Week 31 Öja Island

Fall is definitely here, but the leaves are changing slowly.  How is the autumn at home?  We've heard the color is supposed to be especially brilliant this year.  

Ivy running  along the ground on Öja Island.

Monday, fish & chips.

We finally found a place that sold authentic British Fish and Chips---a food truck!   John's been on the search since we arrived here.  The side? "Mushy Peas."  They taste like thick pea soup.  It was actually  much more tasty than it looks!

It's been a busy week with two local zone conferences, cleaning an apartment, and another adventurous p-day.  

During zone conference, President and Sister Youngberg shared some of the things they learned from their recent Mission Presidents Seminar in Portugal with Elder Holland.  Here are a few of my take aways:
1.  Elder Holland shared this parable from Elder Packer:   A merchant man seeking precious jewels found at last the perfect pearl. He had the finest craftsman carve a superb jewel box and line it with blue velvet. He put his pearl of great price on display so others could share his treasure. He watched as people came to see it. Soon he turned away in sorrow. It was the box they admired, not the pearl.  (Elder Boyd K. Packer, April 2000 General Conference).  So often we miss the pearl! ( I am certainly guilty of being distracted from the more important things in life by the glitter of something less significant.)  In this case, Elder Holland said the mission is the box, the atonement is the pearl.
2.  Elder Holland:  "Every missionary should go home with at least one convert--him/herself."
3.  A clip was shown from Elder and Sister Bender's talk for a Young Adult Broadcast Sep. 9, 2017, on the "The Welding Link."  They spoke of being a link in the chain of our generations.  Sis. Bednar said, "The decisions you make now and in the future are more than about you."  (So true!  Virtually everything we do in our lives affects others through out choices, our examples, our service--and on for generations to come.  I am so grateful for the humility, courage, and example of my family members who joined the church and played a role in providing a firm foundation of faith for me to follow.)
4.   President Youngberg said that in a moment he will never forget, Elder Holland testified, "The older I get the more I realize there are many things I don't know, but there are some things I know for CERTAIN.   I testify in the name of Jesus Christ that these things [the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ] are true."   

Needless to say, it was an uplifting meeting for all of us.

Thursday we and the Self-Reliance couple, the Pettits, helped the Apartment Couple deep-clean the apartment in Handen.  Elders have moved out and senior couple will be moving in.  With six of us working, we accomplished our goal and left the apartment sparkling clean.  Now there's just some new furniture to be moved in.  It felt good to do some physical labor (and to help our friends)!  I have too much office-sitting (and deep-cleaning  apartments is a big job to do alone)!

Vacuuming the entry, we are almost finished at this point...after about 5 hours!

Yesterday we went with the Records Preservation couple, the Smiths, to the island of Öja to see the oldest lighthouse in Sweden and the remnants of military fortifications.  Öja is the southernmost island of the Stockholm archipelago.  The island, which is only 5 k in length and .5 k width, primarily uninhabited, except for the small harbor village where the ferry docked on the southern end.

The only way to the island is by passenger ferry (pic below).  It runs every 3 hours from 10 to 18:00.  Thirty people live on the island year round.  It was impressive to see how the public bus (on the mainland) and ferry matched times perfectly.

The lighthouse (Landsort) was built  from granite in 1678 and has walls a meter thick.  Its most recent restoration was in 1870.

 Northern view of the lighthouse from the village.  

View of the lighthouse from the South with artillery gun and command center to the left.  The lighthouse is in operation today (automated), but the military outpost is no longer active.

Throughout the island are gun batteries and bunkers, used during World War II and the Cold War.  Although, Sweden never saw military action on her land, she was prepared to defend her passage to the Stockholm harbor.

 Homes are built on and around bunkers.

 Up this grassy path and to the left of the flowered bunker was a worn path leading to the bunkers and gun batteries on the western shore.  We felt like we were trespassing in people's yards, but it was the only way to get there.  There was a sign that said, "Välkommen" as we passed through the white gate, so I guess it was ok to be there.

 Inside a bunker

Gun batteries and a sense of the island.  The day was overcast, so it added to the dramatic, gray, desolated effect.

Here are a few random pictures from our visit to the island:

 Pilot boat, essentially a Swedish "coast guard" boat, permanently stationed here.

 A whirligig!  Anyone still teaching that book?

 Here are homemade children's toys in a yard, as well as a cluster of homes in the village.  Many of these homes are just seasonal.

Clever use of an old boat trailer.  (Our friends thought it was a hot tub, but I'm not convinced...and we didn't get close enough to see for sure.  Maybe it's just a "deck" with a warming stove to fight the chilly air.)

Thanks to John's efforts to find an outing every week, Sweden continues to unfold her rich culture, beauty and history to us.