Hercules
Grave in the courtyard
Thorvaldsen with one of his own statues
The Christus and apostles hall
A Polish general
Kaere Familie Sunday,
April 2, 2017
The fun thing we did this
week for P-day was to see Beauty and the Beast.
We had our choice of Danish voice over, 3D, 2D or just English. We opted for just the 2D English. Tickets were about $15 a piece. The Buxton’s
and Jensen’s went with us. I thought it was a good movie and we enjoyed the
chance to have an entertaining night. I don’t get the controversy that has circulated
around a couple of scenes in the movie and I think it has been way overblown. I wouldn’t have noticed them at all if others
were not talking about them. And to my
untrained ear, Emma Watson did a very credible job with her songs and her
acting was way cute.
FHE this week was our
Facebook Finding activity that we have been planning with the
missionaries. 8 of them showed up. I did not think they were very well prepared
as they needed our computer at the last minute to show their PowerPoint
introduction lesson (but then they don't have a laptop or I-pad, so I don't
know what I was expecting) and they stepped on each other a bit as they walked
through the PowerPoint slides. Other than those minor things, the activity
seemed to go well. They broke up into 4
groups after the introduction and it seemed like just about everybody sent at
least one message off to a friend or family member. Some were less active and others were
non-members. The missionaries seemed
pleased with the response as well. We
started off with just a few over 10 people there but we quickly grew to 25, but
that included a boyfriend and 2 of his friends from Norway. We had 3 young ladies come from Roskilde and
Slagelse who we don't normally see. The
missionaries took about 45 minutes which left time for a game of Charades of
famous people in 3 rounds that one of the committee members prepared. It went really well so I think the whole
night was a success.
For
our English Institute lesson, we had 5 students: Shantay, David, Nicholai (Danish), Heidi
Andersen (Danish) and her friend, William from Ghana. William is either a non-member or has been less
active for many months. I thought the
lesson went much better than last week.
It was on faith and testimony-- factors that weaken them, the
consequences of turning away from the church and what we can do to keep growing
as we are faithful. I thought the
discussion was especially good for David.
We showed an Oct 2014 conference talk by Elder Larry S. Kacher that
talks about the danger of riptides and compares them to dangerous currents in
our life that can pull us away from the church.
He also discusses the generational impact this might have. You can refer to the talk or recall that
Elder Kacher and his wife were almost drowned in the Indian Ocean when they
tried to swim to a sand bar but got caught up in a riptide that was pulling
them out to sea. He feels like they were
able to get back to shore only through divine intervention. He concludes with this thought:
Are the currents we choose to follow important? Do our choices matter? Do they
affect only us? Have we set our course firmly in the eternal current of the restored
gospel? From time to time I have an image that haunts me. What if that September day,
while relaxing on the beach of the Indian Ocean, I had said to my daughter Nellie,
“Yes, go ahead. Swim out to the sandbar.” Or if she too had followed my example
and had been unable to swim back? What if I had to live life knowing that my
example resulted in her being pulled by a riptide out to sea, never to return?
[As a sidebar, I note here
the excellent talk by Sister Joy Jones of the Primary Presidency in this
conference. I thought she hit it out of
the park on raising our children centered in the gospel. As she talked, I imagined each of you making
a To Do List to hang on the refrigerator door of good practices to ensure are
taking place on a regular basis in your homes.]
I also used this quote by
President Eyring:
“Just as truth is given to us line upon line and the light brightens slowly as we obey, even so, as we disobey, our testimony of truth lessens almost imperceptibly, little by little, and darkness descends so slowly that the proud may easily deny that anything is changing.
“I have heard the boast of a man who walked away from the Church slowly. At first, he just stopped teaching his Sunday School class, then he stayed away from Church, and then he forgot to pay tithing now and then. … He could not sense the difference, but I could. The light in his eyes and even the shine in his countenance was dimming. He could not tell, since one of the effects of disobeying God seems to be the creation of just enough spiritual anesthetic to block any sensation as the ties to God are being cut. Not only did the testimony of the truth slowly erode, but even the memories of what it was like to be in the light began to seem to him like a delusion”.
We had 45 total at institute
and we fed 31. Both are record
attendance numbers for us. The Center is
getting very crowded with those #'s but it is fun to see who comes out every
week. We had some new faces and were
missing some regulars. We are very happy
that 3 young ladies are starting to make some regular appearances. One of those is the 17-18 yr. old daughter of
our High Councilor and he has been very worried about her. On the other hand, we have not seen Eline
Holm for a while and Jonas Larsen is still staying away. Since these last two are new converts, we are
especially concerned for them. I am
going to invite Jonas to come help us prepare dinner and see if he will
respond. We are finding that we can have
some good discussions in the kitchen as we prepare or clean up dishes. Some of the youth will just wander in to
start up a conversation with us. They either like to practice English or they
don’t mind that we are almost as old as their grandparents.
We did not have our language class
on Friday as it was a teacher preparation day.
Instead, I went with Elder Buxton to pick up a new mission van from the
Ford dealer. That took a couple of
hours. It has been on order since November and is bigger than any non-commercial
vehicle on the streets of Copenhagen. It
is a 9 seater with removeable middle and back rows, so they can transport
furniture or lots of suitcases. The old one has been trashed by the
missionaries who drive it and don’t take care of it.
The temple was good on Friday
as well. I did an endowment session,
then Initiatories and then sealings.
Sister Buxton had a number of family names to be sealed so they came
with the Jensen’s. Afterwards, we went
back to Buxton’s and had banana splits.
We then talked for quite a while around the kitchen table so we did not
go home until about 10:45. That was too long for both of us to chit chat with
friends and I tend to get sleepy as we just sit. I need a game or something to be playing as
we talk.
Conference was great and I am
looking forward to studying the talks some more. We are going to take 3 of them touching on
the Holy Ghost and teach them in our Institute lesson this week. I have also invited the youth to come with
their thoughts around one of their favorite talks. The three we are going to cover are Rasband,
Stevens, and Oaks. I think conference
emphasized the role of the Holy Ghost in our lives and how much we need his
spiritual guidance each day. Hence, we
need to learn to listen, recognize and to act on spiritual promptings – at the
first prompting as Elder Rasband taught. We loved talking to all of you this
week. I hope your week will be
terrific. Look for happiness and enjoy
the journey!
Love, Dad.
Kære Familie, 2
April 2017
Happy Birthday to Matt!
I can’t think of a better way to spend a birthday than watching
conference with the family—no stress, no worry, no obligations—just relax and
soak in The Word (that is if your children let you….).
Conference has been different this time than last time. We learned on Wednesday night that the YSA
wanted to watch the Saturday sessions at the YSA center. Would we be available to be there and plan a
dinner? Of course, is the answer. I decided to do something simple—sloppy joes,
frozen potato wedges, veggie tray and fruit.
I made Rice Krispie treats for dessert.
There were 8 YSA’s who came at 6:00 to watch Saturday morning
session. We ate right after, about
8:00. Some went home and didn’t stay for
the last session, but 5 of them stayed until midnight when the Saturday
afternoon session was over. It was a
late night, but I enjoyed conference so much.
The Priesthood session, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday
morning sessions were shown at the church on Sunday. Last fall, we went to the church to watch it,
but found that the other senior couples just watched it at home on the
internet. So, we watched the Priesthood
session at home and then went to the church for the missionary dinner which was
held between sessions at 4:00. I made a
big pot of chili and a large green salad for this dinner. We had a choice of eating dinner with the
missionaries—which was planned first—or joining the YSA’s for dinner before the
Sunday morning session. A couple of the
YSA girls planned that dinner so I wasn’t involved in it. They met at a member’s home to eat and watch
conference. We stayed with the
missionaries, as I felt responsible for helping. I didn’t want to just drop my food off and
run. After we helped clean up, we left
to join our YSA’s for conference. We had
16 YSA’s for this session. I didn’t
expect a huge turn-out for this event.
Many of our youth go home to watch conference with families—but for
those who can’t go home, or don’t have family here in Denmark, it is nice that
they have someplace to gather with friends.
We will watch the last session on Monday.
One message from conference really resonated with me during
the Saturday afternoon session. It was
the talk about language-loss, by Elder Cordón. The language of the gospel can be lost if we
don’t teach it to our children. It is
not enough to speak it in the home; we must actively teach it or the next
generation will not know the gospel. I’m
sure the parents who heard the words of King Benjamin were great examples of
the gospel and remained faithful. These
were the people who had a mighty change of heart and had ‘’no more disposition
to do evil, but to do continually.” But the younger generation did not understand
the words of King Benjamin, as they were just children when he gave his address. Somehow there was a language-loss. Now many of their parents probably did a
great job of teaching the gospel—like Alma and Mosiah—and their children were
still among the unbelievers. (A talk on
agency is for another time.) But the
lesson I heard from Elder Cordón is that parents have a solemn
responsibility to teach their children the language of the gospel. He referenced The Living Christ
and I couldn’t help but think how inspired Haley and her presidency were to
have the Primary children memorize this declaration from our church
leaders. This is the language of the
gospel that can help them have a strong foundation of Christ and His mission.
Dad wanted to do something ‘fun’ on Saturday before we made
dinner for the YSA and watched conference, so we decided it would be a good
time to go to the Bertel Thorvaldsen museum.
It is very close to the institute center (5-minute walk), so we dropped
off the food at the center and headed to the museum. I am always in awe of these artists and their
talent. He came from humble
beginnings—his father worked as a wood carver at a ship yard where he made
decorative carvings for large ships.
Thorvaldsen studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art when he was
11-years old. This was not necessarily
because he showed potential as a great sculptor, but because it is where a
person went to apprentice for jobs such as wood-carver. Thorvaldsen showed great promise as a
sculptor, earning many prizes and awards when he was there. One such award gave him a stipend to finish
his studies in Rome, Italy. He left and
didn’t return to Denmark for 40 years. Just as his stipend was running out
which would mean his return to Copenhagen, he got a huge commission for his
statue of Jason (Greek mythological hero—Golden Fleece). After that, his success was assured. When he came back to Copenhagen for a brief
visit, he was commissioned to sculpt the Christus and 12 Apostles for the
rebuilding of Vor Frue Kirke, which had been destroyed in 1807 by the British
Bombardment of Copenhagen. He returned
to Rome and his studio to do these sculptures.
It took nearly 20 years to complete and when he returned with them, the
city greeted him as a hero, but I think Rome felt robbed. These, of course, are the same statues
(replicas) that the church now has in the Rome Temple visitor’s center. Thorvaldsen donated all his works to
Copenhagen if they would build a museum to house them. He never saw the museum to completion, having
died four years before it was opened. He
is buried in the courtyard of the museum.
I am loving spring in Denmark. Saturday was a gorgeous day—it makes up for
the other days that are not so perfect. The
sun was out and the temperature was approaching 60˚. You didn’t need a coat. For this reason, we opted to walk to the
center and as well as the museum. Many
people were also out enjoying the sunshine and seeing the city. By walking to the center, we were also
committed to walking home from the center after midnight. The city was still alive with activity and
people, although the people seemed a bit more boisterous, perhaps due to a bit
too much to drink. I was surprised that
restaurants were open and busy. The
tables outside the restaurants were full, even though it was cooler. I didn’t particularly enjoy walking through
the fray and we got off the busy street as soon as possible.
I received a request from one of our YSA to make lasagna for
our institute dinner this week. The request came for our engaged couple who
will be wed this coming Saturday. It was
their last night at institute as a YSA. I made 3 large pans of lasagna and fed over 30 people. They just keep on coming. Our lesson covered an important principle
about faith and testimony. I know you
have been filled with many wonderful doctrinal thoughts this weekend, but here
is one quote from Elder L. Whitney Clayton about faith in Christ: “Prophets
across the ages have encouraged us and even implored us to believe in Christ. …
The decision to believe is the most important choice we ever make. It shapes
all our other decisions. … Belief
and testimony and faith are not passive principles. They do not just happen to
us. Belief is something we choose—we hope for it, we work for it, and we
sacrifice for it. We will not accidentally come to believe in the Savior and
His gospel any more than we will accidentally pray or pay tithing. We actively
choose to believe, just like we choose to keep other commandments.”
Faith and testimony is something we have to work, sacrifice and hope for. It takes action. I think listening to conference and really
digesting the messages is actively working on strengthening our
testimonies. Then when we act on what we
learn— recognize and make changes in our lives—we are progressing.
I loved the music of conference. The first time I listened to the Women’s
Meeting, I just listened to the talks. I
realize that you really miss something if you don’t hear the music. The music brings a spirit like nothing else
can. It teaches a sermon all by
itself. I was impressed with the
organ-playing as well.
On a completely temporal and selfish note—I like conference
because I can sit and do handiwork as I listen.
It is one of my greatest delights, even when I have to unravel a whole
hour’s work because I didn’t follow directions.
That in itself is a good learning experience.
Have a great week. We
love you all so much. Thanks for the
Face Time visits last week.
Kærlig hilsen,
Mom
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