Another Great Week in Sweden!

Vicky in front of the Adolf Fredriks Kryka.

Maria and Elder Gomez at baptism.

Rex, Vicky and Sister and Elder Nelson from Salt Lake.

It has been a productive week for us. On Monday we went to the Mission Office to present our Key Messages and give them the Media Training. There were two senior couples and the AP’s and other elders. We also shared with them the information that we received from Howard Collett at BYU on the Humanitarian Efforts of the Church last year. This is a great pass-along brochure that covers everything on one full-color page of pictures. It is a great missionary tool. We hope to get it out into the mission more in the next few months.
We are continuing our efforts to get the Adolf Fredriks School invited to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in a Music and the Spoken Word. Pete Peterson at BYU is working with us to help get this wonderful Public Affairs Event to occur. The people in Sweden would love to see this happen as this school is very famous here.
It was a great day at the temple on Wednesday. Rex and I feel so blessed to serve there and know that the Lord delights in His service to those who could not do it for themselves.
Our district meeting was changed today because we need to help at the Outreach Center next week. We needed to get some training on where things are and how to take care of everything. This is a new experience to help with the YSA. We were able to present the Key Messages to the District and they have invited us to do a more in-depth Public Affairs and Media training in the next few weeks.
Kali emailed us that Kevin was laid off at Pfizer today. Their company had some deep lay-offs. Kevin’s manager and 8 of the 10 managers in his district were also laid off. Thousands were laid off this week. My heart is sick for them, but I know the Lord will help them find other employment. The economic times are difficult for all of us.
We met for lunch at the Mission Office Friday as two of the elders are getting transferred and one of the senior couples is heading to their new location. They are the Nelsons from Salt Lake. After talking briefly, we found out that their son started working in St. George the first of July and he works with Ryan. Their son is an anesthesiologist. We enjoy the limericks everyone shares and the food is always delicious. Today it was chimichungas and banana splits.
Tricia Sullivan, my wonderful friend from Modesto, surprised us with a belated Christmas Package of almonds (which we dearly love), See’s candies and peanut brittle, Bath and Body Works shower gel, body lotion, and body splash. Tricia wrote two wonderful letters and sent a Christmas photo card of their family. She is such a special friend and we were deeply touched by her kindness and generosity.
Saturday we attended the temple endowment session for a young lady who is helping us with some Public Affairs work when the Young Ambassadors tour comes. She had married a non-member, is now divorced, but is now back at church and went to the temple. Most all of her family was there. What a wonderful blessing. Tonight we attended the baptism of Maria Isabella Paco Diaz at the Gubbangen Chapel. She was baptized by Elder Gomez and it was a spiritual event. The work is moving forward as the elect seek the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we are on the train traveling to the baptism, I get a call from Elder Czuba who had an interview with a newspaper in about an hour. I tried to train him on the Key City Messages and Media as much as I was able in such a short time. We are hoping to do a training at the Zone Conferences as more and more of the elders and sisters are getting asked for interviews or to be followed for a day and see what they do. Everything that is printed or on TV needs to be positive and our elders and sisters need to be trained. They are also doing many school presentations. It is part of the country curriculum in all the Nordic countries.
We have been extremely busy putting together the Nordic country 2009 Budget Plans and as well as the Stockholm Key City 2009 Budget. Travel has been cut 20% and the church has a hiring freeze. I have been compiling the BYU Young Ambassador Tour VIP Events along with Media and Outreach Events into one huge itinerary for Gabi to present to President Oaks, the Area President this coming week. The Church is cutting back in these tough economic times also.
The fast and testimony meet this week was different in that the Bishop’s son is leaving on a mission to Finland this week. He, his wife and the missionary son all took a few minutes to bear their testimonies, then a beautiful musical number, followed by ward testimonies. We had about 110 people in attendance today. Our ward is really a wonderful ward and we love the people. The Bishop asked us if we would teach the Key Messages and Media training to our ward on the last Sunday in March for the 3rd hour. This training is so important for everyone to know. We would like to get to all the wards with our presentation. We have been able to visit several, but there are many more that need the training.

It continues to be a blessing to serve here in Sweden!!