week 54 Chaos!

Somethings have to get worse before they get better.  Remodeling and moving are prime examples of chaos before order.  Last week I showed you our kitchen full of furniture.  Monday morning we added our bed and nightstands to the pile.

Later that day the Facilities Management Coordinator, Björn, came to check things out.  (Facilities Management is the department that manages all of the Church's buildings.)  "You'll need to have the entire office empty for the carpet people by tomorrow morning."  I had dutifully packed up my office in anticipation for the eventual painting and carpet installation, which we thought was going to happen one room at a time.  Nope.  The entire office was to be done all at once.  We started hauling stuff out--mine first because it was ready.  (Which unfortunately, means that all my furniture and files,  are now at the far end of the porch, buried by everything else.) Wisely, I took the small things down to the clubhouse for storage, so I could access them in case this mess lasted more than a couple of days.  After break for a quick dinner, followed by office meeting, we reconvened in the office.  By the time we were finished, this is what the porch looked like.

Monday the two rooms in our apartment were painted.  Tuesday John's and my offices were painted and all the carpet in our apartment and the office was removed.   The installers had a machine that scraped the carpet off the floor and cut it into strips.  (All the carpet was glued down, rather than stretched and tacked.)  Wednesday the carpet in the bedroom and half of the office was completed.  Thursday the rest of the carpet was installed, but the painting was not finished.

To add to the confusion of everything, it snowed--the biggest snowstorm of the  year.  It had been snowing Monday and Tuesday but only accumulated couple of inches.  By the time it finished on Wednesday we had about 10 inches!   And it was COLD--the coldest it had been all year--single digits Fahrenheit.  Although the conditions were harsh, the cold was a blessing because the snow was dry and all the stuff on the porch is ok.  (It had been covered with tarps, but they blew off during the storm.)  And, yes, if you are wondering, as I write this, most of the stuff is still on the porch, as the office still has two rooms to be painted!

Sunday morning we heard these trucks, and were surprised to see a giant snowblower cleaning up the snow from the street.

Even though the office work had to take a hiatus, other responsibilities continued, and nothing was routine here, either.  A new couple, the Whiteheads, arrived on Tuesday, and the Donohoos vacated their apartment for them.  (Because we were staying in the Clubhouse, the Donohoos had to be housed in a hotel until they moved Thursday morning.) That evening we picked up the two Swedish sisters who were temporarily serving in Sweden and took them to the mission home to spend the night before their flights to England and Pennsylvania.  Wednesday morning we headed to the airport at 6:30.  On our way home from the airport we stopped to pick up a moving van we had rented.  Naturally, with the other confusion, a move had to take place, too!  The Andersons met us at the office to take the van to a vacant apartment to collect the furniture there for the Donohoo's new apartment.  Meanwhile, we were supposed to take the Whiteheads to Migration to register them in Sweden.  We were already running late and as soon as we entered the highway we realized we would never make our appointment.  In fact, no telling how late we would be.  Three big semis were blocking the road because they couldn't make it up the hill.  We pulled off the next exit and bagged the idea to going to the Migrationsverket.  The problem now was how to let the Whiteheads know.  They didn't have a working telephone yet!  Fortunately, another couple lives about 5 minutes away from them, so we called them and asked them to deliver the message.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...uh, the office, our apartment had been completed--joyous day!  We moved our bedroom furniture back into our room, enjoying every step on the new carpet.

 After lunch the Andersons arrived with the van and we helped load the rest of the stuff that was needed from the office basement "storage."   At last the van was ready.  A dinner celebration welcoming the Whiteheads waited for our arrival.  When we returned home, we had just one more thing to do...clean up the clubhouse, because the Johnsons were arriving the next day to use it.  Exhausted, we fell into bed.

The next morning we headed toward Skövde, across the country about 5 hours west.  Fortunately, the storm was over and roads were clear.  John drove the van.  Unloading began about 3:00.   Thankfully, there was only one stairway to their sunny, spacious apartment.

Taking a break, waiting for the elders (with young muscles) to arrive and help with the heavy furniture!

That evening as Sister Anderson and I dragged our suitcases into the elevator of the hotel,  a happy young man hesitated to step inside.  "There's room for you."' A conversation ensued.  "You're from the US?"  "Yes, Nevada and New York."  "I have many friends in the States."  "Oh, have you spent time in the US?"  "No, I served a mission in Taiwan and many of my colleagues were American."  "Mission?"  "Yes, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Mormons."  He hadn't seen our name tags which were covered with scarves.  After a delightful conversation and meeting his colleague, another returned missionary, Jakob, the young man, Abel, said, "There's so few Mormons in Sweden and you just met two of us in this hotel!"  (Jakob and Abel work for "Save the Children" and were working that part of Sweden with their teams.) Another small world moment.

Scandic Hotels are the largest chain in Sweden and are usually very modern buildings.  This was the first one we've stayed in that was a renovated historic hotel.

Friday afternoon when we arrived home, we set up makeshift offices, so we could catch up on some of our work.  Two rooms still need to be painted, so we can't get our fruition into the office yet--still buried.  (The painter had another assignment on Friday, but he's supposed to be back on Monday.)

I was so glad to find a table I could use and to have my computer access!  Still, I'm limited in what I can do without my files, the laser printer, and mailing labels.  Missionaries are missing their mail, as it piles up.

Yesterday, we went to the temple in the morning and drove through Skogskyrdogård.  The largest cemetery in Stockholm.  It is noted for its integration of nature and architecture, this unique cemetery has been honored as a World Heritage site.  Stuart wants to see it when he visits, so we will probably return; however, I snapped this picture showing the grave markers beneath the lofty spruces.

They are rather difficult to see, but there are headstones at the foot of all the trees in the background.  I wonder how they can dig plots with all the tree roots.

Today we were invited to our Iranian friend's home for dinner after church.  She is a pharmacist, owns her own home and drives a car. A converted Muslim, she has been a member of the Church for 17 years.  Like other converts from Islam, she can never return to her homeland (and also for that reason I do not share the picture I took or use her or her daughter's names). Our lively, open dinner discussion revealed the Persian culture: warm, hospitable and family-oriented.  She told how once when she was with her father on a train in Iran, they sat with a soldier and a student.  When it came time to eat, he bought everyone a meal.  She asked him why he did that, and he explained that he had more money than they did, and he wasn't going to sit and eat in front of them.  Another time, while  living in Sweden, a total stranger, who was also Iranian, overheard her talking to her daughter of the dilemma they were having looking for a place to live while she was job-hunting.  The man offered them his apartment for the two months she needed to be there at a nominal price and found another place for him to stay during that time.  He gave her his key and offered his car. No background check. No strings attached. Just good will. She also hotly defended the Iranian people, who continue to suffer under the hand of a despot.  Her family fled the country shortly after the Ayatollah came to power and her brother was imprisoned and later killed. Recently her daughter, who returned from a trip to Iran with her father, said that there were many open behaviors in public of quiet rebellion to the regime.  For example, most women wore their hijabs so that their hair showed--a strict no, no.  She felt safe in the country and didn't see the police presence that her mother had seen in her past visit in 2003.  Our friend shared that her family has been supportive of her membership in the Church and respects and admires the doctrines.  They are Shiite Muslims by tradition, like many others are, rather than by committed practice.  (As she said that, I realized that when the Middle East opens for missionaries, many people will readily accept the truths of the gospel.  Already the Church as missionaries in Turkey!)  Perhaps her most provocative comment was that there is only one border between good and evil.  That border does not exist between nations or places, but only in man. Each individual determines where the border between good and evil is drawn in himself.

At the end of our stay, John shared Doctrine and Covenants 58:3, 4, tying it into our discussion.

"Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.  

For after much tribulation come the blessings.  Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand."

Indeed, we all face challenges, and being here has opened my eyes and my heart to the desperate challenges so many people face in this world.  My first-world problems of being inconvenienced with painting, carpet installations, and helping friends move are not really problems at all.  Yet, despite whatever challenges we face, we can take comfort in knowing that the chaos will end and peace and comfort, even glory, will take its place! Sometimes we don't recognize those blessings clearly or experience them as soon as we would like, but they will always eventually come.  We can count on that.