A Full Day

Thursday, Day 3 of Festinord continued the string of great activities.

We were up again in time to attend Jens's institute class....and were well rewarded.  His topic was "Jesus Christ - the Messiah."  With two late nights behind us, I suspected that our numbers would decrease daily.  This morning there was still at least 200 people in attendance....that is nearly a third of the number at Festinord.

Similar to the last two days, Jens taught from the scriptures, and asked questions that brought forth some amazing answers.  He also used quotes from general authorities.  He is an excellent teacher.

We had our leadership meeting, followed by the morning devotional.  We were given assignments and yellow "Helping Hands" vests and sent forth into Randers to serve.  Buses were employed to take large groups to places that needed a lot of help, as well as deliver groups as small as 2, to private homes of older people who needed help with yard work.

We opted to stay at the Randers Arena, where most of the conference is taking place - to paint.  We were supposed to be doing service, but I was having way too much fun to realize I was "working."  We were painting little cartoon children and animals on a linen wall hanging which will be sent to orphanages in areas of the world that are in need.  SK decided he would be my moral support, so he just sat and watched, making comments along the way.  He also took pictures.

The event was covered by two different newspapers, and there were a lot of pictures taken.  It must have been a great success, and we think we will hear some of the many positive stories tomorrow morning.

We had a leadership meeting in the afternoon and helped with dinner immediately after.  Helping with dinner means serving, which is kind of fun.  I served in the "special diets" section, which was most interesting.  Some were gluten intolerant, some lactose intolerant, some were vegetarian, and some were a combination of two or more of those things.

We all met together in the very large arena....had a song and prayer and then divided into 3 groups of over 200 each.  The groups held testimony meetings that lasted two hours.  In the goup we were in,  within 10 minutes of the first testimony, there were about 30 YSAs, up and waiting patiently to share their witness of the truth.  They kept going up, and when the meeting ended 2 hours later, there were at least 20 who weren't able to get up.

Some of the testimonies were tender and heartfelt....some were funny....some were halting and slow to speak in English.....some were just expressions of gratitude.  But I enjoyed them all.

One young man shared with us that he had gone through periods of depression and doubt.  But he discovered that he always felt joy when he attended his meetings.  He said with conviction, " I chose to believe....to place my faith in my Savior."  It was a wonderful meeting.

We are back at our tiny motel and ready to go to bed.  Tomorrow is the last full day...and we want to be ready!