(Erik…Do you want to take this one?!)

I retired last June after a 31-year career with the State Patrol, going to work every weekday morning at 6:00 AM and coming home at 4:30-5:00 PM.  That means that Judy was on her own for much of that time, although she also worked up until last January.  But it was almost like we lead independent lives for many years being busy taking care of business and kids.  Weekends were wonderful and we enjoyed doing things together – grocery shopping, visiting the kids, doing genealogy research.  The short few months between retirement and our mission was very busy getting the house ready for our departure – repairing the deck, replacing the water heater, helping get Mayma set up, etc.  Then we suddenly found ourselves set apart as missionaries, companions to each other day and night.  We never leave each other’s sight – we are joined at the hip!  We do everything together and the most separation we have is when Judy is in the kitchen and I am reading on the couch or working at the computer.  But we have found that we are still best friends and we enjoy each others company immensely.  I remember when we first met that I couldn’t be with her enough – I ached when she was absent.  Now after almost 44 years of marriage we have time to truly be together sharing the experience of being missionaries here in Sweden.

For me the biggest challenge is to understand what people are saying.  Some individuals are definitely easier to understand than others, largely due to dialect.  I am learning to appreciate Southern Swedish and even try my hand once in a while at duplicating the “r’s” in the back of the throat.  “De’ ä’ jätte bwah!” And I still need to increase my vocabulary – I can read most Swedish but to find the right word when I am speaking sometimes becomes a struggle.  But we keep studying and learning and the challenge is what makes this whole experience so exciting

We keep working on our Swedish, every day in fact.  I have the advantage having grown up with it and having served as a missionary here, although it was almost 47 years ago.  I managed to keep up with it to some extent by reading as much Swedish literature and the scriptures as possible.  Judy is learning more from scratch and it has been an uphill climb but she loves it.  As any mountain climber knows, the climb is what makes the top such a pleasure.  Her vocabulary is growing, and she is working hard on her pronunciation, trying to sound less like an American. The grammar is still a challenge but she is getting a good grip on that as well.  Every week shows improvement! She is not afraid to use what she’s got! 

Well, there are the birds… and we are learning some of their names.  There is the koltrast (blackbird), mås (seagull), falk (falcon), sparv (sparrow), fink (finch), svan (swan), duva (pigeon), trana (heron), grågås (grey goose), skata (magpie) and our very favorite, the domherre (bullfinch) with his black and white coat and red breast.  We enjoy hearing the birds outside our window in the bushes below us – we are on the second floor of the apartment building.  Their cheerful twittering is a great way to wake up.  We have a good friend who loves to feed them – she crushes macaroni and throws it out the window for them. 

Bigger animals we have yet to see – there are moose all over Sweden, and deer, and wild boar.  We see the “watch for” signs on the roads but so far, they have kept out of our sight.  We are not sure we want to see them on the road but would love to see them in the woods.

How about you? Have you ever asked yourself: 

“How is it possible to find personal answers…and figure things out?”

Maybe this will help…

“It is solved by walking”

Something mighty peaceful comes over a person when they take their thoughts out on a walk. Sometimes a ‘one on one’ chat does a person a whole world of good. When things become hard to figure out or you wish there was an answer out there somewhere with your name on it…take a quiet walk…and while you’re at it, ask God if he’d like to come along. Maybe between you, you can come up with the answers you’ve been looking for. Never know.

Till you try.