Missionary Life in Sweden

Sister Cherrington, Eva from Taiwan, Sister Goates

Rex and Vicky with Eva

We just thought it was starting to be nice weather when we got 2 inches of snow yesterday. Since we buy tunnelbana passes by the month, we need to get to April 1st before buying the new one. That being said, we are walking for the next week as our last pass ran out Monday. The sun is shining brightly this morning by it did the same thing yesterday in between snow storms. The weather is crazy here, but we love it. We got another 4 inches Friday night too.
Last night we had training with two elders in Jakobsberg as to how they can do school presentations effectively and share the gospel message leaving the students curious and wanting to know more.
This month we have been extremely busy with Public Affairs training as well as final preparations for the BYU Young Ambassador tour. The tour has been our major focus for months, and now it is almost here. Several of the locations have done some amazingly creative work in combining the tour with letting people know who we are and what we stand for as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Skein, Norway in particular has joined with a local high school to do the hosting, feeding them, advertising, getting articles in the newspaper, etc. I am excited to see the outcome. I’ll record more as it happens.
We had our Swedish class Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Friday night we went to dinner with Wrights and Johnsons at a great restaurant in Gubbängen. Sharing some time with the other senior couples is so important. We are able to build lasting friendships and laugh together. As it gets warmer we plan on doing some fun Saturday trips to see more sites nearby.
We gave our Public Affairs presentation during the third hour in our ward yesterday and it was very successful. We shared the Key Messages and talked about how we, as members, can effectively share the gospel in a way people will understand who we are from us. Many people commented to us about the importance of our message and how they feel it helped them gain courage to be bolder in sharing who we are. It is especially important to reach out to opinion makers and those who can help or hinder the church.
After church, we went to hear Magdalena Lorentz and her sister, Anna Maria Nilsson sing in a choral concert out in Bromma at the St. Birgitta Kyrka. We were going to ride with their parents, our best friends here, but they didn’t get out of church on time so we found out how to get there by train and arrived just as the concert was beginning. It was all sung acapella with 11 male voices and 20 female voices. We particularly enjoyed watching the male conductor. He had quite the arm, hand, and body movements.

Rex has come down with a rather bad cold. I am trying to keep my distance so I don’t get it from him. We had the sister missionaries (Sister Goates and Sister Cherrington) over last night along with one of their investigators, Eva from Taiwan. She is a 23 year old student here studying economics. She was so funny taking pictures of everything in our apartment. We still have the Christmas trees up from our family with love notes and pictures on the wall. We also have a wall of hearts from Valentines. She loved our family photo album we brought and wants to tell her family about it. She is so happy and excited to learn about Jesus Christ. This is all new to her and it is amazing to hear the sisters share the gospel to someone who has no idea who Jesus is and to hear Eva pray. My testimony of our Savior grows stronger every day as I realize the importance of the atonement and what Christ did for me.

Week in Norway and Denmark!

Espen, Rex, Vicky, Arnfinn, Stein, Vildar (Norway PA Meeting)

Norway road to airport

Rex in front of statue and building in downtown Oslo

Vicky in front of King's Palace in Oslo, Norway

Rex in front of National Theatre in Oslo, Norway

University of Oslo

Rex and Vicky in front of Christus in the foyer of the Chapel in Copenhagen, Denmark

Back row: Jorn Berndtsen, Rex, Helge Norrborg, Martin Stokholm

Front row: Vicky, Mette Paulsen, Jesper Paulsen

Beautiful lake and apartment lined street in Copenhagen, Denmark

Rex, Mette and Jesper by the bicyles at Copenhagen Central Train Station

Dinner at Paulsens: Maria, Rex, Olivia, Andrew, Sebastian, Sarah, Mette, Vicky, Jesper

2 year old Olivia Paulsen in her soccer outfit from Spain.

Maria Paulsen with her fabulous dessert: nut and crumb crust, ice cream, strawberries, blueberries and shaved chocolate.

We had lunch and a wonderful lesson in our apartment today with the sister missionaries and my friend, Birgitta. She always says how much see feels the spirit and loves reading the Book of Mormon I gave her. She is going with me to the Brigham Young University Young Ambassadors performance in May when they come to Stockholm.
We left for Oslo, Norway Wednesday morning and after arriving there we caught the express train into the city, which is 32 miles away. We walked 1.3 miles to the hotel pulling our suitcases as it was such a beautiful day. Our meeting was wonderful and things are about ready for the BYU tour to come here. We flew home Thursday.

Early Friday morning we left for Copenhagen, Denmark. The NDPA, Jesper Paulsen met us at the airport and Jesper and his wife Mette took us to the Copenhagen Temple to do a session. The temple president took us into the baptistery before we left. There are two beautiful murals on the walls with faces of real people who have been a part of the Copenhagen Temple in some way. We had a delicious Danish meal topped off with the most beautiful, best tasting dessert I think we have ever eaten at Jesper's home. Jesper and Mette picked us up at 9:45 a.m. Saturday for our meeting. It was another very successful meeting and much good is happening in Denmark as well. Copenhagen is sold out and so is Esbjerg. They provided some sandwiches and after the meeting took us to the airport to fly back to Stockholm.

Today is Sunday and we visited the Gubbängen Ward about 45 minutes away to promote the BYU Young Ambassador tour. We were greeted warmly by the ward and we took about 5 minutes in RS and Priesthood to promote the tour. One huge obstacle that we were just made aware of is that the BIG European Idol show is the exact same time as the BYU Performance in Stockholm. We are moving forward with faith and trying hard to promote that there are good, better and best choices in our lives. Attending the BYU Young Ambassadors show is “BEST”.

Winter is still here!

Picture taken March 11 outside our apartment window.

Walking to the temple March 10.

We are now preparing for our trips to Norway and Denmark. I had sent the information regarding when we arrive, where we are staying, and asking how we can get from airport to hotel to meeting. Our NDPA in Copenhagen, Denmark called me tonight to tell me that our hotel is in the “Red Zone”, or where all the prostitutes and pornography goes on in Copenhagen. He even said that the missionaries are not allowed in that part of town. I immediately sent an email off to the Frankfurt office asking our secretary who books hotels, etc. to change our hotel. Jesper laughed and said he and his wife got a kick out of the thoughts of us walking to our hotel in that part of town.
Our Key City Meeting was Wednesday night. Our huge discussion was the price of the BYU Young Ambassador tickets for the Stockholm performance. I was finally able to help solve the issue by proposing that we ask one price until a certain date, and then ask the larger price for the remaining time. This would encourage members to get their tickets early. Everyone jumped on the idea. End of discussion.
Yesterday we met the Elders and Sisters at “the ring” in downtown T-Central station where all of them meet for transfers. The elders from Borlänge brought tickets for us to get to the two Stockholm Stakes to distribute for the BYU Young Ambassadors performance. It is interesting how we get involved taking care of so many different things. We are working closely with both Stake Presidents now to make sure they understand how to prepare for these BYU groups. At our Annual PA meeting on Sunday, Area Seventy Elder Malm was very specific in letting them know what he expected of the Stake Presidents. It was so helpful to us. He is an incredibly organized, effective leader.
Temperatures are hovering about 30 degrees give or take a few. Still lots of snow here in Sweden. I attended a baby shower for the wife of the first counselor in our bishopric. They always make their baby afton (baby showers) a surprise. I made a cute pink fleece blanket for her. Marguerite was totally surprised and emotional about the party. She made David, her husband stay with her and she sat on his lap the entire time.
Wrights invited us to their apartment for dinner tonight along with E/S Johnson. We really had a great meal and nice visit together. These times we share as senior couples are important and helpful in enjoying our missionary service. I made a loaf of oatmeal sunflower seed bread that was really quite delicious.
It was our Ward Conference today and the focus was on temples. How wonderful if everyone could be temple worthy and go to the temple often. I loved the short video the church just put out on “The Purpose of Temples”. We need to focus on our purpose and not get distracted by the irreverence of the world in trying to demean the sacred ordinances of the temple.
We met with our stake presidency for 2 hours this afternoon in preparation for us to visit all the wards in the stake to promote the BYU Young Ambassador tour. It is great to feel the full support of the Stake Presidency now.
Elder Langston and Elder Lords came to supper tonight and we had a great visit with them about their work and about what we are doing in Public Affairs.

Annual Sweden Public Affairs Meeting

Sweden's Annual Public Affairs meeting

Vicky by snowman at Mission Office

This week has been GREAT, as they all are! We were privileged to do some service for Ryan Koch of the US Embassy Monday afternoon. He is going to be helping us set up a reception and performance for the US Ambassador to Sweden when BYU Young Ambassadors come to Stockholm.
Our day at the temple was great on Tuesday and then we had our Swedish class that night. I never realized how difficult it is to learn all the verb conjugations in a new language. I will be lucky to learn a few words, but we are supporting the elders in their classes Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Zone Conference was Wednesday and packed full of instruction. A major focus was “unity”, especially in the companionships. The mission is having a great deal of success right now. President Anderson said that if the baptism dates that are set for March materialize, it will be the biggest number of baptisms in March for the past 20 years. I believe there are 19 baptisms set right now. They also spoke about “ATTITUDE”, one of my favorite subjects. If you add up the numbers of the word attitude with A being 1, T being 20 (as in the letter of the alphabet), it totals 100 so they determined that with the right attitude you can have 100% success. This is quite interesting.
The sisters came to supper tonight and brought the dessert, which is called a semla. It is something that Swedes eat on “Fat Tuesday”, or Mardi Gras. It reminds me of a crème puff except the crust that holds the pudding filling is much more like a bread and not as sweet.
Our Friday lunch was great, as usual. Elder Loomis made more semlor, but he made chocolate ones, which is not the traditional Swedish flavor. The lady who gave him the recipe said it is more American.
We met Gabi, and Leif & Eva Mattsson at the Radisson Hotel tonight for a wonderful supper. The only little glitch was that in our appetizer, Gabi had the band aid off of someone’s finger in her food and she actually chewed on it before realizing what it was. She discretely pointed it out to the waiter and he apologized. When it came time for Gabi to pay the bill, the waiter returned and told her that the meal for everyone was comped because of the band aid in her food. It was about a $250 meal and everything else was excellent!
Our Sweden PA meeting was excellent! I have never seen anyone keep a group on task like Elder Per Malm. I gave him a few items that we wanted him to cover with the Stake Presidents that would be of benefit to the success of the tour. He was able to discuss the items, keep the group focused and accomplish what needed to be done in a positive, efficient manner. He is truly an amazing man and we can understand why he is an Area Seventy here in Sweden. Public Affairs is becoming a very important essential program in the church in every country.

Our week and Sundsvall Trip

Rex in front of Globen City, a huge shopping center in Stockholm.

Front where we sat to eat lunch in the Hotel Sodra Berget on top of a mountain in Sundsvall. It overlooks the Baltic Sea and Sundsvall.

Rex and Vicky in Sundsvall in front of a snow drift.

Rex and Vicky by the ski lift that overlooks Sundsvall and the Baltic Sea.

Looking out the window at the countryside on our drive to Sundsvall.

We still have about 4 inches of snow on the ground and it is slick and icy to walk. The temperatures are hovering about 30 degrees. I guess this is very typical for Sweden this time of year. We had a wonderful day again at the temple and continue enjoying the great blessings in the Lord’s house. Afterwards we went directly to our Swedish class that is taught by the elders. It helps just to hear how the words are pronounced, as when we look at them, it isn’t how we would say it in English. There are so many rules that apply and then there are the things you just have to know. Guess what? We don’t just know. However, it is fun to learn a few words. My favorite word is “jättebra” which means super good.
My back is healing well. I just got my stitches out today and also received the biopsy report. Everything is great! The basil cell carcinoma was totally removed and everything is healing well. The Lord extends so many tender mercies to us and we feel his inspiration and guidance all the time.
March will be very busy with trainings and follow up meetings in the Nordic countries to finalize the BYU Young Ambassadors tour. We will visit all the wards in the Stockholm area and travel to Denmark, Norway and Sweden to see that things are in order.
The Elders (Langston and Lords) came for supper tonight. I fixed a great American meal of hamburgers and french fries. Then I made raspberry crepes for dessert. We all loved it. These two elders are so fantastic! There is such a great spirit about them and what they do as missionaries. They are truly “defenders of the faith.”
As we are reading the Doctrine and Covenants now, it is amazing the things that have such significance in the missionary setting. The spirit is strong as we read and share our thoughts and feelings. Companionship study is such a blessing.
Our district meeting was in Hägersten today. They showed the Church History video “Tried in All Things” about the Martin Handcart Co. It is a tear jerker.
Friday we had our mission office lunch. Elder Patchett from Henderson, NV fell on the ice and re-injured his knee. He has to go home 2 months early to have surgery. He was in good spirits.
On Saturday we helped Elder and Sister Johnson, office senior couple, drive two cars up to Sundsvall, which is 4 hours north of Stockholm. The sisters up there got a new car and the elders north of them totaled their car and got a new one. Thank goodness they were not injured, even after the car rolled 4 times. Angels were watching over them for sure. We brought back the car the sisters were driving to give to the elders in Gotland.
We went to the top of the highest mountain in Sundsvall that overlooks the city and the Baltic Sea. It is a ski resort with ski run and spa, etc. We found out they served a wonderful buffet for only 95 kroner so we stayed and ate a delicious lunch as we looked over the city and sea. They had salmon, roast beef, salads, rolls, soup, dessert, etc. It was such a great lunch for a reasonable price. People were sitting in their white bathrobes eating lunch after having been in the spa.
On our way back to Stockholm, we stopped at Gävle where there is a statue of John Erik Forsgren, who is the first Swedish missionary. He baptized his brother Peter Adolf Forsgren on July 26, 1850 into the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It was late when we returned home after a long 15 hour day of driving to Sundsvall and back. What a great day!

Sweden in February

Heart attacked by our family for Valentine's Day!

Vicky at the Karlaplan on our way to Church Sunday, Feb. 23, 2009.

Rex at the Mission Office. There is a pizza parlor on the basement floor.

Vicky in front of the Temple this week.

Lake frozen over where the people ice skate. On our way to the temple.

T-Centralen, the main train station in downtown Stockholm.

Friday lunch on Feb. 20 as Elder Spjut is leaving the mission office.

Johnsons, Lewises, Wrights, E. Gomez, E. Loomis, E. Dawson (E. Spjut in front)

We woke to 25 degree weather and a light snow today. It stays pretty consistently in the mid 20’s to mid 30’s in temperature. Yesterday at church, Rex asked a young guy who is a member of the bishopric when it gets warm here in Sweden. His response was, “Oh, for a week in July.” I think there is more truth to that statement than you would imagine.
This is a true story about Sister Anderson, our mission president’s wife. She went shopping for some turkeys at Thanksgiving and couldn’t find one the size that she wanted, so she asked one of the store clerks if they got bigger. His response was, “No lady, they’re dead! They don’t grow any more.”
After arriving at the Migrationsverket to renew our visas, we had the choice of three windows and we needed to get a number and get in line. We asked several people for help since we don’t read Swedish, but they said they didn’t have any idea what window we needed. Rex took a number and sat down. I sat there a while, and then decided to get in the information line to see if we had the right ticket. After standing there for 45 minutes, I finally got to the person at the window. He told me we had the wrong ticket and needed a different one and a different line. We finally got to the right window at 2:15 p.m. and found out the mission office had only given us papers for Rex; and I needed my own. The lady helping us told us several times that she needed to go get permission from her “decision maker”. I guess that’s her boss. An hour and 20 minutes later and 2000 kroner paid, we were told that our new visa was approved and we could stay in Sweden only until October 2009. We got home at 4:15 p.m. I had a dinner to prepare for Birgitta and the sister missionaries who were coming at 6 p.m. for dinner and a teach. The sisters used visuals to talk about the plan of salvation and Birgitta totally agreed with everything. She is such a great lady. When we were finished she said, “I want us to pray before I leave.” Rex called on her and she said a wonderful prayer. It was a fantastic evening!
As I was doing my personal scripture study today, I found this wonderful quote from Pres. David O. McKay: “Sincere praying implies that when we ask for any blessing or virtue we should work for the blessing and cultivate the virtue.” I have been working on seeking the spirit of the Lord more in my prayers.
Wednesday was a full day in the temple doing three sessions. Then we went to our Key City meeting from 7-9 p.m. The people on our committee are such great people. Last night the director told us that we have no idea what a blessing it has been to them for us to be serving our mission here. He said he knows why we are here, as we have accomplished many things that could never have been done without our contacts and help. I do know the Lord wanted us here now. How grateful I am for our obedience and willingness to serve a mission. We are so blessed. The NDPA for Sweden, Leif Mattsson attended our meeting tonight also. We have become very good friends and he said he always wants to keep in touch with us as he told us, “You are the finest and most loving people I have ever met.” He said he would like to meet our entire family. I wish he could as well. We have truly made some dear and wonderful friends.
Today we attended a different district meeting than the one to which we are assigned, as the district leader asked us to come do our PA training on the key messages and media training. The sister missionaries got a copy of the Humanitarian information from us a few weeks ago and used it in one of their presentations to a couple of college girls. The girls told the sisters they were taking it to share with their entire classes at the university. This information is extremely valuable in sharing the work we do throughout the world. Our Key City Director also told us that he shared it with Alf Svensson, of the Swedish Parliament and Alf was extremely impressed. He is the man going to BYU soon.
We finished our reading of the Book of Mormon together this week. We have currently finished the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, Pearl of Great Price, and now the Book of Mormon. Now we are beginning to read the Doctrine and Covenants. It is such a blessing to read and study the scriptures as a couple and do my own personal study as well.
Kali sent me a quote on attitude that she said reminded her of me. I have always preached that attitude is the key to happiness in life. The quote says: “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our Attitudes.” Author Unknown.
The sister missionaries came for lunch and a teach so I made homemade soup and rolls. They are always so grateful to be fed. Then the sisters and I went to a baby shower. They only have surprise baby showers here.
We woke to another 2 or 3 inches of new snow and it is still coming down as we walked to church. I guess we are in for much more cold weather. Church was GREAT as always, with a huge congregation today. A baby was blessed and the entire family came. Good for our ward.

Winter in Sweden

Vicky with Stockholm Bay and Strandvagen behind.

Rex on other side of the Stockholm Bay with frozen bay and tall Kaknastornet in background.

Vicky at the top of Katarinahissen with Stockholm in background.

Rex on the Katarinahissen with City Hall and old Church along the Stockholm harbor.

Wrights, Larsons, Andersons, Rex and Vicky, and Wrights

We enjoyed going to the Katarina Hiss, which is a tall 38 meter elevator that overlooks the Stockholm Bay waterfront and Old Town. The only problem was that it was very cold and windy today. We did get some neat pictures though.
The elders came for supper tonight. We enjoyed their visit and lesson before they left. Elder Langston is the new elder serving here in Stockholm with Elder Lords.
Tuesday we spent in the temple as it was the only day we had available this week to serve there and we love serving there each week. Our good friends, Tammy and Olaf Johansson, from Salt Lake, serve in the temple here. We enjoy visiting in the temple with them. We went to their apartment before come home. Rex and Olaf gave me a blessing seeking the Lord’s help for my back surgery tomorrow.
This morning we got up and went to the doctor to have a basil cell carcinoma removed off my back. The doctor, Ylva Enstrôm, made about a one inch oval incision on my back to remove the basil cell carcinoma. She took 7 stitches to sew it up. I have an appointment in two weeks to have the stitches removed. They will analyze the material for cancer and let me know the results in about 4 weeks. It cost us 300 kroner, which is about $35 an extremely reasonable price. After my appointment we went grocery shopping, so I am feeling just fine. Hopefully I will sleep well, as my back is a bit painful.
There is a new senior couple, the Larsons, just arrived from Salt Lake this week. We had a brunch for them at the mission home this morning. We have about 3 couples who live close enough to come when something special happens. Sister Anderson made waffles, which I haven’t eaten since we left on our mission, and a “heavenly syrup” that is to die for. She also served fruit, strawberries and whipped cream, scrambled eggs and ham. What a yummy breakfast and wonderful welcome for the new couple. They are going to Uppsala tomorrow to begin an outreach program for the YSA. Uppsala has a big university and some college students who would benefit from such a program in their city.
We got back to our apartment for about 5 minutes, just in time to leave for the district meeting we attend in Västerhaninge, about an hour train ride from here. It is most exciting to see the young elders plan and present a lesson in their districts, training them from “Preach My Gospel” and setting goals for the district. Leadership is a wonderful tool and these young elders and sisters certainly have the opportunity to grow in this area. We feel so blessed to assist in any way we can. They discussed this quote from Pres. Monson: “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” Another wonderful quote from Elder Ballard is “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.” I know that goal setting has blessed us in our service as well. We continue to work on improving our personal lives as well. The section entitled “Attributes of Christ” helps us focus on key areas to improve our lives.
I got an email from Espen Amundsen the NDPA in Norway this morning regarding a new law in Norway. Organized religious groups and some other organizations have now been given the rights to present programs on the state TV Channel for free. Espen was interested in getting the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Music and the Spoken Word. I know it was through inspiration, as this past month I had emailed a man from Bonneville Communications and made a good contact. I sent this information on to him as well as to the contact in Denmark who works with getting the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcasts in the Scandinavian countries. He responded and is now working with Norway to have weekly Music and The Spoken Word on Norway television. This is a great Public Affairs opportunity and a blessing for the positive exposure of the Church. It amazes me the number of times that I am inspired by the Lord in fulfilling His purposes here.
I completed the monthly Public Affairs reports for Norway and the Stockholm Key City today. These reports are sent to Frankfurt and then Salt Lake. It helps measure our success and what funds are needed to produce teach, train, and build relationships with opinion leaders in our various Public Affairs efforts.
We received a wonderful Valentine package from our children yesterday. WOW! They are spoiling us so much. We are deeply grateful for their love and support as we are far away from them serving in Sweden.
I am sitting at the computer looking out at the heavy snow fall coming down. It is a blessing that we do our work from our apartment most of the time. Today it just feels nice to sit in a warm apartment and view the beautiful world the Lord has created for us to enjoy. This is only the 3rd snowfall for us this winter.
I took a Valentine card up to Birgitta and dropped it through her mail slot. She stopped a few minutes ago to thank me for the love that I show her. She is such a gem and truly a blessing to have as a dear friend.
Johnsons and Wrights invited us to go out to dinner at the Chinese restaurant, “Wong House”. It was quite good and we thoroughly enjoyed the company. Then we went to Johnson’s to watch the DVD “The Stonecutter” about a pioneer with great courage and determination, John Rowe Moyle. He worked 20 years as a stonecutter for the Salt Lake Temple walking 22 miles each way from Alpine, UT to Salt Lake each week as he worked on the temple. It is a story of faith, courage and determination. I recommend it to everyone. One statement that I loved was, “Most callings are not convenient”, which is so true in our lives each day.

We had an outstanding Sunday School teacher. He is a convert from Iran and knows the gospel very well. Today as he was teaching about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, he said our repentance cannot be like spraying ourselves with perfume and expecting the smell to wipe away the sin. We need to cleanse from the inside, from the heart. What an interesting analogy.