Week of June 14th

The weather has been warmer and we have been enjoying our walks through the town and through the woods. On Monday we took a walk with President and Sister Evensen and the Söderquists and we walked for over two hours. Oh Sweden is beautiful and the wild flowers are just unbelievable. Now there are Lupines blooming everywhere.
We have watched a lot of the World Cup Soccer games. The horn blowing is very annoying to us, so sometimes we watch on mute! We have seen some great soccer and some not so great officials!
The Relief Society (Hjälpföreningen) had a barbeque and we had a great time. The weather was about 58 degrees but we wrapped up in blankets and stayed outside. We had a nice lesson on self-esteem. There is a myth here that sisters in Salt Lake do not have to work to help with finances! Some think we have perfect families with no money problems, no problems with children, and that all is peaceful! BUSTED!!!! They had many questions and comments.
Our Swedish classes are canceled until fall so we now have Swedish Culture classes. Brother Söderquist did the first class on ‘Birger Jarl’ (1210-1266) the founder of Stockholm. It was very interesting and hard to comprehend how long ago he lived.
This week there was no visiting group so the sessions were small but we still had all the sessions. We had two sisters come for the first time. One sister was Spanish and the other sister was from Norway (87 years old). It was a very sweet experience to witness their happiness in coming to the temple.
There is a couple, Bror and Syster Lundquist, who come to the temple regularly and they grew up in Denmark.
In talking to them we found out that Syster Lundquist was from Nakskov, Denmark. This is one of the towns Chuck served in on his mission. Syster Lundquist said that her grandmother (mormor) had missionaries living in her house. This week she brought her scrapbooks to show Chuck. One night after dinner we met with them to compare pictures. Chuck took the computer down and we discovered it was the same house and the same lady! It was a very exciting time for both of them to see people and places of their pasts. Another tender mercy!
Saturday, early morning, we left for a ‘see Sweden’ trip in a van.
Our home teacher, Bruno Klarin, was the tour guide. After driving for 4 ½ hours we got on a canal boat and traveled up the Göta Canal. The trip took 4 hours but we could walk around so the time passed quickly; we even got a wonderful smoked salmon lunch served on the boat. The scenery was
beautiful, rain and all, and going through the lock system was very interesting.
We went to an old church (Husaby) which was first built in the 11th century. Even today this church still has Sunday services. We saw the baptismal place of King Olof Skötkonung in 1008 by the English missionary Sigfrid. King Olof was the first Christian King in Sweden. We saw some rock carvings that are dated back to 1000 BC.
We stayed at Hällekis Vandrarhem in Falkängen. A charming little place with little shops and our rooms were like a bed and breakfast. We had to take our own sheets, pillowcases, and towels and we had to clean our rooms before we left. It did have a TV and at night we were able to see the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel. It was really a big event and the whole country was very supportive in every way. There were over one million people in downtown Stockholm hoping to get to see the Royal Couple. We had seen her when we went into Stockholm to see the King’s birthday celebration.
Sunday morning we drove into Shövde and all the American couples talked in church! We had each had our talks translated by Sister Klarin and had practiced a lot. It was a scary but good experience. After church the ward had a lunch and we got to enjoy visiting with the people plus eat good food. It was good to see those faithful members that attend the temple.
We then went to the Varnhem Abbey which was built around 1150 and was badly damaged by a fire in 1234.
The church was consecrated in 1260 as the largest church in Sweden at that time. Birger Jarl’s grave is in this Abbey. Brother Söderquist also has relatives who serve at this awesome church. We got to meet them. This abbey is still used today as the Varnhem’s parish and receives about 70,000 visitors a year.
Later we walked up one of the mountains in Sweden. There was a lookout tower at the top and the view of Lake Vänern and the valley was very beautiful.
The trip will be continued next week!!
Our testimony of the gospel grows daily, in and out of the temple. We are so grateful for the beautiful land of Sweden, the opportunity we have to see it and the wonderful people we are meeting and love.