Thanksgiving, Soul Night and Advent

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Of course, it is an American holiday, so no one knew to celebrate it in this country except the Americans. Ours was a wonderful day. Olivia spent much of the day in the kitchen while I worked on making boxes to send home to the children and their families.  Of course, we later learned that we have an Office Depot nearby that sells boxes that are the perfect sizes and are made for mailing, but the activity kept me busy and out of the kitchen which is too small for two people - especially when only one of them knows what she's doing.

The meal was amazing as was attested to by all who attended. We found a turkey at one of the local grocery stores, there was a can of outdated pumpkin puree left in the apartment, but we weren't sure if it would be enough, so Olivia thawed the remaining pumpkin from Halloween. It turned out that the can was still good and plenty, so she used the fresh pumpkin to make a pumpkin bisque appetizer. It was the first out-of-the-park hit of the evening. It was perfect.

Olivia feared that the turkey would not be done in time if she followed the typical formula for baking turkeys, so she started earlier. It was a good thing she did, or it would not have been done. As it turned out, the meat was hot, moist (including the white meat) and tasty. She tried a new recipe for cranberry sauce that will, no doubt, be found on our table for years to come. One of the elders requested green bean casserole, but we couldn't find the French fried onions that are supposed to go into it. Instead, she used potato chips flavored with four different kinds of onions. It wasn't close to the original, but it didn't stop Elder Payne from filling his plate with seconds on the casserole.

The relish plates contained olives that almost tasted like those at home, celery sticks stuffed with two flavors of cream cheese, baby pickles and carrot sticks. We bought bread for making the stuffing, but later found an "American Store" where we bought Stove Top dressing, so the bread is now pressed into service for French toast at breakfast. She tried new recipes for apple pie and for the pie crusts. Everything was delicious and received rave reviews. Olivia was disappointed with the pie crust and has obsessed over that. She is right - it was not as good as her usual recipe, but overall, it was a minor thing.

The elders and sister missionaries from our assigned ward in Uppsala came and we also invited Stefanie Larsson, a student from the US who is studying for her masters degree at the university there. Stefanie was born in Sweden and lived here until she was seven, but grew up in Ohio. She is very successfully re-learning Swedish.

[Sister Hall, Sister Wilson (from Australia - first time for a Thanksgiving celebration), Stefanie Larsson, Elder Bringhusrt, Olivia is in the mirror taking the photo]

Everyone told their favorite Thanksgiving disaster stories, "top this" stories of sledding, tubing and ice adventures. and generally enjoyed the evening together. 

Much of the week was spent trying to outfit and prepare a newly acquired apartment for a senior couple who are transferring from the Scotland/Ireland mission. They are scheduled to be here on the 16th of December, so we have been repairing the obvious holes in the walls, cupboard doors that won't latch, painting, putting furniture from IKEA together, fixing the fixtures in the ceilings so we can hang lights. In Sweden the ceiling has an outlet, but the fixtures are taken when you move out. We almost finished by Saturday, but we will have to go back tomorrow to finish a few things. We still haven't taken a picture of us doing this kind of thing. but we did take a picture of the view from the window of this apartment, because it is so beautiful.

[The apartment is on the island of Lidingö, in Stockholm County. The view of the ocean and the trees is spectacular]

Elder and Sister Hall are the new couple who are responsible for the Young Single Adult center and YSA activities. This week, immediately on the heels of Thanksgiving, they hosted the annual Soul Nite. I don't know if it is always called Soul Nite, but that was the theme this year, citing D&C 18:10. Along with classes, meals, dancing and other activities, the young people from all over Scandinavia spent the nights in the high school classrooms made into dormitories. We helped with the evening meal and dance. There were over 300 in attendance this time. The dance well planned with light shows, a good DJ, and for a couple of hours, a live band. The theme was the 70's, so many of the attendees as well as the band members dressed in the ridiculous garb we were forced to endure in that era. We can only hope that fashion never, ever comes back into style - ever.  [They really did dance, but in this shot they were participating with the band. The last shot was everyone waiting for the dance to start.]

  

 [Elder and Sister Hall with us behind the serving table. They served cut and whole fresh fruit instead of cake, cookies and the like. Huge hit and a great idea.]

Today in church we met a young woman from Botswana who married a Swedish man in our ward. She has been gone for the past two months visiting family back in Africa. They have a beautiful 20 month-old boy who is just sweet and happy. She was excited about the growth of the Church in her homeland which now has its own mission separate from South Africa. Also, in our Gospel Essentials class we had a couple from Iran. Mohammed is a member, but his wife is not yet baptized.

Today is the first day of Advent. Each Sunday prior to Christmas is an Advent day and a candle labeled 1 is lit. Next Sunday another and the following another, and the last on Christmas. Each Advent Sunday has its own name. Today is Glädje Advent; glädje means "joy".

[By the fourth Sunday the first candle is nearly gone.]

It is a bitterly cold day today. The snow has been falling sideways and the wind so strong many of the branches from the weeping birch tree outside the church building were broken off and spread across the lawn and parking lot. We gave the missionaries a ride to their apartments, for which they were grateful, as were we. 

It has been a full, busy and gratifying week. We are happy in the mission and in our service together. We hope all of you are, as well.

Some time ago we took pictures for the mission Christmas card. Afterward the office elders and assistants to the president posed for their separate picture. Here is the video result: