By Birgit Wills, March 22, 2019 — I married Walt in June of 1960 in Sweden and had three wonderful bridesmaids to enjoy the wedding with. One in particular, Birgitta, eventually became a missionary in Africa with her husband, Hans. She raised her children there and spent much of her life dedicated to her service. We eventually lost touch, only receiving Christmas cards once a year. It was inevitable because we were in different parts of the world.
In 1988, Walt, our new baby Eric, and I were in Gothenburg, Sweden, visiting my parents and traveling. We decided to go into town, which meant first taking a bus into St. Sigfrid Square. As we were awaiting our trolley ride, we see two familiar faces walking toward us. It was Birgitta and her husband, home from Uganda! We fell into each other with hugs, and decided to catch up and have lunch at a boat cafe right near a canal. Walt brought his video camera around with him everywhere, so we captured many special moments with our friends. Hans played with Eric, we talked, we laughed, and we had a great meal.
Later on in life, that video tape became so important. Hans had passed away a few years later of a heart attack in Africa. Birgitta and her children eventually moved back to Sweden and we kept up over email and phone calls. She visited us at home in New Jersey a year ago, and we gave her a copy of the video tape. She was able to show her children scenes of their father laughing and talking and they cherished the video tape as an amazing family memory.