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.