Now it Begins...

July and August are scheduled to be moving months; literally moving. We began by moving the Elders from an apartment in Stockholm to another apartment that has been the subject of this blog in the past. We will be moving elders from their apartment in Södertälje to another tomorrow, then cleaning the apartment in order to turn it back to the landlord. We then travel down to Lund to close an apartment and turn it back to the landlord, but that will likely have to be in August, because we will be in Eskilstuna for Festinord, the largest gathering of young single adults in Europe.

Moving missionaries is always more work than it looks like it should be. This was much smoother then in the past, because we had the foresight to take boxes and bags for the elders to pack several days in advance. When we arrived, they had actually pack them and had them at the door. The Stockholm sisters were there, so Olivia stayed with them while I drove with the elders to unload the things with which we had filled the Ford van. We had borrowed another car from the mission office, because another set of elders met us at the new apartment and stayed with us most of the day, shuttling back and forth. Of course, it also meant that we treated them to lunch at an Indian restaurant a little walk from the old apartment. Good missonaries; good day.

The work crew: Elder Hatch, Sister Hunter, Elders Olaveson, Adcox, Fortuna, Sister Christoffersen

Packing and cleaning help

At lunch with the crew

We returned the next day to the apartment we moved them into and install a coat rack, an extension cable for
the microwave

And a mirror (not as easy as it should be)

The apartment when we first
acquired it

Finally set up. They can take the vacuum out of the box and do the rest.

Through the week we have worked with the office couple, the Hales, to get things set up like they want to control the light in their bedroom. The blackout blind fell apart and it could probably be repaired, though I did not expect to do it any time soon. So we got them blackout curtains.

The next day we got a call from Sister Hales that the curtains did not block enough of the light, so we did go back, repair the blind (duct tape, of course - good quality, though) and re-install it. We also picked up the iron because she had tried to iron the curtains at too high a setting and, while it didn't do permanent damage to the curtain, the iron had retained a good part of the fabric. Olivia looked it up on Google and found out how to clean the iron.

Shiny and clean

We had a lot of shopping, going from apartment to apartment, and the week looked too full to add another thing when we got a call from the elders in Norrköping (nor'-shupping) telling us that their wardrobe had collapsed. Olivia's response, "You had a wardrobe malfunction?!" They are young enough that they didn't get the reference. These people are YOUNG!

We told them that we may be able to work it in sometime in August. It turned out that we were able to make time on Friday, so we made the trip there and did some of the other things we needed to do on our way to and from. It is about a 2 hour drive. They had put the wardrobe back together well enough to keep using it, but it was not going to last long, so I secured it with screws instead of the little brads with which it was originally secured. (Brads are useless objects until you hit them solidly on the head) While we were there, we secured the backs of the other wardrobes (there were three in all), again with screws. They were happy with our visit and felt much better about their situation.

Later, we got a call from them thanking us once again, but also mentioned that I had secured one of Elder Olson's shirts to the back of the wardrobe with a screw.  ARRRGGG!

The buildings on the street where the elders live are old.
This gargoyle reminded Olivia of me with a
mustache, I guess.

Elders Ashford and Olson asked me to take a look at the kickstand on the bike. This was before they found the shirt screwed to the back of the wardrobe, obviously

Elder Olson discovered this old organ at a second-hand store a couple of blocks
from their apartment. He convinced the Linnköping Elders to help them carry it
down the street and up a couple of flights of stairs to their apartment. I couldn't get
the video off from the iPhone, but it is fun! It's a pump organ.

One of the reasons we are considering moving to Idaho, eventually, is that the state does not have an IKEA. One You Tube artist states that it is harder to get out of IKEA that prison. We spent much of two separate days in IKEA this week. We are trying to get everything prepared for the move to the new apartment in Södertällje, so it was necessary. The first time was fine because we went by the book. We entered in the entrance, walked the floor to find the desks, and other items, walked to the cashier and walked out.

The second time, we really only needed a couple of mattresses for the bunk beds we were going to install, so we avoided the long walk. We walked into what we thought was the back door where the cashiers are located and behind which are the shelves where you pick up the items you have identified. It turned out that we were literally in the largest IKEA in the world and the door we entered was below the floor we needed to be on. We found our way to the correct floor (no easy task) and even found the mattresses we wanted. We bought them and, even though it took longer than it should have we congratulated ourselves at short cutting the IKEA plan.

As we left, we noticed that their restaurant offered lunches that were much less expensive than fast food restaurants, so we deposited the mattresses into the Ford van and went back into the store. We wandered about looking for a way into the restaurant and were told, essentially, "You can't get there from here." We had to find the front of the store, go up what looked like the stairway to heaven, turn a certain direction to find the food. We complied. When we finally found the restaurant (the place has a hot dog station and a cafe for coffee that are not the restaurant), and ate our meal, we tried to leave without going through acres of store. We again discovered that we could not, and after several miserable failures at short cutting, walked the entire store to get back to the car.

IDEA at Kungens Kurva; largest in the world

Part way up the escalator that reaches
the sky (it is not heaven)

You can see the parking lot and even our car from here.
You just can't get there from here.

 Now it was time to start putting these items together. We are getting used to following IKEA instructions. I have to admit, that if you follow them, being very careful to note the smallest details, it actually turns out like it should. We spent much of Saturday unpacking and assembling desks, desktop organizers and bunk beds in the home of the Shelins, a wonderful young couple into whose spare room we are moving the elders on Monday.

Follow the illustrated instructions exactly!

 Sister Shelin has a wonderful reputation as a cook, so when she asked if we would stay for dinner, I didn't wait for a response from Olivia before thanking her profusely and accepting the invitation. Dinner was an amazing soup with frittered pumpkin blossoms. That's right, we ate the blossoms from her pumpkin vine! Delicious! She uses zucchini blossoms, usually, but she didn't plant zucchini this year.

We are losing 20 missionaries this week, so this transfer affected many of the areas again. We are losing a couple of our favorites (if there can be such a thing) from our ward. We first met Elder Roylance not long after his first year in Sweden and have had dealings with him in Hägersten, then Kungsbacka, where we moved him to a new apartment, and now in Uppsala where he has been serving with distinction for the past few months. Sister Young was training Sister Trotter in Täby when we first arrived in the country, so we saw both of them often because they came to the office events very often. In Uppsala, she has served as a Sister Trainer Leader. She has a deep testimony, abiding faith and a desire to serve the Lord with all her heart. We have grown to love her, very much.

Sister Young - her last Sunday
in Uppsala

With Elder Roylance; also his last Sunday in Uppsala

Sisters Christensen, Young, Olivia, Elder Roylance, me, Elder Harper

Companion picture (Brother Burman is a famous photo bomber)

Companion photo

Another lesson we have learned is that, it doesn't always work to ask locals about important sites in their area. We wanted to see some Bronze Age carvings in Norrköping which were supposed to be near the museum according to the guidebook we brought with us. The museum is open for an hour on Tuesdays and three hours on Saturdays. We were there on Friday, so we were out of luck to see inside. We still wanted to see the carvings, so we started down a well paved path and asked several people as we walked only to be told that they had no idea, or that they knew, but they gave us bogus directions. We got a good cardio walk, but no carvings. We will have to try another day.

The weather is very much like summer many days. It rained today and I am typing with a sweater on, but we have been very comfortable in our sunny weather much of the past week.  Our good friend Elsa, whom I have mentioned before a few times, along with her parents, spent several days this week at a family reunion in Utah. She had wonderful reports of the things they saw and did, but she said it was quite hot, there. We have a hard time relating.

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Marvin Moss. He was in our ward much of our time in Sparks and we grew to appreciate his heart and character. He was a master at controlling a potential hostile public meeting discussing the issues surrounding schools with his unflappable personality. He loved and taught the gospel with ease and testimony. We tried to send condolences to Dixie, but the email didn't go through. Those who know her, please pass on our sympathy.