Week at Festinord

Baptism of Helene Ingman (center front)

Candy cane making at Granna, Sweden

Rex and Vicky overlooking lake near Granna, Sweden.

Rex, Vicky and Elder Pearson in front of old castle restaurant in Granna.

Students at Festinord in Jonkoping, Sweden.

We had an amazing week! Elder Per Malm of the Seventy called us for a nice visit and sent a letter to all the Stake Presidents and NDPA's in the Nordic country introducing us as the Public Affairs people with whom they will work in bringing the BYU Young Ambassadors to the Nordic Countries. He also said we could assist them with any public affairs issues. It was a huge step forward in our mission assignment.

At Festinord, our assignment was to take pictures and write an article to be published on the country websites. This event hosted about 700 YSA from 27 European countries, held in Jonkoping, Sweden this year. The youth had institute classes each morning, workshops on dating, marriage, sharing the gospel, The life of Joseph Smith, dance classes, and a big dance each night. Two firesides were presented with Elder Sterri and Elder Kopischke (both Area Seventies) speaking. Elder Sterri spoke on "becoming". It isn't enough to know, we must be working at becoming who the Lord needs us to become. Elder Kopischke gave us 11 ways to "live after the manner of happiness" that Nephi shared in the Book of Mormon. They are: 1) Follow the prophet, 2) Keep the commandments, 3) Walk with the Lord, 4) Love and read the scriptures daily, 5) Marry in the temple and have families, 6) Be prepared for bad and difficult times, 7) Work hard and develop talents, 8) Attend the temple often, 9) Be diligent (work hard and don't take the easy path) 10) Live where we have religious freedoms, 11) Listen to and become good teachers (in callings and in our homes). We served with other senior couples that are just amazingly, wonderful people. There was a song contest with 7 participants from 5 different countries. Each of the 7 contestants wrote his/her own song and music. An article was printed in the local newspaper about the Festinord event and song contest. It was a good article about the youth of the Church and the great event.

On our way home from Festinord, we rode with Elder and Sister Pearson. We stopped at a place called Granna, where they make candy canes and all other flavors of candy cane besides peppermint. It was amazing to watch!

I played the piano for the baptism of Helene Ingman today. When Helene walked into the font to be baptized, she smiled from ear to ear and waved at everyone in attendance. She said this "is the happiest day of my life." What a blessing for this dear lady. I feel blessed to be a part of such a sacred event.