Apartment Needs, bicycles, and a Christmas Party

We started the week with Olivia giving hair cuts to the president's Assistants, taking extra bedding to the Jakobsberg (ya kobes berry) sisters who were hosting sisters from out of town and then rescuing the sisters who were supposed to be staying with them. Quite by accident (?) after we had delivered the bedding we turned down a street we normally would not have chosen and found the visiting sisters, lost in the streets late at night, with a dead phone. We were able to take them to their intended destination.

Elder Berlin gets a trim

Elder Lee in expert hands

Sisters Picket and Cappuccio in the headlights
after getting them to the Jakobsberg sisters'
apartment

We did some traveling this week to take some apartment needs to the sisters in Södertälje (sudder tell ya) and the elders in Katrineholm, so we were able to take in a little of the countryside. Katrineholm is inland quite a ways, so there are expansive farms and forests. The weather has been overcast, foggy and cold, so it has left beautiful hoar frost on the bushes, trees, fences and cars.
It turned out that the keys we have to the elders' apartment no longer work, so we just left a toilet seat and a shower head bracket outside their door for them to install themselves. Luckily, they are handy and did it fine.

Sisters Botchway and
DeMordaunt helped
Olivia assemble the
bookcase

Proud of the final product!

I installed the new mirror, then we
took a mirror selfie

Hoar frost on the trees. Even on a clear day, it was cold enough
that the frost remained all day

Between Södertälje and Katrineholm is Mariefred (which means Mary's peace) in which is the Gripsholm Castle. The town and the castle get their names from the original owner and the convent that later came to the area. The original owner of the property was a wealthy man who employed most of the men of the village in the late 1300s, Bo Jonsson Gripsholm. In 1370 he built a fortress that in the early 1400s was purchased by queen Margaret. Later it was sold to the Stures, a prominent noble family, who then donated it to the Catholic Church which turned it into a monastery.

In 1526 it was confiscated by King Adolf Vasa who made it his mission to rid the country of all things Catholic during the Reformation. Vasa tore it down, except for a facade wall and built a castle in its place. It was added to by various kings and their wives over the next two centuries. Currently, it is a museum, but still part of the Crown Palaces of Sweden. We were not able to enter because it is only open in the summer during tourist season.

The entrance to the castle. Click on the image to see the detail
of the drawbridge.

A prominent tower built in the 1700s to house a theatre

A huge hothouse near the castle. We could only look through the
glass at the hundreds of plants growing there

A statue in the outer courtyard

Ducks swimming in the icy water of the moat

Plaque from the ancient monastary

The inner courtyard still had some
Christmas decorations (Julbock).
Behind are two cannons confiscated
from the Russian army in 1670.

The Russians named both cannons The Wolf,
but the Swedes named the big one the
Boar and the small one the Sow

Detail of some of the "new" structures built
in the 1700s

Hoar frost, or for those from the
western US, pogonip on the
shrubs near the castle walls.

We need to go back during the summer, but who knows if that can happen, so we take opportunities when they arrive.

The senior couples are constantly looking for opportunities to party, so even though it was a solemn occasion, we met for a little dinner before President Monson's funeral and celebrated Sister Donohoo's birthday as well.

Sister Donohoo with the cake she
also baked

Back: Elders Hales, Smith, Hall, Donohoo, me
Front: Sisters Hales, Donohoo, Smith, Olivia

I would post the video of the group singing the Swedish birthday song, but it is beyond pathetic.

We were all deeply moved by the funeral and felt that we were watching something historic as each speaker addressed the audience. The funeral was at 12:00 noon in Utah, which meant it was at 8:00 PM, here. As President Nelson walked with no hesitation, limp, shuffle, or elderly gait to the podium and spoke as if he were 70, rather that 93, we felt the Church remains in good hands.

To say that it is very difficult to find apartments for our missionaries is an understatement. We spent all of Thursday and part of Friday morning calling and emailing prospective landlords to find apartments for the areas where we need them. Happily, we found an apartment in Örebro for the sisters whom we had to place with members in the ward there on a temporary basis. They confirmed it with the landlord and landlady just today. We also were able to obtain an apartment for the elders in Jakobsberg and we will be able to move them in a week before their last day in the current apartment. We still need to place the missionaries in two other areas immediately and no prospects, yet. Hopefully, we will find some solution before the end of the month.

Saturday, we were able to purchase, and assemble bikes for the Uppsala sisters. Because it is dark for so long, they cannot take the usual shortcuts, but have to stay in lighted pathways. The bikes will facilitate their work by cutting down the time they spend getting from place to place.

Pumping up the tires with Sisters Beck and Manning.
We didn't notice when we  bought the bikes that
they lack fenders, so we will have to go back and
get some.

We hurried from the sisters' apartment to the chapel so we could help set up for the ward Christmas party. You read that right. Here they know how to stretch out a good thing. They celebrate Christmas beginning on the first Sunday in December and each Sunday thereafter. All through December there are Jolbords (special Christmas meals) and Christmas markets everywhere. The gifts are opened and the real celebration happens on Christmas eve (Julafton). Christmas day (Jul) and the day after (Annandag Jul) are official holidays. Then, at the end of the 12 days of Christmas they celebrate the 13th day the eve before, on January 5th (Trettonsdagafton) and the actual day is a national holiday (Trettonsdag).

It is traditional that you do not leave your tree up after January 13th, so the ward celebrated taking down the tree, yesterday with a light meal and lots of pepparkakar (crispy ginger cookies), Julmust (a special holiday soda), risgrynsgröt (a kind of rice pudding), several cakes, and ham sandwiches. We began by singing Christmas songs, then ate the meal and then circled the tree and participated in several different folk dances. The evening ended with the children finding bags of special treats hidden in the bows of the tree.

The guest of honor. Note the bag
of treats in the center.

Circling the tree to start the dances

Julia and Elsa have become great friends

With our friend Torsten

The bishop's daughter finds a bag

With a little help from  Papa

Rafaella found two

But gave one to her little brother,
Leonardo

A wonderful Sunday, today. The sisters brought an investigator who seemed to enjoy herself. Elsa, who was ill last Sunday came to last night's Julfest and to church today, and we started the 2018 curriculum with the General Conference talk by Sister Eubank. It has been a day of gratitude and renewal. We hope the same is true for you.