Mission Stories

4th of September 2009 - 4th of March 2011
Sweden Stockholm Mission

In September 2009 I left the green and pleasant tracts of Elftown (and all other places that I used to frequent, online and RL) and became a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Missionary service in the Church is done:
-voluntarily (though men are encouraged to serve more than women),
-temporarily (men serve 2 years, women 1½)
-at a young age (18+ for men though not older than 27, 21+ for women) and
-out of your own pocket (though if one is broke and wants to go, there is a way).

I, - being 23, unmarried, relatively solid and soundminded, and prompted by God through his Holy Spirit - decided to take the opportunity and make the sacrifice to serve. I finished my studies in university (MA Media Arts), prepared, worked for 6 months in an office to save the necessary funds, set my affairs in order (namely: stored my belongings on my bishop's loft and left enouh money on my account to pay the installments of my student loan), set aside my art practice and my interest in the opposite sex, and embarked on this adventure, unmatched by anything a person might encounter in life.

Even though in some circles (that is, the mormon circles) it seems that everyone and their uncle served missions, it is actually a infintesimally small amount of people who do it. Not everyone who is a mormon (that is, about 13 million people at the moment) serves, not even all male mormons. And there really is nothing in the world that is alike it. That's one of the reasons why I'm so glad that I did it. And that's why I'm dying to tell you all about it.


Rather than doing a linear beginning-to-end story out of this, I wanted to do a more topical approach. So below are the links to the different topics. More will be added (before I forget everything), and you are welcome to suggest a topic if you think of one, or ask questions about something that isn't covered. There's always room for more, that's why we love wiki :)

Mission Stories - Transfers
Mission Stories - MTC
Mission Stories - Mission President
Mission Stories - Language
Mission Stories - Apartments
Mission Stories - Transport
Mission Stories - Phones
Mission Stories - Music
Mission Stories - The Arts
Mission Stories - Books
Mission Stories - PMG
Mission Stories - Planners
Mission Stories - Rules
Mission Stories - Opposite Sex
Mission Stories - Food
Mission Stories - Companions
Mission Stories - Wildlife
Mission Stories - Sweden
Mission Stories - Africa
Mission Stories - Scriptures
Mission Stories - My Story
Mission Stories - Sister Missionaries
Mission Stories - Correspondence
Mission Stories - Letters to President
Mission Stories - My Last Will and Testimony
Mission Stories - Lingo