We have begun the week and ended the week with conferences. As I sat waiting for the meeting to start Saturday night, I glanced around. Everything seemed and felt the same as at home. Chairs filled the cultural hall, people were joyfully greeting others, especially those they don't see each week. The familiar prelude music gathered us, and the meeting took shape with the same organization and the same doctrine being taught. It is so comforting to have this uniformity. Only the headphone reminded me that I wasn't at home.
However, the meeting Monday morning was different, but only because I don't have the opportunity to meet with an apostle on a regular basis. With the 70+ sack lunches we had prepared, we arrived early only to find the building still locked.
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| Preparing cheese sandwiches for the sack lunches. If you look closely, you can see everyone smiling. We love our work! |
We had allowed plenty of time to navigate the commuter traffic, forgetting that it was a Red Day (public holiday) and there was almost no traffic! But we weren't the only ones to arrive early. Shortly after us, the missionaries began coming, walking down the street from the train station. The first were from Örebro. They had gotten up at 3:30 in order to be ready (looking their best...they were sisters), walk to the train station (the buses weren't running at that hour), and arrive on time. Soon about 30 missionaries had gathered on the street, happily greeting each other in the warm and welcome morning sun. What a sweet scene!
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| Sisters Chapdelaine and Larson, from our district, gathering outside the Grubbängen Chapel before the meeting. |
About 30 more arrived within minutes after the doors were open. We had been asked to be seated by 8:30. Promptly, Elder and Sister Renlund arrived with President and Sister Youngberg. The first thing Elder Renlund did was invite everyone in to the cultural hall for a picture. (Thanks to the POEs, everything was set up and ready to go.)
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| Too bad the cell phone camera didn't have better quality on this photo. |
After the picture he invited all of us to shake his hand and introduce ourselves, telling our names and where we were from, as we entered the chapel. Personally meeting him and his wife was a tender moment for each missionary, as their warmth and love enveloped us. He said that he had 4 messages that he was prompted to share:
1. "On behalf of the Lord and His Church, I thank you. Never forget on this day an Apostle was sent here to thank you."
2. "You have been called of God to serve here--right now--and you have a right and an obligation to know that for yourself. And when you do, write it down." Then he told the process the apostles go through as they make mission calls. He referred to it as, "an overwhelming task." He said, "The Lord won't let us make a mistake." Then he shared an experience of assigning one sister. He felt she should go to Europe, and made an assignment. He made a couple more assignments and suddenly didn't feel good about her. He went back, read her application again, and felt like her assignment should be Italy and assigned her to Milan. A little while later, he again was bothered by that assignment. He went back through the process and assigned her to Rome. From then on he felt fine about her. Several weeks later, her grandfather came to see him. (He didn't know the family, but recognized the unusual surname.) The grandfather shared that when the girl was 9 years old she had gone to the MTC with her family when her brother was going on a mission. She walked up to the big map, put her finger on Rome and said, "I am going to serve a mission there!"
3. "A call to a mission president is one of the most sacred things done in the church....President and Sister Youngberg have been called of God to serve here and now and they love you to pieces."
4. Lastly, he bore testimony that Pres. Nelson is the prophet, sharing his experience in the succession process. He said, "I trusted the process, but I came fasting and hoping it would be clear to me." He had a marvelous spiritual witness and reminded us that was can receive the same witness that Pres. Nelson is the chosen prophet today.
Then he went on to share several scriptures, stories, principles, and conduct a Question and Answer period. It was a marvelous meeting!
Tuesday morning at office meeting, President Youngberg shared one more story that Elder Renlund shared while staying at the Mission Home. Sweden is a tough mission. There are few converts, compared to many other countries; however, the work continues to move forward. The missionaries are influencing countless people and lives are changing. In an effort to remind us that the effect of the work the missionaries do cannot be measured, he shared a story he experienced in Ethiopia. While there he was talking to a taxi driver who recognized who he was. (I'm not sure if the taxi driver was the subject of the story or a member of the church.) Anyway, the driver told him that an Ethiopian had gone to Uppsala, Sweden for college. While there, he joined the church. After finishing his degree, he returned home to Ethiopia, to a large city where there were no members of the church. Today, there are 3 growing branches! We, missionaries, never know the influence we are having!
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| After office meeting, the office elders helped the President put together the new grill. (Elders Jarman, Lee, President Youngberg, Harden, Berlin, and Liljenquist.) These are also the elders that live at the office above us. |
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| Playing kubb in the back yard of the Mission Home. It was another red day--May 1st. |
Office work has been a little slow this week, so by Friday, I was really anxious to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. Date night took us, along with thousands of other people, to Kungsgården in Stockholm where the cherry blossom trees are in full bloom! The scene pales to the Tidal Basin in Washington DC, but the trees are nothing short of glorious in this northern clime! Here are a few scenes from our evening out.
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| Kungsgården, Stockholm |
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| Under the spring canopy! |
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| Lovely, delicate cherry blossoms |
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| I love this view of the city from the E-4 highway. |
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| This little canal with a marina of wooden boats situated under the bridge by the E-4 caught our eye. |
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| We decided to get closer to the city by going to the bridge in Hornstull, pictured in the previous picture. |
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| Lastly, we went to Skinnarsparken which has a rock hilltop that overlooks the city to the north and east, across from the Town Hall and adjacent to Gamla Stan. We arrived just as the sun was setting. |
Today we enjoyed the Sunday session of Stake Conference. Again, the spirit of being with so many members filled me with joy. I love being able to join with others, knowing we share the same beliefs, the same testimony, and the same love for Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Even though we are all different in so many ways, we are united in purpose, and it is that way throughout the entire world. To me, it is another proof of the truthfulness of the Church, for "no unhallowed hand can stop this work from progressing." I am so grateful to be part of it!
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| Elders Carlson and Olson, Sisters Manning and DeMordaunt, our Södertälje Ward Missionaries |
