Week of July 19th

It is hard to believe we have hit hump day on our mission! Half way!!
This week the big outing was going into Handen and buying three new polo type shirts for dad. We also got another battery pack for our new camera. We love it and are taking great pictures.
The summer flowers around the temple are so pretty and they work hard to keep them that way.
We have had such hot weather and no rain so things are really getting dry. But on Saturday and Sunday it really rained hard and has been much cooler.
Our Swedish Culture Class this week was on poetry. We both love poetry but it was not the kind we enjoy. But Dr. Oscarson is such a good teacher that he made it enjoyable. I am glad we did not have to take a test and do our own interpretation!
Emilie Krus and David Renman were married this week. She is the daughter of Bryan’s former baby sitter. Emilie looked so beautiful. She is so talented, and she has such a strong testimony. She will make a fabulous wife.
We have been doing our power walking, a couple times a week, through the woods and over to the Viking Burial Grounds.
It is so awesome and there are so many different kinds of flowers and plants that it always seems to be changing. We enjoy the exercise and our time together.
We have both finished Vol. III of the Work and the Glory series. Now we are on #4 and one of us usually reads while the other is on the computer doing ‘indexing’ with family history names.
They have a lot of open air fruit and vegetable stands close to the grocery stores. It makes me wonder about the gardens at home and what is being produced right now. I do miss playing in the dirt!
The visiting group, at the temple, was from the Norway Mission. There were not as people as last week but they did have their own sessions. We met an Elder and Sister Johnson from Mesa, Arizona who are assigned to be at a Young Adult Center in Norway and their mission costs them $4000 a month. Wow, what a blessing to be where we are.
This week we had the last concert in the series of concerts celebrating the 25th anniversary of the temple. Because the visiting group was from Norway they had a famous Opera singer from Norway. Veslemøy Fluge Berg sang and the famous concert pianist Anneli
Rebecka Larsen was absolutely wonderful too. Both of these sisters are good members of the church.
We also had a darling couple from Latvia who came to be sealed. Viklorija Lljina and Aleksej Volegov were here last spring for the first time. It was so exciting to have them return to be sealed. They had one other couple and her parents come with them. We were invited to attend the sealing and it was wonderful and there was a strong spirit in the room.
We had a great skype or ooVoo visit with Brent and Piper. We got emails from all our family this week – AWESOME!!! Keep up the good work, smile and make others happy. We love you and are grateful for your support.

Week of July 12th

I started the week out with a haircut! I actually found a lady I liked and she did understand some English. Most of the ladies in the guesthouse have this lady cut their hair so I gave her a try. Sister Evensen walked to Jårdbro with me (45 minutes) and waited for me then we bought an ice cream and ate it as we walked back home. It was a very hot day and my hair was straight and wet when I got home. Oh well, I like the cut!
The weather has been VERY HOT with high humidity and they say it has not been this hot since 1880. Wow, how lucky are we to be here during the coldest winter in 130 years and now the hottest summer. We have no air conditioning but we manage with the fan and it cools down on most nights so we can sleep. We get up at 5:30, when it is still cool, and do our power walking. About the only thing you hear at that time of the morning are the birds! We usually go walking in the woods by the Viking Burial grounds.
The missionary couple, Raymond and Christine Sheen, from Canada finally got their visas so they arrived on Thursday afternoon. They will start at the temple tomorrow and we are thrilled to have them. On Sunday we had a fun dinner to get to know them. They are having problems with jet lag!

(Chuck & Brother Höglund)

The Family History missionaries that live in the guesthouse taught us how to do ‘indexing’ and it is very addicting! Chuck and I have both signed up and he has done over 150 names since Thursday and I have done over 100. Maybe if we help in this way we will be blessed to find some on our own lines!
Our Swedish culture class this week was on Swedish art and writers. Dr Chip Oscarson really knows his subject matter and it is really interesting to be in a class like this.
We enjoy the 3rd concert of the series in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the temple in Sweden. We have one more next week. This week Pres Jan Evensen talked and a wonderful Norwegian concert pianist, who is also a member of the Church, played the piano for about half an hour. Sister Anneli Rebecka Larsen was absolutely marvelous and it was exciting to watch her perform. She will perform next week too.
This week the traveling group has been from the Oslo Stav (stake). They had so many people come that the guesthouse was full and there were at least 25 families camping at different campgrounds. The youth did almost 5000 baptisms this week. They had double sessions, two ‘init’ booths busy and three sealing rooms full. What awesome people they are to spend a week’s vacation here in The House of the Lord.
The Swedish people have gone on vacation so the number of workers on our day shifts were low. But we did have some good sessions and there were some wonderful people who
Chuck & Brother Höglund
attended. Oh how we love the temple and the peaceful spirit that is there. I was blessed with a wonderful tender mercy on Saturday. I love when the spiritual help comes.
We have enjoyed the weekly emails this week and our skype time with the Tobler family. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts and support.

Week of July 6th

On Monday the 5th we met our good friends, from the Salt Lake Temple, the Lake’s and Wirthlin’s in Stockholm.
They were here for a few hours before their cruise ship left for a Baltic Cruise. We walked them around the Palace area and saw the changing of the guards. We also saw the church where Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel were married, a German church, and the narrow street in Gamla Stan, and had a delightful lunch with them at Sten Sture. It was so good to see them but I was not homesick to go with them! Before we left for Sweden Barbara North said she would be in Stockholm on July 4th and could we meet her, but we have heard nothing else from her.
That same day the American couples were invited to the Swedish Mission Home for a celebration of the 4th of July. Since we were already in downtown Stockholm we just caught the subway and then a bus and then walked a few blocks to the mission home. We had a great barbeque and played a fun game called Kubb.
I think the family would like this lawn game. We had a tournament and Sister Oscarson, Sister Lundquist (from the mission office) and I were on the winning team.
We have been setting the clock for 5:30 and getting up and power walking for 30-40 minutes. I have been sleeping better at night and it is usually cool that time of the morning even if the sun is part way up the sky by then.
Our Swedish lessons are cultural lessons for the summer. Pres and Sis Oscarson’s son Chip and his family are here for 7 weeks bringing a study abroad group to Sweden. Chip and his family are living with the Oscarson’s but the students are living with people from Sweden. Chip is a professor at BYU in Scandinavian Studies so he taught our class about Swedish films. He did a great job and it was very interesting.
On 2-4 July 1985 the Stockholm Temple was dedicated. To celebrate the 25 years since the dedication they have been holding a mini concert and speaker every Thursday night. This will continue during the month of July at the church. This week Pres Oscarson was the speaker along with great musical numbers including a trumpet, violin, piano, organ and vocal solos. They have been very good concerts.
On Sunday, July 4th, the Söderqvists and we went to the Höglunds for dinner.
He was the former temple president here in Sweden. They have a home with a beautiful view of the sea. Brother Högland also took us on beautiful walk in a protected area where the landscape is protected from any development.
We watched the bronze game of the World Soccer Cup and the Gold game. The bronze game was actually the better game. Too many yellow cards in the gold game!! But Spain is the champion!
We are the Shift Leaders at the temple this month and last week the traveling group was from northern Sweden. They did not have enough people to do their own sessions so they were with us. We therefore, worked with their shift leaders to plan the schedule. The Karlsson’s were on Tue and Wed and they were fun to work with. She does not speak much English and me not much Swedish so we communicated by the spirit! Chuck and Bro Karlsson got along great because he used to be a policeman. On Thurs and Fri the Jälmbrant’s were the leaders and they were a little bit more of a challenge. But the week turned out great and we all had a spiritual week. This group will not be back until the end of Sept or first part of Oct.
Emelie Kruse (daughter of one of Bryan’s baby sitters many years ago) came to the temple for the first time on Saturday. She looked so pretty dressed in white and was so excited to come. She will be getting married on 24th of July.
We enjoyed a good visit on Skype with the Packer’s on Sunday. Thanks to all for your emails, letters, support and prayers. We love and appreciate you.