Oulu, Finland with BYU Young Ambassadors

In northern Finland just south of the Arctic Circle.

Baltic Sea as it touches the coast of Finland.

Driving along highway E8 in Finland. Lots and lots of trees.

Chapel in Oulu, Finland

Vicky in Oulu, Finland by the Sea.

Beautiful Oulu with Rex

Ed and Lynn Blaser with Rex and Vicky in Oulu

Vicky and Rex with Jason who performs in the Show Band.

Jeanette Lefrandt with us. She is a dancer-singer with Young Ambassadors.

Young Ambassadors relaxing after lunch for a few minutes.

Tonga and Mike singing to man who is overcome by the singing and the spirit they brought.

Megan singing in convalescent hospital.

Jason with his tender love and singing.

Rex sitting on the dock at the Viking Line where cruise ships travel to Finland and back.

Vicky in front of the first chapel in Stockholm, called Svartensgatan. It still has the beehive over the door.

Birgitta Ameln in front of the building where we attend meetings in Stockholm.

We left for Luleå, Sweden then rented a car to drive to Oulu, Finland. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive. We had GPS problems but arrived at the BYU Young Ambassador fireside just as it was beginning. We definitely had the Lord watching over us and helping us. At one point in the trip, we got on the wrong road. We pulled over and looked around but we were in the middle of nowhere. Just then, here comes a guy on roller blades, he speaks English, and he directs us back onto the right road. Yes, an angel is watching over us all the time. The spirit and the love felt as the Young Ambassadors speak and sing is just the most touching experience I can relate. Everyone is in tears and hearts are touched. One of our favorite songs is “Come Thou Font Of Every Blessing”. They do it like a choir of angels.
It was a day of community outreach on Wednesday as the Young Ambassadors traveled to a pediatric hospital to sing to the children and staff. Then they went to an old folk’s hospital and sang on three different floors to about 20 people on each floor. Some of the people were in wheel chairs, beds, and on oxygen, but their spirits were touched. I got pictures of the YA kneeling beside the beds, rubbing the patients’ hands, touching their shoulder, singing into their eyes, and making a huge I impact on their lives. I am so grateful that I didn’t miss this day. I dearly love these amazing Young Ambassadors and their Christ like love. They exemplify everything the Savior stands for. Jeanette Lefrandt, one of the Young Ambassadors, gave us a beautiful thank you note expressing her love and appreciation for all we have done for the group. She is a friend of the Andersons who are serving a PA mission in Singapore, and have become our dear friends.
They performed 17 shows and we have been privileged to attend 7 of them. As we drove back to Luleå Thursday morning, it was much more relaxed. As we were approaching Haparanda, where we enter Sweden. The police were stopping cars and making the drivers take a breathalyzer test. It is a holiday in Europe, called Ascension Day. The people drink a lot on holiday so the police were checking for drunk drivers. I don’t think Rex has ever had to do that before. “He passed”! I saw a moose as we were driving along and loved the Baltic Sea as it appeared sporadically along the coastline drive.
One of my treasured emails upon our return from Pres. Johan Strandman, a counselor in the Stockholm Stake Presidency. He said:

Dear Elder and Sister Lewis, On behalf of the Stockholm stakepresidency I want to extend our sincere gratitude to you for everything you have done to help with the Young Ambassadors. It was a fantastic experience and an absolute wonderful show. Sister Lewis, when you told me how extraordinary good they are, I thought maybe you were exaggerating a bit. But I´ve got to tell you, it was such an overwhelming experience having four of them in our house, watching the show on Saturday and the very best part: the sacramentmeeting in Gubbängen. They were angels coming right down from heaven! They certainly strengthened my testimony. Now we are only waiting for them to come back... Sincerely, Johan Strandman

This makes all our efforts and work this past year so worthwhile.

This morning we received the following email from Ville-Matti Karumo, the NDPA in Finland:

It was really great to follow the presentation last night. The Young Ambassadors really are professionals. I was hosting 3 vip’s who had seen some shows at Broadway and their comment was that this was even better. The show was very energy and I got exhausted just looking it.
The fireside was excellent. I wonder how they were able to pronounce and memorize such a long pieces of music in Finnish! I loved the fireside presentation.
rgs vmk
It is just amazing to have had such a wonderful year in preparation for the BYU Young Ambassador tour, and now have it all over. We are so pleased that everything has gone well. Now we need to compile a full report on each city and get it into the Area Presidency at Frankfurt, Germany. The Lord’s hand has been directing our lives and we are so deeply blessed and grateful. I know that as we “Do Our Best”, the Lord makes up for our weaknesses.

Birgitta went to church with me today and she seemed to like it very much. It was the commemoration of the Aaronic Priesthood so all the YM spoke and then the YM President as well as the Bishop. She was impressed to hear such young boys speak and bear their testimonies.
We just got a nice note from our co-workers in Frankfurt, the Oaks, and this was their comments after seeing the Young Ambassadors in Helsinki, Finland yesterday:

The YA performance was excellent and drew fine response from a full auditorium. I got to meet with the Artistic & Technical Team – all of whom I had worked with at BYU (see picture below). They were: Charles Cox (Lighting & Sound), Ron Simpson (Instrumental music & Cultural Advisor- his wife is Finish), Ed Blazer (Tour Manager) and Randy Booth (Artistic Director). In the 27 day tour (Denmark, Norway, Sweden & Finland) they did 17 performances, 12 firesides and 14 school workshops with local young people. They traveled by bus, with 2 trucks for lighting, sound and musical instruments. They told us Elder & Sis. Lewis had done an outstanding job – it was their best organized tour –ever!
Randy Booth was Artistic Director and I was Tour Manager when my first wife, Virginia, and I went with the Young Ambassadors to Japan & China in 1986 – so I have a special relationship with him. He came to talk with me following the performance on Friday. The trip has been especially hard for him. He told me his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in January and had a double mastectomy, and is now undergoing chemotherapy. He wanted to stay home with her, but she said he should go, since their daughter, Annalece, was in the company and she needed him, too. His wife still has two more treatments – then a full set of radiation treatments. It is a challenging time for the family. But Randy carries a powerful Spirit with him and it shows in his work. He and the family will come through & be blessed.
It is amazing to me how the Lord blesses us and helps us through our trials. Randy Boothe is definitely an example of this. We loved our time with the Young Ambassadors. I am just sad it has come to an end. I could do this forever.

Incredible Week with Young Ambassadors!!!

US Ambassador's home in Sweden.

BYU Young Ambassdors and us in Dalarna.

Carver of the Dalahast in Dalarna.

Rex and Vicky with Dalahast in Nusnas.

Vicky at the Carl Larsson garden in Sundborn.

Rex at the garden and lake on the Carl Larsson estate.

The courtyard of our apartment complex. This picture is out our front window.

Us with the Young Ambassadors at the US Embassy.

UN Family Day with our Key City booth "Hemafton" (family home evening) booth in background.

Rex and I with four of the wonderful Young Ambassadors at UN Family Day.

Per and Eva Akebrand with the 250 blankets collected for our MHH project at UN Family Day.

Young Ambassadors dancing at UN Family Day. It was a beautiful sunny day at Kungstradgarden.

Children with their balloons and faces painted at UN Family Day on May 16, 2009.

Kungstradgarden and fountains on 16 May 2009 at UN Family Day.

Logan Wilkes (President of the YA) with me and Rex and Nikki (just got a job to work for Tokyo Disneyland) as we received our gift from Young Ambassadors.

We left for Borlänge and Gävle in a rental car Tuesday morning. Wrights loaned us their GPS System so we wouldn't get lost on our trip. The theatre where the Young Ambassadors performed was not what I expected as it just had chairs set up for the audience. The acoustics were excellent and the show was a smashing success. One of the teachers at the music school, Cozmoz, said they had never worked with such humble, kind, considerate, and thoughtful professionals as the Young Ambassadors. They performed to a full house of about 325 people.
Wednesday morning we traveled to Nusnäs which is in the heart of Sweden and is called Darlarna where the famous “Dalahäst” is made. It is a wooden horse hand crafted and painted in Nusnäs at the Grannas shop. We saw gorgeous lakes and beautiful mountainous countryside. Then we drove to Gävle to prepare for the next show. Daniel and Tonga, who perform in the show band, rode in our car with us allowing us the opportunity to know them better. They asked us many questions about our public affairs work. We love sharing what we do.
The venue in Gävle was beautiful and seated 450, but only 175 people came. Randy Boothe, the YA director asked Rex and me to take a few minutes to speak to the Young Ambassadors before their show. They always meet together for a prayer, spiritual thought, last minute instructions, etc before each show. We felt honored to be asked to speak to them about our work and preparation for the tour, our mission, and what blessings we receive as we serve our mission. The Young Ambassadors were all so appreciative of our work in their behalf and so kind to us.
Thursday morning we drove to Carl Larsson garden north of Falun to a place called Sundborn. The area is gorgeous and I understand why it was the inspiration for Carl Larsson’s paintings. We took a few pictures and walked around for a while before heading back to Stockholm. It was a wonderful couple of days.
BYU Young Ambassadors arrived in Stockholm Friday about 2:00 p.m. to perform at the US Embassy. Dinner was at the Gubbängen Chapel before half of the group went to Ősterhaninge Church to perform in a fabulous musical evening. No LDS group has ever been asked or allowed to perform in this Lutheran church before. This was a huge break through into the community. The other half of the group (showband and tech crew) stayed at Gubbängen and did a fireside. It was really a wonderful meeting with 3 spiritual talks and about 6-7 musical numbers. Both events were well received and truly inspirational with 100 to 120 people in attendance at each.
Saturday was an absolutely incredible day! The Lord provided the most beautiful bright, sunny day in Stockholm. The Young Ambassadors had time to shop and enjoy downtown Stockholm before performing on the stage at Kungsträdgården before a huge crowd of thousands of people at UN Family Day. The performance Saturday evening was to about 800 people. The show was again incredibly wonderful. We held a VIP reception half an hour prior to the show and Alf and Sonja Svensson (a member of Swedish Parliament) came. They greeted Rex and me warmly with hugs and said how much they enjoyed getting to know us. We hope to be home when they come to Utah to General Conference and to speak at BYU. My dear friend, Birgitta Ameln came with us to the show and she loved it. John Zachrison and his wife Dorothy came from Frankfurt to the show. He is the Legal Council for the church in Europe. In talking to them, Zachrisons suggested that Rex and I talk to the Banks in Salt Lake about hosting.
The Young Ambassadors all attended Gubbängen Ward for sacrament meeting today. They were the entire program with music that pierced to our soul with two beautiful talks and testimonies of prophets and of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Almost everyone in attendance was in tears at the conclusion of the meeting as the spirit was so strong. We fed everyone and sent them off to visit the Stockholm Temple, changing of the guard, and Old Town before boarding the ferry to Finland.

Skien and Oslo, Norway

Tunnels between Skien and Oslo, Norway

Beautiful Norway countryside

Farming country in the hills of Norway

Rex and Vicky by a beautiful waterfall on drive from Skien to Oslo, Norway

Rex braved a roadway for a snapshot of a lake in the background. Rainy day weather.

Double steeple church in Skien, Norway

Mormon Helping Hands people passing out flyers at Kungstradgarden

The Royal Palace in Stockholm

Gardens of flowers in the Kungstradgarden with Vicky in the background

The Opera House in Stockholm

Rex with his shades on and the flowers of Kungstradgarden

Beautiful tulip gardens surround one of many statues in Stockholm

Today is Mother’s Day and I feel so grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful family. Being a Mother is the ultimate in happiness and blessings. I heard from everyone of my children and loved talking with them.
This week was such fun filled with the excitement of sharing a meal with the elders and sisters since transfers are next week. We have seen many miracles within the mission these past few months. My dear friend Birgitta came to our apartment for another lesson Tuesday. She has become such a dear friend. It will be difficult to say good-bye to her in a few months. We worked at the temple all day Wednesday and then had our Key City Council meeting Wednesday night. This is a busy month for Key City with plans for a UN Family Day, Mormon Helping Hands projects, and a Neighbor Day in the works. Rex and I are busy traveling around to support the BYU Young Ambassador tour and VIP receptions, helping where needed.
We went to Norway on Thursday morning and met Gabi, our Europe Area Director. She had us rent a car and the three of us traveled to Skien, about 2 ½ hours south of Oslo for a performance and VIP reception. It was the most amazing experience as the organizer of the tour in Skien went to the local high school and got 240 of the students involved helping arrange for everything. The students had to apply for the positions to help. When BYU arrived at their school, their band played The Star Spangled Banner and they had printed up t-shirts that had “Young Ambassadors” printed on the front. There was a day of workshops and interaction with the BYU students and the high school students. The VIP Reception was held with the Mayor in attendance and a special award was given to a community member who exemplifies a good volunteer. The man was presented with a beautiful statue created by the students. The city plans to make this a yearly award and the church will have a member sitting on the committee to determine the recipient. The town has already published two 2-page articles in the local paper about the show. A video of the performance is being made by the students to be sold to raise money for volunteer organizations. A famous opera star sang two intro numbers and the Mayor presented Ed Blaser, BYU Performing Arts Manager, with a beautiful porcelain plate of Skien. The evening was just “off the charts” in creativity, bridge building, etc. I am so happy we were there. The Ward Mission Leader is the person who was in charge of the evening and he said this is a ward mission leader’s dream come true. WOW! What an evening!
The next morning we drove through the gorgeous Norway countryside to Oslo. Norway is such a beautiful country. The show in Oslo was held at the Oslo Concert Hall and all 1400 seats were full. The VIP reception hosted some important people and friends of BYU. Erlend Peterson, International VP at BYU, was there and had invited many friends he had made as a mission president in Norway in the 80’s. He has been Knighted by the Norwegian Parliament as they think so highly of him. The show was absolutely fantastic!!
When we were on our flight home from Oslo on Saturday, a fellow sat beside us and we began a conversation with him talking about what each of us does. We told him about the Young Ambassadors and the tour. He then began reading the local newspaper and stated that he was a journalist and this paper was his competitor. As the pane landed he handed us his card and said that he was interested in what we had said and asked if we could get him some additional information. On Saturday afternoon at the MHH project we showed the card to Per Akebrand and asked him if the paper that he represented was a good paper that we would want to be associated with. He stated it was the #2 paper in Stockholm and was more conservative than #1 and was a great lead. Per had read several of his articles and said he was one of the top journalist for the paper.
Today we went to his office and gave him 5 pass outs and a press release and two tickets to the performance and invited him to the VIP/Media reception. He stated that he would like to come. What are the chances????

After arriving home we went to Kungsträdgården (a huge park in downtown Stockholm where much activity is going on) and help pass out flyers for a Mormon Helping Hands project Key City is doing. We are collecting baby blankets to be given to a hospital in South Africa where mothers have babies and nothing to take them home in. Some use brown paper bags or old newspapers, whatever. Also, we are making white blankets for the mothers whose babies die, so they have a white blanket in which to bury their baby. Next Saturday we have a tent set up at UN Family Day to gather the blankets. Our goal is to collect 500 blankets. The wards and branches are all making them in RS and YW.
Our friends and fellow PA team in Frankfurt shared this information with us:
We just got a report on the meeting with the Cardinal in Italy (it happened on Tues. May 5th). We talked with Pres. Robert Oaks last night at the BYU Management Society Europe Leadership Conference. He said the meeting was “Spectacular!” He said when they first met that the Cardinal said to Pres. Caussé “You come from Bordeaux?” He answered “We!” and the Cardinal said “Good!” They got along so well that the meeting was conducted in French. It went, as Pres. Oaks said, better than they could have hoped. He said it was another indication of “Help from above” in the work here.
Here is a follow-up report on the Mormon Film Festival in Belgium in April. Claude Bernard, the Brussels Key City chairman, wrote the following:
I think that everyone who was present on the day of the screening not only enjoyed the film but felt the spirit as well. We’ve had some interesting responses as a direct consequence of the films- from the non-member student in journalism who is writing a piece on Mormonism who said he could understand what missionary work is all about (Errand of Angles) and what being a bishop entails (Father in Israel) after seeing the Christian Vuissa films - to the member couple who had been inactive for some time and came, felt the spirit and has been coming back to the church ever since - from the investigator who came with the missionaries and loved the film “Errand of Angles” and wants to continue being taught - and to all the members present who felt legitimate pride in the work done by fellow (artist) members and who are now ready to invite friends and family to come to see other films in the future. A corollary to all this is that I have been asked to screen the films in Luxembourg, Paris and other francophone cities in Belgium.
We spoke with some friends from South Africa on Skype this past week. They told us of a group of 4,000 people in Sudan who had found a Book of Mormon and are waiting for someone to come baptize them. The Church is not recognized in Sudan so we don’t know when this will happen. Almost a year ago, we got an email from Bob and Renae that there were 2500 in Sudan waiting for baptism, but now the number is up to 4,000. Can you imagine being the missionary called to Sudan and having the privilege of baptizing 4,000 people? That is more than a stake! We are praying for a miracle so these people can be baptized soon.

Copenhagen BYU tour and Rex's birthday

Rex resting on the bench by the beautiful river.

Vicky in front of Gefion Fountain

Vicky and Rex beside "The Little Mermaid" statue, famous in Copenhagen harbor where the cruise ships dock.

Vicky by the cannons that guard The Citadel, an exceptionally well-preserved fortress

Rex on the mounds of dirt that wall The Citadel fortress, with beautiful park and church in background

Vicky at the walled gate to The Citadel

Sebastian and Christina Michaek with Vicky. They both dance with the Royal Danish and Royal Swedish Ballet companies. They were guests to the VIP reception and performance of the BYU Young Ambassadors.

BYU Young Ambassador performer with Vicky

Danish Parliament building

Nikolaj Church

Hotel D'Angeleterre at Kongens Nytorv, a majestic square encircled by stately mansions. This is where the VIP Reception was held.

Rex in front of the Kongens Nytorv square

Vicky in front of The Royal Theatre where the BYU Young Ambassadors performed.

Rex with a delicious ice cream cone sitting on Nyhavn port with its quaint old houses, restaurants, etc.

Nyhavn port with its quaint houses in the background and Vicky in front.

Frederiks Marble Church

Russian Orthodox Church

Celebrating Rex's birthday with seniors and elders at Mission Office

The birthday boy with his birthday hat on ready to blow out the candles on his cake.

We were privileged to have the sister missionaries for lunch yesterday and then Birgitta came and we had another teach. She will forever be one of my sweetest friends.
This morning we met Ryan Koch at the US Embassy to check out the facility where the BYU Young Ambassadors will perform. Ryan plans to invite all of the US Embassy staff and members of other embassies who live close by. It should be an outstanding opportunity to build bridges.
We spent the afternoon and evening at the temple working and serving. Our ward temple night was tonight so we were able to share some spiritual time with members of the ward. When we got home, we packed to go to Denmark tomorrow.
To say that the Young Ambassador show was great is a total understatement! It was phenomenal!!! We arrived in Copenhagen Wednesday about noon and had time to walk around the center of the town, check out the hotel for the VIP reception, and even get some pictures. Pete Peterson, BYU International Vice President was the person who put on the VIP reception and had some very important members of the Danish government and friends of BYU at the reception. We helped Jesper Paulsen (NDPA) with last minute ticket problems and made sure things were in order and ready to go for the performance. The show was performed to a “sell out” crowd of 450 people. It was a very professional, high energy singing and dancing show called “The New Musicmakers.” Rex and I were seated on the front row with Gabi and the VIPs. We absolutely loved every minute of the show. As people were leaving after the show, we heard many comments such as, “amazing talent”, “I have never seen anything like it,” and other very positive and wonderful comments. It feels great to be part of something so outstanding and wholesome.
Rex’s birthday is today and Gabi called the Frankfurt Public Affairs office. They all sang Happy Birthday to Rex. That was fun for Rex. We had time to walk along the water and get pictures of “The Little Mermaid”, some beautiful cathedrals, and visit with people from a NCL cruise line that just docked for the day. It was a relaxing morning before we headed to the airport to come back to Stockholm. Tonight we went to a Chinese restaurant for a quiet birthday dinner together to celebrate Rex’s birthday.
At the Friday lunch at the Mission Office, we celebrated Rex’s birthday with the two other senior couples and 4 elders (2 AP’s and 2 secretaries). They are such a wonderful group of people with whom we serve. I made a carrot cake and we had yummy barbecued kabobs, salads and rolls.
Our fast and testimony meeting today was such a spiritual feast. The ward is growing and we had about 125 people in attendance today. Two babies were blessed and two confirmations of baptisms performed yesterday.
We are enjoying some beautiful spring weather for a few days with flowers everywhere, leaves covering the once barren trees, and people sitting on park benches soaking in the sun. With a long winter and overcast skies for so many months, I am beginning to understand why Swedes love the sun. It is such a welcome sight each morning. The days are getting much longer.