A B C Ds this week: Apollos, Burmans and Bells, Clouds and Culture, Departing Missionaries

The cloud formations are amazing, especially as Spring approaches. This is the view from our car windshield today.

Clouds out our window at home at about 8:00 PM

 As we drove to church in Uppsala today, we noticed the castle was especially beautiful in the sunlight of this Spring morning. We realized that we had not taken the opportunity of going up on the grounds, yet, so after our meetings, we went up the hill and looked around. We will need to go back as they have guided tours in the summertime.

The castle is the red building in the back.

The main garden stretches from the castle
to the river below. It is one of four
gardens and the largest.

The path leading to the
top of bell tower
bastion.

The bell tower. The bell is ancient and now
only rings on special occasions.

Bell tower with cannons
on left and castle behind.

Cannons are pointed toward the cathedral
we have mentioned several times - the Dom
Kyrka. When King Vasa declared himself
ruler of the Swedish Church, he determined
to oust Catholicism and pointed the guns at
the church to keep the bishops in line in case
loyalties changed from Lutheran back to
Catholic. 

The Dom Kyrka from the view of the cannons.

As I mentioned briefly in the last post, we were on hand to assist the missionaries who were departing for home. We began by attending the temple session with them and President and Sister Beckstrand. It was a special occasion for us because we have been close to several of the returning elders and sisters.

At the Stockholm Temple with the departing group.

Normally, we would assist in preparing and partaking of their "last supper" in the mission home, but it is going through major rehabilitation to be ready for the incoming president, so it was unavailable. Instead, we ate at the new TGIFriday in the Täby Centrum. We got to sit with the young folks and talk with them. Most fun is listening to their conversation about their adventures in Sweden as well as their plans for their futures.

Elders Christley, Blackburn, and Pärkkä, Sister and
President Beckstrand

Elder Clouse is behind Sister Clouse. Next are Sisters Hall, May,
Davis, Haikkola, and Campbell. 

We will remember each one of these humble, capable and hard-working young people. As I talk to them it occurs to me that they barely have a glimpse of who they have become and what amazing work they have done in their young lives. They are wonderful examples of what the Lord expects of us as capable people who have the privilege of having the Gospel integrated into our lives. (See my other blog for my thoughts on this subject www.dadsstudyjournal.blogspot.com). We will miss them and wish them well.

We were especially close to Sister Hall
because she served for so long in our
Uppsala Ward.

With President and Sister Beckstrand

We took the plunge this week, registering for and beginning our SFI (Svenska för Invandrare, i.e. Swedish for Immigrants) class. Something I believe Sweden does mostly right is how they assist the large immigrant population. While they seem to realize that they allowed too many into the country at once, they house them and give them a subsistence income, they require them to learn the language, assist them in finding employment after their command of the language is adequate and then they qualify to find housing for themselves and their families. How we qualify for these classes is a question, but I think we did in part because we are typically busiest in the morning, so we chose afternoon classes. It turns out that the mornings are most popular and that we are the only ones in the afternoon class. We probably qualified because it kept a teacher busy.

Our teacher is a woman from Iran who left with her daughter to give her daughter a chance in life outside a repressive regime. She has quite a story. She learned English a little at school in Iran, but mostly used it and mastered it in Malaysia. From there she was able to immigrate to Sweden where her daughter had a chance for a better education.

Our lärare (teacher), Yvette Nasimeh and us at the SFI

We ended the week with a visit to a little church in a little village several kilometers from Uppsala called Järlåsa. The Burman family invited us to a concert where Sol Brit and Christoffer performed in the choir. It was a combined choir from three communities in the area and they were accompanied by the Nya Kammarorkestern (New Chamber Orchestra). The presentation included bass/baritone and soprano soloists as well as a narrator. The soloists and narrator were highly accomplished which really surprised us given the small church and thus the small audience. The acoustics in the church were especially good as the ceiling is dome shaped and the walls and ceiling are a hard plaster. The program consisted of 12 selections from Handle's Messiah and a lengthy Swedish song and poem called Förklädd Gud (The Disguised God).

Several times I found myself close to tears with the familiar strains of "And the Glory," "Glory to God," "I Know that my Redeemer Liveth," and the "Hallelujah Chorus." The choirs and orchestra were quite accomplished.

The second song is about the Greek god, Apollos, who was condemned to live for a year as a mortal, working for the king as a farmhand. During the year he does not complain, but assists the crops to grow and heals the sick animals. In his spare time he plays music the animals enjoy and watches them dance. The poem ends with the reminder that the other farmhands had no idea that the man sitting across the table from them at meals was a god. We must be mindful that those with whom we associate may be nobler than we know and we should think of them as such. Of course, that is our theology. Each person we know is a god in embryo, so we strive to treat them as such.

The Järlåsa kyrka (yare loa' suh shirka).
Even the smallest towns have beautiful
old churches that today would cost millions
to construct, if tradesmen skilled enough
could even be found.

Inside the village church.
Check out the statuary. Ancient
paintings and tapestry is also
found here.

Sol Brit with her rose and scarf indicating her choir. Members of the other choirs wore different
colored scarves or ties.

Sol Brit and Tore Burman

Tore, son Christoffer (who received a gift along with the
soloists and director for managing his choir)
 another choir friend and Sol Brit

It has been another inspiring, busy week for us. The more we live in and learn about this country, the more we love it. We love our mission and appreciate all the experiences it is allowing us to enjoy. We hope you are happy, well and enjoying life wherever you are and whatever you are doing. You are in our prayers and on our minds.

Petals, Peddles and Paddles

I left off last week still nursing a cold and informed you that Olivia was busy helping plant the spring colors at the temple in Västerhaninge. Here are the images from that endeavor.

Brother Lindahl, head gardner and a few
of the flowers they would plant.

Freda Lindahl, Elders Muirhead, Barker, Mecham,
Sister Hansen, Elder Baggett, Brother from the Temple,
Elder Schwitters

Elder Nielson, Sister Hale, Elder Payne,
Elder Gergetz, Sister Christoffersen

Sister Eldridge, Elders Schwitters, Payne,
and investigator, Nielson, Barker, Gergetz,
Sister Hansen, Elders Mecham, Muirhead,
Barker, Temple couple, Brother Lindahl
and son, Emil

Olivia and Elder Baggett
worked on this together

Hardly made a dent

Sister Christoffersen, Brother Lindahl, Elders
Nielson, Mecham, son Emil and a new
member who brought the investigator

Even thought it was biting cold, they worked with a smile!

Sister Hansen dared
Elder Mecham to eat
a worm

"I think she'll really
let it go!"

The whole crew. 

When I was finally well enough to get back in the saddle, we traveled to Norrköping and delivered two bicycles to the elders there. It snowed the entire trip there and back. They didn't feel like riding bikes that day, but were excited to have them. We showed them all the pictures from the temple, but forgot to take pictures of them! Some good shots of the trees along the 2.5 hour trip (one way), though.

The birch trees are so pretty with each
branch covered by snow and framed
by the evergreens

Beautiful, but with the studded tires off
and the summer tires on, we hurried
home before the road froze

More flocked trees

April 15 was a special day for a reason other than taxes. It is Olivia's "name day;" Our grandson Oliver's name day, as well. Historically, birthdays were not celebrated; often not even known other than on the records of the church, if that. They did celebrate the saints' days, however, (think St. Patrick's Day, for instance). Gradually, those who were named after saints celebrated those days as their own. The early church encouraged this as celebrating birthdays was considered a pagan practice. Gradually, name days were expanded to include more names. Now, more names are officially added every 15 years. So people today celebrate birthdays and name days, as well.

Olivia with her name day bouquet

The bouquet added to
the Easter decorations

She still looks like a bride to me

For Påsk (poask)( it means Easter) we invited the missionaries from the Uppsala Ward for dinner. Elder Adcox is being transferred, so this would be his last meal with us for now. The others are staying, so it was a fun time listening to the mission gossip about who is going where and the experiences they have had with certain other missionaries, members and investigators in various areas of the mission.

It's not Easter if you don't
boil and dye eggs

Some of the creative eggs. The white one
in the back is a shell filled with
the most delicious chocolate
from Finland.

I finally got her to add her creative flare.
 

Hot Cross Buns were a big hit

It is snowing, so it must be Easter

We have had snow every day, since.

We wanted a picture of Elder Adcox on
his last Sunday, but Brother Uhrbom wanted
to be in the picture, too

Brother Burman, Elder Malone, Olivia, Me, Sister Young, Brother
Fränqvist, Sister Hatch, Rafaela Nordin, Elder Adcox,
Brother Hernod

Elders Adcox, Malone, Olivia, Me, Sister
Young, Sister Hatch, Brother Hernon

Brother Nordin, Rafaela,
Elder Adcox

Nordins with the elders

And Leonardo Nordin

Sisters Young & Hatch, Elders Malone & Adcox

The traditional picture by the Viking ship in our park

Easter dinner with the missionaries.

Olivia finally found someone to play
dominoes with her

Easter became a late night, so no blog. Yesterday, we went early to join the Clouses and the elders in the office to cruise the Archipelago. We left Stockholm harbor and sailed with brief stops to let people off at several isles along the way and landed in Sandhamn. Sandhamn is the final sheltered islet before heading out to the Baltic sea. It was an important place for restocking, defense, holing up until more favorable weather and for hiring pilot boats to work through the archipelago without piling up on a rock.

Us and the Clouses on Dansberg (dans berry, i.e. dance rock).
This is where the sailors and local ladies would
hold dances while waiting for better weather.

Elder Jensen will you take our picture?
Photo bomb

Looking out at the Baltic Sea

One of the old houses with sod roof.

You have to do this when the opportunity
presents itself, right?

At least it was free

Boys will be boys and men will be boys.
Elders Pärkkä, Christley, Pack and Jensen

You're just supposed to
kiss, not eat her face,
Elder Clouse

The sign says Pusshållplats (poos-hol-plots)
The Kissing Place

Pretty little fishing cabins on islets
along the way

One of the Swedish Coast Guard boats

Vaxholm the strategic fortress protecting
Stockholm

Close up of Vaxholm. We will take the
boat here another day.

Scenery along the route

One of the ferries taking cars to Finland

Beautiful homes all among the islets

Mostly inhabited in the summer.

Even the tiny islets are pressed into service

 We got a call today that one of our favorite sisters who is going home to Finland on Thursday was not well and needed a place to stay for the day. We stayed in to complete some reports and work on other matters regarding the sale of our house in Sparks, so we gladly picked her up at the train station and kept her for the day. Sister Haikkola (Hi'-cola) has crossed our paths so many times that we have become good friends. Her parents are driving onto a ferry and then driving to pick her up at the mission home on Thursday to take her home. It is a good thing they are driving. Her luggage and extra bags are so many and so heavy it would have cost a fortune to fly with them to the US, for instance. By the end of the day she was feeling much better, so she was able to stay with the local sisters until she leaves.

Sister Haikkola embroidering "Thank You"
in several languages. She has a huge vocabulary
in English, Swedish, Finnish and is learning Russian,
German, French and whatever else strikes her fancy.

I will try to be a bit more prompt this coming Sunday. We are coming to love this mission more and more. We hope your Easter was as blessed, holy and happy as ours was. It is a time to deeply reflect on the depth of love He possessed to go through the suffering, and death he had to endure, the resurrection, and ascension that made it possible, through our faith to repent and return. Our relationship with Him begins with our gratitude for Him.

Our love to all.