August 30th letter

Elder Arko has been doing great lately, still tired, but great. It has been going kind of weird at least for their ward. They've had a rash of illnesses...not all of them are rashes though :) Seriously, they've had 2 heart attacks, 2 lung problems, 1 person that is going in for Surgery today, and 2 or 3 bad colds. Elder Arko thinks it just has to be something with the changing of the seasons. They've been lucky so far because there has been enough people at church. Last week was kind of a close call, but it worked out and yesterday was much better, back to normal.

Some sad news, James didn't get baptized. His family and actually more his tribe was very against it, but it may be more of an opportunity than an obstacle. They are hopefully going to get the missionaries to visit his family and then tell them more about the missionaries and who knows what will happen then? James is still interested, he's just in a tight spot right now.

The Elders have had a few very positive try agains and potential investigators that they're trying to help out. Since they've had more people to visit, they don't have as much time to do finding work. It's been nice for them not having to do 4 hours of finding work everyday.

So, the Elders were having a hard time deciding what to eat...so Elder Arko decided they needed to use the French Fries in their freezer(which had been there longer than Elder Werner, but weren't there when Elder Arko was in Karlskrona last time so he knew they were still good). They also have things called tallrik or plate but it's usually a hamburger Tallrik or Kebab tallrik so they made...meatball tallrik! Elder Arko got a little creative and did some fry sauce.

August 23rd letter

Elder Arko has had another eventful week. They are getting ready for James' baptism which is this coming Saturday. They've also been seeing their ward mission leader which is good. This Sunday was actually a little depressing for the Elders. They had two families that weren't at church because of some medical problems and a fair amount of people are still on vacation so there weren't many people there. That was kind of sad, but the summer is coming to a close and people will hopefully be getting back from their trips.

The church isn't as involved with scouting in Sweden as it is in the U.S. Elder Arko has heard that since the scouting program is more independent they have people with differnet standards than leaders in the U.S. so the church has tried to keep a little bit of distance between them. The Duty to God program has also changed there, but isn't in Swedish yet so Elder Arko doesn't think it's been implemented yet.

The Elders have been going through the change of trying to get more activities for the whole branch (hence the Ping Pong nights). At the last ping pong night, there were only 4 of them, but they had a fun time.

The Elders are also hoping to have some beach volleyball days the next few weeks which makes Elder Arko really excited! Hopefully they can get a good turn out from the branch.

So, Karlskrona was the center of ship building and a navel base back in the days of wooden ships and cannon balls. It still has a navel base and if the Elders have enough time, they might go visit the marine museum today. There are also a lot of sailing and motor boats there.

Elder Arko got a little bit sick to his stomach around Friday and Saturday. He just didn't feel like eating and couldn't keep stuff down. He got a blessing from the mission leader and almost immediately felt better.

They also had a zone conference this week. It was a 3 hour trip for Elder Arko and Elder Werner. They took the train instead of driving since it was so far away. They spent practically the whole day out of their area and therefore caused them to not get as much work done.

Elder Arko doesn't remember if we ever saw this picture so here it is. It was after they moved the piano.

August 16th letter

Elder Arko emailed pretty early this morning. The Elders had some scheduling conflicts so they have a teach in the middle of their P-Day. That's how it goes sometimes, but the Elders will still have fun today don't you worry :)

The Elders have a pretty eventful week coming up. They had an old investigator that has been meeting with the missionaries for a while come back and he has a baptismal date right now. It's set for this Saturday, but there is still some stuff that needs to be cleared up before he is able to be baptized. Elder Arko asks that we keep James in our prayers. Then, they also have Zone Conference this week so Elder Arko is excited to see the whole zone again.

Elder Arko is enjoying himself a lot in Karlskrona. It's very fun for him to be back with people he already knows and doesn't have to get to know everyone over again.

Time goes by so fast. Elder Arko realized something the other week. He and another sister from his group are the oldest people in the whole Zone right now...isn't that crazy?! It feels so very strange that just a little while ago Elder Arko was teasing people for that, but now...

Since the Elders travel quite a bit, they travel by train. It costs a little bit more than it would to drive, but it cuts down on the miles on the car so the mission can keep them longer. Apparently the church has a policy that they sell cars after they get to a certain mileage so for zone conference we're taking the train in.

So, the Elders had a totally awesome missionary moment this week! Elder Arko and Elder Werner were walking and saw someone walking on the other side of the road and Elder Werner said, "lets contact this guy." Elder Arko agreed and they started over toward him to talk to him. The man just kept pointing to his ears and his mouth. The Elders didn't understand at first and then it dawned on them...he was deaf and mute! Can you imagine their surprise? Elder Arko was actually able to mildly communicate with him through the sign language alphabet he learned when he was younger. It was the most silent contact Elder Arko has ever had in his life! It was really cool for Elder Arko to see something so small he learned from that long ago help them out.

So the pictures, this is from the Zone activity they had last week

This is for us to see how Swedish lawns areyep those are all dandelions...they are not "weeds" in Sweden, but very beautiful flowers. Ha! Crazy Swedes!

Okay, that is all for this week ladies and gentlemen. Elder Arko hopes you are all doing well and know that he is doing great!

August 10th letter

Elder Arko apologizes for the tardiness of his reply, but they had to email today instead of yesterday for traveling reasons. Long story short, they had a zone activity in Helsingborg! It was quite the trip and it took a while, but it was nice for Elder Arko to see the whole zone.

Elder Arko is having a bunch of fun being back in Karlskrona. He's been able to see a lot of people that remember him. Some of them have forgotten, but a lot have remembered. In answer to a question from a family member, no Elder Arko didn't get to pick where he went. It was a complete surprise for him. Elder Arko told his Mission President he wanted to go back, but doubts President remembered that little comment over 4 months. Elder Arko really does feel he was suppose to go back. There are a couple people there Elder Arko really feels he can help and has already started seeing that since he's been there. He also thinks he'll be staying in Karlskrona another transfer, but of course, there's no guarantee.

The Elders had a ping pong day last transfer in Karlskrona, but it hasn't worked out too well yet this time around. They will still try and get it going since they think it will be great fun.

That's all for this week. He promises pictures next week :)

August 2nd letter

Elder Arko had a very busy week. He and the other secretaries did transfers so they had to figure out where everyone was moving, how to get them there, book train rides for people, and make sure everyone had a companion. Not to mention pack all his stuff up and get ready to move. They also had new missionaries coming in that needed to get through the whole process. Elder Arko was beat by the end of it, but is very glad to be out of the office and all the crazy stress.

Anyway, Elder Arko is back in Karlskrona now! Using the same little library he used before to send emails! So it's super exciting for him. Things have changed a little there, but the people are the same and it's a lot of fun for him.

Getting back to Karlskrona was quite the adventure! His train left Stockholm around 3:30pm for a 4 hour ride to Lund. About 30-45 minutes into the journey, the train pulled to a stop, which was weird because there was no platform or train station in sight. Next, the loud speaker came on and someone announced that they had to reboot the train's computer. The Elders waited patiently for about 5 minutes and then all the lights went out. The speaker came on again and they were told the train was broken down and they would have to wait for another train to pick them up.

During the confusion, they opened the doors to get some ventilation going since all the systems on the train were down. They asked some of the missionaries to stand guard at some of the doors so no one would try to get off or accidentally fall out. They must have looked official enough in their ties and Elder Arko was mistaken for a train worker.

Roughly 2 hours later the replacement train pulled up along side them. Remember, there was no platform...so they brought two ladders, one going down off the train they were on and one going up onto the other train. The missionaries became impatient and started throwing their suitcases off to each other and loading them onto the other. They also started doing it with other peoples' luggage. It seemed like the train people were appreciative of their help. Oh...and it was pouring rain! The Elders made it to Lund 3 hours and 58 minutes later than expected!

Elder Arko is now safe and sound in his area. They have a few fun people they are working with already, but for the most part they have a lot of time for finding work(at least compared to the last 4 months).

Elder Arko's companion, named Elder Werner, from Idaho. He's been in Sweden for 2 months so he's still kind of young, but it's been fun so far. It should be a really good transfer.

Now for some pictures. These are from one of Elder Arko's last member dinners in Täby. It was a lot of fun and the host is always a barrel of laughs.