Poke Us with a Fork - We're Done (For Now)

We completed the apartment inspections for the last quarter of 2016 and it was a marathon. We were happy to be busy with other things this week.

I reported on the Julbord last week even though it happened on Monday.

 [The frost on our windshield was so pretty I had to convince Olivia that it had to be scraped off]

Tuesday was the beginning of transfer week. It all started with our going to the airport to pick up the new missionaries who were just arriving. Without exception, they were a great group of elders and one sister. We took them from the airport to the traditional photo shoot on the bay across from the City building, as we have all the other groups. From there we took them to the Migration building where they were interviewed, fingerprinted, and had their pictures taken for their first Swedish ID.

 [Sister Pickett, the solo sister]

From migration they would usually go to the YSA Center, but it had been booked by another group, so we took them to the mission office which has room in the "Clubhouse" downstairs. It was a pizza place that lost its lease and was converted to a temporary housing for mission guests. There we shared a light lunch and sent them into Stockholm to experience their first contacting. They were actually anxious to do it. Their Swedish is already passable and their role playing at the MTC prepared them well.

When they returned they slept through a film about taking care of your mission vehicle. Few of them will drive while they are here, so jet lag took its toll. We transported them to the mission home where they spent the night.

Wednesday morning we went to the mission home and picked up the new missionaries who were joined by another sister missionary who is from Sweden, so her MTC was in Preston, England. She arrived late the previous night. They all went to the Täby Ward chapel where they were briefed about expectations and assigned new companions. It was so interesting to see their reactions - pure joy and excitement.

[Elder Blattman is going to be training one of the new elders. Some of you will remember his mother, Kathy Gehrhardt who joined the Church in the Sparks 2nd Ward as a young single adult. She married Matt Blattman and they now live in Texas]

That day the missionaries who were departing for home attended the temple and then found their way to the mission home where we met them and helped them with their "last supper" in Sweden. Sister Beckstrand makes sure they are well fed and happy. Olivia makes a special chocolate cake for the occasion. We then gathered in the living room and the president gives his parting talk and everyone bears testimony.

This group was pivotal in changing the culture of the mission. We had heard from several missionaries that these missionaries made obedience cool. Their attitude eventually permeated the mission and the successes accelerated. They are a tight group and will, hopefully, stay in touch with each other over the coming years. The testimony meeting was electric. Olivia told them that they should express gratitude to their mothers and challenged them to stay in touch with each other because there is great strength in this group. I bore testimony that if they will put God's will before theirs, they will keep and strengthen the spirituality they have achieved on this mission. What an experience.

This would be a good time to mention that we have an excellent mission president and mission mom. President Beckstrand has just the right mix of leader and manager. He has high expectations, but he genuinely loves each one of the missionaries. They sense that and have, on their own, set and achieved higher goals than initially thought possible. Sister Beckstrand is as knowledgeable of what is happening in the field as the mission leaders and is comfortable contributing her advice. She is not afraid of work. late nights, early mornings and the pressures of the work. She loves the missionaries and they know it.

The sisters' apartment in Gävle now has three sisters living there, so we took a new desk and desk chair for her along with some bedding and other items. Along the way we interrupted  the district meeting in Uppsala to drop off some packages that had come into the office and needed to be delivered. It was fun to see familiar faces and be greeted so well. Gävle is about 2 hours one way, so we really scrambled to get everything done and get back to the airport in time to greet our new senior couple, the Pettits.

 [Building the desk in Gävle]

We barely made it, but we were there in time to welcome and take our picture with them, the Clouses and the Beckstrands.  We loaded their luggage into our van and put them in with the Clouses and joined them for dinner. We took them to their apartment where we have spent several days preparing for their coming. They were most appreciative. They seem like a very nice couple. Their assignment is to train the units on a self-reliance initiative.  They had completed the training in Ireland and will continue here in Scandinavia. We are anxious to see how it will be implemented here. It was first introduced in Third World countries, but has moved to Europe and will start in the USA with 1,000 stakes in the first quarter of 2017.

[Elder and Sister Pettit in downtown Stockholm]

Friday we had a few  hours to catch up on our paperwork, take a load of items to Återvinning Central where we separate our garbage into giant bins for metal, wood, gypsum, plastics, cardboard, paper, furniture, glass, clothing (which goes to the refugees, mostly), electronics, etc. Their combustible garbage is used to fuel the power plants. So a trip to the dump is not the same as a trip to the dump in the US. I also discovered that I can't buy wiper blades from anyplace other than the Ford dealership, so I made a trip there. $25 each! I like our little van, but I am still not a fan of Ford.

Friday evening began the senior couples' retreat. We went to TGI Fridays for a meal and lots of visiting with the couples who traveled here from the island of Gotland, and the southern city of  Malmö. The couple from  Göteborg (pronounced yet'-a-bory, or in English, Gothenberg) couldn't come, unfortunately.

Saturday we met as a couples' group in the mission home for a light breakfast and a short meeting where Olivia gave instructions about apartment inspections and I talked about the idea of a brief message when the inspection is concluded. All the couples will be helping with inspections, so our load is not quite so onerous. I also shared a story about our former bishop when we lived in Portland.

There are eight couples in all, so spreading the load will make it much easier for us to accomplish this assignment.

Our bishop's story? When he was serving his mission in Mexico in the 1950s he and his companion made their way to the city where a mission conference was to be held. They stayed in an apartment with some local missionaries whose cleaning habits left a lot to be desired. Dirty dishes, clothes everywhere, etc. His companion and the other two elders were in some leadership positions, so they left him in the apartment alone while they attended a leadership meeting. While he was waiting, a knock came at the door. He opened the door to see his mission president and standing next to the mission president was President David O. McKay. President McKay stepped into the room, looked around, pointed his finger at the missionary and said, "No excuses." He turned and left without giving any opportunity for explanation. Moral 1: keep your houses in order. Moral 2: help others to do so. Moral 3: If the president of the Church can do apartment inspections, it should not be below us to do them.

Saturday afternoon we went into Gamla Stan, which means the old city, where there are hundreds of small shops and a Jul Marknad (Christmas market). There temporary shops are set up especially for Christmas. We ate a very Swedish meatball meal and then toured the shops where we found lots of things to buy, but bought only a few items. I did pick up a Sami knife. The Sami are the native Laplanders, so the knife is well tempered and sharp. The scabbard is made of reindeer leather and the handle is made of beech wood and reindeer horn. Olivia got 2 very unusual nativity sets. One is hand carved by a man in his eightys who has carved the same pattern since age 13. He is much more accomplished, now but the nativity scene is folksy and fun. The other is also hand carved but not individual characters, more like a picture. It is done by an Armenian artist who was disgusted that he could not find a nativity scene in Stockholm, so he started making his own. It is carved from six different types of wood and is quite distinctive.

  

 [The temporary shops offer traditional food, crafts, clothing, carnival games, etc.][Downtown Stockholm really decorates for Christmas. Elder and Sister Clouse in front of a boulevard of decorations]

 [All the senior couples who came to the couples Christmas retreat, minus Olivia who took the photo]

    [We went to the palace in time for the changing of the guard. Here they are preparing to shoulder their weapons]

Today we attended church and were invited to travel to Uppsala on Tuesday to participate in teaching an investigator, Saturday to spend Christmas Eve with a family in the ward and Sunday to spend some time with the Bishop's family and the other missionaries. The missionaries invited themselves to our house Friday after 6:00 PM because they stop work at that time, so they didn't want to be all alone. We were happy they felt comfortable to ask us and look forward to their company.

We wish you all a wonderful week before Christmas and know the blessings of God await those who love Him and seek to do his will. We are thrilled to hear that our good friend Larry Kitchen has been ordained and set apart as the stake patriarch in the new Sparks Nevada West Stake.

All our best to you each and all.