June 8 - June 16

Syster Randall has a new niece!  Emma was born June 8 and is a sweet, easy baby.  She'll be walking by the time Krystina gets home!


In mission-related updates...

The mission home in Stockholm. Full of Systers for the first time :)

Playing a game for FHE with the Utmotoni family

Krystina and the other missionaries were in Stockholm for a Nordic conference.  President Monson was scheduled to be there but joined the meeting through satellite broadcast since his wife had recently passed away.  The missionaries were able to have a meeting with Elder Ballard about member missionary work.

Back in Katrineholm, it was high school graduation so they were able to attend Myrium's graduation party.  

Amanda from America, living in K-holm

With Amber Forsman and Syster Haynes at Myrium's graduation party. (More like a branch party)

Myrium's graduation dinner.  Her family is African so it was traditional African food.  That would be a fish head (eyes included).  Yummy!

May 27 - June 7 Highlights

Missionary Olympians.  Fitting a little high jump into their morning workout.

Syster Haynes is stuck in her rain boot!

I have neglected the blog, but we are about to get caught up. Buckle up! Here comes 3 months of missionary moments.

Sweden!!

Syster Randall has been in Sweden for about 2 weeks now.  She called us from the airport en route to Sweden, and then we got to Skype with her on Mother's Day just a few days after her arrival in her new home.  Her first assignment will be Katrineholm, a smaller town where she says people are more willing to talk to them on the streets than they might be in the big city of Stockholm.

Krystina's companion is Syster Haynes, a fun and optimistic girl from Salt Lake City.  When we saw her for a moment while Skyping with Krystina, Syster Haynes said that Tina is doing great and is a "rockstar".  Krystina writes that they are grateful to be working with each other because many of the other companionship's don't get along as well or don't encourage each other the way that Tina and Syster Haynes do.  What a blessing for her to have a great trainer!  Sister Haynes has been on her mission since January.  :)

Krystina had one of her first experiences eating something a little different on her mission, though it probably could have been much worse than this: "I had my first kebab pizza. Kebab pizza is famous here. Kebab is like...well its suppose to be lamb meat, but its kinda like mystery meat. The have it on a huge reel, and they just cut it off and put it on your pizza haha.  Then they put french fries on top.i only got half with french fries ha It was ok... haha. I'll stick with cheese pizza while I'm here."

No pictures this time as I am unable to get them loaded onto Blogger, but I'll try again soon. 

Week 3--Elder Scott & TRC

Elder Richard G. Scott spoke at the devotional this week, and Krystina really enjoyed it.  He talked a lot about the sister missionaries, the number of which has increased exponentially since the "missionary age" announcement.  At the end of his remarks, he said he felt impressed to leave the missionaries with an apostolic blessing that those who were learning a language would not only learn it but would master it, and that each of them were called to succeed, not to fail.  The closing hymn was sung and the person assigned to give the closing prayer came up to do so, but Elder Scott stopped her and added, "I feel impressed to remind you that God knows us and he will fit the task to our capabilities, and it will teach us things we did not know about ourselves."  What great encouragement for those missionaries, who are probably experiencing more growing and stretching than ever before.  Krystina loved it!

Krystina's excitement and enthusiasm to be serving a mission continues to grow.  She loves the language, loves the teaching and learning experiences, and loves her district and teachers.

She had her first experience in the TRC (Training Resource Center) where she gets to teach a message to Swedish-speakers and receive feedback from them.  Her grasp on the language and teaching concepts seems to be improving also.  Initially when teaching the "investigators," Krystina would write the lesson in English and then translate it into Swedish and use it while teaching.  Last week she was able to teach using just some bullet points written in English.  This week she only wrote an outline during her personal study and then gone in to teach using just her scriptures without any notes or translations!  She says it is a struggle sometimes, but doesn't find it difficult to fill the 20-30 minute time frame.

Krystina has made reference to the "Second Harvest" of Sweden a few times.  I believe the idea comes from the dedicatory/re-dedicatory prayer for missionary work in Sweden, given by President Monson.  There was a time when missionary work in Sweden was very difficult and there was not much trust between the Swedish members and the missionaries, but things have started to improve.  Her MTC teachers tell the missionaries that they worked to prepare Sweden for the "Second Harvest" and that this new wave of missionaries will get to participate in that harvest.  Krystina cannot wait to get to Sweden to work, serve, and love the people there.

Swedish Bibeln

"Swedish Sweeties" as they are called.  The all sister district, minus Sister Christensen & Sister Hauglid

Week 1

Syster Randall enjoyed her first week at the MTC.  If she can make it through that, she can do anything right?  :)  Here are some brief highlights from her email...

* She went to the temple on P-day and loved it!
* Loves the language but it is a steep learning curve.  She sounds very determined to do her very best.
* She started following the example of the Russian/Ukraine missionaries and tries to study as much as possible--in line, at meals, etc.  She says they are the hardest working missionaries in the MTC; I'm sure her opinion is completely unbiased.  :)
* She has access to Rold Gold pretzels, so all's well.  :)  (one of her favorite snacks since she cut her first tooth, I kid you not)
* Similar to her last letter, she mentioned several times that she is very excited to get to Sweden.  

She may be able to send some pictures this Thursday, so I'll post them when she sends them.  It's good to hear that she is doing well and loves being a missionary!

Syster Randall enters the MTC

Krystina entered the MTC on Wednesday, March 27th, so it's official--we can now call her Syster Randall!

After a lot of hard work to finish the semester's course work early, she had a wonderful open house with family and close friends.  Everyone offered encouragement or advice for Krystina, including some people who couldn't be there in person: Kirk & Angelica, cousin David, Connor & Jaden, and even a surprise recording of Elder Parkinson!  Patty made some delicious Swedish food and presented Krystina with a porcelain doll for which she had made a beautiful Swedish outfit.  It was lots of fun, thanks to all who participated, and a big thanks to Patty, Jacob, and Tara for putting together such a nice evening. 

After being set apart Tuesday night and receiving a father's blessing, Krystina drove to Provo with Patty, Tara, and Jaden to meet Jon, Deeanna, and Jacob for one last meal together on Wednesday.  They ate at IHOP for lunch and said their final goodbyes.  Krystina did get nervous on the way to the MTC, but as she wrote in her first letter to us, "I was fine about five minutes later."  Immediately upon getting out of the car, an Elder walked up to her and took her suitcases and led her into the MTC, where she was taken to meet her host sister. 

Syster Randall wrote about the advantage that she has from learning from Kyler's experiences.  She was already family with the MTC concept "SYL" (speak your language) and many other things that otherwise would be new to her. She says the teachers are very encouraging, the classes are geared towards teaching missionaries about their purpose.  Her companion is Syster Pieksma; Krystina describes her as "really quiet but I really like her."  Krystina's district is all sisters, probably due to the huge increase in sister missionaries in the last 6 months.

Krystina said she is doing great, always trying to "speak her language," and hasn't felt anything but good things since she entered the MTC.  P-day is Thursday, so we will be looking forward to another letter then.

If any of you have questions or want to pass anything along to Krystina, you can leave it in the comment section, write to her via the contact info provided in the "Write Syster Randall" tab above, or email me at ang (dot) rand22 (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks for your support and prayers for Syster Randall!  

In route to Sweden.

43 days until I enter the MTC! I am so excited! I am constantly thinking about it. I am sooo distracted from school because all I can think about is mission mission mission! It's bad!

A lovely girl going to my mission shared a blog with us that is amazing! future missionaries check out bellainberlin.blogspot.com ! It is awesome! look at the posts that say things i wish i would have known before my mission. SO helpful!