A White Morning

We woke up to a world of white. Last night as we came home from the temple there were little balls of hail falling. It was beautiful and we had a good day at the temple.  The Swedish group came over, but were a little late as they had to wait for the ferry.  The bridge between Sweden and Denmark was closed so everyone was taking the ferry
   .They clear the bike paths, but not the sidewalks here.  Makes walking a little challenging on the ice.

A Blustery Day

The wind blew all night and someone's patio furniture finally stopped rattling about 2 a.m.  I hope you can see this picture.  It is of the storm coming in over Ny Havn in downtown Copenhagen.  It could be a piece of art.
  We had some dedicated patrons that weathered the storm and came today.  We were grateful for them and our wonderful temple workers.

Hurricane

Tonight there has been hurricane winds coming across from Scotland.  People have been talking about it all day.  We haven't seen too much here in the middle of Copenhagen, but they say they have the highest flood waves in 60 years out on the coasts.  They have closed all the bridges and the trains stopped running about 6 pm.  There is not a soul out on the streets, no bikes, no buses, no cars.  It is a little strange.
   We were thankful for our good temple workers and the few patrons who came to the temple.
   I took pictures last night of our little nativity set  in our temple garden ..before the wind blew them over.

Our Shipment finally arrived

Our shipment finally arrived - a month late.  In this picture we have put most of it away. I would have packed a little differently now that we have been here.  But we didn't do to badly.  We were most grateful for our winter coats.

Christmas Comes Early

The Copenhagen Zones had their Christmas Dinner today and we were invited.

These little traditional Nisse Men decorated the tables.

These are the wonderful couples serving here in Copenhagen.  The Baileys here on the end arrived  a couple weeks ago and are archiving missionaries working with the government and photographing all the death certificates from 1805 to 1965. They are enjoying the work and the Danes they are working with. She is from Manti and my father married them in the Manti Temple. They lived in Ephraim 10 years ago in my aunt's house on Main Street. It is such a small world.

I took the picture as we are not technically part of the mission. 

Family Home Evening

The missionary couples usually  get together on Monday nights for a short discussion and refreshments.  Tonight we went to the two single sisters' apartment and the Christensens gave a report of an interv iew they heard on the Mormon Channel about the first couple to live in the Joseph Smith Home after the church bought it.  They faced major opposition and were called for five years and released twenty five years later.
     This is a typical refreshment, especially this time of year.  Abelskivers with jam and powdered sugar and clementines, plus some gummy sort of sweets.  Very nice.

Fredericksberg Slot

  In church today we met a darling couple.  She is from Arizona and he is from Denmark but attended Utah State.  A friend of a friend lined them up on Facebook after he had gone back to Denmark.  They connected, Skyped, visited and were married last Summer.  He is in the Danish Army and going to Afghanistan so she is going back to Arizona while he is deployed.
   He has been at the Military Academy here in Copenhagen which is located in the Fredericksberg Slot or castle and took us on a private tour today.  It was built in the mid-1800's when the Crown Prince visited Italy and loved the art and achitecture.  He asked for 14,000 crowns which would have only built two rooms, but his father died soon afterward and he became king and finished it the way he wanted.  It has been added onto and now looks like this.

 We climbed to the top where the flags were and enjoyed this great view of  Copenhagen.

 Yes, it was cold and windy.  Jim's coat was in the castle while we climbed the 200 stairs to the top.

 The chapel which was dug two meters deeper so they could have a high church ceiling. Still in use every week.

The princesses Pancake house.  It started out as a little room where the queen could go and play peasant, but eventually became a playroom for the princesses.  All the tiles are hand painted from Royal Copenhagen.

We were so pleased to be taken on the tour, the academy is seldom open to the public.