said goodbyes to them. After that we had dinner at the Schiazzano's. During the whole dinner they took pictures and put them on facebook (so I apologize if I looked exhausted that day). We had a giant chilean dinner. With cheesecake and kebabs and fruit. I think I ate like 10 kebabs. 

dinner with the schiazzanos

helping sister nielsen pack and make the weight requirements

The next morning I helped sister nielsen finish packing up and the elders came and picked up the luggage. We said our last little morning prayer and cried like children nearly the whole time. I got to take her all the way up to t-centralen and see her off with the assistants and the office elders. I stood there at the ring in the center and realized that for me this marked the beginning of the end.

Being aware of the time is the biggest curse/blessing that ever was. From here on out I can literally count on my fingers how much of everything I have left. It hurts but it's motivating. I'm going to try to refrain from counting things though, at least consciously. 

After dropping off sister nielsen (and crying again that such a fun companionship was over) I got to go with sister giles back to Hägersten. Neither of our companions would be getting in until later that evening. I helped her clean up the Hägersten apartment. She's actually been serving in Gubbängen for the past week because her last companion got the visa she was waiting for to go to her actual mission in the states (same mission as brooke young! small world, ja?) So we picked everything up, I broke her mop, and we picked some flowers on our way to the train station. 

flowers with sister giles!

A little bit of freaking out happened when sister crawford wasn't on the train she was supposed to be on, but soon I found her being helped by a stranger and we taught him about the restoration before heading off to our apartment. 

we had dinner at the wesemeyers the next day with rahaf and the elders and they asked us for help cutting down a tree. We cut down the tree, and it almost fell right on top of all of us. It was a lot bigger than we thought it was. Rahaf got a video, but her phone died before she could send it to us! 

Friday was awesome. We went to the mission home for our mission leadership council and I got to see some of my friends from around the mission! I even got to see elder payne, who was on his very first transfer in the mission during my last month in jönköping. The training was awesome and we talked about the commandments and how we can help those that we teach to accept them more readily and start living them in preparation for baptism. We are super excited to start this transfer!

that night we met with a guy that investigated the church last year and called us randomly in the middle of MLC. His name is per and he wanted to thank the past sisters that served here for their prayers while he was going through surgery. Such a nice guy! we committed him to give the church another shot and to start reading and praying about the book of mormon again. 

Saturday we woke up and took the craziest travel ever to eskilstuna for district meeting. normally district meeting would be on a week day, but because it was transfer week and we randomly had MLC on a friday instead of a tuesday we had to change everything around. District meeting was great though! Long travel back to södertälje left me exhausted and dizzy from trains and busses. We did get to meet with a new convert named Mathias though, and went over the plan of salvation with him. It was a great lesson, and Mathias is super cool! 

flen, a teeny tiny town that you only go to if you take 4 and 2 trains busses to get to and from eskilstuna on a saturday

yesterday was a stresser. sunday is not the day of rest for missionaries. I felt spread very very thin yesterday. we got here early to set up chairs and sister crawford played the piano and spoke in sacrament meeting. Then we taught the sunday school class in both english and swedish at the same time. From there we were going to teach young womens but there weren't any young women there so sister crawford and i went to primary so she could be the primary pianist. I love being a missionary, and I love helping. yesterday felt like a little much though. Is it bad to admit that I am a little excited to take a couple selfish sundays once I'm home to just enjoy the sabbath and have it all to myself?

we did get to talk to some super cool people on the street yesterday. We even found a family, refugees from the middle east, that just had a baby and were out walking with him. They were like my little shining light. I am so excited to meet them again! 

sunday morning walks

today we will be going to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm (you guys can read about it in the newest ensign or liahona. Elder Renlund wrote an article about it) with the Clouses, the office couple. We are gonna have a nice day of traveling, since södertälje is like, BARELY in the stockholm area it takes us like an hour to get there. It's super worth it though, there is so much to see and do in stockholm! 

you guys sound like you had a busy week! back from canada, up to idaho, helping people move and fixing shelving and such. And thanks to grandma for the sweet email of advice!!! 

ni är de bästa som finns. 

i look forward to hearing from you guys next week!!!

love, syster janessa brink

saw this this morning on our way to the chapel to email, crazy huh?