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.