Sometimes in life you just hope a dream will come true one day. This past week mine did just that…I went ‘home’ to Dalarna here in Sweden. All of the ancestors on my mother’s side were born in this beautiful area that continues to hold on tightly to Sweden’s cultural and traditional past. It is the heart of Sweden – when you come within it’s borders you feel like you have entered into a magical likeness of Brigadoon, a place that seems as if it had been suspended in time.

My feelings and memories run deep through the history and stories of the lives of my ancestors who lived and died here. They are my family, my heritage, and only time and circumstance have separated us from being on the earth together at the same time. But we are linked by experiences we both have had…to have been born into a family and lived our life with the desire to belong, be remembered, loved, and not forgotten. My grandparents told of the lives of our ancestors in memories and stories which I have remembered and loved, and I have not forgotten them. These stories and legacies I treasure – my ancestors have become a part of me and our children. We have become part of the tapestry of each other’s lives. We belong to each other. All of us share more in common with our ancestors than simply ‘being related’.

Dalarna is an area in the middle of Sweden consisting of a cluster of small villages which surround Lake Siljan which was formed forever ago by a huge meteor.

Matching the place to the people I’ve only known through their pictures and the stories of the past from my grandparents to the reality of standing on the very same doorstep of their home makes you have to take a moment as you take it all in. You almost expect them to ‘be’ there…and I felt they were! At least, I hoped so! Even touching the house, seeing the horizon across the land, holding a piece of remembrance of their lives…yes, we really are connected to not just our shared past…we are connected to each other.

And really…the Good News of the Gospel is that Christ has restored the authority and opportunity to be sealed together as family units for forever – that’s why all over the world there are Temples dedicated for that purpose. The phrase we’ve all heard before that proposed everyone’s ultimate destiny, “Until death do you part” is not part of the future for those who hope their love and relationships will last forever together and not be dissolved by death. God lives. The pure doctrine of Jesus Christ has been restored on the earth for everyone who would really like to know what a miracle, blessing, and comfort it is to learn the truth about who we are, why we are here, and about our personal eternal destiny. As missionaries, we invite people to ‘come and see’, to learn for themselves about our Father in Heaven’s Plan of Happiness – the kind of happiness that lasts for a very long time in this life and hereafter. And…you’re invited too.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/locations?lang=eng

96 years later, I’m standing in the same place where my grandparents stood on their wedding day

…It is such a privilege to share the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the descendants of my people in compliance with the promise of Abraham that all his descendants would be blessed to know of and about Jesus Christ and receive eternal blessings.

Stepping into Mora Kyrka, the church where most of our family were baptized, married, and buried was like stepping personally into an ongoing living history.

We were impressed with the large size of the church and commented on that to the church caretaker whom we met when we saw that the doors were open and went inside. He explained that when the church was first built, it was designed to serve a much larger geographic area, including all the way down to the village of Malung. The current floor plan and foundation had been originally laid in the late 1400’s so this church has been this size for centuries. The tower, which can be seen from miles around, was built in the late 1600’s. The previous tower of wood, was struck by lightening and burned, along with the entire roof. The parish leaders asked the farmers to provide lumber for a new roof and each farm donated at least one board, marked with the farm’s “brand” or identification mark. These brands have been preserved in a display inside the church entry.

The quickest and most convenient way to get to church for the parishioners living on the farms and villages around Lake Siljan was by boat. Each village had a long boat that could seat 50 or more, and dressed in their Sunday finery, the men would row the villagers to Mora for Church or on special occasions. This was often a source of a little fun and competition as it quickly became a race to see which village boat would arrive first.

So, what do I have to say for myself about this experience? How do I feel after having met family I had always ‘known’ but never actually met before? A Swede would heartily say, “Toppen!” And it really was, “The Best!