Missionary Week #6

Missionary Week #6 – Monday - October 22 – Sunday - October 28, 2018

Monday October 22, 2018 – We MOVED!

The Apartment Couple – Elder & Sister Clouse came to the Mission Office and we packed up all of our things in the two cars and moved to our new apartment in Bromma.  It’ s an old building that has been fully refurbished – so everything is new.  In fact, the parking lot is not finished yet, and neither are all of the apartments – there are 2 other families that live here – none of which we have seen yet!  The landlord says the parking should be ready in two weeks – we shall see.  The car we have is shared by us and the other two couples in Records Preservation – all living in different areas.  It is good to be out of suit cases and finally settled in.  This will be our home until March 17, 2020!  (That may change but that is our scheduled release date – in other words our GOING HOME DATE!) 

On Tuesday, we went back to work.  I have taken some pictures of the whole process that we have to go through to get these records ready to “capture” on our cameras.  We have worked on different types of records.  The first week we were capturing out of the Orphanage books.  Since we set up our two new cameras – one couple The Whiteheads now work on the books – because on their floor they have the book cradle/camera set up.  On another floor The Borgs work on Military records – which is actually medical records of the boys who were in the military.  Here in Sweden when a boy is born he is “registered” for military duty.  When he is old enough it is a mandatory 2 years (I believe).  Some of these records are for boys who were unable to serve because of illness/injury or even died before they became of age. (I will have to find out what the age requirement is).  So the “medical” records are either ekg’s or doctors forms as to why the boy can not serve.  We are working on records from several parishes – right now it’s Tyska – St. Gertruds parish.  When people move they had to tell the pastor where they were going and he would put them down in the “Moving Out” records and the new parish would log them in to their “Moving In” records.  But I am amazed at what is in the records for each person.  It may include a beautiful Confirmation record, letters from the people asking for help, passport books – including pictures in a few.  One was a letter from the pastor informing a wife that her husband had been found deceased in his apartment – he had been working with a circus and was found dead.  Very sad. 

This project will last us a few more weeks and then we will probably help with the military boxes – they need to be completed by December and there are tons.  It’s an amazing job!  To handle records as old as 1750’s to some of these have been 1920s and 30s.  I found 2 that were written in English (like the one about the man in the circus) I have to stop clicking and read.  It’s a good thing the rest are in different languages.  I have seen Russian, German and of course Swedish.  I would never get done!   I will try to send the pictures of our work – it may take several emails!

This week we were able to go to the Mission President’s house for a Senior Couple Get together.  The Mission President’s wife baked a ham and potatoes and the rest was pot luck.  It was a beautiful home close by the Mission Office In Enebyberg.  We had a wonderful night getting to know the other couples.  There were 15 of us there.  One couple had just come in last week and they live so far south they couldn’t come – it’s over a 5 ½ hour drive.  We also had an activity at our Jacobsberg Ward and they just had us introduce ourselves and tell a little bit about where we came from and what we do and why we are in Sweden. There were 6 Missionaries (Us included and The Borgs are in our Ward) and the two young men who serve in our ward.)  Then there were 6 ward members that attended.  Some of the stories were remarkable – One older gentlemen is a real joker.  He told us he was a boxer, but he is to old now to take us down!  He apologizes for not knowing how to speak English but when he found out my grandmother was from Sweden he said “Then you should learn Swedish!”  I agree!  There was another man from Iran who was a Muslim Sunny – not sure how to spell it but he left the Muslim faith to become a Baptist – which is totally against the Karan and he was hunted and almost killed – he told his whole story – it was like we were in the middle of a James Bond or Jason Bourne Movie!  He should make a movie.  He finally ended up in Sweden because the U.N. helped him get out of Iran and Turkey.  We are so blessed to not have to worry about being kidnapped or chased around!  What a story that was.  The Young missionaries and most everyone in our ward are willing to translate for us. 

This morning John had to talk in Church and the 1^st Counselor in the Bishopric translated for him.  Today in our Relief Society class (ladies’ classes) The Bishops wife translated for me and another lady translated for a Spanish speaking lady who had just come back to church after having her first baby.  She wanted to Thank everyone for helping her when she had the baby, I understood all she was saying and it was in Spanish! 

Last night we attended a Baptism for “Jack” I don’t know his last name they just call him “Jack” but it was a very nice service and his Father (who isn’t a member) even came to be with him.   Jack is a school teacher.  Afterward, there was a lot of treats served and all his friends from work had come and a lot of the Young Single Adults from Stockholm came to be with him.  It was really fun and great food!  

Then we had to go to IKEA!  The new stove we have is an induction stove.  I had one pan that would work on it!  So we had to go get a different skillet and a small pan at IKEA.  Most of the furnishings and dishes in our apartment are from IKEA!  They have great meatballs and Hot dogs!  And of course Chocolate! 

We miss our family but have been able to stay in touch pretty good between Duo and Marco Polo and Facebook – but with this new apartment we have not had internet hooked up – for some reason they are having a problem getting into this new building.  So our landlady said if it isn’t fixed by Monday she will bring a USB hookup…whatever that means!  So we haven’t been able to keep up with everyone this week….we will be back soon – I hope!  We were able to see that our Grandson J.T., who is in 8^th grade took first place in his weight class in a wrestling tournament held in Show Low.  The Marco Polo App is a fun thing.  We can watch and re-watch the videos.  He did such a good job, we are sad to miss sitting there in person – but this is the next best thing. 

With a new apartment – comes a new route to work and church to re-learn!  The Public Transportation System is amazing – bus, trains, more trains and even different trains!  By the end of the week we weren’t stuck at every station wondering which tunnel to go down or up to get where we needed to be!  Here’s hoping we haven’t forgotten any of it over the weekend! 

Have a wonderful new week!  We woke up and had gained an hour this morning!  In the states they go back off of Daylight savings time next Sunday…. I don’t know why Sweden changed today but we were sure confused. 

We hope all is well with you and yours and we think of you - our family and friends often and what we want to share with you.  Thanks for staying in touch with us.    

P.S. It snowed today!!!      It is also DARK at 5pm!                                      Elder and Sister Richardson