First Christmas in Sweden

Well, as of last Sunday we had been in Sweden 12 days, celebrated Christmas and experienced a wealth of new things so of course it was time to speak in church! I was asked to tell a little about Phillip and I, share what I did to keep Christ in Christmas and bear my testimony. Luckily we were called the night before so I had a few hours to work on it! When I was called to the stand they also asked one of the returned missionaries to come up and translate for me… I told him I would try it without him. The congregation was very happy that I would attempt it in Swedish. (I was scared to death). I will include the content (in both languages) at the end of today’s blog for anyone that is interested. I mention this first because it has probably been the most significant thing for me in Sweden so far, however here are some other things…

Merry Christmas Everyone!

God Jul!

We hope your Holidays have been as spiritual and fun as ours. We had our most “traditional” or “old world” missionary moment on Tuesday December 22 (Happy Birthday Natasha!) When our entire district (14 missionaries) gathered in Town square by the Christmas tree (julgran) and sang Christmas songs. I took my turn stepping out from the group and visiting with a mother and her daughter about the birth of Jesus and gave them an invitation to Sunday’s meeting. It was cold and drizzled rain the entire time. But very exhilarating.

We had dinner invitations for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We were to arrive Wednesday night at 7pm and because it gets dark here at 3:30pm we were navigating in the dark. As we drew closer to the address there was a bon fire going in a large raised sconce marking our destination. We were shown in to an old rambling farmhouse and guided to the living room which held a crackling fire, grand piano, seven full size sofas (situated into sitting areas) as well as chairs set up for additional audience. Near the grand piano a Christmas tree stood at least 10 feet with graduated red balls from the small ones at the top to the larger ones down low. A small orchestra consisting of 2 bassoons, an English horn, an oboe / trumpeter and electric bass accompanied us for a lovely musical program ~ the family we visited had at least 30 guests in as well ~ we sang carols and listened to some solos. It was great. I had been advised that the traditional gift for the hostess was chocolates but that they would be most pleased with some homemade treats so I made up 3 of our favorite Christmas goodies and 

put together a tray for each evening.

In Sweden the main celebration is Christmas Eve. The family that had us in that night served traditional Swedish dishes; six different kinds of fish, including pickled herring, meatballs, 2 kinds of sausages, boiled potatoes and a red cabbage salad. The wife is actually from Finland so we had those traditional foods also; ham and rutabaga casserole (the salmon might have been Finnish). Dessert was a dried fruit soup that had been simmering all evening and was served with whipping cream. In Sweden they have Tomten instead of Santa. (He was in the picture with the treats). And he visits the homes on Christmas eve to distribute the gifts. It looked an awful lot like a Santa suit to me! The 2-year-old grandson didn’t recognize his uncle and wasn’t sure what to do with the bearded, red suited man they had let into their house. But he happily accepted his present. They had thoughtfully included gifts for Phillip and I as well.

This is an inserted note :O) Christmas morning Phillip could not sleep! He wanted to get up and see what Santa had put in his stocking and what was wrapped under the tree! He tossed and turned until I finally gave in at 6:00 AM! In our little family of 5 children + spouses with Phillip and I (11 adults) we draw names every year ~ This year Cassandra had me and put a wrapped gift in my luggage as we departed in early December ~ here is a picture. It is this wonderful wall hanging of all eleven of my grandchildren (barnbarn) including the ones born December 1^st and 2^nd  2015! I love it!

Christmas day found us eating pork ribs (no barbeque sauce) with a family that has 9 children ~ ages 17-24 + their 12-year-old surprise. They had also invited the 6 other missionaries that live in the town of Lund with us. She had thought about making turkey but was afraid to cook it for “Americans”. The ribs were excellent!

Oh my goodness, This is probably way more then you wanted to know! Drop us a note and let us know how detailed you want us to be about what we are doing… who we are meeting… the traditions of Sweden… Or if we are missing something completely that you want to hear about!

We hope this finds everyone well!

Love,

Syster Kim Hurlbut

MY FIRST TESTIMONY IN SWEDISH  

Jag är tacksam för möjligheten att dela min vittnesbörd , men också mycket nervös .

Vi är närmast från Arizona även om vi bode tjugo år i Oklahoma. Vi har fem barn. Alla är vuxna. Fyra av dem är gifta och har egna barn. Vi har elva barnbarn - den äldsta är sju år gammal .

Mina mans föräldrar anslöt sig till kyrkan som ett ungt par med små barn i Indiana. Jag är en produkt av generationer av mormonpionjärer. Jag kan inte minnas en tid då jag inte visste om Nephi eller Alma , Abinadi eller Jareds broder .Mina godnattsagor handlade om stenarna Herren berört så att de skulle lysa och  frihets baneret.

Jag kan inte minnas en tid då jag inte visste Jesus Kristus, om hans födelse, dop, försoning, död och uppståndelse. Men i mina mörkaste timmar när jag har frågat är du verkligen där?

Anden har alltid besvaras så i Läran och Forbunden Sex:verser tjugo tvö och tjugo tre

 22  Sannerligen, sannerligen säger jag dig: Om du önskar ytterligare vittnesbörd så kom ihåg natten då du ropade till mig i ditt hjärta, för att du skulle kunna få vetasanningen om dessa ting.

  23  Talade jag inte frid till ditt sinne om detta? Vilket större vittnesbörd kan du få än det som kommer från Gud?

När jag kom till Sverige jag träffade jultomten och såg alla ljusen och stjärnor i fönstren och söta syster Niebuhr hade dekorerat en julgran i min nya våning, men det var ingen Nativity , ingen bild av Jesus barnet .

Och så jag såg och fann Hans berättelse på andra platser och kände hans kärlek på så många sätt .

 Jag har bara varit i Sverige tolv dagar ... Jag har haft middag med fyra olika familjer, jag har fått gåvor från flera personer, Jag har deltagit i 2 vackra musikaliska firandet - en av dem här. Jag har suttit i en familj hem och hört historien om Jesu födelse läsa från biblen.

 Jag sjöng julsånger i torget med missionärerna och delade evangeliet med en mor och sin dotter, Jag har sjungit julsånger med dig här och i era hem.

 Jag har välsignats övermåttan som jag har känt av din kärlek för Frälsaren och för mig och Äldste Hurlbut. Jag har känt Kristus i min jul genom er alla.

 Jag vet att min frälsare älskar mig. Jag vet att han har kallat mig att bli en tjänare här i Lund. Liksom Ammon, inte att sitta med kungar, men att ta hand om fåren. Jag hoppas att jag kan tjäna på det sätt du behöver mig till. Jag ser fram emot att lära känna de unga vuxna i denna stav.

 Jag vet att Joseph Smith såg Gud Fadern och Jesus Kristus och att det sanna evangeliet om Jesus Kristus återställdes i dessa sista dagar genom Joseph Smith.

 Jag vet att Mormons Bok är en sann testamente om Jesus Kristus.

 Jag vet att president Thomas S Monson är en Guds profet kallade att leda kyrkan i dag och jag dela detta med er i Jesu Kristi namn , amen.

THE TRANSLATION: 

I am thankful for the opportunity to share my testimony, but also very nervous.

We are most recently from Arizona although we spent 20 years in Oklahoma. We have 5 children whom are all grown – 4 of them are married and have children of their own. We have 11 grandchildren – the oldest is 7 years old.

My husband’s parents joined the church as a young couple with small children in Indiana. I am a product of generations of Mormon pioneers. I cannot remember a time when I did not know about Nephi or Alma, Abinadi or the Brother of Jared.

My bedtime stories were about the rocks the Lord touched so they would glow and the Title of Liberty.

I cannot remember a time when I did not know Jesus Christ, about his birth, baptism, atonement, death and resurrection.

And yet in my darkest hours when I have asked are you really there? The Spirit has always answered as in D&C 6:22-23

 22 Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

 23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?

When I came to Sweden I met Tomten and saw all the lights and stars in the windows and sweet Sister Niebuhr had decorated a Christmas tree in my new apartment, however there was no Nativity, no picture of the baby Jesus. And so I looked and found His story in other places and felt His love in so many ways.

I have only been in Sweden 12 days… I have had dinner with 4 different families, I have received gifts from several people, I have attended 2 beautiful musical celebrations – one of them here – I have sat in a family home and heard the story of the birth of Jesus read from the bible.

I sang Christmas carols in town square with the missionaries and shared the gospel with a mother and daughter, I’ve sung Christmas carols with you here and in your homes. I have been blessed beyond measure as I have felt of your love for the Savior and for me and Elder Hurlbut. I have felt Christ in my Christmas through all of you.

I know that my savior loves me. I know that He has called me to be a servant here in Lund. Like Ammon, not to sit with kings but to care for the sheep. I hope that I am able to serve the way you need me to. I am looking forward to getting to know the young adults of this Stake.

I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and that the true gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in these latter days through Joseph Smith. I know that The Book of Mormon is a true testament of Jesus Christ. I know that President Thomas S Monson is a Prophet of God called to lead the Church today and I share this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Hat and Banjo

In my boyhood I learned that a man addressed by only his initials was a man to be respected. Only four men come to mind who have been so honored.  Three of them were presidents of the United States: FDR JFK and LBJ.  The fourth man was my great grandfather, Jesse David Hurlbut.

JDH was born in Toledo Ohio in 1871 three years before his fireman father passed away.  Raised as the youngest of three children, he developed a strong personality that carried him through varied careers that included performing in Vaudeville, milling flour, and banking.

I was six years old when he passed away, so his prominence in my mind was generated by my father’s accounts about him. And my father took every opportunity to enhance his children’s expertise on JDH regaling us with tales of his exploits and committing his adages to our memories. My father was well versed in these for his mother, JDH’s only child, passed away when my father was three months old leaving him to be raised by JDH and his wife.

For some years, now, I have been the caretaker of two of JDH’s belongings, a four string banjo and his Panama hat. In the process of determining the disposition of our many possessions for the year and a half we would be out of country, these two items weighed heavy on my mind. I had grown up with these items. They were a physical link back to the world of JDH. But both items had sustained damage over the years.  Was it really worth keeping them?

The disposition of the banjo was easiest managed. I have a son-in-law studying music at Brigham Young University, who in is trained in repairing string instruments as well as in performing on them.  He was glad to take custody of the historical instrument.

As for the hat, I felt it was time to let it go.  I put it on my head, took a photograph and set it on the pile of donations we had assembled. 

But, when it came time to deliver the gathered items, I found I could not let it go. I put it on my head with the determination that if that was going to be worn until it collapsed, it should be done by someone conscientious of its history and bloodline. (Note how classy the inner lining itself is. Talk about pedigree.)

 

Too soon, the last days of November required our departure to Utah to make our last visits with family there and to enter the Missionary Training Center.  All of our belongings were now either placed in storage, or packed in our car and trailer. For me, travelling with both JDH’s hat and banjo, I felt as though I might be taking my great grandfather along for the ride.

JDH’s presence was prominent in my father’s life journey.  Great Grandfather’s strength of character, confidence and outgoing personality passed onto my father during his upbringing.  They held a mutual regard for each other that strengthened through their years together.  It was with the determination he had learned from JDH that my father, when my mother suggested that perhaps the children should get some religious training, resolved that if they were to attend a church it would be a church chosen through concentrated study.  Eventually this led him to baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a result of that decision, I developed my own conviction of the truth of my father’s religion. This conviction led me to accept a calling to preach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ for two years in Sweden some forty years ago. Now, still certain of my duty to God, I, with my good wife at my side, have packed up all our belongings and left the home we were renting. We will travel 650 miles north to drop off a few things with my children in Utah before we enter the Missionary Training Center for eight days of instruction. We’ll drop off the banjo with our son-in-law and see how long the hat lasts.

Epilogue: Our training at the Missionary Training center is over now.  Prior to entering the MTC I managed to leave JDH’s panama hat at my son’s home in Ogden.  He was afraid that his children were responsible for the holes in the hat, but I put his mind at rest about them. 

We were able to retrieve the hat during the weekend and take one last shot of it before laying it to rest. One of the walls at the Missionary Training Center features portraits of all the presidents of the church incorporating images representing their contributions.  I chose to take the last picture of JDH’s hat in front of the portrait of David O. McKay.

As JDH passed away during President McKay’s term of office this image seems to allow time to cycle back to the days when the hat was produced, purchased and utilized by JDH. Though the hat has passed beyond utility, I feel that in its last days it drew me closer to a man that I have revered all my life. May I take some of his strength with me on this new adventure.

 

FLASHES

by Phillip

Nothing I have experienced in probably the past ten years has energized me as much as receiving this call to serve in Sweden.  I mean, that’s where I served forty years ago!  Nobody gets called back to the same mission, do they?

 

No wonder I’m over the moon and most of the big dipper with excitement. 

This kind of exhilaration is completely irrepressible.

That is until I realize just how much Kim and I have to do to prepare to leave everything behind for eighteen months. I mean, how are we going to get everything done?

Tough question.  My best response is to consider how many people’s lives we can influence for the better while we are in Sweden.  And I am so fortunate to have already mastered the Swedish language .

Well, at least I had it mastered forty years ago… or thought I had it mastered.  I mean I can still read Swedish – mostly.  And when I take advantage of the language training offered to senior couples  I find I am remembering Swedish words I haven’t thought of in decades.  I just wish they were the words I needed to complete my thoughts.

I must confess this is how my days go, swinging like a pendulum from euphoria to panic. 

This frenetic bout of hot and cold flashes vacillating from wide eyed wonder to petrifying shock, can toggle back and forth several times in a single hour.

The other morning, while lying in bed long before the alarm was set to ring, I was fretted over how little time we had left to accomplish our preparations.  I was given a gift that morning.  I recalled a verse from the Book of Mormon found in Mosiah 4.

 “And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.”

Joseph Smith received similar counsel in Section 10 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Since then, I have been able to focus oin my preparations without trepidation.  I move forward with diligence and faith, knowing that we are on God’s errand and He will be with us.

We have 5 kids: Fem lilla barnen

We had made plans to visit each of our kids before we report to the Mission Training Center on November 30. However when it became known that Phillip had some US Airways passes available it became important to get all 5 children (and as many grandchildren as possible) together in a single group with Phillip and I before we go to Sweden.

I am so glad we did!

  Kim and Phillip + 5 grown kids

 The 17 of us

The 8 grand kids that were able to make it (we all missed Emmett!)

Thank you to son-in-law Steven for taking the pictures!

while we were together we played at the park...

played games

 

ate out... and had a generally good time!

We missed Sarah, Emmett and Chris but were glad to have everyone else gathered around for a few days!

 

 

INITIAL REPORT FROM A THREE-TOED SLOTH

We have been living in Arizona for a little over two years, and yet the first time I felt the need to meet with a doctor was when Kim and I had resolved to submit our papers for serving as fulltime missionaries for our church. A part of that paperwork included a medical examination.

I was reminded this last week that this first doctor’s visit was in January of 2015. My immediate thought was, “Really? We’ve been working on this for 9 months?  Why aren’t we any further along than we are?”

Just yesterday when someone asked how my mission preparations were going I told them that while our report date was charging towards us with the speed of a famished cheetah, our preparations were progressing like a three toed sloth.”  That it has taken us nine months to get this blog off the ground is an example of our seeming plodding pace.

Now that the Blog is established, let’s get you some solid info.

On August 3^rd we received a large white envelope from church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Among other things it said, “You are hereby called to serve as missionaries for the Church of Latter-day Saints to labor in the Sweden Stockholm Mission to labor in the single adult program.” We have been called to serve for 18 months beginning in late November.

`Kim says that I am over the moon with excitement because I am returning to the land where, exactly forty years ago, I spent two years serving as a proselyting missionary.

A big part of our preparation is in familiarizing ourselves with the language.  Much of what I learned forty years ago is coming back to me somewhat unevenly. Kim, on the other hand, is starting from almost square one.   We each skype twice a week with the Church’s Missionary Training Center in Utah.  Kim is amazing them with the zeal she displays in her studies.

Every Sunday morning we attend Missionary Preparation lessons.

We’ve been updating passports, and medical vaccinations and preparing to pack up our house.

All of our children will join us in early October for a final get together before we leave.

Kim’s last day of work is September 30, and mine is October 14. After that we hope to see our preparations snowballing.

Daily we feel the blessings of this opportunity and hope to share much of that through this blog over the next year and a half.