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