Happy Love Month! a.k.a. February....

Hejsan!

Well, it literally hasn't stopped snowing in Uppsala since Friday night. But, lest any of you think that I'm experiencing that freezing Swedish winter everyone warned me about when I was coming out, it's been sitting right around freezing the entire time, so there's only about 4 inches of snow to show for it, and walking around, I feel like my big coat and gloves are an option rather than a necessity. But, on the plus side, my white winter finally came. In February! 

This past week was really good. We're still putting a really big emphasis on finding work.

I know that there are people here in Uppsala who are ready and waiting for the gospel right now, but, we're going through a trial of both faith and patience before we can find them. So, we swing by everyone on every list, call them, and then talk to literally everyone we see. And repeat. And repeat again. There's a quote that comes to mind- 'insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.' The difference here is that essentially everyone I've ever taught has been found through this exact same process, so I know it's not insanity, it's just.... taking longer than usual right now. We'll blame it on the snow.

However, lest things sound all gloom and doom, things have actually gone well with the people we've met with in the last week. The investigator we've been focusing on has been making huge progress, and right now, we're just helping him to overcome his last few issues before baptism. We were hoping he'd be ready by last weekend, but when it came out that he still had a few things to work through, we decided to post-pone the baptism. However, I know how much he wants it, and I know that since coming to Uppsala 5 weeks ago, I've seen a change in him, and that, even though he may not be ready this very instant, it will come. So, we're going to continue meeting with him.

We've also been working with a few ny omvänds and less actives, and they're all doing really well. It's amazing to see the difference having friends in the ward can make for people, and really, I do feel like we've got a great ward here who are fantastic about helping new people and very missionary-minded in that when someone they don't recognize comes in, they go talk to them and take care of them. It really is such a blessing!

Otherwise.... we went to the ward knitting night on Friday, which was super fun! We had a few less active members who came, and it was great getting to see them interact with the ward, and in the meantime, learn a little more about knitting. Like, I'm very aware I sound like an old grandma as I say this, but it seems like everyone here can knit, and they make these beautiful scandinavian patterns, and ultimately, I've decided I want to get that good. I'm not sure when, given that as missionaries, we don't have a ton of time to just sit and knit to our hearts content, but one day, I'll be freakin' good.

And outside of that, really, I just feel in so many ways this past week that I've gotten the chance to see a little bit more of how much our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of his children. Not necessarily in any specific instance, but just generally speaking and in my studies, I feel like my faith that everything our Heavenly Father does is out of love for his children and their well-being has been strengthened so much this past week. He DOES love us so much more than we can understand, and while there are things we don't always understand about the gospel or about why things happen in life, we can rest assured that there is a kind and loving Heavenly Father guiding us along who knows and understands everything.

So, there's this past week! Love you all tons! 

Syster Maxwell