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 :)

September 29th letter

Elder Arko is feeling much better this week. Last week was kind of the recovery week for him. About his companion, there will soon be a new on in Elder Arko's life. Elder Werner is leaving to a place called Kristianstad which is about an hour and a half away. Elder Arko will be getting a new one who has only been out for 2 months! Elder Owens is from Arizona and this will be his second area so Elder Arko is excited and thinks it will be a lot of fun! Elder Owens has a reputation of being pretty cool, so we'll see how it goes down. Yes, this means Elder Arko will be staying in Karlskrona for another 2 months :) which is completely fine by him. He's happy as a clam...(if clams really are that happy).

Elder Arko is really excited for the family to meet Genesis. He's bummed that so many people he cares so much about will all be in Utah together, and he won't be there, but that's how it is.

The Elders have had some fun teaching a few new people, but it has been slightly hard to find people since it's starting to get cold again. Contacting isn't the best idea since it has been rainy a few days and windy a lot! Elder Arko has tried to go without a jacket, but that didn't fly. It's back to fall weather which means it will be followed quickly by winter. He still has his long johns though so he'll be fine :)

The Elders have been having some good work with one lady that lives kinda far away. She is really close to quiting coffee and tea so hopefully it won't be long until she is ready to be baptized. This is another one that is a long time coming, but will be good when it happens...hopefully this next transfer! Elder Arko is way excited!

Here are some pictures of the Elders

September 20th letter

Elder Arko has had another fun week. They had zone conference in Helsingborg on the 16th and a stake conference in Malmö on the 19th. Luckily, they didn't have to travel all the way to Malmö because they had a video uplink for them in Kristianstad. Still a ways to travel, but not as bad as Malmö.

Elder Arko was really sad to hear about Max Wood, a family friend a neighbor, passing away. Elder Arko remembers that it was at the Wood's place where he was first able to participate in a Priesthood blessing. That was pretty special to him.

It's transfer week so Elder Arko will be finding out his fate this week. He's got a feeling he might be staying this time which would be AWESOME! The area is doing well and the Elders might start up an institute class or get something like that going. They also might have a few people getting ready for baptism which would be super cool.

The Elders are working with quite a few less actives right now. Sometimes people don't want contact with the ward, but they'll let the missionaries come over so it's a nice way to get in with them. The Elders work closely with their ward mission leader who is a great help to them. Elder Arko really likes him. They need to use the ward members more though. Their member teaches have gone way down which is very sad.

Elder Arko had a new experience this week. The Elders went and spoke to an English class at a high school in Karlskrona. It was fun because the kids got to learn a little about American culture and "Mormons" which was fun for Elder Arko. They also got to carify some of the 'American stereotypes' like "is everyone there really
fat?" ha ha. High school!

Well, that's all for the week. Elder Arko sends his love!

September 13th letter

This week has been a good one for Elder Arko. He had a little bit of a cold or
something the past few days which made for a really rough Sunday. Trying to stay awake when he was REALLY tired was hard. However, he is doing better now, and whatever it was seemed to be going around their district.

The Elders had some fun these past few days in a town called Ronneby. They were teaching a man who is a student they had known before. While the Elders were teaching him the first lesson, one of his friends walked in. The man just motioned him to sit down...then another friend walked in...he did the same and they sat down as well...and then a third time! So, they had 4 people in on that teach and it was a fun experience. One they don't get much over there in Sweden.

The Elder had another day where all their appointments for the day just cancelled on them, so that was kind of a bummer, but it happens. They did have some fun helping a women their branch weed and get her garden ready for summer. Other than that, not
a lot has happened. Just regular missionary work that has been good, but a little slow.

Oh! Genesis was "in röstad" or sustained a member yesterday in sacrament meeting so that was a fun little experience. Elder Arko can't believe she's a member now and thinks it's way cool!

Elder Arko has heard a missionary's letters get shorter and shorter as they near the end of their missions...isn't that strange? Well it's true in his case!

Here is Elder Arko's companion in his new bowler hat. It seems to suit him well :)

September 6th letter

Elder Arko had an amazing and busy week including a very special experience. He'll explain later, but first the trivial stuff. Elder Arko cut his hair this week so he's not all shaggy like before. The Elders helped an investigator clean out her basement so she could get rid of mold that was starting down there and that went rather well. She got rid of a lot of it so that was helpful for her.
The weather in Karlskrona has been nice and mild and Elder Arko is still wearing short sleeve shirts most of the time.

Okay, now for the big news! The Elders had one of their investigators, Genesis, call them on Wednesday and say she had something to tell them. They were a little worried and told her they had time right then and went over. Genesis and her family have a very special place in Elder Arko's heart. Anyway, she told the Elders, just basically kind of blurting it out, "I want to be baptized!" She also wanted to be baptized rather quickly...she was confirmed yesterday and baptized the day before. So, the Elders had a busy week of organizing a baptism. Her mom helped a lot and the branch really came through for them. It was such a cool thing for Elder Arko to be a part of it. Here they are right after the baptism.

Elder Arko was very excited about this. It was so cool for him to see someone who was ready to finally take the step. It was amazing and Elder Arko thanks Heavenly Father for blessing everyone involved. Elder Arko is really really happy.

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.