Danish is Not Just a Pastry

It was our first Danish class after a 2-week break.  Most of the other students that have been with us since the start were there....everyone hanging in there.  We heard something interesting today:  Languages that are the most difficult to learn to speak are #1 Chinese, #2 Japanese, #3 Danish.   That is not the grammar but the pronunciation.  Part of that might be the fact that spelling the word doesn't necessarily insure a good pronunciation.

For instance the word byde might look simple to you.  It is pronounced beuthah....kind of.  Ys are pronounced like the sound you make if you see a dreadful-looking bug.....eeuuuu!  Ds in the middle of words sound like a th and an E at the end of a word is "uh."  There you have it!

Today we learned about how to tell time...which is another story.  You never answer a simple 10:25.  You would say (in Danish of course!) five minutes before half hour before 11.  Or fem minutter i halv elve.  See ... you are now almost fluent!

I had an interesting discussion with a lovely young woman from Japan about her beliefs.  She believes in many gods....for everything under the sun...and I guess including the sun.  She has great reverence for those who have passed on and told me that a sad thing happening in Japan is that children grow up and move away and there is no one to tend the grave.  I told her it is not exactly the same but it seems like we see something similar in America.

I remember every Memorial Day driving to Wellsville, Utah with my family, where my grandma would take charge of cleaning off graves and decorating them with beautiful fresh flowers.  While we don't believe our loved ones are there, we nevertheless reverenced them and the lives they lived.  But these days, now that my mother's generation is gone, I am not sure anyone regularly goes to cemeteries to take care of graves of dear ones.

We had a nice sized group at Family Home Evening tonight.  We had 2 investigators and also a young man who will be getting baptized this month.  It is always exciting to have that missionary spirit there. This Thursday, we will have another investigator who has committed to baptism.  I can't think of any place better to bring an investigator.  We have several recently returned missionaries who like nothing more than to spend time with someone who is interested in the Gospel, and we have several new converts who love to share what they have discovered.  Can it get any better than that?

Godnat!