Farewell to Watsons and A New Couple Arrive

The mission lost a special couple this week. The Watsons have been serving in Göteborg (yet'-a-bory) as the YSA missionaries for the past 1.5 years with excellent results. Elder Watson greets and talks to everyone as if they were and always had been his friend. Sister Watson addresses everyone as a "dear, sweet" man, woman, or friend. Elder Watson once told us that attendance at the YSA center had substantially increased over the time they had served there. Olivia asked what he attributed the increase to and he responded, "Tafta's (Sister Watson) homemade bread that came out of the oven just as they arrived for dinner before class." I am sure that was a part of it, but I think they kept coming because they felt they had someone to listen to their needs and love them unconditionally. We will truly miss this special couple.

The Watsons

The other senior couples in the area and the Youngbergs had a
special dinner in their honor at the Mission Home the night
before they left.

Watsons at the Airport

At the airport with Pres. and Sister Youngberg. Sister Hales
and Olivia insisted on taking, rather than being in the photo.
Some people are incorrigible. 

We got to see the Facebook videos of their return to the airport in Salt Lake City. It looked like a very full airport with so many family members, even some they had not expected to be able to make it. They deserved it; they certainly served valiantly.

President Youngberg is doing his best to place all the new missionaries who will be coming shortly, so we went to a couple of the empty apartments where it is likely that missionaries will re-enter in the next few weeks.  It turned out that we spent an entire day and into the evening straightening the clutter, cleaning, hauling out trash and generally preparing the digs for missionaries. In the process, I managed to get a 850 SEK parking ticket (about $90 US). We keep a little stash of protein bars in the car for such occasions, and we were glad we did that day, because we were not able to eat until about 8:00 PM.

Olivia did make sure we had a lunch.
Crackers, lettuce, sweet peppers and
tuna. Then back to work. I married the
Energizer bunny.

One of the sweet duties we sometimes have is to assist the departing missionaries. This week we picked them up at the central station along with President and Sister Youngberg, the Hales and the POEs who drove the "bag van" which is like a UHaul truck that we rent each transfer to take suitcases to their destination. We got to take them to the temple and attend a session with them. 

A nice group shot with the temple and the gardens in the
background.

On the temple steps. L to R, back to front:
Elders Hatch, Lloyd, Murtonen, Adcox, Hyatt, Fawcett
Loertscher, Barnes, Kilton, Gentry
Sisters Hanson, Eldridge, Youngberg, Pres. Youngberg

  Deep friendships are formed in the MTC. These two will be friends for life.

The Watson's replacements came on Friday, so we went to the airport to haul their luggage. President and Sister Youngberg , the Hales, and the Halls were on hand to welcome them and take them to lunch. Elder Kelley is a retired mechanical engineer and Sister Kelley is a musician with a masters degree in music history and plays the harp. She also worked with music therapists in creating music to relieve pain, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and depression, and other uses. They are a very interesting couple.

The Kelleys arrive at the
airport

At the airport with Elder and Sister Hall, Sister and Elder Hales,
Sister and Pres. Youngberg and us. 

We went to lunch with them afterward where they were able to sit next to the Halls who have a similar calling in Stockholm, so they got some good advice for running a YSA center.

On Saturday we had arranged for an inspection of the apartment where the office elders (POES and Assistants) reside, so the Kelleys could get a lesson in how these inspections are done. The elders were a little concerned because, it had been a while since anyone had done a thorough inspection, there. They had obviously worked hard to have a pleasant-looking apartment for us.

We asked them to test
the fire escape ladder

Elder Benson is
first down

Elder Erdman wishes he
was not on splits today

Elder Bringhurst collapsed the
ladder back to the wall
 and replaced the pin

Elders Craun and Bringhurst
celebrate a clean apartment
with the ice cream bars we
brought them..

The overhead light fixture was half on/off and trying to fix it
we broke the diffuser lens. We traveled all over the area trying
to find a replacement and ended up just taping it back together.
Where is Home Depot when you need it?

After inspecting the apartment we took them and the Hales to see downtown Stockholm, but discovered that our usual parking area was unavailable and that the streets were unusually crowded. Looking more closely at the crowds on the streets, we saw odd costumes, mostly zombies. It was the Stockholm Cultural Street Festival and we are so far out of the loop, we didn't know it was happening. We did get some pictures of the family area, but missed photos of the walking dead, unfortunately. Still, we were happy to see that the Tyska Kyrka (German Church) is now open to the public again. It has some very beautiful stained glass from the 1870s and parts of the church date back to the 1640s.
We also found an amazing vegetarian restaurant. Sister Kelley has a special diet, so we needed a special restaurant. Normally, my sentiments about vegetarian is reflected in the motto on the wall of a steakhouse in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that says, "Of course we serve vegetarians. What do you think a cow is?" This one was an exception in my limited experience. Excellent food including soup, lasagna, salads, etc.

In the family section of the festival, the
children were given hammers, nails and
a board to add to the elephant statue.

This young woman did
gymnastic and correography
to music while dangling
from what looked like
heavy curtains.

The children got to tie yarn to complete
this work of abstract art

We couldn't get to our usual spot for
the picture with the city offices in the
background, but this bridge offered
a great view, anyway

A view of a church from
one of the many very
narrow streets of Gamla
Stan - Old Stockholm

Some of the stained glass windows
 in the German Church

The gilded pulpit

Above the door is the date: 1643

In Stora Torget. The square in the center
of Gamla Stan

At lunch in the vegetarian restaurant

The Kelleys got to see the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace

Sunday we took the Kelleys with us to church in Uppsala so they could visit some of the famous sites in that city. It is likely that they would not get the chance, otherwise, as their assignment will take them south of Stockholm; never north. We got to show them the Dom Kyrka, and Gamla Kyrkan in old Uppsala, both of which I have included in several of these posts, but every time we go, we see things we missed the last time.

In church we had visitors who created some excitement. A middle aged couple came in just as we were starting. They were dressed quite casually, which is not altogether unusual, and sat in the chapel by the wall opposite the entrance, so everyone would see them as they crossed the room. At the end of the opening hymn, she stood and in a loud voice exclaimed that the opening song was depressing and dull, "...inte bra." She went on in a lengthy diatribe and was finally answered by the organist who very kindly settled her down. The song was I Believe in Christ, which I have always considered just the opposite of what she was saying.

Olivia was the first speaker, and I feared that this couple was there to heckle, but all went well. She gave her talk with Sister Argyle interpreting; the other talks were given and before the closing prayer, the lady stood again and loudly complimented the last speaker for her talk about families. The two then got up and left the building. I guess there have been nutty people in every age, but I wonder sometimes if there may be some who never had a mother to teach them appropriate from inappropriate.

Olivia spoke about the place of adversity, trials and prayer in our lives. Sister Argyle has a superb command of Swedish, so everyone heard an excellent talk. I'm not the only one who says so.

I gave the lesson in the Gospel Principles class. It was about Adam and Eve and the Fall. It was a bit of a challenge because we had a man from China, two from India, another from a middle eastern country that I have forgotten. I thought it went well. It led to the man from China having a discussion with me and Elder Kelley about whether we are at war with God (we had briefly discussed the War in Heaven). It also led to a lengthy discussion with another about his confusion for life which derived from some harrowing personal experiences that he asked to keep confidential. I have summarized part of my thoughts in http://dadsstudyjournal.blogspot.se/ for those who might be interested.

It was nice to end the day back at the Hales' apartment where she had prepared a sumptuous dinner.

It was a good week with good company and good accomplishments, as well.