In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.....

It was another day of sunshine.  The day dawned with not a cloud in the sky.  It would have been a perfect day to stroll around the lake with all of the other people traversing the path , but we got up and went to work on our Danish....with me casting a longing glance outside every now and then.

Melba did not attend class today....still a great deal of trouble at home.  I hope she can get things resolved.  

We each gave a little speech about our apartments.  I have wondered how beneficial it is to learn Danish by hearing people from India, Ghana, Korea etc speak it.  We all have different accents but for the most part we are learning to understand each other.  So it probably IS a good thing.  

We had a good turnout this evening at Institute, with two visitors.  One of our visitors, a young man from Pakistan,  met one of the YSAs at a museum today. She invited him to attend Institute, and he came and stayed for over two hours.  He spoke with several YSAs about our church and it was very interesting to hear snippets of conversations he was having.  I think the young members of the church are quite eloquent about what they believe.  He is not a Christian but he must have been interested in what he saw and heard here, because he told me that he will join us again on Monday evening.

The other visitor was a young man from the States...Virginia I believe.  He had a great time playing CRUD and stayed late with several others.  I hope we will see him again....he seemed like a nice young man.

Our YSA group is a dynamic and interesting one.  We have over 80 who attend....at least 2 or 3 times a quarter, but we seldom have more than 35 on any one given night.  So the makeup of the group is always a trifle different than the week before, etc.   But I always enjoy spending time with various ones, and tonight was a great time to visit.  

As I write this, it is very very late....perhaps I should say very very early.  We stayed late visiting with a few of the YSAs.  We enjoy them immensely, and sometimes the best conversations are late when most everyone has gone home.  

I spent most of my time in the kitchen, and conversed  with several YSAs about all kinds of topics.  I learn all kinds of things from them.  It is always interesting to hear about how they view WWII.  I have read many things saying that the Danish people were heroic people during the war. They saved many people from the concentration/death camps, helping many  to escape to Sweden and safety.

I guess the YSAs don't necessarily agree with that....in fact, they are a little ashamed that Denmark fell so quickly to the Nazis.  I don't see how any country could have stood up to the power of Germany at that time.  But it certainly sounds like the people of Denmark did everything they could to help people in need....and I think that is heroic.

We served barbecue chicken sandwiches, baked potatoes, cole slaw and two large large pies (a chocolate cream and a banana cream)....the pies were to celebrate pi day (3.14).  Nothing was outstanding, but nothing was a disaster.....and I am grateful.  It is not so stressful these days, but it is always time-consuming and energy-consuming and I still drag home thoroughly spent.

But it has been a good day.....and I am grateful for each experience we have of spending time with the YSAs and getting to know them better.  

I Can See Clearly Now

This past week we have made two very important and amazing discoveries.  We discovered that we can slide the vent over the stove out a foot or so, which triggers a light above the stove.  I love to have plenty of light when I cook, and that was a real find for me.

The other find was at the center.  There are overhead lights, but they are just not enough.  When it is dark outside, I always feel like I need to have more light inside.  One night one of the YSA men came in and cooked something.  He flipped a switch back almost behind the refrigerator, and voila! under-the-cabinets-lights illuminated the countertops!!!!  SK and I stood there in stunned silence just looking.

Light is an interesting thing.  You go along thinking you have enough light, and then someone turns it up and notch.  It is amazing how much better you can see.  And the loss of light can be upsetting...to say the least.  As I look back over these past months, I understand why (in October) several of the YSAs lamented the coming of winter.  I think they are fine with the cold and even the snow, but they know they are nearing the months of winter darkness.

We have had glorious sunshine for several days, and people are out in droves soaking it up.  Most everyone is still in coats, but the  oh-so-welcome sunlight makes it pleasant to be out.  The way the light plays over the surfaces of the city is exhilarating.  It defines, delineates and clarifies everything it touches.

Yesterday we were coming out of a little shop and saw coming along the street toward us a set of elders.  They had dark coats on over their suits, but you could see the white shirts and ties, and name badges displayed prominently on the front of their coats.  They were the picture of well-pressed, well-groomed attractive young men.

We stopped to visit with them. Both were well over 6 feet tall.  One was fair and the other had black hair and striking blue eyes...both so handsome!  Each one absolutely sparkled with happiness.  I have regretted not taking the phone out and snapping their pictures to send home to their mothers.  I would have included a note with each:  "We met your son today in Copenhagen....he was out street-contacting and on his way to a teaching appointment.  He is so happy!...and he is doing what the Lord has sent him to do.  You must be so proud of him."

If someone had done that for me when Derek was on a mission, I would have cherished the message and the picture.....except I would have worried why he was in Copenhagen instead of Barcelona.  If someone had done that when Lia was in Italy, I would have sung her praises to the sky!  I will not let an opportunity like that pass me by again....I promise.

As I think of that experience, I think of how those two young men looked in the clear crisp afternoon light.  Their hair shone, their faces beamed, their eyes sparkled....even their clothes seemed to reflect the sunlight.

C.S. Lewis said, "I believe in Christ, like I believe in the sun – not because I can see it, but by it I can see everything else."

Maybe winters in England are like winters in Denmark.....the return of the sun is a glorious thing.

Sisters

Just a quick note about last night's post:  I hope I didn't give you the impression that I was rude to the young investigator who confided that he didn't believe in God.  I visited with him about that.  As he talked, he seemed determined to convince me that he didn't belong there, and I was so delighted by his earnest explanation that I couldn't help but chuckle and then just let him know that we would love to have him join us anytime.  I have a strong impression that sooner or later he will join us in the church. He will be going to North Dakota in a couple of months to work as a paramedic.  I am praying that the missionaries find him there, and that he will remember his evening with the YSAs and listen to their message.

Our Danish class was interesting today.  Doris is doing much better, and I love to see her with a smile on her face.  I am enjoying her friendship and always look forward to seeing her.  Her life is enlarging and she is finding things to do that she loves, so I am happy for her.  I am still praying that the light of the Gospel will find its way into her heart.

We shared some of the white chocolate almond cookies from last night with all of our class members. It was fun....it is just a simple little cookie (no real chocolate), yet everyone was so pleased to try them, and (much to SK's delight) all seemed to like them!  It is the first time we have taken anything to share, and it is amazing how people kind of relax over food!

A classmate, Melba has been very unhappy for a few weeks now, and I have tried to encourage her to hang in there and keep trying.  She has been teary-eyed these past 2 weeks and has gotten up and left class for a few minutes several times during each class.  So after class today, I gave her my pep talk again.  Melba looked at me with one of the most forlorn expressions I have ever seen.  Her large brown eyes are very expressive, and just seemed to speak of misery.

Her friend answered for her and said that things at home are not good....in fact it sounds like they are awful.  She said that Melba's husband treats her very badly.  I don't know what her culture says about how a man treats his wife, but I am concerned for her.  Her friend told me that I am a mother figure and could maybe help her.  I can't imagine that I could be of much help, other than sharing the wonderful news of the Gospel, and being a friend.  So there is another dear soul who is added to our very long list to pray for.

Relief Society tonight was the birthday celebration.  There were 14 of us there and it was lovely.  The president shared a story about when she visited Portugal and attended Relief Society.  She didn't understand the language, but everything else was the same as it is in Denmark.  No matter where in the world you go, Relief Society, the sisterhood, the lessons, the music, even the birthday celebrations are the same to the extent that you always feel as though you are home.....because in a sense you are.

I have had that experience many times in my life.  I remember as a homesick 20-year old in Chicago attending the Logan Square Ward in a raggedy old building on a cold winter night.  The warmth of the sisters' welcome enveloped me like a blanket.  Relief Society has been a refuge and a strength to me no matter where we have been.  That society of sisters provides compassion and help.  I wish Melba and Doris had that to turn to.

The society of sisters ...the dearest of mothers, my sweet sister (Judy) and sisters (Lisa, Deb and Ginny), the dear sisters that SK brought into my life, his amazing mother, our treasured daughters Erin, Melissa, Lia and Heather, aunts and Grandmas and nieces, and kind and loving friends.... is one of the greatest blessings and most comforting strengths of my life.

A New Venue....Just for Tonight

We have another new person in our Danish class.  She is from Romania.  She has lived here for 8 years and has never learned the language.....if that tells you anything about being able to get along with knowing Danish.  She has a 16-month old son who will be raised attending Danish schools.  Even though she will teach him Romanian, she wants to learn the language that her son will speak in school.
It is fascinating to watch people come and go in our Danish course.  Sometimes people will come into class and attend for a week or two, and then we never see them again.  We started with 12 or so and grew to 18 and have been shrinking ever since.  Life gets busy for people,  and fitting 12 hours of classwork in is very difficult.  I must confess, it is getting me down.  It is hard to keep up...especially when the mission takes priority...which is as it should be.

SK thoroughly enjoys the class, and feels none of the stress I feel when I am unprepared.  The last few lessons have been a little more complicated, and I have needed to study and review what we learn in class.  So much of what we do in class is oral, and I really hate to look like a deer caught in headlights as I try to answer the teacher's questions.

SK not only answers the teacher's questions but then goes a step or two further and chats about all kinds of things.  Sometimes it is as if he and the teacher are just having a wonderful little visit of their own.  But most others don't mind....it gives them time to do more cramming.

We made white chocolate almond cookies for Family Home Evening.  We went to the center right after class where I worked on making about 130 of them.  SK loves those cookies!  His job was to go to some stores and find almonds and white chocolate, which he did promptly.  Besides helping chop almonds, he was also the official taste-tester.

We went to an LDS church nearby, where the YSAs played dodgeball.  I enjoyed watching, but never quite figured out the rules.  They had a great time, and it was fun to watch.  Our newest member, a great young man who was baptized a few weeks ago, brought two non-member friends.  They were both tall and handsome and took part in everything, joining us at the center after dodgeball....staying late with everyone else.  I think they REALLY liked CRUD.

I spoke with one of them as they both were leaving.  He told me that he was apprehensive to come, but that he had felt comfortable.  He said that he doesn't believe in God.  He said he is not sure there isn't a God, but he just doesn't know.  He was so earnest, mentioning that he doesn't smoke and basically lives a clean live....but they both love beer, and could probably never give it up.  I just laughed and told him that we would love to have them come back and join us anytime.  I hope they will come back.

Back to the center, SK told the story of how we met and fell in love - again!  The girls seem to like that story.  At one point tonight he was surrounded by about 6 young women all listening attentively.  I wish I had snapped a picture.

Have you ever watched a series on TV where each week the show focuses on a different character and gives a glimpse into his life?  Being at the center is like that.  It seems like nearly every time we are there, we have time to visit with one or more of our YSAs and we learn about them....their families, their education, their spiritual goals and what they are hoping the future holds for them...their dreams.  It is a privilege to be allowed into their lives.  

Che Bello!

What a beautiful day it has been!...in every way.  The sunny weather is holding constant...and predicted for several more days.  The sun is beautiful and bright and so welcome.

We had the car today and went to church early because SK had a meeting.  I visited with people as they came in.  Rita came today!!!  She is a lady originally from Belgium who married a Dane and moved here several years ago.  She is 61 years old and an artist...."A modern artist" who specializes in very large colorful works on paper.  She gave me her phone number and address and I am going to go see her work sometime in the coming weeks.

You may not remember that we joined several people from the ward ...as well as the young elders at a large shopping mall in early December to hand out invitations to our branch Christmas Sacrament meeting.  We stood outside in the freezing weather and were able to engage a few people in conversation.  Rita was one of those people.  She came to church several times after that, and took a couple of missionary discussions.  Then she decided that was enough, and we hadn't seen her since early January.  I was thrilled to see her today.

Elder Jewkes sang a solo "I Stand All Amazed" in sacrament meeting.  His companion accompanied him as he sang.  It was beautiful.  He is really a great young man....and he IS young.  He turns 19 tomorrow.  We first met him at the branch dinner the day after we got here.  He had been here all of 4 days and was already conversing with people in Danish.  He and his companion are in church every Sunday no matter what.  They have come to the center several times with young single investigators.  He was one of the 8 young missionaries who spent New Year's Eve with us.

He is being transferred bright and early tomorrow morning.  He will take his bicycle down to the bus station tonight and lock it up there, and then in the morning he will somehow get all of his luggage down to the train station...and the young ones have as much as the old missionaries!  He will have to load his bicycle and all of his luggage aboard the train and then travel by himself several hours to a little town south of here on another island.

In the evening, we went to our fairy tale prince and princess's home for dinner, and Elder Jewkes and Elder Willardson were there too.  The fare for this evening was Italian!  This couple is amazing.  They have a classically handsome young 4 year old son, they both work (she is dancing in two different productions this week), and both have heavy responsibilities at church.  They not only fixed this meal from scratch, including the ciabatta bread....but they presented it.....they are cute! ...and they do everything with great love.  It is such a treat to eat with them.

The meal began with a lightly carbonated lightly flavored drink from Sweden, then to bruschetta (sooo good!), then to canneloni, then risotto, ending up with raspberry pie in vanilla sauce.  Each course was served to us with flair, then cleared up with the utmost decorum and the next course set in front of us. Ask me if we felt like very important persons!  YES.

When the meal was over, Elder Jewkes shared a message with us from 3 Nephi where the Savior takes the children one by one and blesses them....and weeps. It is such a tender account of the Savior's love for each little individual.  Then Elder Jewkes said that the Lord has that love for each of us.  I have heard that message many times, but from this dear young elder, who wept as he shared it....it was powerful.

Elder Willardson is on the left and Elder Jewkes is on the right.

We will miss him.

Are We There Yet?

When I opened the blinds this morning, the sunshine flooded through every window.  The sky was a clear crisp blue that Gilbert would be proud to own.  Spring must be almost here.  As I sat studying, it seemed that more people than usual paraded along the path around the lake.  I think winter's seige is mostly over....although I have heard that it can snow in April....but of course it wouldn't stay on the ground long.

I am coming down with a cold....drat.  I got through all of Fall and Winter, and now I am sniveling and sneezing and sniffling.  The good news is that it didn't hit until yesterday...Friday.  So by the time we have to cook again it should be mostly gone....such an unwelcome guest.

We have quite a week ahead of us so I am hoping it doesn't get worse and that my nose doesn't become a bulbous red thing sitting on my face.  You know how colds are....

We came to the center at 4.  The YSA have been entertaining the YM/YW of the stake.  It is an annual tradition.  We had a large group of YSAs come to host.  There was food and dancing and music.  A group came early to decorate, hanging large paper flowers from the ceiling and stringing small white lights around the room.  They set up speakers and a refreshment table.

I think a good time was had by all.  They are cleaning up now....vacuuming and packing away and talking and laughing.  There was a bachelor party tonight for most of the YSA men.  One young man will be getting married a week from today in the Copenhagen Temple, and they threw him a party.  I don't know what went on during the party, but at 9, they all showed up here to do the clean-up.  I am thoroughly impressed.  Would you cut a party short to clean up a large center where a party had just been held?

We spent a fair amount of time visiting with one of them...Daniel.  He has been back from his mission for nearly 2 years.  He is a great young man.  He served in England and Wales, and his faith comes through in everything he says.  He told us some of the experiences he had on his mission.  It is another testament to me of what an amazing thing it is for a young person (or an old one for that matter) to serve a mission.  It builds them in ways they often don't fully realize for years to come.  

I can see and understand that the difficulties, the disappointments, the heartaches, and the challenges are all part of something that ultimately makes these young people bigger and better than they could have been otherwise.  If they are humble enough to accept them with faith, they grow in beautiful ways.

I hope that SK and I will look back on these times as periods of great growth in our lives....and I am not talking about our waistlines.  These past 5 months have been so good, but I hope I am learning and growing and stretching to be better.  This is a choice experience, and I want to make it count in so many ways.  

The young missionaries grow....I hope we will too.

Just Around the Corner

As I sit here at the computer there is a gentle rain pattering against the windows.  It is late, and the bed is calling.  Is there anything as sweet as falling asleep to the sound of softly-falling rain?

Our Danish class today was a review of household words, colors, prepositions and descriptive words. I could be brilliant at speaking this language if I could just remember what I have studied.  But it is a process.  The teacher pairs us off with other class members and has us practice conversing with each other.  One assignment today was to describe what is in our apartment.  I worked with a young woman from South Korea.

Mun Yung has the most delightful laugh.  She is diligent and always prepared for class.  We conversed with each other for about 15 minutes in Danish.  Later, I was assigned to work with Andruis (pronounced Andrews) who is from Latvia and Ruby from Ghana.  Hearing and understanding a Dane speak Danish is difficult enough for me....but when other accents are thrown into the mix....it becomes quite an exercise in listening intently....for them as well as for me.

I am speaking Danish with an American accent....and who knows how difficult that may be to understand.  The teacher is spending quite a bit of time listening to all of us attempt to speak the language, and she also uses time having us formulate questions about the day's topic.  At some point, this should be sinking in!  By the way....we have not yet passed SK's level of speaking and understanding.

We walked home and took several detours.  The trees are still bare and the streets are bathed in the gray tones of winter. But it is so fun to stroll down an inviting little side street or step into an intriguing shop.

We felt almost a little giddy because we didn't have to be anywhere this evening.  Tomorrow begins a week where we will leave our apartment in the morning and not get home until late at night.  That is just the nature of our mission and we enjoy it immensely, but it is lovely to have an evening at home....even if it is spent cleaning and ironing!

The days are lengthening out....it is light now at 6:45 (actually it starts getting light much earlier than that) and the sun doesn't go down until 6 p.m. The longest day of the year (in June) will last seventeen hours and 45 minutes.  It appears as though it is changing quickly.  It is still a little early, but we are eagerly awaiting Spring with color and fragrance and rebirth....and it seems there are hints everywhere that it is about to happen.

On one of our detours today, we turned on to a street that is said to be one of the most beautiful in Europe....the magnificent old trees were without leaves but they are stately and large.  I can only imagine what it will be like to walk around the corner and see them wrapped in green.

It won't be long now.