What a week!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone this week...

Aldste Haddon had quite a few stories this week, and they have been VERY busy preparing for a mission tour and President Monson's visit...

 

1. There have been riots in Stockholm this week, 160 cars were set on fire and it has been crazy. Aldste Haddon didn't have much information on it but here is a link to an article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/23/swedish-riots-stockholm

 

 

2. One of the women he taught in his first area had an amazing experience this week: She has been challenged to be baptized, both by Aldste Haddon as well as by the Sister missionaries who are now in the area that he was last in, but she hasn't felt ready. This last week she had a dream, she said she was standing at the font ready to be baptized and she saw the ward and her family there and the spirit was overwhelming. She remembers being lowered into the water by a blurry image and when she came out of the water she saw Aldste Haddon and knew that she is suppose to be baptized. She now has a date set for June 6th. Sadly, Ty can't go because it is too far from Stockholm, but he is just happy to hear that she is making the step and has received the answers she was seeking.

 

3. There is a family in Sweden, the Guarros family who is a member family where Ty is serving. He has become very close to the family and has spent a lot of time with them. Last week, he was at dinner with the family who had a son serving a mission here in Provo. The father spoke highly of his son and mentioned how proud he was of him for serving a mission; the father himself has lived a very hard time and is a convert himself. Ty remembers thinking that he would be honored to have his dad speak of him in the same way. The next day, the family received word that their son had passed away due to a brain aneurism while jogging with his companion in Provo. Heartbroken, of course, the family came to the states to recover the body and return to Sweden. The day after the family got home, Ty was able to meet with them. The father grabbed Ty up in a huge hug and said that this was the Lord's will and that his son is better off. Ty said he is a huge strong man and he held him weeping. Ty has been asked to be a pallbearer which he finds to be a huge honor. He is amazed by their example and strength. He is asking that we all keep the family in our prayers.

 

The missionary who was serving in Texas from Tooele is from my ward, he was a victim of a hit and run that is under investigation. He is doing much better and is home now, hoping to return soon. With all of these missionary accidents we can't help but appreciate the safety Ty has had so far and are so thankful for your prayers on his behalf. We're grateful to know that he is serving the Lord and is in His hands.

2 Great Stories...

This week has been great, (and busy) in Sweden, LOTS of office work, Aldste Haddon got to give a talk and teach Elder's Quorum in Swedish and had two great stories this week...

 

1. He taught a recent convert's son about the importance of baptism, the son didn't believe in baptism and they were trying to show him how important it is. So, he used the video game Halo and showed him how the protection that the characters get in the game is much like how baptism and the Holy Ghost is for each of us. He said that the young man is now set to be baptized June 1st. Aldste Haddon shared that Elder Holland teaches that each lesson needs to be tailor made for the person receiving it and he feels he was blessed to know a way to tailor the lesson of baptism for this young man.

 

2. Being in the office, he gets to help prepare missionaries to be sent home. This week they sent home one of the best Sister Missionaries you'll ever meet. He said she had already extended her mission once and was so heartbroken that it was finally her time to leave. He said her send off was very emotional. This experience reminded him of how blessed he is to be able to serve a mission at this time in his life. He said that some Elders serve their missions thinking they just need to serve their time but he truly feels so lucky and blessed to serve such wonderful people in such an AMAZING country.

 

He wants everyone to know he loves and prays for us all often. He is grateful for your love and support and the amazing blessings that come from having the gospel in his life.

 

 

Happy Skyper's Day! AND 6 MONTH BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! We had a pretty exciting Mother's Day around here!

Aldste Haddon got to Skype us at 10am yesterday for an hour! It's free, so I think that is why they are allowing foreign missionaries to Skype. We hooked the laptop up to the TV, so we got to see Ty life sized and he was able to see all of us at once! It was so much fun to see his face and hear his voice again! He is doing great...Here are some highlights

1. He bought a new European cut suite and haircut, he even got rid of all the ties we sent him with to wear the European look, us Americans apparently don't look quite right or something!

 

2. He sounds like he's doing really well, we were able to "meet" his companion and the senior elder and sister missionaries that Ty works with in the office and they all say he's a very hard worker and a big help to everyone in the office.

 

3. Some of his duties in the office include welcoming and sending home new missionaries, which is a very big task indeed because since he has been there, the mission went from 90 missionaries to 180!

 

4. Modesty is not one of Sweden's strong points so speak, they often open they often open the doors with not enough clothing on ;) makes Ty blush, he's becoming an expert at eye contact

 

5. He's really learning Swedish pretty well (according to everyone there except him!) He bore his testimony and sounded very fluid and excellent! It was great to hear some Svenka!

 

 6. President Monson is coming at the beginning of June to visit, he'll get to be there to meet with him which of course is very exciting. It has been said by President Monson and Hinckley that there is going to be a second harvest in Sweden and that the membership will more than double. Tyson doesn't know if this second harvest will happen while he is there, but whether he is planting seeds or baptizing he knows he's there doing what he's supposed to do, when he's supposed to do it.

 

7. On the 14th (tomorrow) Ty will have been serving his mission for 6 months! That means A LOT of blog posts, thank you for thinking about our missionary enough to follow his story.

 

8. He didn't get teary until he saw Tate (his favorite nephew) blow him a kiss and tell him he loves him when it was time to go...it reminded us how much we love our uncle, brother and son, and how much we miss him,  but it was wonderful to see that a 2 year old remembered his uncle and loves him.

 

9. He's becoming and excellent cook, since he lives with 5 people they all pool their grocery money and shop together every week and then they all share everything they buy and cook for each other, he said he cooks the most. He also is becoming a barber. They cut each other's hair and they do a pretty good job! He said haircuts are incredibly spendy there.

 

10. He misses everyone back home, but not too much! He said he LOVES being there and feels so blessed to be able to serve a mission! He sends his love and wants to share his testimony; he knows that our Heavenly Father lives and his Son Jesus Christ. He knows that the church is true, and he knows

 

Thank you for thinking about and praying for our missionary! It truly means so much to our family!

President Monson and New Missionaries

Well it's only been a few days since we last got an email from Ty and we get to skype him on Mothers Day so this email was short but good....

President Monson is coming to do a conference in Sweden very soon! He hasn't been there in 40 years so of course it is very exciting and since Aldste Haddon is in the office, he gets to go for sure he is very excited and can't wait to hear from the prophet in person.

Also coming this week is 19 new missionaries, 17 sisters and 2 elders. It has never been that "sister heavy" before and it's amazing to see so many sisters stepping up to the plate. Since Ty is in the office, it is his responsibility to help prepare for all of the new missionaries; he had no idea how much work it takes to get missionaries there or to send them home!

Lastly, he had to say good bye to a missionary and family that he loved this past week, the family had "a feast" to say good bye to Ty (that's what the pics are of) He's sad to say goodbye to another wonderful group of investigators but is hoping that the next set of elders are able to baptize them and that he'll hopefully be able to be there for it!

 

He sounds like he is doing well and sends his love back home! He is looking forward to calling/skyping us this Mothers Day (as are we!)

And as always, thank you for your prayers and support!

 

 



Valborgsmässoafton

It looks like Pday has finally rolled around again! Aldste Haddon said that they had Monday off to wear jeans and enjoy the Swedish holiday "Valborgsmässoafton" which is a holiday where all of the people go out in the back yard and burn stuff (he thinks that must be a hillbillies dream come true and we should do it here.) He doesn't know what it means or why they do it, but he enjoyed the day off that is for sure.

 

He got another new companion since we last heard from him and he says that he's a stud and really enjoys working with him, but don't worry, that won't last for very long because next week he's being transferred to Taby, which is the wealthiest area in Stockholm, he'll still be living in the Mission Office but he will just change the area that he's working in and getting two new companions who are greenies that he will finish training. He said that this will be his 5th area since arriving in Sweden in January! He said that he feels sad every time he has to leave families that he loves. Right now he's working with a wonderful man who is from Iraq and has been Christian all of his life. He said that his children are baptized and he says he's going to: "get the baptized with the mormoner" but they don't have a date yet. He's going to miss working with him, they've become fairly close.

 

Other than that, nothing much has changed this week. Aldste Haddon is doing well and says: "all the loves" as his investigator always says! He says he feels your support through your prayers and prays for all of us here at home! He is blessed to be able to share his testimony and the gospel, there's no other place he'd rather be.

 

 

First Week of No email :( UPDATE

So far, we haven't heard from Ty (as of right now is 4pm in Sweden so there is still time) We of course are sad, but there's still time so I will update the blog later today if an email comes in!

No new is good news...right?!

***We just got word that Pday is on Wednesday this week so check back for the updates then!***



Life in the Mission Office

We were finally able to nail down some details about his mission home job from Aldste Haddon! Thank goodness! He said they wake up at 6 and work out, then do studies and get ready until about 10 and then he goes to the office to do work (there are 2 secretaries and 3 aps and they all live in an apartment above the mission office) He works with the secretaries in the morning and then in the afternoon and evening he goes out with this AP companion to teach, then he  comes back and does paperwork and so it's pretty late before they're able to get to bed but as he says, someone's gotta do it!

 

This week they have been teaching a lot of people and have even set a baptismal date with an investigator. They're just praying that he keeps it and they're able to have a baptism. Their tag line is:

"Get the DOP!" (Dop meaning baptisms!)

 

This week they were meeting a couple from Sweden preparing to serve a mission and they have a son with down syndrome who Ty loves! The other day he was talking to Ty while the AP was showing the couple around and the boy said: "people in my area don't do the baptism often." So Ty explained to him that it's hard to baptize in Sweden but they're trying and working hard. So he got really close to Ty and whispered: "I want to baptize." and Ty said he just shook his head yes but he doesn't think he heard him because the young man took a deep breath, closed his eyes and with all the force he could muster said: "I WANT TO BAPTIZE!!" Then, Ty's companion came in and yelled "Ya me too!" Now they want to take him around the mission to get the elders pumped up to do missionary work because his enthusiasm is infectious!

 

As always, Aldste Haddon wants to thank everyone for your prayers, love and support as he's serving in Sweden! He can feel your strength and appreciates all everyone is doing to help him be the best missionary he can!