I had been in Sweden about 4 1/2 months when my first Christmas season as a missionary began. I was starting to get a decent handle on the language, except for my very American accent, and was past the point of wanting to run away back home. It was too far to run to anyway. I had settled in as a now- senior companion in Gotenborg. That meant I was supposed to be responsible for my junior companion, our branch and our area. Seemed like a lot for a youngster without a lot of mission/church background. But I was too inexperienced to realize how much responsibility I had. I knew how to work, how to function with as a team and how to listen to and follow directions from our leaders.
So we worked hard (not always smart or spirit-led, I think), studied, played, wrote letters and in journals and did the things we were supposed to.
But it was Sweden. And winter. And Dark! Even though Goteborg is in southern Sweden the daylight was measly and short. Sunrise about 9 AM, sunset about 3 PM. That sounds like 6 hours of sun, but the angle of the sun was so low that it seemed like we only had a couple hours of sunshine in that 6 hours, as the sun only got 8 or 9 degrees above the horizon for much of the winter. When we had snow it sure wasn't Utah Powder. It was slushy and not pretty most of the time. So we were often wet and cold and in the dark. And hungry. What was kind of wonderful was all the wonderful aromas we encountered as goodies were baked in preparation for the Christmas feasting. But what we got was mostly just the aromas.
The members didn't seem to feed the missionaries much while I was in Sweden. I was/am very grateful for the times we were fed! But it didn't seem often enough. I remember thinking even those 50 years ago--I just realized that it was 50 years ago this year-what a golden memory! Ok, I think I just got sidetracked again. It happens. Yes-I was whining about being a poor, cold-in-the-dark starving missionary. But hey, everybody's a baby about something, right? I am pretty sure I wrote a little about my first mission Christmas but that won't stop me from repeating myself. Kind of expected from someone a half century removed from his mission, don't you think?
We were invited to celebrate Christmas Eve-the Big Christmas day-at a family's home outside of Goteborg. This was a great family with several small children and we looked forward to this day off from knocking on seldom-opened-doors and bothering nice people who were busy getting ready for Christmas. And there was much preparation for Christmas! We counted down the days, but not in an Advent way.
Now that was a lengthy run up to today's point, about to which I am now getting! (How convoluted was that sentence?!)
Last week I found a large, rectangular package on our porch. I asked Vick if she had ordered a large print of something, she responded that she hadn't. I opened it and found a Giant Advent calendar-one huge page for each day with a short excerpt from the nativity account. A nice gift from one of our kids. You know who you are-thanks! So I thought I might make a short daily entry in this seldom perused blogging place about the season. Some of them may even be related to that day's Advent calendar's excerpts. Except when they aren't. Like today's. Here it is. Don't try to figure out how things are related yet-I haven't!
The first Swedish Christmas song I learned was "Nu ar det Jul igen". If you are reading this you can find the lyrics online even without the double dots above the "a" in "ar". Take a look, listen to it and the catchy tune may well be your ear companion for a day or two.
We'll talk about the lyrics and more about Swedish Christmas food next time-tomorrow.
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