Spring Equinox

Did you know that today is Spring Equinox?  It is supposed to be the day that most closely matches its counterpart on September 21 (or so) as far as number of daylight hours.  Some people look at it as the first day of Spring.

March 20 and clearly we are on our way to Spring.  This was a beautiful day for our senior couples from outside of Copenhagen to do some sightseeing before making their way to their respective homes.  The sunshine has magically brightened everything it has touched.

It was business as usual for a Thursday.  Our day - no matter what else is planned - works to a crescendo with "The Meal" and then slowly winds down to murmured conversations....it is nearly midnight and the voices that have been raised in shouts of approval and disappointment throughout the deafening games have lowered.  They have played the last CRUD game, the last pingpong game of the evening and are now quietly cleaning up.  There is sweeping to be done and dishes that were left out.  The vacuum is purring away with someone at the helm, and chairs and tables are being set right.  There is still much energy out there, but I believe we may get home tonight before 1, and that is just fine with me.

We served tacos!  I fixed nothing else because we had several good-sized salads left over from yesterday's lunch with the seniors and the people responsible for the food asked if the YSAs could use it, and I said yes!  The reason for tacos is that we found "taco kits" at the Costco wannabe - Metro, for 6 krone (about a dollar and twenty cents). Normally the kit costs 7 dollars.  It had 12 taco shells, a packet of taco seasoning (which wasn't too bad), and a small bottle of salsa.  When we found that smoking good deal, we bought 10 kits!!!!

We bought extra bottles of salsa, but they don't seem to go for  that.  For toppings, I put the usual suspects (tomatoes, cheese, meat, salsa, lettuce) - minus the guacamole - too expensive this week, and also put out chopped red, green and yellow bell peppers AND cucumbers.  Everything was gone by evening's end except the green onions and salsa!  I keep forgetting that green onions aren't that popular.  The peppers and cucumbers are not exactly an Arizonan-Mexican food condiment, but they eat them with everything here.

Once again, I had some time with a couple of special young adults.  One, who is a lovely young woman, will be leaving this week to work as an au pair in Paris.  I will miss her bright smile and cheer.  The other is a young man who served a mission in Greece a few years ago.  They talked about her possible upcoming mission and his past mission and missions in general.  Both expressed faith from different perspectives, but it was FAITH.  I love the way they expressed themselves and mostly just listened, chiming in from time to time.

They are charming in their courteous use of English when they converse with each other in my presence and I always feel a warmth at their kindness in including me.  They were asking me about our applications for missions and if we were happy with our call.  I told them with every ounce of sincerity I could muster that this was the best of all possible missions and we have felt profoundly blessed to be here.

It is similar to what King Benjamin tells us in the Book of Mormon.  The Lord blesses us and we try to thank Him by serving Him...but we find ouselves still much in debt, because the more we try to return payment for blessings recieved, the more we are blessed.

By the way....do you know why Easter seems to be all over the March/April calendar?...why it is not just always on the second Sunday of the month or some stable date like that?

It is because it is always on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring equinox. There you have it!