We went on a little outing on Saturday to see the changing of the guards at Amalienborg palace. We were walking out in the cold (along with most of Copenhagen?) for about 4 hours. We are still learning our way around Copenhagen and inevitably take a wrong turn, but we arrived just in time to see the new guard march into the square. Although the guards are changed out every 2 hours, there is a more elaborate ceremony at noon each day when the Royal Guard marches from Rosenborg Castle to Amalienborg. When the queen is in residence, the guard is also accompanied by the music band—we didn’t get so lucky, so we will have to go again. We only saw a small guard which meant that no one was in residence in any official capacity. Amalienborg Palace is made up of 4 identical buildings - Christian VII’s Palace (also known as Moltke's Palace, one is used as a guest residence, one is used as a guest palace for one of the Prince’s and his family, another one is the home of the Crown Prince and his family, and the last one is the home of the Queen and Prince Consort. These 4 buildings face an octagon-shaped courtyard. The palace was built in the 1700’s and is the winter residence for the Danish Royalty. The changing of the guards was interesting, but a lot of pomp and ceremony for nothing.
Kære Familie, November 20, 2016
We had an unexpectedly long day today. We went to Slagelse to speak in their sacrament meeting. This is the second time this week we have been to Slagelse. The first time was on Wednesday and it took us 1 ½ hours to get there—but we had traffic, rain and darkness. Today dawned sunny and beautiful, but still cold--40˚. We made the drive in just over an hour. Dad drove this morning, but I got to drive home. By then it was rainy, windy and gray—not fun. Dad had a nice nap while I listened to talks by Michael Wilcox and didn’t dare drive the posted 130 speed limit while I held tight to the steering wheel trying to keep the car centered on the road. I definitely felt the wind. I drove on Wednesday when we came out to visit the Slagelse institute. Since the sun had already gone down for the day and darkness was eminent, I ended up driving both ways. Our days are only 8 hours long and counting down.
I decided to talk on our institute lesson from last week on Rearing Children in Love and Righteousness. I also listened to a good BYU-I talk this week called No Other Success and got some good ideas. You can tell that this topic is dear to my heart. I feel that our role as parents is huge. We see how quickly our children learn the ABC’s by our repetition. Likewise, they will learn principles of the gospel through our example and our teachings. To do anything less than this is not fulfilling our greatest calling and responsibility. King Benjamin’s words in Mosiah 4:14-15 clearly outline our duties as parents: “…neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God…But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.” I used part of the following quote in my talk from the article I sent you last week by Elder Holland:
“No child in this Church should be left with uncertainty about his or her parents’ devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Restoration of His Church, and the reality of living prophets and apostles who, now as in earlier days, lead that Church according to ‘the will of the Lord, … the mind of the Lord, … the word of the Lord, … and the power of God unto salvation.’”
“If in matters of faith and belief children are at risk of being swept downstream by this intellectual current or that cultural rapid, we as their parents must be more certain than ever to hold to anchored, unmistakable moorings clearly recognizable to those of our own household. It won’t help anyone if we go over the edge with them, explaining through the roar of the falls all the way down that we really did know the Church was true and that the keys of the priesthood really were lodged there but we just didn’t want to stifle anyone’s freedom to think otherwise. No, we can hardly expect the children to get to shore safely if the parents don’t seem to know where to anchor their own boat.”
We spent two mornings this week inspecting missionary apartments. One went very smoothly, the others all had needs. After we assess the needs (light bulbs, dish drainer, faucet filter, door mat, etc.) we then go out shopping to get what is needed. Then inevitably, we get a text from one of the companionships who has thought of new needs. So most of our inspections require two visits—once to check it out and once to do the repairs or deliver items. While we were in Slagelse on Wednesday night, we also dropped by the sisters’ apartment there for inspection. After church today, we went to the sisters’ apartment to deliver lamps, light bulbs, rugs, etc. They had a meeting after church so we waited in front of their apartment for more than 30 minutes waiting for them. It turned cold and nasty while we were waiting and I felt badly that we had driven in a warm car and they came home on bicycles in the rain. They are great sisters and arrived with smiling faces and gratitude that we had fixed up their apartment.
We had a very slow day at the temple on Friday. I don’t know if it was due to illness, or what, but the temple was empty. We only had 4 sister workers—all temple missionaries, plus myself—and the coordinator and matron. Can you imagine running a temple with only 6 sister ordinance workers? I think the men had a few more, but not much. We only had one patron for the 2:30 session—no patrons for initiatory or sealings. So rather than send her on a session by herself, all the sister missionaries went as well. One was the follower for the session and the other three of us were patrons. There were 4 brothers as well—most of them ordinance workers. We didn’t have a 4:30 endowment session or initiatory, but most of us gathered to do sealings for an hour. The one sister patron had some family names for sealings. We did have more people come for the 6:30 session (14--but several of them were ordinance workers), but there were no sealings or initiatory, so we were released early. They had everything under control. This was exactly what Dad had hoped for because he wanted to attend the stake fireside—DNA and the Book of Mormon—Science and Religion. The fireside was a full-house—maybe 200 people. I guess people were more interested in the fireside than the temple that night. The fireside lasted for more than 2 hours—all one speaker and no musical numbers. What did I learn?
Our former temple president was released from the hospital on Thursday. He now has his very own defibrillator implanted in his body. The doctors cleared him to fly home on Tuesday—just 3 weeks after his heart attack and their first attempt to come home. We are happy for them, but we will miss them.
Have a great week, Kærlig hilsen, Mom
Kære Familie Sunday, November 20, 2016
This has been a week where it seems like not much has happened, at least not the kind of stuff that seems interesting in a letter home. We had our language classes all 3 days this week and I found myself sort of dreading Friday as it just seemed tiring and too much. My brain is sort of frazzled. The teacher is picking up the pace and it is hard to remember what we learn from day to day and apply it in conversations. I am finding very little time to study outside of class with everything else going on. Thursday night we did our homework together from 11:00 to 11:30 pm. We were so tired from the rest of the day, that it is hard to make that excellent study time. I can tell we are making progress with the language, but it seems so minor in terms of being able to speak that I am sure our “friends” don’t notice any difference. I usually try to speak a little Danish every time I am at the Center but my tongue gets all twisted up and the words don’t come out the way I thought I had them formed.
Eline Holm, our investigator friend with a baptismal date of Dec 9th, gave the spiritual thought at FHE around her conversion and how she gained a testimony of the church. I am always amazed at her knowledge and ease in speaking. Her depth of gospel understanding is unusual for an investigator. She has learned a lot in the year she has been hanging around church and institute. I think there is a good possibility she will stick and can make the transition to a full-time active member. A lot will depend on her boyfriend. He is an inactive member and may drag her back. He is showing some signs, as I think I mentioned last week, of coming to church functions with her but he has not been to FHE or Institute yet. He was at a stake Fireside on Friday night.
We spoke in the Slagelse ward today. Our talks went well. We were told to plan on 30 minutes between us as they had a youth speaker before us. We actually had about 40 min to fill. Mom took 15 and I ended up going 25, and I cut almost a page out of my talk. I had timed it for 8 minutes x 2 so it should have been only 16 min long. The translation took a lot longer than expected and I suppose that I talk slower than when I just time myself on a read through. I used the talk I had given in Roskilde in September on faith and testimony, only I redrafted a good portion of it.
We attended the gospel principles class for SS, which is where the YSA attend most weeks. Johannes Hansen taught the class, he is 17 and technically a YSA. They threw him a curve and told him to teach in English for our benefit and he did credibly well, though it seemed to be more of a struggle for him with English than many of the others. (We are often conversing with RM’s from English speaking countries.) I am sure he was intimidated as he was by far the youngest person in the room. The lesson was on Joseph Smith and the first vision. Good basic stuff on what eternal truths Joseph Smith learned in that first experience in the Sacred Grove, and a great learning experience for Johannes.
Dad.
Kære Familie, November 20, 2016
We had an unexpectedly long day today. We went to Slagelse to speak in their sacrament meeting. This is the second time this week we have been to Slagelse. The first time was on Wednesday and it took us 1 ½ hours to get there—but we had traffic, rain and darkness. Today dawned sunny and beautiful, but still cold--40˚. We made the drive in just over an hour. Dad drove this morning, but I got to drive home. By then it was rainy, windy and gray—not fun. Dad had a nice nap while I listened to talks by Michael Wilcox and didn’t dare drive the posted 130 speed limit while I held tight to the steering wheel trying to keep the car centered on the road. I definitely felt the wind. I drove on Wednesday when we came out to visit the Slagelse institute. Since the sun had already gone down for the day and darkness was eminent, I ended up driving both ways. Our days are only 8 hours long and counting down.
I decided to talk on our institute lesson from last week on Rearing Children in Love and Righteousness. I also listened to a good BYU-I talk this week called No Other Success and got some good ideas. You can tell that this topic is dear to my heart. I feel that our role as parents is huge. We see how quickly our children learn the ABC’s by our repetition. Likewise, they will learn principles of the gospel through our example and our teachings. To do anything less than this is not fulfilling our greatest calling and responsibility. King Benjamin’s words in Mosiah 4:14-15 clearly outline our duties as parents: “…neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God…But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.” I used part of the following quote in my talk from the article I sent you last week by Elder Holland:
“No child in this Church should be left with uncertainty about his or her parents’ devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Restoration of His Church, and the reality of living prophets and apostles who, now as in earlier days, lead that Church according to ‘the will of the Lord, … the mind of the Lord, … the word of the Lord, … and the power of God unto salvation.’”
“If in matters of faith and belief children are at risk of being swept downstream by this intellectual current or that cultural rapid, we as their parents must be more certain than ever to hold to anchored, unmistakable moorings clearly recognizable to those of our own household. It won’t help anyone if we go over the edge with them, explaining through the roar of the falls all the way down that we really did know the Church was true and that the keys of the priesthood really were lodged there but we just didn’t want to stifle anyone’s freedom to think otherwise. No, we can hardly expect the children to get to shore safely if the parents don’t seem to know where to anchor their own boat.”
We spent two mornings this week inspecting missionary apartments. One went very smoothly, the others all had needs. After we assess the needs (light bulbs, dish drainer, faucet filter, door mat, etc.) we then go out shopping to get what is needed. Then inevitably, we get a text from one of the companionships who has thought of new needs. So most of our inspections require two visits—once to check it out and once to do the repairs or deliver items. While we were in Slagelse on Wednesday night, we also dropped by the sisters’ apartment there for inspection. After church today, we went to the sisters’ apartment to deliver lamps, light bulbs, rugs, etc. They had a meeting after church so we waited in front of their apartment for more than 30 minutes waiting for them. It turned cold and nasty while we were waiting and I felt badly that we had driven in a warm car and they came home on bicycles in the rain. They are great sisters and arrived with smiling faces and gratitude that we had fixed up their apartment.
We had a very slow day at the temple on Friday. I don’t know if it was due to illness, or what, but the temple was empty. We only had 4 sister workers—all temple missionaries, plus myself—and the coordinator and matron. Can you imagine running a temple with only 6 sister ordinance workers? I think the men had a few more, but not much. We only had one patron for the 2:30 session—no patrons for initiatory or sealings. So rather than send her on a session by herself, all the sister missionaries went as well. One was the follower for the session and the other three of us were patrons. There were 4 brothers as well—most of them ordinance workers. We didn’t have a 4:30 endowment session or initiatory, but most of us gathered to do sealings for an hour. The one sister patron had some family names for sealings. We did have more people come for the 6:30 session (14--but several of them were ordinance workers), but there were no sealings or initiatory, so we were released early. They had everything under control. This was exactly what Dad had hoped for because he wanted to attend the stake fireside—DNA and the Book of Mormon—Science and Religion. The fireside was a full-house—maybe 200 people. I guess people were more interested in the fireside than the temple that night. The fireside lasted for more than 2 hours—all one speaker and no musical numbers. What did I learn?
- That science and trying to prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon through DNA has no bearing on whether I know the church is true.
- That science doesn’t have all the answers and neither does religion. God will yet reveal many great and important things to the children of men as we are ready to receive them.
- That faith is not about proof. Faith is not scientific. Faith doesn’t have probabilities, theories and hypotheses.
Our former temple president was released from the hospital on Thursday. He now has his very own defibrillator implanted in his body. The doctors cleared him to fly home on Tuesday—just 3 weeks after his heart attack and their first attempt to come home. We are happy for them, but we will miss them.
Have a great week, Kærlig hilsen, Mom
Kære Familie Sunday, November 20, 2016
This has been a week where it seems like not much has happened, at least not the kind of stuff that seems interesting in a letter home. We had our language classes all 3 days this week and I found myself sort of dreading Friday as it just seemed tiring and too much. My brain is sort of frazzled. The teacher is picking up the pace and it is hard to remember what we learn from day to day and apply it in conversations. I am finding very little time to study outside of class with everything else going on. Thursday night we did our homework together from 11:00 to 11:30 pm. We were so tired from the rest of the day, that it is hard to make that excellent study time. I can tell we are making progress with the language, but it seems so minor in terms of being able to speak that I am sure our “friends” don’t notice any difference. I usually try to speak a little Danish every time I am at the Center but my tongue gets all twisted up and the words don’t come out the way I thought I had them formed.
Eline Holm, our investigator friend with a baptismal date of Dec 9th, gave the spiritual thought at FHE around her conversion and how she gained a testimony of the church. I am always amazed at her knowledge and ease in speaking. Her depth of gospel understanding is unusual for an investigator. She has learned a lot in the year she has been hanging around church and institute. I think there is a good possibility she will stick and can make the transition to a full-time active member. A lot will depend on her boyfriend. He is an inactive member and may drag her back. He is showing some signs, as I think I mentioned last week, of coming to church functions with her but he has not been to FHE or Institute yet. He was at a stake Fireside on Friday night.
We spoke in the Slagelse ward today. Our talks went well. We were told to plan on 30 minutes between us as they had a youth speaker before us. We actually had about 40 min to fill. Mom took 15 and I ended up going 25, and I cut almost a page out of my talk. I had timed it for 8 minutes x 2 so it should have been only 16 min long. The translation took a lot longer than expected and I suppose that I talk slower than when I just time myself on a read through. I used the talk I had given in Roskilde in September on faith and testimony, only I redrafted a good portion of it.
We attended the gospel principles class for SS, which is where the YSA attend most weeks. Johannes Hansen taught the class, he is 17 and technically a YSA. They threw him a curve and told him to teach in English for our benefit and he did credibly well, though it seemed to be more of a struggle for him with English than many of the others. (We are often conversing with RM’s from English speaking countries.) I am sure he was intimidated as he was by far the youngest person in the room. The lesson was on Joseph Smith and the first vision. Good basic stuff on what eternal truths Joseph Smith learned in that first experience in the Sacred Grove, and a great learning experience for Johannes.
Dad.
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