Where is Mary Poppins When You Need Her?

For those who asked about the hat I bought here it is. Don't be jealous. Serve a mission and you can have one, too!

This was transfer week and the week we began moving missionaries out of apartments we are losing and into new apartments. Both are time demanding, but fulfilling.

We lost Elder Bringhurst and Sister Wilson from our ward in Uppsala. Sister Wilson has been there since before we arrived and Elder Bringhurst was in the group at the MTC with us who arrived a few days after we arrived. He was replaced by Elder Malone from Chandler, AZ who also came out with us, so this is his first transfer. Sister Hatch came to replace Sister Wilson. We had met her a few times when we inspected her apartment. The sisters in Uppsala are Sister Leader Trainers (STLs), so it is an honor to serve here. Sister Hatch seems to be ready for the challenge.

[Elder Bringhurst's and Sister Wilson's last Sunday in the Uppsala Ward. They will be missed.]

Monday was our P day for the most part as we tried to finish laundry from the Norrland trip. I say tried, because wash cycles are between 2 and 2.5 hours long. It seems that this is because so little water is used in the process. Whoever convinced Swedes that they need to conserve water should be selling snowballs to Eskimos. Still, it works and the clothes come out quite clean. We don't have a dryer, so we just hang out our clothes in the living room with a specially made clothes rack. In a way it is a blessing as the dryer cycles are similar in length. The dryers are not vented, but displace the moisture, so a tray has to be emptied after the drying cycle. It is amazing technology, really.

We learned at our previous office meeting that a new president has been called, but it had not yet been announced, so we didn't know who it was to be. This last meeting, on Monday, we learned that it is Michael Youngberg who is presently from Orem, UT. He and his wife just moved there from Ketchikan, AK where he recently served as a stake president. He served his mission here in Sweden and it looks like he has kept up his language skills. We sort of stalked him in FB and noticed that some people are communicating with him in Swedish. They will no doubt be wonderful people. We will be here with them longer than any other couple. Most will be going home either just before or with the current president, others will leave a month or two after he and his wife arrive. We will be here for over a year with them.

Again, we assisted with the incoming missionaries, meeting them at the airport and helping them get to the cars and to get their baggage to the bag van. We weren't needed for transportation, this time as the mission van is out of the shop. That opened the day for us to meet the missionaries at the new apartment to get an idea of what they will need. It is an apartment that used to house missionaries, but has not been used for the last year. 

 [We took a load of bedding out of the apartment to wash so it can be used by the incoming missionaries]

The following day we assisted with the luncheon for the incoming missionaries and were present when they received their area assignments and met their trainer companions. It is always an exciting moment, so all work in the kitchen stops for those few moments so we can watch.

Later, that evening we assisted with the dinner and testimony meeting for the departing missionaries. We sit at an adjoining table where we can listen to these missionaries who were MTC buddies and are now finished with their missions. The war stories and the comparisons of members and investigators they have known is always fun to hear. The testimony meeting is always a powerful setting. What is interesting to me is that these are men (no women in this group) who have done the job of men, who have worked and have struggled through difficult situations that few men of my acquaintance have had to endure, yet when they talk about their futures they are not sure what they want to be when they grow up. Hopefully, this will be a launching pad for greater things to come. We have great confidence in this group. We know most of them quite well.

Then came Thursday and we tried to channel Mary Poppins to no avail. Apparently, it is an unwritten rule that all missionary apartments must be on the top floor of an apartment building unless there is an elevator large enough for furniture. In the latter case it is on the first floor. We moved the elders from the top floor of the "treehouse" apartment to the top floor of the new apartment. That meant up and down stairs carrying furniture, boxes full of dishes, clothes, bedding etc., etc.  

[It is called the treehouse because someone put a tree trunk with branches in the entry where they hang coats, and it is as high as the tree tops.]

[Of course, if there is a challenge, 18-20 year-olds must take it. This little balcony is just for viewing the park and letting in the air, but they had to go out and close the window behind them, didn't they? Luckily, the bolts held and no one fell to their deaths]

[Our moving crew: We recruited the POEs because they still had the huge bag van to move luggage from the airport to the mission home and from the mission home to the train station for the incoming missionaries. They would use it again to assist the departing missionaries to the airport. In the meantime, it was ours to move the beds, sofa, chairs, etc. The missionaries being moved recruited another set of missionaries from the area, as well. I can't imagine this task without the help of strong young men. Pictured are Elder Christly (POE), Elder Frankman, Elder Pfost (moving out), Elder Pack (POE), Elder Hawkins (POE) Elder Cotton, and Elder Richardson (moving out)]

The end of the day we hauled some items to the new apartment, but because it was already fully appointed, the other items went to the garage at the mission office, or to a new apartment in Stockholm where we will be moving elders in at the end of the month. There we moved in some chairs and desks. Again up the stairs. There is an elevator that will allow about 2 people (three elders who cannot pass by a challenge), but no furniture. The POEs were, again, a great help.

[Moving the furniture into a very small apartment in Stockholm. Normally, the overstuffed chairs would be carried by two people, but as you saw earlier, they can be carried by one over the head, this time, however, it was carried up four flights of steep stairs. They were ready for a rest, then. By this time of the day, my knees were really complaining. They were better the next day.]

Part of the deal for letting us use the bag van was that we would take a load, mostly of pallets to the Återvinning Central. It was good because we had other things that needed to be tossed. We got pictures this time. It is not like any city dump with which we were familiar prior to coming here.

[On one side of the dump are huge bins that are labeled. The one behind us is for cardboard, behind that is gypsum, wood, metal, glass, hard plastic, etc. In front of us (not pictured) is the place for pressurized cans, and other potential extreme combustibles like kerosene, nail polish, etc. On the other side are special bins for clothing that will go to the refugees, electronics, batteries, plastic bags, paper and newspapers.]

[This is the only woman we have seen at the dump. The men who work there are not as bright as she is. She speaks English quite well (the men don't) and is very proud of her dump. She makes the point that we don't have to pay to dump because they make money with what they recycle and the combustibles are used to fuel the power plants. Note her clothes. It is dark so much of the work day that she needs to be seen, thus all the reflective stripes.]

We spent most of Friday cleaning the treehouse apartment to get it ready for turning over to the owner. As we cleaned, the owner came up to talk to us. He told us that he had sent an email asking us to renegotiate a new lease, but by that time it was too late. I wasn't too anxious to re-up as he has been a difficult landlord for some time. I had stepped out for a few minutes to get some paper towels at the store when he came in to talk to Olivia. He was surprised to find that we have 80 apartments to take care of in this country. I think he thought that we were some corner church that springs up from time to time.

[I cleaned the windows inside and out. It looks scary, but it was a nice flat surface and a relatively moderate day.]

[Olivia deep cleaned the kitchen while I deep cleaned the bathroom. Here she is finishing defrosting the freezer. She just finished degreasing the stove and oven.]










[I have discovered that if we pack a lunch, Olivia can be convinced to stop long enough to eat it. This is tuna on a delicious rye/multigrain cracker with lettuce and cheese. We are spoiled with the crackers, produce and cheese available here.]

Saturday, I made another trip to the Återvinning Central, did some shopping, got gas and washed the car while Olivia prepared dinner for our annual Burns Supper. We have wonderful friends among the other senior couples in the local area and all but one were able to come. We had also invited the Södertälje (pronounced sudder-till'-ya) Ward bishop who is from Scotland, but they couldn't arrange for a baby sitter.

Since Elder Smith served his mission in Scotland we had some fun with the dialect. He recited the "Selkirk Grace", I did the "Address to a Haggis" and the Burns tribute, Elder Hall, the toast to the lassies and Sister Clouse, the toast to the laddies. The biggest hit of the evening was the amazing food. Olivia outdid herself, once again. The neeps were sweet, the mince and tatties were a huge hit, the haggis was especially good (she even found browning bags here) and the other ladies brought the trifle, shortbread and scones. I did mix one batch of the scotch and soda (Mormon style - half creme soda and half lemon/lime juice). The Clouses even bought matching plaid shirts. Something completely against Elder Clouse's nature (or so he declares. Truth is he loved it.)

[Olivia, Sister Smith, Elder Smith, Sister Hall, Elder Hall, Elder Clouse, Sister Clouse and me. Wi' oor well-feld kytes bent like drums (in other words, we were happily full.)]

["His knife, see rustic labour's dight, an' cut ye up wi' ready slight, trenchin' yer gushin' entrals bright like ony ditch. An' then, what a glorious sight - warm, reekin', rich." Elder Hall got Elder Smith to assist with the toast to the lassies.]

[The Clouses came in plaid. Very cool, don't you agree?]

Today, we got to do some real missionary work. Our new sister missionary, Sister Hatch, got the idea to search the phone for numbers that hadn't been contacted for a while. One number was a man from Uganda who agreed to meet with them this coming Wednesday. On his own, he found his way by bus to the church and made his acquaintance with the sisters, neither of whom he had met before. In Sunday School, he was the only investigator, and the Gospel Principles teacher was absent, so the sisters taught him a shortened version of the first lesson. We got to sit in and observe two skillful missionaries do their work. Before they ended, Olivia tearfully bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. I have never, in over 44 years of knowing her, heard her talk about the Book of Mormon without shedding tears. I was able to join in and bear testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restoration. He is anxious to come back and bring his two daughters. I hope the missionaries get to meet them before they come to church next Sunday.

We love and miss you all.We are glad you are busy in good things. We pray for you and wish you the best. Or, as they say in Scotland (not Sweden, this time), "Lang may yer lum reek!"