Sunday, August 31, 2014

Manor Hotels

We were asked to speak in the Aarhus Sacrament Meeting today as well as help with the combined Relief Society and Priesthood.  The whole day was on temples. Three or four people came up and had felt inspired to do something about attending the temple, so it was a successful day.
   I have discovered new housing options when we travel to Jutland.  There are numerous old manor/castle houses that have been turned into hotels.  This was the one we stayed at in Nibe
   Yes there is a moat in front. The place dates back to Viking Times and was built in it's present style in the early 1700s.  The first owner was given as much land as he could ride around in a day.  The peasants said it looked like the devil himself flying by.
      Besides being a hotel, it is a conference center with many different rooms for meetings, parties and weddings.
   We opted out of  the canopied beds in the main house and enjoyed a "simpler" set up in one of the other buildings.

Weddings

We had two of our temple workers get married yesterday.  We drove to Nibe which is in Northern Jutland for one of them yesterday, hence the late post.
   Charlotte Frederiksen married Sebastian Haibrock in the temple with his father, the previous Temple President, the  performing the sealing.  We had to leave before they came out, but this was the beginning of the group to greet them afterward, These are his two children by a previous marriage.  Charlotte is a fabulous girl and we wish them all the best.

Lis Steffensen has been a stalwart in the temple since it was opened. She has been divorced for 20 years and has 6 lovely grown-up children. She and Helgi Louve Andersen had just begun dating when we arrived in November.  It has been fun to see the relationship blossom and attend their lovely wedding festivities last night in Nibe, which is just 10 miles outside of Aalborg in North Jutland.
                                                            Such a good couple.

 The food was fabulous, 4 different salads, potatoes, ham, beef and ribs.....Plus soft self- serve ice cream with toppings and cake for dessert.  It couldn't have been better.

 Danish celebrations are all night events.  We came at 6.00 pm and were some of the first to leave at 11:20 p.m.  There is a master of ceremonies, talks, singing, Skåls (toasts) and visiting. People make up personalized songs about the couple to be sung either by them or us with the words printed and handed out. Lis sang to Helgi and her daughters did a great song. It was a fun evening even if I didn't understand anything that was said. Actually Jim was good to translate.  One on one visiting was fine as most speak English
What a great contraption to catch a big group picture.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Thanks Stockholm.

Most Fridays I spend all day in the temple from 8 to 8, so I don't get many good pictures, but good stories.       We had two sisters who were born in Denmark, but now live in the U.S. who came to the temple and kept meeting  good friends from Denmark they had known. You can imagine they  had a wonderful time and were the last ones out tonight.
    The Stockholm Temple has been shut down so we have had some of their workers drop by. And we have had two missionaries come for the first time this week, plus a wedding from the Stockholm Temple District. The sister is going to the Alpine-German Speaking mission and will be going to the Preston MTC. The elder is going to South Africa and will going to the MTC in Johannesburg.
    We were short on a coordinator this afternoon, so Sis Nilsson and I coordinated as coordinator. Every day at the temple is different with various challenges, blessings and stories.  I love it!
                                                          Thanks Stockholm.....

Thursday, August 28, 2014

New Plantings

They put in the new fall plants on the square this week. The weather has warmed up a bit, hopefully they can get a good start.



Wednesday, August 27, 2014

English Anyone?

I finally broke down and bought a stylus to use on my I-pad.  Only because I could buy one at Tiger, the dollar store, for $2.00.  I'm surprised at how much better it works than my finger.
The crazy part was the information on the back of the package..It is the same on most of the things we buy here...No English. This works okay on this package as they have borrowed English words, Norway and Netherlands are close, but on  food packages and cooking instructions it's a bit of guess work.


Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Lights

Sad to say, the daylight is getting shorter here.  It is now quite dark by 9 pm.  We had an eating appointment with the other missionaries at Kochs.  If I ride my bike, Jim can take the other 4 in the car. It is a lovely ride and only takes about 15 minutes. However, coming home I worried about it getting dark so I bought lights and put on the bike today.  I felt so Danish.


Monday, August 25, 2014

Subway Substitute

Charlotte F. whom I visit teach is getting married Saturday and was packing today.  I went to visit her for a last time and we went for lunch...bagel sandwiches.  I felt like I was in Subway with all the choices.  It was delicious.  We have a bagel sandwich place just across the street.  I will have to check it out.
 Some interesting additions: humus, corn, pineapple, feta cheese.  You can also make it into a salad.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

little MIracles

 One of the coordinators in the temple is also an assistant technician and keeps the outside and gardening around the temple up.  He told of a little miracle in the garden last week.  There was a lovely plant which he discovered had died and was only branches.  His boss came by and also declared it dead and needing to be replaced.  It is a mature plant and has been beautiful in the past.  Br. Bischoff decided to talk to the Lord about the problem and with faith prayed over it.   Five days later he found new green leaves coming out, like a new spring plant.  A sweet miracle for everyone to enjoy.

We saw another sort of miracle to day at church.  Two weeks ago we received an email on the temple email from a girl named Linda who has moved close to the temple from Latvia.  She knew members in Latvia and had researched the church on line.  She recognized the name of the church and was so excited to live so close to one.  She wrote to say she would like to join our church and how could she do that.  We sent the referral to the mission office. The missionaries visited her Friday afternoon and she has a baptismal date for the end of September. It will be exciting to see how it all progresses.  We have a great YSA group here for her to connect with. 
 The Lord promises us we will find those who are prepared or they will find us.  That's why we talk to people, to find the prepared ones.  It is certainly easier when they come to you, but when that happens, they have been prepared by others.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Swedish International

We had a wonderful Saturday today with most of the work being done by our Swedish Saints, or at least living in Sweden right now. Our Saturday Open Baptism had over 18 including this darling girl from Mongolia who just arrived this week to live with her mother who came to Sweden to find a righteous priesthood holder to marry and did...


This couple live very close to the Stockholm Temple, but it is closed right now, so we were blessed to have them come here to be married.  They were so darling together.  She is originally from Serbia and met the church through girlfriends in Sweden.

 
 The sister in the red jacket received her own endowment today..in Croatian. Her commented after the experience was that she now felt whole.
   No we didn't have anyone that spoke Croatian, but she managed with Swedish at the veil.  Her Relief Society President (the one hugging her) is a single sister originally from Germany and still working on her Swedish.  There was lots of interpreting and sign language going on.  But it all worked out, as it always does.



Friday, August 22, 2014

School Time Again

  School started here last week.  Every child from the time they go to their first child care spot has their own backpack.  I think this little is girl is about 18 months old and carries everything she needs to børnehave on her own.

It's almost bigger than she is......

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Lost and Found

I like to do a couple of good bike rides a week for exercise.  This morning I started out and tried a new way home. That is part of the fun as long as you aren't lost for too long. I found these picturesque yellow buildings.

This one I realized I know from the front, it is Frederiksberg Palace ,now a military school.

 I also found our (?) swans... The babies are almost as big as the parents, still a little on the "ugly duckling" side with a mixture of down and  feathers.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Hair Day

 One of the biggest challenges of serving a mission is keeping your hair colored and cut.  Today, Sis. Hoge, one of our temple missionaries came over and helped.  She did a great job.

It's always a happy surprise when it turns out well.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Delicious!

The missionaries went to Knudsens' for dinner tonight and it was excellent as usual.  For dessert we had Citron Frommage.  It is a light, gelatin, lemon goodness with whipped creme of coarse.


The other really delicious part of our day was receiving a surprise box of See's Chocolates from the Petersens who are leaving in the morning for home. They have only been here two weeks, but have been so helpful and had a good time renewing old friendships.  We will miss them.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Boats

After a quick trip to the George Jensen/Royal Copenhagen Outlet where we had a great time browsing and finding a few treasures,  we drove out to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde.  The Vikings are becoming an interesting subject for us.. There are so many museums, excavation sites and artifacts from them around  us.
Once the Vikings learned how to put a keel in the bottom of their boats, they could go further, faster, and in shallower water which allowed them to attack, even up rivers, before overland help could come..
    We went to the Kristina Statue to find Linda's ancestor's name in the bricks and saw this beautiful modern day sailing vessel, an elegant home on water.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Slagelse

Speaking on the High Council rotation took us to Slagelse today.  It is on the western part of the island of Sjaelland. Suzanne was confirmed a member of the church today.  These cute sisters met her sitting on a park bench.  She has been searching for several years.  She was nice and outgoing, but has some interesting  ideas about being able to heal people.....I hope she can connect the right dots.  The missionary on the right goes home Wednesday.  A nice way to end your mission.

Afterward we drove around to Linda Smith's ancestors' towns which were close: Sorø and Holløse and Tølløse.We found an interesting museum in Sorø plus a wonderful old church completed in 1204.  Bishop Absolom,  the first Christian Bishop, in Denmark was buried there.  They had opened his tomb several times through the years and had on display the silver chalice he held between his hands and the ring buried with him, which actually would have been a more interesting picture...

 The Sorø Church was the third longest medieval church in Europe.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Smiths

Our good friends, Linda and Jay Smith, who served as Medical Advisors at the England MTC have stopped over for a  couple of  days after their Norwegian Fjords' Cruise Poor Jay was sick the whole cruise!  What a sad story.
   They came to the temple and afterward we went to see The Christus .......
 and then to Tivoli.  They have a boys' band that has been a tradition since Jim was there on a mission.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Temple Visitors

Our computer was out last night so now an update on all the special visitors we have had in the last two days.
   Elder and Sister Tiexiera, our Area President from Frankfurt is touring the Danish Mission and had a meeting with the missionary couples in the Copenhagen Area.  They invited the Temple Missionaries as well.  It was a very sweet, personal meeting and we learned a lot about what a life of service can mean.
 Kathy and Jack Newton whom we know from our years at Olympus High came to a session with friends who were also going on the Baltic Cruise today. Marilyn and Gary Peterson who are here as short time missionaries also knew them.
 A missionary that served with Jim, James Hansen and his wife came to the temple with President and Sister Porter.  Who in the conversation we found out was our son-in-law, Randy's Mission President in Venezuela. Love all the great church connections we make here.


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Time to Say Good-bye

All good things come to an end.  The Kobes left this morning, well this afternoon as their plane was delayed two hours.  Which actually worked great as we were able to do some last minute Royal Copenhagen Porcelain shopping at a good little antique shop we found.


Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Week End Recap

Sunday afternoon after church we drove with Wendy, Kyle, Janey and Jolene, Kyle's mother, to Aarhus which is over on Jutland.
Monday morning we went to Den Gamle By and realized you could spend a lot of time there.  This is our second trip in a month and there is still lots I could read and enjoy.  The village priest was taking an early morning stroll through The Old Town.
 Next we drove a little north to Segalt and Hesselballe, where the Kobe ancestors came from.  There were huge wheat fields and a little beach to enjoy.
Then south to the Viking Graves at Jelling.
   
We found a great place to stay just outside of Vejle.  An old manor house turned into a hotel/conference center.
Today we went to Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark and enjoyed it even in the 60 degree windy weather.
We finished up in Odense at Hans Christensen Andersen's Home.  It was a great trip even if the parking was impossible as they are preparing for their big flower show this weekend. The swan is made out of flowers and gives just a tiny taste of what will be going on throughout the city square.
It was a fast, fun, trip and we made it home in good time for the special temple session we have on the second Tuesday of every month, impressive