Springtime For Lund

By Kim

We have had a great week! We are at the end of the 1^st quarter so we are trying to get the missionary apartment inspections completed. in fact on Tuesday we did 3! Weeks ago the Senior Couple serving in  Göteborg, Äldste and Syster Hawley from Montana, invited us to join them in Landskrona and Helsingborg  on the 15^th of March. The Hawleys are headed home next month and have picked up some extra apartment checks throughout the mission to give them a chance to also do some sight-seeing. We had been looking forward to spending the day with them and had even looked up a few things we wanted to see in Helsingborg.

That morning we inspected the Systers apartment here in Lund. They needed a few screws tightened and we taught them how to clean out the vacuum cleaner. Their place was as clean as we expected! And then we were off to Landskrona/Helsingborg, about a 45 minute drive. We met the Hawley’s at one of the Elders apartments and did 2 apartment checks with them. And that was it… no sight-seeing at all… they had other plans… So we drove on home to our work in Lund.

That’s not to say we didn’t see any sights.  You can’t travel through Sweden with without seeing sights.

Here is Phillip standing in front of the Landskrona  Cathedral. This is the view from the Landskrona Elders’  entry.  Landskrona, Sweden has been calculated to be the exact center of Europe.  They never would have qualified if Norway didn’t stretch so far north.

This is Helsinborg’s City hall, caught on the fly at a stop light.

And here’s a sample of the sort of landscapes we drive through. Lutheran churches dominate the cities and villages. From this particular spot we could see two other steeples. While the Church of Sweden was considered the state church the government was obligated to provide a enough churches to the populace. The government severed its ties to the church in 2000.

We see quite a few windmills as well.  This is one we pass by frequently, but there's hardly ever an opportunity to stop.  As for today we’ve got a meeting in Lund to hurry back to.

In April 22-24 the Malmö Stake will sponsor about 200 young adults for a weekend called “Create”. I sit with the young adult council that is planning the weekend. When we arrived at this week’s meeting our food chairman had prepared a lovely dinner for us including a fancy table with elegantly folded napkins. We started with crawfish followed by pike in a horseradish sauce with boiled potatoes. It was a pleasant surprise; especially for the young adults on the committee who arrive straight from work or school without dinner. It was delicious, but there were more bones in that piece of fish then I have dealt with since I was a child! The food chairman’s name is Kalle and he is a non-member. He has been socially converted for years but doesn’t want to hear anymore missionary lessons right now. He does attend church on Sundays – He is from Columbia and speaks Spanish and Swedish… We do a lot of sign language in the kitchen.

So, on Wednesday we had another apartment inspection in Malmö, and needed to shop for the Institute dinner the next day.

On Thursday night I fed the Institute students taco soup. Everyone raved… but they always do :).  I have purchased 2 large crock-pots since I got here and I love them! I dumped all the ingredients into them that morning and then Phillip and I left for the day! We were back at the center 45 minutes before meal time and everything was good to go. I used combined recipes from Sarah McBride and Sherri Barrow. Thank you for your cooking skills. I feed about 20 YA’s each week. My budget is about $2.50 per person. I am welcome to other ideas because figuring out what to feed them is the hardest part! OH! … and it has to be gluten free!

On that same Thursday (after the taco soup was in the crock-pots) we drove about 30 minutes to Vellinge Blomman, my favorite store in Sweden! It is a greenhouse / holiday store. Elizabeth is in the Malmö congregation, but has problems getting to church because of her health. However, she likes to go to Vellinge Blomman quarterly. We went with her in January and purchased our Amaryllis. This time the store was decorated for Easter! I bought an orchid and several small plants. The small plants were about $1.75 each and I plan to give them as birthday presents next month to the systers I visit teach because it is my birthday!

Here are some photos of the audio animatronic displays we saw at Vellinge Blomman. They had about ten diaramas representing a variety of folk tales featuring eggs.  For example, the dwarves from Snow White were portrayed by eggs wearing beards.

The Three Little Pigs

Rapunzel

An eggland village.

Swedish traditions for Easter include witches.  They represent the forces of evil that were thwarted by the resurrection of Christ.  It is not unusual for small children, especially girls, to dress up as witches for Easter

Witches for sale

Another tradition is to tie colorful feathers to birch twigs.  In former times on the night before Easter the twigs would be waved in the air to scare off the witches flying overhead.  Now they are mostly featured as decorations

Some have even made it into our home.

The next day was our weekly District Meeting. Our district leader conducted a discussion on how hope is connected to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is such a joy to sit in these meetings and hear these young missionaries share their keen insights on the gospel.

Afterwards, we went to a Chinese buffet on Kyrkogatan which gave us another unexpected chance to see some of the sights, all from the same bus stop.

Domkyrkan (Judgement church)

Nearly 1000 years old

Lund University's Universtyhuset

(Note the sphinxes on the upper corners)

The Southwest access to Lund University

As we ate in the courtyard patio, both Phillip and I noticed the layers of brick walls rising above us. We each reached for the phone to take the picture not knowing what was going on in the other's head. I got there first.

New photo of Amaryllis.

Welcome to UEV

by Phillip

Recently a group of about ten members of the church, all in their twenties gathered together to discuss the meaning and manifestations of Christ-like service, after which they enjoyed a movie. The day before, some of them gathered as a part of a slightly larger group to enjoy a dinner together and view a worldwide broadcast from the Hawaii campus of Brigham Young University where they were taught principles for improving their personal discipleship. A few days prior to that about twenty-five of this same set of peers attended a class as a part of weekly religious instruction.  Here they discussed sources of eternal truth. The next weekend several of them travel four hours away to Göteborg, Sweden to participate in a three-day conference designed to enrich the lives of members their age throughout Scandinavia. In weekly meetings, leaders among these dedicated youth coordinate these activities including providing a similar weekend conference here in Southern Sweden.

Although this week was busier than usual for them, they were glad to make time to participate despite the demands of their studies, employment, as well as church and family responsibilities.  

During this same time period Kim and I were kept busy as well.  Most of our duties revolve around, the Young Single Adult Institute center. The Center is very close to the center of Lund. It is a suite of four rooms and a kitchen on the fifth floor of a building used for businesses and apartments. From the institute windows we can see the twin steeples of the Lund Cathedral which is close to 1000 years old.

The Lund Cathedral towers are directly above Kim's head.

The center houses a small library of religious books, music and films, a couple of computers with internet access, a ping pong table and a fuss ball table, a piano and an electric keyboard.  Nearly everyone we work with has considerable musical abilities.  

This is the building that houses the center.  The young people are such shining examples of Christ-like living that you can tell from the street when any of them are on the elevator. 

Although, if I am not mistaken, that’s Kim shining out in this picture.

This picture was taken on a particularly sunny day in Lund.  Most days here are foggy or rain swept.  Although the January snows melted away some weeks ago, we would be silly to pack up the mackintoshes and galoshes just yet.

From those of you who are unfamiliar with these Items I have provided images below.

 Macintosh

Galosh

But let me get back to what we do. The letter issuing the call for us to serve in Sweden outlined our service in these words, “Your primary assignment is to labor in the stake young single adult program.” Young Single Adults are defined as unmarried members of the church and their friends between the ages of 19 and 30. The title is often abbreviated to ‘YSA.” In Swedish the term is translated as “Unga Ensamståenda Vuxna” or UEV.

A standard week has us, meeting with the UEV a couple of nights a week.  On Mondays those whose families are not local gather for Family Home Evening.  They always begin with a spiritual discussion featuring questions such as ‘How can you know whether you are under the influence of the Holy Ghost or just your own emotions.?’ Or “What does God’s creation of the world teach us about our attempts to create?’  They often have a choral number they are practicing for some meeting or another, and they usually end with a game of some sort. We are there to provide shadow mentoring and usually a snack, or ‘fica,’ as they call it.

Typical Family Home Evening (FHE) crowd

On Thursdays they assemble for college level religious instruction provided by the church’s Institute program.  This semester they are studying “Foundations of the Restored Gospel.” Because so many arrive for the lessons coming direct from classes and/or work, we prepare a simple meal for them; usually a soup or stew.

 

Following the lesson, we join a meeting including a group of leaders from the of Young Single Adults, to plan for future activities.  Coming up in April is a YSA/UEV conference that we will be hosting, very similar the one we attended in February.  We are expecting attendance to be somewhere between 100 to 150. Our position, again, is as shadow mentors.  We let them use and hone their leadership skills while we offer suggestions or point out details they might not be aware of.

Elder Robert D. Hales

Recently, talking to and about the Young Single Adults in the church, Elder Robert D. Hales, of the Quorum the Twelve apostles said, "You are living through a critical period of your life. The choices you make—mission, education, marriage, career, and service in the Church—will shape your eternal destiny. This means you will always be looking ahead—looking to the future.

Wait upon the Lord. I testify that the Lord knows your desires and loves you for your faithful devotion to Him. He has a plan for you, whether it be in this life or the next. Listen to His Spirit. “Seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand.” In this life or the next, His promises will be fulfilled. “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” (Elder Robert D. Hales, Meeting the Challenges of the World, Ensign, Nov. 2015, page 44.)

This is counsel that Kim and I take to heart as we work with these shining Young Adults.

New photo of Amaryllis.

3 Days in Göteborg

By Kim

The Scandinavian Young Adult councils are part of the “Nordic Institute Council”. It is comprised of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. The Nordic Council holds an event each month for the Young Single Adults ~ February was “Valentines” in Göteborg just 3 hours north of us. We were very interested in attending since we will be hosting a similar event in our stake in April.  Several Senior Couples from around the mission joined us to help with preparing and serving the food :)

 Hvitfedlska High School

(a.k.a. 'Hogwarts' according to some participants.)

The event was housed in a very old high school. Originally established in 1647, the current structure was built in 1917. We were in charge of check in and had everyone’s name listed alphabetically by 1^st name. We verified they were paid and collected 250 krowns (about $30) if they had not; then verified if they were staying at the school or had made other arraignments and attached a wristband to their arms. We then directed the boys to the second floor and the girls to the 3^rd. They were sleeping in classrooms and each had brought their own sleeping bags and mats, some had brought mattress’s! There were about 25 from our Stake and even those that I haven’t gotten to know very well were excited to see us. They came around the table and gave us a hug and told us their adventures of getting to Göteborg (some in cars but most by bus and train).

Some of our friends from Lund.

They event began with a PJ party / dance and we served Pizza at 10 pm. Swedish Pizza is different than American… the crust is very thin – more like a cracker, they use very little cheese on pizza and it is not uncommon to find french-fries on them.

We left just after the pizza was served because we needed to be back at 6:30 in the morning. We were staying in the cutest hotel called the Hotel Mölndals Bro. (I wish we had gotten to spend more time there!)

 The lights on the facade of the  hotel

 were programmed to change colors.

Here you can see it shifting from yellow (on the right)

 to blue (on the left).

We loved the sense of European comfort in the room.

Note the chocolate heart on the pillow. 

The view of Fässbergs Church from the hotel.

Bright and early the next morning we headed back to the high school. We had another couple riding with us for the weekend, Elder and Sister Robinson are Records Preservation missionaries and don’t have a car. They spend about 40 hours a week in the basement of the Swedish National Archives in Stockholm photographing records.

Kim and Sister Robinson in front of the hotel.

Breakfast was bread and butter, ham, cheese and tomatoes. Once this was set out we started prepping for the taco lunch! I diced soooooo many tomatoes that my fingers looked like prunes! Later when my YA committee was going through the line I said, “no diced tomatoes’ at our event”! They said, “But sister Hurlbut we love tomatoes!” When I explained I had spent over an hour dicing tomatoes they said, “Look! We eat lots of tomatoes!” as they scooped them on their taco’s. I have a great group of YA’s.   :O)

The taco lunch was what you would expect: flour tortillas, taco meat, cheese and veggies. Oh what I wouldn’t give for some cheddar cheese!!!! I am surrounded by all this wonderful cheese and we have been sampling it all! But I miss my cheddar!

Kim and the Hawleys ready to serve breakfast.

Phillip bringing order to the taco bar.

Saturday night's formal dinner and dance

in full swing.

President Beckstrand (our mission pres.) and his wife have been touring south Sweden doing specialized zone training and agreed to do a workshop on marriage. We heard it was wonderful. They also stayed through Sunday’s testimony meeting which was an incredible experience.

The testimony meeting took place in the school's auditorium. 

Every other seat back folds down 

to become a desktop for the seat behind it.

You can see the organ pipes to the right of the windows.  

250 Young adults, 6 countries (including England and Germany) 3 days. It was a pretty great experience. Every day we drove past Lisaberg, a local amusement park, and the city's cultural center which surrounds a fountain featuring a large statue of Poseidon, but we never did any sight-seeing… too busy and too tired. 

In 1976 Phillip served four months in Göteborg.

He felt a burst of happiness every time we

drove past this familiar sight.  

After handing out sack lunches, helping with cleanup and seeing that everyone was on their way, we made our drive home and arrived after 7 pm on Sunday.

The event we host in April is called "Create."  We are excited! And just a little bit nervous, but we have an enthusiastic committee of young single adults who are taking the lead.…. Love you all

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

The school's complex included several buildings.

Check out the ornamental arch leading up to this one.  

There is a picnic bench on top of the 

rock outcropping to the right of the building.

Detail of the arch.

The two of us at the main entrance.

The exterior of the heavy wooden main entrance doors

 are covered metal adding beauty as well as extra weight.

When Phillip first tried to exit through them he thought

they were locked.  But then a little slip of a girl 

came along and shoved it open for him.

You can see the year "1917" at the top of the image.

Vasa Church 

as seen from the east wing of the school.

Detail of the West wing of the school

We did get snow on Friday night,

but it had melted away by Sunday afternoon .

The view of the west wing from

a window in the auditorium.

BONUS FEATURE:

Kim has been beautifying our apartment with houseplants, the most stunning of which are a pair of amaryllis.  This is what she started with.

And this is the first flowering.

The plan is to include a new photo of the progressive growth with each post so that you can enjoy them with us.

Shall We Hit the Road Running?

By Phillip

Let’s time travel back to Mid-December of 2015, our first week in Sweden.

The week began with a series of flights from Phoenix

to Newark

to Munich

then to Stockholm.  

Each flight brought us deeper and deeper into the reality that we were moving out of a big portion of our comfort zone.  By the time we reached Munich we were relating too closely to the imagined ‘perfect day’ as voiced by one of the characters in the film Dan in Real Life described as 'waking in a place where you don’t know the language or the customs'. After disembarking in Stockholm, a land where forty years ago I could hold an understandable conversation on many topics in the Swedish language, I found myself surrounded by tumultuous chatter in a definite Swedish timbre, but there the recognition ended. Although I could speak an awkward Swedish, I could not decipher any of the Swedish conversation around me.

Now that I’ve gotten you to Sweden, I should explain something about the organization of Latter-day Saint (Mormon) Missions. The Sweden Stockholm Mission covers the entire country of Sweden.  It is divided into missionary zones, each zone being divided into districts.  Every three months the Mission President holds Zone conferences to instruct and edify the missionaries, two in Stockholm and one in Göteborg.  This is significant because we arrived on the day of the first Conference.

These conferences keep everyone at the mission office busy, so we were very grateful that among all the checklists that were created for that Zone Conference someone remembered to pencil in “Pick up the Hurlbuts from the airport.” As it was, between deplaning, finding our luggage, (we didn’t realize there were two separate corridors of luggage carousels, and, of course, we chose to wait in the wrong one), determining where and how to go through customs, we took so long to emerge in to the arrivals area that our driver had to dash out and reload the parking meter.   This left us wondering, how long a person should wait before venturing out into the wilds of Stockholm on our own trailing 18 months of luggage behind us. Fortunately, our driver, the genial Äldste Koyle serving as the financial secretary of the mission, picked us out of the crowd, before we did anything foolish.
  

We arrived at the Mission office about 3:30 PM.  That’s sundown in Stockholm’s winter.  Here we rolled up our sleeves to help Äldste and Syster Koyle with some of the final preparation’s for the next day’s Zone Conference. They took us out for dinner [Longhorn Steakhouse – “Snälla du, har ni någon BBQ Sauce?”] and to our hotel room for the night, a room that comes with features so European that thoughts of Dan in Real Life rear up crying out, “No sir, you are not in Kansas any more.” So that’s our first day in Sweden.

Day two has us going to the emigration office to register our presence in Sweden for long term residency.  Then it’s back to the office to finish off the last minute preparations for Zone Conference 2.  We are taken along to help serve the dinner.  This also gives us a chance to meet some of the missionaries, as well as the Mission President and his wife.  Another highlight of this day is the opportunity to see the Stockholm Temple, very close to the chapel where the Conference is in session. 

(pretend that this picture has snow on the ground)

After another night at the hotel we wake to day three, a day dedicated to driving from Stockholm to Lund where the bulk of our service will be.  This is an eight-hour drive that affords a good glimpse of the autumnal Sweden, since there is no snow on the ground as we head south. When we aren’t passing through rainstorms, the skies around us are gray and lowering lending a similar color scheme to our surroundings.  The highways run mostly through rural areas with an occasional dip into a town or city. The highlight of this was driving along the eastern shore of Lake Vättern into Jönköping at the southern tip of the lake.

But winter days are short in northern climes, and even though we are heading south, it is dark when we arrive in Lund. Our Zone Leaders are there to meet us and help us get settled in, which can be interpreted as moving our suitcases into our apartment. They then, take us over to the Young Single Adult (YSA) facility, which will be our base of operations. Here we meet some of the students waiting for Institute class (religious studies) to start. But – No, no, no – we don't get to stay. We are whisked away to the Lund meeting house to attend the baptismal service for a mother and her teenage daughter. Here, we are introduced to some of the members as well as the missionaries in our district.  Having attended plenty of baptisms before It didn’t seem to matter that we only recognized a handful of Swedish words during the service. It was an interesting blend of the familiar with the foreign, the most important familiarity being the presence of the spirit. The Zone leaders then take us back to the YSA Center to catch the last part of the lesson, being given in a mix of Swedish and English. We get back to our apartment more than ready to crawl into bed.

Day Four: The final Zone Conference takes place in Göteborg, a four-hour drive from Lund, but, since this is our Zone, we feel it is important to attend and learn our mission president’s priorities for the mission. So, after a quick shower and a quicker breakfast, we are on the road again. The conference is a good blend of spiritual instruction, housekeeping business, Christmas celebration, and family reunion - the latter as missionaries get to reconnect with various companions they have worked with before. For us the conference ends with a four-hour drive back to Lund, where we drag our tired bodies into bed. Having left early and arrived home late, we have yet to see anything of Lund in the daylight

Lund is twenty minutes north of Malmö. 

Day five is Saturday and the first real day we are on our own in Sweden. The key activity is one that has been weeks (though it feels like months) in the waiting. 

On the fourteenth of November we moved our furniture into storage and became temporarily housed with our daughter Natasha. Between that time and the end of our first week in Sweden, we traveled up to Utah where, after a night’s stay in St. George, we stayed a few days with our son, Darvil’s family in Ogden, my daughter, Cassandra’s family in Provo, our Mission Training Center housing, also in Provo, then back to Darvil’s house for the weekend (to see our newborn granddaughter) then back to the MTC for more training, back to Cassandra’s to prep for flying to Natasha’s home ( to see our newborn grandson) before our departure to Sweden. That’s thirty-five days living out of suitcases. 

For me, the lifestyle of packing and repacking, adjusting possessions from one bag to another depending on what was going to be needed the next day; trying, but mostly failing to recall which bag I had most recently stored a particular item was close to delivering a very unhinged Äldste Hurlbut into the mission field.  But, I do not doubt that this prolonged time of not having any home of our own, was calculated by some celestial clockwork to provide the necessary catalyst to nudge us in to embracing this new home in a foreign land more readily than otherwise.

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