October 4th letter

Conference was very enjoyable for Elder Arko. Luckily they had the opportunity to hear it in English. It was only broadcast to their church in Swedish, but the Elders were able to get permission to go into the library and stream the video live from the net. They also thought an English speaking investigator was going to be there, but sadly he didn't show up. The last time Elder Arko watched it in Swedish and he only got about a half page of notes. He realized how much better it is in your own language and now understands why the church goes through so much trouble to translate it. The Elders still haven't been able to watch the Sunday afternoon session so it's downloaded to Elder Arko's ipod so he can begin listening to it.

Well otherwise life has been pretty normal for Elder Arko. He and Elder Werner had to take all of Elder Werners stuff to Kristianstad, an hour and a half away, and then pick up Elder Arko's new companion who was coming in with Elder Werners new companion. Simple right? Well not really...they got a time 2 hours early so they ended up just looking for something to do in Kristianstad for 2 hours. It worked out in the end and Elder Arko is now back in his area with his new companion! His name is Elder Owens and is from Meza Arizona. He's been in Sweden for 2 or close to 3 months and it's been good so far. The Elders have found some new people already and may start teaching them soon.

It was way cool for Elder Arko to hear about Genesis, her Aunt, and friend going to visit his family. It is really strange because it feels like his worlds are colliding. His mission life just met his home life full force! It was really fun for him to hear about it though. The Elders were at Genesis' parents house on Sunday in between conference sessions for a visit and Genesis' family told Elder Arko, "It cost Genesis (X amount of dollars, the cost of her plane ticket) just to find out that your first name is Jeffrey"...they called him Jeffrey...it felt REALLY weird for Elder Arko to hear that again.

Elder Arko can't comprehend that he only has 2 transfers left!! The end is creeping up on him. Try not to get trunky folks! He's not :)