Did I Say That...?

Before we left someone asked me if I knew what the weather would be like in Stockholm. The first time we were contacted about serving here our assignment would have been only in Stockholm, so it was an appropriate question. I reasoned that it was at sea level and situated similarly to Scotland's North Sea, so I responded that it would probably snow, but that the snow would not likely stay. It does snow and so far, it also stays. We were informed that this is the heaviest single snow storm in Stockholm since the winter of 1905.

As I mentioned last post, Tuesday, we got some snow, which was nice for the new missionaries. It was a good storm that left about 4" and went on for most of the day. By evening it had stopped. 

At home there was a lot of snow on the driveway that we share with the landlord's son who keeps a couple of trailers there for his business. I spent about an hour shoveling the snow off the driveway and had a great night's sleep.

The next day we got up to see that the driveway was completely covered with snow as deep as what I had shoveled the evening before and it was still coming down. Wednesday on the week of transfers is the day the new missionaries are treated to a traditional Swedish meal, get more instructions and then open their letters to find who their companion/trainer will be. They needed us to be at the church early because we had left our van for the missionaries to take the greenies to the mission home to sleep and the car we took had materials in it they needed for their presentation. As we traveled, we saw buses off the the side of the road, traffic snarled, road blocks where cars had slid off the road and stop-and-go traffic, making us quite late.

[Snow on our balcony give some perspective.] 

We needn't have worried. Nothing was going to start on time. The snow continued and caused delays for everyone. We shoveled off the walks, only to have them covered again in minutes. Elder Clouse and I took one of the smaller cars that is pretty nimble in snow and made our way to a store where the meal was waiting in steam table pans and carried them back to the building. Still snowing, we had to go the long way round because the normal road was too steep even for the little car with studded snow tires.

The meeting continued and it continued to snow. We got the missionaries to their companions and sent them to T Central on a chartered bus. There they would catch trains to their areas of labor. We stayed and cleaned the chapel with Elder and Sister Clouse. It continued to snow - heavy, heavy snow. 

In the mean time the missionaries who were to return home made their own ways to the temple, leaving their phones in their areas. The trains were still running and the train station is walking distance from the temple, so they did fine. President and Sister Beckstrand left to be with them at a little after 1:00 PM. They found themselves stuck in traffic and moving hardly at all, so they called the temple and asked that the missionaries be informed that they would not be in the session, but would be in the celestial room when they came through the veil. 

Still stuck, and not moving at all, they called the temple and asked them to instruct the missionaries to take the train to the closest station to the mission home. By that time the trains were delayed by about 2 hours and the buses were not in service at all. It continued to snow.

During this time, Olivia and I were trying to make ourselves useful at the mission office. I shoveled a path to an area of the mission office not accessible from the indoors. Snow was up to two or three inches above my knees and quite heavy. It took about an hour to complete the path and more time to dig some of the cars out of the snow. A great workout, but it continued to snow.

Elder Clouse got another call from President and Sister Beckstrand stating that he should go ahead with the traditional going away meal for the departing missionaries, and if necessary, start the final testimony meeting without them. Talking to the office missionaries and the assistants to the president the decision was made to have the missionaries who were stuck at the train station just walk to the mission home. The missionaries there had no phones, so the office elders drove to the station to relay the message. When we got there with the Clouses, Elder Clouse and I decided to also go to the train station and at least bring the two sisters back in the car.

 [The assistants to the president digging out the driveway next to the office]

 [Trying to dig out a car.]

 [The POEs and assistants dug out a spot for the bag van (similar to a UHaul) to stay for the night.] [Taking a break.]

[A snowplow driver saw what we were trying to clear out and finished  the job for us. The neighbor was upset that the plowed snow had blocked the path his little girl used from the sidewalk to his home, so the elders cut a new path for her.]

When we got there, we discovered that the office elders had taken the sisters with them and intended to drop them off and return for some of the elders. We packed three of them in our car and took them back; the other three were picked up by the office elders on their second trip back. Elder Clouse got another call from President Beckstrand asking him to start the meal and take charge of the testimony meeting. He had no hope of returning any time that night. By now it was after 8:00 PM. We helped with the meal, but had to leave before the testimony meeting because the office elders were giving us a ride and had to leave for some reason. We said our good-byes to Sister Woolsey who had been serving in Uppsala and to whom we had grown close. The Beckstrands finally arrived during the testimony meeting at about 10:30  PM. They had been stuck in the traffic caused by closing a tunnel for over 9 hours.

The snow had turned from a heavy snow to a light fluffy snow by now, so the road were covered with the heavy snow that had been packed solid and had a light, tractionless layer on top. Luckily, the snow plows were out in force, so some of the roads we traveled were clear. They took us to the van which was parked about a mile from the mission office where the assistants had abandoned it because they didn't want to take it further, since it still had the summer tires on it. There we got into the van while the office elders waited to be sure we would get out alright. There were two roads to choose from that would get us to the street that would eventually get us to the freeway and home. One was plowed and easy to maneuver, but a longer route. The other was not plowed, but had tracks that were packed down and was a shorter path to the same road. In other words the smart way and the stupid way. 

You can guess which way I chose.

We slid off the road and the elders and I shoveled and pushed while Olivia drove and mumbled something to me about why I hadn't listened to her and that sort of thing. We finally got out and back on the smart road. When we got to our neighborhood at about 11:00 PM the roads were covered with packed snow. Olivia had continued to stay behind the wheel, having concluded that someone with some brains and common sense should drive. However, she did not want to manage these roads, so I traded places and drove once again. We got to the very last road and looked down the hill to the driveway. I started down and almost immediately applied the brakes to get us into the driveway. I turned to go in but the car just continued to slide past the driveway and down to the bottom of the hill.

As I have described in other blog posts, these roads are very narrow, so we couldn't just leave the car and walk home. About every other driveway in the neighborhood has a large steel bin labeled "SAND" which means gravel, I guess. We walked back up the hill and filled a large snow shovel with the gravel and drug it to the car where we sprinkled the grit under and in front of the tires. She drug the empty shovel back up the hill while I inched the car up the hill. We filled the shovel again and repeated the action. We continued to do that until we almost got to the driveway. we shoveled and scraped a large section down to the pavement in front of the driveway so we could actually turn the car when we got there. WE MADE IT. 

Olivia had warned me that she did not feel that I should take the road where we got stuck and that she feared that we would not get into our driveway, but that we should borrow a car with studded snow tires for the night. When the adventure was over...

We had a talk. Some serious repenting was needed on my side of the companionship.

Thursday, we informed the office staff that we were not able to get out and we took our first P day in over three weeks. We planned our next two days, I got a haircut and we slept in. We needed it. The landlord's son shoveled off their balcony onto ours. The pile was not only up to my waist, but compacted, making it exceptionally heavy. I shoveled off the pile and the rest of our balcony, the stairs down the hill to the son's house and around the sheds where he keeps his equipment and supplies. I slept well again, but got to bed very late.

 [Before] [After]

Friday we put the snow tires on the car and did some shopping and other preparations for the following day and still did not manage to get into bed before 11:00 PM. In the mean time, our plans for Saturday were scrapped by emergencies that were called in on Friday. We arranged for a pair of missionaries to give up a bunk bed that was needed by some sisters who are in a threesome. We then got a call from some sisters who have no heat and only a small space heater. There were also elders who were without a toilet seat. The reason we got to bed so late is that we spent a lot of time just mapping out our route to make it to everywhere we needed to go and still be home at a reasonable hour.

Saturday we followed our charted course and traveled literally hundreds of kilometers to all the apartments who needed us and made it back to the office at a reasonable hour. We were amazed at how well the day went. Of course, we had to drop things off at the office, which means we have to talk to everyone there. Which means we didn't get home to eat until 9:00, again.

Today is Sunday and we are home from Church, we have finished dinner and have spoken to Cedric's family who were just getting ready for their meetings.  Last week I mentioned that a young man who sat by us in Sacrament Meeting and continued to our investigator class with his schoolmates. He was back again today with two more schoolmates and the bishop asked us to take some Sunday School time to answer their questions. Olivia and I were the only ones in the classroom with them at first, so we started. The classroom is the room with the baptismal font, so we explained baptism and priesthood authority. In a few minutes we were joined by the elders. It was a great time with each of us explaining different parts of the doctrine of the Church and answering questions. We were able to explain the logic of; repentance, the plan of salvation, the concept of eternal families, Word of Wisdom, abortion, and many other topics. Again, the young men were impressed and at least two of them seemed interested enough to pursue things further. Elder Bringhurst gave them a copy of the Family Proclamation, I gave them each a pass-along card and invited them to research mormon.org.

The seminary teacher in Olivia came out and some very important things were explained. Afterward, the elders were very complimentary about our participation. They said their goal was to be able to teach as we had done. It was nice for us to hear that, because I was concerned that we might be blowing their teaching method. 

Today was Ward Conference and we were surprised to have the stake presidency release our bishopric and install a new one. The bishop is Mathias Holmdahl, to no one's surprise. He and his wife are examples of the believers and we are happy for them. They are a younger couple; probably in their forties. They have two small daughters who are very intelligent and active. He is related to Elder Hall, who with his wife just got to our mission last Tuesday.

That is the news for this week. We love you all. Olivia has been asking the older grandchildren to write to us electronically so we get the news from their point of view. Today Rebeca, Jordan and Ruth's daughter, wrote and asked with many exclamation points when we are coming back because she misses us. At this end of the time spectrum, 22 months seems like a long time, but looking back, two years seems to come and go very quickly.  We constantly pray that we will be efficient, effective and truly magnify our calling.