Christmas Week!

Family Home Evening at Koch's. Singing Christmas Carols.

Rex, Vicky, Sister Pollastro with her Mom and Dad -- going home!

Rex, Birgitta Ameln, Vicky, Sister Goates, and Sister Cherrington.

Rex, Vicky, Ingrid and Per Nilsson on Julafton (Christmas Eve).

Tomten (Santa, Elder Larson) with Elder Alakoski.

Pertti and Magdalena Lorentz, Annamaria Nilsson, Elder Larson, Ingrid Nilsson, Elder Alakoski, Vicky and Rex (Per took the picture).

Per Nilsson, Annamarie Nilsson, Elder Alakoski, Elder Larson, Rex watching the traditional 3 p.m. Donald Duck cartoons and eating.

Vicky on Christmas Day with socks and Franklin refill gifts from family.

Vicky on Christmas Day with hat, scarf, and gloves from Kali and family.

Rex with black slacks and red tie, gifts from family.

We had the most wonderful Family Home Evening at Ryan and Laura Koch’s home, along with several other members of our ward: Bishop and Katarina Karlsson’s Family, Christian and Evalina Hagglund, Christopher and Helene Gleismann, and Peter and Heather Endler’s Family. Laura had made homemade donuts and hot chocolate. We ate then everyone gathered around the piano to sing Christmas songs. Ryan plays beautifully, so we sang Christmas carols (both American and Swedish), then did this dance that everyone holds hands and you sing as you go marching through the house, up and down stairs, into most every room. It is called “the long dance.” What a fantastic evening it was!! As we left, Koch’s gave everyone a box of chocolates that Laura had made. She learned how to do this while they lived in the Philippines. Ryan works with the US Embassies around the world and is currently stationed in Sweden. He served his mission here about 10 years ago so he feels like he is home. We have such great love for the people here and are feeling tremendous love in return. Rex enjoyed reading books to the two little 3 year old girls as well.

It was another fantastic evening for us!!! We invited Sister Goates and Sister Cherrington over for supper and also my friend Birgitta Ameln, who lives here in our apartment building. I fixed a nice meal and we enjoyed a lovely visit. Just as we were finishing, Elder and Sister Johnson arrived from the mission office with mail for the sisters. They ate some of my homemade rolls and were just leaving when Sister Pollastro arrived with her parents. She was released today and her parents are here to tour and pick her up. I served everyone homemade brownies and ice cream. Sister Goates gave us a Christmas message from the scriptures and then the two sisters sang a beautiful Swedish Christmas carol. Sister Cherrington sings like an angel. She has been taking voice lessons for six years and is just incredible. The spirit was strong and I know Birgitta felt it. She was just beaming the entire evening and loves the sisters too. She left after a couple of hours but the entire evening was filled with love.
Sister Pollastro gave me a beautiful Christmas table runner that her mother had made for me. I was so touched and appreciative. I gave Sister Pollastro a crocheted bookmark and I gave Birgitta a Swedish cookbook, “Finding Happiness” video, and a crocheted bookmark. She was very happy with the bookmark and said she would always treasure it. The Pollastros had not eaten so we then served them supper as well. I am so glad that I had enough food. It felt like feeding the 5000 as there just seemed to be enough food for everyone, even though I was only counting on 5 of us. When everyone left and we finished doing dishes and cleaning up, I was just on “cloud nine” and feeling we had been spiritually blessed and touched by the Spirit of the Lord. Life is Great!

This morning Birgitta stopped by our apartment to tell us how much she enjoyed the evening. She said she felt something very special that she has never felt before. I told her it was the Spirit of the Lord telling her what she heard last night was true and special. She hugged me and said that I was very special to her. I know the Lord meant for us to meet and become friends. She said people in Sweden don’t talk about Jesus as we do and it felt so good to her. She is trying to help her 90 year old husband understand how she felt.
At 2:30 p.m. we went to Per and Ingrid Nilsson’s home to spend Julafton (Christmas Eve) with their family. Swedish tradition is to begin the festivities at 3:00 p.m. by watching Disney cartoons for an hour. They are even published on the TV at that time for all to see. Since they were in Swedish, we just laughed when we saw something that looked funny. We began eating as we talked and enjoyed each other. At 5:00 p.m. we had a fantastic sit-down dinner that had a lot of fish dishes to begin with (Swedish tradition). I ate some herring for the first time and loved it. There were all kinds of breads, crackers, cheeses, meats (Swedish meat balls, ribs, ham), and roasted vegetables. The dessert was a fruit covered cheesecake. They have a drink called Julmust that is only available at Christmas and Easter.
Following dinner Tomten (Santa) comes and hands out presents to everyone. We got some boxes of candy, a CD, a little device that holds a small candle to burn for the window. Then we went downstairs where Per read Luke 2 in Swedish. We felt the spirit as he read and then we sang Christmas Carols. They all sing beautifully and Ingrid played the piano. Two of the elders were also there and one of them played Tomta (Santa). Now it was time for games. Rex and Per didn’t want to play so they watched the new movie “Emma” while I played the games Visionary and Tile Rummy with Annamaria, Ingrid, and Magdalena (the mom and two daughters). They are quite competitive, but so fun and enjoyable to share this day with. If we couldn’t be home with our family, this family is where I wanted to be. They are just incredibly wonderful people. Their son-in-law, Pertti Lorentz gave us a ride all the way back to Stockholm at 11:00 p.m. so we didn’t have to take the train. We had an absolutely fabulous day!
After exercising, we left for Klaus and Monica Bernpaintner’s home for Christmas Dinner. They went to Wharton MBA school the same time that John and Tonja Wade were there. They are still very good friends and have treated us so well. We ate Thanksgiving Dinner with them the day after Thanksgiving this year. We had another marvelous Swedish dinner. Monica is a very good cook and had a number of fish dishes like smoked raw salmon, herring, and several other dishes that were very good. They had ham and homemade rolls with crackers and cheese also. It was a great meal! I felt as if I have known them for a long time as they are such loving, kind people. Klaus also serves with us on the Key City Council. Currently we are trying to get a group of Swedish students who are in a school that focuses on singing to be able to go to Salt Lake and perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on Music and The Spoken Word. One of the senior couples serving here now sang in the Tabernacle Choir for 5 years before coming on his mission, so we hope he can help us make a contact.
We left there about 3 p.m. after a wonderful few hours with them and went to the home of Elder Garth and Sister Sheila Hanson who are here serving a temple mission. There was another couple there, Olaf and Tami Johansson who are here for a year to work in the temple. It isn’t a called mission, but the temple president knows them and invited them to come to Sweden to live and work in the temple. At 6 p.m. we ate another wonderful American Christmas Day dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, fruit salad, and rolls with carrot cake for dessert. They have the BYU Channel in their apartment so we watched some of the past Christmas Performances that had Angela Lansbury, Peter Graves, Gladys Knight, Renee Fleming, etc. It was another extremely wonderful day of sharing with friends the joy of Christmas. We feel so blessed having the opportunity to know and make friends with some very incredible people who live here as well as senior missionaries.
When we got home at 10:30 p.m., we Skyped with 4 of our children and families, which definitely helped make the special day of Christmas complete. They sent us some nice things that we can certainly use here in Sweden. Everyone seems well and happy. Since we can’t be home, Skype is the next best thing. Hopefully we will talk to the other two in the next few days.
This morning was a cold, brisk morning as we walked to church. We still don’t have any more snow except what we got at Thanksgiving. It sounds much worse in Utah and some of the other states.
I invited the sister missionaries for lunch right after church. They gave us a lovely message using Moroni 7:45 and talking about “charity.” Then the elders came over the supper at 5:30 p.m. It was a busy day of church and cooking. Elder Lords read Abraham 3:22-23 and asked us to think about what we were foreordained to do for the Lord. Are we each doing what we should each day to fulfill the measure of our creation? Is there someone we promised in the pre-existence that we would teach them the gospel here? If so, what are we doing to find them? He shared a touching story of a girl who wasn’t going to go on a mission, but then had a feeling she should. She went, and taught a girl who was baptized. Later, it was shown her that this girl was someone she promised in heaven that she would find and teach. It was very touching and made me think of Birgitta. I feel I was meant to meet her and share the gospel, no matter what the outcome.

Frankfurt, Germany Trip

Rex and Vicky, Ima Jean and Harold Oaks in front of the Frankfurt Germany Temple.

Our PA team outside the restaurant for our Christmas Lunch. Left to right: Harold Oaks, Ima Jean Oaks, Ralf Gruenke, Gabriele Sirtl, Maryann May, Vicky, Rex, Jane Holzer, Herb Holzer, and Francesco di Lillo.

Our PA Team seated for our Christmas Lunch in Frankfurt, Germany on 18 December 2008.

Rex and Vicky in front of Christmas Tree at Christmas Market in downtown Frankfurt.

Rex and Vicky in front of the big Euro sign in downtown Frankfurt.

Nativity that costs about $2000 in Johannesberg, Germany where they have hundreds of nativities all made of wood and beautifully painted as well.

Rex in front of Carousel in Frankfurt at the Christmas Market.

Vicky and Jane Holzer in a huge market in Frankfurt.

Rex with his banana split dessert for our Christmas Lunch.

Rex and Vicky in front of the Frankfurt Temple in Friedricksdorf, Germany.

WE SAW THE SUN TODAY!!!! It was the first time in weeks that we have seen the sun. Also, the days are getting shorter. We are almost to the shortest day of the year with the sun coming up at about 9 a.m. and it is dark by 2:30 p.m.
We completed reading the entire Old Testament from cover to cover. This was actually a great experience as we were able to discuss things as we read. There is so much to be learned from the scriptures. How grateful I am to have the privilege of reading them each day
It was an early day as we left for Frankfurt, Germany at 6:30 a.m. today. Our flight was very nice and we arrived right on schedule in Frankfurt. Elder and Sister Oaks, a senior PA couple, met us at the airport. Thank goodness for cell phones as that is one of the biggest, toughest airports to get around in. We finally connected and then they took us to our hotel, to get a Subway sandwich, and to the office.
Rex and I were asked to prepare a presentation of all the things we have been doing in Sweden and the Nordic countries. It was about an hour long presentation with the questions and discussion. Sister Sirtl, our International Director, told us that we were doing an extraordinary job and she is very please with what is taking place here. She did tell us that we will not be replaced. The Area Presidency wants all senior couples at the main office, not at a satellite location. She is truly a delightful person and we love serving with her. The other people in the office are also incredible. Our mission time is amazingly short. I thought 18 months was a long time, but ours is nearly half over.
Elder and Sister Oaks took us to their home for a delicious supper tonight and we had fun taking pictures at the Frankfurt Temple (actually located in Friedricksdorf). I served with Harold Oaks on the BYU Alumni Board of Directors for 4 years and we have a very nice friendship.
Thursday morning we had a one-on-one appointment with Gabi. We set up the schedule of our pre-tour visit to the Nordic countries in March and we shared with her our schedule. Then we all left for a yummy Christmas Dinner for the Public Affairs team. It was a good German meal that was quite expensive, but we did have a great time. The Holzers took us shopping at the Christmas market in downtown Frankfurt tonight. It was like a big carnival with hundreds of tent booths set up and a huge 2 story carousel with lights, a huge tree, Santa, etc. Holzers took us to their apartment for a warm cup of herbal tea and pumpkin bread before taking us back to our hotel for the night.
Oaks picked us up Friday morning and took us to a town about an hour out of Frankfurt called Johannesberg. There was this store that carried only wooden nativities, and beautiful carvings, etc. The price was high but the quality was unreal. There was one nativity for 2250 Euros, which is about $3000 or more. I felt that was a bit over my budget, but WOW!! Then we returned to Frankfurt to shop downtown for a while and see the sites before returning to the airport to come back to Stockholm. By the time we got back to our apartment it was 10:30 p.m. and it had been a long day, very enjoyable few days with our Public Affairs team.
Maci is 8 years old today, December 20th! We wish we could be there for her baptism and confirmation, which I believe is sometime in early January 2009. This is the first baptism we have missed. It is hard not to be there for such a special time, but Maci knows that we love her and would be there if we could.
We met with the three other senior couples that live nearest us to have supper together in celebration of Sister Johnson’s birthday. The Swedish torte we got to celebrate was a bit of cake, then a huge mass of whipped cream, unsweetened, with a layer of heavy lime green sugar frosting. You need the sugar to add with the unsweetened whipped cream. The evening was relaxing and enjoyable.
The weather is cold, 32 degrees today, but humid and windy, so the cold goes right through me. I am grateful for warm coats and layers of warm clothing. One of the Swedish sisters told me that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes. That is actually very true.
After our wonderful Sabbath meetings, the ward had a buffet lunch for everyone. It was some different Swedish food that I have never tasted before. One thing is a pickled beet salad with beets and sour cream mixed up. There was another dish that tasted like potatoes, but was actually shrimp and some vegetables chopped up.
We invited Jan Thorne for supper tonight. She is a student who attended a music school here and comes from South Africa. Her testimony is powerful and she has been loved and accepted into the ward and YSA program with open arms. The gospel certainly blesses our lives, no matter where we live or where we may travel.

This coming week is full of wonderful events to be shared with our Swedish friends. I'll report more on it next week.

Senior Couples Conference Dec. 17-19, 2008 and Lucia Concert

Our Christmas trees covered with love note ornaments, picture ornaments and drawings from our dear family. This is the highlight of our Christmas and apartment this year!

Christmas table ready for our Senior Couples Christmas Dinner.

Rex walking toward the marknad (market) where all the tents are set up selling everything imaginable for Christmas. This is in the center of Downtown Stockholm.

The NK Store that has lights all around on the front of it. It is the most exclusive store in Stockholm and is decorated beautifully, inside and out.

Sorry, the tree is sideways. This tree is suspended from the ceiling as you walk into the NK Store in downtown Stockholm. It is just magnificently decorated.

One of the windows decorated for Christmas at the NK Store.

Another window at the NK Store decorated for Christmas. There are about 10 of them, but I have included only two.

Vicky and Rex in front of one of the booths in Gamla Stan (Old Town Stockholm). This is a small marknad. I talked to this darling girl in the booth in the background and wanted her picture.

Rex and Vicky in Gamla Stan on one of the narrow busy shopping streets.

This is the Lucia Princess at the Lucia Concert which we attended on Dec. 13th, Lucia Day. She wears a crown of lit candles on her head and a group is following her as they sing. We saw this in the Storkyrkan (King's Church) in Gamla Stan.

Vicky and Rex as we are preparing to leave for the play "My Fair Lady" with our senior couples group.

Some of the group learning the Lucia Dance taught to us by the Swedish couple who are serving in our mission now.

Our group in the lobby of the Oscarteatern where we saw the play "My Fair Lady". It is one of the oldest theatres in Stockholm.

We spent the past three days in a Senior Couples Conference. It began Thursday morning with lunch, scripture study, testimonies, a great presentation on Swedish Traditions, and then we went by train into Stockholm to see the Swedish version of “My Fair Lady”. What a GREAT day! It was interesting to see the play in Swedish, not be able to understand a single work, but loved the music and had a fantastic evening together. Our seats weren’t very good, but we enjoyed this cultural evening together.

Because of the presentation on Swedish Tradition yesterday, Rex and I got up at 5:30 .m. Friday morning to attend a Lucia Concert. One of the biggest holidays of the year here is December 13th, that is called Lucia. They celebrate by honoring a girl as the Lucia or princess. She wears a crown with lit candles on her head as she parades around. There is a song about it and this fantastic youth choir sang in the Storkyrkan, which is the King’s church by the palace. They sang some wonderful songs and it is one of the events to bring in Christmas or “Jul” as they call it. It was raining hard all day, so we stood in the rain to get into the concert, but it was so worth going. After arriving at the Mission Home, we had scripture study and more testimonies as there are 20 of us all together. The testimonies have touched all our hearts and helped us fell great love for each other and for our Savior and our families.

Elder and Sister Hanson, who serve in the Stockholm Temple gave a presentation on “Coming Together as One”. One thing that I felt was the most important, is that he said as couples we need to have “pillow talk”, as it is where true communication takes place, where hearts are bound together, and where we come to truly love and understand each other. He said women are better at this than men, but it is one of the greatest blessings in a marriage. We need to listen and understand how our companion feels, and this will help bind us eternally. While the husband is the patriarch and priesthood holder, the wife is entitled to inspiration and both need to be listened to with love, understanding, and compassion.

The group had free time for a few hours to go shopping in Gamla Stan (Old Town), and to see the beautiful windows in Stockholm. There are hundreds of tents set up in marknad, city markets where people can buy about anything for Christmas, or other occasions. However, Christmas is when they are out in full force. There are little Santas called “tomtes” that are so cute. Everyone has candles and the tiered 7 candle light in their windows. I even have one. It rained on us the entire day we were walking around but it didn’t dampen our spirits or our determination to see Stockholm.

We returned to the Mission Home and had a marvelous Christmas Dinner of salmon, ham, potatoes, salads, rolls, shrimp cups, deviled eggs, relish tray, cheesecake dessert, etc. They have this drink called Julmust that is only available during the Christmas Holiday. It tastes a bit like Coke without caffeine. I am not really fond of it, but it is the drink of choice during the holidays here. We each brought a 100 kroner gift (about $13) for an exchange. One of the couples was in charge and we played a game to get our gift. I will have to share it with you when we return. We ended up with two Swedish CD’s with Christmas music. Some of the gifts were Swedish story books, candy, a tie tack with the temple on it, a vase from Visby, etc. It was really fun. Following the gift exchange, we had a Family Home Evening Fireside together. We played Christmas Carols on pipes and sang together. We played a nose blowing instrument, and read the Christmas story. It was fun and spiritual.

This morning we all went to the temple together. This was the highlight of the conference. We dearly love each other and KNOW the Lord is aware of us and our families. I can’t begin to tell you what a tender mercy and special day it has been. We all then went to lunch together and said good-bye until next time. Every couple in the church should go on a senior couples mission when they reach that age and time. It is definitely a highlight of our lives. While we miss family, they too are blessed in our absence. The Lord promises us that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven, and it is so true.

WE SAW THE SUN TODAY, Monday, FOR ABOUT AN HOUR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN WEEKS! We could have used our sunglasses.

Thanksgiving and Mission Home Open House

Rex in center of Stockholm early December!

Vicky and Brian Monson, our from from the USA.

Vicky and Birgitta Ameln, my wonderful Swedish friend!

Rex and Vicky in the foot of snow we got in November 2008! This is just outside our apartment.

Our Thanksgiving group.

What a GREAT Thanksgiving Day! If we couldn’t be home with family and friends, then it was nice sharing our day with some wonderful missionaries here in Sweden. Everyone brought something and we had lots of salads, meat, rolls, desserts, etc. We got a nice group picture after the meal. Before we ate, there was a district meeting with some outstanding talks on gratitude.
Yesterday was the Mission Home Open House that President and Sister Anderson hosted. I went to help with the food preparation on Tuesday and learned how to make Swedish meatballs like the Swedes make. We also went out early yesterday to help set everything up. A light buffet was served with some fabulous food. Little shrimp cups were our favorite, and some small Aram sandwiches. Elder Thunell has put together a history of the Church here in Sweden.

We received our Christmas package from our family. Ryan and Heather sent three paper trees that we can decorate with ornaments from our family. The ornaments have love notes and family pictures on them. It makes me happy to look on our wall and see the love and support from family. There are packages that begin with the 12 Days of Christmas. What fun!!! Since we can’t be home, this is truly a special way to feel the love of our family. I am looking forward to the rest of the love notes and ornaments for the trees. This will be a memorable Christmas!

Most all the snow is melted now. It has been in the high 30’s the past two days. Tonight was a wonderful evening at the home of Klaus and Monica Bernpaintner. They attended MBA School at Wharton in PA and knew Tonja and John Wade real well. Monica fixed the most fantastic Thanksgiving dinner and invited us and 4 elders over. They have 3 very nice children who attend a school here that focuses on singing and music. We heard them perform at the UN Family Day this past May and WOW! Are they impressive!

There are many wonderful things that I love about Sweden, but I found out that Swedes do not use a single handed hole punch. I have looked for 3 hours today for a paper hole punch but found nothing. When I am so used to certain things from America, it is frustrating not to be able to find it here. There are a few things so different: Swedes do not eat dressing on their salad – they eat them just plain. They do not add any sugar to their whipping cream – it is just plain and no flavor. They do not have any chocolate chips. I have to chop up chocolate bars if I want chocolate pieces in anything. Their salsa is not what Rex would call salsa. They don’t have Pam spray. They don’t have dryer sheets so your clothes won’t cling. These are just a few of the things that are different and hard to adjust to. However, they do just fine without all these things. Life goes on!

We left our apartment at 8 a.m. to go to the temple. We were able to help with the first session and then we hurried over to the chapel nearby to prepare and serve lunch to President and Sister Anderson along with the 9 new elders and sisters who just arrived yesterday to begin their mission here in Sweden. They still have that “deer in the headlight look” with lack of sleep and overwhelmed with the language, etc. We have 6 new sisters and 3 new elders. After cleaning up we went back to help with the last session at the temple.
After finishing our sessions, we went to dinner with Elder and Sister Hanson, who are here on a temple recording mission. This is their 3rd mission in the past 6 years. We hurriedly went to the train and attended our Key City Council meeting after dinner. We have the greatest council to work with. Each person has a strength that enhances the entire group. It was 10:30 p.m. when we arrived home after a long, wonderful day!
Sunday was fantastic! The testimonies were so touching and inspirational. Ryan and Laura Koch, from the US Embassy, invited us to dinner this afternoon. They have a 4 year old daughter, a 2 year old son, and she is expecting a little boy in January. We offered to babysit for them when they want to go to the temple. It would give me an opportunity to be a grandma with my own precious grandchildren so far away.

The Mission Home Open House was tonight. I took my dear friend, Birgitta Ameln from the apartment. She was deeply touched by the feeling she felt as we were in the Mission Home. She was impressed with the sisters and elders too. Before we left, the sisters and elders sang Christmas Carols to everyone. Then we all joined in to sing more songs. It was truly an uplifting, joyous evening. Birgitta thanked us several times for taking her. I must admit, the entire evening was just “jattabra” (GREAT)! And life in Sweden continues to be a huge blessing in our lives.

Our first snow in Sweden!

First snow this year. This picture is taken from our living room window. What a beautiful winter wonderland.

Vicky in front of the Stadsmuseet that has the history of Stockholm and its people.

Rex, Sister Judith Thunell, Elder Bruce Thunell our good friends with whom we toured the Stadsmuseet and then had dinner together at our apartment.

Vicky in the courtyard of our apartment complex. First snow on 22 November 2008.

Rex in the courtyard with the beautiful snowfall. Gorgeous day!

L to r: Elder Hartman, Elder Lewis, Elder Spjut, Elder Glenn, Elder Ashworth -- Great elders!!

One of our Friday lunches together! Great missionaries and fabulous food!

We have had a nice week working at the temple one day and attending a district missionary meeting. This mission experience is a daily blessing and reaffirmation that serving the Lord is truly a choice opportunity. Four senior couples joined with Pres. and Sister Anderson to clean the mission home, inside and out. We did a major cleaning job in preparation for the big Open House on 26 November. The guys cleaned outside and put up twinkle lights, while the women did a thorough cleaning inside. It is a BIG tri-level home with 6 bedrooms, and 6 bathrooms, a huge 10 bed dormitory in the basement with 3 washers and dryers. It took us a long time but it felt so good when we finished. Then Sister Anderson had a nice meal for everyone before we headed home. Service and working together to accomplish something are great blessings. The 2 AP’s and 2 Secretaries to the Mission President came to our lunch and two of them sang while they played the piano and the guitar to entertain us. Such great talent! Then everyone read a limerick he/she had made up, which is one of the fun things we do when we get together for a meal. Some are very clever.
I am so excited as I got approval today from Salt Lake that the pdf file we can use to translate the Family Enrichment Manual into Swedish is being mailed to me. I will now work with the translation department in Frankfurt, Germany to get them translated and printed so we can move forward with our Public Affairs work regarding the strengthening of families. We feel this can be a very positive approach and non-threatening since it comes from BYU and is sponsored by LDS Charities. Each of us would like to strengthen our family.

It was Stake Conference this weekend. The saints who are active are very strong and their testimonies are powerful. Our Stake President has only been a member for about 15 years. Now 12 of his family are members of the Church. One of the speakers shared a comment from Pres. Hinckley when asked why we don’t have crosses in our churches to represent Christ. He said that the members are the symbols of Chris; how we live our lives each day as an example of Christ. A few other thoughts were that we might not have knowledge of all things, but we know enough. Our faith is a decision, not a feeling. Our faith is knowledge put into action. Our patriarchal blessing is our “liahona”. Read it often and let it guide our lives.

One member of the Stake Presidency has a little autistic child and he shared several stories of his little boy running through the neighborhood half naked. His child was found a mile away playing in a sandbox. He said that he knows there are legions of angels assigned in heaven to watch over their son as he just disappears so quickly. We each have our challenges but the Lord is ALWAYS there to help us, if we just seek him all the time for the help and guidance we need.

We woke up to about 4 inches of snow this morning, 22 November, and it is so beautiful. I am just grateful we don't have to drive in it. From our living room window it looks like a winter wonderland paradise.

Busy week and another visit to Gripsholm Slott

Gripsholm Slott (castle)

Across the bay from Gripsholm looking at the little village and the church.
This was taken about 4 p.m.

Eating our lunch in the dungeon. Rex, Vicky, Elder Thunell, Sister Thunell, and Torston from Thunell's ward joined us.

This week has been good. Our landlord found out the stove in our apartment is too old to change the gasline so it will comply with the Stockholm Gas specifications, so he has to buy a new stove. We are thrilled! Hans Rodin, our landlord also shared with us that his father had done alot of work with LDS people and told Hans he could always trust LDS people as they did what they said they would do. We are grateful for good examples of what we should and need to be.
I have been working on getting permission to translate and print a Family Enrichment Manual into Swedish so we can use it in our Public Affairs work. The approval came through and I presented the plan to our Key City Council Wednesday night. They loved the idea, so now I am trying to find out who will translate it from English to Swedish and where to get it printed, who will pay for it, etc. This would be such a great resource to strengthen families. We plan to use it at our UN Family Day next May. It can also carry over into missionary work as a tool for families. The book is written by two professors at BYU and sponsored by LDS Charities. It has ten family value lessons with great visual aids

We met at the Outreach Center Friday evening with several other senior couples and watched the movie “My Fair Lady” together while eating popcorn and snacks. These are great times we share together.
Saturday the four senior couples who live close enough to get together went to visit the castle Gripsholm. Because the last visit allowed us only to see the outside, we were able to see the inside today as a Swedish tour. None of the wives speak Swedish, so the guys were trying to translate. This huge castle has a prison on the top floor, and a huge theatre room that can seat about 125 people. There are hundreds of portraits in the castle and some 15th century furniture. There are 55 rooms in the castle, but we weren’t able to see that many. It would be a fun place to play “hide and seek”. You would never find each other. The tour lasted about 2 hours, and then we had a pot luck lunch in the dungeon that is now set up with picnic tables. It was a great day together. On our way home we stopped to shop at ICA Maxi, which is similar to a Wal Mart store in the US, except much more expensive. I was in heaven as I haven’t been in a store like that since we left for our mission.

Of high importance and as an alert, our international director sent information to us stating that 90% of the public affairs news today was about Proposition 8, even here in the European countries. She put together a news release we can use if contacted by the media or by any government leaders. It is basically the LDS.org Newsroom site information put out by the Public Affairs leaders in the church. Our Area President approved this information and we are ready to speak out about the “divine institution of marriage.” Since California is only 2% LDS, it is interesting that we are the ones persecuted for the passage of Prop 8.

All Saints Day in Sweden

Rex in Hotorget Square market Saturday - November 1st.

Festival of Lights at All Saint's Day in the cemetery - November 1st.

Festival of Lights in the church by the cemetery for All Saints Day.

Vicky, Elder and Sister Wright, and Rex at the cemetery. It is 24 degrees outside.

Today was a bit stressful as we needed to clean the apartment, do laundry and get the invitations printed for Sister Anderson. I still had no idea where to get the invitations done and I had asked the Elders at the office and also Elder Pearson, one of the senior elders for help. No one seems to have any help for us. I then decided to call Birgitta, my friend in the apartment. She came right down but had no ideas either. However, she stayed for an hour visiting with us and looking at our family book of pictures. Her husband came knocking on the door a bit upset, just as she was leaving, as she was taking too long. I felt bad as I didn’t mean for her to stay so long. We had a wonderful visit about the church and I gave her 2 Liahonas in Swedish that I had. Her friendship is so precious. Each time we talk is a blessing.
We finally went looking for paper at some stores to do the printing on our own, but found nothing. Our last resort was this little copy shop where we have had paper things copied and they said they could do it. We’ll see how they look when we pick then up tomorrow.
I spent a few hours preparing for our talk to the Russian missionaries tomorrow night. I have a neat thing on “The Fourth Nephite

We finally got the Open House invitations printed for Sister Anderson and they turned out very nice. I hope she likes them. It cost us 500 kroner for 400 invitations which is a real good price. That averages out to be about 18 cents each based on the exchange rate being at 7.0 right now. We feel very happy and grateful to have them all done. We decided that if Sister Anderson doesn’t like them, she won’t ask us to do it again.
Our day was wonderful! We arrived at the temple about 10 a.m. for training. Rex was able to do some initiatory work and then help at the veil. I did training in initiatory and then was proxy at a later session. We attended a session as the witness couple and truly loved the spirit of the temple the entire day. This was another of those tender mercies we feel as we continue to serve here in Sweden.
We ate supper with the Russian missionaries and then presented a fireside on Media Training. They really enjoyed it and asked lots of questions. I feel this is something they need to be taught. A number of them asked me for the power point after the meeting, and asked me to send it to their email addresses. The Gabels, Humanitarian missionaries from Russia helping them, have become very good friends. We will miss them a great deal and I will miss the opportunity of giving them firesides. I am thrilled that finally the visas came through for the Russian missionaries today and should have them in hand to go back to Russia on Saturday. This was a fantastic day for us!!! How truly blessed we are and grateful for this opportunity to be here serving the Lord.
Today was district meetings. We got to the tunnelbana to go to the meetings and there was this sign running along on the ticker tape (which we could not read). I asked one of the young men standing there what it said. He told us there had been an accident on the tunnelbana and the trains were not running. He said he can’t ever remember this happening before. Wouldn’t you know?! We called the elders and told them we had no idea how to get where we need to go by bus so we wouldn’t be coming today. I will miss being with the missionaries as they add to our week and we feel we help them as well.
On Fridays the senior couples, who live in the vicinity of the mission office, get together for a fun pot luck lunch. The AP’s and Secretaries (elders) also join us. Today we had Navajo tacos and I provided all the toppings. Pumpkin roll was for dessert. It was so good!! Then we each read a limerick that we had written. Some of them are very funny, some are good, some are crazy, but we enjoy sharing. Sister Johnson is putting them all in a book that we will receive when we are finished with our missions.
It was an absolute downpour as we came home from the lunch. I’m glad we didn’t have anything else we needed to do today.
It was the most beautiful sunny day today!! However, it was a bit deceitful as the temperature was 35 degrees for the high. When we went for our long walk, it was 24 degrees. This California girl needs to get thicker blood.
My heart is saddened as I read all the “No on Prop 8” information. I feel that people are going against the Lord as he defined marriage as between a man and a woman. The prophet has counseled us and many choose not to listen. The long reaching effect of this proposition is so critical to the future of the family. We must protect our families. They are the strength of our nation and our future.
Four senior couples got together tonight to visit one of the cemeteries in town and a church by the cemetery to see the lights. It is called “All Saints Day” today and we were told they put lights on all the graves to scare the evil spirits away. It was only about 24 degrees outside when we were walking around. I can’t imagine how cold it will be in December and January. Then we went back to one of the apartments and played Phase 10 for a few hours. It was a nice day for us.