Elder Arko: June 22nd letter

This past week was pretty eventful in Alingsås. First of all, Elder Arko spoke in church! It was a 7-9 minute talk and it was on the Holy Ghost. He used 4 scriptures so he could read them instead of trying to formulate his thoughts in Swedish the whole time. He also told an experience that he had in Lacrosse, although he didn't say it was lacrosse because they aren't familiar it over there. Anyway, Elder Arko expressed that when he listened to one of his teammates during practice and actually did the things he was told to do, it was a lot easier to hear that same teammate's voice during a game. He related that to the Holy Ghost and how we should get our spiritual ears in tune with him. Elder Arko was pretty scared, but thinks he did okay. A lot of people complimented him on his Swedish! He is very proud of this accomplishment and I'm sure this is the first of many to come.

Then, in Sunday school, he was following the conversation and he almost made a comment in class. He then decided that might not be the best time to make that particular comment so he didn't. However, the fact that he almost made one shows his improvement with the language.

Onto the food in Sweden. Usually when you go to a pizzeria in Sweden, you're given a pizza, salad, and a drink althought the salad isn't really a salad, but cabbage that has been either soaked or just drenched with vinegar and seasoning. Elder Arko was initially not a fan of the cabbage, but has started to be okay with it and is told by other missionaries there that he'll start to crave it every so often.

Elder Arko also tried herring this week. They got invited to a members house for lunch on Sunday and were under the impression that they were going to try seal since they had never had it before. Apparently seal and herring sound very similar in Swedish to him so that's where the mix up happened. Needless to say it was herring and he didn't think it was that bad although he wasn't too fond of the aftertaste. It was however from a can, so he thinks he might enjoy fresh herring more.

Transfers are coming up in about a month and Elder Arko is getting really excited to see if he's staying where he is or leaving Alingsås.

Now, here are some pictures of Midsummer!