Looking at the Past.....and Carl Bloch

SK is trying to kill me.

No....not outright, but in more subtle ways.  We have spent our entire mission getting up late (usually around 8) and sleeping late.  That is all well and pretty good, but this week I have seen that is not necessarily a good thing, unless you can do it consistently....every day.

But for the last couple of weeks we have been getting into bed very late......and we have been getting up early.  I have been looking forward all week to sleeping in this morning.  In fact, that thought has kept me going because it has been something to shoot for.

Typical for a Thursday, it was very late when I got home and began to work on the blog last night, and by the time everything was done, it was well past midnight.

At 6:30 this morning SK awakened me by saying, "We need to be away before 8."

It so confused me that I didn't go back to sleep.  So I got up and got ready.  I did not know we were going to go to two churches today, but SK and kind of mentioned it last night.  I guess he thought I had agreed.  I dozed on and off in the car....and am exhausted.  I don't know how SK manages to push himself like that.

We took off for parts north and west of here.  In fact, we traveled familiar roads, as in "familiar because we drove this way this week a couple of times".....we just didn't know that a Carl Bloch painting was here.

We visited each of the two churches....they were about an hour apart, so we were in the car a fair amount today.  Thanks Erin, for reminding us about how close these magnificent paintings are!

See the little ship in the foreground?  I found this lovely explanation online:  Often donated or presented to the church on special occasions, these models have been interpreted in different ways throughout the centuries. A seafaring nation, some ships commemorate loved ones lost to the waves; others celebrate a safe return from a voyage or a lifetime at sea. The ships also signify the role of the church as a refuge from life’s storms. As Danish immigrants spread throughout North America and founded Lutheran congregations in their new homes, they often carried this tradition with them, and ships may still be found in many of these churches. Most are modeled on 18th- and 19th-century sailing ships.

The Church in Holbaek with the altarpiece "Christ and the Child."

 After the second church, we stepped into a little museum of old houses which were furnished in authentic pieces from their time periods.  It was a beautiful little place.  Lia tells us some of the Madsen ancestors lived in this wonderful little town.

Both churches were beautiful and humble little buildings that just so happened to house some of the best portrayals of Christ I have ever seen.

After coming home, I got some more work done on the apartment, and wrote some letters, and then we left for an open house for Sebastian Paulsen.

Sebastian is the son of our dear friends Jesper and Mette.  He was just released this morning, so everything is kind of new for him right now.  But he looks very missionary-like and also a little tired.

We stayed several hours and left when things began to wind down.  While I was there, I spent some time with Mette, who told me some remarkable things.  She and some members of her extended family have been working on their family history.  A few years back, they got stuck at what seemed the end of the road.

A week after her son left on his mission, she went online, and lo and behold....there was the name of her ancestor!  She was amazed, humbled and surprised.  Mette has taken thousands of names to the temple as a result of finding that one name, a name which many in her family have searched for.  She has had more miraculous experiences with that little miracle.  And by the way, those names came out of the country which Sebastian was serving in!

I know miracles happen, especially in the temple, but I am astonished that they came so quickly.  What amazing blessings.  It seems that the sweetest miracles I hear about these days have to do with family history.

We had such a grand time there visiting with many of our YSAs and other great people, that neither of us remembered to take pictures.

It was a lovely warm day today, with bright beautiful sunlight streaming through the car.   The reason it was not hot hot hot, was because of the beautiful and cooling breeze that whispered and sometimes roared through the trees,   Now as I sit at the computer, I am enjoying the sounds and smells of a summer storm.

But the enjoyment is somewhat
limited.....I keep falling asleep!