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.