Missionary Week 58

Missionary Week 58 – October 21, 2019 – October 27, 2019

We have had a Great Week!

Monday – We left for work in the DARK!  It was a real quiet day at work – my earplugs quit working last Friday and I forgot to bring other ones!  Work is going well for me – my boxes have few medical papers, but John has huge boxes with a ton of medical.  I am having software problems, I had to restart about 8 times today. 

We talked with Jenn and got caught up with her. She and Matt leave for Hawaii on Thursday morning.  We got Marco Polo’s from Jaylen & Jon – they went and visited our friends Rod & Sandy in Mesa.  Then we went to City Gross for groceries.  The trees in the parking lot already have white lights strung on the trunks and branches!

Tuesday –.  Went to work, had a good day – seems like it goes so fast.  It was very windy today.  I remembered earplugs today!  We were able to watch a highlight video of the St. Johns vs Thatcher football game from Friday night on Youtube and we saw JT and Jon.  It would’ve been better to see the whole game. Pretty proud of them. 

Wednesday – Going to work today we had good seats – sitting together this morning.  We transferred some files at lunch getting ready to finish out our work week tomorrow.   It was windy leaving work and it felt a little colder.  We had to stand all the way home on the train today!

Thursday – We got to work at 6:50, we haven’t had rain for the last couple of days.  I got an email from Ancestry DNA today that said my results had been updated along with my brother Barry’s!  So, I looked at that and where it said a certain percentage was Swedish – now it narrows it down and says Southern Sweden including Kalmar and Blekinge!  I knew Kalmar should be there – but Blekinge is just a little ways further south of Kalmar…..where Johanna Maria Nilsson was born!  I don’t want to jump to conclusions – but none of the other Johanna’s was from there!  So, I think she may be the mother of Elvira Augusta Maria Karlsson! 

At lunch I called the Dörby Church office and talked to a sweet lady who spoke English, I asked her name and she said “Lofta” I asked “Can you spell that for me?” she tried but then said “No I can’t!”  “My English is not so good” The alphabet looks the same, but they pronounce the letters differently! OH, and they have 3 other letters at the end of the alphabet.  ANYWAY, she tried to give me her email address but she couldn’t get through that either so she said she would text a message to our phone!  We never got it but I found an email on the website and took a chance.  I sent her the names and dates like she asked for so she could look up my relatives before I get there.  I’m pretty excited to get down there tomorrow! 

We got a Marco from Jenn and Matt they were at the airport waiting for their flight to Hawaii.  Then a Marco from Janell getting things ready for the week with Matt & Jenn. 

Friday – When I checked my email this morning, I received one from my cousins Jean & Maury!  So good to hear from them, they are interested in hearing about our family history.  

We packed up and headed out about 9am, the drive was 4 ½ hours.  We went straight to the Dörby Church and walked around. We went to the house across the street, but nobody was home.  We will have to see them on Monday.  I have received an email back from her, so I did have the right address. She knows we are coming.  We drove around the little city and ate at a Pizza/Kebab place called the Mona Lisa.  It was very good and then we drove to Klackaberga Church up north a little and walked around.  All the churches have been closed but we’ll call their numbers and see when they can meet us.  Klackaberga is where Karl Johan’s grandfather Carl Persson was born. 

Then we drove to our hotel – it’s a beautiful place – we walked around the grounds; it was a bit breezy but so pretty.  We talked with Jaylen and went over mail – I really don’t miss mail!  There is way too much junk!

This is their conference/banquet house

Our room - The circle windows is the
bathroom - the V with windows is
the bedroom

 

 

Saturday – Breakfast was at 8am.  We were the first there, then 2 ladies came in and then another couple.  There was rolls and lunch meat and cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes, boiled eggs, milk, sour milk, regular milk, yogurt and granola, blue berries, raisins and sunflower seeds!  The owner told us there wouldn’t be any bacon because Swede’s don’t like bacon! 

Peasant Soldier

We then headed out to see Kalmar Castle.  We were there a little early, so we were able to walk all the way around the outside of the castle.  It is right on the water, so there was a strong wind, and it was a bit chilly!  The Castle was amazing.  I took a ton of pictures. 

Peasant Soldier write up

Madesjö Church

Then we went to get gas and went to Madesjö Church, where my grandmothers – grandmother-Augusta Elizabeth Carlströms father and his parents were born in this area. We walked all around the cemetery and church, of course didn’t find our people but I have a ton of pictures of the area and building.  Still windy and cold but we had our scarves today that really help.

  We drove into the town and found a cute restaurant with Kebab (that is real popular here!) Then we walked through Willys– a grocery store and picked up a few things we forgot to bring with us. 

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a beautiful rock church that’s on the road to our hotel.  I took more pictures.  We got in and got warm, had cheese and crackers for dinner and got Marco Polo’s from Jenn and Janell from their hikes, submarine rides and kayaking!

Sunday – We were up and ready for breakfast at 8am!  We were first in the door but the two ladies from yesterday were right after us.  We started talking with them, they were sisters and had been up to this area to visit their Mother’s grave!  They asked where we were from and it was a great time talking to them – they both spoke English – they’d speak Swedish when they’d disagree on what the other one was saying, it was so cute. After an hour the owner said she had to be somewhere else, so we had to leave!    We had a good time asking about Sweden culture and how things worked. They were very helpful and wished us well at the church tomorrow. 

We went back to Dörby church and I took a bunch of pictures – hoping for some good ones – it was windy.  Then we drove around Smedby and then headed over a long bridge to Oland the long skinny island to the east of Kalmar.  It was a nice ride, very windy because they have water all around.  The houses were a little older – but well kept.

 We saw a lot of windmills, old and new turbines.  We drove all the way to the other side of the island and back.  We found a fishing dock – no one there but there were boats and little buildings – made for good pictures.  

 Then we headed for home, stopped off at a MAX hamburger in Kalmar because we wanted to try a Haloumi sandwich.  John got the Haloumi and I saw a Spicy Chicken sandwich that I wanted to try – both were fantastic.  Have you ever heard of Haloumi?  We hadn’t – it’s cheese.  They fry it up and it turns brown and they serve it like a burger.  They had spicy ketchup to dip the fries in.  One of our favorite drinks here is Fanta (kind of like Shasta) Exotic. It’s like orange pop but it must have mango and exotic things in it.  It is wonderful.  We are back at the hotel and looking at pictures and writing this email and having cheese and crackers for dinner! The ONLY thing bad about this place, has been the lack of signal for our phones/internet.  So, you may not get this Sunday!  AND it’ll be a while for me get ALL the photos loaded up, but I will put some of my favorites in, for sure!

We hope your week has been wonderful and that you are healthy and happy. Stay tuned for part 2 of our trip to our roots.  Hopefully, we will have some great stories from Dörby and hopefully they will be able to help me find some areas that are no longer on the map!  

Have a Happy Halloween and be safe!

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