LAST EMAILS!!!

We CANNOT believe that our missionary will be home on Tuesday! We are so thankful for your love and support for him during these two years! He has learned and grown leaps and bounds and he's such an amazing blessing to us. We just hope he gets on the plane home, he loves Sweden so much it's going to be hard for him to leave.

He will be speaking in the Benson Mill Ward on Sunday November 30th at 2:45pm, 410 Benson Rd. In Stansbury. Feel free to join us. If you have not attended a service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,  click here to learn about what to expect.

11/17 e-mail:

Hi everybodies!

This is going to be my second to last email, gosh that is crazy. The quote
comes from our dear friend Zixiang while he was teaching us about the Plan
of Salvation.

Me: "Why do we come to the earth Elder Hu?"

Zixiang: "*Because God say, YOU come to da Earth*." (Smiling with a big old
grin on his face.) We have been going over the lessons again with him, then
giving him the shot to teach us! He is a stud. (See picture.)

Speaking of our two Chinese friends, we were able to make our way up with
them and several members of the ward to the temple and got to do temple
baptisms with them. They absolutely loved it. We had a ward member with us
the whole time who speaks Chinese and was helping them and it was just a
wonderful time.We are going to work with them to get there family history
done so that they can take names themselves next time to the temple.

Another amazing thing happened with them, was that the government has found
them a new apartment. They lived in a one room apartment with a four person
family for the last long time now. But now with the help of the ward, in
moving, we got them moved into a beautiful apartment, 4 times bigger than
the one they had. Many member donated furniture and helped support them in
many other ways. They were so absolutely happy with all of the support and
love they got from the ward. Zixiang was so happy running back and forth
putting things in to his new apartment. At the end of the day he came up to
me and said quietly in my ear, “*I get my own room!”*

It helped me realized how blessed I have been in my life and helped me to
be humble. This little family has had this apartment for 2 years and they
had never whined about their situation. They are just such a wonderful
example to us all.

            This week we had just got down and worked hard, we had 3
different exchanges. 3 days in a row. I first was with an awesome Fin,
named Elder Noso. We worked hard in Stockholm. Had an excellent experience
with him. He is a convert, and just a wonderful missionary after being with
him for one day, I was pretty exhausted. There is just something about
Fins... they are just a different breed.

            The next day I got to go to Södertälje, with my main man Elder
Faylor!!! He’s the best, so we got down and dirty and did all the fun stuff
off missionary work, like contacting knocking, you name it. It was just
nice to be with a great friend again and do some missionary work.

            Lastly I took another elder with me to my home turf in Täby,
Elder Johnson. We did some good things visited a lot of people, we were
just busy running to and fro. But we got some fantastic things rolling for
the next Assistant taking my spot.

            Man, I don’t know what to say more. Working as hard as I can
till the day I die. This last week will be crazy in the span of 5 days we
have 9 meals…… so I probably will be gaining some major weight this week.

            The Church will be rolling out an amazing Christmas program for
missionary work, so my last job in the office, is to make sure that we
figure out how we can use that in the best way in *our mission*. But the
Church is going all out, with social media and with advertising, “He is the
Gift.” It is going to be great so everyone be ready for that to roll out
mid-December.

Love you all and I just want to say I fly in at 7:04 PM, Salt Lake
International Airport on the 25th. You are all super welcome to come and
see me! I would love that, the more the merrier! (Oh and my last p-day will
be this Friday, so my last time to write from the mission field will be
then. So if you want to send your last email… varsågod!)

Love,

Elder Haddon

11/22 e-mail:
Dear Friends and Family,

The VERY last quote of the week goes to my dear friend Lennart Nyblom the
last time I will get to visit him, "Det är du snart...."("That will be you
soon....") ((His TV is playing this young couple kissing.))

That crazy old sailor, I love that man so much. He is doing so well! I was
able to spend one last night with that wonderful man. I am so thankful for
him and many others I love in this wonderful land.

This week has definitely just cruised on by. Monday we had P-day, Tuesday
picking up some couple missionaries, Wednesday picked up a Full-Time Elder,
Thursday we trained our last Mission Leadership Conference, and Friday
temple trip.

On Monday, we actually just had a very relaxing P-day, we did all we needed
to do and then just relaxed and layed around a bit. We knew this week was
going to be rough so we wanted to get rested. But of course we had to end
it short with an office meeting. But to finish off the night we were able
to go visit one of my favorite member families in Sweden. Their son had
just left on his mission, so we had a lot of fun helping him prepare for
it. They had a friend from China with them as well so we were able to teach
her and say our last goodbyes. (And hopefully the friend will be at church
on Sunday.)

On Tuesday, after picking up 2 couples and get them situated, we were able
to visit some investigators and less- active members. One of which was a
recent reactivated member in Gubbängen named Emma! She asked before I left
if I could give her a blessing, so we went there for a few minutes and I
was able to do that. It was just so apparent in the blessing how much her
Heavenly Father loved her. She has so much hardships in her life with her
taking care of her handicapped brother. He can be a handful, but no matter
what she always loves him and is patient with him. I can just see how in
Heaven her brother walking up to her and thanking her for all of the
wonderful service she rendered. So that was another goodbye that was
difficult.

On Wednesday, picked up Elder Svensson, a new missionary. That was very
interesting because he is Swedish and I have taught with him before back
when he wasn’t a missionary. Another interesting thing was he is brothers
to one my past companions…. Elder Svensson. Haha so that was cool to see
him and really get a good feeling that the mission is going to be kept in
good hands.

On Thursday, We had MLC, (Mission Leadership Council,) but of course I
pulled and Elder Haddon and messed that whole thing up. (So I thought.) We
were supposed to have it in the Täby chapel and I had booked the chapel
way, way, way in advance…. But we decided to change it to the next day, so
I forgot to call. Long story short I get a call from the bishop saying, I
cannot use the chapel it is getting its floor waxed! That news would have
been great to know earlier… not 2 hours before the conference.

But in the end it turned out fantastic to be honest. We had it at the
mission home and it was just much more of a home feeling. It was very hard
from the get-go to get it going because President stood me up…. Made fun of
me, and then thanked me, for the service I had rendered in the last 8
months as an assistant. “*I just want to say I didn’t pick him, I inherited
him… But I know that it was inspired because not only did I inherit an
assistant, but I inherited a son.* ” Coach (what I call him,) sometimes can
be a little bit nicer than I deserve.  I will miss them very much.

The hardest part after the training as we were wrapping it up, what we had
taught, I got my Parent’s genes and just started to tear up…. Cry I’ll be
honest I was crying, as I was baring my testimony. (Thanks mom and dad…)
That is when I finally realized I won’t be doing this anymore. Gosh that
was tough to swallow.

And lastly Friday, We were able to go as a group to the temple. That was
probably the hardest thing for me because it became very real, very
quickly. I had dropped off so many groups to the temple, and always had the
thought, of the next appointment I will have, or where I am going to go
contacting. But this time it was my turn to be dropped off for my last
visit to the Stockholm Temple.

I just want to finish this off with my testimony and expressing my
gratitude for my mission. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, I would
have rather done the last two years. If I was to be asked to do this my
whole life, I would. There is nothing in the world greater than being a
full-time missionary.

Something that I am so grateful for and something I've learned more fully
on my mission is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. To think of all of the
things he did for each and every one of us.  He suffered in Gethsemane, was
betrayed, beaten, bruised, made fun of, falsely accused, scourged, crowned
with thorns, sentenced to death, carried his own cross, undressed, then
nailed to that cross he carried, suffered again for our sins, and died. He
did this all for *us*. When he was suffering through it all he thought of
us all and continued to go through it all. He thought of you, and me
personally. He could have stopped it at any point. I'm sure he could have
called armies of angels to come down and stop it, but he did it for us.
Because of his perfect love for us.

I’m thankful for the relationship I have with my Father in Heaven, and the
relationship that I will continue to build. I know that this is his church,
and at its head is our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is ran by a bunch of ragtag
men that are no near perfect, but seeking after perfection. I know that
Joseph Smith was and is a true prophet of God. I am thankful for the
sacrifices made by him and other men and women like him to have this gospel
here on the earth today. I know the Book of Mormon to be true. I have come
closer to God through that book more than any other. I am thankful to be a
disciple of Jesus Christ, and I will be forevermore. "I am not ashamed of
the Gospel of Christ." Because I know there is "no other name given nor any
other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men,
only in and through the name of Christ."

“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is
the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!”

I leave my words with theirs and say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Tyson Ray Haddon

Highway to Heaven

This last week had some amazing things happen so I’ll hopefully be able to
write them all!

This first Quote goes to me in a place called Dalarna, *“I wouldn’t spend
that much money on a car, and some people are down to buy a stupid
Dalahäst.”* (Sister Beckstrand being one of them.) We had a fabulous trip
up to Dalarna, The Valleys, it is the most beautiful place in Sweden. We
got to go to this place where they cut paint and make Dalahästar,
(Dalecarlian Horses.)((See Pictures.)) IT was a very cool experience seeing
them just cut these horses super-fast, and half of the guys are missing
fingers. Haha But it was cool!

This next event goes to the famous song by Carrie Underwood, *“Jesus Take
the Wheel.”* We were on our way back from the south of Sweden after we had
done some training down there. Then out of nowhere started to snow like
crazy. We felt alright though, but we did have a 5 hour drive. About half
of the way there, our little car not having snow tires, decides to slide
around a bit. We were on the freeway going about 80 Km\Hr, and we ended up
sliding at a 90 degree angle. I had no control of the car.

Now this is where I’ll stop joking around for a bit. As you can imagine, my
heart is pretty much stopped. I have the wheel turned but it isn’t doing
anything for this car. Then out of nowhere it was like the wheel was taken
from me and it was yanked exactly where it needed to be and we were driving
perfectly straight again. I know from the bottom of my heart that wasn’t me
who did that. We pulled over to assess the situation and had a prayer of
gratitude that we were blessed to get out of that mess. (My Heavenly
Birthday Present.) ((Don’t worry mom the tires are on now, I changed them
myself.))

But we did get home safely and had an awesome day! We first got to go to a
birthday lunch with a Less-Active that I helped back to church in a past
area. She said she wanted to treat us to something we would never
experience otherwise. So we got to go to “The Stockholm Sweden Opera
House,” It was unreal. The building is older than The United States of
America. It was so nice of her, to take us. She always says that she is my
Chilean Mother in Sweden. (See Pictures.)

After a good hard day of work, after that wonderful lunch and classic music
concert, we were invited to a dinner with President and Sister Beckstrand.
They invited us to a place called, “*The Hard-Rock Café*.” I don’t know if
you guy had heard of it, but let me tell you it was an interesting place
for a couple of missionaries haha. (We did end up inviting, our waitress to
church so she might be coming this upcoming week.)

Then to finish off the week we had a baptism with our dear friend Shahla!
She is the best! I’m learning some Persian (Farsi) for her. Hayli hörs
masas. (The Food was delectable.) I’ll never be able to read that though….
غذا خوشمزه بود. Yeah, that is never happening. But the service went super
well. We had the chance to take her son around and he wants to be baptized
as well. As we were going around with him showing him the chapel. I got a
hand on my shoulder that said, “Mojgan can’t make it. You’re giving a talk
on baptism now.”

I honestly wasn’t surprised. I think every other week my entire mission I
have had that hand on my shoulder letting me know I was speaking in
Sacrament, teaching all the young men, (Check Pictures i probably should
stop teaching them), or gospel Principals. Once Elder Allsop and I had to
teach an entire zone conference in front of the entire leadership
conference…. We knew literally four seconds in advance. (Det gick bra,
#nailedit.)

But the whole baptismal service went extremely well. We got to have a real
Persian party with her and her family as well after. It was cool to see how
we all could still have a good time and interact with one another even if
we could barely communicate with each other. (I’m probably the King of
Charades now.)

I only have probably 2 more letters left. That is crazy. Love you all and
will see you all soon.

Elder Haddon

*Pictures:* (sorry I think they're out of order so you get to play the matching game!)

*1) Cutting the wooden horses*

*2) Painting the Horses*

*3) Painting Room*

*4) Finished product!*

*5) Me and my dalahäst*

*6) Dinner with Emma, Opera house*

*7) Restaurant in the Opera House *

*8) Just walking down the red carpet.*

*9) Opera house (Naked statues everywhere... come on Sweden)*

*10) Hard Rock Cafe*

*11) Ribs..... when was the last time i had those!!!*

*12) Happy Birthday to me! Thanks Family!*

*13) President in Hard Rock... I think he was just as uncomfortable as i
was.*

*14) Baptism with Shahla!*

*15) Teaching the Aaronic Priesthood*

*16) Me an the boys*

--
*Hata Spelaren, inte Spelet*
*Äldste Tyson Haddon*
*Sweden Stockholm Mission*
*Enebybergsvägen 38*
*182 46 Enebyberg*
*Sverige*

So late, so sorry!

Check out my blog and you'll see why I've been so terrible at updating Elder Haddon's (tannerandtaylor.blogspot.com)

Elder Haddon is almost home! Come hear him speak on Sunday,  November 30th at 2:45pm at 410 Benson Road in Stansbury.

10/27 e-mail:
The quote of the week is going to be changed to “the random act of service,” for the week. This comes from a very proud member in the ward whose daughter was giving a talk in sacrament meeting… I was translating from Swedish to English, which is something that I have been lucky enough to be fairly decent at. It only gets hard for me when people are reading stories or the scriptures and I can’t follow along. Well this Mother sits next to me as I am translating and her daughter starts this talk by reading the entire talk from some general authority. I’m trying to find it on the phone to see if I could simply read it with her. And the mother sees that I don’t really know where it is, she decided to take the microphone. I though she was going to start translating while I was finding it…. Instead she decided to help me by shoving the microphone in my mouth asking me to “Översätt!” (Translate!)

This defiantly helped with the situation and I was very appreciative for her “Random act of service.” (Said with a hint of sarcasm.)

But this week actually has been really great! I was traveling a lot this week was able to go to Göteborg, and as well to my old area in Jakobsberg. In Göteborg, it was just really cool just to go there and remember my greenie city, I miss that place a lot. Got to just work hard, and help the elders there. We got a couple of numbers, and even got a baptismal date. It’s always one of the greatest feelings to leave an exchange helping another missionary couple just get a little kick start to their work. When I was in Jakobsberg, I was able to show the missionary to a lot of places he had never been before and get in contact with some investigators and find some new ones. It’s one thing that I really like about going on exchanges, you can just work as hard as you can and help those people there you might not ever meet and in the same help the missionaries get things going!

 

We were able to help Ziping and Zhixiang get the priesthood yesterday which is great now we are working on getting them to the temple to do baptisms. Also taught Zhixaing some more English slang. (Words: Radical, nasty, and spectacular) This week went by quickly and this next week is going to be crazy with zone conferences the entire week. But I just want to say I’m so happy to be here and I love this work!Miss you all!

Love you all,

Elder Haddon

11/3 e-mail:
Amigos!

Great to write to you all this after this crazy week! We will be treated with 3 quotes this week, the first quote of the week will be kept anonymous. “I want to put them on a small boat, and have it set sail in the middle of the Baltic, and then sink it.” Let’s just say this person wasn’t too thrilled with some people and their actions…. Enough said.

Another quote comes from my companion yesterday, “I cannot believe that we just went to baby baptism, for a member in the ward’s baby, who was just blessed this morning in our church. It’s an abomination. ”

Yes, we were able to witness our first baby baptism on our missions. It was a very weird experience for us, and it was probably weird for everyone else. While everyone is in jeans and t-shirts, we were wearing suits and our name tags on. A few times we were told that the baptism services went great and thanked us for it… that’s when I knew we had to get out of there.

Last quote, "RIPPPPP.... Yes, that was my pants." (Look at the 4 guys, 1 horse picture and just take a guess....)

Last P-day, Elder Allsop and his new companion from the most northern area were able to come down and visit with us, before there zone conference. So we went to a place called Skansen. Where it has animals and just crazy cool stuff... Most of the animals weren't out because it is cold but it was still cool! We got to see a gnarly bear fight though... worth every krona.

This week was great and very busy. We had 3 different zone conferences in Gubbängen, Västerhanige and Malmö. They all went super well we trained on, “How to be Spectacular Missionaries, (using the great examples of Olympic Athletes.)” President and Sister Beckstrand trained on unity, and to have "Warm hands and Warm Hearts," so they gave us some pretty nice mittens, (See Pictures.) To be honest it turned out pretty well, I felt like it was the best one I have ever done anyway. The training we feel was received really well but the hardest part about these conferences wasn’t the 1 ½ hour presentation, it was giving my “Dying Testimony,” three different times.

The first time was very difficult because it was with Elder Allsop, previous companion and dear friend. He got up and we just looked at each other and just realized that this is real. So by the time I got up I was already pretty emotional. The Second time, I had to follow my other dear friend Elder Faylor, I could barely speak. And the third time, was the hardest. It really helped me realize how much I truly do love my mission. I will miss this. It was wonderful to get to see all of the missionaries one more time, I felt like I've had the chance to work with them all, so it was great to say some goodbyes. It's crazy how fast it goes. But I still have a couple more weeks to finish it off.

Speaking of which, we have been teaching this lady now, with one of the Persian missionaries, and she is getting baptized! We got a baptismal date with her last week, and is planning on getting baptized on this Saturday. She is just so fantastic, all she wants to do is to follow Christ. She absolutely loves church, and knows that is true. So now we will start working with her kids as well. So I’ll keep you posted on that one.

Well I hope you all know that I love you all and that I am extremely happy where I am now. I know this is the Lord’s work, I know that I am his disciple and that I will forever be that. Love you all.

Elder Haddon

Try a Little Harder to be a Little Better

Hällå Där Allihopa!

President Beckstrand: “I’ve seen a lot of crazy things here in Sweden, but I have never seen 3 bank robberies in the same day. And especially not when we are picking up new missionaries.”

So we got a new batch of greenies on Tuesday. Which is always fun to see there smiling faces and help them get situated and show them around Stockholm a bit. One of the things that we usually do as well, is take the greenies out and go contacting people on the street…. But not this time. We start to pull up to the Stockholm YSA Center to show them around and take them contacting. But there were police taping off the main street in Stockholm, police running around and personally interviewing everyone they saw.

So President thought it would be a good idea to maybe forget contacting and think of something else to do.

But other than that it was a pretty great week. A lot of work like usual and a lot of cool experiences. Wednesday night, we got the chance to send home some of the missionaries and I sent home 2 of my past companions…. So that was weird. (Elder Moe and Elder Knecht.) It really hit me hard because I really love those Elders, but in the same, I’m next. Just helped me realize that I don’t have the most time left. So I need to keep working hard, and do as Gordon B. Hinckley admonished, “Try a little harder to be a little better.”

This leads to one of those days, where we went out and started to hit the streets. We felt impressed to swing by this less-active member. The bishop has asked us to go by all the less-active members, just to see how they are doing and try to reach out to them. But we saw this guy on the list and went by. He opened the door, and had the most confused look on his face. He then replied, “I haven’t seen you guys for like.....(started counting on his fingers,) 15 years.” He kindly let us in.

He made us smoothies and we met his son and girlfriend. The girlfriend was from California. She was really curious why, “Two sharp dressed men,” from the US are in Sweden, in the cold. She also asked us why we were Mormons! So we were able to explain why we are missionaries and how much this message means to us. She wanted to learn more, and so we had the chance to teach her right on the spot about the Restoration of the Gospel.She after said that she just knows in her heart everything we said was true. She said she didn’t know why so many people are becoming Mormons, until now. Haha

She began to tell us the story of her life and how the Lord had prepared her for this moment. She had always searched for the truth. She even went to a school for nuns, to learn more about Jesus Christ. Eventually her life lead her to come to Sweden, and just as soon as she made it here, she meets us. So we are now helping her towards baptism. She will most likely be leaving soon, so she might be baptized back in California, but we will see how it goes.

I love this work, it’s just an explosion of feelings, happy, sad, frustrated, excited, joy, and everything in between. I love it. Thanks for everyone’s prayers, and just keep on, keepin on!

Love,

Elder T.D. Haddon

как ситуация!

как ситуация!

Nothing like some Russian to get you excited for an email! This Quote of
the week goes to our dear friend Zhixiang a.k.a. Bruce.

*“Hey dis guyz a babe.”*

He is a 17 year old, and wanted to learn some English slang. So we decided
to teach him some stuff. It just didn’t really stick… But he is still a
stud. But speaking of our friend Zhixiang and his father Ziping they were
baptized this last Thursday!

But before we had some preparing to do. On Tuesday, we had to get them
interviewed for baptism, and getting them ready for the baptism. We decided
to do it at the church, and little did we know that they were going to be
having a Zumba class there at the same time. So we are trying to have a
spiritual moment with them and all you hear in the background is Beyoncé
with all “dem single ladies.” But it ended up being really good. His wife,
who had no idea that they had Zumba, in her normal clothes, hopped in and
started dancing with them. So in the end it was perfect, even if we thought
I was going to be a disaster. The American instructor and his wife were
talking to each other after… kind of. One spoke Chinese and the other spoke
English. But they somehow managed to communicate with each

other. (I guess it was the language of dance.)

The baptism was on Thursday, It was unbelievable. We had speakers in
Chinese, and they were baptized by a member who could speak Chinese. It was
just wonderful. The whole time we had a member translating the Swedish and
English parts into Chinese for the wife. At the end of it all we had a
conversation with the wife and an interpreter and she wants to follow this
and be baptized. So now we are going to be teaching her actively, to get
her baptized as well.

I have learned a lot from this experience, it helped me understand how much
the gospel and this church can help and strengthen families. To see them
come to church every Sunday, and to be praying together as a family, when
before the believed in absolutely nothing. You can really see how much
closer they have gotten with each other and the Lord. They still have a lot
to learn and grow, but it has been so great to help this fantastic family
be a part of this wonderful gospel. (Again this would be so much easier if
we just had Elder Anderson with us teaching in Chinese.)

It has been a spectacular week and expecting more fantastic and wonderful
things to come. Love you all and take care of yourself!

Love,

Elder Haddon

They're Real!

Sup!

This week’s quote comes from the sweet old lady Syster Rosenlund. “I
appreciate this act of service, there is a couple packs of wild boar, about
37 of them, who do this to my lawn every week.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the rumors are true… Wild boars aren't just on "The Lion King," they are real, and will absolutely destroy your lawn to find themselves some grub. (See picture.)

Well besides living with the harsh reality that wild boars exist and like
to destroy 80 year old ladies lawns, it’s been a fairly good week. We had
some fantastic experiences. We have been teaching this little Chinese family who is planning on getting baptized this Thursday, (Why Thursday? Very good question. Why not Thursday?) It is the dad and the son who are going to be baptized. The mother just moved here from China and speaks no English or Swedish. So our communication with her is very short. A couple
“Xièxiès” are all we can say. (Thank you.)

But last week we had to teach a couple of the commandments, but we had a little trick up our sleeves. We have a new member just moved in, who is fluent in Chinese! So we got to take him with us and teach two of the harder commandments to them. Tithing and the Word of Wisdom. They lived in a one bedroom apartment, with 4 people, and it only smelt of coffee. So we
thought this one might be a little tough.

As we started to teach, with our trusty member, the wife came in and
started to get engaged. They all started talking and by the end the wife said she wants to follow these commandments and know it is true….. The first lesson she comes in on is Tithing and the Word of Wisdom, and she wants to learn more. That is a prepared person my friends. At the end of the lesson, they all committed to following it and the father invited the
wife to pray. She said she had never done that before but would try. It was fantastic, even though I had no idea what she was saying, we could all feel it.

So the father and the son are planning on getting baptized next week, and we will be working more with the mom in the future to get her prepared for baptism. It was just one of those fantastic moments you have as a missionary. Get to see some of the fruits of your labors.

Had a lot of things to do this week, with transfers and some conferences coming up the office is getting busy. But I also got a tender mercy, with going on exchanges to Södertälje with Elder Allsop. Elder Faylor and Allsop are in a power companionship right now and doing some amazing things, so I
thought I would just come in for the day, and crash the party. It was
really good! Got to do some good old fashion missionary work with, a old
bud. Nothing better.

General Conference was fantastic, need I say more.(Shout out to Tim
Buckingham, You sang beautifully!) It helped me in so many different ways. It really helped strengthen my testimony that this church is run by men who receive spiritual guidance from God. I had several questions I needed answered and the most of the talks spoke directly to me. IT just reassured me that this work is real, this church is true, Jesus is the Christ, and I will always be his disciple.

Love you all, take care skött om

All Things Are Possible

Jaså!

Oh man! Vilken vecka! It has been a good one, this week is a “double whammy,” of quotes.

1)     1) Missionary I was able to go on exchanges with, “So like after your mission…. Are you going to date girls?”

Me:”... is this a trick question?”

2)     2)  (Explanation after.) “If you don’t get here with a laptop the blood of all the Iranians is on your hands.”

Background: So we have been helping a church service missionary with getting things set up for translation for Persian speakers. She is awesome and is doing a fantastic job but her work load is just a little too much. So we now are assisting her with that. She had been in the hospital, for different health issues, so we had come and given her a blessing the day before and she is now on the rise.

Now, flash to yesterday after church. We are in our car driving to a place called Åkersberga which is probably about 45 minutes north of Stockholm. On the way we get a call from her, furiously upset! Because she won’t be able to teach her Persian class because she is in the hospital. That’s when she cursed us with the blood of these Persian speakers if we don’t get her a laptop before 14:00. Well the thing is the call was made at 13:30. There was no physical way that I could pick up a laptop and get to the hospital before the class started.

We had the phone connected to the speakers in the car, so we could hear her yelling at us in surround sound. We are probably 1 hour away from the hospital. We don’t have a laptop. It was pretty much a game over. But then I remembered something in my patriarchal blessing, “You will been blessed to see problems and tasks, and prayerfully make solutions.” So I hung up the phone. Turned the car back around and drove directly to the hospital. In her yelling she said if we are late she won’t do the class because at that validity of the church would already be lost. So we had to get there in 30 minutes, (through downtown Stockholm), with a working device or the blood of the Persians were on us. So my companion prayed and I just drove.

Somehow the red sea of Stockholm parted and there were no cars. We made it to the Sjukhus in a 28 minutes. Then as we are running in the hospital we downloaded the app on our iPhone, got connected to the Persian group in the elevator and at 2 o’clock on the dot, gave the iPhone too her. And she just started going off teaching.

This was nothing short of a miracle. Helped us understand that literally anything is possible with the Lord, even if that is just getting us to a hospital in time.

This week has been a good one for the work. We have several people that we are progressing super well and we are just doing everything to raise the bar in our missionary work. (See attached file. It was our message for the mission.) Just loving live and loving being a missionary. It is so cool to see these people that we are working with change. We have a Chinese family that is preparing for baptism who only a few months ago met with us and wanted to learn about “The God.” Now is planning on getting baptized and absolutely love the church.

I love this work, I love being a missionary. “Vad mer kan jag saga?

Love,

Elder Haddon

Pictures:
(Our Message)
1) No Junk mail! Or we'll go crazy!!!
2) Nothing like a surprise carnival!
3) Viking graveyard.
4) Sister Beckstrand reading us a bedtimes story

Check out tannerandtaylor.blogspot.com
For our big news! :)

Member Missionary Work

Hej mine damer og herrer (Dansk)

Quote of the Week: “Nothing like running the streets of Stockholm, with a crazy Iranian in trash bags!”

We had a lesson with our good friend from Iran, and as we were about to leave, it was just pouring rain. So we were ready to just run about a mile in the rain to our car, but then she busted out some black garbage bags and made us some nice little ponchos! Still got soaked… but hey we tried. (See Pictures.)

This week was fantastic! It was like the week of “Member Missionary Work.” I throughout my mission have had the hardest time getting the members to get involved in the missionary work. People are too busy or have had bad experiences or just simple don’t feel like it! But this week we had I believe almost in every lesson with our investigators a member was there, or we taught at a member’s home. It was fantastic to see how much of a difference it can make, that when we all work together how much better things go! It also feels like our companionship got just a little bigger, now it’s not just Elder Mangum and I. Now it’s Elder Mangum, Täby ward, and I. It’s been so phenomenal.

Had a wonderful experience last Friday, which not too many people get to be a part of especially here in Sweden. Lennart Nyblom he was a man that I had the privilege to teach and baptize when I was in Jakobsberg, and I was able to go with him to the temple for him to go through for his first time. Not only that I got to be with Elder Allsop and Faylor. They had been taking care of him and really made it possible for him to be ready for this. I owe them a lot for that.

But it was just so cool to see him and it was like my mission flashed before my eyes. I remember the first time knocking his door and teaching him for the first time. Then when he came to church for the first time with his jeans and a flannel shirt on. Going through all the lessons, and commandments help him to stop drinking coffee and then to see him in White, the day of his baptism. Lastly getting to sit next to him in the temple, there is nothing that can describe the joy I felt. It simply doesn’t get much better than that!

Had another cool experience as well, we were teaching one of our investigators that has a baptismal date, he has a small family of 4 with 2 sons. No one else except for the dad has been interested, until last week. We would always go in and chat with the kids and then when we would start to teach they would go into the other room. But not on Wednesday. We watched “Finding Faith in Chirst,” in Chinese with them and after as we started to teach the father. The older son just asked us, “Can you speak in Swedish so I can understand the way of God too?” (In Swedish.)

 So at that point we were able to start teaching him as well. He came to church and we had a member who could speak Chinese there and he helped translate and teach. After it all the 17 year old boy just looked at us and said, “I believe everything that you said, it is all true.” We will be working on him and his father for baptism in the next month or so.

(Funny side note: The kids’ names are ridiculously hard, so I gave them nicknames Bruce (Lee maybe racist) and Kobe (Bryant he likes basketball).)

Love you all and take care! Hope to get many packages and letters from you all this week! (hint hint)

Elder Haddon

Hold On and Buckle Up

God Morgon!

This has been a fantastic week! But first the quote of the week goes to Elder Bednar and Sister Bednar, they were speaking to us and she had made a joke in her talk earlier about how the picture we used for the program was when he first became an apostle about 10 years ago. He kept making comments the rest of the conference that, “I’m old, my wife says.” Or “I just don’t understand that because I’m old.” Finally after he makes another comment, she runs up to the stand and grabs the microphone and says, “No, I said you are GOLD!”

It was very funny and cool to see how they interacted with each other, and how much they loved and cared for each other. And even though they are in the 60’s they still flirt and joke around, which is great. He also said, "You don't find a good marriage, you create one." (Why does everything worth it take work! Gosh dang it! ;))

Like I said this week has been great, we had a lot of things going a Mission Leadership Council that we had to train in, then the day after we had Elder Bednar. But we got some amazing things done in the Proselyting side of things. We have 3 people set up for baptism in the next couple weeks, one of which was a man who’s name we will say is Tyson, (for security purposes.)
He was a taxi driver and a vivid video game player for the majority of his life. He had really been living in a way that he was only searching for pleasure. Games, Girls, and drugs was the way he was going with his life. In the last couple of years he had felt the need to change that. To start to grow up and give up those things. (This is his preparation.) He about 2 weeks ago, was driving this couple from the Airport to a church. He said there was just something about them, he wanted to be around them. He finally dropped them off and right before he left the church Tyson asked them to talk to them a little about the church. The couple started to give some information to him and then said, you should talk to the missionaries, and they can help you. So they got his information, and promised him they would contact him that night. Which we did but had a very hard time getting a hold of him.

But finally this week, because of his schedule and things was able to meet with us and we just had a fantastic meeting with him. He gladly accepted baptism, and wants to follow this. They was something that he said that I found to be very special. The reason why he wanted to know more about this church was from the light in the eyes of that couple. He wanted that. He went to church and said he could see it in all of the people. It was fantastic. I just want to say that there are prepare people in every part of the world. No matter where we are the Lord is preparing his children for the gospel.

I just want to quickly talk about the Bednar Conference, it was one of the most powerful meetings that I had ever been a part of. Words of wisdom in these coming days. “Get in, Stay in, and Buckle up, because the fight is coming. The storm clouds are no longer on the horizon, they are here.” He was a voice of warning, and of hope. There were a lot of things that he said that hit me to the heart and are going to change how I do a lot of things. That is really all I can say. It was terrific!
At the Mission Leadership Conference, (MLC,) we trained about not letting expectations and weak goals from keeping us from achieving greatness. So what we did is we got 3 people, Elder Allsop, another Elder and another Sister, got them to stretch out because they were going to be doing some major jumping. We walked out with a broom and said we are going to hold it and you all have to jump over it. So we brought it to the front and dropped it on the floor. Told them to get over that broom stick. The first elder kind of chuckled and stepped over it, the sister the same, and then Allsop came in like a wild banshee and ran and jumper as high as he could over it. We then asked the two who just stepped over it.... Is that as high as you could jump? They said no... Then asked, why didn't you jump higher then? “Because we didn’t have too. The bar was set on the ground.” Then asked Allsop why did he jump as high as he could? He said, "Eh just wanted to show everyone how high could jump..." 
But the principal is the same with life. We have our low expectations, small goals and weak quotas. We can easily just step over them and keep going on with our lives. But we have so much more potential. We can't let those things bring us down, every one of us has the potential to do some amazing things! We can’t let the low bar from us achieving our full potential!!

Well once again, I love you guys, thank you for everything, i know I am weak in writing, but I hope that you got something out of it!

Love y’all,

Elder Haddon

PICTURES:
1) 10 lbs on my wife.... CRAP!
2) Same ties..... But look at the elders in the background.... What an embrace. 
3) Elders took my car.... The White Knight, had a nervous breakdown. But i'll be fine.
4) That was something some elder made us for our iPhone background... pretty sick
5) Celebrated a good week, with American hamburgers

Meeting True Disciples

Chello! (Got yourself a Bass)

Herro! Great to hear from you all! We’ll get down to the nitty gritty.
Quote of the week goes to Elder Mangum. (Last night when we got back at 12:00 PM.)  ”It’s official…. This week we have racked up a total of 26 Hours of driving! I never want to see a car again!” We had the opportunity to do a super-secret mission and drive all the way to the most northern area and back. Which was about a 20 hour trip. But while we were there we went on Exchanges with the Elders up there.

I was able to go with one of the greatest people I have ever met. It was Finnish elder who was a convert of about 3 years. He was a street contact, so it is something is very good at doing, just talking with everyone on the street, in cars, stores, wherever. It was so cool to go with him and to learn from each other. But we had a specific experience together that was
just amazing.

We had the chance to teach this lady who referred herself online, and kind
of lived in the middle of nowhere. But we talked to her and she was very interested and we felt prompted and good about meeting her. We traveled out there and she lived in one of these immigration camps that they have here in Sweden. It was an old hotel that they switched out into a refugee center. We met her and walked through this camp, which had people from everywhere. Iraq, Iran, Siberia, Lebanon, Eretria, and other war torn countries. We got to go through and everyone was just so friendly coming up and giving us hugs and handshakes. The majority of the people there were Christians, and that was the reason why they were there because people all
over the world are killing them and persecuting them.

But we get through and meet with this woman from Iran. She was about 35 and just a cute small lady. Something we noticed really early on was she shakes, quite a bit. She said it started when she was a little girl because of the terrible upbringing she had. We felt so bad for this woman. She just explained to us that has only wanted to follow Jesus Christ. She had explained to us for the longest time she had been going to all of the churches around trying to learn more of Christ, but none of them were ever opened or would speak to her. Until we came and visited her. The spirit was
so strong, it was hard not to tear up. We just taught her about Christ, and
all the things we can do to get closer to him. She was just so happy to
actually have someone to be there to help her and teach her more about Christ. She accepted following Christ’s example in being baptized, and now they are going to be preparing her for that.

It has been a fantastic week, we also went to Göteborg again for a
missionary meeting which President Hallstrom was able to come and do some instruction. As well this week Elder Bednar will be coming and visiting with the Northern Zones. So that will be great.

The work here in Täby is going fantastic. We were only in the area for about 3 days, but had some fantastic experiences in teaching some of these families we have met. Having our recent convert Jeremie come with us and he is inviting people like crazy to baptism. "I did it, it was the greatest thing in my life. Do it man!!!" We have a goal that we all will baptize a family into the Täby ward, and teach them together all 3 of us. So we are working towards that!

I’m so thankful to be serving. I know I say that every week, but it is
true. I really don’t want to go back. I love this land, the language, and
the experiences I have here. Love you all and hear from you soon!

Ha det Gött!

Elder Haddon

(Wow, we are so blessed to live in America and worship how we believe!)

A Week of Miracles

Tjabba grabbar!

I have a couple amazing quotes of the week, but we will start out with a funny one with our recent convert Jeremie. “I have never eaten grass soup…. And I grew up in Africa!”

We had the opportunity to do a service project with Jeremie and it was to this family who are… well Hippies. They decided to treat us to one of their favorite dishes…… Grass Soup. Let’s just say, it was not as good as you would probably imagine.

This week has been full of miracles. I’ll start with Tuesday’s Miracle. On Tuesday, we received a call from a part time missionary who is an interpreter to Farsi. She needed someone to come with her to teach this old friend about the Gospel. She has had a terrible time in the last couple of years. She was a member to a Christian church that ended up destroying her faith, and her family. She didn’t understand Swedish or English, so she had to interpret everything that we said.

We ended up teaching her the Restoration, which was so powerful. At the end she started to cry and grabbed my shoulder and she was just speaking in Persian. Finally after she was done speaking, I was able to hear the interpretation of what she said. It was something like this, “I have been searching for the truth, every day for that last 3 years. I have walked the streets in my walker, in pain trying to find someone to talk to me about my God. Someone that would just stop me and talk to me about Jesus Christ. And I have felt like my prayers have been unanswered, until today.”

I had felt the spirit so strongly at that point, I then was able to give her a blessing in the back of a car. (Not really the most acceptable place to give a blessing,) but did it anyway. I gave it to her and she didn't understand it I’m sure, but I can tell you we all felt it. We left that lesson with that women with tears in our eyes, and a prayer of thanksgiving in our hearts. We are now going to be teaching her and preparing her for baptism.

The miracles didn’t cease then, On Thursday I was able to go on exchanges with a missionary in Gubbängen where I have previously served. I had gotten a cold and a GNARLY sore throat so couldn’t speak very well in the morning. I felt so bad that I probably would be able to contribute so much for the day. And that missionary really wanted some help to get new investigators and get the place rolling again. But I was able to pray that I could be able to speak so that I could help this missionary in his missionary work, and help the work go forward there again. After I had this prayer, something fantastic happened. I could speak, I sounded like a horse at times, but I could speak without any pain. I personally was able to contact over 50 people, without any problems. We got several numbers and got in contact with people i had worked with previously. (Also somehow figure out a locked gate code, for these people they have been praying for and wanted to visit. I just started pounding on the keys, and figured it out. Got to see the little miracles things too.)

But we had one more miracle. On Saturday night, I was not doing so hot, we had a hard day of work and I really needed a rest with my cold. But it sounds weird, but I felt like we needed to go out to place called Åkersberga. It’s not the closest place in our area, but I just felt like we needed to work out there a bit. So we went out there to this place where we both felt was a good place to contact and knock some doors. Everyone was pretty rude, and not interested until our last door. We knock it and nothing happened… we started to walk down the stairs and this jacked African man, opened the door and asked if we were police, we said no. We told him we were missionaries from our church. He asked if we were Jehovah Witnesses, we told him again… no no no. And then he said, “Come in Brothers!” So we came in to him and his wife who were both very interested with their 3 cute little kids. They had moved to Sweden about 2 years ago, and wanted to find a church, but somehow it found them! So we are excited to start working with them, and bring that little family to the church.

I just want to thank you all for the prayers, emails, and the love I get from you all. I couldn't do it without it. I am so thankful to my God, for the wonderful week we have had. So many wonderful things happened this week. We ended up finding 7 new investigators this week and it was all from the guidance of the Spirit and I know that it was the Lord trusting us. I’m so thankful that the Lord is trusting me to be a tool in his hands. I love this work, and I love this people.

Love you all, Ha det Gött!

Long Drives and Conferences

Здраво ТХЕРЕ партнер! (Serbian),

Well howdy there folks! How's it hanging? We'll just jump right into some of the quotes of the week:

1) Jeremie (Recent Convert) while we were going through "The Kingdoms of Glory," in the Plan of Salvation.

*Jeremie*: "I don't really remember too much about the differences of the 3 kingdoms, but I do know that I want to go here. (Pointing to the Sun.) We all should, it's like the world's best movie theater, you gotta book your seat man!"

Jeremie is "The Man," every time we meet with him and teach him it's just the greatest experience, I'm so glad I followed the prompting to go play some basketball with him the first time I met him. (Even though I don't think I've ever passed up the opportunity to shoot some hoops with anyone.)

2) This was from Elder José A. Teixeira. He had come and was touring the mission. We had driven all the way to Gothenburg, to pick them up, (5.5 hours.) So at this point we had picked them up and were unloading there things at the hotel.

*Me:* "Is there anything we can do to help this Conference run a little
more smoothly?"

*Teixeira:* "No you’re doing a marvelous job, just go and contact at least one person before you go home tonight."

So that is what we did, it was super late and were exhausted from the
drive, and there had happened to be one man relaxing and smoking a
cigarette, by a building. But what we did is pulled over and did as the
general authority asked, and contacted that man. He was actually very, very
interested and is hopefully going to be taught by some of the Elders in the near future.

This week we had a fantastic time, having a Mission Tour with Elder
Teixeira. We also got to spend some quality time with him, and I felt like
I was able to receive some fantastic personal training, on being a
missionary, leader, priesthood bearer and becoming the man I want to be. To be honest it helped me see the very short time that I have left and see what I can actually do with it. He helped me get that vision back, and
helped me see how I need to live every single day to the fullest.

So after that, it was time.... to not just talk about it and feel good
about it, but to go out there and do something about it. So the last few
days, fueled with the Spirit and just going out and working our hardest, in about 3 days we have about 5 families that we are going to start/are working with. That is almost unheard of! Elder Allsop and I were able to baptize a family, and that was the greatest things ever. But other thanthat I have been able to really help individuals. (Which is fantastic, the worth of *one* soul is great, in the eyes of the Lord.) But now we really are working on getting one of these families the blessing of the gospel.

When I think of my family and how much I love every one of them, and how much the gospel has blessed us, all I want to do now is help another family receive those blessings.

We were able to teach a family tonight about the gospel in Chinese.... (I wish Hunter Anderson would have been there.) And now we are helping them with toward the path to baptism, and having an eternal famiry.... I mean
family ;)

I am so thankful for this gospel, and that I have been able to serve in
Sweden. The time has gone incredibly fast, and I want to use the last bit that I have to its fullest. I love you all and pray for you all.

Much Love,

Elder Haddon

Two weeks in one!

So sorry, we were up at bear lake last week so I didn't post like usual, plus he didn't email until Thursday so first is Thursday's email, and then today's!

Kas ir līdz?

Herrrrow!!!! Nice to hear from you all just want to say I had a decent
amount emails from you all, so keep it up!

This week’s quote is from President Beckstrand, “Man I didn’t know Bilbo
Baggins could jump so high!” (See Picture. Enough said.)

The beginning of the week I was able to spend a good time with my to best buddies Elder Allsop and Faylor, at a fabulous place called “Tom Tits,” (It is like a science museum thing.) It was cool, for small children, but us three still had a blast. (Shows our level of maturity.)

We had the privilege to go to one of the units on Gotland. Gotland is a
larger island south of Stockholm. We went there to check on the small
branch there and see what is going on down there. It is one of the coolest places in Sweden because it was one of the largest Viking trading places. So it has these fantastic old buildings. It is quite a hit in the summer months. (See Pictures.)

We had to take a large boat there and back, and on the way back we got to the mainland around 11:00 and had a large leadership conference at 12:00. And we were about 1 ½ hours away from the meeting. SO that was stressful, I
was actually encouraged by the mission president to speed to get there. Butgot there and had a fantastic meeting with all of the Leadership of the mission.

Then on Saturday, we had the chance to drive to Göteborg, and go do some good work up there. That is where I started my mission so it was really cool to go back there. I actually had the privilege to go to church in my ward Kungsbacka, on Sunday. That was a fantastic experience, just being able to meet those people that I met first in Sweden, now being able to speak Swedish with them and to see how they are doing now.

One thing that I really sad about that ward, is several of the families
that I knew really well have gone less active, or written themselves out of the church. There was a man who went there who was actually a higher up leader in the church, who now goes around and is trying to take people away from the church. So I could tell the ward was a little beaten up, but was still fantastic to see them all.

We have been traveling all around to visit all of the wards in Sweden,
which has been a cool experience. Everytime we go there we get to go on splits, with the Elders there and it has been a really cool thing, to go
around and help build up some of these other areas. We’ve been able to on this tour with our exchanges get several baptismal dates, new
investigators, and help find less actives as well. So it has been a great experience to be able to work all over the place and simply help others EVERYWHERE come unto Christ.

I am so thankful to be a missionary and to be serving in Sweden. I
absolutely love this place.

Love you all,

Elder Haddon

Today:

Well… Hello there!

It has been a long time sense I have been able to write you all! Oh man!
(Sarcasm through email has never been one of my strong suits.)

But anyway one of the quotes of the week comes from one of our recent
converts Jeremie. (The discussion was on the topic, “Marriage.”) ”Do not rush for marriage, do not rush for kids, what you need is to be stable.
STABILITY! If you get married before you are stable, I will personally come to your wedding and when someone asks does anyone object. I will raise my hand high, and tell your future wife to find someone else! Believe me, frankly speaking I will do it!”

So if anyone thought I was getting married young….. Think again, Jeremie will not allow that!

Quote number two, comes from our dear missionary mom, Sister Beckstrand,”I just farted.”

….. Now I will explain. We were driving in Uppsala doing this mission tour, where we visit all of the units in Sweden. We drove by this biker who was just waving his arm all over the place behind him. I then said, “I don’t speak Swedish-sign language, I don’t know what that means.” Then about a
good 20 seconds after that, we hear sister Beckstrand say, “I just farted.”
We then both proceed to roll down our windows. As she is laughing
hysterically, trying to explain that the man’s arm gestures were indicating that he had passed gas, not that she had.

But anyway, sense the last time that I wrote, things have been going super well. We have had some time in our area finally and we are just working as hard as we can here. I can honestly say, I’ve never been so exhausted in my life, from traveling, training, then coming back and trying to take care of Täby as well. But I know that the Lord is blessing us for our efforts and that it’s what is necessary right now. We have had like 3 super new referrals that we are going to be working with, and it is something that I know is when we work hard, are obedient, the Lord blesses us. But I’ll keep you posted on all of those people next time!

Sorry it’s short but not much to report from 4 days ago. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Haddon

Long Time No Talk

!

Well Aloha!!!!!

It’s been such a long time sense I have been able to write to you all, good night it’s been almost 4 whole days! This quote of week comes from some missionaries yesterday at a fireside that we had set up for President and Sister Beckstrand.

“Wow for it being the two biggest wards in Sweden invited to this, it is quite a turn out.”

……….. 10 people showed up. Let’s just say it was a little frustrating but what can you do! A drunk lady came in too, so that made things interesting.

Anyway, last week I had the opportunity that not many missionaries have to go to Denmark with the President for a P-day. It was fantastic! I was able to see:

Hamlet’s Castle: This is the Castle that William Shakespeare was writing about in his play 

Hamlet. It was HUGE! It’s right on the coast of Denmark facing Sweden, and it was made to fight those dirty Swedes.

Frederiksborg Castle: This is the Castle that has all of the World famous Carl Bloch paintings of Christ. It was cool because they were all placed in this small room with a desk/Alter thing, and this is where the Danish King would meditate a pray. Had a super cool feeling there.

Vor Frue Kirke: This is one of the coolest placed I have ever been. It is where the famous Christos statue is. What was cool about that church was not only did it have this fantastic statue of Christ, but around him they had all of the Apostles as well. It was so cool to see. (See Pictures.)

The Denmark temple: This Temple was sick, that is all I got to say. It looks super small. But it’s pretty large. Don’t judge a book by its cover!

But I was actually really fun to see those things, it was also cool to see how much people really cared about Christ. It’s crazy the change from those times to now. No one even cares about anything in Europe anymore. But it gave me a real boost for missionary work to see that the love of Christ is literally in their blood. 

Not much time, but I love you all enjoy the pictures, and I really do hope to hear from you next week!

Love,

Elder Haddon

Water Lacrosse

Hoppas allt är braw! (Från Skåne)

Hey everyone, the quote of the week goes to some new sisters that are now in the Täby ward.

"Yeah, I don't know too much about lacrosse besides the movie, Forever
Strong."

My reply, "That's rugby."

"Oh yeah I'm an idiot that's the one they play in the water right?"

Let's just say Sister Missionaries are just great... Haha

This week has been crazy, at the beginning of this week we got the chance to pick up the new crop of greenies, that is always fun it was a large group of 18. It always brings me back to the feelings I had when I first came to Sweden, I was absolutely terrified! Not being able to speak the language and leaving the United States was a little out of my comfort zone. But I remember well when we all were able to go after we got off the airplane to go out and contact people on the streets of Stockholm I was
petrified. But I was with one of the Assistants to the President and he
just got me pumped and really helped me see what kind of missionary I should become.

So that was something that I was able to do as well. I took one of those scared greenies and took them out into the big bad streets of Stockholm which I had been serving in in the last 17 months, and show him how it is done. (Gave out some Books of Mormon too.) Which was a cool experience, I hope I could make and impact on that kid’s mission as the one that went with me 19 months ago.

This week had a really good ending as well, we had a baptism with our good friend Jeremie! It was fantastic and had a funny little hick up though. The whole time I was joking with him that I was going to mess up his name and we would have to do it over and over until I said his name right. He even took my name tag as hostage if I did it wrong. Well, we finally get to the moment that where I would be able to baptize him, and it went well. I baptized him it felt pretty good (and also kind of weird,) and then I look up everyone seemed that it was right.

So we got out and started to change back into our normal clothes. As I am changing, (in the girls’ side,) the door opens….. And I was an elder
missionary who says, “Sorry but I think you are going to do it again.”

And then I hear from the other side of the baptismal font from Jeremie,
”THERE YOU GO ELDER HADDON YOU ACTUALLY DID MESS IT UP!!! YOU’LL NEVER GET THIS BACK!” (With a huge smile on his face. As he is waving my nametag in
the air.) I was then able to baptize him again, and he insisted that
everyone came back to watch my mistake. (He thought it was hilarious.)

But one thing that was actually really cool about this embarrassing
experience was that the second time that I did it and when it was correct,
you could actually feel a difference. It was noticeably different. It really helped me realize what we are doing is true, and it is real and is what the Lord wants us to be doing. He said that he’s going to keep the nametag….. But he wants to give it to his son when he goes on a mission.

I’m so thankful to be a missionary and grateful to serve here in Sweden.

I hope you know that I love you all!

Sköt om er!

Äldste Haddon

PS:I was able to have some adventures in Denmark, but you’ll hear about
that next week!

*Pictures:*

1) New Missionaries

2) Departing Missionary fest

3) Jeremie

4) Tolley's helping us get rid of the bed bugs

5) Got some attitude.

6-7) Baptismal pictures