One Week in Denmark!

Watch out for this guy....He is pretty tough.

This is his right hand man and nearly as treacherous.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the water on your clothes when you put them in a dryer?  Frankly, I never have.  But I had to consider it this week when I learned how to use the dryer in our apartment.  Lest you flood the apartment, you must empty the water receptacle each time you dry your clothes, and sometimes it has a fair amount of water in it!  Just another little thing we take for granted in Gilbert, AZ.
Here are the promised pictures of the center:
1.  Kitchen
2. 3 4.  Game or gathering room
5.  Senior Couple's office
6.  Class room for Institute, lessons, sacrament meeting
7.  Calendar

Well, it has been a whole week here today.  Right now the temperature outside is 42...but we are warm and cozy inside our apartment.  We have been gone most of the day.  We set out from home, and since the bus was not in sight we walked to the next bus stop, and the bus was not in sight there, so we walked to the next one....and so forth until we arrived at the Mission Office for an appointment with the mission president.  It was a good brisk walk on a sunny day with orange, yellow and bright red leaves everywhere.  Our mission president - President Sederholm is an inspired man and an inspiring man.  We came away from our first interview with him excited about the possibilities to be of use in this part of the Lord's vineyard.

In the afternoon, Stan went to the temple to be a witness – again – for baptisms while I opened the center.  Since this whole week is somewhat of a holiday (Fall Break) no one came.  When Stan finished at the temple he came to the center and we waiting around for a little while and then went home – ON THE BUS.  I know we will walk it again, because it is great exercise, but it was nice to ride.

Earlier this week we walked past a little Cantonese restaurant.  It looked like a very small garishly red and gold pagoda from the outside. …not at all the sort of place I would look at and think, “This looks good!”  He has been wanting to go back to see if it is the place he remembers eating at 50 years  ago.  He and his zone ate there once a month and he has such fond memories of the sweet and sour fish.  So after leaving our things in the apartment, we ventured out to see if we could find it, and if it was possibly the same place.

I was a little nervous….looking at it from the outside I was sure we would get food poisoning.  We found it easily enough, and went through the door to find a beautiful large space with rich wall hangings and shining table tops with candles twinkling.  The table we were conducted to had freshly pressed linens and upholstered chairs.  The only noise we could hear was the happy murmers of contented diners.  We examined our menus and quickly found sweet and sour fish.  Well….you know by now, that Stan was broken up from the time we decided to find it.  This was indeed very exciting.  After being seated we asked the waitress how long the restaurant had been there…her reply was 16 years.  I was almost as disappointed as Stan was.  She was oriental and had quite a bit of an accent.  When Stan asked again for clarification, she said “60 years.”  Whoo Hoo!  This could very well be the place.

We ordered, and waited with anticipation.  Stan kept saying, “I hope this is the one!”  His memory of the dish was that it was incredibly delicious, and that the “sweet” of the sweet and sour came from raisins.  Our meals were brought to us and  his first comment was, “It’s pineapple!”  - meaning the sweetener was pineapple and not raisins.   Then he took the first bit….and was supremely satisfied.  So was I.  It was excellent.  We cleaned our plates….what a great meal.  Stan is convinced that is the place – so what if the recipe has changed a bit…..it is still wonderful.

I know you're thinking "Hey that doesn't look so bad," but the camera really cleaned it up..honest!  I don't want to lose all credibility.

In our first week here, Stan had two of his dreams come true….finding Brother Johannessen and finding that little Danish Cantonese restaurant with sweet and sour fish.  Wow….what else lies ahead