Going to Stockholm to get a NEW CAR

December 30-31, 2010

We heard that the mission got new cars. We were hoping to get one. Well the Malmo Elder’s found out they were getting one and since it was a Zone Conference, the Mission President flew them to Stockholm for the conference and then they would drive their new car home. They gave us their old one to use while they were gone. So they thought they were pretty cool to fly and get a new car while we would have the old one!! Oh well it was a car to us. Then we got word that they had a new car for us and wanted us to drive to Stockholm in the old car, stay the night and drive the new car home. This is one of many beautiful scenes of winter on our way to Stockholm.

 

Some of the Elders were arriving the night we got there. One was Elder Argyle. He was serving way up north in Umeå. I helped sister Anderson fix dinner and in comes Elder Argyle. He was probably the tallest person I have ever met. He was like a great big teddy bear and so very nice. Well, the next day we were leaving. In Sweden everyone takes off their shoes in the homes, so I went to get my shoes and next to mine were Elder Argyle’s. Can you believe the size of that shoe. Sister Anderson and I both took photos of my foot next to his shoe. I am sorry I didn’t get a picture of him. I think I heard he was 6 feet 10 inches.

 

Since it was New Years Eve, we wanted to get home as soon as we could but we had to eat somewhere; so how about a “McDonald’s”?  Here I am in front of it, and then inside with my “Big Mac”. It tasted pretty close to what I knew, but their meat is just different in Sweden. It has zero fat so it is dry. But none the less, we sure enjoyed it.

 

 

Here is Neal by our new car.  It is an Opel, Corsa. It is real small with no guts to it but it beats walking everywhere or taking buses. We are now “Free to roam around the country”

 

 

You would think that this is a covered overpass. But they have these all over Sweden and it is a glorified rest stop. This is a restaurant that goes across the freeway. They are real nice rest stops. They include a gas station, good restrooms and little stores.

Lost in the Snow

December 26, 2010

Here is Neal in front of our Church in Lund.

 

Here am I at the back of the church.

To get to church from our apartment we would walk to the bus stop about a block from our apartment and ride it for 10 minutes. (We had to be at the bus stop 30 minutes early to be sure we got on the right bus.) Then we had to walk about 3 blocks to the church. I am on the “trail” to the bus stop. We never minded the trip as it was like an adventure. Well one time Neal had to be at church earlier them me so he went on ahead of me. We only have one cell phone and he had it. When I got off the bus I could not remember which path to take as they were all covered in snow. I started out on the logical one which I realized was wrong so I turned around and could not remember even where the bus stop was I was actually frightened that I was really lost. Well here came a man and I asked him if he knew where a church was he saw my name tag and asked me if I was a Mormon and I said I was and he helped me get to the right path. I was so grateful for him; I felt it was an answer to a prayer I had offered earlier. I made it OK but was late. Neal was getting concerned but all turned out OK.

Christmas Day with the Saffer’s

December 25,2010

This is our cute little tree. Notice the straw goat. It is very Swedish to have all sizes of straw goats as ornaments, or anywhere around the house. The story goes that the Straw goat used to bring the gifts to the family before Santa Claus. They are called Julbocken (straw goats).

 

Here we are under the tree ready to open our gifts.

 

We were invited to dinner with our bishop and his wife (Henri and Kristi Saffer). They have a very long table so we could all sit together. Notice that there are bottles of Jul Must on the table!

 

She made a delicious turkey which is not the usual Christmas dinner but she wanted to make us feel at home and also at the table was Bishop Saffer’s Sister and her American husband. The whole meal was very good. Very American.

 

This is a cute photo of Neal helping the sisters’ figure out their phone card. Today is the day they get to call their families. They were getting so excited to talk to them. It also shows more of the home we were in.

 

After dinner we went upstairs to their loft where Sister Saffer wrote a beautiful Christmas Script with music. So we each had a copy and would go around the room and say our parts. In-between the parts would be songs for us to sing. Some songs were in English and some in Swedish. Bishop Saffer played the guitar when we sang. He was a musician for years with a popular band and toured all over Sweden. He also played the saxophone. On the couch are: us, Brother Saffer’s brother in law and his sister from Atlanta Georgia, (His brother in law is a transcontinental airlines pilot for Delta.) a niece, and the Saffer’s son and his wife. They are all musically inclined except for me and the brother in law!!

 

Bishop Henri and Kristi Saffer. He can really play the guitar.

 

We then went back down the stairs and I asked if they ever danced around their Christmas Tree. They said they used to when the kids were small and the kids (who are grown) got all excited and started singing all the cute songs they used to dance to I asked if they knew the “frog” song and they just burst out with great glee and started singing it. So they decided we should all dance around the “fireplace” and we did. Here is Neal and me dancing to the frog song.

 

 

This is Hannah Saffer and Sister Erickson dancing the frog dance so I could get a photo oh did we have fun.

Merry Christmas

We missed all of our family and friends but the Lord has blessed us so much and everyone has made our Christmas so nice. The people in Sweden have been wonderful to us and for that we are so grateful.

Christmas Eve With the Wiklof’s

December 24. 2010

We were invited to President Wiklof home (he is a councilor in the Stake presidency). His wife is an amazing cook. We had the traditional Swedish dinner; Swedish meatballs, with Lingonberry jam, boiled potatoes with brun sås (brown sauce) green salad, bread with sliced cheese. The bottles on the table are of Jul Must it is only sold at Christmas and Easter which is called Påst Must. Neal does not like it but I do.

They have a very funny tradition in Sweden, it is taken very seriously. After dinner they all gather in the family room and turn on the TV to watch Kalle Anka (Donald Duck.) It is the same cartoon every year. They get so excited it is hilarious. They know the cartoons by heart and start telling what is coming up. They laugh so hard it is contagious. This is watched all over Sweden on Christmas Eve!!

 

 

We then go and get our rice pudding with a strawberry sauce and whipped cream. Oh by the way they use very little sugar to sweeten the whipped cream. I love it.

 

We are with Sister Erickson in Red and Sister Page in Green.

 

This is us with the Wiklof family (pronounced Veekluf) Thomas, Neal, Mary, Kristi, Jonathon, Christoffer and Niklas. They also have a daughter in Hawaii (Natalie) and a son Mathias who is on a mission in Finland.

 

In Sweden the story goes that the father on Christmas Eve will say that he forgot to get the newspaper (or some other excuse) so leaves the house. He then dresses up like Santa and knocks on the door and has a big bag of gifts for the family and then leaves. A short time later in comes the dad and the kids are a buzz telling him that he missed Santa Clause and Santa brought them a big bag of gifts. When the kids are grown like the Wiklof kids one of the kids will go outside and get the bag. That is what Jonathon and Niklas did while we were there. In Sweden most families do not go crazy on buying gifts. They get a gift from their parents and they get one from each of their brothers and sisters Period!

 

 

The father then gets the bag and one of the kids will help pass out the gifts. When all the gifts have been passed out then they will go around the room and try to guess what is in the gift. They really have fun with this. They also really enjoy it when the person is guessing what they gave him.

 

 

Niklas was helping and saw that this one was for him. Does he look excited or what. They are a very well to do family but they keep to the Swedish traditions of not a lot of gifts. I think things are appreciated more in Sweden than in the States.

 

 

When Pres. Wiklof got to his gift from his wife he got so excited. It was so cute. He grabbed the bag and just held it tight all night long. I finally asked him what it was and he again got so excited he said “It is a new comforter for the bed.”(In Sweden instead of having a big bedspread that covers the whole bed, they have like 2 twin size ones, one comforter for each of them. So he was excited to have a new one for him.)

 

After all the gifts were opened and the wrapping papers cleaned up Jonathon wanted us to go out Christmas caroling with him. He brought in huge bags of really good candy and away we went to 5 families. This is the Petersson family. She is the Relief Society President and several of the kids are in the YSA center with us.

 

 

Hey, Carolyn notice the tablecloth on the coffee table, all the food was good no fish balls!! They do eat A LOT of pickled herring and raw salmon but it is good.

Christmas Program at the Nilsson’s

December 23, 2010

Before we went to the Nilsson’s we were out and about in Lund. Here are some snow photos of us stomping through the snow!!

I love the cute homes on our street. This home reminds me of my mom; she had curtains like this in our home and she also loved flowers. They change out the flowers in the window according to the season

Sometime it is a challenge to get out of our apartment due to the snow that pile up on the outside of our main door into the apartment complex. Then we walk several blocks in the snow and under the RR Bridge and down to the end of the blocks and across the main street to our center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nilsson family invited us to their home for a Christmas Program. They are very musical. (They are the ones that had us over for the 1^st advent candle lighting, in November.) She called people to come and many were asked to perform.

This family was so cute singing together.

One of their friends put on a magic show that was very impressive.

Jakob Nilsson, ?, Simon Bentzen

 

Sister Page singing out of the Christmas song book that Sister Nilsson put together with all of the favorite Christmas Carols. They were of course all in Swedish so that was fun to hear. We all had the songs books to use when we all sang the Christmas carols.

Brother Nilsson reading us the Christmas Story

We all had a sing a long and then Neal closed the evening with

“Oh Holy Night”

It was a lovely evening with several more preforming instruments and also singing then we ate lots of goodies and visited.

Our 1st Baptism

December 18, 2010

The baptism was in Malmo, which is about 20 miles from Lund. (It is the 3^rd largest city in Sweden) To get there we took a train to Malmo and then walked to a bus stop, caught the bus then walked several blocks to the Church. We went past the BRIO Offices. All the buildings have lights in their windows. Almost every house has the lights in all of their windows too. This is the only Christmas decoration they do. No such thing as colored lights on the outside of the homes. No fancy decorations on their lawns just very simple and nice. The lights can be seen in the windows of homes that are way back from the road it is very pretty to see all the lights in the windows as we traveled on the train.

 

Elder Webster and Elder Winegar taught Michael Okafor and so we attended his baptism. He was a very nice humble man and was so excited to be a part of the church.

Elder Webster, Michael and Elder Winegar

(Elder Webster is a grandson to Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the 12)

I will tell you about religion in Sweden. Most Swedes are atheists. They are not interested in any church. We have talked with some on the street and even our postman and they all say the same thing. They do not believe in God or religion. They only believe in themselves and in their families. The Lutheran Church is the Church of Sweden so some might have their babies blessed at the church and then they never go back. They are very happy good people but totally without religion. Our neighbor who is studying to be a Lutheran Priest said that Japan and Sweden are the 2 most atheistic countries in the world. That really surprised me.

So with that said most of the baptisms in Sweden are immigrants who are hungry for the gospel. Some have never even heard of Jesus or even the bible. They are very humble and teachable. It takes time for them to learn because they are starting from scratch.

Another little fact about Sweden, most Swedes do not get married, they just live together. They have children and are good parents, but they do not like to get married. I will have to find out why! But this is what is interesting. It is almost impossible to adopt a child in Sweden. Whether you are married or not they keep and raise their children. So most all children are wanted when they are born. They teach birth control in the schools and are all for sex just as long as you protect yourself so they give them what they need!! They are not embarrassed about not being married. We know a couple that cannot have children and would like to adopt but they will probably have to go to another country to get a baby.

 

Our pretty tree in front of the Grand Hotel

Lund

December 18, 2010

We enjoying walking to the park and feeding the ducks. The Pond is 90% frozen. They just have a small area to swim in but they like to swim is freezing water and they like us to give them bread.

This is the path that winds through the park.

 

We decided to go to the store. I asked the clerk if he had yams and this is what he gave me. Yikes that is huge so I found the sweet potatoes in the lower bin from the Yams. Whew!

Then we realized we had more bags then we had hands!! The bags were heavy and 2 of them were paper and we were afraid they were going to rip. The box was awkward; it was the stand for our Christmas tree. We were only a block away from the bus stop and then 2 blocks from the bus stop to our apartment. We made it. The yellow bike in the background is the mail bike!

 

Next we got our mail and had a slip to go to the post office to pick up a package Emily had sent us for Christmas. We walked to the post office and got our package. We then went past the train station and past some cute shopping areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we went to the Center and worked there until 9 pm. This is the street we walk down every day. We walk under the train overpass, which always excites Neal. I just thought this was so beautiful; unfortunately a camera just does not do some photos the justice they need. It was like a winter wonderland with the trees covered in ice and snow. (Notice the train on the train overpass.)