Mom with Altar piece, Ugeløse Kirke
Ledreborg Slot
Sisters by Adam and Eve statue
Pink Hair - Helena Fredericksen, Teiva, Nicolai Van Scheel
McDonald's lunch
Here is a picture of our Institute Director teaching a class at our Hyttetur event. His name is Jens Anderson.
Dad at Kronborg Castle
Me at the Hercules Statue
Dad on the beach
Me dressed up like a Viking, Dad and I together
Dad by a Viking Long House
Dad by the Viking ruins
Dad by Ledreborg Slot—nice reflection in the water.
Kære Familie Sunday, May 6, 2018
This will be my last letter from Denmark (I bet mom starts out that way as well!). It is rather sad but I also have a sense of excitement and anticipation for what will come next for all of us. The Wheelers gave us a nice note today. They have become very good friends in just 3 months. We will miss them and they will probably miss us more, as we have made their P-days exciting since the first week they arrived. We have been their tour guides and confidants. All of the senior couples we have worked with have been wonderful. I think they represent the best of the church in the sense they have been willing to leave homes and families and be dedicated missionaries. Wheelers included this quote in their note from a book I do not recognize (Saving CeeCee Honeycutt). “Life is full of change. That’s how we learn and grow. When we’re born, the Good Lord gives each of us a Life Book. Chapter by chapter, we live and learn … When a chapter of your Life Book is complete, your spirit knows it’s time to turn the page, so a new chapter can begin. Even when you’re scared or think you’re not ready, your spirit knows you are.” That sums up my feelings pretty well. I know it is time to turn the page and start a new chapter and it will be interesting to see what the opening lines are and where they lead. It is painful to end a chapter however when this one has been so enjoyable and full of adventure. We had more goodbyes in church today and each one is hard. The YSA are planning a going away party for us tomorrow night for FHE complete with Piñata, dancing, music and good food. (They will blow the budget again!) It is very nice of them and I’m sure we will love it, but right now, I would just like to board the plane and slip away without any more tears and goodbyes.
Is there a normal day anymore for us? Our focus is on getting the apartment ready to be vacant for 3 months. It is a race between days slipping by and eating our food up. It looks like it will be close and we won’t have too much waste or food to pass on to others. Every day has had a piece of it focused on dejunking the apartment, cleaning, packing, etc. A little bit done every day and hopefully it will not be a chore our last 2 days this week. We have a Danish painting that I really like that we bought for 300 kr’s but we have decided to leave it in the bedroom and not bring it home.
Monday, we had a very unusual FHE. We met at the Center at 7:00 and had a song and spiritual thought by our new convert Mathias Christensen. I was proud of him. He talked for about 10 minutes with maybe just a note of two on his phone. This might have been his first church speaking opportunity. We then walked as a group over to the Vor Frue Kirke to see a movie. We were told to bring pillows for the hard benches and mom made Rice Krispy treats to share afterwards. We thought the movie started at 7:30 but the doors of the church were locked and there was a note that said the movie would start at 9:00 with the doors opening at 8:30. With time to kill, we walked a short distance to Max Burger where we decided to have the stake buy everyone a hot chocolate. It was 323 kr. There didn't seem to be too many other options as it was raining and cold, so we didn't want to stand outside and wait. They movie was not advertised in advance and no one had any idea what movie would be shown. We assumed it would be appropriate for a sacred church setting. The movie was shown on the curved sides and top of the ceiling on 4 projected large screens, 2 on each side of the chapel. To see them, one had to lie on the pews or lean against the side walls and stare up. It was a weird setting with the Apostles and the Christus statues staring at us. There were maybe 30 people there besides our group of 20. Mom and I brought 2 pillows from the apartment to cushion our heads and we lay on 2 pews with a foot aisle between us. We were wrong on the nature of the movie (It is Denmark after all). It was a Swedish movie with some English and Danish in it and Danish subtitles. It was not a documentary but truly a movie about the life of a museum curator of, I suppose, a Swedish national museum that had to raise funds to exist. It was hard to follow and did not seem to have an obvious plot (might have been our language difficulties). After about an hour, it turned bad with a sex scene and we hurriedly left. Most of the YSA followed us out of the church and we had a good laugh about the whole experience – one of Denmark’s most famous churches – and we were witness of the sacrilege of the world on religious values! I didn't really count noses who stayed and who left, and some left earlier in the movie when it was obvious it was not really exciting. When we got home at 10:30, Elder and Sister Forslund were still up at our kitchen table. They are staying one night with us before their farewell dinner on Tuesday night and then home for them. We stayed up and talked to them until about midnight about our most recent mission experiences.
Tuesday, we tackled one of our cleaning chores. We went mid-morning to do some deep cleaning at the Center. We want to leave it in good shape. Mom tackled the kitchen, emptying, wiping down and organizing the drawers and cupboards, cleaning the refrigerator and freezer and generally straightening up. I cleaned the bathroom thoroughly, vacuumed and spotted the carpet, repaired a door handle that keeps coming off and organized the supplies left over from our Hyttertur the previous week. We worked until around 3:00 on it and felt satisfied that it was presentable as a last offering to the atmosphere of the YSA program.
We had about an hour phone call this week with Elder and Sister Jacobson, who will be taking our place. Unfortunately, they will not arrive until July 27th, which is the last day of Festinord, so they will miss that and only have an opportunity to attend one of them. We chatted about our mission responsibilities and answered their questions. We found out they are a little older and have already served one mission in Russia as Humanitarian missionaries over 10 stakes. Our tasks and schedule may be a little daunting to them, but I am sure they will be equal to the challenge. It did not sound like they have had any experience with YSA, so this mission will be totally different from their previous one. What a wonderful thing senior missionary opportunities are! Willing hearts are sent all over the world to meet challenges and they may do things they never imagined and feel totally unqualified for. The Lord will qualify them and it will be a blessing to themselves and those they serve.
We had 39 at institute so it was another good night. Dinner was for around 25. Mom made sweet and sour chicken over rice with rolls. The rice was gone but there was a small amount of chicken leftover and 2 rolls, so we assume everyone got enough to eat. We had 8 YSA in our English class, 2 of them were Danish - Joachim Anderson and Daniel Olsen, who wanted to be in our last lesson. That was nice of them. We divided the lesson between us which covered Ether 12 and its wonderful principles on faith, miracles and the righteous being blessed in this promised land, and then the war years at the end of Ether. Neither one of us felt like it was one of our best lessons, but we did have some nice discussion. My problem was that Teiva (the French-native-speaking Tahitian) likes to dominate the discussion and sometimes his comments don't seem very relevant to what we are talking about. I don't know how to turn him off or even sometimes what to say as he finishes a long meandering story, to get us back on topic again. He has a good heart though. I learned today in church that he is 31, so he should not be attending YSA at all, but I don’t think anyone will uninvite him from attending.
Yesterday, we had our last road trip with our friends the Johnsons and Wheelers. We had to take 2 cars and so the Wheelers rode in both cars for part of the trip. We visited one new place for us and then revisited some other places we have seen in the Winter but wanted to revisit with the Spring flowers. The new place was the Trelleborg Viking ruins. It was OK but not super exciting. (Seen one Viking museum and perhaps, have seen them all.) There is not that much to see there besides some Viking relics inside the museum. There is one long building still standing (or rebuilt) and the outer-ring of earth about 9 ft high. We wandered around the grounds for a bit, the museum and took off for a Burger King lunch in Slagelse. We then revisited the Ugeløse Kirke with a Karl Bloch altar painting of Doubting Thomas. Everyone liked the size and beauty of the picture. On the way to the next stop at Ledreborg Slot, we stopped by a field of Raps plants in bloom with yellow flowers for a Selfie. As we were setting up the camera on top of the car, a farmer came down the lane in a 4-wheeler. I think, he intended to rescue us if stranded or shew us off if we were trespassing. As it was, he took our picture and we talked to him for a little while. He was very nice. Everyone loved Ledreborg. It is so much prettier in the Spring than when we were there in the winter. The hiking down and up again through the valley was strenuous for the others but it was very pretty and the scenery across from the slot is extraordinary. We caught the image of the slot in the reflecting pool. The weather was just perfect to be outside. Most had a sweater or sweatshirt on but I was comfortable in just shirt sleeves.
We are so glad that Lindsey, Derrick and kids made it to Houston. It will be so fun to see everyone together! Great idea for a family portrait. I am sorry for the stresses they have been under and that our house is not ready for them. We should have come home on the 2nd as originally planned and we could have gotten our things unpacked. Anyway, we are excited to be back in the heat and humidity! See you on Wednesday.
Love, Dad.
Kære familie, 6 May 2018
The week was a busy one—and although I would love a respite, I’m sure it is the best way to finish out our mission. It was almost anti-climatic to go to FHE on Monday night and to institute on Thursday. We are just prolonging our good-byes. It was difficult for me at church today, but it wasn’t until the closing song— “God be with You till We Meet Again,” that the tears could not be controlled. So many of the members came up to us to wish us good luck and thank us for our service. The Primary Presidency gave me a beautiful necklace and a personal card. The junior primary children gave me a huge group hug after our singing time. It was precious. My Primary experience has been an unexpected blessing of our missionary service. I love their simple, sweet testimonies and the beautiful Danish primary songs. I have enjoyed working with the Primary leaders who are so grateful for my service. I don’t think it mattered very much—I was just playing the piano, but they really don’t know what they will do next week. It is Mothers’ Day and the children are going to sing in Sacrament Meeting—but they don’t have an accompanist. The choir director, whom I was never sure appreciated my efforts on the piano, was also wondering what he was going to do for an accompanist next week. But I believe that the Lord will provide. I am grateful I could help these few years I have been here. I think we will be missed, but I know that someone else will step up and fill our place. It is always the way in the church—callings and releases, and although services are appreciated, no one is ever indispensable.
Our RS lesson was all about true ministering. One of the sisters in the ward has been very sick—psoriasis and arthritis (at least that is what I think it is). She has been in and out of the hospital for several weeks, or maybe months. She really needs help. We discussed as RS sisters, what we could do to help her. She needs visits and someone to assist her when she goes for walks (which she needs to do to increase her strength). She needs help with shopping, making food, and washing/housework. The sisters quickly volunteered for these services on various days during the up-coming week. The Sister missionaries also volunteered to help. It was wonderful to see the sisters seeing a need and wanting to help. This is the essence of ministering. Ministering is an action—it is not something we just talk about. I wish I was going to be here to help. But I’m sure there will be things I can do to minister when I get back to Houston.
Like Lindsey, this week I have been focusing on eating up the food that I have left in the apartment. I didn’t like that I inherited a lot of food when I came, some of which I had no intention of eating. So, I am trying to eat up what I can. We had 5 elders to dinner on Wednesday night and I made lasagna. I thought for sure it would be all gone, but we had left-overs. Some of the senior missionaries have asked if they could make dinner for us and I kindly decline, saying we need to stay home and eat up what we can. I made my last dinner for Institute on Thursday night—using up the chicken in my freezer, but we had left-overs again. Usually I can give the food away, but this weekend 16 of our YSA’s are involved in EFY Counselor Training in Stockholm and they wouldn’t be home, so I got the left-overs. We had a ‘good-bye’ dinner for the Forslunds on Tuesday night with the other senior missionaries, and then the O’Bryants took us to dinner on Saturday night. We just haven’t been home much to eat.
I finished my last Banner but spent another hour or so with Sister Wheeler on Tuesday, trying to help her with the next edition. Her biggest obstacle is using new-to-her software on a PC instead of a MAC. But she will be fine. I then had to turn my attention to making a movie for the O’Bryants which will be shown at their last Zone Conference in June. I have been working on this for a few days, gathering pictures I could use from Sister O’Bryant’s blog. This is a long, process as I looked through hundreds of pictures and blog posts over the past year—with two more additional years to search through. But then I realized that, although the O’Bryants will know all the missionaries since 2015, the missionaries who will be viewing the video won’t know them. So, I decided to include only pictures from the last 18 months—thus shortening my ‘finding’ time. I was able to put the movie together on Wednesday night and called Sister Johnson with the ‘good news.’ Although she was pleased with my efforts, she was also disappointed because she was hoping to include some pictures of the O’Bryants with their grandchildren. She lives in the same ward as the O’Bryant’s son and had asked his wife to send her some pictures, but they hadn’t come yet. I guess she checked with her the next day and got the pictures. Now I had to add those to the video, but I had already added music to fit the exact length of my pictures, so I had to cut some of the pictures and paste in the new ones and republish the video.
On Friday and Saturday nights, I also worked on another project for Sister Johnson’s farewell gift to the O’Bryants—this one is a Shutterfly book. She wanted to include the testimonies and pictures from all the senior missionaries who have served under the O’Bryants. I have all those in back issues of the Banner. So, I searched them and copied the testimonies and a picture into a word document for her. I want to help her because I think she has taken on a big project and I know it is causing her stress. She is staying at the mission office until quite late at night working on this. It is a nice gesture, but perhaps more than one person can do. I really feel the mission will notice the lack of senior missionaries this summer. There are 4 of us going home and only one couple coming at the end of July (replacing us) and one the first of September (replacing the Forslunds). I have seen the good work that senior missionaries bring to a mission. The young missionaries commented on this when they came to dinner on Wednesday. I hope the mission can get the other couples it needs.
With institute over and our last lesson prep, we spent Friday packing. I was anxious to see if everything was going to fit in our suitcases. What to take home and what to give to the Red Cross? We still need to clean the apartment, bedding, etc. Our last house guests left on Tuesday morning, so I was able to get that room ready. As things started to come together and I could see we were going to fit everything in (I hope), I suggested we go on a drive. It was a beautiful sunny day, but still cool. My coat felt good. I drove up the east coast of our island (Dad was extremely sleepy that afternoon), and enjoyed the forests, the rolling hills, the coastline and the quaint towns in between. It is a slow drive (no freeways), but so beautiful. Our destination was two cities on the north coast of Sjælland which we had not visited before. We also stopped in Helsingør and had one last look at Kronborg Castle as well as a large statue in the harbor—Hercules killing the 9-headed Lernean Hydra. Then we stopped in Hornbæk and walked along some very sandy white beaches. This is a resort town, but it will have to get a lot warmer before I would want to venture into the sea. Then we went to the most northern part of the island—Gilleleje. This is also a coastline city, but more of a fishing town than a resort beach town. The outing was a nice 4-hour break from the packing and other responsibilities waiting for us at home.
I began this letter outside, sitting on a bench by the lake. It was beautiful and serene, although there were many other Danes sitting by the lake, enjoying the same lovely spring weather. But as the sun dipped behind the buildings, the temperature dropped, and I was cold. We have both been struggling with colds and runny noses, and I didn’t want to start it all up again, so I returned to the apartment. I can still look out over the lakes from my desk window and enjoy the clear skies and calm waters. It was a beautiful 72˚ spring day, but it still gets down to the high 40’s at night. People haven’t put their coats away and a jacket is definitely needed to feel comfortable tonight. But I’m not complaining. I would just like to bottle up some of this weather and bring it home with me in my suitcase.
On a personal note, I need to acknowledge one of my weaknesses and apologize for being stubborn about receiving service. It has always been easier for me to give than to receive. I am truly grateful for everything you have all done to take care of our home and our affairs. I appreciate the letters, the pictures, the FaceTime visits, and the all the support you have given us. It has kept us going in so many ways. I don’t want to add to your already busy schedules and responsibilities with your families—especially when it comes to taking care of our house and our yard. You all have your own homes. I feel I should be the one to help you. So please forgive me if I sounded ungrateful. I really do appreciate all you have done for us. It will be wonderful to see you all again.
We both taught a piece of the institute lesson this week. I approached the lesson in Ether by sharing some scriptures that teach important gospel principles. I will close with one of those. Ether 7:23 “And also in the reign of Shule there came prophets among the people, who were sent from the Lord, prophesying that the wickedness and idolatry of the people was bringing a curse upon the land, and they should be destroyed if they did not repent.” How blessed we are to live in a day and age where we have a living prophet on earth who warns us and helps us stay on the right path. L. Aldin Porter (Presidency of the Seventy) said this about heeding the words of the prophets: “Some complain that when the prophets speak with clarity and firmness, they are taking our agency away. We are still free to choose. But we must accept the consequences of those decisions. The prophets do not take away our agency. They simply warn us of what the consequences of our choices will be. How foolish it is to fault the prophets for their warnings.”
And President Henry B. Eyring said, “Looking for the path to safety in the counsel of prophets makes sense to those with strong faith. When a prophet speaks, those with little faith may think that they hear only a wise man giving good advice. Then if his counsel seems comfortable and reasonable, squaring with what they want to do, they take it. If it does not, they consider it either faulty advice or they see their circumstances as justifying their being an exception to the counsel. Those without faith may think that they hear only men seeking to exert influence for some selfish motive. …
“Every time in my life when I have chosen to delay following inspired counsel or decided that I was an exception, I came to know that I had put myself in harm’s way. Every time that I have listened to the counsel of prophets, felt it confirmed in prayer, and then followed it, I have found that I moved toward safety.” It is for our safety to follow the prophet and for our happiness. This I know to be true.
Med kærlighed,
Mom
