England

I haven't posted for a while, but now when I will start run often I hope I will be more active here though this is a running blog.
It is less than a week until I go back to university. My second term. Democracy and law will be two subjects this term. I will be interesting.

Last weekend ( Saturday 20 - Wednesday 24) I visited my mission in England (England London Mission).
I visited two of my areas. My first, second last and my last. Sounds like three, but I served twice in my greenie area. I also visited London the same day I flew home.

I flew with Ryanair, got a return ticket for 817 SEK, from Göteborg to Stansted.
I was over in England for four days, five I count the day I came over. I arrived at noon. The first two were spent in Witham, Essex. Stansted is not that far away from Witham and a family came and picked me up. That was very appreciated. ;)
I visited church while I was there. It was  nice to see some of the members again. A lot of the members where on holidays, so there were loads of members that I didn't see.

The third and fourth days I did spend in Canterbury. Stayed over in Faversham and visited Broomfield.
The weather was nice in Witham, 25°C, but cloudy in Canterbury and rain. I managed to take cover before the rain poured down one day.

I left Faversham on Wednesday and traveled to London. I planned to stop by Hyde Park chapel and see President Patch. He wasn't in, but I could leave my suitcase there and went out. I bought something to eat and sat in Hyde Park, the park itself. I had many guests around me, who wanted the left overs. :)

I visited the Natural History museum. I think I was there for 1h 40 min. It was interesting.
I was first thinking to stay in London to 3 pm, but thought I will have to rush to Stansted.
I went back to the mission office and it was locked. The office couple had probably lunch.
I sat outside the office and waited. Suddenly President Patch came out from the elevator.
He gave me a CD with pictures and other stuff from the mission during the two years he had been mission president. I had to take my suitcase and rush to the tube and Stansted Express.
I was thinking to take a fish 'n chips in London, but didn't have time for that.
At Stansted airport I came there 1h 45 min before departure. They want you there two hours before the departure. I checked around and decided to have some Asian food, noodles with beef.
Sometimes your schedule can clash with others and things don't go as you plan or wanted.
Anyway... everything went well and I came home safely.

A week until university starts again and back to normal life.

"I'm sorry. I'm really busy."

I heard that lots on my mission.
It was a busy week for me.

View from Ramberget

Mowed a neighbors lawn, cut the grass in the neighborhood entrance, painting, been to a "goodbye party", church, delivered newspapers two nights in a row and running up for a hill, see picture.

I will start writing about the unofficial club championship in hill running.
2,1 km up to the top of Ramberget. The athletics at Fest i nord were the last thing I did before this race, so I wasn't as prepared as I am for Göteborgsvarvet.
I held my normal tempo. Slightly over 4:30 min/km. I came on 19th place of 24 male runners.
9:38. I have a time to beat next year. All the results this year will be beaten next year. This year will be a start up for the coming years.
Here is a video from the race.
I think I am the second behind the one in yellow. You can see my finish from 9:10.

 

 I delivered newspapers the night to Friday and Saturday. I find it hard to sleep before. Maybe I worry about bad weather, sleeping in or other problems that can occur. I felt like a zombie this Friday. The rain that fell mostly the whole day didn't make the day better.

Now these days are over and the delivery job as well. No more night jobs for a long time.

I drove the company car. The steering wheel is on the right side, so you don't have to drive on the wrong side of the road to drop off newspapers. First time I have driven a right hand drive in Sweden.

The week ended with church. The day to charge the spiritual batteries.

I was asked to say the closing prayer in all the three blocks. Elders quorum, Sunday school and the sacrament meeting. Just see it as extra blessings.  :p

My England trip is closing in. Two weeks from yesterday.

Take care my friends!

Fest i Nord

It has been a while since I posted something.
I have been pretty busy with painting and grass cutting.

Fest i Nord was this week in Nyköping. It was great and warm.

It started on Tuesday and ended on Saturday.
I drove up with one of my parents car, a Volvo 945. It was fully loaded with people and luggage.
The ride took about four hours. The car didn't have air condition, so it was a warm ride. We came up and registered us and had lunch.
The first activity was to carve a Totem pole. The groups were based on the month you were born in. We were only three in the April group the last hour. It wasn't the most beautiful of the twelve. The social part was better.
Some of us guys slept in a building where they have dances and theatre, we had all our dances there too (except for one). It was a fifteen minutes walk to the "campus", there we had the meals and some of the activities.
We had dances every evening with different themes. Dressed with the colours of your flag, sport, 90's and Sunday best.

Groups Aprils Totem pole. "Attitude meter"

The second day was a sport day. Most all of the different activities were at the same time, so you had to choose that you wanted to do, if it wasn't full already.
I did track and field. The athletic ground was basically empty. It was only another FiN participant and I.
I signed on to do all the five events. High jump, long jump, shot put, 100m and 400m.
My results were not really impressive. 1,30 m, 4,1 m, 8 m, 13,8 s and 1 min, 10 s. Same order as the events.
I am not sure what I exactly got at the long jump. There were no prize ceremony or the results on the walls. These results are only memorized. I did all the five events within an hour.

On the third day was the testimony meeting. Two hours and with a long queue. We had workshops later on. I went to two of them.
One about seven steps to be interdependent from dependent and independent. The other was lead by one of the brothers in the Herreys and talked about the time when they were famous.

On the forth day, we had an activity called Amazing race. It contained different activities and challenges like pull a car, find a worm and bring it to the secretariat and answer riddles.

Car pulling. One of the activities in the Amazing race

We had in the evening an Oscar gala. Some participants made own movies, with the theme "Attitude is everything", which was also the theme on the whole convention. It ended with a dance.

My bal date and I

The fifth day was the last day. It was a day with adventure.
The car we drove up with broke down. It was the generator that broke down and the ground cable.
So the car was towed to a garage.
We were dropped off at the train station and were thinking to take the train, but it was expensive. I was quick and bough a last minute ticket. The others got a ride to Skavsta airport and rented a car.
I took a bus to Eskilstuna and train to Arboga and changed train to one that went all the way to Göteborg.
Maybe not the best decisions, but we all came eventually home.

This is not the car, but same colour and a 945

I didn't write down everything that happened. It is easier for you to experience it yourself.

It was a great convention. Great weather. I got sunburned and a nicer tan. Met old and made new friends.

Now I will be home for three weeks and then go to England and visit two areas I served in.
Hopefully I will be done with the painting this week.
I looking forward to study again. I have felt more busy now on the summer than I did my first semester.

Take care