This Land is My Land, This Land is Norrland

Our long-anticipated trip to Norrland finally happened this past week. We had sent out texts and emails weeks in advance asking what they needed to have us bring to them, but it was not until the last few days that we actually began getting serious requests for needed items. As a result, we had a van full of items to take with us. Three office chairs (still in boxes, so we could manage to carry them), bins filled with everything from frying pans to spatulas to dish cloths and everything in between were packed into the back. It was a major engineering feat to then put in our bags. There was no using the inside rear-view mirror, everything was stacked to the ceiling.

 ["I mon buy me on' they Ford vans and travel the country preachin' God's word, Mother!" Sorry for the insider reference that only our children will recognize. No one else has seen the movie Cold Comfort Farm. This Ford van is our mode of transportation. Here we are outside one of the apartments in our Norrland journey.]

 [This was taken the weekend before we left for Norrland. We discovered that the upstairs apartment at the office has a fire escape ladder that folds up to look like a downspout. I was anxious that the elders know how to use it, so I asked Elder Jensen, one of the Assistants to the President, to pull the pin, unfold it and climb down it. He was happy to comply much to the distress of Sister Clouse, who had to leave the scene. Of course he could not take time to put on a coat or shoes despite the freezing temperature. More realistic, I suppose.]

In these pictures you will notice that Olivia is wearing pants rather than a skirt. She does so at the suggestion of our mission president's wife. She explained that if we are stranded or in an accident, Olivia and Sister Clouse would be much more comfortable in pants. Also, it is not unusual that we will work on something that requires us to be on the floor or under a table, bed or plumbing. I wear a white shirt, tie and slacks, but these are work attire. We often carry off clothing left behind by missionaries who are more interested in taking home souvenirs, so I have gone through these items where I have found shirts, ties and slacks that fit and they become work attire. So crawling under a bed to repair a slat or a leg doesn't get the good clothes dirty. If my tie dips into something that came out of a drain pipe, it is of less consequence.

We expected that we would have more room in the rear as we dropped things off, but we ended up with three large garbage bags packed with clothes to bring back. Happily, we found an återvinningcentral (the garbage dump/recycling center I have mentioned in prior posts) on our way out of our last city where we could put the used clothes, so we could see out the back window for at least the last 4 hours of travel home. 

We were joined in this journey by our good friends and mentors, Elder and Sister Clouse, again. They were great help as we traveled and inspected. At times we were able to split up and catch up on our schedule by having them in one apartment and us in another.

[The Clouse's inspected Elders Rowley's and Olson's apartment (the two on either side of me) while Olivia and I inspected Elders Benson's and Beveridge's apartment. Unfortunately, Olivia took the picture, so she is absent here.]

With two more helping, we were able to have a variety of messages to leave at the end of our visits. The missionaries are thrilled to have the roles reversed and be on the receiving end of the message. Olivia taught about continuing through even when there is a temptation to quit. She used President Uchtdorf's talk in the General Women's session of the last General Conference, "Fourth Floor, Last Door." I talked about making sure our investigators have the tools to keep going when they feel alone after baptism and used the example of Lehi's Tree of Life dream where he was directed to follow a man in a white robe and then found himself alone for many hours in a mist of darkness. When we met with the zone leaders, I spoke of the pattern of leadership found in D&C 107: 85-89. Elder Clouse showed a clip from Mormon Messages about the current bush being cut down which was narrated by Elder D.Todd Christofferson' conference talk. Sister Clouse used a Mormon Message that excerpted several conference messages about avoiding discouragement.

 

[Here we are following along in D&C 107:85-89 (preside, sit in council and teach). I think many of the messages we left were due to the fact that they are just starting to get 4 hours of light. In Norrland, it has been light from 10:00 AM to about 1:00 PM. Now the sun shows itself from about 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. They all have S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) lights which they all call happy lights. These lights are on the breakfast tables so it seems like the sun is shining. They have wave lengths similar to the sun and stimulate the serotonin in the body.]

In most of the towns we visited, we arranged for the missionaries to join us for either breakfast or lunch, then went to their apartment for the inspection. It gave us a better opportunity to gauge how they were doing and an opportunity to know them better. 

[Here we are with Sisters Hanson and Capuccio at breakfast in Luleå, then later in their apartment. A wonderfully hard-working set of missionaries!]


Wednesday was the world-wide missionary broadcast with Elders Oaks, Anderson, and Bednar. They were joined W. Christopher Waddell of the Presiding Bishopric, Sister Bonnie Oscarson, Young Women General President, Steven B Allen, managing director of the Missionary Department and Brent Neilson of the Seventy, Executive Director of the Missionary Department, who conducted. We met the missionaries in Skellefteå at their apartment for their inspection, then went to the small chapel there for the broadcast. The brethren and Sister Oscarson spoke of so many aspects of missionary labors and then introduced the new daily schedule and the revised "key indicators." We sat where we could observe the elders as these new items were presented and discussed. We had heard from some that there was resistance at first. Here there was none. In fact, just the opposite. The revised schedule had been presented to them at their specialized zone training the previous week, but hearing it from the Missionary Committee members raised the level of commitment and enthusiasm.

[Elder Hainsworth and Elder Wilson at the Skellefteå chapel. Elder Hainsworth will be returning home in a few days. Elder Wilson was especially excited about the changes to the schedule and key indicators. He still has several months to put them into practice.]

  

[Sister Clouse and Sister Anderson discovered an old family bible in the elders' apartment. It was from 1907, so not ancient. None of the family history pages had been filled out, such as the wedding day (brollopdagar) page, but the elders who visit there have been writing their names in the genealogy (släktregister) page. It is richly illustrated.]

 Of course, as we traveled, we did a little site seeing. We stopped at the Naturkompaniet Outlet store in Örnskoldsvik to see if there was something we could afford. It is the outlet store for the Fjall Räven brand - a high-quality outdoor clothing and gear company. I got the hat I have been waiting to go on sale and Olivia got a stocking hat and some visors for our future visitors. The Clouses can't come out of that store without major purchases, so Elder Clouse complains ;).

More importantly, in Luleå there is a church built in 1492 around which had grown a Church Town over a few centuries. At a time when church attendance was mandatory by law, farm families and others who could not get to town and back in a day had a cottage in the Church Town. The Town had a council house, a store house and shops. It became the center of activity for the weekend, for special holidays, and also they brought their produce and goods to market. It was an opportunity for children to play with other children, women to share recipes and men to tell war stories. Young people often began their courtships and the infirm would spend their last days there. Of Sweden's 71 original Church Towns, only 16 are left today,  Here almost all the cottages are owned and maintained privately. There are just a few that are open to the public. They are not open in winter, so we have to go back. Luleå has the largest Church Town - 420+ cottages still remain.

 

[We are in front of the ancient church above and the visitors' center below. The Clouses are in front of the council hall. The cottages are painted with the Fallun red which has a natural preservative in the paint. The derrick holds a bucket that can be lowered into a well, which no longer exists. The bell tower has the Latin words "Deo Gloria," which means glory to God. The bell in the video was ringing for 12:00 noon, but certainly did not stop after the 12th gong! The little sled is a common sight in this little village. We could have rented one for about $2.00, but really didn't have time. Lots of history here.]

[Details inside the church and the door to enter the church. They were preparing for a funeral, but allowed us a few minutes to look around and take pictures.]

 Now, some random pictures of the trip that didn't fit elsewhere:

 [A soccer ball made from Volkswagen body parts hangs from the ceiling of a mall in Umeå]

[No trip to Norrland is complete without a stop at the cheese slicer monument. The bridge is a large expansion bridge in Höga Kusten (the High Coast). It is the 3rd largest in Scandinavia and a great attraction. The visitors' center has a hotel and a restaurant. It is impressive.]

 [Visiting the apartment in Sundsvall with Sisters McWorter and Sister Moffat (to whom we had brought a gift of knitted stockings from her former companion)]

 [Elders Goffe and Carter in Boden, the northern most city in the mission. They are the Luleå District Leaders.]

 We had quite an adventure and loved being with these faithful, hard-working young missionaries, but we are glad to be home. This coming week we have 7 new Elders coming, transfers, and 7 Elders going home. We need to move missionaries to another apartment and start cleaning the one they are currently in, to turn it back to the landlord. The rest of February is packed. We are happy to be busy, however.

We miss you all and wish you the best.