Hi Everyone!
I guess last week I was trying to move time a little faster, thinking we had been on our mission 5 weeks already. I was wrong...it has only been five weeks THIS week. Actually, I think we were feeling a little too much at home here because on Monday we got our wake-up call. We drove down to Sundsväll, about 2 hours south of here, to pay the parking ticket we got last week. Because we don't have a bank account in Sweden, we had to go to a specific foreign exchange office called Forex, which doesn't exist in our city. Trying to make an upsetting situation (getting the ticket for a seemingly ridiculous reason) we had decided to enjoy the drive and planned some sightseeing on the way back. We navigated directly to the bank, got a very helpful teller, filled out the paper work and produced our cash--a whopping 600 kronor ($66) plus 50 kr more for the surcharge. Then the teller asked for ID. John offered his drivers license. "I'm sorry, but I can only take a passport from the US." Ugh? Really? John incredulously thought, " I'm giving you money and you need my passport?" We looked at each other. Just a couple of days before I had taken them out of my purse and put them in safekeeping in the apartment. We hadn't needed them. Our NYS drivers license passed for ID every where we had been. Helplessly, we turned around and left, beginning our return trip a bit demoralized with the reality check that we aren't at home anymore!
The trip back wasn't all bad though. We stopped at the Skuleskogen National Park and took about a 5K hike. Although it was about 28 degrees F. and the wind was blowing off the ice, we enjoyed being in fresh air and exercising a little as we confidently hiked down to the bay in our microspikes. (I'm SO glad I brought them!) Although the trails were a bit confusing, there are some very hiker-friendly accommodations along the trails. I'll post more specific pictures on Facebook, but I particularly liked this one of the bay and the ice breaking up. Spring is definitely on its way!
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However, the next day it snowed as we went into town to get our "person number." We've been registered in the country, but now we need this number, which is sort of like a SS number. We will need it if we go to the doctor; however, it is still not a valid ID. That is another layer of registration 6-8 additional weeks and 400 kronor (about $44.) That afternoon I saw a little fox run across the road and into the adjacent neighborhood--my first animal siting--and reminder that we are in the country here. And for a little Swedish culture, I'm attaching a picture of "enter" and "exit" signs--you will notice they wouldn't work well in the US!
So, Wednesday we had to pay the parking ticket or we were going to get increased fines. Back on the road, this time we drove north to Umeå with our passports. The deed done, we treated ourselves to Swedish lunch and a mini shopping trip at IKEA.
That evening we had an appointment with the elders (the younger missionaries) to visit a family, which fell through because of a miscommunication. To ease our sadness we went to MAX for a milkshake, a fast food place like McDonalds or Burger King. (By the way, they have both here.) But neither of them has a chocolate shake like MAX--their "lyx shake" or luxury shake, with grated chocolate into a rich vanilla shake. It is quite luxurious--and obviously caloric! I also confess that we broke down and bought a pastry this week--it was feather-light and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Pastries are in every store, just set out in open bins or baskets tempting all who pass by. This one (in the picture) is a twist with a sweet honey-like filling and roasted pecans....mmmmm!
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Thursday night, after we served dinner to the elders, I started to make Tennessee Chocolate Cake (a family favorite). This was to be dessert for the next day's luncheon where we would be serving 24 people (Zone Meeting), and I realized I was short butter. Somehow I managed to get make my 2 cakes, and even had a little extra batter for a small 9x9 cake, AND frost all 3 cakes with the butter I had! I call it the "miracle of the butter." There shouldn't have been enough, but there was and, as always seems to happen with these little miracles, there was still some butter left for the butter plate!
When we were in the MTC we were told that we would be humbled by the people we would meet. That has happened already in many ways, but this week it was powerfully taught to us as we visited a sweet sister from the Congo. When she was 3 years old her parents were killed in a war. She was adopted by a family which joined the church when she was 8. She went on a mission to the Congo and Cameroon. Before she returned home in 2012, her adopted family was killed. She married, moved to South Africa, divorced, and for safety, migrated, with the help of the UN, to Sweden. She has a little girl that she takes to preschool via public transportation to a neighboring town every morning at 6:30, then returns to town to attend school. She is studying English, Swedish and marketing. In the afternoon she picks up her daughter, returns home and does her homework. She has only been in the country about a year so she still struggles with Swedish and has to spend a lot of her time looking up words as she studies. She is amazing...humble yet courageous, strong yet kind.
This morning as John was in the shower we got a call wondering why we weren't at our early church meeting. What? Daylight savings time? No one told us! At church, which we did manage to make on time, John gave his first talk. It was translated into Swedish by an 16 year old boy, Suvonn (whose parents are Cambodian but he was born in Sweden). Although Suvonn did an amazing job, John realizes now that the talk had too many "lofty" words in it. We are learning that we need to simplify! Ah, this learning curve we are on certainly has a lot of twists in it!
The wisdom for the day comes from Elder Bednar (one of the 12 Apostles) via Sis. Beckstrand, our mission president's wife. She shared that she asked Elder Bednar what the secret to a balanced life is. He answered her with this: "Learn to say no to good things." Because virtually everything we do is good (or at least we try to live that way), in order to keep balance, we have to say no to good things. We can't do it all. This advice reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures: Mosiah 4: 27, "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in wisdom and order."
May your lives this week be filled with good things, with happiness, appreciation and wisdom.
Love,
Mom and Dad/ Grandma and Grandpa/ Linda and John
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