Missionary Week 49

Missionary Week 49 – August 19, 2019 – August 25, 2019

More Flowers on the Temple Grounds

We have made it through another week here in Sweden.  We enjoy listening to the daily forecasts before we head out to work. We hope that you have had another great week also.

Monday – We set out for work and we did get seats just not together at first, but several stops later we were able to move to two seats together.  It’s interesting to us, to try to figure out what the difference is when the trains are crowded or not and if they aren’t crowded why not?  We should just stop trying to figure it out! 

We are really waiting for September 1, 2019.  Our original train stop for work was Fridhemsplan and they have been remodeling and we don’t stop there (causing us a longer ride) we are laying bets it will be completed after Sept 1!  There is improvement – and maybe they will pull it off!  We shall see. 

At work, we are still on boxes that have so much medical papers that we get about 1 box a day done.  When we got home, we tried to figure out what was up with our Facebook account, it appears we were hacked and had to change our password.  We ran to the grocery store to get our groceries.  Not much new today!

Tuesday – We were out the door and caught the 6:31 and made it to work exactly at 7am.  At lunch we saw that it was sprinkling.  We had a Skype phone call from Salt Lake, there is a lady who checks up with us every 3 months to see how we are doing.  She asks if we have anything that needs attention, or if we have any better ideas for training.  It’s nice that they check with us.  All is well. 

We got to talk to our daughter in Hawaii, Janell and Joshua were hosting his Mom & Stepdad, and his friend who is on leave from California…. all of them in a studio apartment!  His Mom told us, “They need to get something bigger!”

Wednesday – We were on time for work again today.  We were able to talk to Jaylen several times today. So good to catch up.  He’s keeping an eye on all our vehicles to make sure they will still be running when we get back.

 

Thursday - We were up early and caught the train early and made it to work 8 min. earlier.  We finished the boxes from Kopabergs and started a new County. The first box didn’t have any medical, so that went fast. 

We met 2 of the other Senior Couples for our Family Home Evening.  The Ashby’s had a great lesson and we played a new card game that was fun. There are always treats after the games!  We had to pick up dishes and utensils, etc. for the new apartment in Nockeby so it will be ready for the new couple in October. 

We got a Marco Polo from Jonathan, and then Rachel.  J.T. was in his uniform #4 for his first game as a Freshman in High School.  That is his Dad’s number, so it was good to see it again.  They were off to Window Rock High School. We have heard since, that he had a pretty good game, playing all different positions.  AND They WON!  Avery is in Soft Ball and played well but our team lost.  Good to see all these kids!

Friday – We finished off our week, getting to work a little early and leaving at 2:30.  Sent off the shuttles.  Made an appointment at the Temple for Saturday.  We made it home in time to do Laundry!  It’s nice to have it done. 

Saturday –We slept in until 7!  We were able to use the car and drive to the temple.  Everything was in Swedish or Norwegian today, so we had headsets to help! When we were through there we went to a little bakery and had some yummy salads an shared a Rhubarb roll.  Luckily, there was one worker who spoke English and could translate the menu for us! 

We went to the new apartment and set up the cupboards with dishes, glasses and utensils and took some more pictures.  Went to the grocery store and stopped for gas and a car wash.  We have to do a car report once a month, and so that was all completed.

Jessie Simmer Baptism Day Aug. 24, 2019

We got a video phone call from Jody and Jessie, her 8-year-old daughter, today was her Baptism in Show Low.  All our kids – that could be there - had a part in the services.  So cool to see them all together.  We got Marco Polo’s later from the party at their house.  So good to see and hear them!  Congratulations Jessie! 

We finished off our night with eating out on our Balcony and enjoying the cool breeze.

Sunday – Happy Birthday to MAXIMUS!  He turned 4 Today!  He loves baseball, he had to watch The Sandlot every day, he was Smalls for Halloween!  I’m so glad he got to go to an Arizona Diamondback Game a couple of weeks ago.  He even made the big screen.  What a day for him and his family. Today we got a Marco Polo of his birthday party and he requested a Volcano Cake!  Pretty impressive!

We went to church with the Borgs and try to understand the translators.  It was a nice service and good Relief Society Meeting. 

We are ready for a new week and hope that you are rested up and ready for your new week! 

Have a Great One!

We think of you often and miss you!  Love hearing from you!  Love, John & Linda, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa

More Pictures from the Baptism - Photo Credit to Jody Simmer:

Simmer Family L to R: Jacy, Jody, Jay
Jayne, Jessie and Jake

Left to Right - Back Row: Jon with Titus, Rachel, Jennifer & Matt, Jay & Jody and Blaire - Jaylen had to work unfortunately.  Middle Row: Jake Simmer, J.T. with Porter Frieden (Kind of hidden!), Alyvia, Avery, Evanna, Lily, Jacy, Jessie and Millie.   Front Row: Gunner, Avonlea, Bo, Jayne, Bridger, Lucy, Edwin and Max.

Uncle Jonny Confirmed Jessie

Uncle Matt Baptized Jessie

Jon & Rachel, Jennifer & Matt and Blaire with Jessie.
Jennifer & Blaire gave talks on Baptism ad The Holy Ghost

Missionary Week 48

Missionary Week 48 – August 12, 2019 – August 18, 2019

Hello Everyone!  It’s been a nice cool week here in Stockholm, with a few rain showers occasionally and some beautiful sun.  We have had another good week and hope you have too.

From our lunch room at work
The clouds are so pretty!

Monday – Work was good, the train ride is cramped…meaning we were standing most of the time.  As we get closer to home, we finally get seats.  We got some pretty cute Marco Polo’s from our grandkids with First Day of School pictures with their new back packs.   

Tuesday – Today we got to the train and it was back on a regular schedule, so we were able to have seats together and got to work at our normal time at 7am. (They must have more trains running again)

Work was good, the boxes still have a lot of medical papers so that takes a lot longer. Elder Borg was tasked with doing a box of the military cards and medical papers but timing it.  Then he had to do the same box over again without doing the medical papers.  Very interesting, it took him 4 hours to capture with the medical papers/envelopes etc. and when he did only cards it took him 55 minutes! 

We were able to talk to 4 of our kids throughout the day.  It’s always good to catch up.  We got an update on the first day of school.  Everybody had a great day, only one confessed to getting into trouble…. for “Blurting” she told us that the teacher didn’t want them “Blurting” out an answer and she forgot and “Blurted” out an answer to a question.

Wednesday – Today was my birthday – Facebook, Emails, Marco Polo’s and phone calls were very much appreciated. Thank you!  You must remember when you get this old…. you try to forget that another year has gone by! 

We made it to the train with 1 minute to spare, got seats together and work was fine.  It was a bright & sunny day today.  My husband bought us dinner to bring home so I wouldn’t have to cook tonight! 

Thursday - Went to work, our Supervisor in Sweden came today for a quick visit, he had a meeting with the Military Archivist this afternoon.

 

Friday – Got to work and got our shuttles ready to send off to Germany and we were able to leave at 2:30 today we had over 40 hrs.  Laundry was at 4-7 pm and yes, I helped!

Saturday – We had a lazy morning and then at 1:30 we were picked up by the Borgs to go to our Ward BBQ party. There was a good turn-out too. It was amazing!  They had 2 BBQ’s going, with steak, chicken legs, breasts and Hot dogs!  Potatoes and green salad, watermelon, chips, pop, and Popsicle's for dessert!  They had tables outside in the grass, and the weather co-operated, it was cloudy but no rain til later tonight!   Only a few flying insects joined the party.

Sunday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOSHUA TODAY!  The Borgs picked us up for Church and it was a great meeting.  We learned that the kids here in Sweden start school tomorrow. We had a visitor from Sierra Leon, Africa he has been in Sweden for 3 years.  He fit right in with our English Sunday School class and we had some great discussions. 

I didn’t take many pictures this week, but I will leave you with one.  On our walk to the train station we noticed these teeny-tiny mushrooms in the grass on Wednesday – by Friday they were all black and shriveled up!  My take is - watch for tiny miracles around you today, they may not be there tomorrow! 

Have a Great Week!

We think of you often and miss you!  Love hearing from you!  Love, John & Linda, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa

Missionary Week 47 August 5 - August 11, 2019

Missionary Week 47 – August 4, 2019 – August 11, 2019

Flowers along the roadway on our trip this Saturday

Hello Everyone, this week was another week that just flew by!   We’ve enjoyed the sun, the rain and the cool breezes this week.  We are hoping that your week was filled with fun, memorable experiences and time with your family. 

Monday – Made it to work, we usually don’t get a seat by each other and at times we both stand!  This week seems like there are more people on the trains – maybe they are starting to all get back from their summer vacations – or they call them “Big Semesters”.  At work it seems that we get 1-2 boxes done a day, there is a lot of medical papers, and that just takes more time to open envelopes, take staples out and straighten papers.  I like the copper staples that are thin, they are removed much easier, there are staples that are so tiny and thick, we have to go from the back-use the letter opener to pry up the backs and then pull the staple from the front!  Who knew we’d become specialists in removing staples! 

John's Scanner Toy at Grocery store

Tonight, we were able to go to the grocery store and stock up. I have to admit we are getting better at finding things – still haven’t found breadcrumbs though!  

Tuesday – It was raining this morning on our way to the train and at work. Work was a normal day, we really like taking lunch 1pm.  That makes the afternoon go by fast!

We left work, and realized too late, that we had left the umbrella drying in our room – so hope it doesn’t rain!  We got home and headed out to our hairdresser – she is the Relief Society President in our Ward. (Relief Society is the women’s organization of the church) and she has been gone on her vacation for 4-5 weeks!  She cuts the missionaries hair – not for free, we do pay her normal price – and she is fantastic.  She is from Peoria, Arizona!  We asked her to bring us back some dirt! 

When we leave her house, we stop at IKEA!  It’s really close and it’s always packed with people.

 

Tonight, I had John tell me about all the house’s he’s lived in all his life.  BONUS, I got more military stories along the way!  It didn’t take too long to do but he has been in 10 Houses!  We also used Google maps and found most of them, and got the addresses, some have been torn down and rebuilt but it was fun looking at what they look like today.  Can you name all the houses you’ve lived in?

Wednesday – The walk to work had a few puddles but no rain!  Didn’t need that umbrella after all.  We had a fine day at work.  We got to talk to our daughter Janell this morning too.

At 6pm we met with the Apartment Couple at a new apartment they’ve acquired for the new couple that will be coming to Sweden in October.  We told them we could help them if they told us what they needed.  We will be stocking the kitchen with utensils, and plates, pans and essentials.  It’s an older building, but the kitchen and bathroom have been remodeled.  Bathroom is small, it’s about the size of our motorhome’s bathroom.  We have the rest of this month and September to fix it all up.

Thursday – We went to work, we watched it rain from the lunchroom.  John went next door and got a pizza, he had fixed us sandwiches, but the ham looked a little green, he cut that off but then he had a bad feeling and decided we shouldn’t take a chance!   Good pizza!  We came home had dinner and worked on our family history.  The day went fast.

Friday – WOW – it’s Friday again! We sent off our shuttles today and had lunch at 1pm.  John ran to the grocery store down the street for laundry soap – we were getting low, and we went home at 3pm to do laundry at 4pm and we made it with 10 minutes to spare.  Of course, we don’t see what the weather is like until we get to the lunchroom, he left, and it was raining!   So, he was a little wet when he got back.  We had dinner in between changing laundry from washer to dryer.  We are looking forward to our trip tomorrow.

Saturday –   We headed out to Kungsör to see the Miniature Kingdom.  It’s a “model railway which has been inspired by places and landmarks from all over Sweden”.  This group of hobbyists started building this in September 2015 and they opened the doors in January 2017, and it is still growing.  It was so fun to see. 

 Here is their website link:  https://miniaturekingdom.se and if you go to this link:   Youtube Link to Miniature Kingdom     

you’ll get to see a video of the whole track!  They put a camera on the train, and it looks so real!  They have done a fantastic job.  

3D printer working away

They have 2 computers that run all the trains and there are some interactive details, so you push a button and see a lady is taking a selfie picture – her camera light flashes when you push the button.  We didn’t see every detail, but we were there for 1 ½ hours!  

We took Marco Polo’s for the kids and still pictures.  We saw some familiar sites that we have been to and some that we still need to go see.  They had a 3D printer making the house’s – they are then painted and put together. 

3D house parts and people

Train tracks

Beach scene and factory and large expansion bridge

Town Hall and boats on the river

Big Foot was here! Crime scene with ambulance, police,
victims and by standers

Factory

Concert

Downtown Stockholm, the blooming cherry trees and pond we
showed you pictures of earlier

City

Then we went about 20 minutes further down the road and went to Köping and saw the Bil (Car)& Teknikhistoriska (Technical Historical Collection) Here is their website link:  Car & Technical History Museum  It had fantastic older cars – mostly between 1920-1940’s. They had motorcycles, cars, speed boats and parts of automobiles.  I believe it is in the building that was a Factory that made parts (gearboxes) for Volvo since 1926. But the KVM – Köpings Mekaniska Verkstad – was founded in 1856.  KVM was the mechanical works in the city. We watched a video of a 1933 car race, on snow, with the Bugatti and maybe other “race cars”.  Crazy people, they showed one of the cars in a tree-after it swerved off the road!  I’ll post a lot of pictures on the blog for you to see some of the cars.  My favorite was a 1929 Cadillac it was made in the USA – sent to Argentina in 1929 and then to Sweden in 1991 and renovated from 1991 – 2012!  It is beautiful!

We represented St.Johns,AZ blue dot to the Visitors Map

Engine from a PT boat

Pic of the PT boat

The King and Queen visited a few years ago and got to
sit in this beauty - a 1919 Pierce Arrow

VW by a Gulf tool box????

1924 Voisin

1930 Bently

Those are some studded tires!

1917 Cadillac

1929 Cadillac V8 - 341 B 

Homemade motorized sleigh!

Indian Motorcycle 

Full garage set up with car 

Harley Davidson

1929 Buggati 35B like the ones racing on snow

Looking inside the garage

We also found a church….and cemetery named Torpa Church.  The church wasn’t open but we walked all the way around and looked at some of the headstones.  Some are new, and others are old.  We have learned that when they have large stone headstones that they need to move they will stand them up and we have seen many like this.  This church had them up against a wall of the church and anchored.  I’m amazed at the different types of markers; some were made of iron and there was even on made of a rock….it was newer because it looks like it had been etched.  Very pretty area and wish the info on the board had been in English!  There was a light sprinkle and cool breeze. 

Sunday – We picked up The Borg’s for church and had a great meeting.  A lot more people are back from vacations and we had some more visitors.  The two hours flew by. 

We are looking forward to a new week and hope that you have all had a wonderful Summer.  Most of our grandchildren will be going back to school this coming Monday and some have already started! 

We think of you often and miss you!  Love hearing from you!  Love, John & Linda, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa