Monday...A Great Way to Start the Week!

I spoke with the young woman from Liberia today before Danish class.  She is heartily discouraged about her Danish, the gray weather and Denmark.  Her husband is here for work, and she has no idea how long they will assigned to this country. I could see homesickness written all over her beautiful face.

During class, she shared with us some of the changes that have taken place "since the war."  We read a table in our text book that pointed out how families have changed in the last 40 years.  in 1970, 40% of Danish households had 5 or more people.  Today 3% live in households with 5 or more people, and nearly half of all households now consist of 1 person.  The Liberian woman said that because of the war, there are homes with over a hundred people in them.  I can't even imagine what the conditions are that she is talking about.

Another young woman shared some stories of her land - Ghana - that were fascinating.  But it makes me stop and think again.  We are together for a few hours a week and we talk and laugh and learn Danish together, but our lives in our homelands were so vastly different.  We are so blessed with so many comforts and it is easy to never question how anyone else lives.

Family Home Evening tonight was - as usual - wonderful.  We had a good turnout, including two young men who came at the invitation of a couple of young sister missionaries.  One was from Florida and the other from England.   They are missionaries too!  For another church which is fundamentally Christian/pentacostal.  They were nice and participated in all of the activities. I spoke with them briefly when they were leaving and invited them to come back.  I got the feeling they would.  It will be very interesting to see what happens with them.

According to their website, they believe in Jesus Christ....in many ways similar to our beliefs.

It seems to me that anyone who has a strong belief in Jesus Christ would have to understand the strength of our position as the restored church of Jesus Christ....organized as His church was 2000 years ago, with a claim of divine authority.

I hope they will be curious enough to look into the doctrine.  They were welcomed by all of the YSAs there this evening, and even played CRUD!  It was a big game tonight with nearly 20 playing at one time.  It is a fast-moving game.  SK loves that game, and nearly always comes in at least third, sometimes second and occasionally first place.  I think he has earned the respect of all of the young people.  He doesn't get ruffled, he just enjoys the competition.  And I think they like that about him.

We will miss class tomorrow....we will be at our stake center from early in the morning helping to prepare the midday meal for a two-zone conference.  It will go all day, ending about 6 p.m.  It is always great to be with the young missionaries......It always makes me feel that the future is going to be OK.