Merry Christmas

How is everyone doing? I hope all is going swell with everyone. This week was a great week just like every week. We have met lots of new great people and we are teaching them the good word.

On Saturdays we go to Mary's house. She is from Philippines and she makes enough food for an army. Then after we have dinner she pulls out the karaoke.  It is so funny. Syster larson and I sang Mamma Mia together it sounded wonderful. We are excited because we get to go to her house on Christmas.

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to go to a Lucia thing. It was really cute watching the little kids sing some songs. 

Well it is almost christmas and I am so excited! Not many people undersdand the meaning of Christmas. It has been a great opportunity for Syster Larson and I to share with them the true meaning of Christmas.  I am also so excited to see you all next week. I cant believe it is almost christmas. That is really wierd. 

Well life is going grand over here in Sweden. It has not been to cold this past week. I have no complaints. It looks like life at home is going well. Can't wait to see all the Christmas decor and of course see all of you. It looks like the Perryss went full out this christmas. 

So this is the last email before Christmas because we will not have p-day on Monday. So I will be skyping you all on Christmas Day at seven your time... is that okay with you guys? You are going to have to wake up early. Anyways I cant wait to talk to all of you! Love you all so much. Talk to you next week!!!

love emi

 Björn and I.  A great guy from Norway that we taught. 

Lia

I don't even know where to begin. This week was so weird and crazy. First I went on exchanges with Syster Chesley in Södertälija. It was really fun teaching the good people there.

Then on Thursday Syster Larson, Syster Sjöblom, Syster Smith and I for some reason thought that is was Thanksgiving last Thursday. So we were all so excited because we were going to district meeting and it was going to be a Thanksgiving party and some gospel learning obviously. Then we found out that Thanksgiving was not until this week. Very sad even though they do not celebrate Thanksgiving here. I did get your adorable thanksgiving card. It made my day! So happy thanksgiving this week. You are all so great! 

Alrighty so on Saturday President Newell calls us and tells us that he needs us to teach one of his old investigators from France about family history…I know nothing about family history. It was kinda scary teaching in front of President Newell. If you didn't know he was the embassador here in Sweden. He has worked with some of the greatest presidents and has some really neat stories and pictures. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met so it was all good.

Then we start teaching Lia (I think I told you her name was Ler but it is Lia) and she started crying because she can't afford her apartment anymore. So on Saturday night Syster Larson and I went and helped her move all her stuff and took it to the church. Then we took her to a members house because she doesn't know anyone here in Sweden. We are her only friends. While all this is going on President Newell calls our zone leaders who are helping us and tells them that Syster Larson and I are being transferred on Wednesday to Jorbro and Handen. So that is exciting. We actually live in Handen so it is not like we are going anywhere too far. So we will still live in the same apartment. It shall be a grand adventure. Oh then we get home and I come to realize that we had stored Lia's whiskey bottle in the primary room. So I was so scared that the primary room was going to smell like whiskey. Don't worry we are going to teach her about the word of wisdom today. So Sunday...the longest and craziest days ever. So Syster Larson and I decided we better go to church early to make sure that the primary room didnt smell like whiskey.  That could have been bad… don't worry the primary room didn't smell like whiskey and we got it out of there.

So after church we are  trying to figure out where Lia is going to stay since she knows no one and doesn't have an apartment. She is crying and is very stressed so we are trying to comfort her and I am not the best person when it comes to comforting people when they are crying. Syster Larson and I are so exhausted because we were going to both wards today and we had only been to one ward. So church is about to start for the other ward and Syster Larson and I don't even make it in to sacrament meeting because invesigators just kept coming in to church so we were greeting them. Then one invesigator runs out of church with a bloody nose and runs into the girls bathroom so we had to make sure no girls went into the girls bathroom. All the members were laughing at us because we had no idea what we were doing. At the same time we are trying to figure out what to do with Lia. Syster Larson gets asked by an invesigator if she will be his girlfriend. Don't worry she said no. Then President Newell calls us and says he is going to come visit our ward to see how things are going... Syster Larson and I just started laughing because it was a very crazy day. It was a good thing President called us because the nice man that he is helped us with Lia and we found a place for her to stay and all was well. It was a great day and it was the primary program in church so it was a good laugh. I dont really know how to explain the week to you but it is was a good week! 

Oh Lia is going to be baptized on December 13th but it will probably be sooner because she is just so grand. I'm sorry I dont even know how to explain the week. But it was an excellent week!  

Well I love you all so much, you don't even know! Hope you have a great week and a wonderful day of thanks on Thursday.

Love Emi Jane

Ler and Waseem

This week went by really fast and I cannot believe that it is Monday. So we had a great week and we met some great people named Miriam and Ler. Mirium is from Peru and had a baby about 8 months ago. She is very interested and said she is going to bring her husband next time. Ler is from Russia and we met her through her boyfriend. We contacted her boyfriend, Waseem, the first week I got here and taught him. One night we got a text from Ler (the girlfriend) saying some interesting words to us.  So we decided we should probably stop teaching Waseem. Then six weeks later we ran into Waseem again and he said that he would like to learn more and that he would bring his girlfriend. She is very sweet and was interested in the church once we explained what we do as missionaries.

So this week when I thought my Swedish was getting better I realized that I was contacting people with a Norwegian Book of Mormon. I didnt realize it until I went to share a scripture with someone and it looked different. Whoops! 

Syster larson and I are really good at inviting ourselves over to peoples houses for parties. It really is a good idea though because we talk to their friends who are the party about the gospel. So we went to a gathering this week for a member who just got home from her mission in Estonia. We talked with a few of her friends who were really interested in what we do as missionaries and want to come to church. So that was exciting for us. 

Well I hope you all have a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving day! I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo greatful for all of you. I hope Dougie has a great birthday! There are some great girls here in sweden that come home soon.

Anyways love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week! 

Love Emi Jane

Half Way Through Training

Well I have made it half way through my twelve week training! Basically I am a pro now. Syster Larson and I are staying here in Västerhaninge as well as our roomates Syster Sjöblom and Syster Smith. We are glad because we all get along very well and we get to spend Thanksgiving together. They dont celebrate Thanksgiving here obviously but the temple missionaries are going to have us over for a Thanksgiving dinner so we are excited about that. 

So this week has been rather interesting... so David was suppose to get baptized on Saturday. Two days before the baptism we call him and he said he decided to go out of town for 18 days. It was the wierdest thing but he said he took the Book of Mormon with him and that he wants to baptized when he gets back. So keep praying for him is the greatest human!!!! He is so ready to be baptized he often teaches Syster Larson and I during the lessons.  I think he went to Spain to go marry his girlfriend becasue he felt guilty that he had not married her yet. Who knows! 

Lets see what else. Today is probably one of the coldest days here. I am still trying to get use to the the sun going down at 4:00 and it is going to start going down even earlier. I keep thinking we are suppose to go to bed after we eat lunch. It kinda makes the day go longer but it is a great adventure!

They are starting to put all the Christmas decoration in Stockholm and is sooooooooo pretty. I am so excited for christmas. It is a big celebration here and it also means we get to talk in 6 weeks!!! 

So that is about it this week. Everything here in Sweden is great. I have a great trainer and we get along really well. My swedish is getting so much better! Never thought in my life i would be speaking swedish. I love and miss you all so much and remeber to love and server everyone.

Also tell decker that I ate moose this week and I thought of him because his family talked to us about hunting. 

love syster christison -emi jane

A Fantastic Week

Hej Hej

This week has been a fantastic week! Where do I even begin.So Syster Larson and I were waiting at the bus stop to go home just saying hi to everyone ya know because it is fun. So we said hi to this guy that walked passed us and he gave us a wierd look (like everyone always does) and then he asked us if we were Christian and we told him that we were. Then he was like "I knew it because you girls are so nice and had a glow about you." We dont usually get that response here. They usually start walking really fast or start running so we were shocked. Anyways he kept asking us questions and questions about the gospel and we ended talking about the gospel for over and hour. Oh the funny thing is that his name is Emmy who would of thought Emmy was a guys name. So after teaching him almost all the lessons we decided to ask him if he would prepare himself to be baptized and he said absolutly! We have scheduled a baptism for the 16th of November!!! 

Okay so yesterday(Sunday) Syster Larson and I had two appointmnets scheduled. One of them was a less active member who said he would come to church with us but he never came. Then right as we were walking into to church a member introduced us to David who she found walking around and said he wanted to go to church. He stayed for all three hours and he doesnt speak any English or Swedish just Spanish. So I whipped out the five Spanish words that I learned from the three years of Spanish I took. Luckily we had Ruben who is from Peru help translate for us. So after all three meetings of church we asked him if we could teach him more about our church and he said YES or SI. He was so excited about church and he was so happy during church! I could tell he was a very nice man even though we couldnt really communicate. So as we were teaching him and all the sudden (in spanish) he asked us if he could be baptized!  I knew right then that miracles really do happen. So we scheduled a baptism date for him on November 9th! The wonderful thing about it is that Rebun (the translator guy) Just got his call to Sweden (which is common even though he grew up here) is going to baptize David two days before he reports to the mtc. It was a great day!

It was nice and warm this week and we had day light savings on Sunday so we got to sleep in an extra hour. It was wierd though when we got out of church at 4 it is was really dark outside! I have come to realize that each Swedish meal consist of some type of fish with potatos and Känka bread with some cheese and butter.

Oh funny story so Syster Larson and I were at a memebers house for dinner and we were eating what i thought was chicken stew. Well after the dinner Syster Larson was like "I cant believe we just at quron." Well we both thought it was chicken but it is a substitute for chicken and it is made from fungi! She found out sooner becasue the family told her what it was in Swedish but I obviously did not catch that part of the conversation.

Well I hope you had a great week! I am loving my mission and I am so grateful I get to talk and meet wonderful Swedish people each day. They are some of the greatest people I know and they make me laugh. I really do love them very much and I know that this church is true with all my heart!

I Love and miss you all so much!

Love emi

(Syster Christison)

Ricky Benz

Hello Family! 

How is everyone doing?! It is so cold here!!!! It seems to get colder and colder each day and darker and darker each night. I am not ready for it to be cold. This week was kinda slow and hard. We have no one to teach! We go contacting all day which I love but I wish we could teach someone. We did meet a famous person named Ricky Benz. He is from Jamaica and is a famous singer. So we told him about the Book of Mormon and he said he wanted to read this book so we gave him one. Kinda cool that we got to teach someone famous...I don't know if he is famous but he told us to look him up and come to his concerts which we cant.  What can you do. 

So the other day Syster Larson and I decided to go and visit a less active member on the island Dalirö, one of the prettiest places I have ever been. So I started talking to this lady on the bus is Swedish and half way through the conversation I was so lost. So Syster Larson casually came and sat by me to help me out. Anywho so we were talking to this lady and we realized we had missed our bus stop. So we went all the way out to Dalirö Lake. It was so pretty! The next bus didn't leave for 40 minuets so we just walked around and looked at the pretty place. So then when we got off the correct bus stop there was only farm land... not a single human was on the streets. So we followed the spirit aka went to the only house in the whole town and found out it was the right house! Sadly she was not home so we are going to have to make another trip out there. 

Well that is about it this week oh wait I had fish stew this week at a members house. This was  nasty. I don't even know what kind of fish it was or what part of the fish. Then they gave us trukish mints they taste like black licorice with some spices. I don't really know how to describe it other than it was interesting.

Well I love you all so much! Hope all is going swell for you guys. Today Syster Larson and I are going to take a little trip to Stockholm so it should be a grand day!

Love Emi

Syster Christison

Hej Hej

So this week has been great! A funny thing happened to my foot. So you know how my wrist and fingers and ankles are really flexible. Well somewhere somehow I sprained my ankle like I always do. This time it started hurting and it became swollen so we decided to go to the doctor. So the doctor was feeling the ankle that wasn’t hurt and he said wow you must have sprained your ankle many times. I told him I have never sprained my ankle(not that I know of)then he told me to stick my thumbs out and he was like oh you just have weird joints. Giggles! He told me I should have done gymnastics. Anywho the foot is all better so that is good. I didn’t think I needed to go to the doctor but I do as I am commanded. The weirdest things happen. 

We did a lot of contacting this week. Not very many lessons but contacting is always a hoot. This week Syster Larson and I split of from each other in the trains. Meaning I had to go and talk to people in Swedish all by my self! It was interesting... I can start the conversation and say much more in Swedish but once they start talking I am so lost so I just start talking about the gospel. I am getting better at picking up certain words and then I guess what they are talking about. For our service project this week we planted flowers at the temple. It was a great time and it looks really pretty.

The members are really nice here and they take great care of us. We have had great dinners. I have notice that Swedish dinners consist of potatoes and salad with tons of veggies in them. I ate some salmon, some pasta, Swedish meat balls with lindon berries and some veal. They eat a lot of klad cluka here. It is basically brownie dough with some whip cream on top. It is delicious! I tried some calviar the other day it was so nasty. It comes in a tube like toothpaste. I have no idea why people would eat fish eggs.

So I had to share my testimony in church on Sunday it was kinda scary. The ward here is really big so that is good. We met this girl named Harriet on the bus she is from Uganda(they are always nice and accepting to hear our message) and said she wanted to come to church with us. So we told her to meet us at the train and she really did come to church with us on Sunday. We even gave her a Book of Mormon and she was so happy! After church we realized she lived in the other missionaries area so we had to give her to them. 

Well it sounds like everything at home is going swell. Will you send me some pictures please! I also figured out how to send pictures but I left my camera cord in the apartment so I will have to send them to you next week. I am so sorry I am not the best person when it comes to pictures. I have been taking a lot of pictures though! Lisa would be proud. It is really pretty here all the leaves are falling of the trees and it is getting colder and colder each day. 

I love you all so much and miss you all. Thanks for being the greatest people! The Utah game sounds like it was so great. I really miss it but I am glad the Utes are doing well. Anything else exciting going on at home?? Don’t worry mom I am careful we are getting reflectors so cars can see us and we take the train and bus so we can talk to people.

Love Emi

(Syster Christison)

Sweden Bound

Hej hej 

I made it to Sweden!!!! It really is so beautiful here!!! All the leaves are changing colors it is just so great to finally be here. So my first day here i was so exhausted. We arrived at 7:30 in the morning so we had a full day ahead of us. We went on a little tour of Stockholm, Sweden. It was a grand time. I learned that you need to watch out for bikers.... I almost ran into like twenty of them. Then we went out and contacted....haha it was funny. Thankfully president Newell let us go to bed at 7:30.

On Wednesday we met our trainers and our area! I am serving in västerhaninge. This is where the temple is located so I get to walk by the beautiful temple all day everyday. I have a fabulous trainer named Syster Larson from Florida. The best part was seeing Adelide and Caleb Farley! I also thought that Adelide was going to be my trainer that would have been so funny and great! Oh well all is good maybe someday we will be companions and spread the gospel everywhere! It was such a grand surprise to see them! It is so nice to see familiar faces. Tell Becky Farley I say hi and that Caleb is the greatest.

So my first week in Sweden has been so great. I am just trying to figure everything out still. My Swedish is coming along I honestly cant understand people that well so I just nod my head up and down then ask my companion what they be sayin. Usually when we say hej hej to someone they either keep walking or they ask if we know them. The Swedish people are very reserved but we will fix that. Our bike seats got stolen at the train station so we are mostly on foot. This is the best way to contact people. For example, the other day we met this guy named kaffi he is from America. He actually stopped us and said he has read about joseph smith and is interested. That is always a great thing to hear! So we is gonna go teach him so more about the good word. 

We had the opportunity to watch three sessions of conference. Conference is always a grand time. I learned lots from it hope you all did to. Well i hope all is going swell at home. Life here in Sweden is just a grand good time! I am gonna go buy me some winter boots now.

Jag älske dig!

Vi-sees 

Syster Christison 

(Emi Jane)