Sweden 6/22/12 and 6/23/12

Time has gone so fast that I almost lose track of it. Here it is already Saturday night 10 pm in Sweden. Several things of interest:

Normally, we as volunteers would have Friday and Saturday off when the temple is usually open but we had a surprise of about 30 single adults from many countries including as far away as Britain and Estonia come wanting to go through the temple on Friday and Saturday. So, we were asked to work in the mornings which we did. I have done several ordinance already in English, Swedish, and Spanish. Talk about getting thrown in the middle of deep water and being asked to swim. However, it is very challenging and certainly fun.

Another thing is that it is Midsummer festivities. So, Friday afternoon we took the train to Skansen where mom got her to-die-for waffles and ice cream cones. We didn't make it in time to see the raising of the may pole, but we did see some dancing then we walked around while listen to the traditional music and songs. Of course as we walked around mom was humming and singing to the music. Little girl grown up.

Going to Skansen we past the grave site where morfar was buried and the church where the funeral was held.

There is a retired Swedish member couple here where the wife has a bad back and must lay down much of the time. Consequently they can't do much service in the Church.  So they do special things for the rest of the temple workers like take them shoping to larger stores in other towns where the prices are less for groceries, etc. Well, today for Midsummer, they threw a barbeque with all kinds of other good Swedish foods -  pickled herring, salmon, mackrel, meatballs, little wieners, fresh little potatoes (big deal at this time of the year) with sour cream and dill, cake, etc. Everything was delightful. It must of cost them several hundred dollars as food is very expensive. They are very good and gracious people.

Mom had a very special occasion in the temple today which could have made the whole trip worthwhile. Unfortunately, I can't explain the whole thing here. She wrote an email to Jannicke with a full explanation, but in Swedish so I can't forward it to you. In essence, when she was a little girl a member's wife got TB and had to leave town for treatment. They had two sets of twins. One set was 1 years old.  Mom's parents took care of one of those twins for over a year. Well, today mom was standing as host in the foyer of the temple when she saw somebody that looked very familiar about twenty feet away. At the same time, both realized who each other were. Needless to say there was a lot of joy. They lady was one of the older twins who had married an American and was living in Wyoming now. She was here in Sweden for the marriage of her son to a Swedish girl in the temple. Mom had no clue that she was here and could have been in another part of the temple and could have missed her completely. It just "happened" that both were in the right place at the right time - a tiny or a big miracle depending on one's perspective and involvement.

Talk to you later, good night from a long ways away!
Love, Mom and Dad