Burning a fire and witch to ward off the evil forces at work on the eve of John the Baptist's birth
With the Halls
Swans outside of our apartment
Kære familie, 25 June 2017
On Friday night, we celebrated Sankt Hans Aften (St. John’s
Eve). John the Baptist was born 6 months
before Christ, which would make his birthday June 24th. June
23rd coincides (almost) with the summer solstice so this is often
called Midsummer Fest. It is a night of partying and drinking and a
big bonfire. There were parties all
over in Denmark, but we were grateful that we were invited (along with all the
YSA) to the Østergaard’s
home to celebrate. The environment was
much better. They live in the country on
large acreage. It was the same place we
did our service a few weeks ago. It was
a ‘bring-your-own-meat’ dinner, but I also brought a pasta salad and a chocolate
cake to add to the ‘sides.’ The Halls
were in town last weekend and staying with us, so we they came as well. About
9:00 we headed to the area by the bonfire—you can see by the pictures how big
it was. The Østergaards said that it takes
them all year to accumulate the junk that they burn in the fire. There is a witch placed on top of the
fire. The one we had was made of
balloons. When the heat from the fire
got to her, the balloons popped. The
idea is that there are evil forces at work on the eve before John the Baptist’s
birth and the fires helped to ward off those evil forces. But since the 20th century, they
actually burn a witch which helps to send her on her way to Brocken where there
is a great meeting of witches. Several
of the men doused the wood pile with gasoline and diesel. After singing some songs, the fire was
lit—but they waited too long and the gas had evaporated. It took several tries, before they finally
got the fire going. I would imagine that
it took all night to burn. It had rained earlier so the ground was damp but
they never worry about the fire spreading.
We left about 10:00 after watching the witch burn. It took us about 45 minutes to get back to
the city. The other missionary couples
went to a celebration in their branch.
Then they went to the beach and saw all the groups gathered along the beach
with their own bonfires. It is amazing
to think that no one gets hurt. When we
got home, we took the Halls up to the top floor of our apartment, which is just
a large patio area, where we looked for some bonfires. No luck, but we did see several big trucks
coming down the street full of ‘high school’ graduates. They make lots of noise, playing loud music
and honking, and, of course, drinking.
It seems that from
Thursday through the weekend, we go non-stop on most weeks. On Thursday, we went to the temple twice. We did a session at 11:00 with a group of
missionaries. This is our regular 6-week
event for those missionaries who have been in Denmark for 30-days and for the
missionaries who will be going home in 2 months. The first group gets training for 2 days and
stays at the mission president’s home.
The second group just comes for training on Thursday, and do My Plan, the self-reliance training for
what comes after the mission. Both
groups go to the temple. The senior
missionaries join them because they need couples for the prayer circle. Now that the Buxtons have gone home, Dad and
I lead this session. In the past, the
missionaries had training in the morning, we ate lunch at noon, and went on a
1:00 session. But with the new films,
the temple sessions are longer and this creates a time problem for the temple,
running into their preparation meeting time.
So, there was some training before the temple, a temple session, then
lunch, and then more training. We got
home at about 2:30 and Halls were already at our apartment. There was just enough time to visit with
them, finish making my chicken salad for dinner later, and take a nap
(Dad). We headed back to the temple at
4:30 where we met some of our young adults. The purpose of the Halls’ visit (the elders from Bornholm also came) was
to take Anya Johansen to the temple for the first time since her baptism. When
our YSA’s learned about this trip, we cancelled our institute lesson and
decided to have a temple night so we could support her. Several YSA did the 5 p.m. session which was
led by our institute director. Others
joined in the baptism session with Anya.
We went to the baptistry as well.
Anya did baptisms for her own
family. The missionaries did some as
well for Lena Jorgensen—the 70+-year-old convert of one year from Bornholm who
recently received her endowments. All
our YSA who participated also did family names. That means that they are doing Family
History, or someone else in the family is doing it. Midway
through the session, I was asked to help with initiatory for a patron who had
come too late to get on the 5:00 session. The temple seems to always be short-handed, so I was happy to help.
After the temple, we walked over to the church where another
group of YSA had gathered—those who couldn’t or didn’t want to attend the
temple. There were about 7-8 more
YSA. They were playing games. Those who attended the temple also came
over. It was obvious that everyone was
disappointed that there was no food.
They were all starving. I felt
bad, but we had never talked about having food that night. The YSA’s, however, quickly organized
food. They all chipped in and ordered
pizza. We left Anya there to mingle with
the other and the adults went back to our apartment for chicken salad. It was good for Anya to be there with them. We picked her up later as she spent the night
with us. She flew out the next morning
for a vacation to Croatia.
We were back in the temple on Friday. We didn’t have language class Friday
morning—there was a picnic for the whole language school instead. We were going to leave our shift early to attend
the Sankt Hans celebration, so we thought we would go in early. We were needed. They put us to work doing sealings the first
session—at first, we could only do couple sealings because I was the only
sister and there were only 3 brethren.
Then the coordinators joined us after they had finished their duties, so
we could do children sealings. It was a
very pleasant hour and a half until it was time for the brethren to go to the
veil. We led the next session and I was
able to do a few initiatory in between. There
were several German patrons on our session, but the session was still in
Danish. I was glad that the next
session was going to be in German, as those same patrons did back-to-back
sessions. I was checking names before I
sent the patrons upstairs to the telestial room for that session. One of the patrons who came was Sister Meilsøe—a
Danish sister who is the grandmother of one of our young adults. She is a very faithful sister who attends the
temple twice a week. I asked her if she
needed headphones to understand the session.
She smiled and said that she didn’t.
I was impressed that she could understand German and said so, but she
just winked at me and said, “In the temple, I have the gift of tongues,” and
I’m sure she did.
I treated myself to a long walk last Monday. We go on long walks all the time, but this
was my morning exercise. I often walk
around two of the lakes by our apartment.
Sometimes I do three lakes, but that usually takes longer than 30
minutes. Dad runs around the three lakes
all the time. But I have never done four
lakes (there are five total). So, on
Monday I walked for 45 minutes and enjoyed our summer weather (which is really
more like spring weather). I listened to
the Worldwide Devotional from January 2016 with President Russell M. and Wendy
Nelson. It is worth a second look, if
you have the time. One of President
Nelson’s points is: “Expect and prepare to accomplish the impossible. God has always asked His covenant children to
do difficult things. Because you are covenant-keeping sons and daughters of
God, living in the latter part of these latter days, the Lord will ask you to
do difficult things. You can count on it—Abrahamic tests did not stop with
Abraham.” He went on to tell about his
assignment to open the countries of eastern Europe for the preaching of the
gospel in 1985—a seemingly impossible task.
But in 1992 he reported to the 1st Presidency that it had
been accomplished. “But the Lord is able
to do His own work, and I was privileged to watch the unfolding of one miracle
after another—always, and only, after I had brought my best thinking, my most
courageous efforts, and my most fervent prayers to the task.” That is a great model for us to follow. The
rest of the talk is excellent.
Sister Nelson also shared some insights. She described the man at the pool of
Bethesda, the woman with an issue of blood for 12 years, and the disciples who
were in the boat during the raging tempest.
She asked what all these people had in common? They were desperate: “Desperate for the
Savior to heal them, help them, cleanse them, guide them, protect them, and
save them! They were desperate for Jesus Christ to help them do things they
could never do on their own. They were desperate to have the Savior’s strength
and power in their lives.” She then said
that “desperation can be a great motivator.”
“When we’re desperate to become the people we were born to be, our
vision changes. We wake up from the spiritual amnesia the adversary so cleverly
administers, and suddenly we see things about ourselves, others, and our lives
we’ve never seen before.”
So, I’ll close with those thoughts. They have been on my mind this week as I
thought about my mission, as I thought about our family, and as I thought about
eternity. We ended our week by having a
YSA fireside Sunday night. The O’Bryants spoke on the Divine Nature of
God. It was excellent and I understood
every word—ha! ha! I made lasagna,
salad, garlic bread, and strawberry shortcake.
We only had 17 YSA’s, but with the O’Bryants and us, we still fed
20.
Hope you all have a great week.
Med kærlighed,
Mom
Kære Familie Sunday, June
25, 2017
For
our Priesthood lesson today, we talked about Joy, from President Nelson’s talk
in the October Conference. I don’t know
why they are still drawing lessons from the October Conference instead of April,
but I guess they just follow a different schedule. I was impressed with this quote as it seems
to apply to some of the experiences we have been having.
Eliza R. Snow, second
General President of the Relief Society, offered a riveting answer [What must
we do to claim Joy in our lives?]. Because of Missouri’s infamous extermination
order, issued at the onset of the grueling winter of 1838, she and other Saints were forced to
flee the state that very winter. One evening, Eliza’s family spent the night in
a small log cabin used by refugee Saints. Much of the chinking between the logs
had been extracted and burned for firewood by those who preceded them, so there
were holes between the logs large enough for a cat to crawl through. It was
bitter cold, and their food was frozen solid.
That night some 80-people
huddled inside that small cabin, only 20 feet square (6.1 meters square). Most
sat or stood all night trying to keep warm. Outside, a group of men spent the
night gathered around a roaring fire, with some singing hymns and others
roasting frozen potatoes. Eliza recorded: “Not a complaint was heard—all were
cheerful, and judging from appearances, strangers would have taken us to be
pleasure excursionists rather than a band of gubernatorial exiles.”
Eliza’s report of that
exhausting, bone-chilling evening was strikingly optimistic. She declared:
“That was a very merry night. None but saints can be happy under every circumstance.” That’s it! Saints can be happy
under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad
week, or even a bad year!
My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the
circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.
For
me the key point was the ‘focus of our lives’. When it is centered on the
Savior and His Gospel and we understand the purpose of life and are anxiously
pursuing it to the best of our ability, then we will find Joy in our daily
living. I can’t imagine the physical
hardships that these early saints experienced, but they were happy in the very
act of surviving. Our trials seem so
much less, so it gives me encouragement and hope that I can live each day
finding pleasure in the moments and experiencing true Joy.
FHE
was interesting this week. We made facial creams out of coconut oil, sugar and
grapefruit and then washed our hands in sugar and lemon juice. It was planned
by some girls obviously. It seemed kind of pointless but it was a good activity
to sit around and visit.
We
had a Knudsen dinner tonight (member who cooks once a month for the senior
missionaries) and had a new missionary temple couple there. They arrived on Sunday and are the McBride's
from Mesa, AZ. They will only be here 6
months so they have paid their own way over.
He has his own CPA practice in taxes and financial planning. His son-in-law works with him and he has left
the practice with him until he returns just before Christmas for the busy
season. They appear to be younger, he
was here on a mission in 1976 - 1978, so maybe 3 years younger than I am. We had a very pleasant time over dinner and
the food was exceptional as always.
Since
our test, the attendance at our sprog class has fallen way off. We have had 5-6 this past week. Today, we were the only two when we arrived
and then Li and Ovideo joined a little late.
The class is certainly different with just a few students. Ovideo also announced that this was his last
day as he has started a new job. From
our original class members, I think it is just ourselves and Joanna who are
left and still attending. A new class
will be started after the July summer break and our numbers should be up again.
They seem to combine classes as students move up the levels.
We
were asked to replace a mailbox lock for a sister’s apt this week. Someone lost the keys to it. A locksmith would cost 1,000 kr and I am free
with a new lock for 300 kr. We went
there about 6:00 on Wednesday to see if I could remove the old lock. It proved to be rather difficult but after 30
minutes I was able to twist the old lock out with only a few scratches to the
box and some dents; those, I more or less straightened out again. The new lock went in easily. We were able to leave at 6:50 to get to our
stake DVI meeting at 7:00.
The
meeting was a little unorganized without an agenda and tended to wander and
stretch out a bit. They usually do
better than this but Gismo was not there and I think she drives the
organization side of the YSA leadership. Nonetheless, we had good discussions
and made decisions on the budget, an August institute kickoff event for our
fireside, using a Sunday fireside for each of the 3 Worldwide Devotionals and
discussing opportunities around the showing of the The Book of Mormon
Broadway Show coming up in January. I am
very impressed with President Olsen. He
always has good ideas and often surprises everyone with a different way to look
at things. He would like the YSA to be
on the street as the shows end to hand out special pass-along cards for BofM's,
etc. Jens also had the idea of putting on
a fireside for the cast of the performance so that they could meet real Mormons
in their community. We think Tomas Kofod could help us organize this with his
contacts at the theater. (Tomas was
asked to be in the performance but he turned down the part as he didn’t want to
be associated with the production.) The Public Affairs Committee, the Mission
and the YSA will need to come together with some plans around the event so the
Church’s response to the musical is organized and comprehensive.
Saturday
was another busy, unusual for us. It
started at 8:15 as we left to help our friend Maria move. She is a nonmember who has attended a few
events and has been living with 2 of our YSA girls. She basically said she needed me to drive a
rental truck for her. It turned out to
be a stick shift and had some mechanical problems so the shifting between 1st
and 2nd was rough. The engine
light came on halfway through the day but we just pushed on with it. We thought it should be quick as she as a 1
room apartment so we were hoping to be home at 11:00. We made it home by 5:00 after a very long day
of hard work.
As
we were driving home from this adventure, the Johnsons called and invited us to
dinner for a tuna casserole. That was
very nice of them after our long day and we enjoyed a nice meal together. Mom then came home and began baking for
Sunday’s fireside dinner.
Happy
birthday to Gavin today and again to the other birthday’s this month and Matt
and Haley’s anniversary. June
is a busy calendar month for the family.
I don’t think we have any special plans for my birthday. We have Summer Institute starting that night
and will be teaching our small class, likely just 2 students if they both
come. Our topic is going to be the
Finance Self-Reliance Course. That will
be interesting as it is not supposed to be taught as a lesson but rather as a
“council” discussing the topic together and working with an action partner of
the same sex. We don’t have that
situation so will improvise as we go along.
We
are glad everyone got home from vacation without any incidents – at least we
have not heard about any yet. I wish you a fun summer with lots of excitement,
fun at the water park and adventures in your other activities. We will, of course, miss spending time with
all of you.
Love,
Dad.
No comments:
Post a Comment