Sister Edholm - week 8

I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

This week literally came out of nowhere! We haven't been getting that much success lately and really only been able to teach each other in role plays, but this week changed that we set up so many qualified appointments, more than we have seen we got here! 

One of those appointments we taught on Saturday night, his name is James, we told him to meet us by this motor company because he wasn't quite sure where our church was, so we were going to meet him there and then walk up to the church with him, so we were waiting by the motor company and we see this guy waving and it was him! He gets to us and says, I found your church and I was waiting there, but decided to come down and get you guys, he had gone there an hour early, he was so excited for our lesson. He wants to change his life around, because of some things he had done in the past and he ate up everything we were saying and he accepted a baptismal date! We gave him the baptismal calendar and he started to cry! Isn't that amazing!! What a miracle!

We called James the next morning to see if he was coming to church and he said he couldn't make it because he had an inspection of his flat, but that he was shattered! He had been up all night reading the Book of Mormon and said it is such a great book!

I am so incredibly grateful for the miracles we are getting!!

On monday we were bored after we got all our shopping done in the p-day and we hung out with a ward missionary Fiona, pictures below! She took us to Gourock, in my opinion the prettiest part of our area.

Hope you all have fantastic weeks!

Sister Edholm

Stock photo of her area, it's beautiful!

Sister Edholm - week 7

LOVE

Hello wonderful people who read my emails!

This week has been great! We got a new investigator which is awesome! She is our Branch Mission Leader's girlfriend, she didn't accept baptism, because she wants to make sure that this is her decision and that she isn't just doing this because her boyfriend and his family are members. Which fair enough, that is a good reason not to accept. It is personal conversion and we all go at different paces.

We had a pretty funny experience this week. Last week I told you guys about Gordon our super golden potential, well we taught him this week and it went really well, it was like those perfect role plays that you do, he answered the way that we practiced he would answer and he was really opened minded about the whole things, just a really normal cool guy. Anyway later that day and the next day, we found out that he was in love with my companion Sister Truman. Our joint teach had told him that missionaries move around a lot and that Sister Truman is going home in March, he was really sad about that. We asked him if he was still interested in hearing more of our message and he said, yes he is really open minded, but really the only reason he would want to would be to be in her company... lol obviously he wasn't as golden as we thought.

Our week was pretty snowy though, yesterday we had a blizzard and they shortened church because of it, so that people could get home safely. We went to a members house for lunch and they drove us there after church, they live in Kilmacolm, which takes a little while to get to anyway, but with the snow it took even longer because tons of people were stuck up hills, so we had to go a roundabout way, but we eventually got there. They are really nice, there son is a return missionary and he served with my companion's brother in France, pretty cool, small world.

Love you all!!

Have a Spirit led week!

Sister Edholm

*Additional info Emma shared with me:

It is cold, it is definitely a different kind of cold, in Fahrenheit it is probably only like 20 22 degrees, but it feels worse than -40 sometimes, it just seeps into your skin, especially when you're out walking in it for 5 hours+. But that's okay winter is winter. 

I love being on a mission, it is definitely the greatest thing I have ever done and I have learned so much about myself and from the scriptures! 

Sister Edholm - week 6

THERE'S MORMONS ON THE BUS!

Hello!

I feel like my emails have been pretty lacking lately because 1: I'm the worst at coming up with things to say and 2: Every week is pretty much the same lol.

BUT this week was different and I am also making up for my lack of pictures lately with pictures AND a video so..

This week we literally had a miracle qualified appointment, we were chapping and we usually go back and get a bus at around 11:45 so that we can be back at our flat and eat lunch at 12, but today we just really felt like we should go until 12 and then hop on a bus, so we did. We had knocked this one door and we were a few houses down, when this guy comes out and says, "Did you knock on my door?" and we say yes and say our little shbeel and we walk over to his house and talk more to him and he is really interested and gives us his number and we call it, so that he has ours (and so that we can make sure it isn't a fake number) but he doesn't have his phone on him. Anyway we get on the bus and Sister Truman says that she thinks that his number was fake because it wouldn't connect, but we check and it is a real number! When we get home he texts us and is super excited about our appointment with him and asks us for a website to look up more information on (even though we did give him a card so he technically already had it, but that's okay). Anyway it was a miracle and I think that this appointment will actually go through for once!! So excited!! Oh also you know that he is super potential because guess what his name is?...GORDON!

Okay now for the funny story. 

We were waiting for the bus a couple nights ago and this drunk guy comes up and is talking to us and he asks us who we are and we say that we are missionaries and he says, "Oh MORMONS!" and we are like yep. The bus comes and we all get on and then when it starts going he yells, "THERE'S MORMONS ON THE BUS!!" and then he swears and then says, "You can't swear in front of a Mormon it's bad luck!" It was hilarious lol.

Also it was the worst wind/rain storm last night and we were drenched and looked hilarious, but Sister Truman won't let me send the pictures, so just imagine how bad it was lol

Okay so this video is the song that I made up for Sister Truman while we were waiting at the bus stop, but we changed it a little so that it was about all missionary work. It is the result of what happens when no one wants to listen to us and we are forced to talk to each other, lol jk, but sometimes it does feel like we are going crazy. 

Sit back relax, maybe get some popcorn and ENJOY!

Have a great week everybody!!
Sister Edholm

*Her video was too big to attach in the email so she will try to upload it in a different way next week and not all her pictures came through either.*

Our Warrior basketball player--Andy

Basketball season at Worland High School is well on it's way!  The team is improving with each game and currently their record is 2-3 with no conference games yet. Andy,number 12, is a starter on the varsity team and looking more mature as a player all the time. Here are some photos that were taken by a professional photographer that comes to the games. Andy doesn't like all the pictures, but I think it captures his intensity and drive as he plays.

The players and coaches

Sister Edholm - week 5

3 is the Magic Number

We have had some great experiences this week. A lot of the experiences I have had have been during my personal study time. I have learned so many things from the Book of Mormon, every time I read it I have a new and better understanding of the concepts that are being taught.

Earlier this week I was reading in 2 Nephi and I think it was in chapter 2 somewhere earlier in the chapter, but it might have been chapter 1... I don't remember and I didn't bring my scriptures to the library so I can't look it up, oh well. Anyway it was talking about how we need opposition in all things, I read the Book of Mormon with the institute manual because it goes verse to verse and breaks it down further, so I read that and then I looked at it in the manual and Bruce R. McConkie had a quote in it and he said that sometimes when we have opposition, we think that it is because we are being disobedient, but when we aren't being disobedient, it is because Heavenly Father wants us to grow more and that is how we grow, by having opposition. I thought that was so cool, I knew that that is how we grow, but that if we think about it this way, how much easier will it be for us to go through our struggles, if we know this exact concept. Anyway there's a little spiritual message for this week, ENJOY!

Now to explain the title of this weeks email. We have not been reaching our goals for qualified appointments at all, we haven't been seeing much success and all of the appointments we have set up have not gone through. On Saturday night we were talking to our District Leader and he told us to the next morning say a prayer for daily planning like usual, but then when we see how many finding hours we have, to say another prayer to ask for help and ask Heavenly Father how many qualified appointment we should put down. We had 4 finding hours. We said a prayer and Sister Truman got a number, but I didn't, so I said another prayer, still nothing, said another prayer and I got the number 3, she said she had the number 1, so we said another prayer and we both got 3. We wrote it in our planners. Anyway we went through out our day and time kept getting cut away from our finding time and we really didn't think we were going to get 3 QAs. At the end of the day we didn't, BUT we have only had 1 dinner appointment since we have been here and 1 lunch appointment. That day we got 3 dinner appointments and one of them is with a nonmember. So see 3 may have seemed like a high number to us, but we ended up getting 3 dinner appointment instead of 3 qualified appointments.

Also on Sunday, a missionary that had served in this area was visiting with her family and gave us a lot of really helpful information! We also went by a less actives house last night and we are going back over on Thursday night to have a family night with them, pretty exciting week planned ahead!

Anyway, sorry this weeks email was so long!

Love you all and have a great week!

Sister Edholm xoxo

Sister Edholm - week 4

These past two weeks have been an adventure. We just relaxed, watched movies, and played a lot of games at the Senior Missionaries home on Christmas and Boxing Day. The rest of the week was filled with finding, we are trying to widen our teaching pool, since it's about zero right now.

I'm the pianist of the branch, the branch we are serving in is only about 30 people. The Branch President is really cool, his son is the branch mission leader. 

On New Years we had our first dinner appointment and we had steak pie and haggis. Yes I tried haggis for the first time, and it wasn't that bad, it just tasted like well spiced meat. I am now a Scottish missionary. I just need to try blood sausage/pudding. 

We have 2 qualified appointments this week!

Anyway I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years, xoxo

Sister Edholm

Year in books, 2017 edition

I am sad to say that my reading list for 2017 is rather short!  I was entrenched in graduate school and working and finishing my internship and the time for reading fiction just didn't happen very often. I did get a few audiobooks listened to as I drove to Cody for my internship.  I found that there were many books I started listening to, but never finished as they just weren't holding my interest enough and with my shortened time to read I didn't want to spend it on books where I wasn't engaged in the story and characters.  The big total for 2017 is a mere 22 books.  I'm hoping 2018 will hold many more than that number.

Adult Fiction:
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
I've always wanted to read this book and the drive to Cody gave me the opportunity to listen to the audio version. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it gave me a lot to ponder on and led to some rich discussions with Brian. Listening to it gave me the advantage to think about the themes in the book in more detail as I sometimes read too fast and miss those nuances. Highly recommend

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
The Washakie Museum here in Worland had an exhibit about the local ghost towns and part of the exhibit showcased Heart Mountain in Powell, WY. This was a Japanese internment camp during WWII.  I had a friend loan me this book and it really opened my eyes to the plight of Japanese Americans during WWII.  This story focuses on a Chinese American boy and a Japanese American girl and their friendship and choices they must make. Highly recommend

Killer Party by Lyn Cahoon
Here is another installment of my favorite mystery indulgence, Tourist Trap Mysteries. I think this series will be coming to an end soon and I will have to find another mystery series to lose myself in. Any suggestions out there? Highly recommend (just because I love it so much, not because it's an example of excellent writing or anything!)

Teen Fiction:
I read a few series this year, not all of them got good reviews from me. Some I kept reading just because I needed to know how everything was resolved.


Lynburn Legacy Trilogy: Unspoken, Untold, and Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
Gothic romance/fantasy series. In a small town in England, wizards make the residents do as they tell them. One family of wizards tries to stop them. It started out well, great plot and characters. By the time I started the last book, Unmade, the violence was just too much for me and I skipped the entire middle part and read the last few chapters.  I felt it was drawn out too long and the story could have been told in two books instead of three, especially if some of the graphic violence was left out.


The Girl of Fire and Thorns series: The Girl of Fire and Thorns, The Crown of Embers, and The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson
Rae Carson is one of my new favorite authors. Her fantasy series are full of drama and action that leads me to stay up too late to finish the books. In this series Elsa must use her powers that come from a Godstone to save her kingdom. She is an unlikely heroine, her sister is much more refined than she is and she has been sheltered much of her life, and yet she rises to the occasion and becomes a great leader for her people. Highly recommend

Under the Never Sky series: Under the Never Sky, Through the Ever Night, and Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi
This series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where people have had to stay inside pods to survive. I listened to all these books on my drive. The narrator for the first and third books was the same and she did a fine job. The narrator for the second book grated on me, which was a frustration. The story follows Aria as she is thrown out of the pod and has to learn to survive in the world whose atmosphere makes it difficult to survive. This series moved well enough to keep me listening to the end, but just because I really wanted to know how it would end. The ending was satisfying, but there were parts I didn't enjoy. I give this book an average rating. I did hear that Warner Brothers has bought the film rights so you may see this in the theaters. I'm not sure I'd want to watch it, however.

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson (Book 1 in the Gold Seer Trilogy)
Another beginning of a great series for Rae Carson. This time the setting is the California Gold Rush. The main character has a magical talent for "hearing" where gold is buried. This puts her in danger of others who want to use that talent for their own gain. More than the magical aspect of this book I enjoyed the pioneer trek narrative as she traveled across the country to California. A story well told. Highly recommend

The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski (The Winner's Trilogy, Book 3)
I started this series a while ago and finally got around to finishing it. The first book is The Winner's Curse and I really enjoyed it. The series ended well too, which is a plus. This is a typical fantasy story set in an alternate world with two kingdoms battling it out. The two main characters are likable and have good chemistry which is the best thing about the series. Good solid fantasy series.

Ruined by Amy Tintera (1st in a series)
I picked this book up while I was in the Pittsburgh airport waiting for my flight to Denver.  I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it.  It does have a fair amount of killing in it, but I didn't seem to really focus on that as the plot moved quickly and the main characters had good chemistry. That being said I'm not sure I'm going to continue reading the series as I started the second book, Avenged and it is a bit too blood thirsty for me. 

Some stand alones:
Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore
I really liked reading Splendor Falls by Clement-Moore and so when my sister told me about this book, I was excited to jump in. It did not disappoint. In a nutshell it's about getting rid of a ghost, but along the way some romance is thrown in which spices it up perfectly. Set in modern times, it's a nice spooky love story.

The Hundred Lies of Lizzy Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti
This is the Big Read for Overdrive (the online library that I download my ebooks and audiobooks from) for 2017.  It is a realistic fiction about a girl who is coming to terms with another girl from high school and how she effects her life. I would go into more detail, but it would spoil the plot for everyone. It is very well written, but has some language and immorality involved that I would tell people about before I recommended it.

Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist
This is an interesting story about a boy who is blind and who has the opportunity to have an operation that may restore his sight. I loved the insights into the blind world and the issues that were brought up that I had never known about. A great realistic fiction choice.

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith
Alice wants to buy her best friend a lottery ticket for his 18th birthday, and guess what?  He wins. Life changes dramatically for both her and him and their friends. This story moved along well and I felt it was a realistic look into what would happen if an 18 year old won the lottery. There is romance thrown in, of course. Good solid read. 

Junior Fiction:
Forest of Wonders by Linda Sue Park (Wing and Claw Trilogy, book 1)
Park is one of my top authors, I've loved everything I've read by her with no exceptions. This first book in a trilogy is different from many of her other books which just shows what kind of depth this author has developed. The audio version was wonderful to listen to except that at times I wanted the narrator to read faster!  This is a fantasy book that combines botany and magic as a boy seeks to use his apothecary gifts to serve those he loves. Highly recommend

Mark of the Plague by Kevin Sands (Book 2 in the Blackthorn Key series)
This is one I'm reading out loud to my kids and we love it. My sister just gave us #3 for Christmas and we will have it finished in a week. Great fantasy book set in London during the time of the Black Plague. Great characters with lots of adventure.  Highly recommend

Baker's Magic by Diane Zahler
This is a simple fantasy book about a young girl who can make people feel emotions from eating the things she cooks.  Whatever emotions she is feeling as she cooks, those same emotions are felt by those who eat her wares. Simple, quick read.

The end of 2017

Christmas with the Edholms was a wondrous event with the highlight being our conversation with Emma on Christmas Day.  She is happy and doing well and getting use to the Scottish accent slowly.  Besides Emma, we were missing Lauren and her family on Christmas day, but we were happy to have Palmer and Audrey with us.

Christmas jammy fail

 As per our tradition we open up our Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.  Emma and I picked out Peter and Eric's when we were in Costco a month ago and we thought they would be warm and comfortable but when they tried them on they looked like a version of ninja warriors/male ballerinas. They were good sport about it and Emma and I were right, they are warm and comfortable!

We put on the nativity pageant and used the costumes and script I inherited from my mom.  My mom's family has been doing this particular scripted pageant since I was small and it was great to continue the tradition. Palmer is supposed to be a wiseman, but he looks more like Father Time!

The afternoon of Christmas day Brian and Palmer left for Logan so Palmer could fly to Tucson with the Utah State marching band since the football team was playing in the bowl game down there.  The rest of us, minus Andy who had to stay home for basketball practice, followed to Utah the next day.  We spent some great time with Lauren, Matt, and Van and my sister and her husband.  The big event was buying Audrey's wedding dress which she found at the first shop we went to.

It fit perfectly and only needs to be hemmed.  She looked beautiful in the dress and was so happy to have found it.  She and her fiance, John, flew back to L.A. on Thursday morning.

We went to the Bean Museum on BYU campus with Van to see the snake exhibit.

Van wasn't too sure about the ball python, he wanted to stay far away and I don't blame him!

Inside the giant snakes mouth!

All of us minus Brian taking the picture.

Van was as cute as ever and we loved spending time with him!

2018 is here and I'm excited to see what it brings!