Week of 16th of February

Happy Birthday to Shannon on the 19th.
Monday was a glorious day and we bundled up and took our walking sticks and walked through the Viking cemetery and over to the road to Jordbro. It was beautiful and the exercise way wonderful. Our legs get so tired of being bent that it is good to get some walking in.
We got a valentines package from Stacie with an ultra sound picture of our new little spirit coming in September. So excited for #15 to come to our family.
Our grandchildren (barnbarn) are growing so fast. Rowdey is now two months old and we are so grateful for Skype to be able to see him.
CJ is now as tall as or taller than Cortney and that is so hard for me to imagine. So happy with their successes in sports, school, talents, work, being responsible, positive attitudes and testimonies. Can you imagine how awesome they will be when we get home in 14 months!
We have had another group of saints from Norway this week. Some of them brought their children and the mom comes to the temple in the morning and the dad in the afternoon. I really admire their coming for a week and how excited and humble they are to attend the temple. The parents of our MYC tutor have been here for a few days. It was good to meet them.
The American sisters got brave and attended a get to know each other night at RS. It was fun and we spoke both English and Swedish. They ask me to give the closing prayer so I gave a very simple, but sincere, prayer in Swedish. I know I did not say everything right but they were appreciative of my efforts! Then they served a desert that was like a big cream puff with almond paste on the inside and you put it in a dish of warm milk to eat. It was really good. Kinda like bread and milk that Grandpa Nyman used to eat.
We have a new couple from Finland that is here serving for three months. I told them that our son-in-law had served in Finland and she wanted to know his name. When I replied Elder Zach Owen she said I think I remember that name. I took the family picture to the temple and she picked him out. Then when Zach sent the dates of where and when he served she remembered more. I will send a picture of them next week. Their name is Kämäräinen.
We had a couples Valentine Dinner together at the KROGEN Restaurang in Nynäshamn. We had a great seafood stew in the whole wheat bread bowl. The restaurant is located down on the harbor and we are looking forward to seeing what it looks like in the summer.
On Saturday it was so cold and so snowy that there were only a few temple workers that came. We did have all the sessions and did some baptisms. It was a great day.
We now have about 3 feet of snow. It is the worst winter in the past 20-30 years. The trains are stopped or way behind schedule (2 hours or more) because only one track has been open. It is very cold and windy, blowing the snow everywhere. Wondering if it will ever melt!
Our testimony and love of the temple is growing and we are so blessed to serve the Lord at the Temple in Stockholm. Thanks for your letters, packages, emails, skype time, support and prayers. We love you so much. Hejdå!

Week of February 8th

Our week started out so great, we were able to go into Stockholm and meet Bettina. She is the daughter of Chuck’s last convert on his mission and she came to stay with us in Utah for part of the summer of 97.
She is the same age as Stacie and we have not seen her since. Her husband designs furniture and was in Stockholm for a trade show and the company flew her in on Monday. She left their 10 month old, Isaac, with her in-laws. We got to the place to meet her first but when she walked around the corner she has not really changed a bit. After we hugged and talked for a few minutes Chuck asked her what she wanted to do. She said it had been ten years since she was in Stockholm and the last time she was here she ate a piece of blueberry pie at some little place by the castle. The only palace we could think of was the one in Gamla Stan, so we walked to Gamla Stan (old town). When we walked past Stor Kyrka (large church), the church with St George and the Dragon and around the corner, she said, “there it is, there it is”. She was so excited to find it and have a piece of pie that we disregarded the rainbow flag hanging above the door. Yes we had a wonderful piece of blueberry pie in a ‘gay’ café!! Oh well, it was worth it to see her enjoy it and to spend time with her. Her mom is not doing very well at all and her dad is not either so Pres Oscarson has given us permission to go to Denmark when the temple is closed for two weeks in April.
Happy Birthday to Bryan! Hope you day was awesome. We love you.
Dad has had a bad cold this week and did not go to the temple on Tuesday, a half of a day on Wednesday, came home a little early on Thursday and went early on Friday to do the recommend desk. He is doing better but has the congestion on the chest that is braking up.
We got two movies from Jo Juenke for Valentines and they both are great. 1) Only a Stonecutter – the story of John Rowe Moyle and 2) Treasure in Heaven – The John Tanner Story, great short video for the whole family to watch. Both are testimony building and soul searching about dedication to the gospel.
Had our Swedish lesson this week and dad stayed home so he did not go out in the cold air. I was asked to give the prayer and was prompted to say it is Svenska, so I did!
Mikaela Nilsson has been here this week and will stay for 2 weeks and it has been wonderful to have her here. She is the girls from Sweden that I gave instructions to in the SL Temple about 2-3 years ago. She is the only member in her family and is going wild on genealogy. It is so fun to see how excited she gets when she does the ordinances for them. She is 32 and beautiful.
We have been able to see replays of some of the Olympics. The opening ceremony was wonderful. We have watched some skiing events.
Saturday we went into Stockholm with the Soderquists to go to dinner for Valentines. Yep, you guessed it we ate at the Taco Bar! It was good and fun company! Kaye had purchased a fancy cake so after we got back she invited people to their apartment for dessert. That was fun too.
Thanks to everyone for the valentines that we received, especially to the Owens. The stick-on hearts worked great in our apartment window.
Sunday I cooked our first roast and we had Mikaela for dinner. It was fun to have her tell us about her life growing up and education and working life. She was later coming and we were so involved that we did not notice we passed the appointed time to Skype Stacie. Stacie thanks for understanding and letting us finish on Monday. Claire you did such a great job of singing the popcorn song for Mikaela. Thank you, sweetheart.
Thanks for everyone’s weekly emails (even some grandkids) and skyping too. We are thankful for everyone’s support and love and for all the blessings we are receiving on our mission. The church is true!

Week of 1st of February

Happy Birthday to Kris! To celebrate for birthday we tried out our new walking sticks and went walking through the Viking Burial grounds with Pres and Syster Evensen. It was a nice walk and was close to one hour.
This week we had a group of saints from Latvia here at the temple. There were about 15 of them and they were so excited to be at the temple. They try to come twice a year. They watch for good air fares and then come. They had training first thing on Monday morning and then had their own session. I was asked to be the Assistant on that session to see how things went and for any questions. I was the only one with a headset. I did listen in English as I felt it would be too hard listening in Swedish and hearing Latvian also. The jobless rate in Latvia is 22% so they struggle with enough finances to come. The American couples took a bowl of fruit down to the kitchen every night before they got home from the temple. It was nice to do and much appreciated by them.
We have now been in Sweden for three months. At our Swedish class tonight the sisters had to be prepared to say their testimony in Swedish. Mine was simple sentences but I got it finished.
Chuck had the Recommend Desk early shift on Thursday. When he got to the temple the gate was not opened so he went next door and got a key from Pres Oscarson. He unlocked the gate and the front door and also set off the alarm! Pres Oscarson forgot to tell him how to shut the alarm off!
The month of January did not get above 0 c. We were told that the last time that happened was 180 years ago. So all month it did not get above freezing. No wonder the snow does not melt!
Here is a picture of Syster Kristin Krus who tended Bryan when he was a little boy. She is a great sister and her husband is in the Bishopric.

Week of January 26th

On Monday we caught the train and went into Stockholm to do some walking. It was so cold but we walked and it was good. We stopped in a sports store and purchase a set of walking sticks for each of us. We will get a better workout and we can also know how many steps we took! I used them in the hall but not outside yet!
We have had traveling (visiting) groups from several different places and it is amazing just how quickly you become attached to them. It is such a testimony of the importance of the temple when they come and come for a week. They spend their entire day in the temple and are thrilled to do so.
We had another snowfall and so everything is sparkly and white again.
It has been cold but the walk to the temple is not long. Had our Swedish lesson here in the guest house because of the snowstorm and Oscarson’s would not be home.
After our lesson Kaye Soderquist and I went to the church for the tell end of their RS activity. Kaye is a scrap booker and wanted to see if they had any new ideas. As I was talking to Kristin Brockman Kruss, one of the new counselors in RS and her husband is in the bishopric, I discovered she grew up in Kennewick and tended Bryan when he was young. Wow what a small world.
Sister Ensign went to the library and brought dad and me a book to read. Dad’s is called Agent Zig Zag and mine was The Guernsey Literary ad Potato Peel Pie Society and we have been doing a lot of reading.
Saturday, our one Saturday a month off, and we left at 10:00 with the Soderquist’s to go in to Stockholm and see a couple of museums.
The weather was beautiful, clear blue sky, slight breeze but cold! We went to see the Medieval Museum that is under the parliament building. It is full of things they found when they were going to build a parking plaza. There is part of the original wall that was around old Stockholm. Also we went to the Natural Historical Museum and we were there three hours and did not get finished. We will go back again. It just blows my mind when I see things dating back to the 1300! During the day I bet we easily walked over 5 miles. We caught the train home and went to eat hamburgers at the Pub.
Sunday’s talks were on covenants. “Covenants are to strengthen and help us to know Christ and Our Father”
Great week and we love where we are and the people we associate with.