August 31st letter

Okay, Elder Arko started his letter off by answering some questions from those who write him (if you don't write him, that's your cue to feel badly). Yellow mustard is NOT impossible to find and right now they have a pretty good selection of it. He can find other brands besides Heinz as well! Myth...busted. There are a lot of hard cookies and crackers there, but it's not too difficult to find some soft ones if you want. As for Swedish meatballs, Elder Arko is not positive if he's had 'real Swedish meatballs' and isn't quite sure what the difference is. The Swedes generally don't eat much meat, but they do LOVE sauces and Elder Arko really enjoys those. Maybe that's what seperates Swedish meatballs from regular meatballs. There you go!

Transfers will be the 17th of September which will be here before we know it! Then we get to hear if Elder Arko gets to see a different part of Sweden! As for the area he is in now, he and his companion have had a few cool experiences in Trollhättan. They are trying to get a guy to cut back on snus (it's like chewing tobacco, but a little more addicting) and Elder Arko thinks he'll actually be able to cut back and eventually quit. They also had two different people approach them which is quite a big change for them. Both of them told the Elders to call them and see when they could meet with them. It was very unusual for Elder Arko and Elder Seegmiller to have work like that since they're only in Trollhättan one day out of the week.

It has been interesting for the Elders working in another area that has been closed for a little while, but it's also weird trying to cover two areas because of the travel. They usually take the bus back and forth from Alingsås to Trollhättan and it takes about 1 hour to get there. Elder Arko mentioned that there is no way he's riding that distance on a bike without gears! His bike is definatley not the best in the world, but it gets him from point A to point B relatively safely.

Elder Arko tried a little Swedish Cod and didn't think it was too bad. They didn't have the best week as far as numbers go. A lot of their investigators couldn't meet or were sick. This week should be better! He also apologizes for no pictures...he just forgot to take any! Lucky for you, I took some off his mission blog for an occasion just like this so here they are!

Elder Arko and President Anderson

Göteborg and Malmö Zone (Elder Arko is in the top row 7th from the right)

August 24th letter

This week's letter was pretty long because of everything Elder Arko had to say. He had a very busy week, so let's get started. After telling me to brace myself, he announced that he cut his own hair a little while ago! He says it's short and simple and it looks pretty good. The best part about it is that he saved 130 krowns (almost $20)

Elder Arko and the comp had fun this past week trying to make it easier to work in Trollhättan. First of all, Elder Arko spent some time trying to fix a flat bike tire, which unfortunately didn't work out. He ended up riding a half-flat bike tire to the train station. It was still better then last week since they actually got back into Alingsås on Saturday instead of Sunday morning.

Anyway, a lot of their time has been dedicated to Elder Seegmiller practicing the piano. He is going to play the piano in sacrament meeting next week so that should help some investigators and less actives make it to church. They've also been having pretty good numbers in their little town with teaches and new investigators. They have an investigator who is reading regularly in the Book of Mormon and they are now working on prayer with him so they love seeing the progression.

The recent family reunion made Elder Arko think that he'll only miss one more of those and then he'll be home! It's amazing how short a mission can seem when you look at it like that. Elder Arko prefers counting in weeks since it makes it not too long and not too short. In just a little while he'll be approaching his quarter mark! Crazy!

This last transfer has brought a change in the temple attandance policy. The Elders used to request to go once every transfer, but now it's once every six months. Elder Arko will get to go in about two months. Speaking of transfers, they're just a few week away. We'll see what happens for him.

So you're probably thinking what is that can of stuff? Well ladies and gentleman that is what Swedes call surströming. Surströming: sur means sour or fermented and ströming is herring, so fermented fish. Yum! They take herring and lay it in a can, seal it, and let it sit for almost a year.

Yes, Elder Arko has tried it.
This was right after Elder Arko had taken a bite of it in a tortilla with mashed potatoes...he said it was BAD. They took video of it as well so we'll get to see that eventually. Most swedes don't even like this stuff. All he can say is that he understands why you are supposed to open the can under water. Right after they opened the can it started to smell like his Dad's farts. Honestly, it was the worst and he can't describe it any other way.

August 17th letter

First thing's first. HAPPY BIRTHDAY To Elder Arko's FaSha (AKA Father)!!

Now, on to the update. Elder Arko and Elder Seegmiller had quite an adventurous week. They learned that they are taking over another area called Trollhättan. That area doesn't have any missionaries right now because of a decrease of missionaries in the mission. They go there once a week and check how things are going and visit some investigators.
When they were in Trollhättan this Saturday they had quite the day! I'm going to try and have this make sense, but I was a bit confused when I read it. Okay here it goes. It started out as a pretty normal day for them, but then things just started going wrong. First, an appointment they had with a youth from the ward got cancelled. So, they spent some time at an investigators house instead and then were on their way home. They caught the latest bus to make it to the aparment where their stuff was and after they sat down Elder Arko felt in his pocket and the phone that he was carrying wasn't there! It slipped out of his pocket at the investigators house. They got off at the next stop and walked back to his house to get the phone. They got on the next bus and figured that they might have a chance at catching the bus back to get their things and make it back to Alingsås. Then, the bus broke down and it took the bus driver about 15 minutes to fix it. They missed the bus to get back to the apartment with their stuff in it and had a 20 minute walk a head of them. They weren't going to be able to make the train back to Alingsås that night.

They went to the bus station to find times for the next morning and found that there was a train travelling to Göteborg (which they can get to Alingsås from) 40 minutes from then. They decided that if they hurried, they could make it back in time. So off they went, 20 minutes back to the apartment. Then, they got on the bus and headed back to the train station and as they were arriving at the train station, the train pulled out. Nice. So then, they notice that another train was scheduled to leave about 45 minutes from then. So, after the last bus back to the apartment had left, they realized that they had been looking at the arrivals screen instead of the departures. Sad. So, they got to walk home, but they did get some pizza on the way there to lift their spirits and had a good night sleep. They did make it back into Alingsås in time for sacrament meeting the next day so that was good.

The meal situation is working out pretty well for the Elders. They have about 3 or 4 member meals a week and it usually works out pretty well. The food is all pretty normal to Elder Arko now, but a lot of it reminds him of what our Dad eats. For example, sometimes Dad will just take a piece of bread and put a slice of dry cheese on it and call it a sandwich. That is basically a typical "sandwich" there. They will also put things like butter and maybe a cucumber on bread and call it a sandwich.

As far as the weather goes, it has been raining a little more which makes contacting a bit hard, but the cooler temperature that it brings is certainly welcomed by Elder Arko!

Elder Arko is still trying to have fun out there and spread God's Word. They had a very very good teach the other day with a great investigator. The only bad thing is she doesn't live here and actually leaves tomorrow (which is today...I think). It just goes to show you how much little time you may have with someone, but how big of an impact you can make on their life.

Elder Arko is really enjoying the game of innebandy. He played in Trollhättan with some of the youth in the ward and had a great time! He's still a little sore from it though. In the second picture you can see the ball as a white streak. Pretty cool!
This is a guy and his HUGE dog. The Elders talked to him (the guy, not the dog) for a while and he was very nice to them. It turns out his dog is almost 70 kilos...for those of us that can't convert that (my hand is raised), it is roughly what our dear Elder Arko weighs...yeah he's massive.
That's all for the week!

With all his Love

-Elder Arko

August 10th letter

Elder Arko and Elder Seegmiller are doing just fine and are trying really hard to get someone to commit to baptism soon so they can have one for this transfer, but we will see if they can make it happen. Our Mom told Elder Arko how much her ward is pushing ward missionary work and Elder Arko now knows why. He says it is definately the best way to do the work. She also told him that she now owns a copy of Preach My Gospel for herself! Elder Arko thinks it is a very good book to help with missionary work. He says it helps not only you do the work, but it also helps in converting yourself and refining your own testimony.

The weather in Sweden has been pretty hot lately. Elder Arko has gone with a short sleeve shirt almost every day and has still been warm. Every so often it rains and cools things off so that's nice. Also, he learned that he might not see snow here in Alingsås. They say it rarely snows there even in the middle of winter; it only rains so hopefully he gets transferred somewhere up North.

Elder Arko sent two shirts home for his little girls! These are for you Elder Arko...

Aren't they adorable?!

It's crazy for Elder Arko to think that he has been out on his mission for this long!!! He can't believe in a month he'll be 1/4th the way done!!! It's crazy how fast it goes, but he still feels like he has a ton ahead of him before he's done.

A cool story for the week is about how the Elders we were riding their bikes past the train and bus station in their little old town and all of a sudden Elder Arko heard a 'clunk'. He looked down to see that his bike chain had fallen off again. He got down to fix it, being very careful as to not get his hands too greasy. As he finally fixed his problem, he looked up and say Elder Seegmiller talking to a lady. Apparently after they stopped, she approached them and said "You are Mormon missionaries right? Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Elder Seegmiller started talking to her about what the main differences between our church and others are. They had a very nice discussion with her and even got a return appointment set up for Tuesday. The moral of the story is...the Lord works in very mysterious ways; sometimes even through everyday annoying occurences.

Elder Arko wishes us all the very best and sends his love from Sweden!

And now, for a few RANDOM pictures. This one is a little monkey from Kung Fu Panda that Elder Arko got out of a chocolate egg. It's AWESOME just because he's told everyone there that it's his favorite movie.

This is how many Books of Mormon the Elders have in their apartment! They are in all different languages, even Swahilli!

August 3rd letter

Elder Arko has had another busy week and is getting used to the fact that he's going to be tired for the next two years. He's having a way fun time and will be starting to call members and have telephone conversations in Swedish which should interesting.

Last week, Elder Arko told us that they challenged someone to baptism and unfortunately that one didn't go through...sad day. However, they do have another investigator that might be ready in a little while so he and Elder Seegmiller are excited about that.

Elder Arko felt their zone conference was very instructional for help with finding ideas and just missionary work in general. They also got to have a little fire and burn their distractions, so you know Elder 'pyro' Arko enjoyed that!

And now for the main event...a few days ago, Elder Arko gave a blessing...in Swedish! He doesn't know why, but the member asked him to offer it. It was a very cool experience and very scary, but that just shows how well he's doing with the language!

Elder Arko said that swimming is a huge thing that he's missing right now because they walk past such a nice lake every single day! Also, if anyone even mentions lacrosse, he gets excited and starts to talk about it:)

Okay, on to the pictures. These are Elder Arko's 2 newest purchases! The pink thing is a 160 GB hard disk. That was the only color they had (so he says). It also appears that he will be following in my footsteps and performing some haircuts. I wonder if those are for him or other people... This is Elder Arko's new district after last weeks zone conference.They actually had a combined one so he got to see A LOT more missionaries and even some from his group that he hasn't seen since they arrived in Sweden. It was very fun for him! The sad thing is his district is going to be getting smaller soon since two missionaries and going home for school. The one sitting on the stage is going to BYU on a football scholorship and the one that is crouching and cross eyed is going to BYU as well (Elder Arko thinks). So the next time you see a BYU football game, look for a receiver with the name of Mathews and know that Elder Arko served with him for a little while and he's a way nice guy.