We had a brand new elder today in Church. He was so cute, I wanted to hug him! He has been here less than a week. He met us at the door of the church, shook our hands and greeted us in Danish. He had a strong handshake, a quick smile and an air of great enthusiasm.
The branch president asked him to bear his testimony. He strode up to the pulpit and stood thoughtfully. He began to speak in Danish, and spoke for about five minutes. He would pause every now and then, searching his mind to find the right words and then continue on. I understood everything he said. I was very impressed with not only his ability to speak Danish, but his resolve to speak. And he is so cute! I love these young missionaries, their excitement about sharing the gospel and coming so far from home.
I just wish their mothers could see them. If they could see what I see when I am around them, they would be very pleased.
Our church block was inspiring - as always - with our high council speaker. We heard from him, our new elder, and a new couple who are here in Copenhagen to photograph records from the national archives. The records will go online for anyone interested in researching. It is a collaboration between the Danish government and the Church.....and it is of great benefit to both.
The Church is able to add more records to Family Search for all avid family history people, and the country of Denmark receives a high quality copy of each old record book that will last indefinitely...even while the books molder away in the dust.
We talked about parables in Sunday School....who doesn't love the New Testament? And in Relief Society, we talked about the temple. One of the sisters in the branch gave it, and she has worked in the temple for years and has a very strong testimony of the work and the blessings.
Afterwards, we had SOS....Sandwiches og Slaegshistoria (sandwiches and family history). One of the sisters called to help us with it introduced us to a program that was all kinds of fun. It is "relativefinder.org" and gives you information about your relatives!
Once signed in, you can ask for U.S. Presidents that you are related to, Church presidents that are in your family tree, U.S historical figures, authors, European royalty, etc. It is great! You can even create your own groups. We joined the Amager Branch group to find out if we are related to anyone else in the branch, and found out that we are distantly related to all of the other missionaries serving here.
We drove to a large church north of Copenhagen just to step inside to admire the awesome and soaring interior, and then came home, where we all kind of crashed. Everyone is tired....especially Derek and Kate. They have been going at breakneck speed the past 2 1/2 weeks and while they have been able to see so much, it has taken its toll.
Happy Father's Day calls made the day complete.
Another wonderful Sabbath. You always enjoy everything - just one of the reasons we love you so much. We had stake conference with two visiting authorities (Elder Foster & Elder Palmer- who is from New Zeland). They were both amazing and really lit a fire under parents and grand parents concerning our responsibilities in helping our children (and grands) to be more involved in families & in the church. One of them said that strong testimonies would not be enough. The Gospel needs to be integrated into our lives. I got in on some of the miss. prep. that they had at 8 AM this morning - and those who were there could not have helped catching the Spirit. They all got hand-shakes and hugs. The church is true. L&P
ReplyDeleteYour stake conference sounds like it was wonderful. The comment about testimonies is very interesting. It is kind of a worry, isn't it? What lies ahead for our kids and grandkids?
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you were involved with mission prep. I'm know it must have been inspiring. L&P