Missionary
Week 55 – September 30, 2019 – October 6, 2019
We
have had a wonderful week with Janell.
Sad to see her leave, but so glad she was able to come see us and spend
a week in Sweden. We hope your week was
wonderful too. FALL IS HERE!
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| Our tree outside the kitchen window! |
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| Street scene in Sigtuna |
Monday
– We had breakfast and got ready for a day trip to
Sigtuna. We found out yesterday that
this was the first established community in Sweden (Dates back to the 10th
Century). What a beautiful place. Situated on beautiful water ways all around.
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| Looking out over Sigtuna |
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| Out front of a Florist |
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| Men working on restoring one of the churches in Sigtuna, thought to have been ordered to be built by the King |
Our first stop was a shoe store
that had umbrellas outside! It was
raining and we weren’t prepared! So, we
found 3 small umbrellas so that we could continue our tour.
John found a map at a tourist information building.
Janell became our tour guide while we
followed that map around the town to find 2 rock structures that were old
churches one of them they are preserving, a belfry, cute shops, where we found some souvenirs
and had a treat at one of the cafés.
We
walked down by the water and watched some ducks and swans.
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| A cute Book Kiosk - read and return |
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| Janell in front of an entrance to a park |
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| Island of trees |
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| Ducks everywhere |
We headed home and parked
the car and headed to the train. Caught
a bus that we thought would take us to Skansen, but it didn’t turn, so we had
to get off at the next stop and walk back to cross the bridge to get to Skansen.
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| Janell & John going into the Skansen Bakery |
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| Lady rolled out the dough with rolling pins for flat bread then puts it in the oven 400-500* it takes 2 minutes to baked. Then stacked & stored for the winter. Rye, salt and water |
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| Photo credit: Janell beautiful flowers along walkways |
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| House with Ivy - photo credit: Janell |
We went into Skansen – an open-air
museum/zoo – old buildings have been brought here from all parts of Sweden and
set up around this little island to show you how farms, bakeries, Post Offices,
glass shops, blacksmiths and churches would have looked. They even have an area that relates to the
Sami people – who were the indigenous people here in Sweden, with many old
traditions.
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| John & Janell looking at menus |
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| Meat tray - Reindeer & Moose sausage, heart of reindeer, lamb steak flat smoked pigs side, cheddar cheese/crackers |
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| Musician - playing a stringed instrument |
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| Desserts |
This was Janell’s last night here
so we hit a couple more of the souvenir shops so she could get things to take
home and then we headed home. She
finalized her plane tickets, so we knew we had to get up early to get her o the
airport in the morning.
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| Janell ready for her flight to Brussels - New York - Hawaii |
Tuesday
– We woke up at 5 and left here a little after 5:30
and drove her to the Bromma airport and dropped her off at the curb and hugged
and got pictures. We found out later that their security didn’t open until 7!
We went home and went back to
bed. We followed her flight on one of
the flight tracking apps and saw that she made it to Brussel’s Belgium. Her plane here had left a little late and
that made her have to run through Brussel’s airport to her other connecting
flight but she made it – she was the last one on the plane...the guy at the
ticket desk said “You didn’t have to run, we don’t leave without you – we’re
not like America!” So, she was on her
way to JFK in New York and had a day layover there.
At 3 o’clock, we met the Clouse’s
as they brought the Quist’s to their new apartment. The Quist’s left Monday from Salt Lake; they
were tired! We remember how dazed we
were after the 10-11-hour flight and then an orientation at the Mission
Office. We helped them get their luggage
up the stairs and showed them around and then left them to settle in. We went with the Clouse’s back to the Mission
Office to pick up our own car! They had
an extra one and now with 3 couples having to share one car they realized we
needed a car. We then went to Taby
Centrum for dinner at La Neta – the taco place.
It was a fun night.
We heard from
Janell, she was safe in a hotel and trying to get some sleep. Her flight is at 10
in the morning and it is a straight shot to Hawaii!
Wednesday
– Happy
Birthday to our grandson JAKE! He is 12
years old! We told him to stop growing and he replied back to
us – “I don’t have any control on the growing!” hahaha
We woke up with the alarm at
5:40am. We have to go back to work
today! After a few days of rain, we looked
out and it was sunny and no clouds! By
lunch, it was raining and when we left work it was still raining! Today felt like a Monday all day!
Janell is still in the air – she’ll
get home about 2:30 am our time Thursday – her time 2:30 p, on Wednesday. Long Trip! We got a cute Marco Polo from Jaylen’s family –
we had to see a T-shirt that Edwin made, and Millie had to tell us she was
Potty Trained!!!
John called the Quist’s to see
how they were doing and if they needed anything. They have unpacked and been to the grocery
store and had been given train cards, so they are all set to come in to work tomorrow. They will be working right below us on M4.
We have now been in Sweden 1 year
as of today! It doesn’t seem that long
ago!
Thursday
– We went to work and had to walk around a film crew
here at the Archive! They have been filming
a documentary, we hope to find out if we’ll be able to see it.
The Borg’s brought in the Quists
and did some training with them. We had
a little time with them at lunch. We got
a Marco Polo from Janell; she had landed and was waiting for her hubby to come
get her. We heard about all the flights
and unfortunately, she didn’t get First Class again!
We were able to catch up with Jenn
and the Twins today on their way to Preschool at Aunt Blaire’s. From the back of the suburban they both said hi
and then Gunner said “We miss you!” so
sweet.
Friday
– On our way to work this morning there was a fine
mist around us. We got our files transferred to the shuttles and ready to ship
out. On my computer, I kept getting a DCam
(our program for capturing) error that stopped me from all capturing. I would follow the directions – unplug power
cable, unplug USB cord- wait 2 minutes and start the program over again. After I did this 4 times it kept working
until I was finished today. We shall see
what happens Monday! My camera may be
dying.
Today
we got a Marco Polo from Jennifer wanting the address of the gypsies (you know,
the ones you sell your children to when they are miss behaving). So, I sent back a message that there were a
lot of them over here in Sweden, they go through the trash cans, and sit
outside stores in summer and winter begging for money, and they sleep in the
forest and don’t take baths. I will ask
them if they can get me an address, but I sure hoped that Gunner and Bo would
start choosing the right, quickly, because we would sure miss them.
We
got a quick reply from Matt, their Father.
He said – “You guys just described their dream job! Living in the forest and not taking baths!!!!” OOPS.
We are still awaiting a reply to find out if they are still living at
home or not.
We
got an update video call from Jaylen who is still tearing down walls and will
be reconstructing the house they bought.
He has done so much work and made many trips to the garbage dump. He can’t wait until it is all ready to
re-build!
We
left for home around 3pm and we got laundry done, dinner, and noticed that the
temperature hit 0*Celsius – 32*F.
Saturday
– We woke up early today (4 or 5am) – to watch the St.
Johns Redskin Football team, livestreamed on Facebook of the BIG RIVALRY game
SJ vs. Round Valley. We were the first
to score but that was all we scored. It
ended 7 – 21. We got a couple of Marco
Polos from Jenn and she kept us updated and we got to see Lily, Bridger and JT,
Rachel, Avonlea and Titus. Then we went
back to bed for a while!
We got ready to head to the
Mission Home for a Welcome lunch to 2 new Senior Couples the Quists’ and the
Lundquist. The Quists’ from Chandler
Arizona and the Lundquists from Sweden.
They are both working full time, their last son is out on his mission
headed to Salt Lake City Mission. They
have accepted the call to be the YSA couple in Stockholm – Young Single
Adults. It was a fun time, soup, bread
and cheese and desserts. Then we all
introduced ourselves and got to know a little bit more about everybody. Then we took a group photo.
We left and headed to the grocery
store and got home to watch the Saturday morning Conference that started here
at 6pm. We will watch the afternoon sessions
tomorrow.
We have ordered tickets for another
St. Lucia concert in Uppsala for Dec 15.
Looking forward to Christmas already!
Sunday
– We had breakfast and then watched the Saturday
afternoon and the Women’s Broadcast, followed by the Sunday morning session at
6pm. We may leave the afternoon session
to watch on Monday night. We hope that
you have had a chance to see and enjoy conference as well. Strengthen your families and be of service to
others.
We hope that you have a wonderful
week ahead of you. Enjoy the fall colors
– they are vibrant here! We wish you
health and happiness!
We
think of you often and miss you! Love
hearing from you! Love, John &
Linda, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa
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