To the North We Go - ee oh

We spent our week traveling to and staying in Norrland which is what the Swedes call the north section of the country. It is interesting how many cities in the north have names that end in -eå (pronounced ee-o). As we traveled we saw Piteå, Sollefteå, Umeå, Skellefteå, and Luleå, in the last three of which we have missionaries. Now I know where Old MacDonald had his farm. In the north the cows have all been put back inside the barns and the horses are heavily blanketed. The fields are plowed and harrowed preparing them to accept the moisture and nutrients the winter weather will afford them and the farms have been put to bed. We traveled in snow storm and rain storm. I told Olivia that at least we got to see reindeer (well, didn't actually see reindeer, but we did see rain, dear!).

Initially, the sun was out and the farms and villages were picturesque 

Both up and back we saw these birds (we couldn't tell if they
were swans or tame geese) enjoying whatever there is to do
on a plowed field.

Of course a camera cannot capture the sky as it really looked,
but the house and trees were beautiful against a pastel skyscape

As the sun began to set the mist grew
progressively thick and the church in
the background was brilliant through
the fog.

A couple of bridges from among several that are built in the north

Pogo nip after a foggy morning when the mist froze on the trees in Luleå

We stopped for gas and Olivia saw this rock covered
with lichen. It was so interesting we had to get a photo

We did get to see all of the missionaries in the Norrland Zone, which was a great pleasure. The Sundsvall elders' apartments had already been inspected by the Hales a couple of weeks ago, but they needed a new sofa and kitchen chair, so the trusty Ford van was filled to the brim with those and all the other things we needed to take to the other missionaries and to the zone conference.

I have found more than a few uses for seat belts in the Ford van.
Somewhere back there is a kitchen chair, as well.

Elders Cotton and Moss test their
Ninja skills on the old kitchen chair.

Elder Moss takes another
boot to it. It was good to
see our hometown missionary
once again. All reports are that
he is a great asset to the mission.

It was toothpicks by the

time we loaded it in 

van to haul off to the

dump.

An old desk chair gets taken apart so it
can also make the trip.

Elders Moss, Cook, Denton and Cotton with a cache of destroyed
sofa, kitchen chair and desk chair stuffed into the van. At the
Återvinningcentral Olivia and I sorted and tossed the items into
the proper bins (wood, metal, etc.). I love the method for the trash
sorting. It allows the company to sell the recyclables and we dump
for free as a result. 

We noticed, as we inspected the apartments, that most have SAD lights (Seasonal Affective Disorder), which the missionaries choose to call "happy lights," for obvious reasons. These lights can be effective for fighting the blues that can negatively affect their effectiveness by providing them with the spectrum of sunlight as they study. It really works. Already the days are short, especially in the north where the sun rises at 7:30 and sets at 3:00. By the middle of December it will rise at 10:00 and set before 2:00. We have been buying these lights whenever we see them as the demand is growing.

We enjoy inspecting apartments, because the missionaries are proud of their cleaning and it gives us a good opportunity to give them advice in a positive setting. We always like to leave them with a motivational, or inspirational message, as well.

A shout out to our former stake president, Joe Johnson. In one of our messages, we happened to quote him, "A thought is inspiration until proven otherwise." One of the sisters told Olivia that she remembered that phrase when she and her companion were hurriedly walking to an appointment for which they were going to be late. She saw a young mother with her child and the thought came to her that she should talk to this woman. She said that because they were running late, she would have ignored the thought, otherwise, but she remembered that quote and introduced herself and her companion. The lady said she had just returned from a trip to the US where she had an acquaintance who is LDS. Her friend told her to look for young people with the missionary name badge. She had never seen missionaries before, and knew that their meeting that day was not a coincidence. She is now meeting with the sisters. Thanks, Pres!

Elders Harden and Bringhurst in their apartment with their new
wall clock in the background. They are the Norrland zone leaders.
We have been close to Elder Bringhurst since he arrived in
Sweden as he was trained in Uppsala and served nearby in Jakobsberg.

Sister Edwards is being trained by
Sister Datwyler. This is the doorway
in their Umeå apartment.

Lunch with the Umeå missionaries. Elder Harden, Sister Edwards,
Sister Datwyler, and Elder Bringhurst

Elder Barker is training Elder Callor in the small town of Skellefteå.
Their apartment is converted from a storage unit. Still, it
is not the smallest in the mission. 

Sisters Kunzler and Oehler were excited to get a new whiteboard

Elder Harris is training Elder Francis. He is also the District
Leader for the Luleå area, even though they live in Boden.

After inspecting the elders' apartment we took them and the Luleå
sisters to lunch before inspecting the sisters' apartment.

So she gave Elder Harris
her crochet hook, I gave him
my Leatherman and he
retrieved coins enough
to repay what we had lost!

As we tried to pay with
coins, we found that it
was not working at all,
but Olivia saw that some coins
 had fallen into the bottom.

We dropped the elders off at the church in Luleå so they could
walk to the bus station and travel to Umeå 
for splits with the zone leaders.

We tried to pay for parking,
but this machine would not
accept credit cards. 

I never cease to be inspired by the hardworking missionaries. It cannot be fun to contact people who for the most part are not interested in the cold weather, and yet, they do it not only willingly, but with an air of excitement.

Not only are they good, they are creative and fun. We were chattering, as in shivering, and they were wearing light coats and the sisters were not yet wearing lined tights because they thought they could become acclimated to the season, so when it gets really cold, their heavier clothes and coats will be more effective.

Their response to any of our requests, no matter how inconvenient it might seem, is always, "Yeah, we can do that!"

The new missionaries, without exception, have been given outstanding trainers. Their Swedish is coming quickly and while they claim they are struggling, they readily contact, and converse in the language. Their trainers and leaders all say their language skills are beyond expectations.

The last couple of days were spent preparing for and serving lunch to the missionaries at the zone conference. Olivia's chili con carne and cornbread were a big hit. They don't have cornmeal, here, but they do have corn flour, so the cornbread was more like a cake - delicious! We got a kind of pound cake and she took bottles of strawberry, blueberry and raspberry jams to which she added frozen fruit of the same kinds to make delicious toppings. Then, they had whipped cream to top it all off.

We almost had an especially lively zone conference meal. We thought apple cider would be fun to go with the fall theme, not realizing that the grocery stores don't necessarily put the alcoholic cider with the alcoholic beverages, but just mix it in with the nonalcoholic cider. Most bottles don't say anything about alcohol. Luckily, we found some that did state the alcoholic content, so Olivia asked and we found out how to tell the difference. Just imagine...

The zone conference table decorated with apples and pumpkins.
Clockwise: Elder Bringhurst, Sisters Oehler, Kunzler, Gow,
Elders Barker, Prososki, Denton, Sisters Argyle, Datwyler,
Edwards, Elder Benson

Apple cider, chili and cornbread. Elders Porter, Hambrick, Lee,
Cotton, Harris, Cook, Francis, Buchanan, Callor, Moss, me

Elder Harden talks with Pres. and Sister Youngberg

The chapel in Umeå where the zone conference was held.

We stayed in the empty apartment in Örnskolsvik (ern'-sholds-veek), and even though the elders' apartment had been inspected the Hales, earlier, we had them over for dinner. Before we left we picked up a bicycle from them to haul back to Stockholm in the amazing Ford van. Elder Buchanan is training Elder Prososki. They are a huge asset to the branch where there is a distinct lack of Melchizedek Priesthood. They have had only one dinner invitation with members there, so they were happy to come to dinner with us.

Elders Buchanan and Prososki in their
doorway after having helped get the
bike into the van for its trip to the
mission office.

We got a piece of home on Halloween. While it is becoming more of a thing here, it is still rare to see children going from door to door saying, "Trick or treat!" We had almost forgotten Halloween until a little group of children rang our doorbell and asked for goddis (go-deez, i.e. candy) and chattered away in Swedish. Olivia had answered the door and tried talking to them in English. Finally, one of them asked, "Är du fron Sverige?" She didn't understand them so I (from my place of safety in the little office) shouted back, "Nay, fron USA (oo es ah)." Then they did their best to speak English.

We only had a little bag of about 5 small pieces of chocolate, but they seemed to think they had hit the jackpot. As they left, they shouted, "Good-bye," "Thank you!" and one boy yelled, "I love you!" which made Olivia's day. She had scarcely closed the door before she grabbed her phone and ran out after them to get their pictures. They were happy to pose and when she thanked them for the picture, one of the boys gave her an enthusiastic hug. Less than an hour later, they were back with another boy. All we had were digestive crackers which are round wafers and taste sort of like graham crackers. Again, they were delighted. They came on October 30, but like most holidays, it is celebrated on the evening before, it seems.

At least a couple of them got the costume concept. They seemed to be
immigrant children, probably from eastern Europe; one of the
-stans, I suppose.

All Saints' Day is celebrated on the weekend following the actual day. We thought it was on the Friday and completely forgot to go out to the cemetery in Örnskoldsvik. Olivia was so sad to have missed our last opportunity to see the candle-lighted graves as we did last year. We traveled back to our apartment on Saturday and as we were catching up on some housekeeping things we got a text from our dear friend, Elsa. She told us that she and the missionaries had been out to the churchyard in Uppsala and that it was quite beautiful. She thought we would want to find a graveyard and experience it.

Immediately, and even though it was already 9:00 PM, Olivia was in her heavy coat and dragging me out the door. There is a small church near our apartment that we have passed often, but have not taken the time to visit. It has an intimate cemetery, so we were there in just a few minutes. Last year we went to a much larger one, and it was beautiful, but this was quiet, and allowed more opportunity to ponder and look at the scene without a lot of people.

Eds Kyrka built in 1786. Candles are sprinkled around on the side

All sides of the church were illuminated. We thought the
gravestones on this side were interesting.

On this night the cemeteries have a section where people can
place candles for loved ones who are buried elsewhere. Perhaps
they have moved from their hometowns, and come here to
pay their respects.

There were several monuments where the names of those who
were cremated are acknowledged. 

Typical graves with candles. This one
was also decorated with heather.-

A couple of gravestones that were especially interesting

Looking down from one side of the church over a portion of the
churchyard. The lights on the church illuminated the gravestones.

We are looking forward to the coming week as we will be traveling the opposite direction to assist with the Malmö zone conference. We will stay and inspect the 13 apartments there, plus taking out everything, cleaning and closing the apartment in Lund. We will probably be there over a week and a half. A lot of work for a senior couple. Until then, hej då and Heavens blessings to each of you.