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.