Here is the garden that David looks forward to tending on the patio of their new apartment.
Dad bought some bush trimmers and spent a couple of hours working on the overgrown bushes on the patio. He loves doing outside work, even if we only have an 8’ X 8’ area. Our bushes are what separates our patio from the next door neighbor, so it is needed for privacy and they look so much better now.
This is a view from David's desk upstairs.
This is the kitchen.
Make-shift clothesline
Yesterday, we took advantage of our apartment check in Roskilde to visit the Vikings Museum, something we missed when we saw the Domkirke there a few weeks ago. It is one of the top attractions in Denmark. That billing overstates it a bit I think. It was interesting but not worthy of a top 15 attraction. They do take a 50-minute tour of the Fjord in a Viking ship where you have to row and sail, but they were sold out for the day so we missed that. The museum was interesting. They actually make new Viking ships as part of the exhibits using the old methods of hand tools with axes, awls, etc. They also demonstrate how to make rope and they have other interactive things for kids, including putting on old clothes and taking pictures on a ship. The museum features 5 ships that were salvaged from the bottom of the harbor. They apparently were deliberately sunk as part of the harbor defenses against an invading Norwegian navy. The scuttled vessels blocked 2 of the 3 passages from the North Sea through the Fjord to Roskilde, which was the center of the Denmark government at the time in the 8th and 11th centuries. This forced the invaders up a single channel and the Danes were able to win that battle. Archeologists have pieced them back together as much as possible over many years, starting in the 1960’s to today, and have them on display. Then using the knowledge gathered from the wreckage of the ships, they have recreated each one of them. A crew sailed the largest war ship from here to Ireland and back a few years back to prove that it was sea worthy. The Vikings had to be hardy warriors! I found the history and war stories the most interesting.
These are wood carvings on the tour of the Viking Ships.
It is raining right now and has been most of Sunday afternoon. But I’m not complaining. The past week has been so nice. Yesterday was lovely, but a bit cool, thus you will notice we are wearing sweatshirts at our Viking Ship visit. I’m glad that I have sweaters to put on if needed. The days have definitely shortened somewhat. It is dark around 8:30—not at 10:30 like it was the middle of summer. Everyone is gearing up for the dark days as most of the missionary apartments are requesting an additional lamp. We have stopped asking permission to purchase these kind of things, as the answer has always been ‘do it’ and the office couple trusts our judgment. We did 4 apartment inspections this week. These apartments were all outside of Copenhagen. The apartment checks usually involve a trip to the store to get the needed items (bath rug, cake pan, light bulbs, etc.) All in all, we spend a lot of time shopping. But we should be good now until November, when we will do inspections again. We did 9 apartments in all (plus ours--10)—Dad installed all new smoke and CO2 detecters—so he won’t have to do that again. It was fun meeting the elders and sisters. The last apartment of sisters got an A+ for having the cleanest apartment, including a defrosted freezer. That makes our job easier. But for the most part they were all good. I believe all the freezers will be defrosted before we come next time. . .
How much do we sacrifice for the temple? I am continually amazed at, despite the difficulties, people come to the temple. This week we saw a man—probably in his mid-40’s—who has been disabled due to a stroke. The left side of his body could not function which made it difficult to put the temple robes on and make the signs of the tokens. A temple worker was assigned to sit by him and help him. He came with his wife who was also helpful in assisting him into the session. He could walk with a crutch. His desire to come to the temple was greater than the reasons to keep him home.
Dad and I did sealings the second half of our shift. The sealer told us about a time when he was serving in the Stockholm temple when a group visited from Russia. They lived near the eastern most edge of Russia where they could almost see Alaska. They traveled for five days to get to Moscow and then three more to get to Stockholm. They used all their money for traveling so the saints in Sweden helped them with food and even clothing. The temple had a place for them to stay while they visited the temple, just like we do here in Denmark. After a week of temple service, it was time to go back to Russia. They wept openly, knowing it might be the only time they could go to the temple in their lifetime. Yes, many make great sacrifices to go to the house of the Lord. It is a testimony to me of the sacredness of the temple and the importance of it.
One of our YA’s bore his testimony today in church. He has been a member for only 6 months. He spoke of his testimony of family history work. Recently, during one of our YSA activities, while the rest of the YA’s were playing games, he and another girl worked on his family history. He got so excited and has 103 names ready for temple work. He found many of his ancestors who had already had their temple work done. He is so happy for them. His heartfelt testimony of this work also shows that the spirit of Elijah, and by extension, temple work are great blessings that can be ours if we do it. It is really great to see how this young man has grown in the gospel in such a short time. By contrast, our friend Eline doesn’t seem to be making the same spiritual progress towards conversion that is so necessary in order to ‘stay in the church.’
We listened to a great BYU-I devotional this week on how the adversary wants to steal our testimony. He is subtle and knows just how to steal it. The speaker said we must guard our testimony and not let anyone steal it from us. That is good advice for all of us.
On Tuesday, we went to the school where we will be holding Golden Days (YSA conference) this week end. We wanted to check out the rooms and the area. We went at 1 p.m. so the kids were still in school. The campus is about the size of our elementary schools and houses students from kindergarten to 9th grade. There are two small gyms with showers in separate buildings. There are classrooms in the main building. We saw a lot of students working in small groups in the hall around tables. Many of them were using i-pads or small laptops. There was also a large open area with a stage. We will use it for our dances. We are not allowed to use the cafeteria kitchen due to some regulation or another, so we are going to use the home economics kitchen to prepare the food. We have to transport it to the cafeteria which only seats 108 people—maybe a few more if we pull in another couple of tables. We expect 250 people so we will have to eat in shifts. When we went to the Home Ec room, students were busy at various kitchen stations, preparing food. The ingredients were measured carefully in various bowls. The students were around 11-12 years old, both boys and girls. That all seemed pretty normal, but what wasn’t normal was what was happening outside the window. There was a group of boys standing around a stump plucking the feathers off a dead chicken, which they had just beheaded. They seemed to enjoy looking at the severed head, while a few boys, wearing rubber gloves, were pulling feathers off the bird. Quite a learning experience—one that I doubt we have in our schools in the states.
I hope that you all have a great week. I hope Sam has a great baptism day next Saturday. We wish we could be there to see this important event. Please know how much we love you and know you are choosing the right.
Kærlig hilsen, Mom
Kære Familie, Sunday, September 4, 2016
We are starting to drive to the normal places without the GPS and have started taking some side streets or exploring for an option off of the main streets that the GPS always takes us to. Strangely, as we get more familiar with our walking routes, I feel a little less safe at night. Perhaps it is the “foreigners” that are all over or just that we now walk in the dark a lot where before it was light until 10:30. In any case I am a bit more nervous out and about. It has definitely cooled off a bit as well, but it just might be a rainy day today. Yesterday was cooler but very nice. This week is supposed to be all sunshine with highs in the upper 60’s. Should be gorgeous! I am thinking it is time to look for a sweater and a coat however.
FHE last Monday was one of the best. They were making decorations for one of the dances for Golden Days and needed lots of help. We had a good turnout of about 15 - 18. They are going all out with the decorations around a theme of a dance on a deserted island after a cruise is shipwrecked. They made life preservers and beach balls out of cardboard and painted them, signs showing the direction to various islands and countries in the South Pacific and a beach drink bar made out of wooden pallets. It seemed there was something for everyone to do. We did not leave with the cleanup until almost 11:00 pm. Mom cut out some of the cardboard decorations and did some painting. I did odds and ends and then jumped in on the drink stand as they needed help with it. It turns out these city kids are not very good with a saw or hammer. They kept bending nails and couldn’t drive one in a couple of hammer blows. (Grandpa Ted taught me how to do that.) Tomorrow’s FHE will be more of the same only they are going to start at 6:00 pm to maybe get done a little earlier (or work longer to get it all finished). The FHE leader just called to see if we could provide a dinner since we are starting at the dinner hour. CES = Cook Every Second! Golden Days starts Friday at 5:00 pm and ends Sunday at 2:00 pm. I think we will be very busy providing support again like at Festinord. The signups are beginning to look impressive. They are expecting 250 and so far, there must be 6 or 7 countries represented.
We have been tired this week or worn out is a better phrase. It just seems like we have been running every minute and up late a few nights. Wednesday after some apartment inspections, returning home we thought we had a free rest of the evening and night and were looking forward to some down time. However, the AP's called at 3:00 and asked us to participate with a discussion with Elaine at 4:00. She was 30 min late so it took that much longer. The discussion was good but as she is not ready to commit to baptism, they are just repeating important principles that might help her gain a stronger testimony. Post discussion, Mom and I discussed that it seems she has an intellectual interest in the church. She is studying world religion's in school. She knows a lot, seems to like it and has ready answers which seem right as far as they go, but she does not have a spiritual conversion. They did not commit her to anything and I think what she needs to do is read the Book of Mormon every day and pray about it. She needs to seek a spiritual witness. She may not want to do that. I think they forgot how important commitments are to progression, but then she is an unusual case as she has been taught for over a year. It may be time to turn her over to the young adults for continued fellow-shipping rather than having the AP’s reteach her principles she already knows.
I am researching ideas for retirement and need some help, even though that is still many months away. We have found out from the other senior missionary couples, that a spouse does not let her husband retire until he has 3 hobbies that do not involve her. Mom is adopting that idea so I either need to develop 3 new hobbies or go back to work when we return. How did I miss out on hobbies all of these years? My gardening is more of a distraction than a hobby, golf is too expensive, tennis requires people to play with, I gave up fishing as a teenager and don’t really relish picking it up again, etc.
Love to all, Dad.
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