YSA (including Germans) eating and playing games.
The group game is a game of "Murder".
This picture is bad but shows the canal and beautiful day as we walked across the bridge to Paper Island. I was looking into the sun and could not see what I was snapping a picture of.
The last one shows the trees on Papirøen—on each paper is a wish.
Kære Familie, Sunday, March 12, 2017
Here is a quick update on our language class. We are still going 3 mornings a week and then have some homework each day. Some class members have dropped out and some new faces have come in. There are 14 in the class if everyone comes but we probably average about 10 in attendance every day. We are the most consistent. We have our final exam for this semester in two weeks and Tuesday she had us take a sample test for about 2 of our hours. It was rather exhausting work as there is both time pressure (there were many sections and we would have 5 minutes on this one, 10 minutes on the next, etc.), comprehension pressure and of course the application, writing and interpreting involved. The final test will be over 2 days. 1 day will take most of the time on listening, understanding and writing skills, similar to the sample test we did. The 2nd day we will only need to come in at a designated time. There will be 2 parts. First, we have to give her a prepared oral 2 min presentation, 1 of 3 that we have prepared. She will pick a random number and we give the one corresponding to her number, and then she will ask us questions which we will answer. The 2nd part we will do in pairs. She will give us a random topic and we have to have a conversation together about the topic. There is nothing to prepare for that one.
We started a Fairytales section in our class this week. It has been interesting as we listened to several; Red Riding Hood, 12 Dancing Princesses, etc., and also worked on the endings of adjectives – they change to match the noun they describe. The whole week was more fun than usual.
On one of our free nights this week, mom started making space for another fridge and freezer in our hallway since Buxton's are going to give us their extra one when they go home. It will help us particularly with freezer space when we have a meal for the UV. She cleaned off shelves and got rid of or consolidated some things, we emptied the shelves in the hall way and got rid of the shelves themselves, and I went through all of the tools for a 2nd time trying to eliminate and consolidate the several tool boxes and containers that we inherited. It is hard to get rid of stuff even if it is not really ours! We also got rid of our very large TV and DVD player that we have never used in 7 months.
President O’Bryant asked us last week to be in charge of planning a senior missionary conference this coming summer. To get started on that, we went with Sister Buxton to the mission office at 9:30 on Wednesday to work out a date that we hope will fit everyone’s schedules. We identified 4 different dates that might work and also discussed some ideas for a cultural outing on the first day. Afterwards, I prepared a summary proposal for Pres O'Bryant and presented some cultural alternatives to get a sense of his budget and how far we could travel, such as Mons Klint on the southern tip of our Island or Egeskov Slot on Fyn, the island to the west of us. That would require a bridge toll that is not cheap.
We have settled on the 15th and 16th of August. It will be similar to the one we had last summer with an afternoon of visiting a castle or something, a group dinner, 3 hours of training on the 2nd day followed by a temple session. Our part is to figure out the activities, costs, arrange meals, etc. and the President and his wife will conduct the training.
For our Institute dinner on Thursday, 2 of our young ladies prepared the meal. They did not arrive at the center until 4:30 and needed lots of our help. Dinner was not ready until 6:30 as they underestimated the prep time for scalloped potatoes and trying to cook them in the oven along with Lasagna. There wasn't enough room to bake it all at once. It showed mom's skill at planning and getting a meal to come together all at once at the starting time. It is not easy to master that and these young people are learning some lessons we hope. Mom is amazing with her organization skills. They had 2 large pans of lasagna but it was not enough. Everyone got a piece but I am sure some of them wanted 2 or 3. There were some disappointed looks. We had some potatoes left over so I don’t think anyone was starving. They also made a nice cold broccoli salad and that ran out pretty early on.
Our lesson went well on the Power of the Word (scriptures). We had Shantay (American au pair) but not David Borcutti, plus two visiting German girls and a young married couple from Montenegro (part of the old Yugoslavia). The extra people made the lesson that much more interesting to teach. The couple have been members for 7 months. I heard they have a very interesting story about joining the church but we did not get a chance to hear it. They have come to find work in Denmark so hopefully they will be around and I can still get some details on their conversion. They should attend the young married class on Tuesday nights, but since that is in Danish, we will encourage them to come to our class until we get our hands slapped. We did not leave the center until after 10:00 and were exhausted from just the pressure of the evening and being on our feet most of the time. The cleanup in the kitchen was pretty messy. We had 33 youth (6 visitors) for the lesson and we fed about 25.
We are enjoying the added assignment of teaching institute each week even though our class is small and more limited in what we can do with them. Our study time to prepare the lessons together is also fun and we are more focused on the lesson doctrines as we discuss and decide how to teach the subject. I need to improve my lesson variety so this is a good experience for me. Team teaching does not come without some stresses however and I think the experience is good for us. We are growing through the challenges! I can see where the time we spent teaching the Strengthening Marriage Classes together in our stake has prepared us for some of the experiences we are having.
On Saturday, we met Sister Buxton and the Jensons at 11:00 and walked to a museum next to Rosenberg Slot. It was called "David's Collection" and was touted as an exhibit of Islamic art and artifacts (something to do – it did not sound particularly fun!) It turned out to be way more than we expected. It was 2, 4-story apartment buldings connected together on the inside that had all kinds of exhibits in protected lighted show cases. I am sure everything was worth millions of dollars. The first 2 floors like a living quarters and had paintings, ceramics from all over the world and furniture of the early 1900's. The top 2 floors had all of the artifacts from coins, door knockers, swords, knives, jewels on necklaces and head pieces, old Korans, pottery, etc. It was all pretty amazing that one man would collect all of this from the various Islamic empires dating back to Mohammed and coming forward. It is all a private collection that he turned into his own museum, supported by a foundation he set up. Admittance was free. We spent about 2 hours there. From my perspective, it was not a particularly fun thing to do but it was interesting. Something we can cross off the ‘bucket list’.
From there, we intended to take the bus to Paper Island to see what it was all about and to get some lunch and meet up with Elder Buxton who spent the morning in the office reconciling and coding credit card receipts. By the time we found a bus stop that would take us the right direction, our GPS said that we were only a 15 min walk away, so we decided to enjoy the sunshine and just walk. It was a pleasant, sun shiny day though the temperature was only in the 40's. The sunshine made it feel much warmer after the overcast, blustery days we have had. The Jenson's walk so slow that our walking is very leisurely. Paper Island turned out to be just a big warehouse on an island that has lots of fast food stands inside. The name probably comes from 2 trees that are covered with pieces of paper tied to them. We checked those out and they are wishes from visitors - "world peace and happiness to all", etc. It is on the canal next to the Opera House on a neighboring island. There was just one bridge on and off. The whole place was packed with people having the same idea as our own (get outside and enjoy the sun and blue sky) so that it was practically shoulder to shoulder mobs. It seemed everyone was grabbing some sunlight with a plate of food or just sitting in the sun and talking with friends - the Danish Hyggelige. It would have been a bit difficult finding a table to sit at for 6 people and the food lines were long at the places that looked the best. We would have stayed and made the best of it, but the others were a bit overwhelmed by the people I think, so we decided to catch a bus into the city center and find a quiet place to eat. We ended up at the Hereford Village again - 3 times in a row to eat there, but a first for the Jensons. We had a long lunch/early dinner and then walked home getting back to our apartment towards 6:00. Sister Jenson said we walked 5 miles and they looked tired. We needed to do some shopping and Sunday preparations after we got home.
I think that is all for this week. Love Dad.
Kære familie, March 12, 2017
I finished reading the Book of Mormon today—completing the 6-week challenge the Mission President gave the missionaries on February 1st. I remember the Book of Mormon challenge President Hinckley gave a few years ago—to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. The challenge was issued in August and was not difficult to meet. This one required a bit more concentrated effort, but I was surprised that it wasn’t difficult at all. Setting a goal and being consistent were the keys to success. It also meant choosing scripture study ahead of other things. I’m sure that it is much easier for me to find the 30-45 minutes each day to read scriptures, than it is for Haley or Kari who did similar readings of the Book of Mormon. I also have peace and quiet when I read, so it is not difficult to focus. It makes me appreciate all the more what you young mothers (and fathers) go through to have meaningful scripture study each day. But no matter the difficulty, the reward outweighs it. Here is a quote from President Ezra Taft Benson given to the Priesthood Leadership about the power of the word:
"You must also bend your efforts and your activities to stimulating meaningful scripture study among the members of the Church. Often, we spend great effort in trying to increase the activity levels in our stakes. We work diligently to raise the percentages of those attending sacrament meetings. We labor to get a higher percentage of our young men on missions. We strive to improve the numbers of those marrying in the temple. All of these are commendable efforts and important to the growth of the kingdom. But when individual members and families immerse themselves in the scriptures regularly and consistently, these other areas of activity will automatically come. Testimonies will increase. Commitment will be strengthened. Families will be fortified. Personal revelation will flow.”
Those are some important promises by a prophet of God. Would we deny ourselves the promise of increased testimony, fortified families, and personal revelation? Are these things worth whatever sacrifice we must make to read the scriptures? Just as it was ‘easy’ for Lehi and his family to heed the directions on the Liahona or for Moses and his people to look at the staff with the serpent, so it is with us. The scriptures are readily available—easy, if you will. We must read so we can receive direction and live.
We had a very busy day on Friday. Besides our usual activities of Danish lessons and the temple, we also were hosting a dinner for a group of YSA from Germany who came to spend a week-end doing temple work. The day began before 6 a.m. as I got up to bake cookies. I had learned upon talking to our food chairman on Thursday night that there were no plans for a dessert for our Friday night dinner, so I offered to do it. We didn’t return home until after 11 p.m. on Thursday night and I was too exhausted to begin baking then. I thought about purchasing something, but knew there wasn’t time to go to the store without sacrificing Danish lessons or the temple, so baking seemed the obvious solution. I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies and a double batch of snickerdoodles. I didn’t get them all baked before our language class so had three more sheets of cookies to bake in the 45 minutes we have between language class and the temple. But I did it. Before the temple, we dropped off all the supplies to the church—paper goods, cookies, games from our YSA center. The church is right next to the temple. The German YSA’s were staying in the temple housing on the 4th floor of the building. It was easier to host the activity there just because of the proximity to the temple.
The plan was for a 6:30 endowment session along with a baptismal session for those with limited use recommends. We were expecting 22 YSA’s from the Hamburg Stake. It is about a 4-hour drive to Copenhagen. Most arrived too late to attend the temple on Friday night because of travel complications, etc. They were able to participate on Saturday. We had seven of the German YSA and seven of our Danish YSA on the 6:30 session—not as full of a session as we were expecting. We had three of our Danish YSA doing baptisms that same hour, but no Germans. I think we would have had more of our YSA participating if it hadn’t been for the previous session, (4:30) where Rasmus Sveistrup received his own endowment. We had seven of our YSA come to support him. It is so wonderful to see Rasmus’ progress as he completes one year in the church. Some of the YSA who were on the earlier session, left to help prepare for the dinner after the last session. I attended both sessions, while dad officiated the first session and helped in baptistry the second session. We left the temple at close to 9:00. We walked to the church and did what we could do to help with dinner. Unfortunately, the curry chicken sauce for the ‘Hawaiian Haystacks’ was not done—due to lack of enough pots to cook both rice and chicken sauce. It is a very limited kitchen. We didn’t eat until 10—when most people were thoroughly starved. I wish we had a better ‘fare’ for our guests. There was plenty of rice and toppings, but we ran out of sauce for those who wanted seconds. Everyone had to pay 3 € or 20 kr for dinner. I think my cookies (especially the chocolate chip cookies) made the meal. Only then did I think they felt they got their money’s worth. We fed 48 people.
We had a good turn-out from our YSA’s; there were several who came to the activity/dinner who didn’t attend any temple sessions. Most visited and talked, but there were several groups of youth who played games. We were especially pleased to see one of our less-active young men attend. He stayed later than we did. Yes, we left before it was over—about 12:30 a.m. There was a German couple who accompanied their YSA’s—they helped us clean up after the dinner, but left about 11 to go to bed. Because I brought /paper goods, the only dishes we had to wash were the serving and cooking things. I don’t understand how Danes do dishes in a single small sink???? There was still a lot to do. Then we wiped off tables and put them away; vacuumed and tidied up. Dad is superman when it comes to clean-up. He does a $5 job (as opposed to a $.50 one), even though it was very late and we were exhausted from a busy day. Unfortunately, none of the YSA offered to help. By the time we were done, there was only about 15 YSA’s left. One larger group was playing Murder, and another group was playing an intensive board game. We told them we were leaving and to finish putting their chairs up for church—the cultural hall is just an extension of the chapel. One young woman looked at us and asked incredulously who was going to finish all the work—she was afraid she would get stuck doing it all by herself. I told her to make sure everyone helped before they went to bed—if everyone put up 5 chairs, it would be done. I didn’t mention that we had just spent nearly two hours cleaning up most of it …. I found out later that they stayed until 1:30, so I’m glad we left. We didn’t have the responsibility of locking up and they don’t need chaperones, so I felt it was okay to leave.
Our Monday night activity was about home canning. Our theme this month is physical and spiritual preparedness, but I think we will be focusing more on the physical side. One of the moms came to show us how to make jam, and pickle cucumbers and red onions. I had been given the assignment to shop for the activity—cucumbers, red onions, vinegar, and frozen raspberries were okay (although they didn’t say how much and I didn’t know what the activity was) but the other two items were a mystery to me—Atamon and Melatin. It turns out that the first ingredient is a preservative and the second one is like pectin. I learn something new every day. Dad was a trooper and made a run to the grocery store during the activity because I didn’t buy enough vinegar—I didn’t know that we needed it for pickling?!?!? We had waffles for a treat so we could try out the jam. Dad and I were asked at the last minute to share the spiritual message before our activity—on being prepared. Dad suggested we talk about our Hurricane Ike experience. We didn’t have a big turn-out of YSA’s but that was okay because we couldn’t have fit any more in the kitchen to do the canning. One of the young men told me later in the week, that he had made jam the next day, so it was a good experience if it made them want to try it on their own.
We met with the Gladsaxe 2 Ward YSA committee after church on Sunday. We have prepared some training that we are to give each ward as we visit them. Technically, we are supposed to meet with the ward committee on the same Sunday we talk in church (which will be next Sunday), but we knew that the committee has a regularly scheduled meeting on the 2nd Sunday of the month. So, we got permission to do our training then. Our focus was on rescue—find and fellowship young adults who are less active. We watched a training video on LDS.org and then I asked them to identify the process of rescuing that the YSA committee exemplifies. I really like engaging the group to find solutions. We saw the beginning fruits of our training as the meeting then turned to ‘identify, locate, and shepherd’ their lost sheep. Instead of just identifying, they made a ‘plan of action’. I appreciate the insights from the Bishopric counselor concerning one young woman who has a baptismal date. He suggested a plan to help her take the next steps towards baptism. One plan included us attending a missionary discussion with her. So, after the meeting, I saw the missionaries and we set up a visit for this Tuesday. The young woman, Savannah, has attended a few YSA activities, but she has some emotional and anxiety problems in big groups, so we haven’t seen her much and she is ‘hit and miss’ at church. We hope she will continue on her path towards baptism. The gospel can help people in so many ways. The counselor has seen changes already in her over the many months she has been investigating.
Hope you all have a wonderful Spring Break and that you can have some good weather. You will see by our pictures, we are still wearing coats. We still had freezing temperatures at night for a few days, but this week looks better. It may even get up to 50˚. We love you and pray for you.
Kærlig hilsen, Mom
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