Hi Everyone!
Thanks to all of you who signed the Easter card! It is sweet to receive words from "home"!
We are still jealously waiting for spring to arrive. I read of forsythias and daffodils in New York and look out my window to the brown grass and bare trees. (See pic of pussy willows) But what can we expect so near the Arctic Circle? It could be worse. We just read a forecast for a town on the Arctic Circle--minus 22 degrees (F, obviously). Yikes, we'll be happy with our highs in the upper thirties, low forties. It IS an improvement over last week! And well, we are seeing signs of spring, like the molting of an arctic fox we saw crossing the road last evening--right in town! The tip of his tail was still white.
We have new missionary to work with--Elder Fawcett. He keeps telling us that things are so different here from "the south" --language, customs, terrain. I don't know if we will ever get to the southern part of Sweden, but please bear in mind our experience has been entirely in the "Norrland;" just a tiny peek through our American lens.
Our outing this week took us south and west about 1 1/2 hours to petroglyphs. That's right--rock carvings. In my narrow experience, I thought Anasazi Indians had this unique distinction. Boy, was I wrong! A map at the museum showed such petroglyph sitings virtually all over the world, especially in this northern area and all the way across Russia. The petroglyphs here are about 5,000 years old. The paint was added by the scientists to help visitors see them. There are several hundred carvings scattered a river bank and two islands below a dam. The picture I have included shows a couple of boats, lots of moose, people and a fish. (By the way, the museum was not yet open for the season, but the director was there and welcomed us warmly.)
In Umeå, we were back at the pizza and kebab shop. This time one of the sister missionaries ordered a pizza with bananas! (See pic.) She said, "Swedes love bananas on all sorts of things." I had a taste and it wasn't bad, I have to admit. The tomato sauce wasn't spicy, so the main flavors were crust, ham, pineapple and mildly banana. It tasted more like a dessert to me.
The highlight of our week was taking the youth on a hike. It was their "spring vacation" and since they all live in apartments in the city, we thought they'd enjoy a day out--and they did! We returned to a couple of places we had previously hiked alone. The mountain hike was delightful, but the picnic on the beach was a bit disappointing. Despite only 37 degrees and a brisk wind off the water, we had fun and toughed it out together.
Just a comment about education here. In Sweden compulsory education ends in 9th grade--age 16. During the 9th grade year, students decide what they want to do: quit school and begin working/training or continue in a college based program. They take tests throughout the year that help qualify them for various programs. So high school is composed of students who WANT to be there and who are focused and working toward the goal of a profession. Some of the programs are law, medicine, political science, etc. Wouldn't that be wonderful to teach in such a learning environment? Hmmm. Sign me up! (No I didn't really say that!) Incidentally, if students decide to quit school and later decide they'd rather go back to school they can, but I'm not sure what the age limit is.
We are renewing our Swedish language training again, through the MTC. We will receive an online tutor for 6 months, so hopefully we will have the time to continue after we go to the office in Stockholm. (We won't need it there like we do here, though.) Anyway, our tutor (who is a native Swede) started us back at the beginning---the alphabet. Correctly saying the vowel sounds is extremely difficult--at least for us to remember. Our tutor said that is how every Swede can identify a foreigner...vowels--the key to svenska.
Because half of the district was new we played a get-to-know-you game at our district meeting this week. One of the games was to have others guess which Disney character we identify with. The stark contrast between the young missionaries and us (the only senior couple) became glaringly apparent when I was identified as the grandmother in "Mulan" and John received the appellation of Baloo in "Jungle Book." Certainly NOT how we see ourselves!
Today in my lesson with the Young Women I shared a quote by Elder Gary Stevenson, one of the 12 Apostles. "[The truths in the Book of Mormon] will strengthen your faith, fill your soul with light, and prepare you for a future you scarcely have the ability to comprehend." I love that! Reading the Book of Mormon can truly change our lives as truths about Heavenly Father's plan of happiness become apparent. It can strengthen our faith, no matter where we are in our spiritual travels. It can lift us and fill us with understanding and hope. And, I like the last part best of all, it can affect our futures in such fabulous ways that we can't even begin to imagine. John's and my lives have been so richly blessed, our understanding of life so clearly defined, and our opportunities have been so vast because of our faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so clearly taught in the Book of Mormon. It has truly blessed our lives.
Love,
Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
John and Linda
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