By Phillip
Autumn has come to the Island…
… as well as winter.
(Kim asks why I always scowl when I take a selfie. She doesn’t
understand the concentration it takes to get this framed right.
… And even then, I don’t get it right.)
The now storm was actually a fluke incident. It is rare
that winter storms hit so early and so hard in Visby. Even Stockholm was taken
by surprise. Our neighbor’s brother
lives on the south end of Gotland and he was totally unaware of the storms on
the north end.
We’ve thawed back to Autumn now.
This is the west wall of the famed Visby fortifications. To the left of the trees is the beach.
It has been a busy few months, busy enough for us to be
once again, behind in our blogging.
(That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.)
We hope to adequately recap some of the major moments
before something else crops up.
As Kim and I have come to
understand the dynamics of the branch membership, we feel that what it needs is
two strong families with a broad age range of children to create a foundation
for generational growth. We made it a
matter of fasting in August, and two weeks later the elders began teaching a
family of six. I’ve had the chance to
meet some of the members of the family and they are so open to the lessons.
In the long run, they felt
that the timing was bad for them. This
is a busy season for them, so they asked the elders contact them, maybe after
the new year.
When I proposed to the branch
that we find two new families, I knew that it would depend on our faith and
efforts. When this family came into the picture so immediately, I took this
miracle as being a sign that God has acknowledged our righteous desires. The
delay in teaching them prompts us to want to strengthen the branch so that they
are ready to support this and any other families as they accept membership in
the church.
Here are a couple of shots of the building where we hold
our services.
As nice as foliage is, this next shot give a clearer
view.
We meet on the fifth floor, but the building has a split
level design so we are actually only three floors up. The walled city is just
on the other side of the trees on the right.
This is our foyer.
Of the seven men from the middle east who joined the church
last year we have five that have not been transferred to the mainland. Some of the decisions made by the Swedish
immigration board have kept us on the edge of our seats. ugees. In early autumn they announced that all of the refugees housed in the Integration
Camp on Gotland would be transferred to the northern
reaches of Sweden. The Piteå integration home is fairly close to the Luleå
branch. But, one of the men being
transferred, currently serving as a counsellor in the branch presidency, was
slated to be transferred to Haparanda. That’s about as close as you can get to
Finland without a boat. But it is a very long way from Luleå.
I believe that the transfer
is part of the immigration officers efforts to keep the refugees from becoming
too settled in the integration homes.
The logic is that if they are moved periodically, they will be motivated
to find work and a permanent home on their own.
However, concerned citizens
of Gotland protested the moving of any family in the midst of the school term
as an unnecessary disruption of the children’s education. In the long run, no
one has been transferred off the island, yet.
We are waiting to see what happens as the school term ends.
One of the highlights of the
past few months was our opportunity to join an elderly sister, after having
been a member for 18 months, for a trip to the Stockholm Temple where she
received her endowment.
You’ll Note that Kim’s mother
is standing beside me. She came on a
three week visit during the fall. We
plan to cover that adventure in a separate post.
The two Elders assigned to our branch / island are hard
workers. As I have gone out with them I have nearly had to run to keep up with
them as they turn on a dime, (or here, a ten crown piece) to approach everyone
they see, while on their way to appointments and swing-bys.
Elder Svensson is a native Swede. He was one of the first
missionaries to greet us when we arrived in Lund. We spent our first four and a half months
with him before he was transferred to more northern climes. But, sensing a need
for his influence in Gotland, Sister Hurlbut prayed him onto the island. He finished off his mission here after
another four and a half months serving under the Hurlbut yoke.
Elder Svensson is the one in shirtsleeves.
Last winter we learned a fun rhyme about surviving Scandinavian winters.
Det finns inget dåligt väder
Bara dåliga kläder.
Translated, it says:
There is no bad weather,
Only bad clothing.
For the last three months, Elder Svensson has been
training Elder Cluff, a fiery and dedicated Elder fresh from Oklahoma. They
have been a great companionship and strengthening factor for the branch. Last week we sent Elder Svensson home for his
honorable release. He has been a big part of our mission.
One of their investigators is coming very close to
baptism. On his first visit to the church, the men of the church were slated to
sing “How Firm a Foundation.” (in Swedish, of course) as an extra musical
number. This investigator stood up and
sang with us. He is integrating himself in to the congregation on his own
initiative and has a powerful testimony.
Due to the long distance some of the sisters have to
travel to get to the church, the Relief Society has not had a mid-week activity
for about a year. This past weekend we
participated in the second event of the restored practice.
Last month they met at the church to prep some potted
spring bulbs looking forward to next spring. Unfortunately, the inconveniences
of the bus schedule prohibited the two sisters from Stånga
(a 45-minute drive) from participating.
For this most recent event, the sisters cheerfully agreed
to gather in one of the homes in Stånga to created Christmas
decorations for the church.
You will note the sheep shaped cookie on the plate in the
bottom left. Sheep are a strong part of
Gotland’s culture.
We have seen a deepening bond between these sisters due
to these two events.
Additional photos.
One of the most popular events in Visby is the annual Medieval Festival in Visby.
There’s nothing like a walled city to take you back a few
centuries or so. And if you have enough people in costume in the foreground
you don’t notice the jeans and shorts so much.
Take note of the man in a metal helmet pushing a childstroller
towards the gate.
This represents about 1/8th of the people who
were present the day we attended.
This is Kim and our
We encountered a wide variety of costumes.
These young girls were quite adept in their
performance. The lass in red is playing
a traditional Swedish instrument called a nyckelharp.
Our parting shot came about because of a discussion at
district meeting concerning how early is
too early to start listening to Christmas. The debate resulted in a division among the
district members.
At the next district meeting, the District Leader projected
this on the television screen.
So that’s how things are going here.
We appreciate all the prayers on our behalf. We are
having a truly humbling and awe inspiring experience as we serve the people of
Sweden, especially here on Gotland. However, our desire and our assignment seem
to be outreaching the limits of our bank account and what felt to us to be
enough resources to put us on several missions might not see us through the end
of this one. As uncomfortable as it is to ask for money… that is what we are
doing.
If any of you, our family and friends, have the means to donate to our
mission, even a small amount it would mean the world to us. This can be done
online directly through our home ward using the unit number 183563, or through
our son Darvil Hurlbut: 5398 S 825 E, South Ogden, UT 84405, darvilhurlbut@gmail.com, (405)684-3814
Thank you for prayers, notes and thoughts we love you
all!
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