Temple secretary: "We have a truck here with two rooms of carpet for your apartment." (Somehow the carpet company had gotten the wrong address. The temple is about an hour south of us.)
John: "We had no notification that they were coming today. They can come here, if they are willing to help us move furniture."
Temple secretary to carpet layers: Swedish...
Temple secretary: "They don't move furniture."
After a few more phone calls and a couple of days, we finally got word that on Monday (tomorrow) the office is going to be painted and the carpet laid on Tuesday. For the next few days after that, the entire office area is going to be painted...entry, hallway, restroom and 4 rooms, then carpeted. So, I sit here at our kitchen table with squeezed into my chair that is pushed up against the refrigerator. The rest of the room looks like a hoarder's paradise. We were originally told this painting and carpeting was going to happen in November! In good faith we spent Saturday morning piling our living room and bedroom furniture into our kitchen and hallway, and spreading the Assistants' office furniture among the other offices. Hmmmmm, we'll see what tomorrow brings and fill you in next week!
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| Our kitchen. When we put the dresser into place, we there wasn't room to get the drawers back in! |
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| Relaxing in the living room! |
My faux pas of the week had to do with Sis. Nilsson's visa. Remember our experience freezing at the US Embassy a couple of weeks ago? Sister Nilsson was told that day (Thursday) that she would receive her visa in about a week. The following Monday her passport was returned, special delivery. I called her to tell her that it arrived at the office, but there was nothing else in the envelope. Patiently we have been waiting for two weeks to receive the visa. Finally, after Mission Travel contacted the President, he asked, "Can you get hold of someone at the Embassy and find out the status of her visa?" After searching on the website and waiting on hold, I finally explained the situation to an embassy employee who put me on hold to check with a supervisor. While waiting, I fingered through the passport for the first time and there, glued to a page was a Visa for the United States! I was so embarrassed. I had expected a written cover letter and an official document, similar to what I had for Sweden. (That's my only experience with a visa.) When the woman returned to the phone, I apologized, explained that I found it in the passport. We had a good laugh, then I called the President, the worried missionary, and anxious Mission Travel. Sister Nilsson leaves for the US this Wednesday!
Saturday afternoon the Andersons suggested we go to the Radio Tower for lunch. The Kaknästornet has a restaurant with a 360 degree view of Stockholm, and we have been wanting to go there, so we gladly accepted their invitation. Even though the day was a bit overcast, it was still fun to get a birds-eye view of the city and its environs, and the food was good, too!
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| Lunch on the 28th floor |
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| Sister Anderson and Sister Hales |
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| Archipelago |
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| Ferries and industrial area |
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| City of Stockholm (Maritime Museum in the foreground, embassy row on the right, City Hall (right background), Gamla Stan (center back) |
As we entered the church today someone told us that there was a family from Vermont visiting. The young family with four little children was easy to spot and I hurried over to them. "Where are you from?" "Manchester, Vermont. We are Tyson and Katherine Martin. We moved there 3 years ago. I served a mission in Sweden 14 years ago, and served here in Södertälje 10 months." I enjoyed a longer chat with Katherine, so I didn't tie up Tyson's time to visit with the ward members. As we talked, we kept finding other connections--she lived in Philadelphia, PA and Stuart, Florida, so she knows people in Vero Beach, too! It was so sweet to visit with people from "home" who know some of the same people we do! I love how the Church makes the world a smaller place!
However, as special as that chance meeting was today, my feelings go much broader and deeper than that. As I have lived in this land, meeting so many people from other countries, my appreciation for Heavenly Father's love for all people has greatly increased. I love the scripture, Alma 26:37, which states, "Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth." I know we are all God's children, He loves each person, He knows each of us, and I want to do my best to love and respect each individual as well.
