ja jag vill leva jag vill dö i norland! (sweden day 3)

thursday morning i slept a bit later and when i came down for breakfast the dining room was busier than the day before.  when i opened the fridge i was assigned, my raspberry vanilla carton of yogurt was GONE.  gone.  i don't know exactly what happened but what i think happened is that the multi-generational family must of taken it, not knowing it wasn't one of theirs.  so i had cheese and knäcke bread and an orange.  back up in my room i finished my scripture study and read a conference talk before getting ready and going to the first session at the temple.

when i emerged out of my changing booth i saw the short haired lady who helped me on my first day.  "oh there you are. " she said. " i thought you went home."  "oh no.  i'm still here." i smiled.  i can understand why she may have thought that.  because all the norwegian saints are in the temple all the hours it is open doing their temple work.  and i am just like one and done every day.  i admired their passion and dedication to their family names.  on this day berit once again gave me a name from her pocket and told me i can pick up family names that people want help with at the office.  all the swedish speaking people were held aside in a separate room. on this day there were enough of us to have our own session.  i talked to some of the ladies while we waited.  one lady was from gotland, an island which is surrounded by an ancient wall and a place i always wanted to go, but sisters don't get sent there.

every day in the temple i felt the flame of faith in my heart burning.  and i felt courage.  like there is no need to fear the darkness around us.  and i don't need to be discouraged.  it is time to trust in God. i felt powerfully in my heart that now is the time for faith and the power that God has given us.

i felt a bit tired and sleepy after the temple and i was tempted to just lounge on my bed until it was time to catch the train to go visit kaetlyn.  but i would not allow myself such a thing.  let's go back to the burial field i said to myself.  so i did.  it was a sunny day with fluffy clouds and the forest was gorgeous.  so peaceful and quiet and birds flitted from tree to tree.  i wandered down many paths and took many pictures and even found myself laying on the mossy forest floor capturing images of the burial stones.  then and now it didn't seem real.  when i look at these pics it doesn't look real to me.  but it was real and i was there.  i had a glorious time.  i lost track of time.  here's a few of the pics i took.

you can see one of the markers in the distance.  they were littered about everywhere.

these 3 sitting in the heather. 

i sat for a while on the forest floor and watched the chubby birds flitting to and fro and just took inthe moment the peace of it and the wonder.

i made it all the way to the end before i had to force myself to turn around and head back.

i was meeting kaetlyn and eddy near where they worked so i could go home with them for dinner.  i solved the train problem by using karey's credit card. luckily she loaned it to me just in case i would need a credit card on my trip.  however i had to transfer trains and i didn't know i had to change tracks so i had to catch a train that didn't go to the exact spot i was supposed to but kaetlyn and eddy were flexible about it and just picked me up at the new stop.  when i got there they were waiting for me and we went on to their place in knivsta.

all the street names in their area are named after fruit. i believe they live on orange road or something like that.  we parked in the parking lot and made our way to the front of their house.  one of their cats tillit, ran up to greet them and climbed up eddy to his shoulder.

their house is very cute.  kaetlyn has her own office for painting.  they have lots of interesting art and pictures up and interesting light fixtures like the light in their living room is a wooden circle that can spread into a wooden sphere of wood slats.  

eddy made us smoothie bowls as an appatizer.  it had walnuts, chia seeds and something else laid in strips on the top. it was very professional looking and very delicious.  then as kaetlyn and i chatted he made us a dinner of dahl with pan fried tofu on the side.  it was super yummy.  and we got lost in all sorts of conversations again, until suddenly it was late and it was time for me to go.  eddy took me to the station in märsta.  when i went inside the station there was a weird vibe.  it was just a small room before the gates to go onto the track and it was full of people milling about.  and they all kind of stared at me.  most of them were immigrants because i think märsta is an area that has a lot of new commers living there.  it was mostly weird the way they were all standing there.  i had to push a guy's back pack out of my way as i was trying to buy my ticket.  i couldn't get through the gates so i asked the girl at the window what was going on.  she said there was an accident down the track in helenelund which has delayed the train.  she said it may come in a few minutes or many mintues, she didn't know.  "but it is coming?" i asked.  and she confirmed yes.  so i pushed past all the loafers.  well, i don't think they were loafers. i think they had probably been waiting there a long time and didn't want to wait outside in the cold so they squished in that small space.  but i couldn't wait to get to the outside.  actually everywhere i went swedes and norwegians were wearing coats and scarves and gloves and hats but i was usually only wearing a t-shirt. i was the only one i ever saw dressed like that.  i mean some days were 12.  i don't need a coat or even a sweater for 12 degree weather.

i sat down on a bench on the platform and settled myself for what may be a long wait and a late night.  but i was lucky because the train came right away.  the trip home was uneventful.  i changed trains successfully and made it back to the guest home around midnight. edel was still up so i didn't wake her up. day 3 was full and complete