Comings and Goings

We had a week of comings and goings. On Tuesday we assisted in welcoming the new missionaries at the airport and shuttling them from there to various destinations. It was especially good to see the two we had met in the MTC. We took several of them to the migration registration and were able to get ourselves registered even though the last time we tried it we were turned away because we didn't have an appointment. It just depends upon who you ask, I guess.

Parking here is a challenge; especially true at the migration office. I ended up driving to a mall nearby and parking in the covered parking, promptly getting lost trying to walk back to the migration office and walking my legs to the knees. Finally, I saw a familiar billboard only to realize that it was familiar because I was walking in a circle. After asking for directions, I managed to get back to the office in time to register and haul the missionaries to old Stockholm.

In old Stockholm there are lots of photo opportunities, but not much time. They all got a picture of the 3 Kroner City Office building shown in the background here. No one seemed to know the significance of the statue they gathered around, but it was picturesque.

They had a nice lunch at the YSA center in downtown Stockholm, then off to the mission office where they slept through a safety video about driving mission cars. They were so fun to watch as they fought off the effects of jet lag and lack of sleep and stayed so positive about their future here.

Now it is Wednesday and I am trying to wrap this up before Sunday comes around again and I will be even more behind.

We had a great experience watching General Conference, as I am sure most of you did. The testimonies of the speakers were uplifting, interesting and powerful. We watched the Saturday morning session on Saturday evening at 6:00 PM. Sunday morning we watched the recorded Saturday afternoon session and then, after lunch I watched the Priesthood session while Olivia watched the General Women's Conference. We then watched the Sunday morning session at 6:00 PM. On Monday we needed to take some things to the Elders and Sisters in the Uppsala area, and found that they were planning to watch the Sunday afternoon session that day, so we invited ourselves to watch with them. They had planned to have breakfast on Sunday morning with the members who came to the church building, but someone else had prepared a meal, so we had breakfast with them before watching the last session - at 4:00 PM! It was great fun. We were all cheering at Elder Rendlund's talk. He purposely pronounced Göteborg in Swedish, rather than Anglicizing it. By the way it is pronounced ewe-teh-bory, just like it is spelled ;).

Watching these amazing missionaries makes me want to be like them when I grow up. They are organized, fearless, happy and they speak the language. We took a pair of sister missionaries back to their apartment after a meeting. One has been in the country less than a month and her trainer has been out 12 weeks. They both teach and practice Swedish on one another. They told us that after being in the country 2 weeks they could understand everything their investigator was saying and that within a couple of weeks they could comfortably converse. One of the elders we watched conference with came out the week after us and is already teaching in Swedish. They are bold and God blesses them for it.

Our friends, Elder and Sister Clouse, happened to be in Uppsala the same day showing their daughter, son-in-law and grandson the sites. We joined them at the Domkyrka (pronounced dome-shir-ka, just like it is spelled). It is the largest cathedral in all of Scandinavia. Much of it is ancient and many of Sweden's ancient luminaries are buried inside it. It is awe inspiring in so many ways. Behind it are several runes with ancient writing on them from the 11th century.  There is a lot to see in this country.

We are officially in the country, having received our Migration cards. Today, we applied for our personnummer (like a Social Security Number - they always ask for your personnummer) and when we get that number, we will be able to apply for a Swedish ID card which is best of all. They do love their bureaucracy.

Today was a milestone. I drove all over the city and did not receive a single honking horn from someone I had somehow offended! Parking here is done with a shoe horn. The spaces are so little and it takes major maneuvering to get into and out of them. As a result, I put the first major scrape on the front bumper of the mission vehicle we drive. Trying to get out of a parking garage, I didn't see a concrete abutment and left some blue paint on it. Ugh! I thought they would fire us and put me in a desk job, but the office staff just shrugged it off.

Well, I'll sign off for now. We are loving our mission, especially working with these inspiring missionaries. We hope all is well with all of you. You are in our prayers and we appreciate that so many of you have told us that we are in yours and your children's prayers. We are truly grateful.