ups and ups and ups... (and up again.)

hej på er! waiting on a family email, but I'm pretty sure you guys are all asleep hahaha :) This week has been exponentially better than last week so things are rolling right along here in Jönköping. Also it was RIDICULOUSLY hot this week. I even got a little sun. 

COOL STORIES:

• everybody graduated this week. So we were up studying on Friday morning when the noisiest group of graduates started marching down the street. Here in sweden when you graduate the boys wear suits, the girls wear white dresses, and everybody wears these sailor hats. They march down the street playing instruments of all kinds and making TONS of noise and then they all get into these giant trucks (because like none of them have drivers licenses) and they get driven all around the streets completely drunk at like 9 am. And then the whole rest of the day they're out celebrating. It's a sight to see. 
• I grilled a pineapple.
• yesterday at church I met a guy that lives in Justin's area in Norway! So we took a picture and like, it was cool. The world is so small in mormon scandinavia.

UPLIFTING MOMENTS:

• So. That guy. The one that wears the sweatshirt that says dangerous and is like 73 years old and thinks sister sandelin looks like his deceased wife? We taught him again. We decided we would be really clear about why we are here as missionaries. We told him we left our homes to tell people that we really believe in this gospel. That we believe that God is there and he loves us. And we want to help people make that first covenant of baptism with Him. "That's why we stopped you on the street. That's why we are inviting you to church, and that's why we want to keep meeting you. We want you to take the steps to be baptized." and he's like, "Yeah okay. When?" and we're just like; "um. what?" and he's asking us when he can be baptized. He's like, "I feel it. We talk about Jesus and we read the scriptures and we watch these videos about Joseph Smith and my heart gets all excited and I just really want to be baptized." So we set a date for the first of August. Super unexpected, but we'll see where this goes! He's come to church the last two weeks and yesterday he gave us flowers. As he hands them to us he's like, "De är inte vackra men de är billiga" (they're not beautiful but they're cheap) and every time we see them now we just laugh.
• We have this investigator named Robert. He's about 25ish and we've met with him like 3 times now. He told us that he started reading the book of mormon and that he had a ton of questions. He asked us about the Jaredite nation and what happened to them. He then asked us if we ever want more for ourselves than what God gives us. We told us that God gives us more than we could ever dream for ourselves and showed him the mormon message "The hope of God's light" and Robert talked about how sometimes he doesn't want to follow promptings because he feels like they might be too fast for him to handle so I shared how quickly my life changed. It was literally only a year ago that I got an answer to serve a mission and now suddenly I'm here in sweden teaching lessons to strangers when I had planned to be at school to learn how to be a doctor. Sometimes it is a little fast. But my life is changed. It's more than I could have ever planned for me. It's been crazy, it's been sudden, but it's been so much better than I ever dreamed. At this point he was bought almost to tears after hearing the whole experience and told us that he wants to be baptized. He's going on a trip to romania for the summer, but he promised he would read while he was gone and that he would keep in contact with us. 
• We decided to change up our contacting technique. So yesterday we did a scavenger hunt. The plan was to contact a tourist, a guy with a ton of piercings, and an old woman with groceries in a walker. It was so crazy how well everything went! We weren't able to find the old woman, but we were able to find the others and have some awesome street lessons with them! We even got some phone numbers! Proof that when you make plans and set goals God provides the way! LOVE IT!

Cool Place: there's this cool little exercise park by our house. my new favorite place. training my vertical jump, maybe one day I'll have high tucks again. 

Hope you all have a great week! 

puss puss,

syster janessa brink

 sorry to send a food picture, but this is one of the first nice places I went to eat and it was super good!

gardening! 

awkward art in centrum. 

wandering around the cities here you just find cool little fountains and parks and I wish we had stuff like this in america!

wow, I opened my email this week to floods of encouraging letters. thank you all so much! last week was kind of rough and it was so nice getting letters of encouragement from home! Also I got the package from home with everything in it (including those contraband pepperonis hehehe shhhh.. it will be our secret) and I am so so so happy!

This week was really good! We did a lot and went a lot of places and I'm just super excited to tell you all about it :)

COOL STORIES:

• we started teaching this guy. we contacted him on the street and he was so excited! I have never seen anyone so excited to talk to us. He is like 73 years old, uses a walker and always wears this white sweatshirt with chains on it that says "dangerous." Like I said, he was SO excited to meet. So we set up an appointment with him to meet at the church on wednesday and he rolls in with pizza and sodas for us (so nice!). We sit down, start teaching the restoration and watched the restoration film. He really liked it. He had all these good questions and wanted to hear more. He also kept talking about his wife that passed away like 20 years ago. so we thought the next time we teach him it would be so perfect to teach the plan of salvation. The next time we taught him didn't go so well. Turns out one of the reasons he really likes meeting with us is because he might think sister sandelin is the reincarnation of is late wife (he says she looks just like her) and he has invited us over to his house about 30 times now... we'll see where this one goes. 
• On thursday/friday we were in Göteborg for zone conference! All of my previous companions were there. That's right. Reunion with Sisters Giles, Adamson, Allred, Austin, and now Sandelin. How excited would you all be if I told you I got a super cute picture of all of us together? ... I would be excited too, cuz that would mean that I got one  BUT. We had a super fun sleepover in Västra Frölunda and I got a couch this time! (no more floor matresses where i have to straddle a creepy table leg, no thank you) I love getting to spend time with other missionaries and just talk about all the great things we get to to. (more on zone conference to come, sit tight)
• yesterday I didn't get to email you wonderful people. why? I was in Borås on splits with the lovely Syster Giles. We had so much fun walking around that beautiful art city, eating indian food and talking about everything we haven't had the chance to talk about since leaving the MTC. We spent some time contacting and eating natur-godis and enjoying the crazy sweden weather. I love that girl like crazy. 

UPLIFTING MOMENTS:

• We taught Shasha the plan of salvation. I don't know what it is but whenever we have to teach her I get all nervous and anxious because I just really want her to understand everything. I get this weird sense of urgency with her. So we had it all set up to teach the Plan of Salvation. We skyped in Emily and had her translate into chinese for us, we had marina there to support her, and then Shasha walked in and we were set. The lesson could not have gone better. Shasha asked all these wonderful questions, we were able to show her that the plan of salvation was in the bible and that the three kingdoms of glory and the spirit world were not new concepts, they are simply restored doctrine. She read the scriptures we showed her in the Bible and turned to me and said, (as emily translated) "I really think that this is possible. I think it is real." and she wanted to study it all out. She told us she felt the spirit there and that she wants to know more. 
• At Zone Conference we were all together in Utby. President and Syster Beckstrand, the assistants to the president, the office elders, the Malmö zone, and the Göteborg zone. Lots of great stuff happening and some exciting news. We talked a lot about obedience to the mission rules, about raising the bar and really magnifying our calling as a missionary. We'll be getting ipads for the mission (not sure when, but they're coming) and missionary work just stepped up like 12 levels here in the sweden stockholm mission because of it. We are so excited for them because they are going to help us SO MUCH. The ways this changes the work is incredible. We also had about 6 missionaries get up and bear their "dying" testimonies. These missionaries have almost reached the end. And as they talked you could see which ones had really BEEN a missionary and those who were just here wearing a name tag. I thought about myself up there in a little less than a year (holy cow!) and how I need to get everything out of this mission that I can. It feels like eternity, and sometimes getting up in the morning and putting on my name tag is a hard thing to do. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to go around talking to a million random people in a different language. But I only have a year left here. One year and then I never get to put on the name tag again. I never get to be a full time missionary in sweden again. This is my one chance. And I am going to get everything out of it. They asked us in the training to think about a time in our mission where we changed. When knew we were no longer the same. It was the morning I left Karlskrona and came to Jönköping. Syster Austin and I got my three suitcases together and stood by the door and I said the prayer before leaving for the last time. And I felt my heart break into thousands of little pieces (one for everyone that I'd met there) as I just said "Himmelske Fader, välsigne dem i deras liv" and I realized how much I had come to love them in those 4½ months I'd been there. I didn't think I could love so many different people so much in such a short time. I keep thinking there's a limit on how much love my heart can possibly give but I keep going over the supposed "maximum" I thought I would have. I have been forever changed. I can't help loving all the people that I get to meet and talk to and teach everyday. I am not the same as I was when I left home. I am so much more than I ever thought I'd be. 
• We had a really awesome little broadcast from Scotland where Jeffrey R. Holland presided. It was broadcast to Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, and some other place where they also speak english. Elder Holland got up and gave the closing talk and shared the most AMAZING TESTIMONY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON EVER. I only wish that I could find it on lds.org for you people at home and SHOW YOU because I don't even have words for what I felt when he talked. I reflected on my own testimony of the Book of Mormon. I might not know it front to back. I might not remember exact references or who begat who. But I know what I feel. I know what I learn. And I always feel closer to God when I read and ponder. 

COOL PLACE: Borås (see attachment for a super cute picture of sister giles and I)

I just want you guys to know that I love you all. I really appreciate all the support I get from home and the prayers on my behalf. I could feel them lifting me this week. Thanks for those of you that do my little challenges (points to the family for knowing who Abish was!) and reading my emails. This week I just want you guys to try saying morning prayers without saying amen. Carry that prayer with you through the day. Then at the end of the night when you kneel down again you can look back on what you've done, say thank you, and then say amen. I hope you guys have an amazing week. Keep on keeping on. I'll be back on Monday to update you all again.

puss puss,

syster janessa brink

  1 Attached Images

being dramatic next to the construction by our apartment. they are tearing this city apart and building it back up again.

sverige's national dag!

missionaries love mail

an oldie but a goodie

who told you it was okay to send meat in the mail?

we just have so much fun together. it is such a blessing to be in the same district again. 

a little bit of everything and then some

wow, sounds like it was a crazy week back at home! I'm glad to hear everyone is okay! Uncle Pat will be in my prayers with hope for a speedy recovery! Congratulations to Makayla (woop woop sweet 16) and Harrison (graduation!) and Grandma (happiest birthday to you!). 

this week was good here in Jönköping! We have been working hard and doing what we can to keep the work moving forward! I can't even believe it's already June, it's so crazy! 

COOL STORIES:

• I have played volleyball like 3 times this week. I'm still uncoordinated though :[]
• Jönköping had their city birthday party (or something like that) so bus routes got changed for the weekend because they set up a giant fair in the middle of centrum. We went and walked around the little booths for a bit and I was hoping to get some cheap swedish street fair stuff but then I saw it. STRAWBERRIES AND CHERRIES. They've had strawberry booths all over the place lately, but these ones were HUGE. So we got a box of strawberries and a box of cherries and I've been having the greatest snacks in the world this week because of them. 
• A couple of the sisters that served here last year came back to sweden. So while they were here they came to some activities and we had lunch with them and it was really fun :) For one of the activities the YSA created a new dessert called the Pankkakka (or was it pankladka...or kladpanka...or pannikka... i alla fall, whatever.) and it was a Kladkakka inside a swedish pancake. And it was delicious. 

UPLIFTING MOMENTS:

• We taught Shasha again. We went through the restoration with her and she liked it. She has already read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon and all the testimonies at the beginning. She really wants to know about everything and she's super cute. I was so worried about the language barrier I went and got myself a Chinese Book of Mormon and highlighted it and underlined different scriptures for her and book marked them. She was so excited when I gave it to her! I am so grateful that we have the resources to teach all sorts of people in their own language, even if we don't speak it ourselves. 
• We taught this old investigator earlier this week. He told us he only believed in God. Not Jesus, not prophets, not the bible. It was super weird. But he had lots of great questions and I felt a little bit like I was teaching Deo again because of all the questions. Basically what it boiled down to was that he needed to pray and ask God what was true. And then he told us he didn't pray. And I was completely floored, because if you believe in God and you want to know what his will his for you how in the world are you going to get an answer if you don't have a relationship with him? So. We taught him how to pray. Explained that he could only get an answer if he was praying. And then we asked him to say the closing prayer. Oh my goodness the spirit was tangible. He said amen and sat there and was quiet for like a whole minute and then finally said, "I don't even remember the last time I prayed."*
• Lasse came to all three hours of church yesterday. He is so excited to be baptized on July 4th! We're anxiously getting him ready and all of our people are so happy for him and everything he's doing to be prepared :)

COOL PLACE: The park in Centrum. It was so busy this weekend!

I hope you guys all have a great week! Challenge is daily scripture study :) Learn a new story from the book of mormon. I'll give points to those of you that already know who Abish is. My second request is just to pray for me :) I've been having weird random struggles popping up all over the place. I love you guys and love getting your pictures and emails!!! 

puss puss,

syster janessa brink

syster sandelin and I waiting at the bus stop

 it was raining so Alex let me barrow his coat. He's just a little bit taller than I am....

 street fair!

 I rained a lot this week. So we gathered all the snails on the steps of the church and started a snigel fest. Woop!

 this is my preparation to teach Shasha the plan of salvation. I'm so excited for this lesson!!

this is what the night before pday looks like at our place.

six months down

Wow, I can't even believe it's been six months already! Time seriously just flies by so quickly! I feel like it was only a few weeks ago that I got to the crazy beautiful country, but at the same time I feel like I've been in sweden for forever and I just never want to leave! I hope you all are having the happiest Memorial Day! 

this week we have been ALL OVER THE PLACE. Lots of good times to report on!

COOL STORIES:

• We celebrated Elder Pearson's birthday and my 6 month mark on tuesday. We went on a cool hike and I burnt my tights on top of a cliff. It was the greatest ever. Definitely a day that I'll never forget! I am so blessed to be here as a missionary. I get to meet the coolest people and see the prettiest country in the whole world. 
• We had Zone Training in Göteborg this wednesday. So I went on splits with Sister Allred and she cut my hair for me :) Not too short, just a trim. We also went to the biggest candy store I have EVER seen in my entire life. Sweden knows godis. 
• Sister Sandelin and I were in charge of activity night this week. So we did minute to win it games. Oh my goodness, it was just crazy! I got covered in shaving cream (shaving balloons activity) and we had a super good time. I love being able to do fun activities with the YSA and I love that they all want to get together and have fun!

UPLIFTING MOMENTS:

• While we were in Göteborg, we were able to go to a baptism. The Utby elders put together a great program. After he came out of the water I just wanted to clap and cheer hahaha :) It's always the GREATEST seeing people change their lives and wanting to follow Jesus Christ. I can't even explain how happy I was for him (and I didn't even know him)
• There's this new convert here named Amy. She was a self referral in the beginning and she was baptized only 2 weeks after first meeting with the missionaries. She's basically the most prepared person in the whole world. We were able to go over to her apartment this week and have a great lesson with her about Enos. She wants to get to know the Book of Mormon better so we've decided to start sharing stories with her to get her more familiar with it. She is the cutest woman ever. She is so so excited to go to the temple for her endowment (she can go next year! hopefully I'll be serving around a temple and I can go and be with her :) ) 
• Last night one of the YSA, Marina, accidentally left her computer at the church so she went to go and get it at like 8:00. She ran into this little chinese woman walking up to the chapel. This woman wanted to look around the church so Marina showed her what it looked like and then got her phone number and set up an appointment for her to meet with the missionaries (us!) this morning. So today we came to the church and started teaching her. She doesn't speak much english, so we called a new convert that lives in Kristianstad to translate for us. I am so impressed how well everything went down with the huge language barrier. She was glad to meet with us and told us she wants to meet with us EVERY SUNDAY. So we are really excited! 
• Lasse is still so excited to be baptized! We taught him the word of wisdom yesterday and he was so ready to commit to it! I LOVE PEOPLE!!!!

COOL PLACE: the cliffs by the lake

​ 

I hope you all have the greatest week ever! Challenge for the week is to PRAY DAILY. You can always have a better relationship with your heavenly father :) 

puss och kram!

syster janessa brink

prepping to burn the tights

Photo sent to me by YSA Leader Alexander Hegyessy

YSA Leader Alexander Hegyessy sent this to me.

A picture we decided had to be sent to you.

hike through this crazy swamp! happy 6 months! :)

Another picture from Alexander

world's biggest candy shop

sister sandelin likes selfies

i'm looking like a dork, but this little primary boy is the cutest

this is what i get for being in the "splash zone"

hanging out on the beach!!! the water is COLD.

I just love being a missionary!!!! it's the greatest thing I've ever done :)

first week in J-köp

Dear family and friends,

I'd like to announce that I have arrived safely in Jönköping after four long train rides. I'm happy to be here! It's so pretty and the church is HUGE. Walking up to it everyday is the highlight of my life. Also we live SUPER close to it so we only walk 5 minutes to get there. There is a really cute park by our house and we like to go there to workout in the mornings and someday I'm just gonna take some time to play there for a couple minutes. The ward is great! My first day here we had like 3 different dinners and I met A TON of members who's names I completely forgot but it was way fun :) 

(yes, alex is in the ward, he's a YSA and he's super cool. we like to party)

COOL STORIES:

• I went to a baby shower my first day here in Jönköping and EVERYONE and their dog was there. It was so cool! I've never seen that kind of support from a ward before. I also learned weird little swedish childrens songs there like "Lilla Snigel" (little snail) 
• We had a YSA activity on friday and we played some beach volleyball. They have this giant lake here, and a whole bunch of volleyball courts on the beach and we played for so long. I love the YSA here! Lots of diving for the ball and lots of sand in my sweatpants but I think I want to play volleyball every week the whole time I'm here
• Andreas (from Karlskrona) was in church yesterday. I was standing there greeting people as they walked in and introducing myself to the members and then in walked Andreas and I almost ran up and gave him a hug (no worries though, I gave him a firm handshake instead) He was in town for his cousin's wedding and he wanted to go to church while he was here. So he showed up and it was so nice having a familiar face in church. 

UPLIFTING MOMENTS:

• I got to give a talk yesterday in church. Usually we are just asked to give our testimony when we first come to an area, but they called me yesterday morning and asked me to give a full on TALK in sacrament meeting. So I got up and talked about Ammon and the sons of Mosiah and I think I said most of what I needed to say. But I got to look at all the people I'd be serving for the next 6 weeks and I was able to feel comfortable. Like I could do this. Because leaving Karlskrona was probably one of the hardest things ever, and I didn't know if i will ever see them again. But like, I have been praying so hard for Heavenly Father to open my heart to these people here in Jönköping, and I know he did a little bit when I was up there. 
• We taught this great investigator of ours named Lasse. We were teaching the plan of salvation and I think I might have gotten the gift of tongues... I don't think I've ever had a lesson more led by the spirit. 

COOL PLACE: The Dala Bear. This super cute bear in Borås that's painted like a dalahäst. I thought it was just adorable

I don't have much time. We went and visited a less active family on an island and our whole P-day got eaten up so sorry this is so late! But I love you guys and think you're all the greatest! Have a great week and stay busy! Your challenge this week is to learn a new recipe. I forgot my cookbook in Karlskrona so I've been trying to get creative. Woop! 

pictures to come :) 

puss och kram,

syster janessa brink

The cutest little dalabjörn you ever did see. Also say hi to my elder friend Farnworth

the ikeas here are so high class compared to the one in Utah.

 I love this chapel! 

exploring Jönköping and finding this fun fountain in the middle. We found a hat in the fountain and sister Sandelin fished it out for me :) 

the cool hat I got from the fountain haha

 I just thought this was funny

ferry ride out to the island yesterday! so sunny and beautiful!

me and sister sandelin

   me and my elder friend Pearson having a good old time at these castle ruins

(hahaha!! I think this is really funny!!)

this is a better picture of sister sandelin and i :) we have a good time

 Loving it here in Jönköping! 

ps 

also today is my six month mark!!! I can't even believe I've been serving my mission for six whole months! I feel like it was only a few days ago that I said goodbye to all of you and walked into the MTC. It feels even shorter from the time I walked off the plane in Stockholm and saw this beautiful country for the first time. I am so happy to be a missionary and I can't even wait for the next year to come! I want to stay out here and be a missionary forever. I have learned so much about myself, about other people, about the Savior and my Heavenly Father. I will say that being a missionary is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it is so so SO worth it, it completely makes up for the hard days. I have met some of the most amazing people here and my life has changed so much. I love you guys so much! 

the eternal purposes of the lord shall roll on

This week has been the greatest. It's crazy how the Lord blesses you when you need it the most. I love being able to see my prayers answered in the coolest ways!

answers to questions:

-skyping with the family was super fun (even if they did waste 7 minutes talking about vitamins) and it was great seeing everybody's faces again!!! The call weirdly dropped at the end though, so I hope you got my little video message. I HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT MOTHERS DAY MOM!!!!

COOL STORIES

1) We went up to Kalmar/Nybro this week. We changed out pday from Monday to Wednesday (I emailed on Monday, but that's all we did) and we went to go see Carolina and help her renovate her kitchen. and then all four of us (elders too) went to go see Kalmar Slott! It was my first time actually going INSIDE the castle and it was so cool!!! I need to come back and live in Sweden. I just have to. Carolina offered to let me stay with her so I've already got something kind of figured out ;)

2) We went to visit Robert and Sigrid again this week and help out on their little farm. They have LAMBS!!! Those three pregnant sheep (that we so skill-fully sheared) delivered a total of 5 little lambs and they are the CUTEST LITTLE ANIMALS EVER. Also they have baby bunnies. I'm obsessed. I have to live on a farm now. I can't even imagine not.

3) We had a Spanish activity night in Kristianstad and it was super great! I had the spiciest food I have had so far on my mission. I MISS SPICY SPANISH FOOD. It was a good night, all in Spanish. I had to listen to Swedish translation for the meeting. And then we had food and dancing and friends and it was all so much fun :)

UPLIFTING MOMENTS

1) This week we were able to challenge 3 different people to baptism and all of them accepted. So be praying for my friends Maureen, Jenny, and Emad!!!

2) Yesterday I had the opportunity to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. I don't know how to explain how much love I have for these people here in Karlskrona. They are my family away from my family. This was my first area and these people have taken such good care of me. I got up to share my testimony and the words just poured out of my mouth. I really don't know what I said the whole time, but I could feel a little bit of what Heavenly Father feels for all of them.

3) We taught Jenny with Irene the other day. And while we were sitting there I just knew that she was not going to have any problems getting baptized. She's so ready and so prepared. Such a blessing to have those investigators that really do want to know everything they can about the gospel!

Cool Place(s): Kalmar Slott (for the 5th time. I just love this place), Sigrid and Robert's farm, The Karlskrona chapel (my home)

Last of all I should probably say that I got a transfer call on Saturday morning. I will be moving to Jönköping on Wednesday (they call Jönköping "Jerusalem" because there are so many different religions there and everyone believes in god) and my new companion will be Syster Sandelin. She is a swede so lets celebrate that my Swedish skills will increase like crazy now :) I actually got to meet her family earlier this week so that was pretty cool! I don't know exactly how to describe how mixed my emotions are about this transfer. Everytime I think about going to Jönköping I get so excited, but then when I think about what and who I'm leaving behind my heart just breaks into little pieces. I had no idea that I could love so many different people so much, so quickly. It's almost harder saying goodbye to them than it was saying goodbye to my family because I don't know when I'll ever get to come back here. But I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us, and right now he needs me in Jönköping and I know that he knows better than I do.

I love all of you guys so much!!! Keep me updated on all the cool things at home :)

love, syster janessa brink

 KALMAR CASTLE

 sometimes the members go all out for dinner

one day we were both sister austin

Last day with Sigrid and Robert! I'm going to miss them SO MUCH

 I LOVE MADELEINE AND LINA

baby bunnies!!!

 my favorite lamb ever

Carolina my favorite!! :)

family picture :)