Family Home Evening

Monday nights the temple missionaries usually get together for Family Home Evening.  Tonight we included one of the single sisters boyfriends.
  We shared some great missionary stories.  One happened to a high councilman in Bro. Christensen's ward when he was a bishop in Hawaii.  The High Councilman stopped at his gelato shop to pick up sacks to put treats in for a class he was teaching.  As he looked out the window there were two men standing who didn't exactly fit in with their non-tourist attire.  He started talking to them and asked if he could be of help.  Yes, they would like a couple of bags to put their 6 packs of beer in. They were from a cruise ship and didn't know how to get back. He offered to drive them and during the conversation in the car they explained that they were two Catholic priests, hence the unusual attire. When they got out, they took the wrong package by mistake.This included the High Council man's lesson and personal Book of Mormon.  Before church was over he received a call on his cell phone from one of the men and he said  they wanted the book in the package. He offered to bring them another copy which he did and retrieved his own marked copy which had his name imprinted on it.  There was  a stake center within walking distance and the men had gone there and asked if anyone knew the name on the book.  Of course they did and gave them his phone number.
    Sometime later the High Council man received a phone call from one of the priests telling him he was giving up the ministry and joining the church.  The point being that the Lord can even use us in his work when we don't know it.  Imagine what he can do if we ask for missionary opportunities.
 

 We all got new HD TVs which replaced the old non-non working analogs. A lovely Christmas Present for everyone.  The added bonus is that you can hook them up to your computer. So tonight we enjoyed some of the travels of the Christensens. They have traveled most of the Pacific Islands and Asia.

Chapels

This is the chapel in Helsingbor, Sweden.  It is a lovely little chapel and very utilitarian and  expandable as many of the chapels here are.  

 You can see the chairs are all moveable and the back of the room opens up so it can become a cultural hall.  Most of the furniture and wood here is light and the Scandinavian clean cut style.

Such An Interesting story

One of the best parts of serving in the temple is meeting  people and hearing their stories.  Today Jim sealed a lovely couple.  She is Danish and he is from Australia.  They met on the internet while playing a Lord of the Rings game.  The girl had submitted her mission papers and suggested she teach Benjamin the lessons so she could practice since he knew nothing about the church.  He shortly thereafter invited her to Australia for two weeks...You can imagine her parents' trepidation especially since he had three children from a previous marriage and was 13 years older.  After two weeks, they decided there was something there and he would plan to wait for her. L receives  Her mission call to her dream mission: Temple Square but with the departure date 6 months away because of visas.  In order to earn some money, Ben in Australia offered to have her come and nanny his children and he would pay her.  During the first visit they hooked up with the missionaries. After 6 months.Ben was baptized the day before L came home to prepare for her mission.  She cried all the way through her farewell talk.  The bishop talked to her afterward and explained that you can't go into anything half-hearted and that the Lord would be happy with whichever decision she made, mission or marriage and being a mother to the three children she had come to love and worry about.  They were married by the bishop in Australia just over a year ago.  Today they came to be sealed and her family was able to attend this wedding. They couldn't afford to fly to the first one.

This is a great young man and you can feel his spirit.  Again, we see how involved the Lord is our individual lives and how he makes things work for the building up of the kingdom.  This young man is going to be a great strength in Perth.

Missionary Power

We had our largest session yet today.  We had to bring in a couple of chairs thanks to the 33 great missionary leaders that came after their leadership meeting.  They plus the other 10 patrons put us over the top. One of the patrons came out and commented on how wonderful it was to sit in the Celestial Room with all those great spirits.

 This is Elder Christensen my nephews son.

Yes.  It was raining.

Decorations Down

It is always a little sad to take the Holiday Decorations down. We miss the red and everything seems so mundane.  I had only 2 small boxes plus the permanently decorated tree to store. It was a pretty slick job.
    In Sweden many don't take their decorations down until the 13th of January, St. Knut's Day." In families with children, it's common to have a "julgransplundring" ("plundering of the tree" party). The children get to eat the candy which was used for decorating the tree, but nowadays they usually get little bags with candy instead.."    
                 These were some of the great decorations in the houses we visited there.

 They often hang special curtains for the holidays.  Everyone uses lots of candles.  I'm surprised there are not more fires.

 This little family of Julemen were living in the heart of the Christmas Tree.

I saw very few Nativity Sets except in members homes.  This cute one is made out of boiled wool.

 In the picture below.  The red picture on the back is Christmas and was rescued from ancestors belongings.  Note how they all tape up their Christmas Cards as part of the decorations. The decorations on the trees are fairly sparse.  It has been so delightful to get a  glimpse of others' traditions and decor.

New Year's Day 2014

I made "American" pancakes for the Nilssons and then we drove around Helsingborg. We drove down by the shore and saw old Helsingborg.  With it's cobblestones and old houses it will be a great place to explore in warmer weather.

As promised, we had moose for lunch at the Bengtsson.  She is from Finland and her father sends it back with her when she visits.  It was very good and didn't taste much different than beef.

 

New Year's Eve 2013

We were invited by Pres. and Sis. Nilsson our first counselor to spend New Year's Eve in Sweden with them and the church friends they have celebrated with for 15 years.  It was only about and hour and a half to get there since we took the ferry across.

  We went to the Svensson's who have a lovely large home they designed and had built.  There were 23 guests including 4 elders and 4 families with teenagers and young adults.  Everyone understood English and we participated in most of the conversation with a little help from kind people who translated.

 The first course was wheels of Brie Cheese covered with chopped tomatoes, red onion, basil olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.  This was baked for 10 minutes in the oven.  Ours actually was cooked longer and was more runny but so good over toast.  Here you can see the remains.

After dinner we played games, and visited until midnight. The fireworks were amazing, especially when you figure these were all done by private families.  We stood in their garden and listened and watched for 30 minutes.  They were on all sides of us.  I hope this little video gives you an idea.