Easter Time in Sweden

See below for a great Easter Concert put together by the Stockholm South Stake.  It's an hour of musical numbers in both Swedish and English and is very well-done.  Lots of candles too, which is very Swedish.  LeRon even has a part in it.  You may not want to watch it all, so here are some times to listen to some very beautiful songs:

  7:22  Men's duet of How Great Thou Art (in Swedish and absolutely beautiful)
18:02  Lovely organ medley of Easter songs
25:59  LeRon accompanying vocalists Syster Allen and Syster Gilbert
                    singing I Stand All Amazed, with Syster Cowgur on cello
                    and Syster Searle on violin.
40:27  Syster Nissen and Syster Owens rocking out to Syster Nissen's
                     original He Lives
44:25  Beautiful song called Hope (really fun, and in English)
51:55  Children singing He Sent His Son in Swedish
                     (young boy on cello, young girl singing)
56:11  Syster and President Davis (our mission president) speaking in Swedish
58:31  Mother and daughter singing a beautiful song in English called
                      Wonderful Savior (my favorite of the concert but don't tell LeRon,
                       although I do love the song he does, and his playing of course.)

You may have to drag the cursor back to the start of the concert if you want to watch the whole thing.  Not sure why it doesn't necessarily start at the beginning.  You can click on the image to enlarge and then put it in full-screen mode.  Enjoy all or part!  

After that, a few Easter pictures and a link to April General Conference with speakers from 9 countries in the morning session.

We've seen a lot of colored feathers decorating trees and yards.  The feathers represent the birch sticks Swedes used to beat themselves with in commemoration of the beating Jesus received before his death.  Of course now, the tradition is more secular than religious.

Just like in Alberta, Canada, the public Easter holiday begins on Good Friday (also called Långfredagen, or Long Friday) and ends after Easter Monday. The children get a week's holiday from school too.

Spring is definitely here! Look at these lovely blue flowers peeking through the grass in our mission office yard. These flowers are everywhere.  Also white ones.  They seem to grow naturally.

Above is a link to the April 2021 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Easter messages from church leaders around the world.  The morning session includes church leaders from Brazil, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Portugal, Fiji, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the United States.  This is just the first session of five 2-hr sessions over the two days of April 3 & 4th.  Lots of Easter messages.  He is Risen!!