Moving on

Wednesday 26 Sept

It's a good thing that we have had an influx of YSA to the Jönköping area. Since July we have had new additions from YW such as Madeliene and Caroline, comebacks Ann-Sophie and her sister Carolina, return missionary Oscar, recent converts Sunday and Catherine and new move-ins like Kitzia, Laura, Joakim, Gustav, and David.

For there are those who have moved on to new places and challenges away from our mist. We have Rebecka who moved to Stockholm after her studies to work at Carolinska Institutet in Huddige as a nurse, Karin who moved to Nörrköping to take on her first job as a dental hygenist, Marie to Boston, Massachussets, USA as an au pair for a period of thirteen months, Marina to learn Spanish in Argentina for a few months, Shara started her studies at Göteborgsuniversitetet and Leo also started studing at a university level in Bioscience in Sheffield, England.

So that's the irony, a handful moved out as many moved in. Isn't it interesting how the Lord works! Gotta keep Jönköping a happening place as well as assisting the missionary efforts of spreading the word. Most who meet the missionaries are our age. So whenever you are asked to do something, make sure you put some time and effort into it. Then when we or the missionaries bring friends to activities and lessons, they will enjoy that it is well prepared, well thought out and fun! We all like to see such lessons and activities! Let's keep it up! Yeah!

Hemafton-Pentathlon

Monday 17 Sept.

We started off with a spiritual thought for the evening. Oscar shared as we have trials in our lives, we ought to have our sight on Christ. We all do mistakes like at our place of employment, and come to our boss and ask for assistance or a solution. He paralleled that with our lives and to Christ since we all fall short of perfection. We should always lean on our Saviour for support and communicate in prayer with our Heavenly Father.

The activity portion was a Greek styled Olympic event known as a pentathlon held by Isak. Everyone wore togas and stuff. Just kidding. Though we did not wrestle and throw javelins which would've been way fun, we did other events instead. Everyone was divided up into two teams of six. We started off spinning around an innebandy stick a dozen times and ran to the end of the court and back. Next we ran back and forth with a pear on a spoon positioned in our mouth. After that, we did the potato sack race with garbage bags. Next to last, we did the classic three-legged race. To finish things off, we played a version of dodgeball. It's always nice to get the body going. :=)

As always we finished off with fika by courtesy of Kitzia. Fantastic fruit was finely cut into cubed bite-sized pieces to be ready for devouring. To add a bit of yumminess to the refreshing dessert a dollop of vanilla ice cream would be placed adjacent to it. The experience was ummms good!
Thank you everybody for coming, participating and having a good time! Laters ya'll!

Sunday News

Sunday 16 Sept

In today's news we have a few items to mention:

Carolina Ribbert is back from England after an internship as a cook. Welcome back!
Ann-Sophie Ribbert is back from an honorable release from her Manchester England Mission. She is back early due to health reasons. Welcome back!
Laura got called to serve as a ward missionary.
Kitzia was called to serve as a greeter/usher.
Leo was released today as the Young Single Adult representative. Thanks for the support that I have received. I hope you give the predecessor a warm welcome and lots of support. :)

There's a great video about institute with a promise from President Hinckley. Check it out below!
The video and more information can be found at:
http://www.ldsces.org/institute/index.asp

Food

16 Sept Sunday

Sunday is a nice time to have a potluck dinner. We did have one at the Hagmans. People showed their cooking skills and baking skills. It was fun to taste those skills. Even by taking a little bit of each, the plate ended up to look like a mountain of food. It was more or less like a buffet. We had a good sized group of approx. 20 which made it nice.

Then we went to see the CES broadcast. The speaker spoke about the importance of prayer and how we should utilize it. You can listen to it in any of the 24 languages at http://www.lds.org/broadcast/ces/0,7341,395,00.html

Thanks for making the potluck such a success by contributing what you could dish out! :D

Recent Baptisms

9 Sept Sunday

This year of 2007 we have had four baptisms in our ward. They are pictured to the left. Below you can see when they got baptized.

Marie Ahlin (to the far right) had her baptismal service on the 22th of January at 16:00.
Sandra Larsson (second from the right) had her baptismal service on the 12th of maj at 9:30.
Sunday Ugulu (to the far left) had his baptismal service on the 17th of July at 19:00.
Catherine Yafan Zhang (second from the far left) had her baptismal service on the 8th of September at 10:00.

One thing consistent among these dates is that they were on a Saturday.

The very cool part of it all is that they all are part of the YSA! Hurrah! What a great addition and strength we've got now!

Sunday 9 Sept

Tonight we had our Institute Primiere class with an astounding 25 people. But there were quite a few visitors as well that helped pack the room. We will continue to have Br. Hagman as our institute teacher. Br. and Sis. Hagman have been our YSA couple who've been our support.
We're looking forward to getting to know the Pearl of Great Price a little better this school year.

Hemafton: Energy

Monday 2 Sept

We got to move our bodies in this evening of events. Energy was depleted and calories zapped. First off was a spiritual thought by Laura. Then we headed into the activity part which had three phases. The first one was to warm us up. "Get a grip" is what it was called. With everyone in a large circle, each person was to place their right hand palm up in front of the person on their right’s midsection; they are then to position their left hand directly over the palm in front of their own midsection with index finger pointing down approximately one inch above the palm. On the count of three, each person should try to grab the finger above their right palm while simultaneously moving their own left index finger up, out and away to safety. One, two, three . . . We did the activity a few times so the folks would get the hang of the movements. It's a fun way to illustrate the concept that you can’t concentrate on more than one thing at a time very well. If you do, you're gonna blow a circuit.

Then we had played an activity which has no name that I know of but lets call it "extension". It's like tag. Two people, Marina and I who were "it", held hands in the middle of the court. Everyone else was on one side of the court. Then everyone ran to the other side. Whoever we tagged gets extended on by holding our hand. So eventually there was a long string of people trying to tag the last person. It kinda looks like the chinese dragon in a parade.

Finally we ended the evening with ultimate frisbee. Ah, it feels good to sweat and run around on a football field.

Of course, to be in line with the healthy side of things this night we had fruit for refreshments which is always refreshing. Thanks for coming to this event to keep our bodies fit!

Kick-off at the Hagmans

Sunday 2 sept

We would like to start off the school year with a kick-off. All YSA are invited to the Hagmans home to the kick-off with a celebration. We will disuss items such as FHE, institute, and other activities for the year. So bring along all the YSA for this special evening. And fika will be provided. :)

Hemafton-Kräftskiva

Monday 27 Aug

Kräftskiva, the Swedish tradition of having a party to eat crayfish was held at this family home evening. Oh, the succulent crayfish with a dash of salt is a fun meal, for those who like seafood that is. There was a little fun stuff going on to spice things up.

Hemafton-Hos Hultgrens

Monday 20 Aug

Our FHE was not one of our usual ones. The YSA were well represented at the Hultgren's where they invited the whole ward over for the evening at their ranch. Opportunities were open for swimming, questionnaire game, BBQ and even ride horses. It was great to come out of the town and into the woods for a while. I reckon we were like the cowboys of old with trees all around us, animals nearby and eating food heated by a fire. But we won't mention anything about cars, electronics and the like of the twenty-first century. Well, it was a snappin' good time.

Festinord

23-27 July Monday-Friday

The Scandinavian countries continues to hold its annual YSA conferences with this year located in Porsgrunn, Norway. Some 569 attended for the week of dances, workshops and sports. Get the low down over at the website. Check out the latest with photos and videos that participants sent in at the website as well!

Elder Ocar Wallgren Homecoming

22 July Sunday

Flying from Finland we have Elder Oscar Wallgren returning after two years of missionary service. He arrived at Axamo Airport at 20:30 with a warm welcome of approximately 50 people! He went around huging family and greeted those who were there. We welcome you Oscar!

Hemafton-Scavenger Hunt

Monday 16 July

This family home evening was held by the Sisters who are a threesome currently. Sister Kruse, Sister Sheffer and Sister Nilsson started off with their lesson of that everything denotes there is a God. That led to the activity which was to find three things around the area that denote there is a God. An option of taking a picture of the item or bringing it with you was available. After the 20 minute alloted time we were to present the three items in front of everyone. People came up with pictures of signs, opening hours but closed on Sundays. The winner went to Reza who chose a piano which reminded him of Christian music when living in a non-Christian community. Afterwards we viewed home videos of previous FHE's. It was fun to look back at those activities. Thanks to the Sisters for the whole FHE and all who came and enjoyed themselves! :)

Stake Sommar Party

29 June-1 July

Jönköping, for the third time, held a stake activity with the same theme every time which is "sommar party". The city is located in between Stockholm and Gothenburg which has its advantages logistically. The town stretches around part of the second largest lake in Sweden thus it has beaches to enjoy.
We had a good turn out with people from the Gothenburg stake, Stockholm and even Oslo, Norway! There were dances Friday and Saturday evening with a special emphasis on a Luau on Saturday evening. Lei's, the popular necklaces, were past out to the attendees. We even had a bar serving tropical drinks.
Saturday was filled with options such as football (soccer), beach volleyball, and roaming around the shops. Rain didn't stop the desire to play football. Others went to the indoor shopping center.
In the afternoon we had a dating workshop hosted by Natalie and Rich Myers. They encouraged everyone to date and not to have preconceived notions of getting married just because of going on a single date. A dating panel was helpful to answer questions from the question box. The panel consisted of married couples of various ages to pass on their advice and lessons of life. A challenge went out to everyone of "5 dates in 5 weeks". A prize would be given to top three daters! Ready, set, date!
The YSA joined in on the regular worship services of the Jönköping Ward. It was a great weekend. It got put together by many people. Thanks for all those who contributed. It wouldn't be possible otherwise.

Hemafton- Lei III

Monday 25 June

We came together again for the third time to work on the Lei's. It's coming together and the plans are being finalized this week. Thanks to all who helped out with these Lei's!

Hemafton- Lei II

Monday 11 June

For the second time around we swiftly made the colorful Lei's for our Sommar Party. We encircled a few tables put together for the job. Some cut out flowers of myriad colors, others cut up string and straws while others assembled the pieces together for the completed item. We are a little more than half way done with the estimated needed quantity of Lei's. Fun is always had at our family home evenings even at this one. Thanks to all!

Hemafton-SingStar

28 maj Mon

Vocal cords, voice box and an ear for tone was needed at this FHE. Too bad for those of us who are tone deaf. But if you like karaoke then this FHE was for you! The YSA gathered at the Hagman family and imitated the TV show. We divided up into three groups of four. Two groups would battle it out at a time in front of the TV using a playstation SingStar game. It actually recognizes when you're singing and when you're off pitch. So when you're on, the more points you get. Cool! It was a fun evening revealing how good or not so good we were at singing. Thanks to the Hagmans for having us over and everyone who participated!

Hemafton-Lei

14 maj Mon

The preparations are being done for our Sommar Party Luau. Hurrah! This evening of events we put our hands together and made Lei's, those iconic flower necklaces that are seen in Hawaii and other Polynesian islands. To have them last for a while they were made of papier mâché and vibrant colored straws. Many were done and are so thankful for all who showed up and pitched in. The thought for the evening was on the Aloha Spirit. It's not an actual spirit floating around, but an attitude of acceptance of all people, no matter what their background. Isn't that just great! Aloha!

Middag hos Hagmans & The Testaments

Söndag 6 maj

The Hagmans rounded a good number of YSA for dinner at their home followed by the acclaimed featured film "The Testaments". We had delicious food as usual. We even had visitors from Gothenburg who came up to Jönköping for the weekend. The movie was touching and thus a tear-jerker it was.
Thanks to the Hagmans and everyone!

Knutkalas

1 April Söndag
kl. 16:00-18:00

Mellan sessionerna hade vi en knutkalas hos familjen Hagman. Vi tog med en god rätt att dela med oss. Vi gott det va! Och det fanns redan bröd, ost och potatissalad på plats.

Lördag 31 mars
16:00-17:30 Unga Kvinnors allmänna möte
18:00-20:00 Allmän konferenssession
20:00-20:30    Världsrapporten

Söndag 1 april
11:00-13:00 Prästadömssession
14:00-16:00 Allmän konferenssession
16:00-16:30   Världsrapporten
17:30-18:00 Music and the spoken word
18:00-20:00 Allmän konferenssession

Hemafton-US

5 Mars Monday

The world becomes our backyard. It's always great to learn from other cultures and countries. We started off with a lesson by Leo about how the US was found and how Christopher Columbus is referenced in the Book of Mormon. Additionally, words by President Hinckley were cited from his book "Standing for Something" expressing his views and feelings for the USA.

In this evening of events, we got a taste of the U.S. Literally. Sloppy joes and root beer floats were made. The Sisters, Sister Gardner and Sister Lowry, hosted this FHE. They made homemade root beer from scratch! It was difficult to find dry ice. So in lieu of that they used yeast! It tasted actually pretty good especially with vanilla ice cream. Yum! As for food, we had sloppy joes with celery and peanut butter on the side. How excited can you get!

The fun won’t stop there. It wouldn’t be an American BBQ without some games. Traditional games of olden times were brought out: human wheel barrel and potato sack race was used in some relay games. It was a hoot. Probably one of the funniest incidents of the evening was in the wheel barrel race. Karin had Rebecka by the legs and they're going as fast as they can. When they come to the opposite side to turn around and come back for a few feet, they get told they they didn't reach the line and had to go back. So Karin pulls Rebecka by the legs pulling her backwards dragging her face in the court until they reach the line and continued on to finish the race. And on top of that, we got it on video to see it again and again.

It was cool that a friend, Anton, was brought along to share this memorable FHE. Thanks everyone for coming, getting a taste of the US and enjoying yourselves!

Hemafton-Hearts

19 Feb Monday
In this occasion of FHE we got to have an extra dose of the Valentines theme. Delightful thoughts from Rebecka and Viktor were given touching the theme of the evening. Love and respect was lifted to the forefront of their lesson.
Some outrageous activities went hand-in-hand with the theme. (no pun intended :)) We started off with the "Guess the Name Tag" game. Each person got a word typed on a slip of paper taped to their back. One person starts off and shows everyone else their back so everyone knows what word they have. Then it's almost like 21 questions. Ask as many questions to figure what word you have on your back. People had words like guy, girl, red, pink, flowers, dating, love and so on. lol!
Second game for the evening was Be my Valentine, smile. This is exactly like the game, "If you love me honey, please smile!" Everyone sat in a circle with one person being IT in the middle. To play the person who is IT goes up to anyone and says, "Hi! Can you please be my valentine, please smile!" The person then must respond to it by says, "Sorry, I cannot be your valentine. I cannot smile." The person saying this cannot smile at all. If he or she does, then they become IT and have to go into the center and start the game over. The person who was IT takes the seat of the person going in! Lots of laughs!
We would like to thank Kristina and Stephanie for bringing "kladkaka" for fika. Yum.
It was definitely a FHE that was anything from boring.

Super weekend: Gbg Valentine Helg

9-11 February Friday-Sunday
The Gothenburg stake arranged a Super weekend for the YSA. We got to break it down at the dances on Friday and Saturday night. There was some musical performances during the dances. On Saturday, there was ice skating and a chill session at the Outreach Center at Vasagatan 46. Before the dance, a special dinner with a live band named Beatrio took place. Then on Sunday, the YSA had sacrament meeting with special guests, President Leif Mattsson, Stake president and Elder Erich Kopischke, second counselor in the Area Authority Presidency. He spoke about building Zion.
There might of been as many people from the Gothenburg stake as there were from outside of the stake. It was well attended and organized. Much thought and effort was put into this special weekend. Thanks for making it such a well attended event!

Hemafton-Games

5 feb Monday
We had a laughing and chopsticking time for this family home evening.
Jennifer Thörn had the lesson on serving others which precedes the good feelings that come from service.
Part one of the activity of the evening was telephone charades. We divided up into two teams of five. Sister Gardner started the charades acting out getting a cake ready for a birthday party. The second group had Leo start off. A funky mixture of ice skating, cowboy riding a horse and disco dancing consisted of his charades. Input was given by the other team. The first group did an additional one that was supposed to be more challenging. Led by Anton, dramatized of getting a flat tire and running to a cow to get some milk to drink. But boy, it was fun to see everyone's participation. O, the laughs we got.
Part two of the activity was using chopsticks. Each person was to pick up their own designated colored chocolate candy with their chopsticks and carry it across the room to their own cup. The person with the most candy in three minutes won. In the finals, Sister Gardner walked away as the chopsticking winner. Congratulations!
Karin and Rebecka made some cream cheese frosted carrot cake to treat us.
Thanks for all the fun, memories and laughs!

Hemafton-Mat

22 Jan Monday
If food is your passion and desire to learn more about cooking, then this Family Home Evening was for you. Too bad if you missed it! Nils, a trained and experienced cook, showed and led a hands-on activity how to make Panna Cotta. An Italian dessert commonly found at restaraunts was easier to make than we thought. It's almost like a light custard with berries on top.
As it needed to set after the hot stove, we chilled it in the snow outdoors. In the meanwhile waiting for it to set, we played a couple of games. To start off we divided up into two teams for the "Never have I ever" game. Following that, we challenged ourselves with the "Two truths and one lie" game.
But the most luscious moment of the evening was to treat our tastebuds to the Panna Cotta.
Thank You Nils and all who came!

Panna Cotta from scratch: 7 people

10dl vispgrädde
2dl mjölk
1dl strösocker
4 gelatinblad
120g vitchoklad
råsocker
bär
citron

Värm på svag värme alla ingredienser, bryt ner chokladen, låt smälta. Ta från värmen, rör hela tiden. Häll i flera glas för efterrätt. Låt svalna. När svalnat, på lite bär i varje med lite råsocker och nåra droppar med citron.

Middag & film

21 Jan Sunday
The Hagman family invited the Unga Vuxna 18-30 over for dinner after church followed by a new movie about Joseph Smith. But little did everyone know that there was going to be 40 people there! Everything took place at the church in lieu of the Hagman home. Many from Gothenburg traveled up to take part of Marie Ahlins baptism the day before. They joined in and like they say, the more the merrier.
The food amazingly was enough for everyone.
"Praise to the Man" movie was then shown on the big screen.
Thanks to ya'll that signed up, showed up and ate up.

Hemafton- Spökboll

8 Jan Monday
The first family home evening of the year was calorie burning (in other words, we burnt masses of calories). We had a good even number of 14 to divide up into two tough teams. Included were three friends who participated.
Before the games we had story time from our missionaries. Sister Gardner and Sister Lowry shared a story titled "Do you want a donut?" for our lesson. Essentially it was about the atonement and what Christ has done for us. They tied it into a story from President Hinckley that illustrated forgiveness.
Afterwards we went through the ground rules for spökboll led by Viktor. In the duration of the evening we mixed up the teams twice.
Karin and Rebecka are so great to provide cake for fika. Thanks to everyone who came. And thanks for the sport to move so much to burn off some of the food and goodies from the holidays. :)

UV Bolliaden

2,3,4,5, Jan Tues-Fre
Under fyra dagar alla unga vuxna var inbjudna till den stora evenemang som heter Bolliaden. Temat var "Standing for Something." Detta år åkte vi till Loura i Skåne. Man kunde deltaga i olika sporter, workshops, kurser och självklart danser. 260 unga vuxna kom tillsammans för att dela med sig glädje.