No Really, It Is Not About the Food

January 31 and the end of the month.  Tracy from our Danish class said that normally in January, Copenhagen sees about 43 hours of sunlight.  A record of sorts has happened -  January 2014 saw only 17 hours.  Frankly, I would have guessed fewer than 17.

It snowed as we walked to the bus, as we walked to school, as we sat in class glancing out the window, as we waited for the bus and then walked home.  It is pretty cold here.  I have heard it said that there is no bad weather in Denmark, just people who aren't dressed properly.  I often see people in shirt sleeves standing outside of a building smoking...it can't be all that bad then.

In class today, Mary Theresa from India brought a birthday cake....a delicious yellow cake drenched in white chocolate and then covered in berries and whipped cream.  Her birthday was January 10 and mine a week later, so she said that she brought it for our birthdays.  Wasn't that sweet?  (absolutely no pun intended)

At some point SK took the bus to the mission office where he picked up the car so that we could drive out to a suburb about a half hour away from here.  We had dinner with our stake president and his wife, and then spent some time with them talking about the YSA program.  It was a beautiful evening.

She fixed a wonderful chicken dish....I couldn't quite figure out the seasoning.  It was subtle and so delicious.  She later told me that it was curry.  I knew the Danes like curry as a seasoning, but this was my first experience with it.  The one dish I have used it for and the dishes we have at our favorite Thai restaurant in Gilbert practically slap you in the face with curry.  But this was so delicate that I had trouble identifying it.  I am going to ferret out some Danish recipes with curry and try them.

For dessert, she served a fromage...a light lemon souffle type of sweet, served with ice cream. Chocolate was drizzled over the top....soooo good.

The visit with President and Sister Berhskov was so helpful.  He gave us some good direction and advice and said continue doing what you are doing otherwise.  He told us to go visit the other wards and branches and get acquainted with the YSAs who aren't coming to the center.  I am excited about that.

He is very much committed to the YSAs.  The couple we replaced were released in March and returned to Utah.  There was no one to replace them then...our mission call had been extended but we didn't get here until October 11.  The stake called a local couple to serve there, but I guess it didn't work out.  In May, President Bernskov was in Utah and visited the Telfords.  I believe he asked them if they would be willing to return until we got there.  So they did....without a formal mission call, but with the blessings of the stake president and kept things going there until we arrived.

Elder L. Tom Perry has said that the majority of the future growth of the Church in Europe would come from the YSA age group.  I see how important it is here to the leaders to keep this group actively engaged in the Gospel and I am so happy to be a small part of it.