The Skog Blog: April 2018

The one with many words and not so many pictures ;) 4/17/2018

Hiiiiiiiiii,

It's me again! Another week has somehow flown by as well as my motivation to write this week!

So just enjoy a couple emails with pictures and happy thoughts.

"Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"

Sister Carley Lundskog
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Uhlandstraße 24
79713 Bad Säckingen
Deutschland

PART TWO

The one where you probably thought I was done (you were wrong) (4/17/2018)

;)

“The Lord will never forsake or abandon anyone. You may abandon him, but he will never abandon you. You never need to feel that you are alone.” ~ Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

The one where the Book of Mormon has die MACHT 4/10/2018

Hi fam!

I don't have much time so I'll be quick,

This week was great! We had zone conference on Wednesday (and the mission nurse has put me on a strict at home vegan diet [except not so strict that I can't eat meat so it's not really thst vegan I just can't eat any dairy even if it's lactose free] which I have yet to do because the struggle of giving up cheese is real).

On Saturday we met with Richard and it was so cool! The family Kamm was there and we talked about the Book of Mormon, and how if we pray about it we can know if it's true. Like actually know, not just have a hunch or a wish that it's true, but really truly know. We also talked about how if the Book of Mormon is true then so is anything else. It was so clear to see his desire to really know, he even asked how he should pray, standing, sitting kneeling, when we explained the respect we show God when we kneel he demonstrated to make sure he was kneeling correctly and asked if he was allowed to kneel on a chair or bed or something. The thing is, what matters is where our heart is and our intents, when we really want to know and we plan to do something about our answer- then we will get an answer no matter what position our body is in...standing, sitting, or kneeling. But when we kneel, it shows even more respect to God. When we find out the Book of Mormon is true, our lives change, for the better. The Book of Mormon has the power to make everything better, to help us make better decisions, to be happier, to know what to do, it has so much power we just have to give it the chance to..

Sunday, Deyanira came to church! She is so excited about the gospel and she shared her desire to be baptized in relief society. She expressed how after visiting and investigating 18 different churches she is grateful to have finally found the truth, and to have known after meeting with us just a few times. I have so much love for Deyanira and I am so grateful that I am able to help her discover the truth and find true lasting peace and happiness. ♡

Today we were able to go to the temple for pday! I thought when I went in November that would be the last time, but we went today and I was filled with so much peace and just happiness and wholeness to have the gospel. The fullness of the gospel brings a fullness of joy. It's such a blessing to have the gospel, and it's a blessing to share it and see it help others.

Elder Robert D Hales : “The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, ‘Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ [Romans 10:17]. … The first step to finding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is to let His word—spoken by the mouth of His servants, the prophets—touch your heart. But it is not enough merely to let those words wash over you, as if they alone could transform you. We must do our part. Or as the Savior Himself said, ‘He that hath ears to hear, let him hear’ [Matthew 11:15]. In other words, hearing requires an active effort. … It means taking seriously what is taught, considering it carefully, studying it out in our minds. As the prophet Enos learned, it means letting others’ testimonies of the gospel ‘[sink] deep into [our] heart[s]’ [Enos 1:3]”

Conference was last week, but now everything is online and available to watch again or for the first time. If you want to find (Or strengthen) your faith, the first step is to let His word into your heart. ♡ (find His words online @ lds.org or in the Book of Mormon)

I love you all, have a wonderful week!

Liebe Grüße,

Sister Lundskog

Sister Carley Lundskog
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Uhlandstraße 24
79713 Bad Säckingen
Deutschland

The one where you just gotta get moving-even when it's hard 4/3/2018

Hi folks!

Last week we had some crazy fun times and also about 100 member appointments?? They forgot about us for a while and then suddenly remembered us so we didn't have as much time this week to find, but we used what we had and we saw miracles!...

Thursday we were able to work in our GML's garden, cutting down trees and pulling them out of the ground and basically working as men. It was a total blast. On our way back home to change and study we got a call from Biagio asking us if we were still planning on coming that evening. I explained that we didn't have an appointment and he told us that he knew that but that his nonmember wife wanted us to come over. So we did. And she made the best carbonara (they are italian) I have ever had. So so good. We had told Biagio about an Italian couple we had found thst wanted a book of Mormon. He disappeared into the other room and came back out with about 50 Italian pamphlets for all of the lessons. He muttered "I made a mistake, I didn't think think would send so many". We were dying, but now we have a ton of Italian pamphlets. Then he told us he had to go and bailed. We got to talk to Margeritha (his wife) and we had a lovely evening and were able to talk about Christ with her and it was just really nice. Then we booked it to meet with Niaga, and ended up eating with him as well. We thought we were going to die.

Friday I woke up feeling icky and tired and sick with 0 motivation to do anything but sleep. Buuuuuut, we decided to make a whole day of finding out of it and suck it up! We got let in twice! We had a man tell us that he has met with missionaries before so he knows what we are doing and we can come back this week! It was such a blessing and such a neat thing to see that when we really do sacrifice and do the Will of the Father, we are blessed and we can be instruments in His hands.

Saturday night, Richard and his kids, and Deyanira watched conference with us and the family Kamm! It was so wonderful and the spirit was so strong! Deyanira kept expressing how much she wants to be in the conference center and see it all in October, so she's going to try to come to Utah in October so we can go to a session together!

Sunday was full of AMAZING conference sessions, Sister Cook is a champ and we watched them all in German with German kids yanking on our hair and swishing water next to our ears, but we made it through. Now we are slowly listening to them again in English. It was such a powerful conference for those who didn't see it, check it out at conference.lds.org

Instead of ending with something from conference, I wanted to share something from my personal study in the Bible this week.

“Many wonderful [Church] members are in camouflage to their neighbors and co-workers. They do not let people know who they are and what they believe. We need much more member involvement in sharing the message of the Restoration. Romans 10, verse 14, puts this into perspective: ‘How then shall they call on him [speaking of the Savior] in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?’ Verse 15 contains the wonderful message referenced in Isaiah:

‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings’ (see also Isaiah 52:7). It has been observed that the members are going to have to move their feet and let their voices be heard if they are to achieve this blessing”

You don't have to be a "full-time missionary" to share the gospel. The people around you will respond better to YOU, than to two strangers showing up on their door, they will be more open to meeting two strangers with black badges that have the name of Christ, when you show them or help them see how wonderful the gospel is and how it can help them. Be involved in sharing the gospel. Recognize who you are and what you have, and don't be afraid to open your mouth. Share it with those you love, or those you meet.

(Pictures [more to come]: gelato! {If you look hard enough you can see the fear in my eyes because gelato contains lactose-which my body has recently decided to be intolerant towards}; Sister Marsha & I this morning {she is the perfect member of our dritt, she is such a cutie}; finding on Saturday- we talked to a man about the gospel, he said he didn't like when people do what we do and that he thinks it's rude and annoying- also that he'd never take anything from anyone, we'll he ended up giving us Lindt chocolate and taking a plan of salvation pamphlet and said he'd read it. He also told us we were very nice and to keep it up.