Tidwells in Roskilde

Some good friends from our Holladay neighborhood, Kathy and Tony Tidwell (who were with the tour a few days ago..) came to the temple for the noon session and afterward we took them out to Roskilde.  They had done most of the sites in Copenhagen and Roskilde is one of our favorite cities.
 Roskilde was the old capital of Denmark and the kings and queens of Denmark are all buried in the famous  Church there. Plus we walked by the Viking Ship Museum, but it was closed.  Pictures for another time....

Hollyhock in Denmark too.

A Sweet Week

There have not been large numbers of people at the temple this week, but we have had some sweet, special experiences.
   Yesterday, we had two sisters (from different families) come to the temple for the first time in many years.  One has been home with a sick husband who recently passed away and the other has MS.  They were both so happy to be back in the temple.
    This week we have or will have four young people receive their own endowments.  One is going on a mission and this sweet sister is from Ghana and studying in Denmark for two years. Her mother came from Ghana to be with her and this good man, Brother Larsen, and his wife took her under their wings and helped her prepare.

And she was well prepared and so thrilled. As we talked to her afterward she repeated several times how it felt like she home.  She spoke English so I took care of her.
Tomorrow we have a Danish couple coming who will be married the first of August. Pres. and Sister Buur will take care of them and if they were Swedish, Pres. and Sister Nelsson would take care of them. It is easy to divide things up by language.

Tour Group

Life keeps moving on and new memories are made every day even when we haven't shared all the past ones.  I will return to Fanø again but today there was a ring at the door of the temple and this is what we saw when we opened it.......

 a tour group of 88 who had just finished the Baltic Cruise and were seeing a few things around Copenhagen before they flew out today.  Rich and Karen Nielsen and Kathy and Tony Tidwell from our old ward  in Holladay were among the group.  Look close you may recognize someone from your neighborhood.

Fanø Part 1

Fanø is an island just off the coast of Esbjerg, a 15 minute ferry ride and an easy distance to cover with a bridge.  The people of the island do not want that much traffic from the mainland. They now have a delightful, out of the way, calm, simple tourist destination.  There are many vacation homes and apartments to rent.

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 Three little cities dot the 8 mile long island.  The main one on  the north end is Nordby and the one on the south, Sønderho, and a little one in the middle Rynby (I think). All were so fun to walk around and just casually enjoy the little shops and picturesque homes and gardens.

 Downtown.

 It's a good thing the floor drops several inches once inside this house or there could be a lot of back problems..

 Such magnificent flowers and gardens all over the island.....

There is a famous slagter or butcher in Nordby....an interesting window display.

Ribe

Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark.  It is mentioned in records from 854 A.D.  It is famous for it's church and many old buildings.  We spent the afternoon there and here are a few pictures to give you a feel for what a lovely,  place it is to visit.

 This restaurant is from the 1500's

The flowers were in full bloom all over town and made almost every view picture postcard quality.

Esbjerg Weekend

I took 190 pictures this weekend. It will be hard to pick just a few to share, but I will try.
  It was a great weekend and we enjoyed being with Paul Erik and Anne-Lisse Buur in their lovely home on the ocean in Esbjerg.  Esbjerg is on the West side of Denmark.(You could actually catch a 30 hour ferry from there to England.)
  Their home is fabjulous with huge windows to enjoy the view and you can walk directly to the beach.

Which we did this morning.

Sunday we spoke to the combined Relief Society and Priesthood at the Esbjerg Ward.  It is a good strong ward and we enjoyed meeting many of our great temple workers and patrons.

We enjoyed smørbrød (buttered bread with various toppings)

 on their lovely deck.  The weather was perfect...I didn't even need a sweater!

Graveyards

Note: We are off tomorrow to Espberg on the west coast of Denmark until Monday  I may or may not be able to post..

We celebrated the 4th of July by working in the temple all day.  But there were several Danes who mentioned it.  It is also vacation time for Denmark so many of the people we have coming are tourists which makes up for the Danes who are somewhere else.
 This graveyard is close to the big Grundtvig Church and really a lovely place, a lot like a huge park..

Hedges often separate the lots and they even provide watering cans you can use.

Note the cute little figurines on the top.  Some were permanent and made of stone.