Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We started our day with shopping....we got all of the things we will need for tomorrow's lunch.  It is in the church by the temple, which is quite adequate for most of the needs of the members, but sometimes it is difficult to negotiate something like a meal for a lot of people.  There are two closet kitchens....one in the relief society room behind folding doors, and one in the overflow to the chapel with a similar arrangement.

So cooking is not especially easy in such kitchens.  I think we will be able to get everything ready and served by noon.  The beans and the pork are both prepared ...and the salad dressing, and the cupcakes are ready.  The cupcakes are being refrigerated - in the car.  Ha!  All of you Arizona people who use the car for raising your dinner rolls....I know you can hardly comprehend that.

On one of his forays out to a store today, SK happened across this little procession right by one of our favorite bus stops.  This little pub is about as large as our living room....tiny.  But it is very popular....especially today On St. Patrick's Day.

I spent the day until now preparing food.  I don't mind at all....I just hope it is good.

There will be a lot of help to get the pico de gallo ready, the lime-cilantro rice and the lettuce washed and cleaned ....and the tables set.  It is lovely to have plenty of other people helping.  That is one of the nicest things about relief society....the work is spread around so that you need never carry the full load of any meal.

Our dear friends Elder and Sister Middlemas are here for the night and then tomorrow night.  They will attend the zone conference.  They will be departing for their home in less than 2 weeks.  We met them in the MTC and went through that marvelous experience there together.  We departed the Salt Lake Airport with them and 6 others, and landed in Denmark almost at the same time (a glitch in customs in London left them and Sister Hamblin at the airport until the next flight to Copenhagen.

We have been strengthened by their faith, their optimism, their cheer and their wonderful experiences here in Denmark.

Our lives have expanded dramatically since first entering that MTC ....I hear young returned missionaries express the thought that serving a mission was one of the greatest experiences that they have ever had.

I understand that....it will definitely go down in our journals as one of the best for us.