Final Update

Welcome Home
April 19th could not be put off any longer and it was very emotional to say goodbye as we left the Temple in Stockholm at the end of our mission.
We made the last few changes in our luggage to keep it under 50 lbs. and Pres and Sister Oscarson drove us to the Airport.

We talked all the way and shed tears as we said good bye for 18 more months until they are released. Our luggage was OK as we checked in and we did not have to pay any extra except for having a second suitcase.

The flight to New York was long and boring and it was cloudy and we did not sit by a window. We did get lunch on our way to New York but it was only food for sale from New York to Salt Lake. I was worried about customs but it went so quickly and so smoothly that we had plenty of time to get to our connecting flight to Salt Lake.
It was a sight to behold when we came down the stairs to where the family was waiting with signs and yelling and the little grandkids running to hug us.

It was so good to see them and meet one of our new grand children, little Mia. After we gathered up our bags everyone came to our house to see our reaction to the changes at the house. We are so pleased with what they have done and we love the carpet and it is so soft to walk on. They kids worked so hard and we love them and appreciate them for everything. We handed out our gifts from Sweden and everyone seemed pleased. The grandkids have school tomorrow so they headed home to get them into bed.
About 10:15pm the doorbell rang and it was our Stake President, Charlie McQuinn. He came in and talked to us for a while and then released us from our mission. It was a feeling of emptiness but also one of thankfulness for the opportunity to serve the Lord for 18 months in the Temple in Stockholm and for all our many blessings.
The family had an open house for us on Friday, 22 April, and we enjoyed it so much. We really had a lot of friends and family come and the “goodie” table was wonderful. There were so many people that we could not talk to anyone very long and that was a little hard. Thanks again kids for working so hard on a wonderful evening of fun for us.
On Easter Sunday, 24 April, we gave our talks in church and bore our testimonies of going on a mission as a senior couple, the wonderful opportunity of serving in Stockholm, the blessings of the temple, how everything in the temple points to Christ and is our way back to live
in our Heavenly Father’s presence and what a beautiful day to contemplate all the blessings of the atonement; what Easter is all about. We had many family and friends come and the church was full, what a blessing to us.
We ate Easter dinner with most of the family and then had an Easter egg hunt for the grandkids which was fun to watch. Again thanks for the help with the food for dinner and for doing the hunt. All the decision making has made me a little up tight after not having to make any decisions for 18 months. Our days were planned and we followed the plan!
One last thanks for your love and support on our mission. Your prayers really did make a difference in our health and strength and being able to have such an awesome mission. Love you all so very much.

Week of April 18th

This has been an incredible week with lots of dinner appointments (two in one day) and trying to pack and clean out the cupboards and serve in the temple.  It was extremely hard to say good bye to so many friends.  BUT we are coming home in the morning.  It seems weird that we will leave Stockholm at 11:25a and arrive in SL at 7:15p but we also gain 8 hours in so doing.  I had intentions of writing a regular update but we spent the day in Stockholm under beautiful sunny and blue sky and then ate at Jensen’s Bofhus.  At 6:30p Sister Evensen had 22 of us to her house for birthday cakes, ice cream, pudding, jello, hot chocolate sauce and nuts and drinks.  We had a great time but I did not get my update done.  Then we finished packing our suitcases and one of mine is overweight and no chance of taking anything heavy out.  But Chuck insists that we just pay the fine and take what we need to.  I have thrown away medicines and bathrobe and socks and gloves and I just can’t think what to throw away next.  So we will pay the fine!  The Oscarson’s are coming for us at 8:30a so we can get to the airport 2 hours before our flight.  I am not nervous about the flight just my suitcase being overweight by 5 pounds.  Thanks to all of you for your love and support of us on our mission.  We are really excited to see you and hug you and shed tears together.  I will fill you in on an update when we get home but this will have to do for now.  Love you, Elder and Sister Rose, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa

Week of April 4th

Monday April 4th we caught the 5:40am train to the Central Station in Stockholm and changed trains to Märsta and then a bus to the airport. Our flight to Copenhagen left about 8:20 and we flew over for the day. The kids have heard so much about Denmark from Chuck and Brent serving their missions there they wanted to see it. We really had a fun packed day with lots of walking and walking and more walking. We stopped at the first bakery that we found and it was so good.

The bus from the airport took us to the Central Train Station and everything we were going to see was within walking distance from there. We walked past Hard Rock Café, Tivoli, and the City Hall and on to the walking Street, Strøget. We walked all the way down Strøget passed the old Royal Theater and on to Nyhavn. This is one of my favorite places in Copenhagen and we stopped to take several pictures.

Our next stop was at Amalienborg, the Royal Palace. Then we walked along the harbor and up to the Little Mermaid. Our next place was the Amerikakaj Harbor where the Kristina statue stands commemorating the many people that left Denmark and sailed to America. All the crocuses were in bloom at the Rosenborg Castle and it was beautiful. Next we climbed to the top of the Round Tower and saw what Europe looks like from up high. Just a short distance away was Our Lady’s Church where we saw all the statues of the apostles and the original Kristus Statue. Next we finally ate lunch. Kris and Ginet thought for sure we were starving them but we ate Italian food at Mama Rosa’s. After lunch we walked back down Strøget to Hard Rock Café for a few purchases. We still had some time so we walked Strøget again and went to see The Marble Church by the palace. We just sat in the church for a while since we had been doing so much walking. We next walked down Støget again but at a slower pace, had some ice cream and went back to the Central Station to catch the train to the airport. We arrived back to the guesthouse about 11:30pm very tired but we had a wonderful day.

Tuesday we slept in a little and I made cinnamon rolls for our breakfast. Kris and Ginet went to the workout room and exercised for a little while. We again caught the train and went into Stockholm one more time. We did some more shopping in Gamla Stan and also at the H & M store on the way back to the train station. The girls weighed their suitcases and they were both under the limit and we spent the rest of the evening looking at pictures on the computer and just talking.
Wednesday we caught the 6:40am train and then the bus to the airport. The lines were long, but Ginet and Kris were very calm and just moved along with the crowd and got through just fine. It was very hard to say good-bye at the security gate even if it is only two weeks until we see them again. We had a very fast paced 6 days but it was wonderful and we were so glad they came. Thanks to their families for letting them come. Later that afternoon I got my hair cut; shorter than I expected but it will grow.
When we returned to the temple on Thursday the people were glad to see us because they thought we had already gone back to America. The rest of the week we were busy at the temple. Saturday was very busy with a large group in the baptistry. I helped keep the laundry going and got clothes folded and back onto the shelves.
Sunday we went with the Evensens to Erik and Anita Lindquist’s for dinner. We followed the GPS and it took us a way that we did not recognize but we made it and had a lovely salmon dinner. Anita has so many genealogy stories to tell and she is so animated when she tells them that it is totally entertaining.
The biggest trial of the week was our computer would not work. I was so frustrated and Chuck tried everything he could think of and it still would not work. We made a couple of phone calls and tried their suggestions but it still did not work. He ran all of the diagnostic tests, which lasted for over 5 hours and they all came up OK so we felt that we had not lost any data but the computer would still not start windows. We had a small miracle and when we got up on Monday; it worked. A quick prayer of gratitude was said.
Maybe I will have one final update next week. I hope I have time. Thanks for another great month of prayers, support, letters, emails and love. See ya soon.

Week of March 28th

Our missionary mornings are becoming so precious. I am sure we will continue with our morning prayers, individual scripture reading and together reading. It gives us such a good start to the day and closeness to our Heavenly Father and to each other that you just can’t explain.
We have another sign that spring is here. The little while flowers, called ‘Snow Drops’, are blooming in the lawn. They wait to cut the lawn until the flowers are through blooming.

Our Swedish class this week was a quiz on different events in Swedish history. Our scores were not the best in the group but they were not the worst either. When we got home from class Mikaela Nilsson was waiting for me to help her in making the baby booties with the loom. While I was helping her I gave her the quiz. She is born and raised in Sweden and she did not score any higher than we did. Some of the questions were trick questions!
This update is late as we have been privileged to have Kris and Ginet spend a few days with us. I will tell you about our fast visit as we traveled through the week.
Kris and Ginet arrived on Thursday early afternoon. Wednesday night we had a hard time sleeping because we were so excited to have them come. Before we went to the airport we bought a few things at the grocery store and made their beds at the guesthouse. When we saw each other at the airport it was an emotional moment! Driving back to Västerhaninge we made a wrong turn and ended up driving around downtown Stockholm before we could find a road to get us back on the freeway.

After Kris and Ginet got their things settled in their room we put on our coats and went walking through the Viking Cemetary. It was really cold and the wind was blowing but we were able to get up close to some of the gravestones. President and Sister Oscarson had us for dinner and it was a great dinner. The potatoes that President Oscarson made were wonderful. We sat and talked for a while after dinner but the girls were very tired.
Friday morning we were able to go to the 10:00 session at the temple. We were so proud to introduce them to our friends and for them to see the beautiful Temple in Stockholm. After the session we ate lunch at the temple and they were able to meet and get to know more of our friends.

We took the train to Stockholm and began our sightseeing. We all enjoyed walking around the palace courtyard and seeing the guards marching. We went to
the Armory Museum at the palace and the girls were amazed at how old things were there. We went in the beautiful Stor Kyrka and saw St George and the Dragon. We saw Carl Larsson’s birth place, the smallest street in Sweden and many souvenir shops in Gala Stan. We ate dinner at Bruno and Harriet Klarin’s and they fixed a nice pork Danish dinner in honor of Chuck. It was very good and Chuck especially enjoyed the Danish desert.
Saturday we took the train to Stockholm and first went to see the Vasa. This big ship sank in the harbor in 1628 on its maiden voyage. The Vasa was under water for over 300 years and it was raised well preserved and nearly intact. It has been restored and is now in a temperature controlled museum. It really is very interesting to see.

We also went to the outdoor museum known as Skansen. This museum shows all the regions of Sweden in one huge park. We watched them blow glass, ate a “goody” at the bakery, walked a lot, took pictures; walked a lot, saw reindeer and other animals, old houses, churches, schools and people dressed up in native dress. We walked a lot but it was a wonderful day.
Sunday we drove up to the part of Sweden that the Nyman’s came from. The day was rainy, foggy and cold but we were grateful for the opportunity to go. When we got to Svärdsjö they were having choir practice in the old church so we sent inside and enjoyed the heavenly music. We took a few pictures (without flash) and enjoyed the beautiful church. It was raining hard but we walked around the church and looked at a few headstones. We drove to Bengtsheden and saw some old homes and buildings. Some of these buildings could have been there in the 1600’s. Six generations of Nyman’s were raised in this area. This is a beautiful area and the fog lifted just enough for the girls to see the beauty of the lake. Next we drove to Sundborn where we drove around the church where some of the Nyman’s were baptized as a baby. It was still raining so we just took pictures out the windows. It made for a long day in the car with terrible weather to drive in but we are thankful they got to see where their relatives lived before they came to America and to the Rocky Mountains.
I will tell you about the rest of their visit in next week’s update; it was great also. We have less than two weeks left here in Sweden now. It is hard to see it come to an end. We thank you all for your love, concern and support.

Week of March 21st

On our P-day we went to Sister Ingegerd Olsson’s. I call her my Swedish mom. She had some pictures of her daughter and family that live in Colorado Springs, Colorado that she wanted to show us. She used to come to the temple everyday but she seldom comes now because of medical problems that the doctors here say she is too old to help (socialized medicine). We told her we would come and see the pictures but to fix no food. But she fixed a light lunch anyway and we had just eaten breakfast. We took her some flowers and I hope we brightened her day. We will miss her.
Our Relief Society this month was entitled ‘Extreme Makeover – Home Style’. We talked about traditions and ways to have more united families. We suggested ways to enjoy working, playing and doing gospel things (FHE, scriptures, praying) together. It was a fun evening. Since the women were all going to be gone, the men got together at the President’s house for a movie night (church movies) including all the goodies. They also had a fun evening.
We have a new volunteer couple from Salt Lake that has come for 7 months to serve in the temple. He served his mission here in Sweden and she was born in Sweden. They are the Thomas’ and they live on the top floor of the guesthouse by us.
Saturday night the American couples enjoyed an evening in the home of Rolf and Annya Hägglund. She is the daughter of Syster Mejer and they fixed us a wonderful dinner and a very yummy desert. Rolf is also who we rented our guitars from. While we were there we participated in ‘Earth Hour’ and only used candles in the house. We will miss the Hägglund’s and Mejer’s when we come home.

Sunday we fed the missionaries and they were hungry. Elder Bloomfelt is from Snowflake, Arizona and Elder Marchant is from Cincinnati, Ohio and they are great missionaries. I fixed 16 chicken sour cream enchiladas and only one was left.

This week was our first week of being shift leaders. We had small groups most days so it was a challenge to be able to fill all the positions needed. But because it is the Lord’s House it all worked out.
The visiting group this week has been from Latvia and these saints always inspire us with their reverence and dedication to temple work. They are so humble and so excited to be in the temple. They bring with them so many names to be done. It was hard to tell them good bye for we don’t know if we will ever see them again.
 Sister Greve is going home to Norway. I call her my Norwegian Mom because she reminds me so much of my own mother. She has been here for 4 months. She is really a special sweetheart.

We just found out that we will talk in our home ward on Easter Sunday. Our Sacrament Meeting starts at 12:50 and we would love to see as many of you there can make it.
Thanks again for letters, emails and skype times and for all your support and love we have felt on this wonderful mission in Sweden.

Week of March 14th

Happy Birthday Brent
Sometimes the days look and smell like spring (vör) and other times it looks like winter (vinter) will hang on for a little longer. It is getting light by 5:20am and it stays light until 6:30am. We change our clocks this coming Sunday (söndag) to Daylight Savings (Sommartid böjar). We already sleep with our black blind down as it gets light so early.
We had green for St. Patrick’s Day with napkins, candy, gum, and clips sent to us by the Pratt family. Thanks, the other missionaries thought they were fun too.
We packed two big suitcases for Michael and Kristen Krus to take to America. She is the lady that used to tend Bryan when he was little. They were going to the US with two empty suitcases so they could bring more back with them. They said that they would take some of our things to Stacie and Bryan for us to that we did not have the expense of additional luggage when we travel home. We filled both suitcases. I can’t believe how much we have accumulated. They are going to Kennewick so they will unload the suitcases at Stacie’s house and she will bring them when they come to Utah. We could not send as much as we wanted to because it weighed too much. We are just grateful that we could send some home this way.
We went looking for this big American type mall called Nacka Forum. We were unable to find it but did go in the Globen City Mall and walked around. We found a flower shop and dad held out his coat so Sister Evensen could not think about buying flowers.

 Instead of eating out we came home, fixed dinner and ate with the Evensen’s.
Sunday after church we were invited to go home with Bishop Krylborn and his family for dinner. They have 4 daughters and have a great family. They all helped with preparing the food and it was a very tasty dinner. Bishop Krylborn called on me for the blessing on the food and I did it in Swedish and when I opened my eyes they looked very shocked. After dinner their daughter, Anna, conducted a Family Home Evening as one of her personal progress goals. Then their girls sang several songs for us. They sang without music or any accompaniment and they sang in perfect harmony. It was a very enjoyable evening.

This week the traveling group has been from Göteborg and we were very busy. They did not have enough for their own shift so we just had one large shift. It was so good to see so many friends again but it was very hard to say good bye as we will not see them again before we go home.
Saturday was our ward’s day in the temple. We had good attendance for the sessions and many youth came for baptisms. It turned out to be a very busy day; the kind you like in the temple.
Just four more updates and this wonderful mission will come to a close. Oh what a blessing it has been in our lives. We did find out from Bishop Robinson that we will be reporting in church on Easter Sunday. Our church is from 11:00-2:00 and we think our Sacrament Meeting is first, but the website shows it last. We will let you know for sure next week.
Thanks for your weekly emails, letters, love, support and prayers. See you soon!

Week of March 7th

Happy Birthday Drew (8)
We have been good this week with our goals, of personal scripture study, reading the Ensign together, indexing, using the exercise room and working on baby booties.
Our biggest time consumer this week was practicing our talks for Sunday. Our prayers were certainly answered as we were able to give our talks in a calm manner and they seemed to understand. One sister came up and told us that we had no idea what love we showed to the Swedish people when we would give our talks in their language. I went over my talk ten times every day for almost two weeks. It was scary but a good experience. After the meeting was over the Bishop invited us to dinner next Sunday. Chuck has been their Home Teacher while we have been here.
At Swedish class this week it was a Cultural Class. We talked about Fat Tuesday and how it relates to 40 days before Easter. Then we ate a Swedish Easter treat called Semlor. It was a fun and yummy evening.

Ingvar and Maja-Lisa Karlsson from Umeå will not be back to the temple until we have been released. On Thursday they gave us a long stemmed yellow rose and some Swedish chocolates. They have been very good friends and we have worked together as shift leaders. She speaks very little English so we communicate through the spirit and a lot of hand jesters.
Woke up Friday morning with my eyes bright red and almost swollen shut. This was the first day I have not gone to the temple our entire mission, but I could not go. I tried a cold rag on my eyes, cucumber slices on my eyes and nothing worked. Saturday morning they were just pink and not as puffy so I went to the temple. Someone suggested that it was nerves. One sister gave me some allergy pills that she takes when she is stressed because her eyes do the same.

This week has been a busy week at the temple. The visiting group has been from the Swedish Mission and there were a lot of sisters but not as many men. On Tuesday we also had a large group of saints from Finland and they had their own session. They were touring different temples. We worked late on Tuesday evening and then Chuck had the recommend desk early on Wednesday morning.
Saturday was very busy. We had double sessions at 10:00 and 12:00 plus all the other ordinances too. The baptistry was very busy. We had groups come at 9:00, 10:00, and 11:00, plus some walk—ins. It was wonderful. We did almost 700 names in the baptistry in about 4 hours. The young people are wonderful.
Again this week we had to say our final good-byes to many of our good friends and temple workers. What a blessing they have been in our lives. We do have a lot of email addresses so we can keep in contact. One friend we will not see again is Syster Rachel Björklund. She calls me her Rose Bud!

Not too many week left in Sweden and we thank you for another week of your love, concern, prayers, Skype time, emails and letters. We love you and appreciate all you do. We are grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and for all the blessings we have received on our mission

Week of February 28th

We have been asked to talk in church, again on the 13th of March. We wrote our talks as soon as we could so that Bror and Syster Klarin could translate them for us. We are both going to give our talks in Swedish. The Klarins are our Home teachers and they brought us homemade dinner rolls this week.
The treadmill in the exercise room has been worked on and now it does not squeak when you use it. We try to work out 2-3 times a week. Chuck does 20 minutes on the treadmill and then 10 minutes on the bike. I do 10 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the bike and then 10 minutes on the treadmill.
We have started to make plans for when Kris and Ginet come to visit. There are so many things we would like to show them and it is hard to choose. We hope they enjoy their visit.
At our Swedish class on Wednesday night we had to identify different cities on a Scandinavian map. I also realized that I really have to do a lot of thinking before I can communicate in Swedish. I made cinnamon rolls, after we got home from the temple that day and we took them warm to the class.
We are still working at our goal of doing one indexing batch a day (at least I am) plus I also try to work on knitting baby booties for humanitarian aid. I have now completed 32 pairs. They are relaxing to do.

Sunday President and Syster Evensen were going to the Hägersten ward and asked if we wanted to go with them. That is the ward that Syster Ofasuah lives in and we said sure we would go. It was a very warm and caring ward and we saw many people that come to the temple regularly. Syster Ofasuah gave the Relief Society lesson. It was an excellent lesson on how our hearts and attitudes should change when we become members of the church and live the gospel the way the Savior wants us to. We were back to our own ward in time for Relief Society and Priesthood. After our block of meetings the ward had a “break the fast” meal together. It was a great success with several kinds of homemade soups, breads, and cheese. Members just signed up if they could bring something. I hope they give out the recipes.
The visiting group at the temple this week has been from Drammen, Norway. It has been great to see and visit with so many people that we know or met when we were there. But the hard part was to say goodbye as the next time they come to the temple we will be home. This is the hardest part of seeing our mission come to a close; saying goodbye to the people we so love.
There were 15 new missionaries who came to the temple on Wednesday. I was able to help issue them their temple clothes. One missionary said “Syster Rose, do you remember me?” When I looked up at him I knew exactly what family he was from and remember him
from Kindergarten at Canyon View. Aaron Gygi will be an awesome missionary and it was great to see him. I gave him a hug and I think I embarrassed him!

We worked Saturday at the temple and we had very few workers in preparation meeting but as the day progressed the patrons did come. We had two different sessions at 10:00am, one was Norwegian and the other was Swedish. We also did initiatory, sealings, and baptisms. Our dear friends, the Cordova’s, were the shift leaders. They will be one couple that will be very hard to say goodbye to.
Well another week has flown by and thanks once again for your love, prayers and support. We pray that all is well with you and your families and we thank you for your letters, emails and skype time. We love you

Week of February 21st

I started the week with doing a deep cleaning of the apartment. I even got rid of the dust bunnies under the beds! We went to Pizza Hut and had the buffet for our lunch on Monday. We went to SIBA and bought a cord to connect the computer to the TV so we can watch what is on the computer over the TV.
The beginning of the week was very cold -19C but it did warm up some and we received some snow. Saturday was a beautiful day with mostly sun and temperatures around +3C.
We did exercise three times this week in the exercise room. Once in the morning (5:30), once while we were waiting for our clothes to wash and because we worked the Friday night shift we exercised on Friday morning. Saturday we did a lot of walking but it was all outdoors.
We served Friday night in the temple so it was a little later when we got home. We had not eaten since breakfast so we were a little hungry. I had crackers and cheese and some hot chocolate and Chuck had a dish of cold cereal. It reminded me of Shannon and how she survived on cold cereal while she attended BYU. Knowing we did not serve on Saturday we watched some skiing on TV and then a movie. After the movie a concert by Rozanne Cash came on and we watch it until 1:00am. It was so fun to hear western music we even took off our slippers and danced! Crazy? Yes, but it was fun.

After sleeping in a little on Saturday morning and after breakfast we took the train into Stockholm to do some gift shopping for the grandkids. We walked and walked and walked some more. We could have taken the bus or trolley but we saved the money and got our exercising done in the sun. When we got home we were very tired and a little stiff.
I was released from my calling in the Primary on Sunday and then we were asked to talk in church (again) in two weeks.
The visiting group has been from Skein, Sandvika, Tönsberg, Romerike and Hamar all from Norway. They had plenty of people to have their own shift and they had a lot of youth come for baptisms. They had rented a bus and 65 kids were on the bus for 12 hours. They came to the temple in three groups on Tuesday then some of them returned Wednesday morning. They got back on the bus about noon on Wednesday and traveled for 12 hours back to Norway. Great kids and they were so excited to come and spend the time in the temple. It amazes me that they would give up half of their winter vacation from school and travel that far and be so excited to come to the temple. What an example they are to everyone.
They changed our Shift Leader calling and now we will only do it the last two weeks in March. Bro and Syster Mattsson are going to be the new shift leaders. They have been here at
the temple for six months and have not had this opportunity so they will be the leaders for the first three weeks of March. They go home to Göteborg the first of April. They will do a great job and it would be just fine with us if they did it for the whole month.
Thanks for Skype time, emails and letters. Thanks for your love and prayers, your support and concerns. We love you and we are so thankful for the blessings you are in our lives. Have a great week!

Week of February 14th

Happy Birthday Shannon!

For Valentine’s Day we took the train and went into Stockholm and met at Jensen Böfhus. There were 17 of us and we had a great time and good food. President and Sister Anderson (Sweden’s Mission President), their office couple, Bylund’s from the Young Adult Center, President and Sister Oscarson (Temple President), President and Sister Evensen, and the American Temple workers were there. We went in early and had lunch because the prices are about a third of what they are after 4:00pm. I forgot our camera and Sister Oscarson has not sent me copies of her pictures, so we have no pictures to send.
The guesthouse purchased a treadmill for the training room and we have been trying to work out from 5:30-6:30am a couple days a week. It is hard to get up but you do feel like you have accomplished a lot before you go to the temple. We still are working on our indexing goal of doing one batch a day plus we do our normal missionary mornings of prayers, scripture reading and breakfast before we go to the temple. We have been called to be the shift leaders for the month of March and that will keep us busy. We did pass our 16th month of mission service on February 19th so our mission is fast coming to a close.
This week has been a hard emotional week with the news of one of my best friends passing away. I will truly miss Carol Fisher and her happy positive attitude. She taught me a lot about trials of life and a positive way to look at them. Such an example I hope to never forget. Thanks for the extra emails and love sent to us from family and friends. And for your support of writing notes to the Fisher family, going to see Larry and attending the funeral. All the kindnesses have touched my heart and helped because I am so far away and could not do them myself.
We got some new snow this week and it has been really cold (-19C). But one night we saw the full moon and the snow looks like it had a million diamonds in it. I wish a camera could have captured this beautiful scene.

 We did get to the bigger grocery store, Maxi’s to resupply or food, and then went to dinner on Saturday with the Evensen’s. We went to eat at a new place and it was pretty good. I also got some more yarn to continue to make baby booties. I have been able to teach Sister Evensen and Sister Bylund how to make them and I have now finished 28 pair myself.
Our Swedish class this week was a travel show of the places we went during the temple shut down. Oscarson’s went to Paris, Lundgren’s went to Rome, Parker’s went to Dubai, Brother Pedersen went to visit relatives in Norway and we were also in Norway with Evensen’s.
It was so interesting to see the pictures and listen to the experiences they had at each of these places. BUT, we still had the most fun!
It is wonderful to be back serving the Lord in His House. I feel so much peace and receive so much strength to live the gospel of Jesus Christ when I am in the temple. They put some new carpeting down while it was closed and it looks very nice.
The temple has been busy this week and will even be busier this coming week. This past week the group came from Göteborg Stake and they joined with us so we had a large group of both workers and patrons.
Friday night was our wards night and it was nice to be in the temple with the ward members. Saturday we had double sessions at 10:00am and the baptistry was busy from 9:30 until 14:00. It is so wonderful to have the young people come to the temple. I worked in the laundry most of the time to help keep the baptismal clothes clean and folded.
There were three young adults from Kiev in the temple this week. They spoke English and were so excited to come to the Temple in Stockholm. Their airplane tickets were only $40 for a round trip so they came. They said the temple in Kiev is beautiful. It is in the same city that they live in but it takes about two hours for them to get there. The two sisters were both return missionaries. I got to serve them and it was a choice experience to do the temple work in English. It was a tender mercy to have them come.
I know we all have challenges in our lives but we know that we have a Father in Heaven that loves us very much and is always there to listen to our prayers and to help us. We thank you for your prayers in our behalf and have felt His, and your, love and support on our mission. We thank you for another week of your emails and letters and a package. We have really been grateful for the great invention of Skype to help during an emotional week. May we all strive a little harder to show Christ—like love in all we do and in all we say. Let us help the world be a better place. We love you so much and we are grateful to be your parents, grandparents, relatives and friends. God bless you this week and always.

Week of February 7th

Happy Birthday Bryan!
Chuck and President Evensen watched the entire Super Bowl game plus the pre-game from 12:30am to 4:00am and President Evensen does not even understand American Football that well. It was the first time that the Super Bowl has been televised in Norway. I watched until halftime and then went to bed. Because of the late night we had a late breakfast and then set out for another first adventure. We went to IKEA and shopped and looked for 2 ½ hrs and even ate lunch there.

Tues we went into Oslo under a beautiful blue sky and the bright sun. We went to this ski jump place, Holmenkollen which they have just rebuilt. They were making final preparations on the track for the first event that evening, the Norwegian Masters Championship. Then we watched it on TV that evening. It is really high and makes Park City look a little small. While we were there Chuck bought me a beautiful Norwegian sweater for Valentine’s Day.
Next we visited the Vigeland Statues in Fronger Park. They all looked very cold as all the statues are nude.
On the way home we stopped by the Frogner Church in Lier where Marit’s parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are buried.

Marit’s birthday was the same day as Bryan’s and it was another beautiful day so we again drove into Oslo. It took us a while to find a parking place and we ended up parking in a lot that cost 60k ($10) an hour. We walked up and saw the park around the palace, the statues and the changing of the guards. It was pretty impressive. Evensen’s son, Martin, used to be one of these guards. We then walked down the street from the palace and walked past the building (Blindern) at the university where President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. We saw the Parliament Building, the city hall (Rødset) they call the two goat cheeses. Norway is known for its brown goat cheese and the building is brown brick with two tall towers. There are a lot of beautiful wood pictures on the porch of this building. We then walked to the new Opera House down at the harbor and the building where Marit and her family waited for the ship to take them to America when she was a small girl. Her family lived in Salt Lake for several years. After visiting Oslo we celebrated Marit’s birthday with some of her family. Marit made herself a wonderful birthday cake.
Thursday it was very cold and very snowy so we just stayed inside and Chuck worked on the computer and Marit and I worked on making booties and watched TV. At night Janett, their
daughter, and the Bishop’s wife, came and picked us up and we went to Relief Society. They were making preparations for the Relief Society Social so we helped make terra-cotta lamps and oil containers for the 10 Virgins they are presenting. I even helped clean the Drammen church after the activity was over.

Friday we finished up a few things the Evensens needed to get done before we left. We drove back to Sweden on Saturday because the forecast was for good weather and Monday was reported to be snowy. It was a beautiful day, no clouds and beautiful blue sky and lots of sun. I took a few point and shoot pictures and they turned out pretty good! Everything was clean and white and sparkly.

For Valentine’s Day we took the train into Stockholm and went to Jensen’s Buffhus. There were 8 couples including President and Sister Oscarson from the temple and President and Sister Anderson from the Sweden Mission. We had a great time and the lunch was wonderful.
We send all of you our love on this Valentine’s Day and pray for love and harmony in your homes. We enjoyed our skype time with the Tobler’s this week and Brent it is your turn next week. Thanks for your weekly updates we enjoy knowing what the family is doing. May we all strive to live as Christ lived and forgive others to be forgiven ourselves. The gospel is true; Heavenly Father does love us and wants all of us to return to live with him.

Week of January 31st

Monday morning and the temple is closed for two weeks for cleaning and updating. At 8:00am we put our luggage in the car and headed to Norway with President and Sister Evensen. The roads were good and the sky partly cloudy so the ride was very nice. We stopped at the last town before the border to get some groceries because Sweden is less expensive than Norway. In the same mall as the Maxi grocery store were two candy stores. They sold nothing but candy. I have never seen anything like this and they laughed at me when I took pictures. Judge for yourself!

Norway land is different than Sweden’s. The forests are not as thick and there is more open farmland. The mountains are rock and we traveled through many tunnels and passed by a few of the beautiful fjords. It took us almost 10 hours to arrive in Drammen, including our stop at the mall.
Tuesday Marit fixed a typical Norwegian breakfast of sliced meat, sliced cucumbers, sliced red peppers, hard boiled eggs, different kinds of yummy breads and hot cocoa. Then they had several errands to run so we saw the city of Drammen. It is a nice city with several shopping areas. It has a river running through it and sits at the end of the Drammen Fjord. After dinner Marit’s daughter Janett picked us up and we went to the church for a Zumba dance/exercise class. I learned a lot of moves but definitely learned how old I am!
One day we drove up this spiral tunnel to the top of the mountain and saw a wonderful view of the Drammen Fjord and city. I tried to walk over the top of the snow to stand on this bench to take a picture and went through the snow up to my knees. We all laughed. The Fjord is frozen so it is hard to see the edges but your imagination lets you know how beautiful it really is.

One day we drove into Oslo and went to two war time museums located at the Akershus Fortress that was built in 1300. It was built for defense and also to protect the royalty of Norway. It was very cold and icy but an enjoyable day. It now serves as a military base and they have banquets and big events in some of these beautiful old buildings.

One day we drove to Jevnaker to see the Hadeland Glassverk. This is a glass blowing factory and it was so interesting to watch them blow and make goblets and beautiful vases. We walked through the little shops and really enjoyed ourselves. Marit bought a vase made for tulips that is so nice and the tulips she bought today look beautiful in it.
We went to watch Evensen’s family ski (cross country) and it brought back so many memories of our family skiing together. Except for one thing, all their kids loved being bundled up and skiing. This same day we went to dinner at the Pedersen’s home. We met them at the
temple and they have a daughter that lives in the 5th ward. He has just been called to be a counselor in the Mission Presidency and she is working in the office and as the mission Relief Society President. They are wonderful people and the food and evening were delightful.
Sunday after our church meetings 18 members of the Evensen’s family came to dinner. It was a fun evening with the grandkids playing hide and go seek and the adults just sitting around and talking. It was fun to be around a family again but also made us homesick for ours.
Pres Evensen, Chuck and I stayed up to watch the Super Bowl which started at 12:30am. This is the first year for them to receive the Super Bowl live in Norway. This subject will be talked about next week!
We had a great Skype time with the Packer family and it was nice to see and talk to everyone. We have received many emails and a few IM’s this week and that is wonderful. I got to talk to Carol Fisher on her birthday and that was nice. We appreciate your support and prayers in our behalf. We love you and pray for your peace and happiness in your homes and lives. Love ya,

Week of January 24th

This week we have worked on the puzzle that the kids gave Chuck for Christmas. We worked on it a lot and on Thursday the goal was accomplished and Chuck put the last piece in! He said he is going to number the pieces when he takes it apart.

My eyes are doing better and they no longer itch but my eyelids look like they have been sunburned. They are bright pink, very dry, scaly, and they itch. I think it has been caused by using a cheap brand of eye mascara when mine ran out and/or using eye drops that I bought just before we came but with an expiration date of May 09. I hope it gets better quickly. I look like I am using a lot of pink eye shadow.
We had a very interesting Swedish class this week. It was all about different kinds of Swedish cheeses and it was a taste party. We had 8 kinds of cheese with crackers and fruit and the evening was very fun and very educational. But our favorite cheese is still the one we have bought the entire time we have been here.
This week the saints from Latvia have been the visiting group in the temple. We were asked by the Temple President to join with their group as they had plenty of people for their own sessions but not enough temple workers. So after trying to learn Latvian for a day we joined with these humble and reverent people for the week. They did four sessions a day so we started at 8:00am and finished about 6:00pm. We both learned how to do the ‘V’ in Latvian. Chuck got very smooth at it but I was a bit slower. Now Chuck has done the ‘V’ in 7 languages. It was a wonderful week. Most of them speak some English but a few do not speak any English. The training films are in Russian so it was a little confusing for us. But thanks to the Lord we felt we did help these wonderful people and they were appreciative of our efforts. They truly love coming to the temple.
The guesthouse bought a treadmill and we have used it a couple of times. Wow, when your leg muscles cramp you know you are out of shape! But it is better than trying to walk outside on the ice covered roads.
Friday morning the sky was clear and there was a beautiful sunrise. It was cold but the sunrise was awesome. During the winter months this is a rare sight to see.

Saturday we went with the Lundgrens into Stockholm. We looked in a book to find this tourist information place that was supposed to have good quality souvenirs. Well we walked to where it was supposed to be only to find out it had moved and left no forwarding address. So we just kept walking and walked down around the palace and checked into some shops in Gamla Stan (the old city). I did find a few things that I wanted.

Then we ate lunch in the old prison and came back home on the train arriving about 5:00pm. Later we were invited to a birthday party for Michaela Nilsson’s boyfriend from Scotland. It was nice to meet him and he is an impressive and successful young man.
Sunday we both talked in the 2nd ward. We were given too short of notice to write the talks and have them translated into Swedish so we both talked with an interpreter. My talk was short but I did end the talk giving me testimony in Swedish. Because my talk was short that left more time for Chuck since we were the only two speakers. He did a marvelous job, but then he always does.
The temple is closed for two week so we are going to Norway with the Evensens. I will write about all our fun next week.
Thanks for all you do for us. For your letters and emails which keep us informed of the family events. It is hard to think that our mission is coming to an end but we are looking forward to seeing friends and family again.
We love you and pray for you. Hope you are all well, happy and that the spirit of love is in all of your homes.

Week of January 17th

Happy Birthday Claire (4)
This week I got my hair cut and it really needed it. I really like Sofija and the way she cuts my hair. She does not speak very much English but we communicate about my hair just fine. I also cut Chuck’s and Tore Pedersen’s hair this week.
We are still working everyday on the puzzle the kids sent Chuck for Christmas. Since it is a puzzle of a goggle map of our neighborhood we do not even have a picture to go by. It is very slow and when we find a piece that fits, we rejoice.

I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Swedish/English and it was a good experience that helped me in reading Swedish. Now I have started to read it again in English and this time do more pondering as I read.
My eyes have been very dry and itchy and eyelids pink and swollen. I ran out of my mascara so I bought some cheap Max Factor and I think that is the cause for this problem. I went to a specialty store today and bought some non-allergenic mascara today. Hopefully that will see a big improvement.
Bro Pedersen, Lundgren’s, Evensen’s and us took the train into Stockholm on Monday and enjoyed dinner together at Jensen Buffhus. We then walked a little around Stockholm and took the train and came back home.
Our Swedish class this week was more of a history lesson than anything to do with language but it is always fun to get together as a group.
President Oscarson received our travel itinerary for how we are to get home when our mission is over. We fly out on April 19th at 11:30AM on a direct flight to JFK in New York and then on to SLC. We arrive in Salt Lake at 7:15PM the same day. We gain 8 hours as we fly.
They have this tasty dessert this time of year that is called a Semlor and Lundgren’s bought two and ask us to come and share.

We took pictures and then split the goodies and ate them. We also ate a taco dinner at Evensen’s on Friday night.
Brother Jonsson is here at the temple for a couple of weeks and he likes to do the recommend desk early in the morning so Chuck has not worked the desk early all week.
We had a wonderful experience with the Ofasuah family this week. Sister Ofasuah got all the information she needed to seal her parents and then to be sealed to them. She also had her mother sealed to her parents. Sister Ofasuah’s daughters acted as proxy for their grandmother and great grandmother. Chuck acted as proxy for the father and grandfather. I got to help Sister Ofasuah with one of the ordinances. This experience was one of the highlights of our mission.
We have been asked to help and serve with the Latvian saints this week. This entails trying to learn a part of the ordinances in Latvian. We have been able to do a little bit of studying but it is hard. We know the Lord will bless us and that everything will be fine. The other option is to do it in English which some of them understand. They do not understand Swedish.
We have enjoyed your emails, Skyping, letters, talking to you on the phone, and IM-ing. We pray for you and your families. We pray for happiness and love in your homes; for you to have strong testimonies and to be working towards an Eternal Family. May the spirit of peace be in your homes and thanks for all your love and support.

Week of January 10th

Our first outing of the week was to go for a grocery run to Maxi’s with the Evensen’s. Then it was a beautiful sunny and cold day so we drove down to Nynäshamn and rode around the area. Instead of going out for dinner we fixed homemade hamburgers and ate together at Evensen’s.
The weather here has really warmed up and the snow is melting. It is so slippery to walk on the road or sidewalk as the water on top of the ice makes conditions very slick.
We went to Ingvar and Barbro Olsson’s home for a julgransplundring (throw the tree out party). It marks the official end of the Christmas season. We had everything to make open face sandwiches and juice and hot herbal tea, plus candy sitting in bowls all around the house. We pulled the tree out into the middle of the floor and danced around the tree holding hands and singing.

 They sing a lot of the same songs they sing at the midsummer celebration. It was really fun. We did not throw the tree out as their grandchildren were coming on Saturday for their julgransplundring. We played some fun games and sang one Christmas song in Swedish, one Christmas song in English and finished with Silent Night with everyone singing in their own native language. It was a fun fun evening. Brother Olsson is the recorder at the temple, and an area seventy. There were 20 of us at the party.
We had the opportunity to help with the seminary breakfast on Friday. There were about 15 kids who stopped and ate breakfast before they headed off to school. They are such a great bunch of youth with strong testimonies.
We said good-bye to our good friends Astrid and Fredrick Karlsson.

They are such an awesome couple and we have really bonded. Brother Karlsson has Parkinson’s disease and will be having a type of brain procedure to see if this treatment will help him. We pray that it will. They will not be back to the temple until after we are released.
We worked our first Tuesday PM shift at the temple this week. This is the second week with a regular shift doing the PM schedule. They rotate the missionaries to come and help them. We were to the temple by 2:30pm and got home around 10:00pm. It was a good experience and reminded us of when we worked nights in the Salt Lake Temple.
We also served Saturday at the temple and it was very busy. We had a Spanish session and a Swedish session at 10:00. We had two groups of baptisms during the morning and the spirit in the temple was wonderful.
We enjoyed, and would recommend that you watch, the following movies that we received for Christmas: The Ultimate Gift and Letters of God. I cried in both of them. They are good family movies and we liked them both. We also watch the true story of Mariama Kallon titled Delivered by Hope. She works for housekeeping in the Salt Lake Temple, where we first met her. She is originally from Sierra Leone and she has quite a story. I would recommend this DVD also. I think Deseret Book sells the DVD and I know that she gives her story at Time Out for Women and at other RS gatherings.
Sundays are always nice days. Days to thank Heavenly Father for all our blessings, read the scriptures, ponder and pray. We did enjoy a get together at Mattsson’s apartment for dessert.

They are another fantastic couple that lives on the top floor of the Guest House with Evensens and us.
We enjoyed our Skype time this week, all our emails and letters. We are working on the puzzle and it is hard! Thanks for your love, support and prayers. We love you and count you all as blessings in our lives. Stay true, stay strong, and remember you are loved

Week of January 3rd

Happy Birthday Wyatt!
All of the American’s in the Guest House were invited to dinner at the Klarin’s. Sister Klarin served a delicious ham dinner and a yummy caramel custard dessert. I think they considered it a Home Teaching visit for all of us! We did have a delightful evening and enjoyed ourselves.
We have both struggled with a little cold this week. Mine has been worse than Chuck’s. Thanks to Vitamin C and Emergen-C, plus the hot rice pack for my head, we are feeling much better now and we were blessed not to miss any days at the temple.
It has rained some this week so a lot of the snow has melted. Most of the roads and sidewalks are wet and then at night covered with black ice so they are hard to walk and drive on. The days are getting longer. It starts to get light about 7:30 AM and is dark about 4:00 PM. We have about 6 more minutes of daylight each day. It is crazy how fast it changes.
There are two wards in Västerhaninge and they have combined the two for Sunday School, Priesthood, Relief Society, YM and YW and Primary. We go to church at 1:00 then they join us at 2:20 for Sunday School, 3:10 for RS, Priesthood, YW and Primary then we are through at 4:00 and they have their Sacrament from 4:10 to 5:20! See it could be worse than 1-4!! This Sunday was our first Sunday and Primary was crazy! I am sure it will get better as they work out who is in charge and where to help each other. I am still playing the piano, and I can still hear my mother telling me to practice.
Chuck has had the recommend desk at the temple three times this week. A ward group, including their youth, came for the later part of the week and had their own sessions. They were from Jököping and some of these people we will not see again before we go home.

One special family, the Nilsson’s, were here and we have grown so close to them. They are a marvelous family and their youngest daughter came for the first time. Just before they went home they were eating dinner together so we took their picture. It was very hard to say good bye to them.
There was a family from Finland here this week and I was blessed to work in the baptistry when two of their daughters were being baptized. We have known their oldest daughter for a while as she lives in Stockholm and just married a wonderful guy from Sweden. This whole family radiates the love of Jesus Christ. Another blessing to count in our lives.
Saturday we had an 8:00 AM Spanish session. There were 6 Spanish speaking people on the session, with 11 Swedish speaking people, and 1 English speaking person who used headphones. Then the 10:00 session was in Swedish and the six Spanish people used headphones. I have now done all the women ordinances in Swedish. I still get tongue-tied sometimes but I have been blessed to attain that goal.
Saturday after the temple we took our walking sticks and walked through the Viking cemetery. It has been a long time since we have taken that walk and it was nice to do so. The snow is so high you cannot see the rock-headstones but it was exercise. It started to rain/snow before we got home so we were a little wet.
The kids sent me a necklace for Christmas and it is named “Ima”. They found out that Ima in Hebrew means ‘mother’. I am proud to wear this necklace bearing the name of this wonderful mother that I love.
The kids sent Chuck a puzzle that is a goggle map of our house and the area we live. It incorporates about a 2 mile radius and looks like it will take a while to get it together. Hope we can finish it before we come home. We might be eating dinner on the couch as the puzzle is on the table.
We certainly do want to thank you for all the Christmas cards, letters, packages, emails, Skype time, love and support we received during this wonderful season of the year. May this New Year fill your homes with many blessings and a greater determination to live the gospel.

Week of December 27th

We got two books for Christmas that we enjoyed reading. One book was Jeffrey Holland’s book “Shepherds Why the Jubilee.” The other one was Pres and Sister Walker’s book “A House of Learning.” It was so fun to read Walker’s book and relive all the memories and experiences they talked about. The temple is truly a house of learning and we love it.
During the week I tried to fix a breakfast of bacon and eggs but their bacon is just different. A pig is a pig but their bacon just does not taste as good here.
After having five days off from the temple it was wonderful to go back and constantly feel His peace and love during the day. Again, this week, we were few in numbers on our shifts but the patrons did come and the last session of 2010 had only three empty seats. In spite of the small number of workers we were able to do all ordinances. Over the past two weeks we have had a couple, plus the wife’s sister, here from Bolivia. They have come to the temple every day. On Wed they wanted to do baptisms but we did not have anyone available who could speak Spanish. However, a Brother Brown (from Houston, Texas but living in Norway for a year) came unexpectedly with two of his children to do baptisms. He could speak Spanish fluently and everyone was able to participate in the necessary ordinances. What a tender mercy from the Lord to know what was needed and to provide it.
We enjoyed New Years Eve at the Presidents home with all the people from America. We had dinner around 6:00. We had two kinds of soup, breads, crackers, cheeses, deviled eggs, chips, seven layer dip, homemade candy, veggies, and desserts. We did get plenty to eat!

We also played a few fun games and then we celebrated New Years on “Dubai time” (9:00p.m.) and blew our horns. We then talked for a little longer, cleaned up and came home about 10:30. We stayed up until midnight and watched all the fireworks out our windows. It was like the Stadium of Fire! It lasted for about a half an hour—so we would not have been able to sleep anyway! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We watched the movie “The Ultimate Gift” that we received for Christmas. What a good family show. If you have not seen it, find it and watch it. Yes, I cried but it really has some good values in it.
Our new meeting schedule for church is 1:00-4:00. We have our Sacrament Meeting first and then another ward joins us for Sunday School, Priesthood, Relief Society, Young Women and Primary. The other ward has their Sacrament Meeting at the end of the block. There are only about 8 kids coming into Primary and not much more into YM and YW.
After church we were invited to Mats and Lotta Lundkvist’s for dinner. Chuck goes home teaching there and they have three talented children. All the children have been involved in Judo but the oldest (a daughter) goes to a lot of tournaments and is climbing in her ranks.

We enjoyed the evening and the dinner. Their two daughters go to a music school and really have nice voices. This school has grades 4 through 8 and you have to audition to get in. Their son goes to the local school here and is totally a normal boy!
As you can see we have not ventured out this week. It has been very cold and windy so it has not been inviting to go! We have enjoyed Skype and IM with some of the kids and found out that Zach and Ginet are being transferred to Virginia!! Zach will be going in March and Ginet will wait until the school year is over and go in June. We are so proud of Zach but this move is a long way from us (But much closer to his family).
As we start this new year of 2011 may we put Christ in the center of our lives, remember Him in all we do and be worthy of all the blessings that our Heavenly Father will pour out upon us. We love the Lord. We know the church is true and are so grateful to be able to serve in the Temple in Stockholm. Thanks for your love and support. Thanks for all the cards, emails and packages we received and may we work to make our New Year Resolutions come true. Love you all.