The Guys (and Gals) at the Top Do All the Work

There is an old joke about the hod carrier who thought he was getting off easy because he "...just had to carry the hod filled with mortar and bricks to the top of the scaffolding, but the guys at the top do all the work!"

We are the sod carriers. Olivia asked me if I thought we were doing any good on this mission since we seldom have an opportunity to share the Gospel or to even invite others to do so. I told her it reminded me of being a soldier in Viet Nam. For every soldier in the bush taking life risks there were 10 behind the barriers of base camp making sure the combat soldier could do his job and get home alive. We were no less valuable, though envied and not appreciated by the grunts.

The difference here is that the young people who do the front-line work do appreciate us and they do let us know. It's just that when you race from one apartment deep cleaning to another, working hard physically and mentally without much of a break, you have trouble seeing the forest for the trees. We typically worked 10-hour days and a couple of times worked through lunch and ate a protein bar for dinner. My less-than-girlish figure doesn't show it, however, because I tend to make up for lost food.

Still, we did get a chance to be with some enthusiastic, kind, sweet, and hard-working young missionaries.

Trollhättan (trole' het tahn) is a beautiful city about 4.5 hours south and east of Stockholm where we have a set of sisters. The area where they were living has filled up with immigrants, mostly from Somalia, but also from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Crime has become a problem, there. The sisters, being young, female and white could be a vulnerable target, so President Youngberg asked us to find them alternate living space. We tried for several weeks before we found a place that is closer to town and by a beautiful view of the river.

The ward members were very happy to help them move and to help us clean. Elder and Sister Kelley who are serving as the YSA missionaries in Gothenburg drove up to help all afternoon, Tuesday, as well. We were very happy for the help. The sisters took the entire day Tuesday along with the ward members to help move and clean. On Wednesday, they were in their new apartment, organizing and storing the things we had taken there the day before.

Unfortunately, the ward members on Tuesday were all men and all helping Elder Kelley and me haul furniture, dishes, books, proselyting materials and other items from one apartment to another, and the camera was in Olivia's possession, so we got no pictures of them. I wish we had - they were a good crew.

Sisters Hickman and Pesci filling
boxes with kitchen supplies

Sister Kelley braving the cold, cleaning
outside windows

Sister Hickman cleaning spots on the
floor, by hand

This group is done for the day

The work crew minus the ward members were treated to dinner

Cristal from the ward came to help on Wednesday. This intelligent
woman speaks five languages and works hard.

But most of the day, Olivia worked alone,
or worse, had to work with me!

The floors and windows had to shine

Walls had to be scrubbed

Even the blinds had to be repaired and
wiped clean

The kitchen has more places to hide dirt than any other room
in an apartment. She spends most of the cleaning days in
the kitchen until everything sparkles, even where you can't
see it.

Next to the kitchen the
bathroom hides most dirt.

The entry had years of
grime where shoes had
accumulated dirt, gravel,
salt, and water. The stains
on the floor took some
real elbow grease to clean.
The walls and doors also had
scuff marks from shoes.She
got it all off.

Sisters Pesci and Hickman celebrated moving into their new
apartment, while Olivia and I assembled a new desk for them.
It turns out that they have the same birthday and that this day
was their "half birthday" mark, so even more to celebrate.

This is the time when missionaries start thinking it would be a good idea to have bikes. They all pay about $100 into a bike fund when they first arrive, which is not enough for a bicycle, but most don't really need them, so it goes to purchase bikes for the areas that do need them and to provide a fund to repair them after a winter of neglect. There are bikes everywhere in most cities and many apartment complexes have a cykelhus (bike garage) where they can keep them out of the weather. Most have to keep them outside, however, so weather takes a serious toll. We have had a few bikes stolen due to inadequate locks or neglect by the missionaries, but for the most part they do their best to take care of mission property. The problem comes when missionaries get transferred and the new missionaries don't even know they have bikes in their area. It is a constant challenge.

The missionaries in Borås, Elders Callor and Whitaker were excited
to cut down on their travel time to the chapel. At least an hour by
bus; 20 minutes by bike. Not so excited about carrying the boxes
containing the bikes up 6 stories to their apartment.

The van was already full, but we got two
bikes into it in Borås

and three bikes into it in Linköping

Elders Petersen and Ahonen in Linkoping with their bikes. They
were happy to assemble them, just to have them. There are four
missionaries in this apartment. Two had bikes, but one was stolen,
so we had to bring them three, so everyone has one, now.

Our old friend, Elder Harrell who served
in Uppsala and Elder Bird whom we met in Helsingborg when he first came to the
mission. They are now companions in
Norrköping. They were our last stop.
This whole trip,we had been carrying
bedding to replace the worn out
rags they had been using, a lamp to
brighten the apartment and rods for
their wardrobes, so they can hang up
their shirts and suits. It was nice to
visit with them both, again.

After a week of hard work and long travel, we took a little break and visited the Husqvarna museum in Huskvarna. The machines and the city were named after a Viking name for the river that runs through the town. You have likely seen Husqvarna motorcycles, mowers (they even manufacture a solar one), and chainsaws. The original products, however, were not outdoor machinery, but guns for the military. Every type of gun from the early matchlock and flintlock rifles and pistols to 9mm pistols and machine guns for the 2nd World War. At the end of the war, demand for weapons ceased from foreign competition, but by that time they were building sewing machines, dish washers, bicycles, motorcycles, lawn mowers and many other products.

The old factory is now a museum.

To get to it you have to cross the river

In 1989 they celebrated 300 years of
the company's being in business

The stone building was the "new" factory built in 1870

A few of the guns from the 200 years
of manufacturing weapons

Some of the more modern guns

Some of the handguns and muzzle loaders

One of the indoor stoves
they produced

The first sewing machine was a flop because
it couldn't handle the coarse material of the
day. They took lessons from Singer and even
hired a worker from America to build a better
machine and it became a popular item for them.

A machine for weaving fabric

One of the first motorcycles. This one is mounted and ridden
kneeling down. Someone thought it was a good idea 😕

Check out the front
brake on this bike.

Chainsaws we all know

Every kind of motorcycle from the big
bikes to mopeds

All kinds of lawn and garden equipment

Some of the power-driven machinery that
built their products

Even snow mobiles

As impressive as this company has become over the centuries, equally impressive was the use of the river to run the plants. This river has been used since 1286 for powering a mill, and then machines of one description or another, including drills for boring rifle barrels as early as 1641. In the 1890s it was used to produce electricity. The river is now channeled in part into a large pipe (see the photo commemorating the 300th anniversary, above) that carries water at high speed through turbines to more effectively create electricity.

The picturesque river that runs past the old factory. Upstream
much of the river is channeled into a large pipe to power
the turbines that create electricity.

One of the tributaries going under the
road.

Enlarge to see the pipe running behind and to the side of the old factory.

Saturday was a little more relaxed. We had to put things away in the mission office store room, and haul item to the Återvinning (recycle dump) as well as other items, but it was at a much easier pace. It gave us a chance to see a church we have wanted to visit, but which is on the way to nowhere we normally go. The Täby Kyrka was built in the 13th century where an earlier church had stood. It is in an area several kilometers in circumference that has the greatest accumulation of rune stones in the world. This particular church has only one and we have not taken the time to visit the other areas, yet, but will at some point.

This church is famous for the paintings on the walls and ceilings that have survived "modernization" (many of these paintings in other churches were painted over during the Reformation in favor of plain white walls), and natural fading. These frescoes were done in 1480 by the famous German, Albertus Pictor, who was sent as a missionary for this very purpose. More than 30 churches in the area have his paintings. This was like none we had ever seen. The colors are still vibrant, though muted in comparison with what they were originally, and the scenes are still clear and obvious.

I remember my mother using a pencil to draw a pattern on what would become a quilt. Then, when the quilt was complete, she would erase the carbon pencil marks with white bread. The same method is used in this church to clean the paintings, so no restoration is needed, but the soot and dirt is removed with white bread.

Though the paintings on the walls are a bit faded, the ceiling are
still vibrant. This is above the organ loft.

The alter piece is from about the same time as the ceiling and wall frescoes.

More detail of part of the ceiling

This famous painting is part of the fresco behind
the organ loft. It depicts a man playing chess with
Death. It is the inspiration for a scene in Ingmar
Bergman's film The Seventh Seal where Death
plays chess with a character in the story.

The priest who was our guide could not explain why so many
of the old churches have model ships hanging from the ceilings

The pulpit is from the 1630s

The front of the old building

I understand the fact that much of the missionary work that was done in those early centuries was for such ignoble purposes as to secure power for the current king. Still, when I see some of the workmanship, the attention to Biblical detail and the obvious devotion that went into so much of the art in these ancient structures, I can't help but believe that there were many whose lives were dedicated to the worship of God and the love of a Savior who had the power to redeem them. To have the Church, Gospel and priesthood restored in its fullness must be a source of joy to these saints of the Dark Ages who look upon us from wherever they now dwell.

It is so today. We have to remember that we are still in the midst of a worldwide movement. While it may seem that the movement is glacial, in fact in celestial time we are moving the work forward in good speed. We must do our part, whether we are on the front lines or in a support position. We blossom where were are planted, as the saying goes.

Our fast Sunday was today due to General Conference being last Sunday. We completely enjoyed hearing the testimonies of our faithful members. There is seldom more than a few seconds between testimonies, which speaks volumes to me. We love our little ward.

We hope all is well with you and yours. We love keeping in touch and giving you a little glimpse of the work of the Kingdom in our little part of the world. Until next week...