Missionary Week #18

Missionary Week #18                     January 14 – January 20, 2019

Hello Everyone, We are on the mend and feeling better day by day.  We started off our week heading in to work and clocking in about 7:15am.  We are still working on the Military Boxes which consist of cards for each Male and then if there are any medical papers – we capture them for the archive but because of their nature will not be put out on the internet.  As I have said before, it’s probably a real good thing that we don’t know the Swedish language because your eye catches a term and you would be wasting a lot of time reading not capturing the images.  So it’s best we just keep moving the cards under the camera!  I love it when there are pictures of the people – usually in uniform, some look like our Navy and others look like our Army – very interesting.  We take a late lunch to miss the crowd in the lunchroom – so we usually go for lunch a little after 1pm.  We take about 30 minutes and head back to work. We decided to try leaving at 4pm so we could have a little more time at home.  As we were walking into our building we got a call from Jaylen.  It was fun, we talked for an hour!  Got to see Edwin, Max and Millie – we missed Lucy because she was already at school.   

Tuesday was the same thing – work, lunch, work, home. 

Wednesday at lunch we noticed that the little river that we can see from the lunch room had snow on top of it, and you could see some ice.  We went back to work and decided to leave around 4pm, we walked out the front door and there was snow on the ground and snow was coming down, it came as a complete surprise!  It didn’t let up for the rest of the evening, by 10 pm it was turning into rain.  We were able to talk to Jenn today to wish her and Matt Happy Anniversary --- 10 years!!! Hard to believe it has been that long – but they have accomplished so many things and have a lot to be proud of!    We talked with her the next day and she was asked to speak in Stake Conference at the Adult Session, lead the music in a leadership meeting AND she has a new calling in the Stake Relief Society Presidency as Secretary!  That’s a lot to take on and my brain would have been swirling with all of it hitting at once!!!!!  We can’t wait to hear from her and how her weekend was!

Friday, we worked until 1 o’clock and headed for the Temple.  It was nice to see the Temple in the daylight and then to come out and see the pretty lights.  We enjoyed dinner at a Chinese restaurant close by.  We went home for our date night…..Laundry at 7pm!  Not complaining – we don’t have to drive somewhere (or walk a long way) and haul it all, we just walk out the door and into the next door building for the laundry room.   We got to see some Marco Polo’s of Avery’s Basketball Game – she is an aggressive player and did great – she fouled out towards the end of the game – but she is a great asset to the 7^th Grade girls Basketball team! 

Saturday – We took it easy in the morning – we had a Baptism to go to at 4pm – so I tried my hand at making cookies.  By the end of this trial I could have taken 6 cookies!  Where do I begin, the brown sugar does not look like USA brown sugar – it looks like bigger granule white sugar – only brown.  The baking powder – I found out later – is not like USA baking powder – you should really double the amount in the recipe.  Then there is the oven – Still learning which 6 Pictures is for what – you can have heat from top and bottom, you can have heat with a fan – don’t know what the others are yet – the cookies baked OK – but the ones in the right back corner were burnt.  And they could have been used for hockey pucks!  I may stick with banana bread.  We left empty handed for the baptism, but it was for the best.

 Julius was baptized, he is an impressive person!  He has been investigating the church for 3 years!  He has an amazing story and we are only hearing piece by piece so when I get it all put together I’ll share his story. For example, we met him probably the first or second week we went to our ward.  We were able to talk to him in Sunday School - the next week we noticed him getting off the same train we were on.  So we walked with him a ways headed for the church building.  He said - "I have to go to an ATM so I can get cash to pay my Fast Offering I'll see you there." As he learned a principle, he lived it!  This was back in October.  

In the picture attached is Julius in the white Baptism suit, the Sister Missionaries and the man was one of the First guys who Julius met when he moved to Sweden.  The family has been close to him and really helped him in all aspects of his life. They wanted to be there for his Baptism and they wanted pictures!  The man, spoke at the Baptism, he played the piano for everyone after the Baptism too.  

 After the Baptism was over they have “Fika” (pronounced feeka)  = treats!  I talked to some of the ladies and asked them about baking cookies – I got a few tips we’ll try next week! 

We were offered a ride home and we were just in time to watch – you guessed it – Marco Polo’s from Jonathan.  They were at Tempe High School –(where John went to High School ) for our grandson’s  (J.T.) middle School Wrestling State tournament.  This tourney – they allow anyone to enter – clubs, schools etc.  Next week is the “real State” for Middle School – as you have to be a Middle School Team to compete.  Anyway, his first match was a little tougher – he lost 4-6 points.  But he went on to pin the next 3 matches within .23 - .26 seconds of the first round.  The last match he had they were evenly matched – at least it looked like – but JT almost had the other guy pinned but time ran out and then the other boy won by ONE point!  But still was a great match and got the team ready for more competition next week.  They will be in Prescott Valley next Saturday – Can’t Wait to watch!!!!!  We were up until midnight watching!!!  It was an all day meet for the kids – starting at 7:30 in the morning – he finished out around 4pm!  We are so proud of him for being a good sport and not arrogant, in fact the last meet he talked with his competition and asked the kid how old he was and what grade he was in – when the boy answered he was only 1 year below JT, and JT told him “Well, you’re pretty good, keep it up!”  - that may not be a direct quote but he was kind and I know he’s been that way all his life!   

That gets you caught up on our week – we hope your week has been wonderful – we think of you all the time and miss you  - but here it is January!!!!!  It really is going by fast!  Have a wonderful week and know we will be thinking of you! 

Love John & Linda