Dinner party on Saturday night.
Elder and Sister Wheeler from Las Vegas are seated next to me, then Jensons and Johnsons.
Kære Familie Sunday,
March 4, 2018
This has been a crazy week.
Any of you remember it? If it
wasn’t for my journal, I am sure the first part of the week would have felt
like it happened a couple of weeks ago.
So early on, we had all the discussions, internet searches and
conference calls (early morning for us) on vacation properties. It seemed like it would never get
decided. It is getting harder and harder
to find something big enough, within our budgets, and that meets everyone’s preferences. I think this is the first time we had family
veto power and that added an additional dimension to it. I am surprised you
were able to decide on Tennessee together last year – maybe I am the
problem! The process of arranging for a
group vacation can be a learning time for us as well. We will need to do some
things differently next time. Anyway, I
am way excited about Lake Travis and like having something to anticipate and
look forward to.
The last few days have been all about Grandma. Interesting how that is a topic so much more
important than a vacation. But Grandma
would be very happy to know our family likes to vacation together and generally
gets along with each other. A temple
ordinance can seal our family together, but much more important I think, is the
way we treat each other and the Celestial attributes we can incorporate into
our together time.
We had 3 couples
(Johnsons, Jensons and Wheelers) come to dinner at 5:00 last night. The plan was to have a game or movie night
but we ended up just talking until about 8:00. Wheelers dominated the
conversation because they are new and we were all interested in their family,
assignment as Church History missionaries, prior mission in South Africa and
the 8 months they spent in Moscow on this mission. They are a really nice couple and closer to
our age. We all also gave them the lowdown on Denmark's peculiar problems with calcium
deposits, shopping, appliances, etc. It
was a nice evening.
Wheelers served
23 months in South Africa where he was the branch president on an MLS mission,
11 hours away from the mission home.
They then stayed home for 18 months and went to Moscow on a Church
History mission. After 7-8 months there,
the government regulations made it impossible for them to continue their work,
so they returned to SLC for 2 1/2 months working in the Church History
department waiting a reassignment.
Denmark came up pretty quickly as a location but they were waiting for the
mission to find an apartment for them. That
is really hard to do. It took that
long. They were just giving up living in
limbo with a borrowed car and in a daughter's house and had discussed receiving
a release from their mission call, when our mission was able to rent an apartment
that will work for them. They will be here for 12 months, which is a bit of an
extension on this should-have-been 18-month mission. They will spend their time
organizing, indexing and digitizing history material that is stored in the
basement of our stake center. They will
also attempt to capture some oral history of the early converts. It sounds a lot like the history of Saudi
Arabia that Wayne and Diane were writing, only this material has been saved it
just needs to be preserved and made available electronically for church
members.
As we were
breaking up with the dinner, I got a text from President O'Bryant to check on a
medical emergency of a missionary. They
are in Iceland at a stake conference.
Elder Throckmorton was playing basketball at the stake center, jumped
off the stage in the stairs leading up to it, and hit his head on the
ceiling. He was bleeding heavily and
showing shock symptoms. It ended up not being
too serious however. The office elders
took him to the emergency room and then took other missionaries with them home
in the van. Mom and I went to the
hospital to wait with them and make sure everything was ok. He had bled a lot but was chipper and just
waiting to be seen. They had told him a
2 hour wait. It ended up being a little
less than that and we were home by around 10:30. They put one stitch in his
head and told him to be careful with it for a few days and check back with his
doctor in a week. He was a lucky elder I think.
Nothing else
this week seems very important. We had
an additional temple session on Thursday with the missionaries who have been
here for a month and those going home in 6 weeks. Those are always nice. Mom and I led the session.
Our English
Institute class had 7 of us in the kitchen, as space is so tight. We had the
Bolivian Au Pair member, Rosa, a visitor from Australia, and the office elders
brought an investigator from Nepal who has been in Denmark as a student for 2
years. He seemed to have a lot of
potential. It made for an interesting
class as mom taught a lesson on the Beatitudes from 3 Ne 12.
This will be a very short letter, but we will see most of
you soon. Love, Dad.
Kære Familie, 4-5
March 2018
Ever since I received the news about Mom’s fall and
subsequent declining health late Thursday night, my emotions have been a bit
close to the surface. The last time I
visited with my mom was on December 26th. We set up a FaceTime visit. It was good to talk to her, but it was
obvious that conversation was difficult, and she didn’t remember things. Still it was good to hear her voice and to
see her. My phone visits with Stephanie
and Peter confirmed that the dementia was getting worse. I began to lose hope that I would see her
again when I returned home from my mission.
I knew it was time to let go and accept the Lord’s will. I wonder if my prayers were keeping her here
longer than she needed to be. It all
seemed to happen much faster than I thought it would, but I am grateful for her
sake. Now she is free from the
restraints of body and mind. She is with
my dad, her siblings and parents, her grandmother, who was so beloved. She is at peace and that brings me peace,
too.
So, I will begin my letter with a little tribute to my
mom. “Each life that touches ours for
good, reflects thine own great mercy, Lord; Thou sendest blessings from above
through words and deeds of those who love.”[1] I have always loved the words in this hymn
(not the music so much). I believe we
are truly better because of the people we come to know throughout our lives,
but the relationships that influence us the most are family. I have been born of goodly parents—truly they
were blessings sent from the Lord. I am
grateful to my mother for the many things she taught me—she taught me good
homemaking skills—how to cook and clean.
She taught me sewing and handiwork—and I will never achieve her skill
level in these areas. I think I learned
my love for gardening from her. She knew
how to beautify her yard and it is something I have also enjoyed. She taught me about being a mom through her
selfless service while we were young.
She never complained about staying home with us and I am grateful for
her steady presence in our home. I never
had to decide about being a stay-at-home mom—I just followed her example. I know we didn’t always have a perfect
relationship—I was a teenager, after
all—but those times seem to pale as the blessings of a loving mother fill my
memories. I have fond memories of
vacations, camping trips and family outings.
She sewed all my clothes and I loved the dresses and outfits she made
me. She sewed clothes for my dolls as
well and I never fully appreciated all the work that went into that until I was
older. I know I took a lot of things for
granted. I have vivid memories of
canning fruits and vegetables—it was ‘all-hands-on-deck’ during canning
season. Again, I didn’t fully appreciate
all the work she did for our family until much later. I’m sure I’ve told you before that I was
always trying to please my parents. I
was never sure I succeeded until I overheard her on the phone talking to her
sister—saying how proud she was of something I had accomplished. That meant the world to me. I have never stopped trying to please
her.
My mom taught me to be tough—that is probably where I get my
‘pioneer spirit.’ She always kept going,
no matter what. She didn’t get bogged
down in the thick of thin things. I know
she had a great love for all her children and grandchildren, even though it was
not always evident. She kept those
emotions to herself, but they were there.
Mom was a great support to me when we got married and
started our family. I appreciated her help,
her wisdom and advice. She continued to
make clothes for my children, sewed doll clothes and such for my girls, and her
legacy continues as all of you have an afghan or something homemade by Grandma. I have done a few of these projects myself
and I know the time and love she put into every stitch. I remember her most recent visits to Houston
where we would spend hours talking together or watching Hallmark movies—both of
us doing our handiwork. I remember her
last visit and the times Dad and I would play Rummikub with her. I treasure those memories and wish I had
appreciated them more at the time.
My Mom gave faithful service in the church her whole
life. I felt her testimony of the gospel more than I actually heard it, but I never ‘doubted that she
knew it.’[2] I feel so blessed for having her as my
mother. She is the link in my chain
right before me. Her sacrifices and
testimony as well as those before her make me realize just how important those
links are. It gives me the desire to see
those links continue through the generations in honor of all those who have
gone before. I hope you take time to
write some of your feelings and memories about Grandma in your journals.
Our week was busy and lacked sleep due to a couple of very
late nights. It was my turn to prepare
an institute lesson, plus I did food on Thursday. I also hosted a dinner for the senior
couples on Saturday where I made two kinds of soups. My life always revolves around food—grocery
shopping and preparation. On Thursday, we
had a temple session with the newest missionaries and their companions. So that day was packed with language class,
temple session, and institute dinner/lesson.
There was no time between these activities. That was also the night I received news about
Mom’s declining health and I really expected her to pass away the next
day. I called Peter that night after
midnight, so it was another late night.
The temple has been my source of peace during some of these busy
weeks. I didn’t know about Mom on Thursday
afternoon when I was at the temple, but my thoughts were still very much with
her. On Friday, I had time to sit and
ponder eternal things and pray for her release from this life and her
infirmities. I am extremely grateful for
those quiet moments in the temple where the veil is very thin.
We had two of our YSA receive their endowments on Friday
night. I was the follower on the
session. It was so nice to be with
them. One of them is a young woman who
is waiting for her mission call.[3] The other is a young man who has been a
member for just one year. It was his
birthday on Friday, so he chose that day to receive his endowment. It is always wonderful to see new members continue
their journey. Baptism is just the first
step—attending the temple and receiving ordinances is the next step. So many of our converts never make it to the
next step. This young man had a few
struggles shortly after his baptism—there is always an adjustment as you try to
pick up your old life with the friends you already have. But that never works—becoming a member of the
church is life changing in so many
ways and finding a new circle of friends is one of the necessary changes. I think he has now broadened his circle of
church friends and is doing very well.
He joins us often with our YSA activities so that is a good
support. He has no family in the
church. But now he is surrounded by a
church family. It had been a snowy, cold
day in Copenhagen. We never get much
snow in Copenhagen, but it was enough to pile up on the car windows. I think the weather kept people from coming
to the temple as the first session of our shift only had 2-3 patrons—the rest
were ordinance workers. I was the veil
coordinator so was the only worker, besides the shift coordinator, who didn’t
go on the session. I didn’t have much to
do during the session, so that is why I had a lot of time to ponder and read
scriptures. The second session was much
better attended as there were family and friends for those receiving their
endowment. The temple has certainly been
a great blessing for me—a calm in the storm.
I am busy preparing for Stake Conference music. I was originally asked to play only three
numbers for the choir, but this week I received two more songs. The choir director had asked Sister O’Bryant
to play them, and she felt that she didn’t have time to attend the practices,
so she asked me. I have been trying to
practice every day at the center, but it hasn’t always worked out (no practice
on Thursday, Friday or Saturday). I went
to the center after church and that is where I was when Stephanie called with the
news about Grandma. We only have one
phone, so Dad got the call. It came just
after I left for a 2-hour practice session, so I didn’t get the news until
later. We had our first rehearsal for
stake choir on Saturday—nearly three hours, so I didn’t get any personal
practice that day. The choir practice is
mostly voice parts, so I don’t really get a good practice on the
accompaniment. But I am making
progress. I was also asked by the YSA to
accompany a number for a music concert coming up the end of the month, and I
received a new Easter piece from our ward choir director today. So, I will finish my mission with a music
bang—one more round of intense practice.
At least this time I have more than two weeks for the stake choir
numbers, although I will lose a week of practice this week.
My heart is full of love for my family. I bask in the flurry of emotions that envelop
me during this time. Emotions are a good
thing—it means I am alive and can feel.
I talked with Philip late Sunday night and had a nice visit with
Stephanie and Peter on Saturday. It was
also so good to visit with each of you—whether about the vacation or about
Grandma. Please give all the
grandchildren a hug and tell them how much I love them. I hope Kari had a nice birthday and I wish
Claire, Talmage and Ariane the best of birthdays this Sunday. It will be nice to come home, however
briefly, this week.
Med
kærlighed,
Mom
[1]
Hymn 293
[3]
Usually a young man or woman does not receive his/her endowment until they have
received the mission call. But I
suspect they made an exception in this case because the other YSA receiving his
endowment is also from her ward which is and hour+ away from Copenhagen. By combining the two endowments, friends/the
bishop would only have to come one time.
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