Church Talks, 11/11/12

It is 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning and I feel compelled to be at the computer and describe what happened last week - especially Sunday, November 11, 2012.

It started the previous Sunday when Brother Krylborn asked Kari and I to speak in church on the 11th on building upon the rock as discussed in the scriptures. He asked if I wanted to do it in English or in Swedish. When I said Swedish, he tried to convince me to do it in English and said that he would provide a translator for me in case I needed one. Mom even discussed the issue with me. For several days, I struggled whether to do it in Swedish or in English. I had decide already that just before we went home, a month from now, I would to bear my testimony. But I knew that one more month would give me that much more Swedish experience even though in August I gave up seriously studying Swedish. I had made that decision because I knew that I wouldn't be able to understand and to speak it well enough to be useful before going home and that I would never use it again.

By Wednesday, I had completely made up my mind that I would give my talk in Swedish even if it meant just giving my testimony and sitting down. Wednesday night I called the temple shift leader and asked if I could have Thursday and Friday off to work on the talk. On Thursday I set out the Swedish scriptures, opened lds.org to the English scriptures and opened a Swedish/English translation program called bab.la. Then I started writing in Swedish. Mom said that if I did it in Swedish that she wanted it to me my talk and not hers. However, on Friday night I had pleaded so much that she consented to edit it for grammar and spelling. On Saturday, she had me read it for pronunciation. By then, I knew that I could succeed if I just read the talk. (I have never written out a talk in my life and read it. It just doesn't feel natural.)

Västerhaninge Chapel

We arrived at the Chapel about twenty minutes early and sat on the stand in seats behind the bishopric. I watched the members come in and take their seats. Many of them were people that we work with on a weekly and even on a daily basis in the temple. They were so beautiful. I thought of having to leave them and it emotionally broke my heart. I knew then that I wanted to say something to them that was more than what was written on my paper.

 

The music seemed to be more beautiful than ever.  The opening song was Jesus för världen givit sitt liv - Jesus for the World gave His Life. I listened intently as Mom gave her talk on faith-building experiences as a child in Sweden that built her faith in Christ. We all know how strong a testimony mom has, and her expression of it to the audience was riveting. What she said meant so much to her and to the Swedish audience.

The Swedish members value music very much in their lives and and our ward uses a special number almost every Sunday in sacrament meeting. Every Sunday I wait in anticipation of what beautiful number will testify of Christ and of the members' testimonies. I will miss that back home. This Sunday two young sisters from an amazingly strong family (Elsa and Hanna Henretta) played Han lever min förlossare - I know that My Redeemer Lives - on the piano and flute. By then my heart was so full.

When I got up, I just had to express my love for the members, the beautiful music, and for mom's touching remarks. I wasn't concerned about my Swedish because there was something of more importance that had to be said. I was the same way when I was giving the talk - it was a testimony of Christ and it had to be given from my spirit to their spirits. I couldn't just read it without looking directly at them. They were so beautiful, and the temple Prsident and his wife were sitting there giving me so much support through their expressions. When I sat down, I knew that a small miracle had just happened and I was so thankful to the Holy Ghost for His help to help me express my love and testimony of Jesus Christ and of God's work.

As we sang the most fantastic Blott en dag ett ögonglick i sänder -Only a Day a Moment at a Time - written by Lina Sandell-Berg, 1832-1903 with Music by Oscar Ahnfelt, I was completely "overwhelmed" by the Holy Ghost.

Mom said later that during my talk, Brother Krylborn handed her a program (with a pen) and written on it the question, "How does he do it?" I have reflected on that very same thing now for two days. The one and only answere is that the Holy Ghost was there and joined us all together in love and in testimony of the greatness of our Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, their great plan for us, and our part in fulfilling the plan for ouselves and for God's other children.

God's power was shown through the Holy Ghost what we on earth experience and perceive as a miracle. The great blessing for me is that I was able to be a part of it in that moment - I again experienced a part of God's joy.

The Opera 10/27/2012

Kari wanted to go to the Stockholm opera with Eva when she was here, but there were no tickets available during the times they could go. Kari was kind of sad not to have been able to go, so she asked Sister Oscarson and the sister missionaries here at the time if they would like to see Sleeping Beauty (Törnrosa in Swedish meaning Briar Rose).

On Saturday October 27, four enthusiastic sisters headed off to Stockholm and to the Royal Opera via train. Below is proof that they were at least in front the Opera (unless the photo was manipulated).
From left to right is Sister Oscarson, Kari, Sister Thatcher, and Sister Johnson.

I don't know if the other husbands got any sleep that night or not, but I didn't. When Kari got home she was so excited to tell me what it was like - the trip up, the walk over, orchestra warm-up, the building, the intermission, the train ride home, etc. I must admit that I was excited myself for her excitement.

But, back to the sleepless night.... It really may not have been because of the wives, but because of ourselves. We decided that since the women were having a night out that we would have a night in at the President's house in a room that someone designated, "The Man Cave." We watched some Pink Panther crazy movie, ate chips and a montrous 7-layer dip with potato chips, cheetos, pop corn, and topped off with A&W rootbeer bought in Sweden. Maybe it was just our stomachs that kept us up.

I'm sure that our wives were sound asleep, smiles on their faces... dreaming of sweet memories.

Temple Patrons

Almost every week a regional portion of Norway, Sweden, or Latvia come to the temple by bus, boat, plane, or car - many of them with entire families including you children. Parents trade off going to the temple and staying with the children, or, another group member will take care of the children. The Temple has four large rooms which allows the groups to conduct sessions by themselves and to be lead by themselves. An amazing amount of work is done with an amazing amount of commitment and enthusiasm.

This past week Latvians came who have the greatest distance to travel with generally the greatest amount of sacrifice. Every group comes and participates with the greatest showing of love. The Latvians were no exception. This time they brought traditional food with them to serve an evening dinner to the Temple Presidency and to the temple missionaries. The night before, on Wednesday, the Presidency and the missionaries honored them back by preparing a dinner for them. On Thursday night, we had a testimony meeting before the dinner lead by the Latvians.

It is so clear that we are a small but very important part of God's plan and that the Church is picking up momentum in phenominal ways towards events that we can only begin to imagine. It is absolutely so exciting to be participating in and to help create just a little part of one of the footsteps and to be able to see the footprints being created. Being here and being involved in a small temple, we are able to see the amount of resources that the Church commits to this great movement. This is the Lord's Church as no one in their right mind would attempt, commit to, undertake, and support such an ambitious and gigantic mission affecting all of God's children through eternities.

Tomte

Swedish folklore has it that there are little unseen Tomtes living in the forests and near homes that watch over family members, their animals, and crops. Kari and I decided that we would take home a replica of what a Tomte might look like.

We sat him on our living room cabinet. When our Temple President and his Wife came over to Kari's dinner invitation, we told them that we had trapped a real live Tomte in the forest graveyard near the temple. His wife asked what we used for bait. I said that I used a neighborhood kid since Tomtes especially like to help young people.

Below are several pictures of our Tomte in the Swedish forest where he was living (we have since released him and kept only his replica).

 

Kari's Relative 10/22/2012

Last Monday, October 22, we had the wonderful experience of meeting one of Kari's relatives in Stockholm. It was her mother's cousin, Kurt Kressner. Kari's grandmother was a twin and Kurt is the son of the twin, Agnes Gjednes.

It started when Kurt in Sweden asked Kari's mother for some geneology of the family. Jannicke sent the geneology to him. Kari decided to say hello to him when we are in Sweden. She tried calling several times but couldn't get him so she almost gave up thinking that maybe he had was on vacation, moved, or worse died. (He was 93 years old.) Then Jannicke gave Kari the email address that she had for him. Kari sent a message and Kurt responded with an invitation to his home.

We took two trains to get to his apartment, crossing a beautiful lake to the island of Lidingö, and walking up a set off quiet back roads. We turned a corner and were in front of the entrance to Millesgården on the left which is a beautiful park of statues by Carl Milles (a famous sculpture), Foresta (a famous restaurant) on the right, and Kurt's apartment between the two.

We rang the bell and he met us. He took us to an apartment adjoining his where we met Irene Söderblom. Irene was just finishing watching the end of a movie. Kurt whispered that the actress in the movie was in fact Irene. Irene is now also 92 or 93 years old and had been in 17 movies that were made in the 1940's and 50's. She was a beautiful starring actress and is well recognized and admired today. She is frequently in social media (along with Kurt who accompanies her).

Kurt invited us to have dinner at the famous Foresta restaurant where we had an exquisite dinner of thick grilled salmon, grilled asparagus, out-of-world sauce, and new potatoes. The grilled taste with the sea salt was one of the best meals I have experienced. During the tourist season the restaurant is difficult to get in to, but that night we were early and also beat the crowd that is there even in the non-tourist season. The picture below is Kari and Kurt in the Restaurant.

After dinner, we returned to the apartment where Kurt showed us pictures of his family. Pictures of his mom, brothers, his son, etc. Afterwards while they were talking, I took this peaceful night shot from their apartment balcony.

Their balcony overlooks a bay where many ships come and go to other countries like Finland, Latvia, etc. Across the bay is also a very successful telescope retailing company that he started and is now run by his son. Their company building is now being demolished by Stockholm to enlarge the bay's commercial services.

I snapped this shot of Irene, Kurt, and Kari before we left. Kurt is amazingly phsically fit at 93 years old. And Kari says that he looks much like he did when she last saw him 50 years ago and she sees features of his mother in his face.

Our visit to Sweden has been an absolute delight mostly because of the wonderful people that we have met and because of the marvelous services that we have been blessed to do in the temple.

Kari's College Roomate 9/29/12

A month ago (time is passing quickly) Kari was finally able to meet face-to-face with a fellow student at their University in Stockholm. Eva and Kari were companions and roomed together when their class of physical education students participated in extra-curriculum activities. For example, they went on several ski trips. One trip was a week-long ski trip where it took them a whole day of skiing to get from one cabin to the next through some nasty weather. (Their instructor let them go by themselves.)

After graduation, Eva taught physical ed for a few years then went back to school (education is free in Sweden) and became a medical researcher for a company until she retired. She and Kari wrote periodically to each other over the years and decided to get together when Kari came to Sweden. Eva lives about 3 hours south of Västerhanige where we are living. Finally, on the last weekend of September they met after 50 years in Stockholm at the train station, had lunch, went to a museum, and talked. 

Eva came back to our apartment, stayed over night with us, went to church with us the next day, and had a wonderful time walking through the historic gravesite in our forest. They went through and chatted about pictures that Kari had from their University days. Below is a picture of Kari and Eva next to the Stockholm Temple in front of its beautiful landscaping.

Memories of good friends and reunions are joyous moments!

Meeting Old Neighbors 9/18/12

I should be heading for bed, but there is one more thing that we did this week that I need to relate. When the children visited Sweden this summer, Mom took them to visit the apartment building where she lived as a child. As she was telling about it, a couple went up to the door to go inside. Kari went up to them and explained that she had lived there as a child and asked if she could show us inside. The couple said sure and let us in. Below is the apartment building. We went up to the third floor to her former apartment. As we looked around, Kari remarked that her former neighbors still lived across the hall. We knocked but no one was home. We left but decided to call and visit them later - such as at the end of summer perhaps when they would return from their summer cabin.

Kari called them after the first of September and reached the Slagbrands who said that they would be delighted to see her again. Last Tuesday, September 18th, we went up to Stockholm, quickly visited Haga park where the Lindbäck family played and picnicked (we will return and spend more time another day), then we went over and visited Anders and Britta Slagbrand.

 

 

 Anders is 83 and Britta is 85. They are in extremely great shape and doing very well. Britta was born in that apartment on the third floor and has lived there all her life. (Apartments are very difficult to get. There are waiting lists of about seven years to get one.) Of course Kari and they talked over old times while eating goodies and drinking a black currant drink that Britta had made from currants grown at their cabin. When we were leaving, Kari just had to take the 2-3 person elevator (more if you are kids or maybe pack in super tight). I should have gotten a picture from further back that showed their apartment door also. Anyway you can see that mom was super pleased.

The Slagbrands (and Britta's mother who also lived in the apartment) had been very good neighbors that had taken an interest in the Lindbäck family and the two little girls. Years later you could still feel the love that existed between them.

The goodbyes with good hugs and hand holding were very tender!