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