Remember that most adorable blond I talked about in the post I did about a YouTube showing high school graduates receiving their mission calls? Adelide Christensen, who received a call to serve in Sweden?
The time is getting closer for her to leave and as I think about her and her experiences ahead, I am reminded of a letter I received from another very attractive girl with long blond hair from our ward who also served in Sweden: Cynthia Clark. Even her return address sounded Scandinavian: Rådjursvägen 2, 137 32 Vasterhaninge, Sverige. The stamp on the envelope had a sturdy looking Moose with the words Alg Alces alces which I believe translates Canadian elk, European elk, moose.
Just twenty-five years ago this month, (March 1995), Cynthia sent back her answers to a questionnaire I like to send to missionaries. For example: What surprised you most about your first assignment? “I served in an area which had not had a baptism in four years! Welcome to Sweden!”
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| Stockholm Sweden Temple |
Something you do for a weekly service project: “In my last area, we helped out sorting clothes for the Red Cross. My new area is here in Stockholm and I live across the street (basically) from the Stockholm Temple. So we help out in the laundry there. It’s crazy ~ Swedes won’t really let you help out for free – they always want to pay you. I guess it has to do with the Socialist system here.”
To make things simple, I supply a few options for them to circle. To describe the weather, Cynthia circled “Cold, Pleasant, Overcast and Humid” and added a write-in “Snowy.”
For breakfast she circled Cold Cereal, Cooked Cereal: and added “Musli in Yoghurt.”
Something new you have learned to eat in your mission and now enjoy: “They eat a lot of moose up here in Sweden. It tastes like beef, just with a stronger flavor. It truly tastes great! They also eat pickled (raw) herring for special occasions like Christmas. I have to be honest though, I don’t really enjoy it yet!”
What do you wish you had brought with you? . . . “My Sony Walkman.”
Laundry: “I do my own laundry. We live in an apartment complex which has laundry rooms called ‘tvätt-stuga’s’ in the basement of each building. They have a great invention: it’s a room full of clotheslines and then there’s this heater-fan machine which heats the whole room. It’s great! Our clothes dry within a couple hours and don’t shrink!”
Mode of transportation for getting around: “Bus, Train, and Metro. We walk a ton!”
Something that has helped you to live with your companion 24 hours a day: “We sing a hymn together before we go out in the mornings. It totally sets the tone for the whole day!”
What you like best about your present companion: “My companion is great. She has an incredible testimony and the gift of faith!”
What bugs you most about companions you have had: “Companions sometimes have the spirit of competition ~ which is great out in ‘the real world” but has no place in companionships.”
What is your mission president like: “Pres. Arne Hedberg (pronounced “head-berry”) is the most wonderful, kind, understanding man in Sweden. He knows exactly when to be strict and when to be understanding.”
A social practice or style of living in your area that you likes so well you wish you could bring it back to Utah and have it for keeps: “Swedes take off their shoes when entering a house. It was hard to get used to ~ but sure keeps the floors clean!”
Something about missionary life that nobody ever told you to expect: “Nobody tod me that you would be forced to examine, upclose and personal, all of your weaknesses. You also become quite aware of those strengths you have as well. But, you learn to use both your strengths and weaknesses well in order to help others receive the Gospel in their lives. And that feels great!”
Missionaries have permission to make two phone calls home a year: Christmas and Mother’s Day. Two months later, (May 1995) on Mother’s Day, Cynthia told her mother that she was in a difficult mission. Most of the people had already heard the missionary discussions. But Cynthia said that they were planting a ton of seeds. When Cynthia learned that her Mother would be speaking later that day in Sacrament Meeting, she said, “Just please tell everybody that a miracle happened today. Heavenly Father knows we love the gospel. He helped us today.”
Cynthia told of coming home from the Swedish Temple and seeing a lady sitting with her daughter. Cynthia felt prompted to speak to her. The lady said, “I’ve just been waiting here for you so long!” It was exactly what Cynthia had prayed for in the Temple!”
Cynthia said she cannot believe how well she has done with the language and says that she has been blessed abundantly. She is much more confident in Swedish than she ever thought possible. Two weeks into the MTC she was able to pray and bear her testimony in Swedish. She left SLC in December and by the end of March, her Mission President said that she was speaking as well as if she had been there for a year. “I’m glad I’m here,” she said. “I love Sweden. I’ve felt the Lord’s help daily. I will be grateful if I bring at least one soul unto Christ, even if that one is me.”
A scripture that took on new and personal meaning for Cynthia:
Mormon 9:19-21
9 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.
20 And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust.
21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.
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