Missionary Week 43

Missionary Week 43    July 8-14, 2019

We completed another week here in Sweden.  The week goes by so fast.  The Archive is pretty quiet with almost everyone gone on vacation.  There is a “skeleton crew” so they still keep their hours open, but in the office area – only the lights are on over the person’s desk who is actually there – so it seems so quiet and dark.  Most of the employees will be back at the end of July or first week of August! 

Monday –  We got to work, had a normal day and back home.  We had to print out a lot of papers to renew our Visa for the last 6 months of our Mission.  The Mission Office Secretary has to get us an appointment first and that has been taking a long time.  Our Visa’s don’t expire until the end of September but she was able to get an appointment for this coming Friday.  Tonight, we filled in all of the papers.  We were able to catch a couple of our kids on Marco Polo and catch up with them.  We were sad to hear of the passing of Matt’s Grandmother in Iowa – they were on their way back to Iowa and made it home, but Gramma Bev had passed away before they got there.  They will stay until the services that are planned for Friday.   

Tuesday – Today was a little chilly, with some sprinkles of rain and a little windy. Nothing new at work.  Tonight, I was able to find my Dad’s Ham radio call sign. W7UCP!  He was in 3 books that I found for 1948, 1949 and 1950.  I know he kept his license, because I remember him using it and I was born “several years” later! 😊  What was funny/coincidence was that a few names down the page from my dad was a Harvey G. Wilhelm from St. Johns, AZ.  I’m pretty sure that is Spence [& Christine] Wilhelm’s Father. 

Wednesday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to JAYNE our granddaughter!  She’s on vacation with her family so we hope she got to see it!

Thursday – Work – We had a lot of work this week so we got those files transferred to our shuttles and ready to go in the morning.  We talked with Jon & Jaylen both who were headed out to camp, one to Colorado and one to the Beaver Ponds!  We are waiting to hear how fun their vacations were.

Friday – We went to work and stayed until 11.  Then we took the train to Sundyberg for the Migration Appointment to renew our Visa’s.  We will know in a month if we pass!  If we are declined, he informed us that we will be given 4 weeks to leave!  We had lunch at the Sushi restaurant next door to the Migration office.  We picked a salad with marinated chicken in it and it was wonderful. 

Saturday – JR got the laundry done, we got ready for the rest of the day and headed out to Norrtalje about an hour north of here.  

They were holding an “American Car Show”.  It started at 10am – but we got there about 2:30-3:00 we had to find a parking lot several blocks away and walk up the street.  We decided to not pay the 150 Kronas to get in (a little over $15 a piece) because we had seen more cars on the road leaving the show than were left at the show!  We have noticed a lot of classics around here and they are pretty cool. 

We also took a little side trip to a church, the sign said: Frötuna K:a.  We walked around the church and took some pictures it was very pretty with a view of a big lake and the church cemetery was pretty amazing.  We started to go inside the church but notice a wedding taking place!  So we went back out and walked around some more until they were through and headed off to a party.  I found this on Wikipedia: The oldest parts of the church are dated to the end of the 12th century  The weather vane had a year on it of 1871. 

It was a beautiful sunny day today – until our drive back into Stockholm it rained, but it was really fresh smelling.

Sunday –  Off to church this morning, we picked up the Borgs and it was a small group today – with a lot of people on vacation.  It is such a friendly bunch of people. 

We hope you are enjoying your Summer and time with family. Have another Great Week!

Love, Elder & Sister Richardson, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa