May 3, 2013
Well, we made it!  Married 50 wonderful years!  We were surprised by the Relief Society President and her daughter, Jessica, when they stopped by with these beautiful roses, candy and card.

We decided that for our anniversary we would pack a "sack" lunch and walk around the Växjö Lake.  We asked a young man to take our pictures for us as we stood in front of the lake.  We didn't walk ALL the way around the lake, but we did enjoy walking and then sitting on one of the benches they have by the lake to enjoy the picturesque scenery.  As you can see by the blue sky, it was a beautiful day, a little windy, but nice.

They turn this fountain on in the lake when the ice melts.  Notice the church in the background with two steeples.  We have another picture that is more from the front of the church that I will try to find and post later.

This ball is faceted and the facets glimmer in the sun as the ball turns.  We don't know if the wind turns it, or if it is done mechanically.  As you can see, there really isn't much greenery on the trees yet.  However, the past couple of days have been warm and we can see greenery coming.  YES!!!!!

On April 12, 2013, William Anthony Messam joined our family.  He weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 21 inches long.  We can hardly wait to hold this little great-grandson!  The proud parents are Tony and Desi Messam

 

At Easter time in Sweden, everyone gets branches and ties colored feathers to them and they display them on their porches, balconies, etc.  This is one that was in the middle of town.  There were several of these.  They also had 3 large white eggs in one spot.

They celebrate Easter from Friday through Tuesday and stores and businesses usually close early on Thursday to begin the holiday.  This is typical of many holidays.  They have a holiday the day before and a holiday the day after the real holiday.

This is a picture of the branch council.  Back l to r  Elder Pehrson, Elder Martinsson and us.  Front l to r President Blomberg, Marvin Mulato, Thomas Carlson, Ewa Carlson

Every Monday evening the young single adults (YSA) meet in our apartment for family home evening.  This picture is of our Thanksgiving dinner held November 26, 2012.  We had chicken (not turkey because it is toooooo expensive) and all the trimmings, including stuffing, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, fruit salad, tossed salad, and mashed potatoes and gravy.  On the left side of the table going from front to back:  Marvin Mulato, Jessica Carlson, Angelica Carlson.  On the right side of the table going from front to back:  Winston Spångberg, Sigrid Blomberg, President Blomberg.

More Thanksgiving pictures.  Left side of table front to back:  Elder Martinsson, Elder Pehrson.  Right side of table is me and Jan Erik Oddbjörn.

We were without elders for a month, but on January 22 two elders were assigned here in Växjö.  l to r  Elder Bressan from Italy and Elder Thorman from USA

On January 28, 2013, we had an American scone night for the YSA family home evening.  Our lesson was on establishing family traditions taken from a talk by Elder Perry.  Dick gave the lesson and then we served our "traditional" scone "breakfast" of scones, bacon, fruit, juice and milk.  They loved the scones.  l to r:  Elder Bressan, Elder Thorman, Brook Mulungi (our investigator) and Marvin Mulato.

 

We arrived in Växjö Sunday night, November 18, 2012.  This is the view of "our" apartment.  The window on the left is the kitchen window and the window in the back of the porch is the bedroom window.

This is a view of the whole apartment building we live in.  There are 4 entrances, A, B, C, and D starting from the left.  We are in C.

 
 On November 14, we started our journey to move from Byske up north down to Växjö in the south.  The first night we stopped in Sundsvall and stayed with Eva-Lotte Nedergård.  She had a nice dinner prepared for us when we arrived and had fixed us a nice breakfast in the morning before she left for work.  The next day, November 15, we continued our journey to Stockholm to attend a couple's conference.  The pictures are of some of the couples that attended the conference.  The top picture (sorry it is fuzzy but it was jiggily) is when we were traveling on the tunnelbanna (train) in to the central station to meet other couples and go to lunch.  l to r  Äldste Marriott, Syster Marriott (yes they are related to the hotel Marriotts), Syster Erickson, Äldste Erickson.  The middle picture is l to r  Syster Johanson, Äldste Johanson (he came over with Dick at the same time on their first missions).

The picture to the right is taken in the mission home and is of Äldste and Syster Bybee.  We just traded places with them.  They are now living in Byske and we are living in Växjö where they had been serving for about a month.  They will be working with the Luleå and Skellefteå branches.  He speaks french and there is a need for french in the Luleå area. They do not speak swedish.

 When people from the district or mission came to visit or for special occasions, the Relief Society would put together a luncheon and we would usually all gather together upstairs and eat and visit.  However, this time Ivar decided he would stay and so we moved the luncheon downstairs to the classroom.  l to r  Fern Girdlestone, Birgit Carlsson Håkan Palm, Gunvor Söderholm.  Håkan Palm is the 2nd counselor in the mission presidency.  He was visiting with us that Sunday and spoke.  We had picked him up on Saturday from the airport and Dick and he went to try to visit members.  We then hosted him for dinner, staying in our apartment, and breakfast.

l to r  Ivar's assistant, Gabriella, Ivar Nilsson, and Fern Girdlestone

l to r  President Solbakk, Jorun Solbakk, Ulla Ehnmark

 

l to r  Ulla Ehnmark, me, Rosita's friend Jessica, Rosita Karlman