Old friends and new friends describe the visitors to northeast Nebraska and the Rose Cottage in recent days.
Hans and Helene came from the coastal region of Sweden and Tinie, Femke and Lewis came from Holland and spent several days together as guests of Elizabeth King.
For the Swedish guests this was their first visit to Nebraska.
Helene said she knew she had relatives who immigrated to the United States in the late 1800's as her great-grandmother's family all came to Nebraska in search of land.
"I used Find a Grave and tried to find my grandmother's name. I finally found an obituary with the name Dahlquist, which was my grandmother's name. I sent a message to Bev Dahlquist in Laurel, who was a little suspicious at first," Helene said.
However, after several conversations, Hans and Helene decided to come to Nebraska and meet with the families in the Laurel and Concord areas.
"We first stopped at the cemetery in Oakland on our way here. There we found that 20-25 of my relatives are buried there," Helene said. Additional relatives were found buried at Concord. Some of Helene's family helped start the church in Concord.
In the 10 days Hans and Helene have been in Nebraska they have been impressed with what they have seen.
"There are huge combines and large farms. This is very different than where we are from. We have eaten a lot (especially traditional foods such as roast beef and ham balls) and have had a great time," Hans said.
The couple both said everyone has been so welcoming and they have been able to go through "lots and lots of photos."
As they were leaving Nebraska, they invited their relatives to visit them in Sweden.
Tinie and Femke have been to Nebraska before and while they are not Elizabeth King's relatives, "we have known her for 25 years. She has visited us in Holland and we visited her in 2013 when she lived in Bradshaw," Tinie said.
They are spending the week doing a variety of activities and eight-year old Lewis said his favorite so far has been a trip to the Pumpkin Patch and the hamburgers he ate their. He was looking forward to visits to some of the American stores such as Target and Walmart.
All of the visitors noted that one difference between their native countries and the U.S. is the amount of drive-throughs here.
"In our country we only have a drive-through at McDonalds, but here you can drive through to get lots of things," Tinie said.
When listing their favorite part of the trip, both Hans and Helene said it was "meeting all these nice people."
Femke said among her highlights was getting to meet Elizabeth's new grandson, and Tinie said he has enjoyed spending time with friends and meeting new people.
Lewis said the trip has allowed him to work on speaking English, something he has learned from Utube.
"I also like feeding the squirrels that are here," he said with a smile.
All of the guests said they "love Nebraska, which is so much bigger than our countries, and all the people we have met."
