Week of May 17th

Happy Birthday Peggy! (on the 23rd)
Since the temple Presidency was going to Latvia to a conference we all bought baby clothes for the Blindaruka couple. This is the couple that we helped buy temple clothes for last December when they came to be sealed. Their country is so poor and baby clothes are so hard to find. Stacie made a baby afghan which I sent to them a couple of months ago. It is nice to help those in need.
On May 17th we celebrated Norway’s Constitution Day with the Evensen’s. We had hot dogs from Norway, open faced sandwiches, chips, drinks, cake (two kinds) and mixed fruit. We were all very full when we left.
Dad has had the early morning recommend desk every other day as we are down to three missionary men and one is the shift leader so he cannot help. The first of the week was a little slow in the temple but we had enough patrons to function in all areas. We had a wedding on Saturday and it was nice. The bride, her mother, her father, and her grandmother came for a couple of sessions on Friday. What an awesome thing to be able to participate with three generations in the temple together. Saturday we were so busy that we had a double session at 10:00. For three days we had Brother Rosendahl from the temple committee here to evaluate and train this new temple presidency. When he saw dad he came right over and said “President Rose how good to see you”. It made us feel good that he would remember. One day we had three young sisters come to the temple and they had all served together on Temple Square. One Syster is from Sweden and the other two were here visiting her.
Syster Ofausua (from Ghana) taught me this week. “I refuse to be sad because of my trials. I will be happy because of my many blessings, health, job, family and the gospel. The Lord has promised me, in the temple, that I will have my children after this life. So someday I will be overjoyed! So I will prepare now, by living the gospel, for that day when I will receive the fulfillment of that promise.”
They have really worked hard on getting Spring flowers planted around the temple. It looks so pretty and many people stop on the walking path and look at the temple or sit on the benches and enjoy the peacefulness. During this week I (Mom, Grandma) received a peaceful tender mercy, of which I am very grateful. We have now been here almost 7 months and I have only had a couple of rough days!!
Thursday dad stayed a little later at the temple and I walked home. On one of the benches on the walking path,
by the temple gate, there was a man and his son. As I walked by the man asked me, pointing to Angel Moroni, “who is that?” He said, “is that a Jehovah God?” I explained who he was and that he lived upon the earth and returned as an angel with an important message. He wanted to know if it was before Christ or with Christ and where did we find this information. When I started to talk about the B of M he said; “oh he is a Mormon Angel not a Jehovah God.” He said he liked to sit here because of the peace he feels. He was raised in a Christian home and is from Barbados. Then he noticed his little boy was close to the street and he thanked me for talking to him and ran after his little boy.
Saturday we went to dinner at Anita and Eric Lindquist’s. They are the couple from Lapland that we previously told you about when we visited them around Christmas time. On the way we stopped and saw several Rune Stones, a couple of old Viking homes, a boat from the iron age, an old church with an old bell tower; and a beautiful golf course. Sister Lindquist fixed an awesome salad, sandwiches and a Lapland soup. She also fixed an old Lapland desert. Some of the food was delicious and others would not be our first choice!! Their yard was so beautiful and quite a contrast from the winter. After our visit we rode the train home.
Sunday it rained all day. We were unable to take our Sunday walk and it really was hard on me to be indoors all day! Thanks for the letters, emails and Skype time. You will never know how much they help with us being so far away. We love the gospel and are thankful for this opportunity to serve the Lord on a mission in Sweden. We are grateful for all you prayers too.