Thanks Giving in March

Our energy is still flagging, but we are definitely on the mend.....well, I am not sure that SK ever was sick....but he has been afflicted with a sort of lethargy and is only too happy to rest when I do.  I think we must be getting old!!!!

We went to dinner this evening with all the local senior missionaries at President Sederholm's house.  Sister Sederholm is an excellent and amazing cook, and never ceases to amaze me.  She decided that we should have an American Thanksgiving dinner.....which was precisely what we had.

Besides turkey, we had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green salad, gravy, green beans, dressing, and hot dinner rolls, with and oreo sunday for dessert.  Yes, it is a hard life we live here.

We were there to honor the outgoing mission specialists, Elder and Sister Andersen, whom we will miss.  They are wonderful people.  He is wise and patient and kind and gentle, yet he gets things done...and seems to know how to deal with most people.  I would love to be more like him.  His wife is a sweet lady who grew up in Finland and moved here when they married.

They both bore their testimonies....in Danish, and I understood a great deal of what she said.  I am not sure why, but she told me afterward that many of the young missionaries say the same thing.  It is always so nice to understand what is being said.

The couple who will replace them were at the dinner as well....they live here in Frederiksberg.  We have it on good authority that they have answers to all of our questions, and that they are both hard workers.  I think they are in for a treat....because they are technically on a mission.  They will do a lot of interacting with the young missionaries, as well as all of us older ones.  They will be working in close association with President and Sister Sederholm and the missionaries that work in the office.

They bore their testimonies too, and I was inspired by what they said as well.  I think they must not be from Copenhagen because they both spoke a little more slowly and I caught a lot of what they said too.  They told us a little about themselves.  The brother was raised in interesting circumstances.  His mother was unable to care for him when he was 2 and he was put in an orphanage for several years.  He was adopted when he was 7, and raised with his adoptive family.  In his adult years he has reestablished the relationship with his mother and has discovered that he has a brother - who he stays in touch with.

I couldn't help but wonder what kind of effect that kind of a beginning would have on your life.....having the most significant person in your life absent.  Perhaps she stayed close and tried to see him often.  It seems to me like that would be difficult to deal with, but he seems like a very sweet and kind man, so if it ever was difficult, I think he must have moved past it long ago.

They will probably serve no more than 2 days a week, and often 1 day if everything they need to accomplish can be done in one.  So they will be free otherwise to serve in their home ward, and spend time with their families......and they are in Denmark!!!!  Does it get better than that?