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.