Week 12

We’ve learned that in Sweden and possibly all of Europe, the weeks of the year are numbered. So here is what we did in Week 12 of 2016

Sunday, March 20 – Helsingborg Ward Conference.

By Kim

As I sat down in Helsingborg Ward Conference the Spirit witnessed that I needed to bear my testimony… Don’t be silly! Today is Ward Conference and I am a missionary without any responsibilities over this conference J. I pushed the prompting aside and sat back to enjoy the meeting. Their new Bishop was put in about three weeks ago but we have been to his home twice over the past couple of months and are already fast friends. I wore a translator because I was being lazy and wanted to understand the meeting ~ and Helsingborg always translates for several people in their congregation anyway.

Sacrament meeting was lovely. As Sunday School began so did that nagging feeling that I still needed to bear my testimony… the stake Sunday school president who is also a member of the high council was teaching the lesson… and he didn’t seem to need my help. Third hour was a combined Relief Society / Priesthood meeting and the compulsion to bear my testimony was becoming urgent. The meeting began with the Relief Society President and her counselors teaching and then a member of the Stake Presidency. He finished by asking the Elders to pass out an Easter pass-along-card to each of the members while he showed the church’s new Easter Message #hallelujah.

And that is when it happened… as soon as the Easter message ended I stood and bore my testimony of Jesus Christ, that He atoned for our sins and rose from the dead that we can live with God again. I testified of the importance of sharing the Easter message with a friend and the power of doing it in their own homes with the missionaries present.  And I was a missionary. And I am in Sweden. And I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.

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Monday March 21 – P-Day / Ales Stenar!

By Phillip

A few kilometers from the picturesque city of Ystad, atop a bluff that overlooks the southern portion of the Baltic Sea stands an ancient megalithic structure known as Ales Stenar (Ale’s Stones).  It is often described as a stone ship because of its hull-like shape.  Similar to Stonehenge, the stones are arranged in accordance to the astronomical calendar.

Our District decided to make the excursion there and invited the missionaries from Kristianstad to join us.

Access to the stone ship is from the small fishing village, Kåsaberga seen behind us here.

The sea wind was so brisk that day that most of our photos give the impression that that we were wearing fight wigs. And, despite the warmth we had been experiencing in Lund,  the wind chill proved to be so nippy that Phillip was unable manipulate his silverware to eat his lunch at the end of the excursion.

The village disappears from view as we reach the top of the bluff.  To the right you can see Syster Stetler and Sister Cambell practicing gymnasitcs on the expansive.  Syster Stetler is the one on the right. 

We were so excited to catch our first glimpse of the stones.

It was quite a challenge to capture the sense of the area in a single photograph.

 

The younger missionaries produced a more energetic expression.

Thursday March 24 – Traditional Easter dinner for the Young Adults

By Phillip

Kim decided that in honor of the Easter week we should serve a special meal for the institute students.  We prepared our traditional Easter fare of ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, fruit salad and green salad. 

Sometimes we feed up to 25 people on Thursday nights. This week we fed six. The long holiday weekend took its toll on Institute attendance that week.

Friday March 25 – Zone Conference in Göteborg

By Phillip

We left Institute early, to make the long drive to Göteborg, so we could arrive at the next day’s Zone Conference refreshed.  The hotel we had reserved was called the Dockyard Hotel. I couldn’t help but picture a creaky, rat infested building hosting a seamy constituency of sailors. Arriving in the dark after some misguidance from the GPS device we were pleasantly surprised at the comforts offered by the facility. The desk clerk never figured out whether I was speaking Danish or English (my fault, not his), and the elevator button for the third floor was particularly unresponsive, but the room was more than we could have asked for.

The first thing I noted at the Zone Conference was that one of the missionary cars had cardboard taped over a shattered rear window. Someone had executed a smash and grab bit of larceny getting away with nothing that would be of valuable to the culprit, but were precious to the missionaries. Being the Fleet Coordinator for the mission I missed the opening of the Zone Conference while gathering the necessary plastic sheeting and tape to patch the car up for its long drive home to Stockholm, where it could be repaired.

The Conference itself was full of wonderful instruction. We were admonished to update our language study plans, and taught how to more effectively work with the members of the church. President Beckstrand taught us how we can overcome the fatigue of our winter labors by relying on the divine support promised to those who are called of God.  Sister Beckstrand led us in a discussion on how we can and should be using this time in the mission field to deepen our relationship with the Lord.

Sunday March 27 – Glad Påsk

By Kim

We decided to spend Easter Sunday with our own congregation in Lund. The spirit was strong and the music was beautiful. A young woman and her sister-in-law sang “I’m Trying to be Like Jesus” accompanied by the young woman’s father. One of the speakers, Terez Nilsson, who had us to dinner Christmas day, is the mother of nine. Terez and her husband Michael both served missions to England where their son Oscar is currently serving. He is her 4^th missionary. Her parents were visiting from the Gubbängen Ward in Stockholm, a congregation Phillip served in 40 years ago. Her father sang, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” with the congregation joining for the last two verses. It could have been my dad. It was wonderful! I love you Dad! Vi ses.

For Easter Phillip updated my Mombo board (thank you Cassandra – wonderful mission gift!)

All he got was a Disney figurine…

But he seemed okay with that.

We hope this finds you all well and safe!

We would love to hear from you,

Äldste och Syster Hurlbut

Sweden Stockhom Mission

Trollebergsvägan 77A

227 31 Lund

Sweden

Kimandphilliph@gmail.com 

Additional Photos:

Here are some of the sight we caught on the way to Ystad.

Sweden's landscape is peppered with windmills. And southern Sweden has enough wind to warrant it. I (Phillip) get a thrill at the concept of these gargantuan sentinals stoically standing, capturing the gusts (that we on the ground simply strive to withstand) to create the electricity that powers our communites,

No, I really mean it.  I really do thrill.  

Ystad at Easter:  This is Kim's favorite community Easter display.  I think that it is the 'fire and ice' motif that makes it so dynamic.

In 1906, Selma Lagerlöf published the book, “The Wonderful Adventures of Nils” about a boy who is magically shrunken and ends up touring Sweden while riding on a goose.  The concept was born from a request from the Swedish school boards that she write a book that would teach about Sweden’s history, geography and wildlife without it seeming to ba a textbook. If you zoom into the image of this roadside statue commemorating the book you can see Nils between the goose's wings.

We pass by a lot of farms as we travel in Sweden.  This one seems to have had an exceptional crop of marshmallows this year.

Amarylis Update.

Kim purchased this red amarylis at the same time as the white one.