Week 24 and end of my 3rd transfer‏

26 Jan 2015

Hello all,

So this is the beginning of my 4th of 16 transfers in the mission (I just found out this past week that they are called Transfers in English, not changes...) I still have not moved from this ward, and Elder Larson is still my companion.  I will spend about 1/4 of my mission in this one ward and it`s so cool because I`ve seen the progress it has had!!  I love watching this ward grow slowly, and the people are so nice!!

So one of the major things that my comp and I focused on this week was finishing the transfer well, and it`s great that we worked on that.  We had so much success and we did so much!  We had the opportunity to go to the Temple with a few of our investigators who are going to be baptized soon, which was so amazing!!  They really enjoyed it and we`re going to teach them again later today.  We also found a lot of inactive members just at random.  We knocked on houses and they told us something along the line of "it`s been so long since my baptism" and it surprised us because we didn`t know they were members, but after further questioning we found out they were.  It`s amazing how the Lord guides us to people who we never expected to find.  Just yesterday we went to visit a less active member, but she wasn`t home.  We were a little bit annoyed because we hadn`t visited her in far too long, but we decided to go visit another.  On the way, we found one lady who we talk to on the streets a lot and she asked if we could come in and say a prayer with her family.  If we had had the lesson with the less active member, we would not have encountered her.  The Lord has done that a lot for us.  We have one lesson that is important canceled and then we find out later that if we had the lesson we couldn`t have helped someone else.  

This week has been great for me, and I hope it has been amazing for you all.  I leave you all with my testimony of how true this church is, and the Christ knows us perfectly and knows exactly how to help each and every one of us.  He loves us beyond our belief as does His Father, our Father, does too.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

Week ummm..... mom says 23 so 23‏

Hello everyone!!

So this week was very cool, we worked a lot!  We had a lot of meetings and things we had to do that got in the way of working, but we still had a lot of lessons for the little amount of time we had!  I must give a lot of credit to my awesome companion, of whom is always working!!  I`m trying to become more like him and always stay on focus of what I need to be doing!!  It`s working.  I`m working.  We`re working. And we`re happy!!

Yesterday was my first day ever playing the piano in front of a meeting on a Sunday.  It was fun!!  I only know 6 hymns though, and they only wanted me for 1.  But I will be practicing in the church today to learn hopefully at least 3 more!!  It`s so much fun!!

So this week we had a Zone Conference which was really cool!  But at the same time a lot of the missionaries weren`t too happy.  Recently we have been told we are not to drink caffine in the mission.  That`s not a church rule, it`s a rule of the mission president, but I personally like it.  It does help that I don`t drink it too much anyways...  But also at this zone conference we watched the movie Meet the Mormons, which is such a cool movie!!  I loved to see the people in it and how the church has blessed their lives so much!!  I`d recommend it to everyone.

Actually this movie has changed my perspective on talking to people.  The problem I have here is I see people in the personal state (judging them) which I should not do!  Instead I`ve been trying to picture them with all the blessings they could have if they just had this message.  The blessings of making covenants with the Lord, the happiness it brings, the blessings on the family.  That`s one of the ones I`ve been focusing on a lot actually!!  Family!  God loves us and because of his perfect love for us, he gave us families.  Families are here to give us happiness, to help and support us, and to love.  And when we are following in His path, he will bless our families.  I have seen that growing up all my life!  I know that families are esscential to His plan, and I know he loves the system of the family.  I love my family and I hope you all love yours too.  I hope you all have an amazing week, and I love you all.  In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

Week 22

Dear everyone,

So this week was really long and really slow.  We had a lot to do and not much of it had to do with the mission.  I had to do the paperwork to be in the country leagally and that literally took me 12 hours in one day and I`m not even finished, I finish it all off on Tuesday.  The process here is like 100% worse than the DMV...  

But I had the blessing of learning as I always do.  I love to learn especially more about how I can come closer to God.  I`ve been doing a lot of reading of the Book of Mormon this week to keep up with the mission`s goal of finishing it before May 31st.  And the more I read, the more I learn, the more I gain a stronger testamony.  and in this work, that is a huge tool to have, a testamony.  I`m glad I have mine.  I know that this book is true, and I know that it contains the fullness of the gospel.  I know it was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith through the power of God.  I know the prophets who wrote it are true prophets and I know that they wrote it through the inspiration of God.  I`ve come so much closer to my Heavenly Father through this book and through this church, I know that they are both true.  I know that the Book of Mormon and the Bible work together the teach us everything we need to know to return to live with Him.  I`ve learned that as I`ve worked everyday using them both and seeing how well they compliment each other.  

Now I encourage you all to not just take my word for it.  Try reading it for yourself. (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng)  Search for it`s truth.  Read it to see what message it carries.  Ponder about the things it says.  And ask God if what it says is true.  This is the most important part.  God wants us all to come closer to Him.  When He sees that we are, and that we are looking for an answer He will answer us.  I know that.  So try it.  I leave you all with these things in the name of my saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Forsgren

NEW YEAR - Week 21

5 Jan 2015

Hello everyone, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I don´t know about you guys but I slept through ours... haha  It had been a long day and I was ready for it to end.  However my message to you guys is about the importance of the New Year and looking forward.

So the story I will use to express this is Lot´s Wife in Genesis.  This story is about Lot and his family having to leave Sodom and Gomorrah and were commanded to not look back on the cities.  But what happened was that the wife of Lot looked back at the city behind her and was turned into a pillar of salt.  What I´d like to use this story is to explain what we need to do for the New Year.  Now Lot´s wife did have a reason, she had to move homes.  She probably left some very valuable things behind, both of temporal value and of emotional.  But she didn´t have the faith that the Lord would bless her and her family in the path coming up.  I´d like to encourage you all to look forward.  To have faith that the Lord will bless you and make your life in the upcoming year so much better.  

Another thing is we have the atonement exactly for this reason.  So that we don´t have the need to look back.  With the power of the Atonement of Christ and repentance we can have a clean sheet for our lives.  We can keep our eyes on the path the living with God in the Celestial Kingdom.  That really should be where we are looking.  This is the message we shared for the New Years with a few of the members from church.  Keep your eyes focused on the goal; don´t let the past distract you.  

I love you all and wish you un prospero año y mucho felizidad!!

Con amor,

Elder Forsgren

Week 20 and FELIZ NAVIDAD‏

29 Dec 2014

Dear all,

So this week was Christmas!!  That means I had the wonderful and blessed opportunity to skype home this past Thursday!!  It was such an amazing experience to see my family and to be able to talk with them!!  I enjoyed it probably a bit more than I should have because by the time 1 hour was over it felt like 5 minutes.  But all is well, and I look forward to being able to skype home again in May!!  

Also this week I had a huge strengthening in my testimony of "Pray always, that ye may come off conqueror; yea, that ye may conquer Satan, and that ye may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work" (Doctrine and Covenants 10:5).  This happened primarily on Christmas Eve:  So the morning of Christmas Eve we had a District Class that went on forever (because it was the day before Christmas, all the missionaries had a White Elephant gift exchange).  But so naturally that day we got lost trying to get back to the house and We were about 3 miles away...  So that was really frustrating to the both of us, and we were walking in almost 100 degree weather.  So the entire time bad thoughts about my companion began to enter my mind, which is of the Devil and I knew it.  Especially because he had done nothing wrong.  So I noticed the Devil had been putting these thoughts in my mind and I wasn´t trying to get rid of them.  So I began to pray in my heart.  Just as we were walking.  Praying primarily that the thoughts would leave my head, but other then that about anything I could.  I was just talking to God about anything I could think of, and I was enjoying it.  Eventually I asked if the Lord could bless us physically by making the heat more bearable.  Nothing happened...  I then asked the Lord, "Is my faith not sufficient for this small task?"  and I asked again if He could make the heat more bearable.  Again nothing happened.  So I changed the question:  I asked instead if He could bless me with the faith to be willing to suffer through the heat to work for Him.  Just at that time we walked around a corner and a wall of cool fresh wind hit us.  It was amazing!!  I felt so much more refreshed and had the energy to go the rest of the way home.  The entire rest of the way home I thanked and praised the Lord silently and humbly.  

I realized that day that I had not done enough to show my faith to the Lord earlier.  I didn´t talk to Him often enough and I didn´t show that I was doing this for Him.  I needed that attitude to be willing to do anything for Him.  I bear my testimony that through prayer and faith the Lord WILL bless you.  He WILL respond.  The rest of this week I´ve spent as much time as I can talking with the Lord in my head.  I´m trying to come closer to Him in any way I can, and the best way to do that is to talk to Him.  Just like the best way to become closer to anyone is to talk with them and to do things with them, I challenge you all to talk to Him throughout your day and to keep Him with you while you do the things in your life.  I promise you will feel His divine presence and you will come closer to Him.

I wish you all an amazing week and hope you all try and come closer to your Father in Heaven.  I leave you with my humble testimony.

In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Elder Forsgren

Week 19

22 Dec 2014

Hey everyone!!

This week we had so much happen in just one week it was insane!!  To start our, we´ve been sharing the message He is the Gift with almost everyone in preparation for Christmas!!  Also my companion works so hard it´s so weird!!  I thought we were working hard before he came and now I´m so dead tired it´s awesome!!!  And we also had 3 baptisms in our stake yesterday!!!!  It was so amazing!!!!  And finally there was an awesome Stake activity yesterday!!!

So to start off, my companion is probably one of the most obedient missionaries I´ve ever met.  I´ve been trying to keep up but it´s so hard to do!!  I´m loving it, but for the first few days I was having trouble thinking good thoughts of him because he changed just about everything.  But yesterday I got to see the fruits of what he was doing and I just felt the Spirit so strongly when I noticed.  I´m trying to follow his example as best I can, and I´m seeing so many blessings.  It´s amazing.

We also had 3 baptisms in our stake yesterday, and one of them is someone I´ve been working with since my first week in the mission!!  It´s so amazing to see how he has changed!!  I´m truly amazing to see his progress and I know that he could not have done it without the divine help from God.  He´s been searching for the Gospel all his life and when he found it he devoted himself to it.  And one thing I know to be true now: It was not us teaching him; it was God teaching him through the Spirit, we were just the tools.  I noticed that early on, because without the Spirit there he did not progress, and he did not want to either.  When the Spirit was with him he changed everything.  He´s doing so well and he has such a strong testimony.

And lastly we had a Christmas Stake activity that was amazing and all the wards sang a different Christmas Hymn.  At the end we watched the He is the Gift video.  I felt the spirit so strong as did everyone else.  I´d like to invite you all to watch the video and then try doing what it says: Discover the Gift, Accept the Gift, and the Share the Gift.  It will bring blessings upon you, I promise you all that, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Forsgren