Saturday, November 30, 2013

A Saturday Outing

Saturdays are a short day in the temple and the missionary couples often go out to and early dinner.  Today we went down to Nyhavn in the middle of Copenhagen.  It was a harbor built into the middle of the city 300 years ago.  It is now lined with restaurants and quite a night spot.  Right now there are little Christmas shops along the harbor.  The food was too pricey for us, but it was fun to watch all of the people sitting outside to eat their $50 meal.

 The restaurants provide blankets for you to wrap yourself in and still enjoy the brisk air.


Looking across the harbor.  I think the ship is a restaurant. It was actually quite nice weather - 41 degrees, which was the high and low for the day.

Friday, November 29, 2013

A New Beginning

This was the view we had as we opened our door to go to the temple this morning.  It was 8 am and  a beautiful sunrise and the beginning of a  lovely day in the temple.

    We had a darling girl come to the temple for the first time today.  The sister missionary who taught her and prepared her for baptism and the sister missionary who took over, both flew from the U.S. to be here for the momentous day. She met the church though a classmate at school, Renae' Nielsen .  Some of you will know him.. She had gone to the State Church her whole life and was interested in religion.  They talked a lot about religion and when she came  to church she felt so at home and was baptized 2 and a half years ago today.  Her parents are not too excited about her being in the church and she said if they knew she had come to the temple they would ask her to leave.  Hence it has taken her a while to feel ready.  In the end it was the Lord who made the decision and she knew she was supposed to come.  She has just graduated in audiology and helps people adjust to their cochlear ear transplants.
     There were 5 carloads that came from Odense to be there to support her, so many lovely people.  There was a girl from Russia who is visiting a young man she met at Festi Nor -which is a Young Single Adult convention, a girl from Viet Nam and another thrilled teen age girl who was  baptized 3 months ago and the ward has brought her over twice to do baptisms for the dead.  Such a good day in the temple!
     

Thursday, November 28, 2013

A Happy Thanksgiving

We are so thankful this day for so many things; our family, the gospel, good health wonderful  friends.  We are especially grateful to be serving the temple.  It is such a privilege to be in His house almost every day.,

   We are also thankful for modern technology that allows us to see and hear our loved ones wherever they are in the world.  This is our oldest son, Chris and his family in California.  We are all so blessed.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

A Sunny Break

Yesterday was a lovely sunny, but cold day.  I went for a run and found this little playground in the middle of the woods.

   I don't know what these beams are for but they look well used...balancing? stretching?

It was in the high 30's, but these two little kids were bundled up and enjoying the fresh air.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

How do they get BIG things into these little apartments?

Took this picture from my front door looking across the road.   It must be a remodeling project going on.  This is about 5 floors up.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Another Great Thanksgiving


It all worked out.  We managed to get 11 around the table.  It was very cozy, but fun.  I even had 11, not 12 of  the nice glasses.  The home is beautifully appointed and has everything you need to entertain. The buffet in the back, held most of the food.



The largest turkeys we would find without special ordering were about 8 pounds, so we put both turkeys i the same cooking bag.  It worked..

 Here are our dear temple missionaries plus a boyfriend.  They all brought food and it was fabulous. Left to right: Jensens, Sis. Steffensen plus boyfriend, Andy, Sis. Hansen, Christensens and Browns.
Here we are at the head of the table....on the piano bench.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Always Room At the Table..

    Tomorrow night we are hosting the Temple Missionaries for a Thanksgiving Dinner.  This is our dining area and table.  It is perfect for 8, but tomorrow there will be 11.  It should be cozy.
 The furniture in the apartment is beautiful and I think what you could call Danish Modern.  It is all light wood and space-saving.  The table is about 2/3 the width of  mine at home. This is actually quite elegant.
 Are you visualizing 11 people, plus food.  Fortunately there is a buffet to handle the food.  Oh  for a good old card table.  Had I known I would have brought one.  It wouldn't have helped, the shipment is a month late and won't be here until the first week in December.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

A Lovely Day For a Wedding

  We had a tightly scheduled  day in the temple today.  A darling woman came from Sweden.  She met the church through a friend in Mary Kay Cosmetics about 18 months ago.  The friend started talking about the gospel and she was ready to hear. She had a lovely experience for her first time at the temple and had many come from her ward in support.
   We also had a beautiful wedding.  Jolina was a part-time missionary for us when we were here before.  She later went on a mission to Utah but had to come home for health reasons.  She is now 30 and a year or so ago was talking to a friend on Facebook from Norway and asking if there was anyone he knew to line her up with.  He had an inspiration and connected her with a new convert from his area.  They communicated over the internet for a while, met, and today were married.  We are so thrilled for her.  Her sister made her beautiful dress with machine embroidery all over it.
 
   People wait outside our temple to welcome the happy couple, just like everywhere else.
         Note the blue hair.  We don't see the vibrant hair colors here as we did in England.

 

Friday, November 22, 2013

Bikes and Stairs

 Everyone rides bikes and there are so many clever ways to accommodate them.  This is how you get them up the stairs in the subway station - metal troughs.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes

Danes grow some wonderful vegetables.  Their carrots seem extra sweet and they have varieties of potatoes I have never even heard of , let alone seen.  I took this picture in the grocery store to prove the point. The center is mushrooms, but the eight boxes have different varieties of potatoes.......

     Plus all of these potatoes across the isle.  They often just cook them whole or in chunks, not too many mashed.  The little ones they brown in sugar and both kinds may be served in the same meal.  So many delicious choices.


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Thanksgiving for Seniors Couples


There is a wonderful couple in Copenhagen who invite the missionaries to their home once a month for dinner.  They have often had the young missionaries but because there are so many senior missionaries here from America  they invited all of us for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner.  There were 14 of us including four temple couples, an office couple and two senior sisters that work in the office, and the couple over the Young Single Adult Center. 



The food was excellent and a good mix of American and Danish.  There was turkey, potatoes, brown sauce (gravy), browned potatoes ( browned in caramelized sugar), red cabbage, cranberries, and stuffing.  The stuffing was delicious and made out of pork with flour, cranberries and other interesting things.  It is cooked inside the turkey and comes out in the exact shape of the turkey cavity




This is Bro.Knudsen who cooked the meal in their tiny kitchen.  He is a magician in the kitchen.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A NEW Car


We picked up our NEW car yesterday.  It is a diesel Opal, very roomy in the back.  It has all the bells and whistles including a GPS System.  We could get very spoiled.  There is even a place to plug in your computer and I Pad. The last presidents were local and used their own cars which meant they had to get us one to use.  We did not expect a new one, but will enjoy it as we would probably never drive a new one off the floor ourselves.

The man is explaining to Jim (in the car) how everything works.  Pres. Buur is giving support.

 The car had 350 kilometer or about 200 miles and 32.62 liters of gas which is about 7 gallons.  We put in another $70 in gas and it is barely half full.  Gas is $9-$10 a gallon here.  We will be using our bus passes a lot.  But it will he nice to have a car to go to Stake Conferences and other meetings.


Monday, November 18, 2013

A Day of MIracles

Miracle 1.  I have my purse and everything in it back!  We prayed all  weekend, and thanks to all of you who added your prayers. This morning we got a call from a woman who picked the purse up off the bus.  It had my name, my keys, and my new camera plus a couple Pass-a-Long Cards.  There was no phone number or address.  The girl called the church's translation department, I guess because of the pass-a-long card.  They called another couple to get our number.  Then she called us and told us she had it.  We took the bus and got it from her,  She was a darling young woman and we are so grateful to have everything back.  Prayers are answered here as well as for you.

Miracle 2.  
Jim performed the sealing for this darliing couple on Saturday. ( The pictures were on the lost camera.)  The miracle is that the husband, A.M. was the first baptism we attended when we came to Denmark in 2004.  He was 14, found the church at the Temple Open House, was taught by the missionaries and baptized.  He was the only member of his family and everyone worried he wouldn't hold on,  Thanks to a great ward and youth leaders here he is starting an eternal family. 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Carry on......

Left my camera in a little black purse on the bus last night, hence no pictures.  Fortunately I brought my old one so I can carry on.  I hope some honest person found it and turned it in.  Prayers would be appreciated.  We will check at the bus office tomorrow.

I took this picture at church today.  The bag looks bigger than the little girl.  Her mother said it contained her lunch and diaper.

In Denmark most children go to Borne Have( a child care system) at about 18 months and apparently become quite independent.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Praesidentinde

My official Temple Tag
Temple Matron is certainly easier to pronounce.



Thursday, November 14, 2013

Temple Praesidentskab

               The Copenhagen Denmark Temple Presidency

Pres. and Sister Nilsson                             Pres, and Sis. Williams                       Pres, and Sis. Buur
Nils Erik        Karin                                    Jim           Janet                             Poul Erik      Anna-Lissa

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The Sun, the Sun!

 It was a glorious, sunny day today.  This is the view from our balcony.  These buildings face the temple. The trees in the front are the Temple Plaza.  Denmark escaped the bombings of World War II so there are a lot of buildings from the late 1800's and early 1900's. The apartment building to the right is later and the square apartment building in back, even later.

Early Thanksgiving

 President and Sister Sederholm of the Danish Mission were kind enough to invite us to the Copenhagen Zones Thanksgiving Party.  It was delicious.  Turkey and all the trimmings.
   
. The mission has almost doubled in size in the last year.  They are up to about 125 from 75 and have 10 more coming next transfer.
The wonderful senior missionaries cooked the food along with Sis, Sederholm.  There are 10 senior couples in the mission

Monday, November 11, 2013

Beds

This is our bed.  Considering the thin top mattress, it is amazingly comfortable.  We only use a flat sheet to wrap around the top mattress and then individual comforters on top, though we have decided to put a common top flat sheet over the whole bed before the dunes(conforters)  Who would have thought bed  making could be such a new adventure. 











There are lovely matching comforter covers and pillowcases.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Stavconference - Stake Conference


     Today was the Copenhagen Stake Conference.  I quickly took this picture as the end. There was a good crowd - back to the stage.  There is an excellent stake presidency and the audience has many young people and children. A vibrant stake.  As Jim says: "This stake could be dropped in the middle of the Salt Lake Valley and would be as good as any stake there - except for the fact that they sound different."
       Jim and I were both asked to speak.  Jim did an excellent job in Danish.  I have had several comment on how good his Danish is.  One of the little miracles in our lives - when Jim came home from Denmark he 'decided' he would try to keep it up and studied and read it daily.  Now we can see it was inspiration.
      I said a couple of sentences in Danish and then used a translator.  We talked about the temple, of course, and felt the commernts were well received. The advantage of speaking English is that everyone pays very close attention to make sure they are understanding it.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Saturday Survival

  We were on our own today - no counselors.  We had baptisms, a couple sealing, with their 3 month old daughter being sealed to them as well, and a new endowment. They were all perfect, if not smooth...
   The new endowment was the son of this couple, the Mogensens. They come from the isle of Bornholm, which is an island on the other side of the Swedish peninsula,  The mother was a Danish missionary  many years ago, came back to visit, met and married her husband, and moved to Bornholm.  They have 6 children(which she went home to Idaho each time to deliver) .  They own a chicken/egg farm with 20,000 chickens.  They are a hard-working, salt of the earth, fun family and the heart of the little Bornholm Branch. This weekend is Stake Conferences and their son talked in the Saturday night meeting tonight as Bornholm
is part of our stake.  He did a great job and will be a good missionary.  They were going to take the 6 hour night ferry back tonight but it has been cancelled because of high waves.  Arn't lives interesting different?

Friday, November 8, 2013

From the Door of the Temple

Fridays are our long day at the temple.  We are there at 8 a.m and home about 9:30 pm.  This is what it looked like from the front door of the temple this morning.  You can see we are an oasis in the middle of the city.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Weinerbrod

Yes, indeed we have already enjoyed some weinerbrod (Danish Pastry).  The grocery store just a half block away has a whole counter to choose from.  These were this week's choices.  Delicious!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Exploring


Tuesday the sun was shining, the perfect day to do a little running and exploring.  I looked at a map and decided the direction I was going and started out.  When you don't know the names of streets as landmarks it is tricky to know where you are,  Fortunately I ended up at this building which I did recognize but definitely not where I thought I was headed.  It is a lovely restaurant on the lakes that border the center of Copenhagen,



There are three lakes or seas that used to protect the city.  Now they are the home to many swans and a favorite running spot .  However getting there and back was my time and energy level.  Another time we will try running around one of them.  These are not my pictures but give you the idea.











Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Nitivej Chapel


The Copenhagen Temple was built in 1935 as a chapel and dedicated by Elder John A. Widtsoe..  When it was decided to make it into a temple the church built this chapel a half block away. The basement has a baptimsal font, main floor- classrooms, second floor - chapel,  third  floor- stake offices and Distribution Cernterr, and the top floor is the patron housing for those coming to the temple.  It is a well organized and well used building.
   In Salt Lake we can walk to church around the block, but this is even closer, just a half-block away.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Food

  We realized the night we came, that food was an immediate problem.  Fortunately we have a store right around the corner.  It is called Aldi and is a poor brother of the Netto for those of you who shopped with us here before.  There are some lovely Aldis in the world, the one next to us is not one of them.  However, another half block away is a Super Best which does have most things, including Danish Pastries.  We had omelets the first night.  They will definitely become a quick staple..

   


  I made Jane Nelson's All American Soup on Thursday night and it was delicious when we came  home from the temple at 9 and 10 pm.  These are the 'cans' of tomatoes I found.  They are boxes and actually the product was very good.  Shopping is an adventure, first trying to locate what you need, and then figuring out what the package says.  Fortunately I can remember some of the Danish names.  I bought hvedemel (white flour) letmaelk(1% milk),  persille (parsley) and laur erblade (bay leaves) among other things,
   Notice our cute little kitchen table that can be folded down against the wall if needed.






We Have Arrived





The Copenhagen, Denmark Temple



   This is the view of the temple from our front door.  We live on the fourth floor of the apartment house just across the street,  It is a lovely apartment with everything we could possibly need.


   This is our evening view.  It gets dark here right now by 4:30.  We have had lots of rain since we arrived.  It is nice to only have a few steps to go to the temple.
    Everyone has been so lovely and welcoming.  The previous presidency stayed on Friday to help us get oriented.  We are just going with the flow and loving and welcoming everyone who comes through the door.  We had a very nice group of young people come Saturday for baptisms.  It has been delightful meeting old friends and making new.