As we have traveled around Sweden and visited various and sundry towns and cities in the course of our service, we have had the opportunity to visit a number of castles and manors. The very largest and most impressive ones were the homes of Sweden’s kings and royalty, while the smaller manor houses are the…
Author: Erik Neilson
As Sweden’s Seasons Come and Go…
He Is Ever Constant… Ever Present We arrived in Sweden last October (2018) in the middle of a glorious autumn. As we drove through the countryside we saw brilliant forests of oak, beech and birch with leaves in all shades of yellow, brown and red, and the late afternoon and early evening sunlight made them…
Sticks and Stones
Two things have impressed me greatly here in southern Sweden, particularly in the province of Blekinge: rocks, and trees. The farmland here is characterized by being interspersed with rock outcroppings, the very bedrock of this country exposed to the elements. Most fields are surrounded by low stone fences, rocks collected over centuries and piled by…
A Walk Through Time
We had a wonderful experience with some friends of ours to explore some of the most ancient history of this ancient land. Our tour began in the Bronze Age. When the glaciers of the ice age finally receded from the Scandinavian peninsula, people moved into southern Sweden. There are artifacts and relics from the stone…
A Medieval Church
One of the things we like about driving through the southern Swedish countryside is the sight of an old parish church tower rising above the trees and farms every 20 miles or so. Scattered about Sweden, these churches have served for centuries as the center of communal life in every parish, both spiritual and civil. …
Could You Please Repeat The Question?
(Erik…Do you want to take this one?!) What’s it like being missionary companions 24/7? 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…
The Tomtes Would Like A Word With You…
…It’s about Christmas. And maybe a little about the critical self preservation of their personal identity…it’s about the Tomtes…and they want to get the word out! From what I’ve been told, Tomtes are more than just a legend going back far into Sweden’s past. My sources say that the Tomte was a resident of each…
Catching Up With The Past In Helsingborg
Over on the west coast of Sweden lies the city of Helsingborg, a very old town with a rich history. It is one of the oldest in Sweden and now the fourth largest city. It is also on the closest point to Sweden’s neighbor, Denmark, with its sister city Helsingør across the narrow sound. Helsingør…
Ready For Take Off!
The Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) is only one of fifteen scattered around the world for the training of missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our week here has been a marvelous experience. Some 2,000 young men and women from around the globe spend from three weeks to three months preparing…
GOTLAND…
Three hours by ferry from Stockholm lies a large island out in the Baltic Sea. It has been in my thoughts ever since I was a small boy and my mother told me all about her home. She was born in Visby, the oldest daughter of a government forester, Erik Söderberg and his wife, Annie…