Forty weeks! I can't believe we have been here for the equivalent of a whole school year! This week was as busy as ever with another transfer. We only have 6 more transfers--that's hard to believe, too!
We had our first snow--about 3 inches. It's gone thanks to a couple of mild days, but winter is making itself known. I'm a little amazed at the heartiness of the plants here. This bush of snowberries doesn't seem to be affected at all by frost, freezing temps or snow.
 |
| These bushes of "snowberries" have delicate pink and white blossoms in the summer giving way to the white berries. I thought they'd be shriveled up or long gone by now, but they are firm and bright to contrast with the darkening gray days. |
Transfers, as hectic as they can be, are my favorite part of our work. I love anticipating the arrival of the new missionaries, who are so excited to be here. This transfer was a bit challenging because we had missionaries coming at 3 different times, from 4 different locations...Utah (MTC), California (our 3 visa waiters), England (MTC), and Sweden (a local sister who will be serving on a "trial basis." She has some health issues that may interfere with her service.) Things went pretty smoothly, but the luggage for the sisters from California didn't arrive with them. Then the next few planes from Amsterdam, where their luggage had landed, were cancelled. John went to the airport the next morning to pick up 3 of the 8 pieces of luggage that finally arrived. Then he decided to wait there in hope that the remaining pieces would arrive in time for the sisters' 3:00 PM departure from Stockholm to their assigned areas. (Of course, two of them had been assigned to the furthest north and the furthest south areas in the country, so the tension mounted.) That meant he didn't get back to pick up the catered food for our traditional Swedish lunch (meatballs, gravy, mashed potatoes, salad, bread, cheese, and princess cake)...I had to do that for the first time. Then he didn't get back before all the missionaries had to be taken to the train station to begin their departures. That meant I had to drive into Stockholm to T-Central (the heart of downtown) for the first time ever. I did fine getting there, but coming back I missed a turn and ended up going the opposite direction for quite a while before I could correct the problem. Somehow John managed to get the luggage to the sisters at the train station, just before their trains left.
That night, with the transfer board closed, we were finally able to organize the Christmas packages into the zones where all the missionaries will be for the holiday. Each zone was assigned a different room in the office. We sorted each package, made sure the customs slips were removed or blotted out, recorded each package on a spread sheet, then John put it in the corresponding room. Now we have 5 big piles of about 150 packages total, and they are still coming. We picked up 25 new packages on Thursday! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....
 |
| The 25 boxes we received in one day! |
Wednesday night we picked up our special-order-16.5 pound-fresh turkey for Thanksgiving, costing 968 SEK. That translates to $7 per pound! The mission president and his wife hosted the dinner and prepared a delicious turkey, rubbed with herbs. Dinner was fabulous, with all the trimmings, and all 11 of us missionaries felt like we were home. (By the way, my rolls were quite a hit. One elder ate 5 of them! There is no evaporated milk here so I used "cooking cream"--a little lighter than whipping cream...how could I go wrong?)
 |
| Elders Hambrick, Porter, Sister & Pres. Youngberg, Elder Benson, Sisters Heap and Chapdelaine, and Elder Harper |
Friday night we helped during a dance at Soul Night, a YSA activity for the Scandinavian young adults. There were about 250 in attendance. The next morning I baked 60 (of the 300) giant potatoes we served for lunch. Then this morning we helped make 250 bag lunches for them to take after church, as they went home.
 |
| These potatoes don't look that big from here but they were huge..the size of two or three Idaho russets from home. |
Last night, we went with the Andersons to Sissel's Jul (Christmas) Concert in Stockholm, which we thoroughly enjoyed. She sang a variety of classical and popular songs in English and Swedish demonstrating her vast range from tenor to high soprano. The only drawback was our inability to catch her Swedish jokes and endearing comments that built intimacy with the audience. Despite the language barrier, I found myself fumbling through a couple Swedish sing-alongs, caught up in the moment. Her enriching and entertaining performance left me breathless with her lovely encore piece, in Swedish, "O Holy Night."
 |
| Sissel |
 |
| Coming home from the Sissel Concert. |
We trust everyone had a good Thanksgiving and you are gearing up for the Christmas holidays. Most of you are probably aware of this year's Christmas initiative:
I hope you will take time to go this website, watch the videos and check out the ideas for service. Each day, from Dec. 1-25 there will be a new video to inspire an act of service. I love this time of year where most people have a desire to be thoughtful of others and to make the world a better place, even if they aren't religious. That is what this effort is all about. Small actions count--"out of small things proceedeth that which is great" (D&C 64:33). We are excited to be part of the missionary efforts to spread the attitude of service, and share Christ's light in Sweden this holiday season. We hope you will enjoy serving others, too.
