Mom and Sister Jenson in front of Ugerløse Kirke
Inside Ugerløse Kirke with 2 nice ladies who talked to us
Dad in front of an old fashioned windmill
Mom with a Statue of the founder of Kalundborg Kirke
Mom with Kalundborg Kirke
Mom on seacoast on the Røsnæs Penninsula
Altarpiece at Ugerløse Kirke
Kalunborg’s Vor Frue Kirke
Skeletons from two beheaded Vikings (mostly for the kids to look at)
Dad with sea coast behind him
Røsnæs Lighthouse
Another view of the sea coast
Kære Familie Sunday, January 28, 2018
We had a video conference on Wednesday, with Elder and Sister Skoubye, the European Area YSA Missionaries, and the couples serving in the Scandinavian Missions. We used a video conferencing program called Zoom and had maybe 10 couples on the conference call with us. The purpose was to Expand and Extend our influence with the stake YSA committees we support. There was nothing new in the discussion, but it is always good to exchange ideas, review the handbook, see what other missions/countries are doing, and then listen to what the spirit whispers to us that we should do in our calling. We are very blessed in that we have a wonderful stake committee that is well organized, meets every month and has a YSA chairmanship like we do with Jonathan, Gismo and Marie. There are very few of the other stakes that are operating as well. There are several where a stake committee has not met and most where there is not a stake YSA student council to plan and carry out the activities. I think it falls to the missionary couples to carry the programs in those situations, and that is not a good thing as the YSA’s are adults who are very capable.
I did some errands on my bike this week even though our weather has been cold. It does not stop the Danes from riding all over! I rode to the cleaners and dropped off 3 pairs of suit pants and then to the CheapInk shop to get some black ink for our printer. The whole trip did not take much more than about 45 minutes. Of course, I had to pump up bike tires before I could leave and that took some time. My back tire is always flat and I just haven’t focused on how to repair it. I am now very comfortable riding my bike around this area. I have not ventured out on any long trips across town or anything like that, but I don't think that would be a problem. Most streets have the nice bike lanes and they make it very convenient. Biking is a better method to get around for short distances than using the car – and parking is free and easy!
I forgot to mention something about the Book of Mormon musical that happened last week. President O'Bryant was at the Saturday piano/organ practice session with our wives and we had a chance to visit for 30 minutes. He brought up the subject of the BofM musical that opened this week. After the practicing was finished, they were headed to a Public Affairs meeting where they had the 2nd of two sessions preparing for media interviews with radio and TV. His comments were very interesting. This musical has been very popular in Sweden and Norway already. Arts are typically supported by the states, and normally lose money on productions. In Norway, this musical made a profit and has been the only one to do that in the recent past. Many copies of the BofM are given away wherever it is shown, but there has not been a lot of short-term results from the activity, i.e. no remarkable uptick in teaching appointments or baptisms. I am sure there has been some success though. He said the Danish media is particularly sensitive to the negative, crude disparaging aspects of the production. They are not blind to that because of the incident that happened with the Danish cartoonist where a café was bombed in Paris and the Muslim world got very agitated over a cartoon that was printed deemed to be anti-Muslim. They seem to be seeking 'approval' in advance from the church that it is ok to show this musical. He has had a number of phone calls and discussions with the theater manager in particular, where they want him to come and see the musical and then be interviewed about it. He is sure they are looking for comments that would show approval or acceptance by the church, such as "it was funny, well done, or the church is ok with the way missionaries are portrayed". He does not want to have any part of that and is avoiding these opportunities and does not want to see the play himself. During an open house public affairs hosted for the actors, one of them asked him directly if he was offended by the play. His careful response was, “Well, not as offended as if you had burned my house down.” These training sessions are being scripted so that "official spokesmen" for the church have some experience answering questions on the fly and anticipating the sort of questions that will come up so that they have ready, clear answers to give. President also mentioned that he is comfortable in Danish with a talk he has prepared but answering questions in an open setting such as an interview would be very hard for him and his Danish would not be adequate to be able to express himself well. There have also been some incidents with the media where statements have been taken out of context. Radio has been pretty fair, maybe because it is live(?), but one TV report in particular, was cut and spliced so that comments made by our National Pubic Affairs Director came out twisted in support of their report that the Mormon church is biased against homosexuals. We were talking about this with him last night, and he was very disappointed (upset) that the TV station would do that to him. Where was the fair and balanced reporting? “Once burned … etc.” so that he is now very careful about who he is willing to do interviews with. A few weeks back, 2 of our sister missionaries were stopped on the street as they were ‘Finding’ by a radio announcer, and they ended up doing a live interview on the spot. It was more just about their work as missionaries and it ended up OK, but in reality, young missionaries are not the best church spokesmen, particularly when it is not their first language. As a result, there has been a renewed emphasis to the missionaries and all members, that we are not to speak to the media, even in innocence, but refer them to the public affairs office who will represent the Church. All of this is a good lead-in to the events of this week around the musical.
For Institute, Brother Andersen taught part of the lesson from Alma, the war years, but he spent a significant portion of it talking about the important figures in these chapters, leadership, character, choices, etc. and tying them to the BofM musical. He ended the last 20 minutes by making a list on the board of the hardest questions the class could think of that might come from a patron of the musical if they asked a question to the missionaries or a member. He received about 8 good questions, and then in the time left, had the class discuss two of them using the Proclamation on the Family, as the basis for responding with gospel principles. It was a good approach. I would have liked to have understood the responses and to have had the time to go over every question.
Thursday this week, was the opening night of the Book of Mormon musical. We were told the theater was sold out and it holds about 1000. The mission has 4000 copies of the BofM to give out over the course of the musical's run (through May) but thinks they will need to order more. We stopped by the theater on our way home from Institute, getting there around 10:00. We were surprised how many YSA had come over and how many members were there as well as missionaries. Patrons started to come out at about 10:15 and immediately it was a bit chaotic with the church members offering a free copy of the Book of Mormon to everyone on both sides of the street under the archway. I think it easily could have been offensive to some. I thought about when we were going into a Nauvoo pageant and felt like we were going through a gauntlet of protesters thrusting offensive material at us before we could get to the seating area. I hope these good people did not feel the same way. Perhaps some will complain to the management and changes will need to be made. I hope not. It was all done with a smile and good humor. We stood by and watched for a few minutes and saw many interesting little scenes. President Olsen was there from the stake presidency and he was laughing and joking with patrons as he offered a free book. One young couple wanted a picture of 2 of our missionaries in white shirts and they willingly obliged (I thought they were so brave to be in short-sleeve white shirts when we were bundled up in coats and scarfs). Alma, our 17-yr old non-member, was as enthusiastic as anyone in approaching strangers. I saw some declining the book, many accepting a copy, thumbing it as they walked, others laughing to their companion as they held the book up (I would like to know what they were saying about it), some looking a bit annoyed, most taking it all in stride, most looking as if they had just left a good musical that made them smile and laugh, etc. I would say it was a successful good night. I learned the next day, that they gave away between 400-600 books on opening night. That is awesome. The missionaries and members will be there after every performance – quite a commitment. They have not given away as many copies on other nights – the zone leaders said because our YSA were so awesome on that first night – but it seems like they are averaging over 200 a performance. Some of these have got to lead to teaching opportunities and baptisms, right? If nothing else, I think this musical will advance the awareness of the church forward what would have taken many years. The emphasis is on positive messaging – looking past the crudity of the musical to the reality of Danish Mormons having strong families, a faith in Christ, being good neighbors, participating actively in the community and focused on serving others. That seems to be the right kind of branding.
There was nothing really unusual at the temple this week, other than Per Olsen as the coordinator usually gives me more responsibility than the other two coordinators, who tend to overlook me so I am most often a patron. I was coordinator for Initiatory and we did 29 names. As the workers, we did the ordinances in Danish, Swedish and English in the 3 different booths. That must be interesting for our patrons, but in this case, they were both temple workers as well. I was also the session leader for the 6:30 session. I decided to try to do it without earphones and went that way until after the Law of Sacrifice, when I realized that I was too prone to making mistakes. I had already missed holding up the scriptures and wasn't sure I would demonstrate other things at the right time when I was struggling to understand all the words. (Mom later said I seemed a bit hesitant and slow.) So, I put on the earphones for the rest of the session. I get a lot more out of it in English but I will not get any better in Danish that way. I think I need to do Danish as a Patron though and not when I am leading a session. Mom did the entire session in Danish. She is super awesome with the language now. She has stopped using earphones in Sacrament meeting and sometimes will translate something for me that I have missed. I don’t feel like I am progressing with understanding at all.
Love to all. Dad
Kære familie, 28 January 2018
I have grown quite fond of my unofficial Primary calling. I love playing the primary songs, but I have also grown to love these young children. We don’t have a very big Primary—7 in senior Primary today, and 10 in junior, but that is only because we added 3 new Sunbeams since the new year. The language is simple, so I can usually understand what the children are saying in their talks and prayers. We always have one talk by a Primary child and one talk by an adult—who is invited to speak at random. I can understand the adult as well, because he/she is speaking slowly and simply. I know I am going to play “I Like to Look for Rainbows” every week for prelude, because one of the older girls is always waiting for me at the piano to request that song. I am happy to oblige. I have learned some new ‘fun’ songs in the Primary book that are Danish. I really like them. But it is especially nice to be in Primary, like today, when Tomas Kofod was a substitute teacher—then I feel like the angels have joined us and the singing is heavenly. I accompanied a YSA female quartet in their ward today. I was asked to accompany them after institute this week when we practiced for about ½ hour. They sang a combination of “In Humility Our Savior,” and “God Our Father, Hear Us Pray”–which are, unfortunately, in different keys. We sang one verse of the first hymn, one verse of the second hymn, and then back to the first hymn. They asked me to make-up a transition between the hymns, which included modulation. I came up with something, but I wish I knew more piano theory. The girls wanted me to ‘embellish’ the accompaniment as well—again not my forte so I didn’t do much. We practiced this morning before church and I think it went well. Their meeting started at 10:00 which gave me time to dash after Sacrament Meeting, and get to our choir practice at 11:30 a.m., followed by our block of Sunday meetings, beginning at 12:30. It was a lot of church, especially if you add the YSA fireside and dinner tonight at 6:00. We didn’t get home until 10:00. But it was a nice day, and one of the best parts was that a few YSA girls cooked dinner and dessert, so I didn’t have to do anything—except help with dishes.
Our public affairs representative, Lars Paulsen, spoke at the fireside. There is a lot of hype about The Book of Mormon musical, which started on Thursday night, and Brother Paulsen has been in the middle of it. He has been interviewed on the radio, for TV, and other media outlets (newspaper, magazines). He shared some of the things he has been doing and how they are using the musical to an advantage for introducing people to the church. When asked if the church would be allowing women to have the priesthood and hold positions of authority in the church, he said, “That is not the question you really want to ask. Let me explain what the Priesthood is.” He then talks about the function of the Priesthood which is to serve. A man can’t use the Priesthood for himself; he can only use it to serve others. Likewise, women give service—that is what the church is all about. Both men and women are involved in service throughout the church. When asked about when the church is going to approve of homosexuality, he answered: “That is not the question you really want me to answer. Let me tell you about families.” Then he talked about the importance of families; how gender roles can best be taught by a mother and a father as role-models. He asked the reporter what the world would look like 50 years from now if we stop teaching about families and then emphasized that families are what our church is all about. By using this approach, he has been able to get some positive responses and his answers seem to satisfy them—at least for the moment.
The church has also made 75 videos and are releasing one a day on Facebook. Some of our YSA were featured in videos about getting answers to prayers and how their testimonies strengthen and help them in making life’s decisions. Here is an example of one video about the importance of attending church together as a family. The building in the video is our chapel and we were part of the meeting that day, as you can see. Danish Church Video
It seems the media almost wants to ‘pick a fight’ and put us on the defensive about the church. We are encouraged to avoid being critical of the musical and instead shift the conversation to what the church is for us—how it helps us and what it means in our lives. President O’Bryant was invited to meet with the cast and directors. He felt like they were trying to get his approval of the play. They know it is offensive to the church and missionary work and it is as though they were worried about the reaction of church members or missionaries. They invited him to come see the play as their guest, to which he of course kindly refused. He assured them that there would be no violence on the part of the missionaries serving here in Denmark—quite the contrary.
I decided that Family History work can be very complicated. I have recently finished the endowment ordinance work for some people whom I identified with Ali’s help when she visited last summer. I now have the sealings to do. I decided to look up the names in Family Search to see if I should do the ‘sealings to parents’ for these people—the prerequisite being that their parents are sealed together first. Many of them were, but another handful of them weren’t, as one or both parents still hadn’t had their temple work completed—either reserved by someone else and not yet completed, or else more information was needed before the work could be done. In doing this research, I found two names I felt sure could have their work done if I resolved an issue. One said that ‘possible duplicates exist’ and the other’s birth date was when her mother was only 11, prompting this response, ‘birthdate before mother could bear children.’ I checked the source which was a U.S. census record and it was obvious that the indexer had misread the age. I decided that I didn’t know how to resolve either of these problems, so I went to our Family History library on Tuesday afternoon to get some help from an ‘expert.’ Unfortunately there was only one ‘expert’ there and he was already working with a patron. I spent over an hour waiting and looking at the various sources for the names on my cards. In closer examination, I discovered that my name may actually be a duplicate for a woman who already has all her work completed, or else it is for someone completely different—an aunt perhaps. I finally left without getting any help, as it was evident that the other patron had a long list of needs and the center was closing soon—and came home more confused than before. I guess this work was never meant to be easy.
On Tuesday our language class had a field trip to the National Medical Museum. We have been studying a unit on medicine—reading about diseases, learning the internal parts of the body, and reading about health and wellness in Denmark. The museum was about a 45-minute walk from our apartment—it was very cold when I began, but I warmed up pretty fast with my brisk walking. The exhibits were about medicine past and present, as well as the growth in research that has taken place over the years. There were exhibits of diseased bones, organs, and other body parts—all carefully preserved so that they can aid in research and better understanding. The display on deformed fetuses and conjoined twins was a bit disturbing, although interesting. We had a guide who was full of information and determined to tell us everything in an hour, but I (like the rest of my classmates) understood very little of his technical presentation. Fortunately, some of the displays had an explanation in English as well as Danish, and the old adage that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ factored into my experience at this museum.
We spent our Saturday ‘P-day’ exploring the northwestern part of Sjælland. We invited the other missionary couples to join, but only the Jensons took us up on the offer. Our first stop was to visit a church in Ugersløse—a tiny country village in the middle of nowhere with a quaint church that seemed bigger than one would expect for its location. It’s ‘claim to fame’—for us, at least—was a Carl Bloch altarpiece. Christ with Thomas after The Resurrection. It just so happened that the church was open early because they were having a kind of open-house. A local author and speaker was there to speak to members of the community about family values. She and another church worker seemed over-joyed that we had come—as we were their first visitors. We had a delightful visit with these two women with whom we shared much in common—belief in God and teaching good values in the home. We told them a little bit about our mission and our families. It was an unexpected encounter and made our visit even better.
We were not so fortunate at our next stop—Kalunborg’s Vor Frue Kirke—a medieval church with five distinctive towers. The architect designed the church to be in the shape of a cross—a tower on each point of the cross and one in the middle. It was an impressive structure in the middle of what is now only ruins of a castle wall. But we could not go inside the church, because there was a funeral. I could just peer inside and see the impressive altarpiece as well as the casket and the dozens of flower bouquets on the floor leading up to it, which is typically Danish. We walked around the church grounds and enjoyed the view as it looks over the Kalunborg Fjord. We went to a small museum located next to the church and then got back in the car to go to the most western point of the island—Røsnæs. There is a beautiful view of the Kattegat Sea and we walked to the lighthouse, which is closed to visitors at this time of year. This area has been used throughout the years as a lookout for pirates and enemies who were coming by sea to pillage or attack Denmark. We could still see the bunkers that were used in times of war and were manned by farmer/soldiers. Now the ‘look-out’ is more environmental as the authorities watch to make sure there are no oil spills from ships, or any other hazards that might damage the sea and the coast. We had planned to see some more sights, but by 4:00 we knew the daylight had gotten the best of us. I drove the 1 ½ hour drive back to Copenhagen in the dusk and the dark.
Med kærlighed, Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment