A Mission Goodbye

The better portion of our day was spent with young people.....surprised?

We were not with the young single adults.  Yet most of them were young adults and single.  It was our mission conference today....with missionaries coming from all over Denmark (excluding Iceland).  We were to be in our seats at 9:00 a.m. and the meeting started at 10.

It was beautiful weather, although a trifle warm/humid.  Many of us were fanning ourselves throughout the nearly 6 hours we were there.  The windows were open, so there was a slight breeze, but not enough.  The men in their suits looked very warm.

We were well taught by our mission president and his wife, and Elder and Sister Dykes, a member of the Seventy.  Our meeting started out by hearing 90 second testimonies from the departing young missionaries....eight of them.

It was a sweet experience to hear these young men express the very heart of their beliefs.  Many said the same thing but in different ways....there were a few tears and many statements of gratitude to the Savior for His help.  That was the beginning of the long conference and it was the absolute best way to begin.

From that point, through music and the spoken word, we were blessed with sweet messages.  During the breaks, and afterward we visited with many of the missionaries, both younger and senior.  I was able to say goodbye to many of them.  It has been a wonderful experience to serve with them.

Another tradition is trooping over to the temple steps where we have our picture taken.  While we were waiting to get lined up for the "professional" photo, Amber, a cute exchange student from Utah snapped this picture and posted it on Facebook.....so I kind of borrowed it.

Sister OBryant sent me copies of the pictures that were taken at her home when we met with the seniors for dinner, a tradition for all incoming and outgoing senior missionaries.  The same tradition holds for the young missionaries but they meet separately.  I will share them here.....

This was last Friday night, and a lovely evening spent with dear people.

By the way, did I ever give you this link to the music video the Danes made for this past Festinord?  It is terribly funny if you have even a little knowledge about Danes/Denmark and Scandinavia in general.  Even though the languages are similar, many claim they can't understand people from Sweden and Norway, yet often they can communicate using their own language, and relying on the similarities....kind of like Portuguese and Spanish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV_v0qX37f0