Our district
Saturday arrived, our P-day, and we were ready for an adventure! We had heard about a lovely bike ride along the coast from Nynäshamn (pronounced Nina's Hahm). A lovely, late summer day of about 60 degrees and sunny skies convinced us this was the day. Our friends, the Anderson's, joined us. Nynäshamn is a small port city, where the ferry runs to Gotland, a large island to the east. (We are dying to get there.) Today, the port was filled with sailboats and the Hyundai Cup Regatta had just begun. We rented our bikes and spent the rest of the day enjoying an 10 K bike ride.
Our first stop was at the old water tower on a little island, which offered a great view.
Next stop was lunch at the only restaurant at the end of the road. Here John had a "räkmacka" while I had a köttbullar smörgas (meatball sandwich) with diced beets--that's the pretty pink part. Very tasty.
I loved the setting of our little Swedish lunch--so typical--outdoors at a table in a big yard. It felt sort of Jane Austen-ish to me.
The coast was beautiful with the warm sun, calm wind, and a distant view of the regatta sailing on the horizon. We sat for about an hour just enjoying the moment before mounting our bicycles again.
We returned to port just as the sailboats arrived, too.
A little souvenir shopping and an ice cream cone wrapped up the glorious day.
Today, after giving our talks in church, we were invited to the bishop's home for dinner. He is from Scotland. His in-laws own the house in this picture and he and his family live on a small house to the right. Several of the children live on the estate and it is a perfect playground for all the children, complete with horses and chickens. Idyllic.
In Relief Society (the church's women's organization) today, we were talking about how to have the spirit with us when we are feeling overwhelmed and stressed. The young mother teaching the class reminded me of when I was younger and echoed true of my girls with their families. Other older women were commenting how they had struggled in the same ways with their children. (Girls, you are not alone!) And I remembered an incident in my life when I was very frustrated, overwhelmed and not coping well. The thing that saved me in the moment was prayer. Sometimes we just need to step away and pray. We are not meant to get through all the struggles of this life alone. After my prayer, things fell into place and I was able to accomplish all I needed to do. But I knew that I had been given a gift--that I had been calmed by the Spirit. I know that when life gets to crazy and too hard, we need to pray and help will be given to help us accomplish all that is required of us. We aren't expected to do it alone.
