Monday, August 8, 2016

Visby Branch


By Phillip

The first LDS missionary to set foot on Gotland was Trulls Hullgren. He arrived in November of 1860 and by September of 1862 he had established three branches of the church. 


Emigration to America took its toll, though, and in 1920 there were hardly any members left on the island.  The end of World War II found six members on the island. Since then the LDS population has vacillated with frequent move ins and move outs. 

Here are some pictures of the building we meet in.  It also houses the courthouse.  The members jokingly tell of how their friends shy away from attending church because of the close proximity to the courthouse.


That brown door in the middle of the builind is our entrance. The elevator says that we are on floor '5' but it is a split level structure meaning that we are only three flights up.  Our windows are the ones on the roof.


Visby is called the Walled City. You can see one of the wall’s towers in the distance there.  It looks more distant than it really is. We are only two blocks away.


Below is a shot of the foyer.


Currently we have about five households that have been here for more than a decade, though not all of them are active.  In addition to them we have some staunch members who have come to Gotland to enjoy their retirement.  We have one college student attending Upsalla’s satellite campus here in Visby.
The most exciting and challenging development is the recent baptism of seven young men, refugees from the middle east.  The refugee situation here in Sweden is somewhat troubled.  Up until recently, Sweden’s borders have been open, but with the dramatic influx of immigrants seeking asylum, the government has had to make some difficult decisions leaving the refugees living in uncertain circumstances.  Because of this the missionaries have been instructed to not seek investigators from among them.
But these men approached the missionaries. Disheartened by the failures of their previous lifestyle, they long to learn about Jesus Christ.  Elder Madden, who preceded me as the Branch President tells touching stories of how these men have embraced the Lord and His Restored Gospel.

Language is a big issue among them.  Only a few of them speak anything but Farsi.  Some of them are picking up Swedish and even fewer have a little English under their belt. They all live in a refugee camp (I believe it is a refurbished school campus) a half hour drive south of Visby. The Elder’s Quorum President lives in the same town as the camp and is able to keep tabs on them.  But, with little notice, government officials can relocate them from one camp to another; even out of the country.  This makes it difficult to make sure their membership records follow them.

Very few of them have been able to attend church since I’ve been here, simply because they have been assigned employment among the local restaurants during the tourist season.  They are working seven days a week, 12 hours at a time.  The season slows down mid-August. Working such strenuous hours does demonstrate to the government that they can be productive citizens and it is good they are bringing in an income.  But once the tourist season is over who knows what their future will hold.
 
Their new status as Christians gives them more than a little trouble from the others living in the camp.  They keep their Sunday clothes in a closet at the church, because their fellow refugees treat them poorly, sometimes roughly for their new religion.  When we or the missionaries meet with them at the camp, we wait for them in the parking lot and meet in a nearby park to help keep the peace.  Most of these men have been ordained as Elders, one is called as the branch mission leader, and another is serving as one of my counselors.  He initially felt inadequate to the calling, I took time to help him understand how much he is needed as a priesthood link to his fellow LDS refugees. I also explained that he is there to learn of the order of the church, so that he can both administer and administrate the work of the Lord in the future.

Recently, Elder Scott and Elder Svensson met one of the managers of “Cirkus Brazil Jack.” The Circus spends about a month touring Gotland, returning frequently to Visby before they head back to the mainland.  The manager, Trolle Rhondin, came to church one Sunday and was kind enough to provide tickets for the children of some of the refugee members. 

In the shot below, the man sitting next us is the father all but one of the children. I have never seen such an infectious smile as his.


In the meantime, what the branch really needs is a couple of strong families to provide a generational foundation to the LDS community on Gotland. We made it a point to include this need in our fast this month.  Included in our attendance on Sunday were four youth and four children under the age of three.  They were all visitors, of which we have a lot during tourist season. But if felt as though God was acknowledging our fast.  Now all we need to do is get out there and do the work of finding some permanent families.
The work before us is great in a marvelous way, yet daunting as well. But I know that it is the work of the Lord, and I know that he singled us out for this position.  We have no other recourse than to press forward in faith and see what the Lord can do with us.
We appreciate the support and prayers from family, friends and the members of the Tempe Stake and Evergreen Ward.

Additional Photos:

These are some the Artistes we saw at the circus.

Quincy Azzario


Duo Costache


And … Rosi Hochegger & Scout





This is Trolle Rhondin with our group after the show. The Herrey’s helped with transportation and are a great asset to the branch.  Brother Herrey actually trained with a circus in his youth..

 Here are a few shots of the famed wall around the 'Walled City.'


This is the Kaiser Gate and its accompanying Kaiser Tower.


The sign to the right is an indication that the merchant traditions of Visby have not dwindled.  It  offers great deals on clothing.


This is one of the towers between the Kaiser Gate and the School Gate.


And this is the impressive Southern Gate.

We close with this nice shot of our Elders in Visby, Elder Scott (from Australia) and Elder Swensson (from Sweden).




4 comments:

  1. Your descriptions of your branch and meetinghouse make me nostalgic for Barnaul, except our age spread in that branch was reversed and we had mostly youth. The church leadership in my mission was so young that I always said things would explode in 10 years when they all finished growing up. Now that it's been 15, I wonder how things are going.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love hearing about and seeing pictures of your experiences! I keep wondering if you have run into anybody you knew from your first mission, Phillip (not where you are now, but maybe in Lund?). I know this is a wonderful and enriching experience for you both....love you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have run into a few, but none of them remember me. The most amusing encounter was with Terez Nilsson, who was fifteen years old when I was serving in Stockholm. I asked her if she remembered any tall missionaries from that time. She replied, "At age fifteen I didn't have the courage to pay attention to the elders."

    ReplyDelete