November 9th letter

Another week has gone by and this one in particular was busy and pretty eventful for Elder Arko. Last week He told us about how they were trying to get a lot of new people in church on Sunday while working with the members and hopefully getting a lot of investigators to church in the process. They worked and worked to try and get 10 new faces in church (4 from the missionaries efforts and 6 from members efforts). They had the assistants to the President in their area for a day for workovers, so Elder Arko and Elder Loomis went on splits with them and they helped to find a few new investigators. It was a fun experience for them. The Elders organized and got 2 investigators to church plus 2 less actives. Yes, they did fall short of their goal, but Elder Arko sincerely believes that was something to help the people in that branch. Church wasn't the same 7 people as it usually is, but it was a little more exciting and not just a routine. That is what kept the Elders so busy all week. That and ordinary missionary work.

They are starting a few things up there in the North and from interviews (once a transfer they have interviews with their mission president) Elder Arko thinks it's safe to think he'll be staying in this area for about another 2 months. Transfers are coming up next week and Elder Arko is pretty excited.

President Anderson also talked to the Elders about how now is the time to reconsider their chosen means of transportation for the next few months. Right now, the Elder use bikes and as you can probably figure out, they don't work so well in snow. They will change to using buses and possibly sparks. Now, you might be asking "What are sparks Elder Arko?" Well that is what He asked President Anderson and the answer is: a small one or two person sled that usually has 2 rails. One propels the sled by standing on a rail with one foot while kicking at the snow with the other foot. "to kick" in Swedish is "att sparka" hence the name spark, so there you go. Although the bus system is okay up there and will probably work for where the Elders have to go, Elder Arko might be sledding around Sweden in the coming months!

As for the weather it did snow again and it was a pretty heavy snowfall. Probably 4 inches, but it seems like it might melt away like the last one. It's still holding around 0 degrees Celsius right now, but it gets a little bit warmer during the day when the sun is up. It is very brisk when they go outside, but Elder Arko is fitted pretty well for the winter right now so there shouldn't be a problem.

Elder Arko doesn't want to jinx himself, but they might be able to have someone ready for baptism soon. He doesn't want to say who it is because these are personal lives and he doesn't want to say too much, but they very well might have a baptism this next transfer! They will see how it works out and he'll keep us updated. Keep your fingers crossed for him.

Here we have a block of Hushållsost cheese...

yes that is as big as Elder Arko's head! That was after they had eaten some of it already! Elder Arko hopes He can find cheese like this in the U.S.

Second, we have Elder Arko's companion nibbling on a hand from his Halloween package. Honestly, it wasn't that good, but it was fun for a picture of two.

P.S. The package also contained a lacrosse ball and that was almost the best part for Elder Arko. He said it felt good just to feel one of those again!