Aldste Haddon has been called to serve about 45 minutes north of Stockholm as a Zone Leader with a great missionary who goes home in the middle of November but who is eager to finish out his mission on a strong note.
They got to watch General Conference this week as well, although it was at a weird time of night, it was an excellent experience. You can access general conference here.
They are currently serving in a ward that is very spread out, in fact, the bishopric is not even within their area (although they are within the stake boundaries) The ward is having a hard time grasping basic gospel concepts and it is creating confusion and contention within the ward. Aldste Haddon is eager to get to work and help teach and encourage both the members and the non members in the area but he knows that he will have a lot of work to do and that it will not be an easy road.
On Friday, he and his companion went on splits with some other missionaries in the area. Those missionaries had been working with an amazing man with two young children. The mother of the children had not been in their life for a very long time. The family had decided to get baptized and had begun to gain testimonies of the gospel. Then, the mother of the children came back making claims that the man had been 'pinching' the children (which is a horrific offense in Sweden) causing him to no longer have access to them.
The day Aldste Haddon met with this man, it was his son's birthday and he had not been able to talk to him. As any parent would be, the man was feeling very low and heartbroken. The elders decided to teach him about the power of the atonement, and that Christ not only atoned for our sins, but he carried our grief and burdens as well.
They invited the man to kneel in prayer with them. They sat there for 20 minutes in silence and there are not words to express the strong feelings of the spirit that was present in the room with them. The man knew that Heavenly Father was aware of him at that time, and that things would work out.
Aldste Haddon shared:
"I love what I'm doing here, and i know that it really is what The Lord wants us all to do. I hope you all can have the spirit in your life. And if not, do as prophet Joseph Smith directed, ”One of the most important things in our lives is to Find and Keep the Spirit.” I know that this Church is true and I know that God loves everyone of us personally. He is aware of us, and he loves us more then we can ever understand. I leave that with you all this week in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
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