We have had a busy, good week. Monday was family night. Although Dad thought he had to give the lesson, and I had been worrying about finding a decent watermelon big enough for 30-plus people, we were both relieved of our worries that afternoon. The YSA who is over FHE told us that Daniel ( a YSA returned missionary who really likes her) was doing the lesson AND bringing the treat. He did an exceptional job with both. He works in a big food warehouse that supplies restaurants and grocery stores. Product that is somehow damaged and unsellable is just given to those workers who want it. He brought 2 large boxes of some delicious cookies that had been tipped over and were unsellable. They had a cookie bottom with a marshmallow-sized drop of chocolate mousse on top and then were dipped in chocolate. Yummy!!!
The new mission president wanted to get the entering missionaries into the field sooner so he moved transfer day from Thursday to Wednesday. As a consequence we had our good-bye ice cream party on Tuesday. Although there isn’t normally anything going on in the center on Tuesdays, we had a big group of new members, investigators and missionaries there for the party. 2 of our local missionaries were going home and nearly everyone else was being transferred.
On Wednesday the 6th we had our second summer institute class. Christopher Malm and his wife Mary were the speakers. They are not very far removed from being YSA themselves and are very well liked by all. It was well attended. I made banana bread for the treat.
Thursday was a not usually busy day that had several YSA show up in the late afternoon and hang around until into the night. So far we didn’t get home until after 10pm every night. And Friday is still to come! Friday morning we shopped for the ingredients for the pizzas for that night. And in the afternoon we began chopping the veggies. The YSA in charge got there about 5:30 and the others started arriving before 7. They made 11 huge pizzas, ate 10 of them, talked and played pool and watched a silly movie called “Despicable Me†(about a fellow who is trying to steal the moon and some little girls. It’s animated.) Dad asked if they were ready to call it a night about 10:20pm and the last 12 left the center at 10 minutes to 11!! The YSA did a wonderful job with everything, the center was hopping all the evening, and I didn’t wake up until 9am Saturday morning!
On Saturday afternoon we decided to drive to Manstrand, a coastal town about 40 kilometers north of here that the couple before us said was a must see. The last 20 kilometers were a narrow 2 lane road with no shoulder and about 25 cars in a row trying to get there, that we could see. When we finally arrived the town was packed with people, there wasn’t a parking place anywhere, and there wasn’t a way out of town except the road we had just come in on! The end of the road was a circle so we just drove around it and out of town again. On the way back we decided to stop at a little building that said ‘keramik’ on the sign in the front and beside that said ‘öppet.’ Well, öppet means open but we had no clue what ‘keramik’ meant. (we pronounced it ‘shar-a-mick’ with the accent on the ‘a’, after all the Swedish rules we have been taught. The lady in the building pronounced it ‘care am ick.’ It was a ceramic shop!! We visited with her about the things in the shop and Dad asked if she knew what was going on in Manstrand.   She said it was the weekend of the yearly yacht race with entrants from all over the world. One weekend a year the place is packed with people and that’s the weekend we choose to visit! I think we will try again in a week or two. On the way home we stopped at the only grocery store in Göteborg that sells root beer and bought 4 cans! Then it started to rain and poured on us for over 2 hours. Thank heaven week 27 had only 7 days in it!!
We hope all is well for each of you. All our love,
Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Nikki and Robert