Special Saturday

Really every day at the day can be special in some way, but today we had all sorts of great things going on.
   We had two full sessions as saints came from Malmo, Odense, Germany, Norway, and the US.
   We had a big baptism including two older ladies who were recently baptized and came with their ward sisters. Some sisters went to the first session and then sat with these sisters during the second session while those who went to the baptism with them, went on the second session.  There was also a darling sister from their ward who received her own endowment.  She is from Brazil, came to Denmark as an nanny, met a Danish fellow on line, and got married.  He is not a member but very supportive of her religion.

 The man on the right, also received his own endowment today. He was born in Poland, left with his parents during the 1980 revolution and they settled in Sweden. He joined the church 18 years ago, had some time "in the wilderness" but was thrilled to be in the temple.  He is married to a woman from the East, Hindu maybe, who is fine with the ideas of temples.....

 We are usually out of the temple by 2.30 on Saturday, but this group from Allerod Ward requested a special baptismal session today at 3 pm to finish their 10 mile "Walk to the Temple." They included the 6 missionaries from the ward and all except one of their youth.  Impressive accomplishment.

Super Relief Society Activity

This group of 9 Relief Society Sisters flew in from Berlin for the day to go to the temple.  I call that a great Relief Society Activity.  They came to two sessions, were going down to see The Christus and then fly home tonight.   They got terrific air deals about $60 round trip from Berlin to Copenhagen.
   We had all sorts of interesting visitors besides: a couple from Siberia,;sister and nieces of the sister missionary Jim flew to Denmark with on his first mission; a couple from a Viking Cruise (Baltic Sea) a sister missionary we knew at the England MTC from North Jutland.  It is so fun to see who will walk in the door.  This is a great calling!

Time Warp

  Today, the Madsens, a darling couple from South Jordan came in.  They are celebrating their 40th Wedding anniversary and the 100th anniversary of both of their ancestors immigrating to America from Denmark in 1906.
   The amazing part is that in our conversation, we realized I was her 6th grade teacher at Cottonwood Heights Elementary!  She was Gaylene Ward and was in my class the second year I taught.  It was such a fun reunion and she told me some of the things she remembered learning that year.  She was very kind.  A sweet tender mercy.

Back to Work

We are happy to be back working in the temple.  We have had a three week maintenance break.  The main project was new carpet.

 The new carpet is very similar to the old, perhaps a little lighter green.  They sent two workers from Salt Lake and they worked continuously.  I look and think what a huge job to pull out the old and put in the new. They cleaned the new before we came back to avoid as many allergies as possible.

Copenhagen Summer

It has been glorious weather the last couple of days.  We have been up in the 70's and will be for two more days..then back to the high 50's and 60s. sSummer may be short-lived, but hopefully pop in again soon.
  I went biking today and everyone was out enjoying the sun.

 I didn't dare get too close, as some of the outfits  were pretty skimpy, but the trees were beautiful,.

This is on the grounds of Rosenborg Castle.  A little weird to see people sitting around in bikinis.
People don't just tan, they broil.  I wonder what the rate of skin cancer is here.

Tallin, Estonia

Tallin,  Estonia was probably our favorite place to visit.

 "Tallinn's Old Town is one of the best preserved and intact medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site"

. It was founded in 1248 and was part of the Russian Block until Estonia proclaimed her independence in 1991.
  Currently it is a sort of Silicon Valley with more start-up companies per person than anywhere in Europe.  Skype was born here.

 We joined a free English walking tour for a couple of hours.

 A good part of the medieval wall still surrounds the Old Town.

 Straight out of a Fairy Tale

The main square

 Nursery school fieldtrip through the center of town.

The Pastry was some of the best I have ever had...I should have had more...

Temple in Helsink

The Helsinki Temple is in a suburb of Helsinki, Espoo.  It took us about 35 minutes by bus to get there.  We met Pres. and Sis. Grønlund, one of the counselors and went to the 6 pm session.  It is in English just as our last sessions are since they have not been dubbed into any of the Scandinavian Languages yet.

It is a beautiful temple inside and out.  Our brides' rooms are almost identical.

  After the session, we were met by Pres and Sis. Syvanen, the temple president and matron.  They showed us around the temple and we all went to dinner at a delicious Napolese Restaurant. We had such a pleasant evening.  Pres and Sis.Syvanen drove us back to our hotel, which was so nice T.hey are such lovely people.