Are We There, Yet? No, Go Back to Work!

This was a big transfer week. If we had chosen to serve an 18 month mission, we would be on our way back home. We were reminded of this as we attended the temple and helped send back the sisters who were with us at the MTC. Without exception, these women were star missionaries. 

Typical scene at T Central: dropping off the new missionaries and
picking up the departing missionaries to take them to the temple.
Ours is the blue Ford van: the white van is rented for the purpose
of taking their luggage to the mission home to await their arrival.

At the temple. Above you can see Angel Moroni if you enlarge
the photo

In the kitchen at the mission home

Olivia bakes a cake for the departing
missionaries' final dinner at the mission
home. This time it had a pink, minty frosting
because it was Valentine's Day

At the airport with our sisters: Gow, Heaps, Hansen, |Botchway,
Cappuccio, and Nelson

Sister Botchway was the only one we actually met at the MTC, but Sisters Cappuccio and Nelson sang and accompanied, respectively at our first meeting in the MTC. The others, we met at the airport and helped transport them to their first meetings, then to migration for registering and later to the train station with their new companions as they headed to their first areas. It is hard to believe they are now veterans of an experience that will shape their lives forever.

We were on similar duty this week with the newly arriving missionaries. Although we were not needed to receive them at the airport, we were involved with watching them as they were introduced to their new companions, taking their pictures and getting them and their luggage to the train station.

Sister Beck will remain in Uppsala Ward with a newly arrived
sister from Las Vegas, Sister Jones. Sister Beck's Swedish has
been praised by every missionary who has heard her speak. She
is a trainer who just finished being trained!

Among the others who were transferred, we lost Elder Hambrick who has been serving as a Proselyting Office Elder (POE). He has been a pleasure to work with as he is always positive and cheerful. Elder Hambrick will be serving in Lund with Elder Oldham. They thought it was notable that they will be Ham and Ham; the two missionary Hams in the mission are together. 

We also, obviously, lost Sister Manning from Uppsala, who is now in Södertälje (sudder tell ya) as a Sister Trainer Leader and Elder Carlson, who is a zone leader, also in Södertälje. He was replaced by Elder Dawson who came here from Kristianstad (pronounced ker hwhan stad: no one knows why).

Our last office meeting with Elder Hambrick. He wanted a "Happy Together"
picture with everyone. Me Olivia Sister and Elder Hales, Pres and Sister
Youngberg, Elders Lee, Hambrick, Harper and Berlin

After spending most of 31/2 days cleaning the apartment in Västerhaninge, we met with the owners to return the keys. The husband made it his mission to find flaws in the cleaning and needed repairs. Of course, there will be some, so I expect we will see a bill from them shortly. I just hope it isn't so unreasonable that we have to argue about it.

We also spent several days setting up the apartment for the Gugbbängen elders and moving them in. As is our habit, I got a hefty parking ticket for failure to go to the proper ticket machine and relying on my parking app, instead. You would think I would have learned by now. 

That unpleasant episode aside, we were able to get the elders out of the crowded quarters where they lived with the zone leaders and into their new quarters.

Their landlord was happy to get members of the Church as boarders. He was an exchange student in rural Pennsylvania where he became familiar with and apparently impressed by the Church. We were, again, assisted by the Hales who are always wonderful help. We also had the missionaries who will be moving in and the zone leaders who will get their apartment back, involved. Even though it is a small apartment, it is amazing how much stuff has to go into it.

Elder Hales put one desk together and I assembled the other. Not
from IKEA, but similar; from a competitor.

Elders Hales Fortuna, Winkel and Sister Hales by the IKEA
bunk bed Olivia and I assembled the day before. If you need
help with yours, we are pretty much the experts.

Lunch from Subway

At the end of the first day with Elders Winkel and Fortuna,
 who will be living there

We came back the next day to finish some
work.  We were still working on their
apartment when they left to do some
tracting..We were still there when they
returned.

With their new bookcase

Trying out their new desks

While we finished the last of our work at 9:00 PM,
they made dinner of crepes and invited us to join
them. It was a sweet gesture because their
budget is quite limited and we had forgotten
to bring them silverware:😬

On the right and on the left are deer that chose the new apartment
to munch on the landscape. A fun, but not unusual sight in the
Stockholm area.

Today Olivia spoke in Church about her favorite scripture. She had a hard time choosing a favorite, but finally settled on Ether 12:27

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

 Olivia studied more for this 5-7 minute talk than if she were going to speak in a stake conference. She even translated it for the interpreter's convenience. It was a great talk, of course. We missed Elsa who was not feeling well. We were able to get to know Sister Jones a little better. The bishopric called on her to bear her testimony, and she did very well in Swedish. She will be an asset to the mission. We were not able to talk to Elder Dawson, much, but I am sure we will.

We are keeping up on the news from Caring Bridge about Dawson Allen and are happy with his progress. We have had no time to comment, but certainly appreciate his parents for setting up the website. 

Our love to all of you. We appreciate your prayers and good wishes!

Short and Sweet

Today it snowed. Beautiful, heavy flakes, then light, airy ones which were followed by a rain that melted all the flakes. It is a strange sort of time in this bleak midwinter. February has been quite cold so far, but we are told (and it proved to be so last year) that winter turns to spring quite abruptly. The first part of March will welcome Spring. Fine with us.

With all the finding of apartments, we now have to do the heavy lifting - literally. Moving furniture out of and into apartments, deep cleaning and then doing it all over again. 

This week was Västerhaninge. There are currently 3 sisters in the apartment, but they will be down to 2 with the transfers, this week. We moved them to their new apartment on Friday after several days of preparation. On Saturday, they spent most of the day helping us clean the old apartment. We still have to go back for last minute cleaning and moving furniture we can't use in their new apartment.

The original idea was that Olivia and
Sister Hales would stay and put the
IKEA wardrobe together while the
Elders, Elder Hales and I moved
the heavy stuff.

When we arrived we found that
there was still much to do with
the wardrobe, so Elder Hales
stayed and helped.

Sister Hales and Olivia cleaned,
boxed up items that needed to
be taken to the new apartment
 and put things away. We were so
grateful for their help!

Trying to uncurl the new floor mat

Elders Olson and Rasmussen helped with the big stuff, but also had
to check out the kitchen. They scored a very large box of Corn
Flakes and a few other items. I ended up with the Julmust.

At lunch with the moving crew: Sister Hopkins, Elder Rasmussen,
Olivia, Elder Olson, Sister and Elder Hales, me, Sisters Johnson
and Anderson

The sisters came back to clean
the next day:
Sisters Hopkins, Anderson and
Johnson

Sister Manning was pretty sure she would be moved from our Uppsala Ward as she has been there for 6 months, and she was right. She has been an angel with a truly giving heart. She has trained Sister Beck who came to her fresh from the MTC. Sister Beck has been in the country for only 12 weeks, but has now been called to train a sister who will arrive this week from the MTC. She has been well trained and is perfectly ready to step into the role.

Sister Manning

We were surprised to hear that Elder Carlson will also be transferred. He was equally surprised, it seems. He has only been here for one transfer (6 weeks) and expected that he would return home from Uppsala. President Youngberg had other ideas; he has been called to serve as a zone leader. We haven't heard where he will serve, yet. He will serve enthusiastically and kindly.

Elder Carlson

As we entered the church building on Sunday, Sister Sol-Brit Burman asked Olivia if we were available after the meetings. She said she had cake that she needed help eating. We gave the Burmans and Anna Masus a ride to the Burman home after choir practice to find that she had a meal of roast beef, gravy (to which Brother Tore Burman had added something like Postum or Pero), potatoes, salad, etc. The cake was already baked and refrigerated, then Sol-Brit whipped cream and covered it with blueberries and shaved white chocolate.

Tore making the gravy. Who knew
that the cereal drink mix would
 make the gravy so delicious?

We didn't get a picture of their son Christoffer, or Anna, but you can hear their voices in the video.

Adding the blueberries

Shaving the white chocolate

Table conversation was interesting as they talked in Swedish about things they didn't think it was our business to know. Sometimes they would realize that we were not chiming in and they would remember to speak English. "Vad heter på Engelska." "Hur säger man på Engelska." What is it called in English? How do you say that in English? I was surprised to hear that so often in their conversation because they all have a great command of the English language. I think sometimes, like us, they get tired of having to strain to speak in a second language.

There it is: short and sweet. Well, at least short.

We hope your week is wonderful. We are keeping Dawson Allen in our prayers and are grateful to his family for starting a Caring Bridge website so we can all keep up on his progress. They are so good to send us, and many other missionaries, letters from each member of their family. We know they are loved.

Answered Prayers, Again & Again

Fasting is a principle of faith in many religions and is, as far as I have experienced, basically for the same reason. It makes us humble and, as a result, draws us closer to God. Fasting in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is typically done on the first Sunday of each month. We refrain from eating or drinking for at least 2 meals, and we donate the amount we would have spent on the meals (usually considerably more) to the Church for the relief of those in need. That Sunday, instead of having assigned speakers at our Sacrament Meeting, the members of the congregation are given the opportunity of bearing testimony to the principles of the Gospel.

Typically, our fasts are accompanied by prayers for a special purpose, person, or situation. Often Olivia will ask me, or I will ask her, "What are you fasting for today?" The answer may be a child or grandchild with particular challenges; a friend or ward member who is ill or in need of attention for some reason. Several times, in the last few months, we have fasted and prayed to find apartments in areas where we were about to lose them.

Today, I fasted and prayed simply as an expression of gratitude. 

As I wrote last week, we were, at the last minute, able to secure an apartment for the Västerhaninge sisters, but we were not as successful for the Gubbängen elders. They were forced to move in with the zone leaders, whose apartment is adequate, but it is quite crowded. President Youngberg informed us in our office meeting on Monday that he felt that having these missionaries together was for a very good purpose. We were happy to hear that, but still felt that it needed to be a temporary situation.

As we were about to leave our apartment on Friday, I checked the emails again and found that one of the messages I had left in answer to an ad for an apartment had been answered. Jonathan asked that we call him to set a time to see the apartment. This, after answering 50+ ads for apartments in that area. We immediately called and found that he spoke excellent English and that he was more than willing to show us the apartment that day.

When we met with him, we discovered that he had been an exchange student in a little town outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was aware of and has great respect for the Church and was happy to inform other applicants that the apartment was taken. With that the last urgent need was filled.

When we started our fast yesterday, I thought, "What or who needs a special fast and prayer." It was immediately obvious that it should not be for more blessings, but to simply express thanks.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but it allows you to picture in your minds what it means to us and you to act in faith and receive the needed blessings.

With a little respite this week we were able to take a couple of days to organize the storage areas where the items we have accumulated from closing apartments are now spread all over the floors and shelves.

Olivia's before picture. We are not quite ready for the after
picture, yet.

Normally, I would be turned the other
direction, organizing tools and
hardware. Olivia caught me making
notes for some reason.

We drove back out to Västerhaninge on Monday to sign that apartment contract and that evening we met for our office meeting. It was our turn to give the success story and associated scripture. We, of course, retold the success stories of finding apartments and related that to Doctrine & Covenants 98:1-2

1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;

2 Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.

Expand the picture and you will see that it is
a ski slope. It is right inside  Stockholm.
We were traveling to Västerhaninge
by a different route and saw it. 

The president's assistants and  Proselyting Office Elders
No one is being transferred for a couple of weeks, but
they wanted the traditional picture together for some reason.

One evening Olivia left me to fend for myself (it was kind of nice, really), while she met with other senior sisters for a crafts night. Sister Hall wants to have a crafts night for the young single adults and asked these women to make samples to show the young sisters and have them sign up for the ones that interest them.

Olivia painted this flower pot. Now who would
not want to make that?

The craft night crew: Sisters Hall, Smith, Bell, Hales and Olivia

We helped with zone conference this week. It was a combined conference because it included a mission tour by Elder Paul V. Johnson. Elder Johnson is the Europe Area President, having served as a counselor with Elder Tim Dyches prior to Elder Kearnon's call to serve as a President of the Seventy. Elder Johnson gave us a boost by announcing that he wanted to inspect a few apartments as part of the tour. Every missionary was just sure it would be their apartment and a lot of cleaning happened on Monday.

Olivia was able to hear him speak, but Elder Hales and I had to travel back to pick up the food for the luncheon. As a side note, the menu included curry chicken. The chicken comes in a pan full of sauce. Two of the pans slipped and spilled. We no longer have the new-car smell in our new Ford van.

We were able to hear his counsel at the end of the conference which was a Q & A session. We were also able to have a long conversation with Sister Johnson and briefly with Elder Johnson, as well. They are both very congenial and kind. We enjoyed the entire conference, even though we spent much of it setting up and cleaning up before and after the meal.

The ladies decided that a Valentine's theme with tulips would
be the perfect touch.

Sisters Johnson, Olivia, Hales, Smith and Bell

Me with Elders Bell, Smith and Hales. Elder Johnson was
in the conference meeting

Senior couples at the zone conference: Johnsons, Hales,
Donohoos, Bells, us, Halls, and Smiths

The first Swedish missionary we met at the MTC, Sister
Botchway. Her group of sisters goes home this month.

Sister DeMordaunt always looks us up. She has become an
outstanding missionary.

Don't be confused; we have our own Elder and Sister Johnson who are serving on the island of Gotland. They come in for Zone conferences; this time to listen to Elder and Sister Johnson of the Seventy.

We ended the week with a little outing to see a movie (yep, senior couples can go to the movies) with a few other couples and then we delivered 9 cases of Book of Mormons to the theater. We will be doing this every Saturday until the play ends in March. We won't normally stay to the bitter end as we did last Saturday, however.

At the theater with Elders Strong and Lee; Sisters Anderson,
Hopkins, and Johnson with a brother from the Västerhaninge  Ward.

Today, we attended our meetings in Uppsala, but took our time returning because our landlord and landlady were showing their home and our apartment to a prospective purchaser. We are assured that we can stay until we leave, but we may be looking for alternate housing for the couple who replace us in August.

We decided to visit some churches we see as we travel. We knew there was little hope of looking inside, but wanted to at least see the outside and learn what we could about them.

We have dozens of pictures of this church because it is in a
perfect position with fields between it and the expressway.
We wanted to show the wind-blown snow on this very
frosty day.

At the Husby Ärlinghundra Kyrka.
This was built first in 1150 replacing
a wooden church  that was built many
years prior. It was added to in the 13th
and 14th Centuries. Unfortunately,
we were not able to enter, but could
see through the windows old sculptrues
dating from the 1300s and 1400s.

No idea of the age of the tree near the
gate, but it is interesting due to its
being so gnarly.

Many of these old churches have incorporated rune stones into
their walls. Where they have been discovered, they are now
exposed to view. The sign explaining this on has been
removed. Typically, they are in memory of a deceased
loved one.

This is part of the cemetery which is the largest in the Märsta area.

The Norrsunda Kyrka near our off ramp. Olivia was impressed
by the variety of architectural styles from stone to brick; Greek-
style columns, copper and tin roof on part and tile on the rest.
It, too, dates back to the 12th Century replacing a worship hall
of wood from the 9th Century. Again,it was not open
and the windows are hard to see through.

This church had a couple of visible rune stones

There are graves dating back to the 1600s, but they are inside.
In these cemeteries, if no one is interested in paying the
annual rent the graves are re-used. This is a pile of headstones
that used to be over graves that now hold someone else's remains

This is near the Arlanda/Stockholm airport.

The second runestone

This is Eds Church. It is not named after
a man named Ed. Ed is Swedish
for oath. We had visited here
on All Saints Day to see all the candles
 placed on the graves. We came today
because when we arrived at our
apartment, the prospective purchasers
were still  there and we needed
to make ourselves scarce for
a while longer. It is unique
because of the lighting on
and around it.

Just after we arrived home, we got a call on Messenger from our son Micah and his wife, Camille telling us that they have secured tickets to come to Sweden. Of course, Nigel did a little research and discovered that Sweden is near Denmark and Denmark is where Legos were invented, so part of their time will be spent in the real Legoland.

We are excited for the visits that will start taking place in May and go through June. 

We appreciate each of you. I know it is not easy to slog through these blogs and we certainly don't expect you to do so. For those who read them from time to time, thanks and we hope your lives are blessed.