That it Will Never Come Again.....

Is what makes this day so sweet.

I walked around two of the lakes this morning, said hello to the swans (the teen-aged swan is still not white, completely....should be by Spring), soaked up some of the cold gray day, and hobnobbed with all the walkers/bicycles and generally started out the day with joy.

Elder and Sister Parker left in the afternoon.  They returned to their mission area in northern Jutland.  It has been fun to find out more about what they are doing.  They have been here six months now and are enjoying Denmark as much as I expected they would.  It is a grand place.

Soon after they left SK and I went to the center, choosing to walk.  I don't know what we will do in Arizona in early September....probably melt.  It was probably around 35 degrees with no wind, rain, snow or ice (!!!) and I thought it was just about as nice a day for a walk as possible.

Kasper cooked a wonderful Danish dish tonight.  He makes it look so effortless.  He is always a bundle of energy in the kitchen and accomplishes so much in a short time.  His passion is food and he says he loves to cook, but he is astonishing.  He is the secretary in the stake YM organization and the secretary in the branch elder's quorum, he is organizing activities for the branch YSAs and is involved in planning a large stake YM's activity for the summer.  I don't know where he gets his energy....but we at the center are certainly blessed that he does all he does for us.

I spoke to one young man who is pre-mission.  He has his call and his departure date:  April 9.  He went to the temple last night for the first time, and was beaming tonight when he told me about it.  He expressed disappointment that there were many friends and family members there with him and he felt obligated to hurry out to be with them.  Tomorrow, he said would be much better because he could stay as long as he wanted.

He was so cute!  He is happy that he has a couple of months to attend the temple as often as he can before he leaves on his mission. Every single one of the YSAs that we have known while we have been here have been so ready and are so happy to attend the temple.  It makes me so happy to see them so happy.

In Institute, the teacher just opened it for questions, and as they were asked, wrote them on the board.  The first one was, "How can we develop faith?"  There were about 10 and they were quite varied.  He spent an hour on the first question, guiding us through scriptures and explaining.  In the next half hour he addressed 3 other questions and then closed the class.  It was truly a wonderful lesson, if you can call it that.  There wasn't a regularly scheduled lesson, because this is supposedly a vacation week.

I enjoyed all the questions, comments and answers. I enjoyed visiting with a couple of great young men afterward.....I learn so much from them.  They are smart and kind and so interesting.  One of them....Jonathan manages to tell me something new every time we talk.  It is almost a joke now.  Tonight he told me about chocolate...dark chocolate, milk chocolate and its percentages.  Of course, I was all ears!  The other one told me that the last 6 months of a mission go by much faster.  If that is the case, we better hold on for dear life.  The first 17 months have been a high-speed ride.

But today has been sweet.