Petals, Peddles and Paddles

I left off last week still nursing a cold and informed you that Olivia was busy helping plant the spring colors at the temple in Västerhaninge. Here are the images from that endeavor.

Brother Lindahl, head gardner and a few
of the flowers they would plant.

Freda Lindahl, Elders Muirhead, Barker, Mecham,
Sister Hansen, Elder Baggett, Brother from the Temple,
Elder Schwitters

Elder Nielson, Sister Hale, Elder Payne,
Elder Gergetz, Sister Christoffersen

Sister Eldridge, Elders Schwitters, Payne,
and investigator, Nielson, Barker, Gergetz,
Sister Hansen, Elders Mecham, Muirhead,
Barker, Temple couple, Brother Lindahl
and son, Emil

Olivia and Elder Baggett
worked on this together

Hardly made a dent

Sister Christoffersen, Brother Lindahl, Elders
Nielson, Mecham, son Emil and a new
member who brought the investigator

Even thought it was biting cold, they worked with a smile!

Sister Hansen dared
Elder Mecham to eat
a worm

"I think she'll really
let it go!"

The whole crew. 

When I was finally well enough to get back in the saddle, we traveled to Norrköping and delivered two bicycles to the elders there. It snowed the entire trip there and back. They didn't feel like riding bikes that day, but were excited to have them. We showed them all the pictures from the temple, but forgot to take pictures of them! Some good shots of the trees along the 2.5 hour trip (one way), though.

The birch trees are so pretty with each
branch covered by snow and framed
by the evergreens

Beautiful, but with the studded tires off
and the summer tires on, we hurried
home before the road froze

More flocked trees

April 15 was a special day for a reason other than taxes. It is Olivia's "name day;" Our grandson Oliver's name day, as well. Historically, birthdays were not celebrated; often not even known other than on the records of the church, if that. They did celebrate the saints' days, however, (think St. Patrick's Day, for instance). Gradually, those who were named after saints celebrated those days as their own. The early church encouraged this as celebrating birthdays was considered a pagan practice. Gradually, name days were expanded to include more names. Now, more names are officially added every 15 years. So people today celebrate birthdays and name days, as well.

Olivia with her name day bouquet

The bouquet added to
the Easter decorations

She still looks like a bride to me

For Påsk (poask)( it means Easter) we invited the missionaries from the Uppsala Ward for dinner. Elder Adcox is being transferred, so this would be his last meal with us for now. The others are staying, so it was a fun time listening to the mission gossip about who is going where and the experiences they have had with certain other missionaries, members and investigators in various areas of the mission.

It's not Easter if you don't
boil and dye eggs

Some of the creative eggs. The white one
in the back is a shell filled with
the most delicious chocolate
from Finland.

I finally got her to add her creative flare.
 

Hot Cross Buns were a big hit

It is snowing, so it must be Easter

We have had snow every day, since.

We wanted a picture of Elder Adcox on
his last Sunday, but Brother Uhrbom wanted
to be in the picture, too

Brother Burman, Elder Malone, Olivia, Me, Sister Young, Brother
Fränqvist, Sister Hatch, Rafaela Nordin, Elder Adcox,
Brother Hernod

Elders Adcox, Malone, Olivia, Me, Sister
Young, Sister Hatch, Brother Hernon

Brother Nordin, Rafaela,
Elder Adcox

Nordins with the elders

And Leonardo Nordin

Sisters Young & Hatch, Elders Malone & Adcox

The traditional picture by the Viking ship in our park

Easter dinner with the missionaries.

Olivia finally found someone to play
dominoes with her

Easter became a late night, so no blog. Yesterday, we went early to join the Clouses and the elders in the office to cruise the Archipelago. We left Stockholm harbor and sailed with brief stops to let people off at several isles along the way and landed in Sandhamn. Sandhamn is the final sheltered islet before heading out to the Baltic sea. It was an important place for restocking, defense, holing up until more favorable weather and for hiring pilot boats to work through the archipelago without piling up on a rock.

Us and the Clouses on Dansberg (dans berry, i.e. dance rock).
This is where the sailors and local ladies would
hold dances while waiting for better weather.

Elder Jensen will you take our picture?
Photo bomb

Looking out at the Baltic Sea

One of the old houses with sod roof.

You have to do this when the opportunity
presents itself, right?

At least it was free

Boys will be boys and men will be boys.
Elders Pärkkä, Christley, Pack and Jensen

You're just supposed to
kiss, not eat her face,
Elder Clouse

The sign says Pusshållplats (poos-hol-plots)
The Kissing Place

Pretty little fishing cabins on islets
along the way

One of the Swedish Coast Guard boats

Vaxholm the strategic fortress protecting
Stockholm

Close up of Vaxholm. We will take the
boat here another day.

Scenery along the route

One of the ferries taking cars to Finland

Beautiful homes all among the islets

Mostly inhabited in the summer.

Even the tiny islets are pressed into service

 We got a call today that one of our favorite sisters who is going home to Finland on Thursday was not well and needed a place to stay for the day. We stayed in to complete some reports and work on other matters regarding the sale of our house in Sparks, so we gladly picked her up at the train station and kept her for the day. Sister Haikkola (Hi'-cola) has crossed our paths so many times that we have become good friends. Her parents are driving onto a ferry and then driving to pick her up at the mission home on Thursday to take her home. It is a good thing they are driving. Her luggage and extra bags are so many and so heavy it would have cost a fortune to fly with them to the US, for instance. By the end of the day she was feeling much better, so she was able to stay with the local sisters until she leaves.

Sister Haikkola embroidering "Thank You"
in several languages. She has a huge vocabulary
in English, Swedish, Finnish and is learning Russian,
German, French and whatever else strikes her fancy.

I will try to be a bit more prompt this coming Sunday. We are coming to love this mission more and more. We hope your Easter was as blessed, holy and happy as ours was. It is a time to deeply reflect on the depth of love He possessed to go through the suffering, and death he had to endure, the resurrection, and ascension that made it possible, through our faith to repent and return. Our relationship with Him begins with our gratitude for Him.

Our love to all.

Baptisms and Fire

First an apology for this late posting.  I am having a hard time with this because my nose and eyes are flowing like rivers. I'm a little better today, but not going anywhere. I missed church Sunday and laid low yesterday. Today, Olivia is helping supervise planting the spring colors at the Stockholm Temple. The Head Gardener and we finally met in person last week and he asked if she could help supervise the missionaries in the Stockholm Södra (south) Zone in planting the flowers. She was beyond delighted, so she is there today and I am trying to keep a throbbing head and runny nose in check.

Apparently, such dangerous substances as Benadryl, Theraflu, Alka Seltzer Plus and the like are only obtainable by prescription. Luckily, someone had left a small stash of some antihistamines in our apartment, but I have gone through them.

Enough about my poor luck. As most are aware, there are many people in Sweden who are far worse off thanks to an Uzbek man who had both been placed on a watch list for his extremist views and who had been denied asylum, but had gone underground by filing a false address. According to the news, approximately 12,000 people who have been denied asylum are underground in Sweden at the moment. The man had hijacked a beer truck as it was being unloaded. He drove down a street that is known for heavy pedestrian traffic, purposely hitting people as he drove. He rammed into an Åléns store where the vehicle burst into flames. He escaped into the T Central which is like a central station for trains and buses. All this was apparently well planned. An explosive devise consisting of explosives, bottles and nails was found in the truck, but failed to detonate.

We only know that 4 people are dead including a young female tourist from Belgium, a young man from England who was here working for Spotify, an 11-year old girl and one of two "elderly women" who were being given first aid by a couple who witnessed the event from a nearby coffee shop. Of the 15 who were injured, 5 were treated and released 10 remain in hospital including "a young child." The police and media are being very tight lipped, so we don't know a lot more.

This all occurred while we were preparing to travel to a baptism in Uppsala, where we attend church. Uppsala is 30+ kilometers north of Stockholm. We picked up a couple of sister missionaries from our nearby train station to take them with us. As we traveled they were getting texts and reporting their status. We tried to get information from the radio stations, but it was all still too fluid. During the services, the missionaries got a text telling them to remain in their apartments until further notice. All were reported to be fine; none were near the scene.

On our way home from the baptism we got a call from the elders who serve in the same district that they were stranded in Märsta because buses and trains were stopped. Märsta is between Uppsala and Stockholm and we were just coming up on the exit, so we arranged to pick them up, as well. They had been scheduled to be at the T Central to meet an investigator, but had receive a text that he was unavailable, so they went to Märsta, instead, to visit a member family there.

As we were driving, we saw a series of police cars speeding in the opposite direction. Today, in reading some of the reports, I discovered that they were also going to Märsta because the perpetrator was discovered there trying to make his way to Arlanda where the Stockholm airport is located. He has apparently made a statement that he is proud of what he did and that he took orders from ISIS, even though ISIS has not taken credit for the attack. We have seen pictures of at least one other man who was wrestled to the ground on the scene, but police refuse to confirm or deny arrests of any other person.

That's as much as we know at the moment.

The baptisms, on the other hand were special moments of pure light.  On Wednesday, the daughter of the Mongolian family that lives in Uppsala was baptized. She has been 8 for a few months, but her parents don't speak Swedish very well and understood that the baptism had to take place on a Saturday. He works every Saturday. The ward has its own baptismal font, so when the misunderstanding was discovered, arrangements were made for the baptism to happen on Wednesday. The witnesses did their best assuming that the prayer was right because it was done in Mongolian. Olivia has had a special fondness for the two cute little girls of the family, bringing them little things that we find when the missionaries clean out their apartment and have us haul things away. She wanted to give her a set of scriptures, but didn't want to set a precedence, so she arranged for the missionaries to tell her someone wanted her to have them. She also made her a special bag to carry them in and gave it to her on Sunday, telling her that we noticed that she got scriptures at her baptism and that she made a bag for her to carry them in.

Proud of her scripture case!

Confirmed at the baptism

Lots of ward members attended, along with
several investigators

Olivia and her friends

The other baptism happened on Friday, the day of the terrorist attack. This time it was a young woman from Iran, Marzieh, who was baptized by her husband, Mohammed. He is a convert of a couple of years and a Priest. They live here and are gainfully employed, but her job requires her to travel back to Iran from time to time. She will have to keep her status as a Christian secret from her family. It is dangerous for her (meaning almost certain death), but she seems to take it in stride. She has been receiving the lessons for several months, and seemed reserved about the Church, but after her last trip to Iran she was absolutely certain of her decision. She glowed with testimony. Again, the witnesses had to hope for the best as Mohammed recited the baptismal prayer in Farsi. She was confirmed by the bishop on Sunday, but I had to miss it. Olivia tells me that he had Mohammed stand next to him and interpret as he confirmed her in Swedish. She doesn't speak Swedish, so her lessons have been in English, which she speaks well.

Marzieh and Mohammed

Next to Olivia are Sisters Young and Hatch. Sister Wilson came
with us from Jakobsberg by permission as she taught Marzieh
prior to her being transferred.

Sister Young, Marzieh, Sister Hatch, Mohammed

We have spent a lot of time with this couple as they attend the Gospel Principles class. We taught the class the week Marzieh announced her decision to be baptized.

We assisted with providing lunches for the zone conferences held in the Stockholm area. We made it a bit less complicated this time by providing cold cuts, cheese, a variety of breads and various condiments. We decorated the tables with candy eggs and Sweden's version of Peeps (no better than the US version. They are really only good for the entertainment value in a microwave).

Sister Clouse and Olivia. Notice the name tags on the witches.

Elder Clouse decided that the candy eggs were yucky

They decided to put them to good use.

He swings, she ducks

He never hit one, but they broke up on the floor -
almost as satisfying

You may wonder what the feathers on the branches with the witches are all about. Påsk (Easter to us. Pronounced poa' sk) is celebrated by putting feathers on the branches that are about to blossom, or bringing in cut branches and decorating inside. 

Some local branches covered with feathers

The have a special drink called Påskmust that tastes exactly like the Julmust that is sold at Christmastime. We haven't heard of hiding Easter eggs, but they do decorate them and every store sells giant Påskäggs that are to be filled with candy for the children.

On Palm Sunday, witches are said to fly to a certain mountain in Germany where they cavort with Satan. They fly back on the Thursday through Saturday prior to Easter, filled with evil energy, so there are bonfires and fireworks to scare them away. Young girls dress up like witches and carry copper pots, Påskkärring - going from door to door asking for goddis (go' dees - candy) like Halloween. That's why little witches are placed among the branches of feathers when decorating.

Stock photo. We haven't gotten there yet. 

We got a call from some missionaries who want bikes. President Beckstrand has put us in charge of making an inventory of the bikes and determining their state of repair, so we have begun that task. It will not be easy as many don't know whether there are bikes or not in their areas. Some have storage space, but haven't been there to check. Here we found some in the garage at the mission office. We pumped up the tires and went for a ride. A short ride as it has been a few dozen years since we rode bikes and the roads around the office are all hills. Time to shape up!

That was our week. We hope you enjoyed yours and wish each of you a very happy Easter as we contemplate the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We are so grateful that the Atonement is infinite, that Christ was willing to suffer beyond what we can comprehend, and that we can be a part of the ongoing movement to bring souls unto Him. We love Him and love serving Him.

Not That Kind of Tuna and a Breathalyzer

That's right, I was pulled over on suspicion of DUI. Well, it wasn't my driving, which can be erratic when we are looking for an address and not sure where we should be going. It was just a traffic stop where they were pulling over about every third car. The officer who approached our car spoke good English, so we were able to explain why we are in Sweden, pointing to our name badges. He very sheepishly asked if I had been drinking and then explained that everyone has to blow into the tube, in any case. It was my first experience at a breathalyzer, so I was thinking about how long I left the Listerine in my mouth that morning or if the licorice I had eaten had time to ferment, but before I could become too concerned, the machine beeped and the results were negative. He waved us on wishing us a pleasant stay in Sweden and I assured him we loved it here.

People are planting their gardens and changing their tires to the summer treads. Crocuses and daffodils are popping up as if it were actually warm enough to do so. It still seems cold, but the plants and especially the birds don't seem to notice. The birds are amazing! Wherever we go we hear hundreds of birds singing a cacophony of songs. It is beautiful. During the winter it is rare to see birds other than rather large magpie-looking birds and a large bird that resembles a raven, but has a gray body and black wings and head. They don't seem to call much in the winter, but even they are singing and squawking in mating season. Squirrels and deer are everywhere in pairs and people are walking with friends, families or as couples. Most, like us, are still wearing sweaters under light jackets and many are still covering their heads and ears, but there is obviously hope in the air.

Taken from the window where we
were installing curtains in Stockholm.

Professional dog walkers. The one in the back got her leg tangled in the leashes. It is against the law to leave your dog alone in a house for more than 5 hours, so a new industry has sprung up.

We conducted apartment inspections in Borlänge (bor'lang a), and Gävle (yev'la), put in curtains in Stockholm and Barkarby and made some repairs to the mission office. With long days ahead, many of the apartments need blackout blinds and curtains, so we are just getting started with that. Most already have them, but those that don't definitely need them. By June the sun hardly sets and when it does, it is still not completely dark. If the missionaries are going to get their sleep, they will have a hard time with sunlight flooding their apartments.

In Borlänge the elders have just recently moved back into their apartment. They have been staying in temporary shelters while their apartment was being remodeled. They have a nice bathroom and kitchen, now, but it took a week or so to clean up the construction dust and trash. The company gave them a new medicine cabinet, so we took the old one and used it to replace a broken one in the mission office. Elder Loertscher is the district leader who performed the baptism in our Uppsala Ward a couple of weeks ago. He is the trainer for Elder McCarl whose Swedish is coming right along. They are doing a great job in that town.

Elders Loertscher and McCarl in Borlänge. Preparing lunch as we prepared to leave.

 Between Borlänge and Gävle is the town of Falun (fal-oon') which is famous for its huge copper mine which collapsed in the late 18th Century. We had some time, so we stopped in town to go to the local museum. The museum houses a number of displays from art to the costumes of the Swedish people in early times. The textiles and hand stitching was quite interesting. We were impressed by the displays of early attempts at printing and mass producing pictures from wooden blocks or copper plates. The museum is preparing a new exhibition of Hagstrom musical instruments. Hagstrom is famous for accordions, but most well known for their guitars. We had to take pictures for the benefit of our guitar-geek sons.

Olivia next to a poster of David Bowie
and a copy of his red Hagstrom guitar

I couldn't quite get the Elvis sneer, but
here he is with his Hagstrom

The plans for Zappa's guitar

One of the displays of the guitars

In Gävle we first inspected the sisters' apartment because they had a teaching appointment. Of course, it was nice and clean. I conducted a little repair to the beds and desk chairs while Olivia walked through the apartment with the sisters making sure all was in order. As Sister Trotter and she reviewed the kitchen, or some other place, Sister Haikkola slipped chocolate bars into the bag of light bulbs we always bring with us. Sister Trotter is related to the Sturgeon family in Sparks/Reno, so we have kept track of her since coming here. I am proud to report that her family can be exceptionally proud of her missionary efforts. She works hard and always has a smile and cheerful attitude. Sister Haikkola is from Finland and learned early on that I have a sweet tooth, especially for chocolate. This time she made sure to include a Finnish chocolate bar from a world famous company, Karl Fazer. Delicious!

Sister Trotter and Sister Haikkola

The elders in Gävle live in a basement apartment that can be a little depressing for all its darkness. They have made some significant changes from the last time we were there. They have rearranged and opened up the living and study space so it is really quite nice. Olivia reviewed the apartment standards with them while I installed a coat hanger and repaired a chair. Elder Rowley and Elder Duke have reputations as cheerful, hard working missionaries and our experience with them proves this to be true.

Elders Duke and Rowley. There is a woman in the ward who gives every missionary a shoe horn.
Every apartment has at least one, already, so most of them just leave theirs when they transfer.
The shoe horns here are about 2.5 feet long, so you don't have to bend over to slip on your shoes.
Everyone removes shoes at the entrance to a home or apartment in this country.

On our way home from one of these tasks, we missed our turn off and decided to take advantage by visiting a town we have wanted to see.  Sigtuna is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Sweden. It was established in 980 AD and has seen all the ups and downs of this country from political intrigue to religious upheaval. Still standing and in use is the St. Mary's Church. Built in 1230 along with a monastery, it was the first building in Sweden to use brick, molded and fired locally, instead of stone. By the end of the century the king paid for the roof to be covered with copper, so the roof, walls and pillars look much the same as they did over 700 years ago.

During the reformation in the 16th Century, the king ordered the monastery to be torn down and the church was converted to a parish church for the Swedish Church, thus other churches fell into disuse and eventually ruin.

We had lunch in Sigtuna at a little cafe where we will definitely eat again, partly because the food is excellent, the ambiance is quaint and because we forgot to take any pictures. If you are going there, the restaurant is called Tant Bruns Kaffestuge (meaning Aunt Brown's little cafe).

St. Mary's Church

Many of the carvings date from 1420 or earlier

A modern attempt at the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane 

Carvings of the original 12 Apostles,
the Virgin Mary and Jesus
surround the pulpit. Done in 1647

Murals are on several of the walls depicting the ministries of
various saints and the crucifixion with Mary and John 

Modern stained glass from 1983

 Behind the church are the ruins of the ancient church of St. Olaf. Some restoration or at least preservation efforts are being made for this and the ruins of the St. Peter's church, also in Sigtuna.

Olivia in front of the ruins

A wonder of ingenuity for the age

Rune stones were often pressed into service in the old churches.
This one is a memorial to a deceased wife.

We ended the week watching the various sessions of the General Conference. We watched the morning sessions live at 6:00 PM and watched the Women's, Priesthood and evening sessions the following days. There were some profound thoughts and counsel, and I am anxious to start reviewing each talk individually over the next several weeks. We watched the Saturday morning, Priesthood and Sunday morning sessions at the mission office with the office elders and some of the other senior missionaries. Of course, we enjoyed wonderful meals, as well.

Signing the häst (horse)

Elder and Sister Clouse, Sister and Elder Smith, me, Elders Pack and Christley, Elder and Sister Pettit surrounding the Dala Häst that will be given to President and Sister Beckstrand after as many of the missionaries as possible sign it before they
leave in July.

We hope all is well with you and yours. We were excited to hear that our good friend Ren Johnson is called to serve as an Area Seventy. He has been exemplary in all his service for decades and we wish him and Sister Johnson well.