Christmas Trees

We are all decorated for Christmas and now officially listening to Christmas music.  Here are our little trees.  They are just right for our apartment.

  Dressing up the regulars

 This ute little tree usually live on our balcony, but it has been too windy to leave it outside this weekend.  So we are glad to have it visiting us in the house.

  The official tree we brought with us.  Thanks to The Festival of Trees several years ago.. It is our favorite.

High Priest Party

The Knudsens hosted the High Priest Party for this month.  They have so many lovely Christmas decorations.  A fun combination of  expensive and home-made.

We had a great build your own taco salad and then made traditional Danish Christmas decorations....

 Woven heart baskets and stars.  It will take some practice.....

Visitors

One of the lovely parts of serving in this temple is meeting the many visitors that come.  Today we had one of our sister missionaries come back.  Loni was in the mission when we arrived and just got married a wonderful man, Russ.  They were in Switzerland where he served a mission and then came here to Loni's mission.  Such a great couple, worth the wait.

  The Fenns were our other visitors.  They are working on the temple in Rome, and came to see our temple.  It was a pleasure to take them around.  They said the church campus in Rome is 17 acres and is going to be fabulou...
    

 One of our dear temple worker, Ellen, McKnight, served a short-time mission in Italy in 2001.  She said all the missionaries in the four Italian Missions at that time, got out of bed every morning at 6:30 a.m.and prayed for a temple in Italy.

Happy Day

We had a lovely wedding at the temple day.  The couple was from Sweden and were so excited and happy.  As you see, they were lots of fun.

The wedding was at 4 p.m.  They were smart enough to take all their pictures before.  As you can see by 4:45 when they went out it was pretty dark.

Kate Elizabeth

Welcome to this beautiful world Kate Elizabeth.  This is Brian and Elizabeth's second daughter and we are so thrilled for them.  She was born November 25, 2014 at 9:22 am and  weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and is 20 inches long.  There now it is all down for posterity and family history.

BLESSINGS

This Thanksgiving week we have been especially blessed with a healthy new granddaughter to Brian and Elizabeth Williams.  Molly their first daughter's delivery was very stressful.  This delivery was a breeze.  We are very grateful.  There will be pictures, of course, as they become available....

   To celebrate this week and Thanksgiving we invited the temple missionary couples; Hoges and Hansens, and Johan and Lisa Koch, who feed us every month and Jesper and Metter Paulsen.  Metter has put together a Danish class for us and Jesper works in the temple with us.  Everyone brought something and it was delicious and a fun night.

  We put out our Christmas Decorations for the occasion, but I needed the centerpiece to be a reminder of the many bounties of life and good things we are blessed with.

I do like the bright red of Christmas.

Primary Program

Just like the rest of the church ,world-wide the Fall, we had our Primary Program. Today, I caught these pictures at the end.  After the meetings here, everyone stays seated while they play a hymn through.  Then they get up and leave.

Kids are the same, all over the world.
 

Satisfying Saturday

Today was a great Saturday. We had several groups from Sweden, two new endowments, 30 from various wards and families for baptisms and all the ordinances full all day.  We love it when the temple is so busy.
  Tonight we are celebrating by getting the Christmas decorations out.  I only brought one box.  It actually is quite nice to have such a limited amount, especially since I have limited space.

Today at the Temple

Several times today we all found ourselves saying what an unusual day at the temple.  Some things were good and some are not so great.  The not so great ..we got new computers and they are not working right!  We have spent all day calling and having people come in to look at it. Maybe the elves will fix them overnight......
   On top of that we opened the door to find out we couldn't go out as there was scaffolding in front to put up Christmas light. Hence we had to use the handicap door for a bit.  Then a lady fell on her bike in front of the temple and they were looking for towels, which we furnished, until the ambulance came,
   The Young Single Adults came and we had this many go on a session and an equal number doing baptisms.  They are such a good group and we really enjoy having them come.

   We also had a group of 14 sister missionaries and 6 elders come to the temple.  They were the missionaries that came a month ago and their trainers.  One of the new sisters was Sis. Thompsen, who turned out to be my cousin's granddaughter.  When she comes again, I will definitely get a picture..

Computer back

I had such a good story for yesterday and my computer wouldn't connect.  But today it is back so on with the great story.
     This is Katya Sviridova from Volgograd, Russia.  She was the translator for the Nørrungs who served a mission there and has come to visit them for a few days.

I asked her how she joined the church.
   Her father was a Russian pilot and they were living in the Ukraine when the Ukraine split off and all Russians were sent back to Russia.  They ended up with her grandparents in Volgograd, but it was very hard on the marriage and her parents were in the final steps to get divorced.
   At this time, a friend came to visit and told them about the church she had just joined.  She felt there was something wrong in the family, even though no one said anything, and asked if they would like to have the missionaries come to visit.  They refused and 3 days before Katya's father was to go to his parents in Siberia, the friend came by again,,with the missionaries.....  They visited for a bit and "accidentally" left a Book of Mormon on the table as they left.
    Katya said that when she returned to the room after saying good-bye to her friend she couldn't believe her eyes, Her parents were doing something she hadn't seen them do for months, they were sitting together on the couch reading and talking about the Book of Mormon.
    The missionaries came back and taught them every day and they set a date to be baptized.

However, her father couldn't stop smoking.  The missionaries tried everything and he decided he couldn't be baptized but that the rest of the family should.  The mother said they should do it as a family or not at all.  The week before the date, the father got up one day, threw his cigarettes in the fireplace and said he would be baptized.  They were baptized the morning that their missionary had an afternoon flight home.  A year later they were sealed in the Swedish temple and her father was bishop of their ward five years later.

Isn't the gospel wonderful!

Thanksgiving at Knudsens

Erling and Elsa Knudsen hosted the senior missionaries for a Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  It was fabulous as usual.  It was very pleasant to visit with everyone.

 The big plate on the right is the stuffing from inside the turkey.  It is a sausage sort of mixture and sooo good.

There are three couples from the temple: Williams, Hoges, Hansens; the office missionaries: Elder and Sister Thorne and Sis. Hamblin; the CES couple -Elder and Sis. Madsen; and one of the couples that digitize records - Elder and Sister Brooks, plus the Knudsens and their beautiful daughter, Lena.

GIANT size apple pie with whipping cream and cranberry sauce for dessert!  The Holidays are starting.

Tivoli Farewell for the Fonnesbecks

Bruce and Michael Ann Fonnesbeck have been here for 90 days, the longest you can remain without a visa.  They have acted as temple missionaries coming every day.  We have so appreciated their service and great spirit.  Per their last request we all went to Tivoli tonight to see the Christmas Decorations and have a last flæskestege sandwich.

The lights were beautiful and we even caught the light and water show by the lake.

Steve and Marion Clawson own an apartment right by the temple but go back to the US from December 9 to April 9.  They would be happy to rent it out if any of you want to come and work in the temple.

More Beauty and the Beast

 I am still singing songs from the show last night, though I have transposed them to English in my mind.  We are both still commenting on how much we enjoyed the show.
  Ann-Marie, Thomas wife, and their son Connor had come to see the show with some friends from the states.  It is only the second time Ann-Marie has seen it.  She has to pay full price every time she comes.  There are no price breaks for anyone.  No last minute deals, etc.
   Here is the playlist for the night.  Chip was played by Thomas and Ann-Marie's 8 year old daughter.  She did a great job and actually has quite a few lines.  Check out her multiple names.  This is quite common in Denmark

 We met Thomas and Laura right after and he had permission to take us up on the stage.  It was an amazing small stage for such a grand production.  All of the scenery is pulled up above the stage and stored.
 

This is the rotating  "home" of the beast on stage.

 The rose and petals are radio controlled to fall as needed.  They are each hooked to fish line.

Thomas is so gracious and really kind.  You could actually feel it in the play.

The costumes were fabulous and just keep coming.  They had a whole new set for the final scene and so elegant.  The jewels on this outfit were all hand sewn or glued on.  Thomas took us to the "green" room where many of the other costumes were stored.

 The wolves

 Mrs. Potts

 Silverware head pieces plus Conner, Ann-Marie and friend. Thomas met them when he was an exchange student at Bingham High School in Salt Lake as a teenager.

Look at the elegance: lace, ruffles,hoops, feathers and bling.  So fun!

Beauty and the Beast

After much debate we went to see Beauty and the Beast tonight starring Thomas Kofod.  The debate came because it is all in Danish.  We saw it when we were here before and I didn't get a lot of it.  But this time I watched a video of it on You Tube to get familiar with the music and the details of the story again and it made all the difference.  We loved it!

It was at The Nye Theater downtown and following the majority of the people here, we rode the bus.

 The theater had seating for 1,000 on four levels so it actually felt pretty intimate. We sat in the last 4 rows and could see the faces well.

I will make an additional post on this tomorrow.  It was such a great night.

Sweet Story

Today this darling couple came for her to receive her own endowment.  Jennifer  is from Ottawa Canada. Marius was a missionary in the Montreal Mission that included her little town.  She helped the sister missionaries and he met her.  After he returned to Norway, a common friend connected them.  She is a nurse and worked nights and he was the only one close to her time zone to talk to during the middle of the night.  She came to visit as part of her graduation trip through Europe, then came back this summer and now they are engaged.

    She was baptized 4 years ago.  A boy she was dating, who was a member, introduced her to the church.  She went several times, they broke up, but she decided to look the church up again and was baptized. She is the only member in here family. Marius was born in the church but none of his family is now active.  So these two have pulled it together all on their own and will be coming in March to be married.
      Once again it verifies that God is in our lives and manages them according to his great plan.

Little Miracles

We had a little miracle at the temple today. Sis. S was scheduled to receive her own endowment and was to be in the temple at 4 pm. Her mother called a couple of hours ahead and said she was so sick to her stomach, but hey were still planning to come to the temple and, if needs be, get a blessing.  They finally arrived at 4.25 and the girl was feeling fine,  She recognized to all of us that it was a miracle and she was able to enjoy the experience and left still feeling fine.

Sis Buur told us another story about a man from Esberg who was here last week and stopped them at church Sunday to tell them about his experience in the temple.  She said he is a pretty down to earth sort and was amazed at the experience.  He was being sealed for his great great grandparents and he saw his great great grandmother and heard her say, "I have been waiting so long for this."

From The Other Side of the Street

We were coming home from Family Night at the Hansens who live on the other side of the temple last week and I caught this shot of our building.  I am always taking pictures looking out so this was a fun new perspective.

We live on the fourth floor, far right apartment.  It is a good spot as we only hear our neighbors upstairs at midnight when they roll something across the floor.  We have decided it is their bed they are pulling out.

Fall

I have watched the leaves fall off the trees by the temple as Fall has progressed.  Today I biked out to the Rødovre Mall along the Damsø and through a green parkway.  I enjoyed the last color of Fall and all the leaves on the ground.

I'm glad I don't have to rake them.  My house in Holladay unfortunately, has about as many and they do need to be raked up.  Thanks to whomever does it!

 When I stopped to take a picture,  these fellows came looking for a handout.  There are so many ducks and swans in the city area.

Holiday Birds

In my shopping today I was looking for turkey for Thanksgiving.  This is what fills the meat counters here: and or duck.  There is whole duck, duck breast and everything in - between.

  I found these few little turkeys at Fotex (blue rapper)  They are all 4800 grams and cost 205 Kroner, about $35.00 for a 9 pound turkey!  I wonder how they get them all the  exact same size....

They even have duck bullion to go along with it.