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.

Let the Light Shine Through

Flowers cover the lawns everywhere. This is on the lawn at Adolph Fredriks Kyrka.

Elder Langston, Baasanjargal Boldbaatar and Elder Lords.

Baasanjargal Boldbaatar coming out of the waters of baptism with Elder Langston.

Sister Cherrington, Baasanjargal Boldbaatar and Elder Langston. It was about 50 degrees outside.

The group gathered for Baasanjargal Boldbaatar's baptism.
25 April 2009

Baptism of Boakia Sandy (front row in white suit and black shirt). 25 April 2009

Our Public Affairs work this week consisted of two huge reports for Gabriele Sirtl and Elder Per Malm. Both had meetings with the Area Presidency in Frankfurt and needed detailed information regarding the BYU Young Ambassador tour. I spent all of Monday and Tuesday morning getting Gabi’s report to her, and then I started right in on the report for Elder Malm. His report was due to him first thing Thursday morning. It required me getting information from each of the venues where a VIP reception will occur and the schedule of the complete tour, along with locations, priesthood leaders who will attend the VIP receptions and names and titles of VIPs who will attend. Since the tour will include all four Nordic countries and 15 cities, it is quite a detailed report with much information to compile. After Elder Malm received the report his response was, “Excellent. This is exactly what I needed. You are the BEST!” He is such a thoughtful person and we truly love associating with him and working so closely with him on the BYU Young Ambassador tour. He was given the assignment from the Area Presidency to make sure everything goes well. Needless to say, he has delegated that assignment to us with reports to him on a regular basis as to how things are progressing.
Along with these two huge reports, we were asked to take care of the Center for Young Adults Tuesday and Wednesday as the couple who normally runs the Center went to Goteborg for a training seminar. I served dinner to about 20 YSA Wednesday night and cleaned up the center after institute was over. It has been a very full week.
We were asked to do the Key Message and Media training at our District Meeting Thursday and felt that was a big success. The missionaries get asked to do school presentations often and they need some direction in what they present and how they present it. The Key Messages put together by Public Affairs is the perfect tool. We present a power point along with discussion and a question/answer time.
Our Key City Council has been working on a MHH (Mormon Helping Hands) and welfare project that involves getting baby blankets together to send to South Africa. This project idea came to me as I read an email we received from a missionary couple (E/S Noll) in South Africa who are our friends from CA. I presented it to our Key City Council and the lady on our Key City Council in charge of MHH and welfare has really gotten excited about the whole thing. She has contacted numerous companies to donate blankets, gotten the two Stockholm Stakes involved in gathering blankets as Relief Society service projects, and is working on a way to get the blankets into South Africa and delivered to this hospital where they are so desperately needed.
Today our little Sydney Kimball was baptized in PA by her father. Abby (9 years old) gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and Paige (11 years old) played the piano for the music. We are sad not to be there, but our heart and thoughts were with Sydney today. Gage Lewis turned 4 years old today also. It was a big day.
We attended two baptisms here this afternoon and evening. The first one was in a lake just south of Stockholm. Elder Langston was not too excited about getting into the lake as the ice just totally melted a few weeks ago. It was truly an amazing site. The young lady Baasanjargal Boldbaatar is from Mongolia. The day was just beautiful but a bit windy. Baasanjaral said she wanted to be baptized in the lake as that was how Jesus was baptized and she wanted to do it as he had done. Both Elder Langston and Baasanjargal said that they were not cold and the “spirit” was so strong. We felt blessed to be there and witness such a special baptism.
The other baptism was in Sodertälje about 40 minutes south of Stockholm, The baptism was of Boakia Sandy, husband to a lady who was baptized in January along with her daughter. They are originally from somewhere in Africa and have a large family, all of whom were in attendance. It took three times to perform the baptism because Boakia’s tie kept coming up. On the third try the Bishop was able to get everything immersed. Bro. Sandy bore his testimony and said he had been smoking for 30 years, but with the help of the sisters and the Lord, he was able to quit smoking and enter the waters of baptism. Two of his granddaughters sang a song during the program about joy in the Lord. They were 9 and 4 years old. It was really sweet to see them perform their song. What a glorious day to see two of our Father in Heaven’s children baptized and come unto Christ. Today was the most beautiful day we have seen this year in Stockholm. It was about 65 degrees. Our lives have been richly blessed for sure!! By the time we got home it was about 10:45 p.m., but we were on a spiritual high.
It was another gorgeous day in Stockholm as we went to church. We were happy to be back in our own ward after visiting other wards in the stake to promote the BYU tour. We have an amazing ward, about 115 attended today.
Tonight was a missionary fireside in Gubbängen. There were about 20 young elders and sisters along with 4 senior couples who sang in the choir. We performed three musical numbers, but there were numerous other vocal and piano solos. There was also a talented violinist, flutist, trumpet player, and 3 touching testimonies. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Fun Day at Drottningholm Slott

Vicky, Mark Paredes, and Rex

Easter Dinner with Sister Wright, Vicky, Sister Johnson

Drottningholm Slott guard with Sisters Johnson, Lewis, Wright

Lewises, Wrights, Johnsons at the gate of the Drottningholm Palace

Palace gardens

Drottningholm Palace

We had dear friend (Per and Ingrid Nilsson) come for a nice turkey dinner Monday evening.
Tuesday was spent at the temple and then we went directly to our Swedish class. It was our Zone Conference Wednesday and we feel such a great spirit as we share the day with the mission president and his wife and the sisters and elders in our zone. Pres. Anderson shared the scripture in D&C 64: 29, 33-34 that is the scripture Rex and I have on our plaque in our ward at home. We are agents on the Lord’s errand doing the Lord’s business. We must not be weary in well-doing because we are laying the foundation of a great work. Out of small things proceedeth that which is great. The Lord requires the heart and a willing mind…..
Then we met with the YSA group before their institute class and shared everything they need to do to help with the BYU Young Ambassadors when they are here. Following institute, we met with the Institute Council and Stake Presidents for a report and update on what is still needed as well as what we have already planned. We felt our efforts were productive and much needed in order to further the work that still needs to be done.
Yesterday we met with David Weaver, a great contact in the media here. His name was given to us by one of the Utah temple working couples who met him on the train. David works with the Ticnet group where we hope to get more ticket sales for the BYU show. He is a religious man and very family oriented. He wants to come to the show with his wife and little daughter. It is a little miracle just in how we found him through the temple couple. But also, when we went to the address on his business card, we couldn’t get in due to a port code that we did not know. Just as we were discussing what to do, a lady walked into the building and turned to ask us if she could help us. We showed her the card with David Weaver’s name on it and she said, “Follow me up to the 4th floor where I work as he is in the same office and I’ll get him for you.” He walked out to say hello with a bit of skepticism as he had never met us. We told him the story of how we got his name and he was most kind, offered his services in any way and we feel we have made a good friend.
Last night was a very interesting event put together by Ingid Nilsson of our Key City. Her assignment is “building bridges of understanding”. She invited a Humanist (atheist) named Christer Sturmark to have a dialog with our institute director, Louis Herrey at the Västerhaninge Chapel. There was a big article in the Christian paper called “Dagen” about the dialog between a Humanist and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In fact, it was the lead story on the humanist webpage today.
We went with two other senior couples on Saturday to visit Drottningholm Slott, where the King and Queen reside and have done since 1981. It is fun to visit the portion of the palace where they do not reside. The gardens are spectacular, even though not many flowers are out yet and the trees are just beginning to bud. It was originally built in the 16th century and is quite ornate on the inside.
Sunday we had an assignment from our Stake President, Pres. Nyman to visit Uppsala Ward, which is about a 45 minute train ride from Stockholm. We then had dinner with the senior couple and a good visit getting to know each other better. They are trying to start an Outreach Center (Center for Young Single Adults) in Uppsala and are struggling with only 3 active YSA people in the ward.
This morning we checked our emails and have two huge assignments to complete. One needs to be done by tonight and the other by Wednesday evening. They are for reports to the Area Presidency in Frankfurt. I need to get busy!!!

Easter Week

S. Wright, Vicky, S. Johnson at Easter dinner

Baptism

Rex by statue at Dramatic Theatre

"utfart" means exit

We couldn't resist the laugh!

Saluhall has one of the most popular markets in Ostermalm Torget

Dramatic Theater where Greta Garbo began her career!

Junibacken has a journey through Astrid Lindgrens world of childrens stories

Vasa Museum - famous warship Vasa, sunk 1628, salvaged 1961.

Nordiska Museum has Swedish life through the ages

Sister Cherrington's 22nd birthday at our apartment.

This has been a tough week for Rex as he came down with a very bad cold and we finally got him into the doctor yesterday. Since I don’t speak or read Swedish, one of the other senior couples found a doctor and gave me the phone number to call for an appointment. When I called, they only spoke Swedish and I had no idea what they said so I decided to walk over to the office and get an appointment. There is a port code to get into the building, which I did not have. I waited until someone walked into the building and then I followed them in and up to the 4th floor where the office was located. They were kind enough to get us in that afternoon. He is now on an antibiotic and a prescription cough syrup. We were treated well and everything is looking up now.

It is finally becoming warmer and I was able to go for two long walks the last two mornings. As I walked along the bay there was still 4-5 inches of ice on the bay. Geese were walking on the ice trying to get something to drink. The sun is shining beautifully and soft pink blossoms are popping on the trees. What a fantastic time of year! Life is “jättabra”!! (super good)
I found a quote from Pres. Monson: “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.” I hope I can follow that counsel in my life.
We enjoyed General Conference immensely. I feel the leaders are counseling us to be prepared for tough times both economically and spiritually. We must build firm foundations on the rock of Christ so we will not fall. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is paramount to surviving in troubled times. It was wonderful to see our new apostle, Neil L. Anderson sustained to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. How grateful we are for the modern technology that allows us to watch conference many miles from Salt Lake. When used wisely, the modern technology truly blesses us.
A huge blessing this weekend was talking to all six of our children, their spouses, and most of the grandchildren. We are on a “high” with love and support from home as well as being spiritually fed by our great leaders. I know that we need to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ and focus on the temple blessings as we go there to worship and serve. I am deeply grateful for my testimony of Jesus Christ and the restoration of the Gospel in its fullness. We must remember to “be of good cheer” and as Elder Wirthlin said in the last conference, “Come what may and love it!” We are truly loving each and every day of our mission.
Another goal completed as we finished reading the Doctrine and Covenants together. Each day brings a new thought about the importance of the scriptures and why we study them daily.
The temple has been closed for two weeks to be cleaned. It was wonderful to be back serving all day Wednesday. Sister Cherrington turned 22 so we had a surprise birthday party for her at our place. The 2 sisters, 2 elders, and Eva (their investigator) all came. We had such a wonderful evening. We sang “Families Can Be Together Forever” before having a scripture and discussion about families living together in heaven. Eva was very touched. After getting home, she sent us the sweetest text message about how much she loved the evening, the singing, the love she felt and being with us. Rex is a big tease and Eva is very naive so he loves to tease her about things that she doesn’t understand.
Last night after our Swedish class, this young girl from Uzbekistan waited for us outside the building to walk to the train station. We made small talk as we walked, but as we got closer to the train I felt prompted to invite her to church. I kind of ignored it at first, but it came again. This time I said, “Camola, would you like to come to church?” She quickly responded that she had wanted to ask me if she could come and seemed very happy that I had invited her. This is such a small thing, but it reminded me that we need to “open our mouths” and the Lord will do the rest. How grateful I am that I listened to the prompting to invite her. I hope she will come. Rex and I will be visiting a different ward from our own to promote the BYU Young Ambassador tour, so I have alerted the elders and sisters to be looking for her. Out of small things proceedeth that which is great. The gospel is for everyone and I feel so bless to have it in my life. It is the reason for everything good about me.
This morning we met with Mark Paredes, from Santa Monica, CA. He is here in the Scandinavian countries to present firesides in different cities on Mormon-Jewish relations since the days of Joseph Smith. He is Executive Director of the Western Region of the Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897.
Yesterday we had a wonderful walk around the bay. It is so beautiful with flowers and leaves budding everywhere. People are out pushing their babies in strollers and sitting on park benches basking in the sunshine.
We attended a baptism of a young man from Mongolia yesterday afternoon. The lady who was supposed to play the piano didn’t show up, so I played the piano and felt privileged to be a part of this sacred event. He bore his testimony after his baptism and was so happy to have been baptized.
Afterwards we went to Wright’s apartment for an Easter dinner with the seniors couples and one elder who is without a companion. Sister Wright had her table decorated so festive and with all the Spring colors. What a wonderful way to celebrate Easter Eve. We visited Jakobsberg Ward to promote the BYU tour for Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful day!

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”.