Birthdays, Baptisms, and Wonders in the Heavens

After many failed attempts to see the Aurora Borealis, we finally made it. We are located just out of Stockholm, so we don't have the view that they do further north. Here we are on the southern rim of the lights and there is a lot of competition with lights from the cities and it was a full super moon. A super moon is when the moon is closest to the earth and appears very large and bright. Still, we did see the Northern Lights and in a spectacular show.

The best we could capture of the
super moon

According to the Aurora app, we should have been able to see
the lights at about 4:00 PM. It was dark, but no Northern Lights.
Everyone came back to our house to wait for the next showing.
Per the app, the best time kept getting later and later.

We ate a nice meal and watched a BYUTV movie while we waited

Finally, it was good enough to go try it again

Out in a field not far from where we took Cedric''s family to see
the Viking burial and fortress ruins. Elder and Sister Hales, Sister and Elder
Bell, Elder and Sister Hall, Elder and Sister Smith, Elder and Sister
Donohoo, me (Olivia insisted on taking the picture)

At times it appeared as a green rainbow, low in the sky

Then bright spots would appear as if the bow was gathering in a spot

Then there would be shafts shooting up from the horizon

And multiple bright spots, sometimes in a group, like this;
sometimes on two or three separate areas in the horizon

We hadn't seen anything for about half an hour, and turned the car
around to leave when we noticed that it had all started again.

Even more spectacular. It was close to midnight before we left. 

These pictures are from Elder Hales' camera which has more features than Olivia's phone, so they are more accurate. Be sure to click on them to enlarge.


Olivia's birthday was on Thursday, but the celebration began on Wednesday with the office meeting where Sister Youngberg provided doughnuts and juice to celebrate, Thursday we had a baptism in Uppsala and the group sang the Swedish birthday song to her. We had agreed that the Sissel concert would be her birthday gift, but I still bought her roses and Danish pastries for a birthday cake, and all the senior couples in the area went to the Club House for a little party in her honor where she got more gifts, a real cake, and we all watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It is very late here when the live broadcast happens, so we planned a time when we could enjoy it together.

The office meeting was the last for Elder Benson (L). Elder Lee
holds the Happy Together pillow that has become a tradition
for the  final picture. 

Elders Harper, Porter and Hambrick (POEs) enjoy the
birthday doughnuts

After the baptism, the attendees sang the Swedish birthday song
which ends with shouting hurrah! four times, while pumping
fists in the air.

The Friday evening birthday celebration.
No birthday candles were near at hand, so
 a handful of votive candles were pressed into service.
As old as she is, she can still blow out 6 candles!

The birthday girl, me and Elder Donohoo. Not in the picture
are Sister Donohoo, Elder and Sister Bell, Elder and Sister Hall,
Elder and Sister Hales, the POEs, and Assistants. The office
elders gave her a nice card and a beautiful begonia plant.

With her birthday roses. I was the first customer
at the new blomster shop and the owners took a
picture, but they haven't sent it to me. They
are beautiful and a beautiful woman deserves them!

Most of the Swedish birthday song sung by those present

On our way back from checking a vacant apartment, we got a flat tire while driving on the expressway at 110 km/hr. I pulled off as soon as it seemed safe to do so. It was a good lesson. I had canceled the roadside assistance and had the Ford dealership put a spare tire under the car. It came without a jack or lug wrench, so we bought them at an auto shop and I have been keeping them in the car. I could imagine that we might be in Norrland late some winter night freezing while waiting for some roadside assistance, so I preferred a spare tire.

It turned out that, even though I had practiced with the jack and lug wrench, I was not prepared for an actual flat tire. The jack worked fine as long as all tires were inflated, but with a flat (really completely destroyed) tire, I couldn't get the jack under the van any place that would do any good. I got a call from the office just as I was out of ideas, so after taking care of the concerns of the POEs, I asked Elder Hales to bring out the floor jack.

The lug wrench didn't exactly fit the lug nuts, so a hammer was
brought into action

Elder Hales took right over as soon
as he arrived

That's me in the fashionable reflective
vest.

The floor jack is in position. Even all the
way up, it almost was not high enough

Then we couldn't get the wheel off.
Elder Hales encouraged it with a
kick. We finally had to lower the
jack to loosen the wheel. 

He did and together we got the tire off and the spare tire on. I need to go back to the store for a scissor jack. Soon.

Hopefully, the experience will be enough to be better prepared for the next time it happens.

We were able to be present when Sebastian was baptized. He is a young college student who first discovered the Church when he viewed a video in his school's religion class. The religion class students are required to attend a church service and to interview members and leaders, apparently. We don't know which school it was, but it is not unheard of to have missionaries visit, give a brief lecture and take questions. It may have been one of those incidents. At any rate, when he heard of Joseph Smith and the restoration, he was touched and went on to mormon.org to get more information. He began discussing the Church with a representative there who eventually got him in contact with the Elders in Uppsala where he attends the university.

He is a bright young man with a firm conviction of the Gospel. His responses to questions in the Gospel Essentials class are always insightful. 

Elder Harrell, Sebastian, Elder Grover

Sisters Manning and Beck sang

The fika afterward included Olivia's
pumpkin cookies with cream cheese
frosting and Elsa's blueberry pie on
which Sebastian is putting a
special whipped topping. 

Elsa taking credit for the pie (as she should - delicious!)

Same picture as above, but it shows some of the attendees. Peter, Elder Grover, Sebastian, Elder Harrell, Sister Argyle,
Tim, Sister Cappuccio, an investigator, Sisters Manning and Beck

Peter performed the confirmation on Sunday.

A fun, but somewhat expensive tradition here is the Christmas Market. They spring up everywhere. They are often sponsored by a service organization such as the Lions Club. That was the case for the two we attended on Saturday. 

First, we traveled to Vaxholm where the main square was filled with booths and the stores in the area opened just for the event. There are usually handicrafts and lots of artery-clogging food. Olivia picked up a straw julbock (Christmas ram) and Elder Hales shared the freshly roasted candied almonds. They were still hot, which was nice as the day was cold and windy.

Olivia couldn't resist taking a picture
of this fur-covered cradle board.

A typical booth at the Julmarknad

From there we went to the Christmas market (Julmarknad) near the office in Täby Park. By this time we were quite hungry, but while most of the booths were foods of some kind or other, we chose a food truck. We had a delicious cheese steak. Food trucks are becoming as popular and high quality as they are at home. We did buy a couple of items there, as well.

Olivia saw a horse. The market was
actually located in an abandoned
race track

Even indoors, we wore warm coats and hats to enjoy our
cheese steaks.

Tomte are a big part of the Christmas
tradition and are everywhere at the
Christmas markets. Sister Hales added
another to her collection of Christmas items

We were able to secure tickets for the Sankta Lucia concert in the Uppsala Dom Kyrka, again this year. I wrote a long explanation about the woman and the day last year, but for those interested in learning more, Wikipedia has a lot of good information. Sankta Lucia day link.

Last year, the Lucia collapsed from exhaustion, but this year's Lucia did just fine. We had seats very close to her and the choirs, so the effect was awe inspiring. 

The only lights were the candles that were in the wreath on Lucia's head, the candle she held and the candles in the hands of the choir members. It is amazing how much light that actually creates in the cavernous cathedral. 

We invited the missionaries, Elsa and Sebastian as our guests. The Hales got their own tickets, as did the Youngbergs. The Youngbergs also brought Pres. Y's sister and her husband, Elder and Sister Limb who are serving in Russia as Executive Secretary to the Eastern European Area Presidency. It turns out that the Limbs know our friends Brent and Andrea Corbridge in Sparks, Nevada. It is still a small world.

We enjoyed a dinner while we waited for the appropriate time
to leave for the performance.

In front are me, Olivia, Sister and Elder Hales. 

Elder and Sister Limb, Pres. and Sister Youngberg

Elder Harrell, Sebastian, Elder Grover

Elsa, Sisters Beck and Manning

Elsa was christened at this very spot.
Her parents were also married here.
"It's not like the Salt Lake Temple,"
she said, "but close.

These are pictures taken prior to the performance. We sat in the front by the baptismal font where we knew the concert would end, so we would have excellent views of both Lucia and all the choirs as the concert came to an end.

At exactly 6:00 PM the bell of the church began to toll and the choirs assembled. The women and girls were dressed in their Lucia dresses and the men in there star-boy tunics with the pointed hats which were illuminated. Immediately following the bell, the choirs began to sing. Soon they sang the Santa Lucia anthem and Lucia entered to start the procession to the center of the cathedral where the first half of the performance took place.

Lucia begins the procession from
the center of the cathedral to the
front

She passed by right in front of us. We were
on the front row.

Many of the songs are unfamiliar to us, but some we recognized. One of the best arrangements of Carol of the Bells was sung in English. A couple of songs I sang with the Male Chorus and University Chorale as a freshman at BYU. I couldn't remember the names of them if I were hypnotized.

It was magical.We all left with happy hearts and a resolve to make Christmas even more special this year.

Lucia in front of the choir

Beginning the procession to the front

I had to clip the exit procession considerably and still

had to make two segments.

It was a beautiful end to a wonderful week. We didn't have any pressing apartment challenges which has been a nice break. Hopefully, however, we will have some challenges soon as we need to find a couple of apartments right away.

The best to all of you and yours. We studied President Gordon B. Hinckley's chapter on the Atonement this week. His quote:

"There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection."