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!