Here are pictures of our pumpkins from last Monday and the Plan of Salvation drawing that the girls used for our Culture Night.
Kære Familie Sunday, November 5, 2017
The activity for FHE this week was pumpkin carving. We had 10 large pumpkins which we brought with us in the car and there were 7 people as we started but it grew up to around 15. Hannah was in charge of the activity, but she did not show up. Gismo was conducting and after the spiritual thought, turned it over to us for to direct the activity. That was a total surprise to us. She knew that Hannah was not coming as she got a call that she would not make it. That was a bit awkward for a few minutes. It did not go as well as a year ago when they had some introductions, prizes and other things to get it off and running. This year there was nothing and the participants did not seem as interested. They worked mostly in teams of two and about 3 pumpkins showed a lot of work and creativity. The others were not so much. We had hot chocolate and æble skiver for dessert and they were a big hit.
This was a week of woes and expense with my computer devices. It started with my laptop. Tuesday, I went to the office to make 20 copies of the My Plan lessons. I was able to use a printer cable between my laptop to the office copier to print the Pdf manual in color. That made it a lot easier than having to photo copy the manual from the original I had which was on large 15 x 17 paper. Unfortunately, a very bad thing happened on the stairs as I was leaving the office. I had my satchel over one shoulder with my laptop – unzipped – and the stack of copies in my other hand. I passed a lady on the staircase with a box and in moving past each other, the satchel turned upside down and the laptop spilled on the floor with a loud bang. My heart froze. I was afraid I had cracked the glass, but it seemed to be ok. In fact, I could not see any cracks or dents. The relief was short-lived however because when I turned it on at home, it would not boot up. At the same time, my iPad has been acting up again and at times is unusable because the keys go crazy or it jumps between web pages. It is very inconvenient to lose both at once.
Between Wednesday and Saturday, I spent a lot of time in spare minutes trying to recover files and set up programs and Apps again on the laptop. Windows 10 was in Danish and I couldn’t figure out how to change it to English. Most of my files were backed up in the Cloud or on a Backup Service we subscribe to, but I found it is not easy to recover them again. I am still working on some things. I got the iPad back on Saturday and life is sweet again. I have learned however, the importance of backing up files you want to have around and of how dependent we have become on electronics.
Thursday, I got a good taste of the Danish Healthcare system. We had a zone conference with Elder Gary Sabin and his wife. He is a counselor in our Area Presidency. At lunch, President asked us (or forewarned us) that Elder Birch was still in a lot of pain and he could use us if we were available to be with Elder Birch in the hospital. His pain was obvious on his face as he sat gallantly through the conference. Just before 3:00, Sister O'Bryant called the emergency room and they said he needed to come right away if he wanted an appointment today. With an appointment, the emergency rooms here take you in pretty quickly. Otherwise, you sit with whoever else drops in and it might take a lot longer. So, I left with him immediately while Jean stayed behind to the end of the conference. We were both planning on being with Christopher Lindberg as he went to the temple for the first time. We saw them at lunch time as he was purchasing garments upstairs and assured him we would see him at 4:00. He has his mission call to Norway. Since I had the car, Jean decided it was too hard to ask anyone to ferry her around, so she caught a ride home with the Halls and missed the temple session as well.
Elder Birch has had appendix type pain for 12 days. Monday, he went to a hospital and they did a blood test, said that the tests were negative and sent him home to rest. He did that until Thursday, staying in from all work. Thursday the pain was still acute so Sister O'Bryant took further action.
They sent us to a different hospital. This one seemed more sympathetic to find the cause of his pain. And by the way, as of Sunday night, Elder Birch is still in pain with not much difference in how he feels.
We had Stake Conference this week. The adult session of conference started with some convert testimonies. Our Anja Johansen, from Bornholm, was one of the speakers. She said she was nervous, but it did not show. She exudes confidence in these first of a kind experiences for her. She did a really nice job sharing her conversion story, which is touching how she was prepared for the gospel and the Halls befriended her at just the right time. In his talk, President Bernskov encouraged us to make our daily scripture reading something more than just reading. It is important to use the time to make the scriptures mean something to us each time we read: they should answer a question that is on our mind, lift our spirits, bring us closer to the Holy Ghost, prepare us for the day by starting out with a closeness to Jesus Christ and his gospel, or prepare us to serve someone during the day. If we will do these things, then we will find the blessings promised to us. Rushing through the scriptures just to accomplish a goal will not bring these same blessings. I found this to be terrific counsel. The highlight of Sunday’s session, was that Josephine Kjeldsen spoke on how she has prepared for her mission. She leaves Wednesday morning for the Alpine Mission in Switzerland. I suspect she will have an adjustment period and will grow a lot at first, but she should do fine. I think this is something that she decided she had to do and I am proud of her for that. Both she and Chris have matured in the year we have known them. Christopher Lindberg leaves on his mission in February so she returns about 9 months ahead of him. They are pretty thick as boyfriend and girlfriend and it is sort of neat that they planned their missions at the same time. There was an open house Sunday night for her and 7 of her closest friends sang a song for her, Day by Day. (Mom will talk about this more.) They did a great job and they were all in tears at the end. The girls were: Gismo Borup, Hannah Østergaard, Emma Østergaard, Emma Petersen, Riza Sørensen, Thrine Stokholm and Lea Meilsøe. Riza and Emma P seemed to be taking the parting the hardest and I thought the others were closer to her, but they are younger and haven’t served missions. I would love to see them go as well and perhaps that will happen with the encouraging words they heard today. Several months ago, I would have said they were distant from the church and moving towards inactivity along with Thrine, but these last months have seen a change in them and I have high hopes for all 3 of them. They have become regular attenders and are now participating in the committees and are nicely involved in the activities, such as preparing for Golden Days. In the same way, Chris and Josephine have matured a lot since we have known them. It is very nice to see that the YSA is making some difference in some lives.
Love, Dad.
Kære familie, 6 November 2017
Did you know that you can pull up a keyboard on your phone? Of course you did, because all things are possible on the internet. But I was surprised and used it for the first time when we needed to practice with the 7 YSA girls who sang a song to the departing missionary at her farewell open house last night. The practice had to be in secret so that Josephine Kjeldsen, the soon-to-be missionary, would be surprised when they sang it to her. So, all of us crammed into a tiny room at the back of the house; I was handed the ‘piano’ so I could play parts; and they practiced the song. It was a simple hymn-like song but not one with which they were familiar. We had heard it for the first time at Festinord this summer. It was interesting, to say the least. I realized how fat my thumbs are. I played first the alto alone and then the soprano and then both voices together—with 2 thumbs. Most of these girls don’t read music, but have a very good ear and pick up the harmony fairly quickly. One girl even added a harmony above the soprano on the last verse. I played the piano for the ‘real’ performance and there was a huge group hug with lots of tears afterwards. With training, the girls could all be very good singers. I learned that music is not taught in the folkeskole (grades kindergarten-9th) except for a community singing class that few take seriously—probably like grade school music in the states. There are no choir classes or band or orchestra classes. If someone learns to play an instrument or studies voice, it is only through private studies. If you do have an interest in music and want to make that a career, then that would be your focus in gymnasium and college. But there is no music requirement for students.
My week has been full of music and practicing. I have learned that the time for preparation has past—my talents are needed now, fully developed, and I’m afraid I continually come up short. I think my oil lamp is only half-full and I regret not doing more with my piano—more theory. I am quickly becoming more and more a believer of the Suzuki method for ear-training, but maybe that is just a gift. I saw a man accompany two songs yesterday for our pre-conference concert where all he had for music was the simple hymn version. His music and interludes were anything but simple—so much more than what was written on the page in front of him. It was beautiful, and I watched in awe. My music was written on pages in front of me. I ended up playing only 7 songs (one was a medley of ‘Families Can Be Together Forever,’ and ‘I Love to See the Temple’). I practiced at least 2 hours every day and more on Saturday. I spent most of the time on the five most difficult songs and when you divide that over a 2-hour practice, that is not much time per song. Each day one song got more attention as I went over and over on each section. The practice time doesn’t include the travel time as I needed to go to a church or to the center to practice. It was a huge time-commitment last week. I am glad it is over. I went to bed singing the hymns in my mind and woke up the same. Even now, I am still singing the songs in my head. For me, that is actually a great blessing. It is nice to have my thoughts occupied with music. We sang 5 of the songs in the pre-conference concert, and two songs for conference. There were three other small group musical numbers in the concert which were so nice. A lot of people came early to get seats in the chapel, so we had a good-sized audience for the ‘concert’ which was supposed to be performed between 10:15 and 10:45, but we didn’t finish until 10:55. The organist only had to play 5 minutes of prelude, but everyone was already quiet and reverent, so it made a great start to the meeting. The music was nice, but the choir, the chorister and myself could have used at least one more practice to make it solid. We practiced this morning at 8:30 and were still going over parts for one song.
Our conference on Saturday and Sunday was mostly about conversion. Several people were asked to share their conversion stories. Each year the stake collects stories from members (new and old) and publishes a book. The third book is now available, and members could pick up their copy after stake conference. The stake president shared several stories from the book in his closing message. These stories are very inspiring, and I believe they help to build faith. The stake president said that we all have conversion stories—experiences that strengthen our testimonies and build faith. It is important that we write them down—not only for ourselves, but our posterity. Of course, the books are written in Danish, so it is difficult for me to read them. But I can see the names of those who have contributed their stories and find that I know many of them. Some of them are our YSA. I was sad to see that one of them is not active in the church, but he shared a faith-promoting story in the first book. This young man doesn’t consider himself inactive, but he doesn’t attend church or any church activity, except the YSA conferences. He has not turned against the church, but he is bitter and unhappy because he hasn’t received ‘promised blessings’ in his life (specifically marriage).
We had Zone Conference on Thursday. That meant a visit from the Halls on Wednesday. They came in early enough that I planned to make dinner for them. It also meant a lot of time spent visiting. I needed to practice so after dinner I went to the Nitivej chapel to use the piano there. They were having mutual, so I knew the building would be opened. I just secluded myself in the baptism room in the basement and practiced. Dad came with me—probably to get out of visiting with the Halls—and secluded himself in the family history room to work on his computer. I guess it was good for both of us. When I got home I made cupcakes for our institute refreshments—I knew that it would be the only time I had to prepare them. We had a full day planned between Zone Conference, a temple session with one of our YSA, and then institute. The temple session never happened, but it was in the plan….
My responsibility for Zone Conference lunch was making rolls. I made dough for three batches of rolls at home and then took all the rising dough to the church. I then rolled them into balls and let them rise during the beginning of the conference. I spent the morning baking the rolls in the oven on the main floor while the conference took place on the second floor in the chapel. Dad said he could smell the rolls baking—not sure whether that was good or bad. I had wanted to have hot rolls for the missionaries, but they had to settle for slightly warm rolls as the last ones came out of the oven just before noon and we didn’t eat until 1:00. We had 3 kinds of soups and salad, plus 3 different kinds of desserts. The missionaries seemed to really enjoy it. All but about 6 of the 90 rolls were eaten—and they would probably have been eaten if I hadn’t put them, together will all my pans, etc. in the car just before the end of the meeting when Dad left to take Elder Birch to the hospital. I grabbed the cupcakes and my temple bag and sent them on their way. I was still trying to figure out a way to get to the temple and then to the center. It is too far to walk. In the end, I didn’t go to the temple because the conference didn’t end until 4:00—which was when the session started. I grabbed a ride from the Halls who were in a hurry to get on their way so that they could catch the ferry to Bornholm. We had all thought that the conference would end by 3:00. They dropped me off close to the center, but I still had about a 20-minute walk with my heavy bags. Thank goodness I brought my music with me as I used the hour before institute dinner to practice. Dinner was Dominos pizza—courtesy of the institute teacher, so there was no preparation.
In preparation for Zone Conference, Elder Sabin had sent out about 40 scriptures for us to study and read. They were great scriptures, but I didn’t see the connection until Elder Sabin presented his training. They were scriptural support for the things we need to do to return to live with Heavenly Father. Because of our fall into mortality, we need to learn what is needed to return home. He focused on 7 things we need to understand and act upon:
- Understanding true doctrine
- Knowing and understanding our true identity, including our divine nature and our purpose.
- Understanding the Plan of Salvation.
- Understanding Agency—meaning our responsibilities, how justice works, consequences and rewards
- Understanding the Atonement—having a love of and for Heavenly Father and our Savior; having love for others and ourselves.
- Having a desire to be faithful—to be repentant, obedient, receive ordinances, and make covenants
- Giving service—this is where we are sanctified.
All these things lead to eternal life. He quoted President Monson who said, “Fill your mind with truth, your heart with love, and your life with service.” It is a simple formula. Elder Sabin told the missionaries to Simplify—say nothing but repentance; Intensify—missionary work is work; and Testify—be the message by their example and teachings. The biggest change with Preach My Gospel is that missionary work went from being memorized to being eternalized.
Elder Sabin left time for questions and answers. One of the elders asked about miracles he had seen in his life. He shared several examples of miracles, but he shared some personal ones about his family. He has 6 children—two have passed away, one in infancy and one at 19 years old from a lung disease that also affects some of the other children. One daughter has only 53% lung capacity and has had 2 lobes in her lung replaced. She has also had a kidney transplant and many other serious operations. They watched as miracle after miracle happened so that this daughter is still alive today, 19 years after her lung transplant. She should never have made it that far. The doctors were amazed that she survived the operation. Elder Sabin was not a match for the transplant and his wife was too ill at the time to do it, but their Bishop and another good member were willing to be the donors. They had several donors lined up to help—again the doctors were amazed and wondered who all these people were. Despite these problems with their children, the Sabins have willingly left their home to serve the Lord. They are stationed in Frankfurt, Germany and are examples of being ‘all in’ like his conference talk in April 2017. He talked nearly 3 hours with lunch in between). His wife also talked and gave a wonderful message of doing your part. She said that nothing very valuable comes to us without significant investment of time and effort.
These conferences are a spiritual boost for us, so I can imagine what they mean to the young missionaries. They enjoy being together and they leave refreshed and renewed, and hopefully more motivated. It had to be a whirlwind 3 days for the Sabins and the O’Bryants who participated in zone conference on Wednesday in Jylland, our conference on Thursday, and Missionary Leader Training on Friday. They have a very busy schedule. Hope you have a great week.
Med kærlighed, Mom
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