Hirschsprung Art Museum in Copenhagen
Mom in front of a painting listening to the video tour guide
Kære familie, 21 January 2018
After two weeks of intense practicing, I am relieved to have
the Stake Classical Musical Concert over.
What is especially nice is that it was probably our best
performance. We had a 5:45 time slot to
practice in the chapel before the concert which was at 7, but Sister O’Bryant
forgot and didn’t get there until after 6:00, when other people were
rehearsing. But we did get a chance to
run through it once just before the doors were opened to the audience. It was a good thing, too, because someone had
played with the transposing button on the organ earlier. When we started to play, we sounded way
off! But we figured out the problem, so
we were set to play for the performance.
The concert was mostly piano music, but one of our missionary sisters
played a flute solo, and one of our YSA played several numbers on his classical
guitar. Sister O’Bryant played another number,
Clair de Lune, in addition to our
duet. A 15-year-old young man played Moonlight Sonata, and one of our
missionary elders played Prelude in C
by Chopin. There were two other pianists
who performed—both very good! It was supposed to be all classical
music. We have music concerts three
times a year in our stake—but most of the music is vocal. It was nice to have something just
instrumental. I was surprised at the
turn-out—maybe 100 or more came out to see it.
We played second on the program, so I was able to relax and enjoy the
rest of the numbers.
This week was characterized by unexpected service—that
always seemed to be at the same time I wanted to practice, or during my Danish
class. It began on Monday when Dad gave
a blessing to one of our YSA. We also got
a call from Maria Kudeljic, an investigating YSA whom we have helped on several
occasions—beginning with a move last summer.
She has been on Bornholm for the past 9 months, but has now decided to
go home—which is in Aalborg. The fact
that she no longer had a job may have
been a factor for this decision—but she didn’t tell us about it. We found this out later from the Halls who
have been working with her on Bornholm.
She needed our help on Tuesday because she had an appointment with the
doctor to get one of the veins in her leg stripped. This is the third time she has had this done
and she still needs to have it done two more times. She is only 28—which seems young to have
these problems. She asked me to pick her
up from the doctor’s office when it was over—but then we got a call early in
the morning that the ferry from Bornholm to Sweden was delayed due to bad
weather. Now she needed me to pick her
up from the train station earlier and take her to the doctor’s appointment as
well as pick her up after it was over. The
Halls drove over from Bornholm on Thursday to attend a stake auxiliary training
meeting. They brought a carload of Maria’s
belongings and met her at her storage unit—only she had forgotten her key. They had another appointment and couldn’t
help except to unload everything. That’s
when we got involved again. We picked
her up at the temple apartments where she had been staying with her Mom after
her procedure, and took her back to the storage unit. I helped her sandwich all her stuff into the
already over-filled closet, which included two bicycles—all in a skirt and just
before we had to meet the other missionaries for a temple session.
The other service involved our former volleyball YSA player,
who is now working for Nordea Bank. She
injured her knee at the end of the season last spring and decided to quit
playing volleyball. The knee injury was
a torn ACL which she is just now getting fixed. We went over to her apartment on Wednesday
afternoon to visit her and see how she was doing. Her mother had just arrived the day before to
spend a couple of weeks with her. As we
left, I asked if there was anything we could do, and she asked if it would be
possible to take her to the hospital on Friday to get her stitches
removed. She lives on the 4th
floor of an apartment that doesn’t have an elevator and getting around the city
on a bus with crutches was overwhelming for her—let alone time-consuming. I couldn’t help her get down her stairs, but
I could take her to the hospital, which I did.
We had company on Thursday (the Halls) and then the
Forslands stayed over on Friday night.
They came to Copenhagen with a 1-year convert—a YSA young woman—so she
could receive her endowment. The young
woman was Danish, but she lived in New York until she was 15 so she feels her
first language is English. The other
temple sister missionary and myself were able to help her in initiatory because
we know it in English. It was a nice
experience. Her temple session was also
in English and I learned that many of the Danes prefer to hear the session in
English—which most understand—because the words are more
descriptive/precise? We had a large
session—33 people which was very nice for a change—and we had plenty of
workers.
The Forslands came to Denmark the same time we did. Elder Forsland served his first mission here
55 years ago. They serve on Jylland and
our paths have rarely crossed, except for the Senior Conferences. It seems strange that we would be here the
same length of time and never associate together. They have never wanted to come to Copenhagen
to just sight-see, like other senior missionaries do and they have never had
visitors from home, which might have brought them to Copenhagen. They go home a week before we do. It was nice to visit with them and catch up
on their mission, which has been very different from ours. They work a lot more closely with the two
sets of full-time missionaries in their area and help with reactivation in
their branch. They have a FHE on Monday
night for YSA and share a spiritual message but do not teach a complete
institute lesson. Their YSA come from
varying backgrounds, rarely native Danes.
One young man is a refugee from Afghanistan. It sounds like they have had some very
interesting experiences. Elder Forsland has
enjoyed finding people he might have taught or known from his earlier
mission. They have had a good
experience, but are ready to go home.
I taught the institute lesson on Thursday night. Neither teacher could be there, so I was
asked. Because we are teaching twice a
week now, we decided to split up the preparation. This week was my turn for the institute
lesson. We studied Alma’s ‘father’s
interviews’ with his three sons. We only
had about 12 YSA out for the lesson, and 4 missionaries. There were several conflicts—one was the
stake auxiliary training meeting, and many of our YSA are involved in their
ward auxiliaries. There was also a large
group going to the Arctic Party—a YSA conference in Norway. Their 14-hour ferry left on Thursday night for
the overnight trip. But we had a good class with those who were
there. I began by asking them what
advice they might give a younger sibling who is starting high school and I had
two students role-play this. Then we
divided into groups to pull out the ‘pearls’ of advice that Alma gives to his
sons. We had a good discussion. One of the young men asked if only members of
the church go to Paradise while everyone else goes to Spirit Prison. He said he already knew the answer, but it
got several responses, including questions from a non-member. I like it when I can just turn the questions
back to the class—we have very capable young people and it is nice when they
teach each other and learn from each other.
I enjoyed the experience and wish we could ‘teach’ more often. But during our DVI meeting this week, we
talked about having the YSA teach more, so that is what we should do when one
of the teachers can’t make it to class.
More and more I see the wisdom in giving the youth experience in
teaching—the preparation itself is invaluable and hopefully they will learn how
to engage their classmates and make it a good learning experience for all. I was very pleased to hear that Drew taught a
lesson last week. He is preparing to be
a great missionary.
We have two new missionary couples who arrived on Friday—one
to replace the Yates in Fredericia, and the other to serve a 6-month mission in
the temple. We met the Rasmussens
(temple missionaries) at our monthly missionary dinner on Saturday. This is their first full-time mission, but
they have served as church service missionaries from home—with the YSA, dry
packing, and Pathways. They are from
Sacramento, CA. They have also taught
English in China through BYU for a year—so they are well-versed in service. It will be fun to have a new couple. Elder Rasmussen served his mission here 50
years ago.
I feel I should have lots of ‘extra’ time next week because
I am not practicing—but I know that the time is really not there. Where it comes from in the first place is a
mystery, but somehow we find the time to do what needs to be done. I finished the last name I have for temple
endowments—I still have a few sealings to do.
So this week I need to try to find some names to take to the temple. We also need to get serious about a ‘handbook
of instructions’ to give the missionaries who will replace us. Dad has already worked on the ‘missionary
responsibility’ side of this project—I need to do the practical side. I hope everyone has a great week. We love hearing about what you are
doing. I also hope everyone in Houston
survived the cold weather—Lindsey you are used to it!
Med kærlighed,
Mom
Kære Familie Sunday,
January 21, 2018
Monday was a
busy and interesting day this week. At
11:00, we had a meeting with a High Councilor and the O'Bryants in the mission
office. The purpose of the meeting was
to identify inspirational speakers that the stake can invite to Denmark
sometime this year to speak to various groups of members. I had prepared a list of potential speakers
ahead of time based on a search of EFY and TOFW speakers and authors. It was helpful to jump start the discussion
and focus us on the type of individual the stake is interested in. The O'Bryants also had 4 or 5 names to add to
my list from their personal contacts (our personal contact list is not nearly
so impressive). The stake will pay the
transportation and housing costs and possibly some speaker's fees, but hope the
latter will not be necessary. After some discussion of who we knew, how we
might contact them, etc., we identified 4 individuals to make first approaches
to. I have Elder Stanley G. Ellis and President O'Bryant has 3 other persons
that he knows personally.
After that, we drove
to Hannah Østergaard's apartment and I gave her a blessing. She had an oral
exam the next morning and was a bit stressed about it as she knows she has not
studied as hard as she could have. She
has elected to take trips to Rome and to Scotland with her ‘boyfriend’ in the
last few weeks. I don't know that I can
help her much with the lack of preparation, but I blessed her to be able to
recall and organize her thoughts and to present them in a way that will make
her satisfied with her effort. I also
gave her some counsel about seeking revelation in the temple and moving forward
with faith and trust in her Heavenly Father in the decisions she will need to
make in the next few months (we are all anticipating a marriage proposal).
The plans for FHE
changed a couple of times during the day, similar to last week. We first got a text that it was shifted to a
YSA’s apartment to help her move in, as a service project. Then at 5:20, they reported that the move was
done and FHE would be back at the Center.
Only 6 YSA came out, a very low turnout.
Lea gave a very good, interactive message based around Alma 50: 1-4 and
not letting the fiery darts of the adversary have access to us. Gismo then led us in a game of Scripture Golf
using the BofM. Since it was in Danish,
it was hard for us to participate very well.
There were only 3 each on the two teams.
After the game, we played a few rounds of Phase 10 until 9:00 when
everyone broke up for home. This is one of the few times we have actually
played a card game together.
Our My Plan
lesson was similar with a poor turnout.
Only Joachim Paulsen came at 6:00.
He and I chatted in the kitchen until Isaak Ringheim came at 6:45 and
then I gave them a 5-min introduction to what this lesson material is all
about. Hopefully, we can get more to
come out next week and get this class untracked and successful.
We ended the
evening back in our apartment by watching the Worldwide Devotional with Elder
and Sister Uchtdorf. It was very
good. It is the first time I have heard
Sister Uchtdorf speak. She was cute and
had a very effective message, as did President Uchtdorf. I liked his idea of connecting the dots after
the fact to see how they tie together to make up our life plan. We need to find an opportunity to watch this
together with our young adults.
Most of you know
that we were able to watch the First Presidency broadcast and news
conference. Mom invited the office
elders to dinner along with Elder and Sister Jenson. They came at 5:00, just in time for the
special broadcast. We then ate dinner
and watched the News Conference together.
It was a nice experience to see it live at the same time as members in
countries around the world. The changes in the counselors in the first
presidency was interesting and gave us something to talk and speculate about. With
reflection, these all seem like inspired moves and I have no doubt that the
Lord is directing His Church. It seemed
like the answers in the press conference were a little awkward at times, but they
were true to our doctrine while trying not to be offensive. Maybe they answered the question that should
have been asked, as they fell back to our doctrine and tied the questions to
the plan of salvation and the Lord being in charge of His church, not man. Our
missionaries are taught that in zone conferences – answer the question they
should have asked. It reminds me of one
of the BYU devotionals, where the theme was, whatever the question is, get to
the sacred grove as soon as possible.
All questions are hinged around the restoration of priesthood authority
and the fact that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in
the sacred grove.
We had our Stake
DVI meeting Wednesday night. The agenda
did not run as efficiently as some, but nonetheless, it was an effective
discussion. They loved the budget we put
together for 2018 and my financial summary of the New Year's Eve activity. They
have never had a line-item budget for the YSA program and it should be very
helpful to them. They also liked the idea
of having a focused theme to increase enrollment to our 120 goal by: Invite a friend to Institute. We considered making it Bring a Friend, but
Brother Ringheim made a good point based on Clayton M. Christensen's book, The
Power of Every Day Missionaries, that success should be defined by
the invitation and not by whether it is accepted or not. Brother Andersen, the CES Director, also had
2 items to discuss about Thursday nights. 1) He is concerned that the mission
prep class is drawing too many people from his class and it is disruptive when
they change rooms after opening exercises.
After discussion, we decided that it is wonderful that it is drawing
more than expected, especially when some of these would likely not come out to
institute were it not for the class. Friends are attracting friends and we are
reaching more of the 18-year-olds. We don't want to ask them to attend the main
class for fear of losing them but will instead concentrate on a transition to
continued attendance after the 12-week course.
We will also work on orderliness as we separate by having them sit in
back and filing out reverently through the side door. 2)
There are a lot of conflicts on Thursday nights because it is stake
night for meetings, and there are a lot of meetings that draw people away,
especially now that Brother Andersen has been called into his bishopric. The only alternative that we think might make
sense because Tuesdays and Wednesdays are viewed as just as bad due to Mutuals
or school events, is to hold it on Friday nights. Institute could be followed by games, dances,
dates or parties. Norway, as an example,
has had a lot of success with using Friday nights. We will think about this for the next month
and discuss it again.
At Institute
this week, we had a new investigator come with the Roskilde Sisters. He rode his bike from Roskilde a 2- hour
ride, and he was riding it back again when he left about 10:00. He could put his bike on the train, but he
says he likes the exercise and it is his time to think and listen to things on
this mobile phone. His name was Malte,
and he was a little different - I suppose he reminded me a little bit of a Hari
Krishna type of individual - jewelry around his neck, hair worn a bit
different, likes to visit Far Eastern Temples (Buddhist or Hindu), and is
searching for a form of truth. He has
visited with missionaries on and off for maybe 4-months but I don't think is
really progressing. He likes what he has
heard though, is impressed with our group of young adults who are studying
religion and faith and seems open to new ideas.
If he continues to meet with the sisters, I think it may take him awhile
to realize that this is the one and only true church and that there is a Plan
of Salvation that applies to all of mankind.
As everyone else left tonight, he came into the kitchen and offered to
help us dry dishes. We probably talked
to him for another 30 minutes as we cleaned up; he was in no hurry to leave
despite the long ride home he had ahead of him.
We talked about questions he had:
tried to put the BofM in historical and spiritual context, explained a
bit of the Plan of Salvation, a little about a prophet to lead the church, what
it means that the church was a restoration of Christ's church on earth,
etc. He seemed to accept all of that,
but not in a sense of discovering truth, but more as interesting information to
go with all the other truth he has found.
We hope he will come back this week.
We had the
30-day in and My Plan temple trip session on Thursday. There were 8 elders and
11 sisters. It is always good to see
them and surprising to identify the ones going home in 6 weeks. The sisters all arrived after us and this is
the last batch I think of elders who arrived just before we did. We are definitely the "Elder
Statesmen" of the mission now.
I have reflected
this week, how It is wonderful how the Lord engineered mission assignments that
were perfect for each of us as senior couples. It seems like the missionary
committee gets us to the right mission and then the Lord inspires his mission
presidents to refine the call down to the place we are supposed to serve. Here are some examples.
Forslunds: were
called on a YSA mission. They are 75 and
70 now. Pres O'Bryant changed it to a
MLS mission and sent them to support a branch in the little city of
Herning. It turns out, he served in that
area as a young missionary but Pres O’Bryant did not know that. This was perfect for them. They have not had the energy or capacity to
be with the YSA as we do and as a missionary he worked extensively with less-actives,
increasing attendance from just a handful to about 30. They have done the same here and now have
around 40+ attending from a small beginning. They have loved the member visits
and have reconnected with many members he knew from the past. They also have a
Monday FHE where they just must provide a thought and refreshments, so they get
some exposure to YSA's as well.
Yates: They are
3 years younger than we are and he speaks Danish. They have been able to support Institute in 3
different cities and travel a lot every week.
He teaches one lesson a week in Danish. They have loved what they have
done and been able to strengthen YSA groups in Fredericia and Esbjerg while
being another support to the 2 wards in Odense, who have a local couple called
over the YSA.
Halls: They are a couple of years older than us, but
not as active or healthy. They were originally destined to be in our position
as a YSA couple. When we became
available, President O'Bryant delayed their mission for 2 months and told them
he was sending them to Bornholm as the branch president as he speaks Danish. They were supposed to serve a year there and
then come to the office as the office couple to replace Buxtons. It all worked out to where Johnsons became
available as the office couple and Halls wanted to stay on their little Island
for the whole time. They have loved it
there and the branch has flourished with them. They hold a weekly Institute and
have done everything for the branch.
They of course, were instrumental in Anja's conversion.
Shurtliffs: This
was the best place for us, without the Danish language skills. We have been able to support the temple, do
mission office special tasks (such as the Banner (mission newsletter) and
Christmas Devotional), and of course, we love our YSA's. Mom has been beyond excellent with her
desserts, refreshments and dinners - the other sisters seem to shudder at how
much she cooks every week. We have
enjoyed the overnight or late-night activities and aren't afraid or too old to
get in a canoe or down on the floor to exercise or play group games.
I could go on
about the Larsens, Blockers, Johnsons and Ravns, but I don't know their
situations as well. I think in each case however, it is evident that the Lord
is directing this work and we are called and serve where we are needed
most.
That’s it for
this week. Love you all tons. Dad
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