When a New Couple Arrives...

Things are a little different with the arrival of a new couple from the arrival of young missionaries. We still have the welcome at the airport with the mission president and his wife, the Clouses, the office elders, the assistants to the president and us. That, however, is where the similarities end. Sometimes, there is no place for the couple to go until the couple they are replacing have left. Such was the case when we arrived. It is also true of the arrival of Äldsta och Syster Johnson.

The Johnsons are from Draper, Utah, having recently moved from Sandy, Utah. They are in their early 60s having been able to retire early from a bank where he worked for 35 years. They have been to Sweden a few times on vacation. Elder Johnson's parents are Swedish and he served his mission here in the mid-1970s. They will be replacing Elder and Sister Hurlbut on the island of Gotland, where we were last week. In fact, Elder Johnson and Elder Hurlbut were companions for a brief time in the 70s, here in Stockholm. The Hurlbuts have arranged to stay at a branch member's home, but were not able to do so until Saturday. In the mean time, the Johnsons stayed in the guest facilities below the mission office from Tuesday until Saturday. We took them to the ferry Saturday morning and helped them board. Today, Sunday, Elder Hurlbut was released as branch president and Elder Johnson was sustained to take his place.

We were the hosts for most of the Johnsons' travels this week, taking them to migration so they are legally in Sweden, helping them find their way through a grocery store and showing them some of the hazards of driving here.  We were also able to take them to a few places of interest. 

At one point we went with them to the temple in Stockholm. Elder Johnson was able to understand the session all in Swedish. He has retained a lot of his language skills, which is pretty impressive. We have had sun, but not much heat until this week. Now we had a couple of days of warmth in a row, so Olivia's newly planted flowers are starting to grow and fill up the space around them.

The Stockholm Temple
The mound of stones is
a burial spot from the
Viking era.

The flowers Olivia and
the missionaries planted
are starting to grow

The Clouses love this Indian Restaurant.
It has become tradition to go there after
a temple session. Elder Clouse, Sister
Johnson, Olivia, me, Elder Johnson,
Sister Clouse.

While we were at the temple we met four young women, a man and wife, and one other man from Flagstaff, Arizona who were with a combined choral group consisting of an acapella chorus from Northern Arizona University and a Master Choir which is a community choral ensemble  touring Sweden, Latvia, and Estonia. They invited us to attend their concert which was happening that evening. We had planned a little dinner/reception for the Johnson to meet the other senior couples, so we arranged to have the dinner earlier in order to attend the concert. We are so happy we did. The music was absolutely beautiful. Some of it was exceptionally difficult, but the young people had memorized all the pieces and performed it flawlessly. They were joined by the church choir for one number and then, at the end, performed a Swedish hymn as an encore. We were all thrilled with the performance.

It turned out that only the Smiths were
able to join the Clouses and us for the
dinner/reception.

In front of Sofia Kyrkan

Sofia Kyrkan where the concert
was held. An old church, but the
interior is all 19th, 20th and 21st
centuries.

The NAU choir. The young women 2nd from the left, front row,
last on the right, front row and 2nd from right top row we met in
the temple.

The day we had planned to take the Johnsons to the old part of Stockholm (Gamla Stan), it was pouring rain, so we took them to Uppsala to look through the Dom Kyrka about which I have written so much. Elder Johnson's family come from Eskilstuna, so the historical areas are quite meaningful to him. We also took them to the Gamla Kyrka which is the older church in Uppsala. It is here that Anders Celsius is buried. We were not able to see his headstone because it is actually inside the church and a funeral was being held there at the time.

Celsius developed the Celsius temperature scale that those my age and older used to call centigrade. It is interesting that his scale is just the reverse of the scale that today bears his name. On his scale, 0 was the boiling point of water and 100 was freezing. Just the opposite of today.

Those my age and older are singing Peggy Lee's song Fever, right now..."...chicks were meant to give you fever, be it Fahrenheit or centigrade." Admit it. If not, you ain't got no culture.

Johnsons at the amazing Dom Kyrka

Inside the Dom Kyrka a wax figure
entitled "The return of Mary". It is
a depiction of a peasant woman.

Johnsons outside the Gamla Kyrka of Uppsala

The entrance is to the right. Just inside is the grave of
Anders Celsius.

Yes, we actually did some work, as well this week. We took the Johnsons to watch as we inspected the elders' apartment on the island of Lidingö. It was in great shape. The missionaries were on splits with the zone leaders, so we only saw Elder Hatch and Elder Goffe. Elder Hatch is training a new missionary, Elder Fortuna. Elder Goffe had lived in that apartment prior to the last transfer. There is an interesting story about Elder Goffe. A new, young missionary had been in that apartment with Elder Swenson (now also a zone leader) and had grown very close, perhaps a little dependent on him. When it came time for transfers, Elder Swenson was certain he would be transferred out for a new assignment. His companion was concerned, almost to anxiety. Elder Swenson suggested that they pray about it. At the conclusion of the prayer, Elder Swenson said to his companion, "Your new companion is Elder Goffe, and you will love him." When transfers were announced that is exactly what happened. The new missionary is now in a different area and is doing exceptionally well. Tender mercies.

We forgot to take pictures, but thought you would like to meet Elders Goffe and Swenson

We also picked up a couple of bikes to take to the shop for a tune up and some small repairs. It was the Jakobsberg sisters, again. It seems that we have been there a lot over the past month or so. They are close by, so it is no bother for us.

Sisters Wilson and Wagner. The Smiths attend their ward and
tell us that these two sisters are constantly teaching, committing
and baptizing. The ward loves them. We are always happy to serve them.

We love hearing from those of you who take the time to read this blog. I include some detail that may not matter to you, but this is also my journal. Olivia keeps a written one separate from this, so we have a pretty good record of our comings and goings. We wish you a wonderful week. Hej då!