Beautiful Places and Beautiful People ~ Our Mission in Sweden

Trying to get caught up with my pictures. October was a beautiful month. Cool but not cold. Days still a good length. Missionaries coming and going. We even met the winner of the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest!

View of the Stockholm City Hall (on left)

The old and the new. The striking City Hall building with its three crowns is not super old (about as old as my dad would be now if he were still alive (he was born in 1915 and the building is about that old but was built to look older). Then there are the modern buildings in the middle back. We drive past these two buildings a lot. There are helicopter pads on the top of each building.

President Davis showing the departing missionaries a great sunset over Stockholm. Syster Tuttle, Syster Kane, Elder Bills, Elder Longman. We worked with Elder Longman in the office for several months so we feel close to him.

The Västra Frölunda church building near Göteborg, which is on the western coast of Sweden. Probably the loveliest chapel we've seen in Sweden.

Louis Herrey (in the front in the white shirt) and his two brothers won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1984 by singing Diggy Loo Diggy Lay. It was the second win for Sweden but the first win for a song in Swedish. Louis Herrey is still well-known in Sweden. He now serves as a seminary teacher and as a counselor in the Sweden Stockholm Mission. Here he is singing with the missionaries at zone conference. Elder Torrie on the piano.

More singing missionaries. So fun! We like to gather with them after zone conference and sing.

Syster Torrey Linton and Syster Torrie and Elder Torrie too. I always called her Syster Torrey.

Syster Woods, Syster Davis, Syster Cluff, Syster Erickson, Syster Faux, Syster Torrey, Syster Mendez, Syster Torrie, Syster Osguthorpe. In front, Elder

Love the architecture!

President & Syster Davis came along to check out the old town of Göteborg.

Neighborhood market

Swedes love their curvy buildings.

Sunday night sing-along. President & Syster Davis popped in about 9:30 p.m. to check it out. Back L-R: Syster Capener, Syster Brighton, Syster Newitt, Syster Skelton, Äldste Bair, Äldste Hancock. Front L-R: Äldste Torrie, Äldste Rönndahl, Äldste Gilbert, Syster Torrie with Syster Davis behind and President Davis taking the picture. Fun times!

Office Elders last Monday night meeting before Äldste Bair and Äldste Ronndahl are transferred..

The Assistants to the President and the Leads all help guide missionary work in the mission. It's great training for church service in the coming years. Äldste Hancock and Äldste Bair are the Assistants and Syster Newitt and Syster Capener are the Lead Syster Training Leaders.

We are sad to be losing Äldste Rönndahl in the mission office. We have been with him for 11 months, which is very unusual. Missionaries usually stay in one place for 3-4 months or less. We have depended a lot on Äldste Rönndahl's Swedish and his brilliance with a computer.

Swedish ties anyone? Äldste Gilbert and Äldste Rönndahl and Äldste Torrie.

Love you Äldste Björn, I mean Äldste Bair. We will miss you in the office.

New arrivals!

The stake sponsored an Angela Brower concert. She was great! Check her out on google. She's an opera-type singer who sings many kinds of music and she happens to be a member of our church. Here we are with our adopted daughter, Helene, who is going through cancer treatments.

And here we are with our Nordic sweaters! And me with my moose hide purse.

Love all the missionaries. Äldste Andreasen and Äldste Säfsten who has discovered close living relatives here in Sweden. Äldste Säfsten is an amazing singer too.

With Italo (pronounced eet'-ah-low) from Colombia and President Davis.

LeRon in the tunnelbana. Look at that bedrock. No wonder Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. How else could they blast through that rock?

More amazing Swedish architecture.

These electric scooters are everywhere for rent. When people are finished with them, they leave them wherever. Sometimes they just drop them on the sidewalk for people to trip over.

Leaves are falling . . .

We're on our way to the Nordiska Museum. This villa was built in about 1873.

Red fall leaves are so beautiful.

Stockholm zone conference. Look at the new suits that Elder Longman and Elder Hancock are wearing. You look great! Longman, Ronndahl, Gilbert, and Hancock all were office missionaries.

And of course LeRon loves the impromptu singing after zone conference.

Elder Bair, Elder Draper, and Elder Brown

Fun times

Celebrating Elder Hancock's birthday with a bit of cake. Elder Gilbert, Elder Hancock, Elder Ronndahl, former Elder Rantaniemi here for a visit, and Elder Bair.