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.