January 28, 2012

We just returned a few hours ago from a zone conference in Sundsvall.  It was really a wonderful conference and quite an experience.  We are really being taken ''out of our comfort zone.''  We left on a bus for Umeå at 8:50 in the evening from Byske.  We arrived in Umeå around 11:30.  Then we had to walk across the street to the train station to wait for our train.  When we opened the door to the train station, we were greeted with loud rap music and several hip hop dancers dancing.  One of them, a young man originally from Russia, came over and said he had seen badges like that before and wanted to know a little more about us.  He reminded us of our grandson, Richie.  Dick talked to him quite a while.  He even showed him the 4 basic steps for the dances they do.  They were on their way to Stockholm for a competition.

We then took an ''overnight'' train going to Sundsvall at 1:15 a.m.  We arrived in Sundsvall at 8:15 a.m. and were picked up by some Elders and taken to the chapel for the conference.  In the meeting, I was called on to give my testimony.  I gave it in Swedish.  

When the conference was over at about 5:00 p.m., we had our interviews with President Newell.  Then we waited at the chapel until 9:00 p.m. when the Elders took us to the train station to take another ''overnight'' train to Umeå.  We then took a bus at 5:25 a.m. back to Byske.  We had a small compartment on the trains that had beds we could pull down, so we were able to sleep some.  However, as soon as we got home, we showered and took a fairly long nap.

This is me with Syster Jenson at the Zone Conference.  She lives in Melanie's ward in Draper.

Here we are in the snow getting our pictures taken at Zone Conference held in Sundsvall.