Week of September 20th

This week the saints have come from Drammen, Norway and they really had a big group. This is the city that President and Syster Evensen are from and they had 20 members of their family come during the week. They had enough people to do their own sessions and they bring such a special spirit to the temple. Some of them can only come once or twice a year because of the travel (12+ hours) and expense. It was sad to see them leave on Saturday morning as some of them will not be back before we finish our mission.
In our Swedish class this week we saw pictures of the Soderquist trip to Prague. It was very interesting and educational. I then showed our pictures of Gotland. Chuck had gone home teaching so he gave me a lesson on how to hook up the camera to the TV and I actually did get it to work!!
We are still reading The Work and The Glory. Chuck has more time to read than I do, with cooking, washing and such!!!! He is on Vol 9 and I am ¾ through Vol 7. We have really enjoyed reading them. This is the second time for Chuck but the first time for me to make it through all of them. I think last time I only got past Vol 4.
It is now getting dark around 7:15 and pretty dark around 7:30. The sun is not up but it is light when the alarm rings at 6:30. I do not know if I am ready for winter!! The days have been much cooler but we still have some pretty flowers!
Saturday night we went to Mats and Veronica Ekelund’s for dinner with the Evensen. They have had a traditional Saturday night dinner the whole time they were raising their family and we had the same meal, Burritos.

They were good with Pineapple salsa and a wonderful chocolate desert. Then we played a fun game. It is a board game called ‘Fly Away’ and it really teaches you the world map. We lost, but it was a fun game and I think the grandkids would enjoy it.
We enjoyed our double skype time on Sunday. Since we were out of town last weekend and unable to Skype anyone, we Skyped both the Packers and the Toblers in order to catch up. It was great to talk to them and to see them. After our Skype time we went next door to Evensens and had desert and she really knows how to make deserts! We stayed two hours just talking to them and the Soderquists. Soderquists only have three weeks until they go home to Logan.
Today we caught the train with the Soderquists and the Evensens and went into Stockholm. We then took the trolley and went to Skansen. It is a huge outdoor museum where they have houses, barns, churches, bell towers, farms, animals, reindeer and things from every part of Sweden.

We were there for 5 hours and really could have spent more time. It was a good day with no rain and a cool breeze. We really had fun. Most of the buildings are original and during the tourist season there are people inside each building demonstrating something or telling you about something. It really was amazing. We ate an early dinner at a cute little café and then came home. What a great day and fun place to visit.

Thanks for your love and support and prayers. Time is going too fast and we really are enjoying serving in the temple and seeing fun things in Sweden. God bless you for another week.

week of September 13th

We have certainly had some cool and rainy weather for the past week. It has rained almost every day and some days very hard! But the air is clean and fresh and everything is beautiful.
This week we had a missionary couple from Denmark come to the temple. Elder and Sister John Larsen are from Delta, Utah and he was on his mission as a young elder the same time as Chuck. We had seen them at church in Copenhagen when we went to church with Bettina. It was great to visit with them again. They only have a week until they are released from their mission in the mission office in Denmark.
The Goteborg Stake has been here this week and it has been wonderful to see people that we have met before and have come to love. The temple has been very busy this week. There were five young people (missionaries) who came for the first time and we had several double sessions.
I made cinnamon rolls so we could take them with us on our trip to the island of Gotland. We were invited a couple of weeks ago to attend the branch and talk. BUT, the city of Visby is a 30 min car ride to catch the ferry and then a 3-3 ½ hour ferry ride on the Baltic Sea to the island of Gotland. We left Friday night on the 8:00 p.m. ferry. The ferry was very crowded as it was Friday night and the sea was a little rough. We went with Bruno and Harriett Klarin (he is a member of the high council).

The apartment house we stayed in was built in 1793. The island of Gotland was ruled in the past by both Germany and Denmark before it became part of Sweden. It has an old wall around the main city of Visby; most of which is still standing. If there had not been any cars, and the people were dressed in old clothes you would think you had been in a time machine and gone back in time.
Saturday it was rainy so we took our sightseeing in the car. We saw a church in Lärbro that was built in the 1200’s. While we were there we met two couples from Denmark. After talking to them for a while they asked why dad had been in Denmark. When dad told them it was on a mission for the church he then asked them what they knew about the church. They replied polygamy!
We took a small ferry to the island of Fårö (sheep island). The wool from here is grey, very well known, and expensive. We saw Rack Cliffs (big towering rocks) along a beach on the Baltic Sea. It was unbelievable how hard the wind was blowing.

On the northeastern tip of the island we saw a light house and walked along the beach. We saw a large open pit limestone mine in the town of Slite on the island of Gotland.
Sunday we talked in church along with the Stake President. It is a small branch of 15-20 people and it was a good experience. BUT, it does not get any easier to give my talk in Swedish! After church we did some walking around in the within the walls of Visby and it was so interesting. We also saw the St. Maria Domkyrka church. Then we enjoyed a dinner at the apartment.
Monday morning we again set out to walk the old town and its magnificent wall and streets. We walked around for almost 4 ½ hours and enjoyed seeing everything.

We climbed up to the top of one of the corner towers, saw many ruins of old churches and walked along the Baltic Sea. We spend 2 hours in the Gotland museum. Our feet were very tired after walking on cobblestones for that long.
We then cleaned the apartment, packed the car, and went to Max, a well known Swedish hamburger place for lunch before we caught the ferry and returned home. This time the ferry was only 1/3 to ½ full and it was nice to travel in the light and see the beautiful sea. Wow what a great trip we had.
Now you can see why this email is late! We hope this message finds you well and happy and knowing how much you are loved.

The Old Town of Visby

View from Our Apartment

Week of September 6th

Happy Birthday Ginet!

The temple shut down was a very fun time being able to do and see so many things. But, we were excited to get back to the temple and leave the worldly concerns outside and enjoy the happiness and peace we feel there.

There is a touch of fall in the air and the leaves are beginning to turn beautiful shades of yellows and reds. We have had some rain so that makes it a little cooler too.

At our Swedish culture class this week we each shared the pictures we took in Narvik and Abisko. We saw still pictures and movie pictures and it was so fun to share our trip with the temple presidency and their wives, and a new couple from Idaho Falls, Brother and Sister Lundgren, they have come to serve in the temple for a year.

We have both finished vol 6 of the Work and the Glory and now have three volumes to go. Dad has started to read vol 7.

The traveling group at the temple this week has been from Norway. Most of them came by car but it is a 10 hour drive for some of them. The spirit they bring is wonderful and they brought enough people to have their own sessions. There were some people who we had met before and others that are our now new friends.

Our temple attendance was a little low this week until Saturday and then we had to have extra chairs on one of the sessions. We had two new people come to the temple this week for the first time. They are both preparing to go on their missions. The sister is going to Denmark on her mission and leaves in two weeks and the brother is going to Australia in a couple of months.

There was one Sister in the temple this week that I was helping and I noticed on a card she had written in pencil: ff mmm. When we were through I asked if those letters meant how she was related to that person. She confirmed it meant her: father’s, father’s, mother’s, mother’s, mother. Or it was the sister’s 3rd great grandmother. It was a tender mercy to be able to help her do this marvelous work. Also, this week we finally got to meet Camilla Rose’s (our niece) mother. Her name is Bella Wadling. She and Camilla look a lot alike and it was fun to have her here. Your dad was the session leader and he asked her to be one of the witnesses. We didn’t get to talk to her too much but she will be coming back and we will talk to her more then.

Please know of our love for all of you. Thanks for your support and we hope this finds all of you in good health, happy and living close to the Lord. The gospel is true and we love serving the Lord here in Sweden in His Holy House.

Week of August 30th

Welcome to the family baby Mia!

Happy Birthday Stacie!

After our weekend in Örebo we had to get clothes washed and packed for our trip to Norway. While I was doing laundry a man was in the lobby with Elder Olson and he said “well hello Sister Rose”. It was Brother Colburn, the Managing Director of the Temple Department. We knew him when we were serving in the Salt Lake Temple and it was good to see him and visit with him.

We did receive the news that we have a new little granddaughter before we left on our trip. We were grateful for this as we did not know if we would have any computer access on our trip. Mia Rose Pratt was born on 31 August weighing 8 lb and 2 oz and 21 ¼ “ long. We even got to skype and see her in the hospital. What a blessing.

We left on the train to Narvik, Norway on the 31st at 6:15 pm. We were in for an 18 hour train ride in a sleeping car. The scenery was beautiful but I could not handle sleeping in those tight quarters, so I slept in the chair car sitting up!

Narvik is a harbor city and is at the base of a fjord. It is around 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The mountains were tall, jagged and covered with snow. Just after we got off the train Chuck noticed that he had lost his credit card holder with all his credit cards. We did not realize it until the train had left the station. We ran back to the station and explained what had happened and what sleeping compartment we were in and they called the conductor. It was a great blessing and a miracle of sorts to learn that the cleaning people had found it on the bed in the compartment we had been in. The conductor walked it back to the station from where they were cleaning the train. While in Narvik we stayed in little cabins up high on a hill that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean and the fjord.

We had to walk/hike, dragging our suitcases, about a mile to the place we stayed. It was a little windy and cool but that did not stop us enjoying this beautiful land.

The next day we rode the train for 1 ½ hours back into Sweden to Abisko National Park. The scenery was breath taking as we left Norway. We took lots of pictures. The mountains in Norway are tall and jagged but the mountains in Sweden are more round on top. We stayed in little cabins here also. They reminded me of the condos at East Canyon.

We got settled, ate lunch and then took the ski lift up this high mountain and looked down and enjoyed the panorama view of Lake Torneträsk. We were hoping to see the Northern Lights but it was cloudy that night!

After breakfast the next day we hiked down the river to the boat ramp on the lake. It was a beautiful hike and we stopped many places to enjoy the view of the river and take pictures. After lunch we hiked the Kungsleden trail to Meditation Place #1, about three miles up the Kungsleden trail. It was a beautiful day and we even saw a reindeer out in the wild.

It was a beautiful clear sky all day but no matter how much we wished we did not see the Northern Lights this night either.

We ate breakfasts and lunches at the diner and then Brother and Sister Klarin fixed our evening meals. They are such wonderful home teachers!

We left Abisko at 4:24 pm on the 4th and arrived back in Stockholm, after another night on the train, at 9:15am of the 5th. We dressed in our Sunday clothes on the train in order to be ready for the special 2-stake conference. So, after arriving in Stockholm, we locked our luggage in lockers at the train station and took a bus to Stake Conference. Elder Russell M Nelson and his wife (Wendy) were there and also Elder Kopischke (President of the Europe Area) and his wife.

Sister Nelson talked about things in Sweden that reminded her of Christ. The big rocks on which Stockholm is built……Christ is the rock of our salvation and strength when the winds of life blow against us. The tradition of Sweden having lights in the windows to guide the children home from school……Christ is the light that is guiding us to come unto Him. Sweden is a land of many islands surrounded by water…..Christ is the living water and if we follow Him we will never thirst. Sweden is green and filled with nature…..Christ is the Living Vine. Sweden’s delicious food….feast on the words of Christ. She also cautioned a person to take a spiritual inventory of their homes and get rid of anything (CD’s, videos and etc.) that prevents the spirit from filling our homes.

Elder Nelson left the 1,480 saints in attendance with a blessing to feast upon the words of Jesus Christ, to taste of the goodness of Jesus Christ, a blessing of healing with faith of the saints and the Lord’s will and blessed all to be a good example to others of the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have had an awesome week both physically and spiritually but we look forward to returning to the temple tomorrow and once again feeling the peace that abides there.

Week of August 23rd.

This has been a busy week even with the temple closed for cleaning and updating. We had a little get together for Sister Norling who just received her visa and will be leaving for the rest of her mission in Salt Lake at the Family History Center. We had this little social at our apartment and she was very appreciative. She is excited to go since she has been serving here for 4 months waiting for her visa.

It is very weird not going to the temple every day. It took me one whole day just to wash and press our temple clothes so we are ready to go back when the temple opens on 7 Sept.

Elder and Sister Bylund from Lehi arrived this week and will be staying here in the guest house until they can find housing for them in Stockholm. They are the missionary couple that has been called for the Young Adult Center. It is sad not to go ourselves but they will be great with the Young Adults. We took them over to the Centrum (shopping area) and walked through the grocery stores and showed them a few eating areas.

It has been rainy and cooler this week, definitely a feeling a fall in the air.

This week it has been 3 years since GG Rose died and what a great , compassionate and faithful lady she was. We all miss her.

Thursday morning Chuck helped load a big van and then we went with the Family History missionaries to Örebro to help them set up the display and work in the Family Search booth at Sweden’s National Genealogy Convention. The convention was Saturday and Sunday but we left on Thursday so we could set up on Friday. On Thursday we went to see the Örebro Slot but it was only open on the weekends. Then we went to see Statsparken and it was this huge park with awesome flowers and a few statutes.

We stayed at the Scandia Grande Hotel and it was just across the street from the convention center. Friday we were at the center at 8:00am to set up. We unloaded the van, and set up the display then took all the empty boxes downstairs to a holding room and we finely finish about 4:30pm.

The convention opened at 10:00 on Saturday and closed at 5:00. Sunday it opened at 10:00 and closed at 4:00. Then we had to bring up all the empty boxes and disassemble the display and pack it in the right boxes and then pack the van to take all the stuff back to Germany. We did have some youth who came to help take things down so it only took 2 hrs. The convention was very successful. We had 8 computers in our display and they were all busy the entire time helping people and getting volunteers to help with the indexing of records from around the world.

It is a process that comes to your home computer and allows you to index

public records that have been digitized to that they can be retrieved on your computer at home. Both Chuck and I have done close to 700 names this last month and we really enjoy doing it. Let us know if you would like to do it and we can give you instructions. We returned home about 8:00pm Sunday night. It was a physical weekend but a very enjoyable one and fun serving the Lord in a different way.

Aug 31st Mia Rose Pratt came into our family weighing 8 lb 2 oz and 21 ¼ “ in length. What a blessing and also a blessing to have Skype!

Thanks for your continual support and for the example you set in living the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love you.