Happy End of the year

We are ready to go to the Madsen's this evening.  It should be fun.  Hopefully we will finally bring some rugs home for the apartment from the storage unit there.  That would be the best gift we could get at this point.

I have been pondering this last year.  We have had a lot happen.  We put in our papers for the mission the first of February, received our call the end of March, got our passports and worked on our visa while taking Danish Tutoring.  We were delayed but have been here 8 weeks.  That just sounds mine numbing.  Today was a quiet day.  I have read 2 books and just lazed around the house except for cutting up vegetables and mixing up a packaged dip that is incredible but nothing like I have every eaten stateside.  It is almost like the old fashioned pimento cheese you used to get in the little bottles.  Really good.

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening with all you have planned for the beginning of 2014.  It is going to be a great year.

The Sun was shining today!

Today was an easy going day.  I am running a fever again but hopefully it won't get in the way of our invitation to spend New Years with another senior couple in downtown Copenhagen.  We are going to play games and then watch fireworks from the roof at midnight.  Should be fun.

We bought a loaf of 5 grain bread today.  It was wheat, rye and oatmeal flower with pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, sesame and whole oatmeal and rye running through it.  It was about the best bread I have ever eaten.

We keep getting asked why we would choose to live in Denmark with their high taxes.  Well you don't realize how high their taxes are because they are built into the price.  That way it doesn't hurt as much.  There is 100% sales tax on cars.  They want people to ride bikes or public transportation - not drive cars.  It is interesting living here.  Now if I can just get well!

Happy Birthday Carlye Anne!

Today is our oldest granddaughter's 13th birthday.  You are a joy to be around, Carlye and we love you very much.  We hope this year is all you hope it to be.

Clyde and I have been married for 41 years today.  It doesn't seem possible that we have been together that long.  We are loving serving together in Denmark.

Clyde was sustained and set-apart as the Branch Mission Leader.  He will work with the full time missionaries in helping to move the Lord's work forward.  Our Mission President said he had never had anyone called as Mission Leader of their unit before.  He was very excited.  The only thing is that this makes a lot of travel on the first and third Tuesday of the month.  I am not looking forward to that but then I am a homebody at heart.

We had the most amazing baked ham for dinner today.  We both ate way too much because the smoked ham was so amazing.  We now have some ham for ham chowder and ham and beans.  Looking forward to those meals.

It was a funny day today as caught the busses.  We were literally minutes behind when the bus had last stopped on our way to church.  We missed bus 4A because it pulled in just before bus 10 got to the stop.  When we were coming home, the bus left the stop just as we turned the corner, so we waited for 20 minutes for the next one.  Then bus 10 was pulling way from our stop as we arrived.  So frustrating.  It was cold day of hurry up and wait.

Our RS President gave us our manuals for this next year, all wrapped up with ribbon.  For the senior missionary couples in the ward, she gave us an English and a Danish manual.  She is such a sweetheart and tries so hard.  Her daughter is a ballerina and Sister Olsen too was a ballerina at one time.  They are so graceful when they do anything.

I pray you have a good Sabbath.

Connie and the Sisters

Today our area Sister Missionaries, Sister Hale and Rogers, used our apartment to teach a woman from Shanghai named Connie.  It was a beautiful and sweet discussion.  Connie had had a few discussions about 3 years ago.  Apparently a member of the Church said we worshipped a different God than other people and this turned her off.  I am thinking surely she heard him wrong and that he said we worship God differently.  Clyde and I explained to her that the people of the world are not perfect but if we listen to the prophet and the Quorum of the 12, we will be lifted and know the truth.  Clyde and I happened to get 2 Liahona magazines in English this month.  I gave her one of the copies and you would have thought I had given her gold.  She was so thrilled we had a magazine in the Church that talked about our doctrine.  We will hopefully meet with her again on the 11th of January.  That will also get the Sisters time to get a Chinese Book of Mormon.  I think that will be of great benefit to her and easier to read than the English one she is working on right now.  Nothing like reading a book in your native language.

Clyde and I are getting our shopping system down.  It took less than an hour to get everything done.  It helps that we are shopping more so our load is not as great.  We must be on the edge of a weather front because my knees have just screamed at me all day long.  I hope it isn't snow.  I am okay with this mild winter.

We have been invited to another missionary couple's home for New Years Eve.  I don't want to go because of the horrible things that the guys in the office have said about the alcohol consumption on that holiday.  To take public transportation on that evening sounds scary to me.  We will try and see if they can bring us home.  Going shouldn't be too bad by I don't want to come home that way.  We do need to branch out and be friendlier.  I would just a soon go to work and come home to our peaceful apt.  Hopefully once it starts to get daylight again, I will be willing to venture out more.

Copenhagen Temple

We finally made it to the temple today.  We took the two busses that have become a part of our life and headed the opposite direction from the chapel.  This is in downtown Fredericksburg - not too far from downtown Copenhagen.  This building was originally a stake center.  It is funny to have people say they were baptized here when they were 8.  They are usually our age and the building was remade into a temple in 2004.  You turn a corner and this is what you see.

This is the Celestial Room.  It is stenciled in cobalt blue along the doorframes.  The legs of all of the furniture is done in the old world tulip design.  The Celestial Room would not have looked out of place with the Pennsylvania Dutch that is so popular.  It is a beautiful and restful room.  They couch is terribly uncomfortable.  The chairs fit me better.

This is the most Danish Modern part of the Temple.  It is the staircase, standing at the bottom and looking up to the 4th floor.  The handrails and steps are all lit.  It is beautiful.  It is the staircase you use to get to the dressing room and pretty much anywhere you need to go in the temple.
 
We went to the Danish session, not knowing there was an English one at noon.  However it was very enjoyable.  It was the old film - so we had it about memorized anyway.  I went with headphones but I had them turned down very low so I could hear the Danish.  It was an enjoyable morning.  We will go next week again and then we will have to set up a specific day and time to attend from there on.  The funny thing about going today was that this would have been the Friday we would have worked if we were still at the Boston Temple.

I learned something interesting today...

I learned that the women involved in plural marriage were also arrested and jailed.  I thought it was only the men but we were reading about my great-grandmother, Caroline Sorensen Buchanan and found out her mother and her father's other wife were both imprisoned when her father, Hans was incarcerated.  They were even subpoenaed when the case of Hans finally went to court and were brought to the courtroom by the US Marshalls.  Caroline's younger brother, Parley Sorensen, bailed them out - especially since the other wife had a child that wasn't even 1 year.  It seemed the child was just fading away, so the family got together and worked out the finances to free the women.  In both the men and women's cases there were 6 bunkbeds and usually about 14 people in each cell.  The US government was proud of the fact that they kept these 'cohabitation inmates' separate from the hardened criminals.  In fact they were treated worse!  It is bad enough to know that the men were jailed but to know women were too - it is just appalling.  My grandmother was safe in Mexico where she and her twin brother was born - with her parents and most of Archibald's other children that were underage.  They stayed in Mexico until the manhunts were over.

We spent the day studying family history - especially the Sorensen line.  I read a bit.  Now we are watching Harry Potter-the Prisoner of Azkaban - in Danish.  We know it well enough to know what is happening but it is an interesting experience to watch something you know well in another language.  We have a channel that is German with Danish subtitles.  I can never remember the number it is but when I realize I can understand it, I change because German really messes up my Danish.

We finally got a call from the Sister missionaries in our area.  They need our apartment and us - to teach someone on Saturday.  So glad we can help them.

Christmas Day 2013

In Denmark it is a celebration of the days getting longer rather than of Christ.  I have yet to see a Nativity Scene or even some semblance of a birthday for our Savior.  It is just a different culture here. 

Everything is recycled here.  There are separate bins for almost everything you throw away.  Plastic, glass, metal and paper are thrown in separate bins.  Kitchen garbage is the only thing that goes into a dumpster unsorted.  However the hole to shove it into is very small.  The size of a bathroom garbage can.  Because of that - everything is china or ceramic.  There are reusable plastic storage containers but something as simple as bags to store food in are next to impossible to find.  They don't have zip lock bags either.  In fact you seal the plastic bags with masking tape to keep the bags closed and food fresh.  It is interesting to go to a party or whatever and not have paper plates and cups.  Everything has to be washed at the end of the party - it is part of the plan and most guests just chip in and help.  I find it very interesting to live here.  We have a dishwasher at work but most people don't have one at home.  We use china and glass ups with metal utensils when we eat lunch.

We had a very quiet day.  We read on our Kindles and watched 'The Sting' on tv.  Clyde is in watching Eragon right now.  It was nice to have a day where we didn't have to worry about anything and could just stay home.  Those days don't happen very often. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Love to all of you.

Our First Christmas Eve in Denmark

Today was just a laid back day.  We read, watched those famous Christmas Movies - "Dr. Dolittle" (the old one); Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original) and Singing in the Rain.  Haven't seen a Christmas movie all season and I guess I won't.

We had beef stew for dinner with fresh bread.  I did make brownies from a Betty Crocker mix today.  They turned out pretty good. 

The heart is the symbol of Christmas here.  It is a beautiful symbol of love and life - and what else are we celebrating?  We were invited several places tonight but I am still running a low grade fever and the thoughts of chasing down busses and trains on holiday mode is more than I can handle right now.  We are enjoying this though.  We do wish all of you a wondrous Christmas.

Another Frustrating Day

We went into work today to get a shuttle mailed off and to make sure that our hard work from Friday worked.  It did so we finished up the book we started Friday.  As we started the next book, we noticed a reflection in the image from a scratch on the glass.  We did a second book because we were waiting for the DHL guy anyway.  We had to capture it all on one side and then the other in order to get the book done.   Took us over twice as long.  We now have to order new glass for the cradle.  We have a glazier across the street.  We have the measurements and need to order it.  Hopefully we will have it ready for the 3 January.  There was no one on the train or bus today.  Their vacations have already started.  In the train station, Government employees were greeting the children and giving them chocolate.  The kids were so excited it just made you smile to watch this.

Other than those frustrations at work, we are settling in to get ready to not go anywhere but the bakery for the next two days.  At noon tomorrow, everything will shut down for Christmas and won't be back up until the 27th.  We have Boxing Day on top of Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.  In fact if truth be told - Boxing Day and Christmas Eve are bigger holidays than the 25th.

We have been hearing fireworks pretty much all month long.  They shoot off noisy firecrackers from Dec 6 until Jan 6.  After that you can be jailed if you do it.  The longest night of the year was really noisy.  It goes back to an old tradition of shooting into the sky to bring the sun back.  Why loud noises would bring anything back- I don't know but the sun?  Makes living here really fun.

Two Sundays in a Row!

We made it to Church again this week and sang in the ward choir.  We sang my most favorite Christmas Carol, 'Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains' (Langt, Langt Herfra in Danish).  The words made me think in that and in 'Silent Night'  (Stille Nat).  In Far, far away - it translated a long ways from here.  Judea's plains are never mentioned but the place where David lived is.  My most favorite part of the Silent Night in Danish was where instead of saying, 'sleep in heavenly peace' in Danish you sing, 'Sleeps peacefully in Maria's arms'.  There is no Mary in Danish - she is Maria.  I was touched by this beautiful day and the Spirit was so strong. 

In Relief Society we discussed the General Conference talk, "Redemption" by Elder Christopherson from the April Conference.  It was wonderful.  I could get the gist of the lesson, even though it was spoken in Danish.  Finally Henrietta came and sat by me and told me what was being said.  She also translates for us - there are 12 of us with headsets - during Sacrament Meeting.  One brother is Japanese and does not speak Danish.  He has to listen in English because that is the one common language we use.  There is a story in the talk 'Redemption' about indentured servants.  I don't know if my family is aware or not, but some of Clyde's ancestors came over as indentured servants.  We have family members that have experienced all types of lives in our family.

I started running a fever about halfway through Sacrament Meeting.  I would get really dizzy - wonderful considering I was standing for the choir numbers on the edge of a step.  Then I would get the chills and be freezing and then burning up so I wanted to run outside and cool down.  We were invited by a family for a Christmas Celebration but just came straight home.  I slept all afternoon. 

Tomorrow is another work day and then we are off until the New Year.  Right now, all I want to do is crawl back into bed.

Santa Claus

As everyone that knows me well understands - I believe in Santa Claus.  In Denmark he is the Yuleman (spelled Julman) and in Germany the Weinachtsmann.  He has other names too.  In most European countries, he arrives on Christmas Eve - sometime during the day.  By evening as the family gathers around the tree and have come home from their Christmas Eve Service at church (except in Scandinavian Countries) the gifts from their gift person are already under the tree.  In Scandinavian people do not celebrate the birth of Christ.  This is the time of the year when they celebrate the days will soon be getting longer and light is starting to come back.  If you stopped and asked a Dane what this time of year is about - it is always gifts, parties and the winter equinox.  I find that kind of fascinating and yet the Julman still does come and is here before Christmas Eve.  So Santa really has 48 hours to complete his ride.   Exactly enough time to fly around the world and get things taken care of. 

I am looking forward to the days getting longer.  Sunrise is currently 9 a.m. and sunset is 2:30.  No matter when you are out and about during the day - it is never fully daylight.  In Utah it would be like the sun just before it breaks over the mountains on the east of the valleys.  It just never gets full fledged sunlight.  We go to work in the pitch black and come home in the pitch black.  Yesterday when we came home at 13:00 hours - we still had to turn on lights in order to see.  I understand why they worship the sun here.

We are off from work starting Monday afternoon until the Monday after New Years.  New Year is a big deal and so is Easter.  I am looking forward to see what their Easter celebration is about.

I am not sure that this will be my only blog today.  I have so much to say that I know these get long but I want to share it with everyone I know.

The Office Christmas Party

This morning was the office Christmas party.  We had yummy food and our Nisse was revealed.  Clyde and I had the advantage because no one knew we participated too, except for our Nisse.  She wanted us to have some authentic tastes of Denmark.  She is going to give me a copy of her walnut candy recipe.  Bo was surprised that we were his Nisse.  He loved everything we gave him.  The funniest one was Jeppe's.  It was things like scan this to find out where your present is and his computer station was toilet papered.  It had to be a very tech savvy person but it was not.  Leisl enlisted the help of some other people to do her incredibly elaborate searches.  The look on everyone but especially Jeppe's face was priceless.  Anni (who looks like Vicki Grindstaff's twin sister) does the restoration of the books.  Someone sent her some emergency pages that took her 2 days to restore and find out it was a prank.  I never did figure out who her nisse was.  We were also given a beautiful book of Copenhagen. It will proudly sit on coffee table forever more.

We received our first shuttle back and it was an Italian shuttle.  We ran out of room on our hard drive and had to transfer files.  We left at noon today because there wasn't any sense in sitting around watching the very slow process of it downloading.  Jeppe and Frederick came in to see if they could help us.  If it had been the right shuttle, life would have been wonderful but it wasn't.  And guess what - no one knows what to do because this has never happened before.  Leave it to us.  We tried to call our supervisor but we kept getting this weird ring.  Turned out he was in the Chunnel on his way to France and there is no reception there.  We were afraid our  long distance had but shut down.  There has been a threat of that happening.  It would be one thing if we made long distance calls for personal use but we do not.

Downtown Fredericksburg - a little city that makes up Copenhagen.  This is where we go to pay our internet bill.  It is not too far from the Copenhagen temple.

This is some of the older buildings in Fredericksburg.  Some of them date from the 1700's.

Another few of some buildings.  We plan on going to the Thorvaldsen museum and the Frue Kirke - so see the Christus and the 12 Apostles - providing they are open.  Christmas holidays start today and will go on until Jan 3.  We have to go to work on Monday because we have to get a shuttle out and turn the computer off.

Interesting Day

We started our day with an email about the office Christmas party tomorrow morning.  I volunteered to bring Clementines.  Apparently some thought Jeppe had meant Annika instead of Rebecca.  Mads emailed and said that I was one of the Latter-day Saints that worked in the office now.  Clyde and I found it fascinating that we are Latter-day Saints to them - not Mormons.

We had an uneventful trip to work and did 5 protocols.  We were told that a comparison will be done and then we will start on Church and Civil marriages.  Jeppe is very excited about the work we are doing.  We will be giving a presentation on Feb 7 to all the workers in the City Hall of Copenhagen. We are to explain the motivation for our work and why we are doing this.  We are not allowed to preach the gospel so this should be an interesting discussion.  Jeppe wants to help Clyde put a powerpoint presentation together.

Bo was taking a woman through the archives.  When she saw us, she wanted to know what we were doing there.  He said that we were working with Family Search and doing a great work.  He doesn't realize how much Danish we are starting to understand but it was flattering none the less.

We redid the 3 protocols that we didn't have the camera properly mounted for.  It didn't take long and we feel better having done it.  We would have probably gotten 6 protocols done if I hadn't gotten a migraine.  All of the sudden I had a red dot in the center of my vision.  It is still there a bit but at least  my head isn't pounding.  One of the women from the restoration side of the archives came to tell us that the horrible smell we were smelling was because they were attempting to burn the building down but now had it under control.  One of the office mates brought a hotplate in and forgot about it.  It melted the countertop.

I came home and went to bed.  I did see a few minutes of Santa Claus 2.  It is the first Christmas movie I have seen this season.  It may be the only one. Christmas is just celebrated differently here.  In fact it is more a celebration of the days lengthening than the birth of Christ.  It is very interesting.

Will we ever make it a full week?

We went to work this morning - caught the correct bus - and did two protocols (or registers).  Then we waited for over an hour and no new books appeared.  Jeppe told us to take the afternoon off.  He said we work too hard.  We did just that.  We did some grocery shopping and came on home.  I have soup simmering and we will eat as soon as I finish this.  We are doing the 1890's right now and I have noticed that fewer babies are dying and we are getting a lot more pages of all adults.  When babies do die - it is usually within hours or days of birth.  Some of the vaccines we use today were developed by then.  Also people were learning that cleanliness was important.  We are see a lot less cholera and dysentery.

They have the most amazing baby buggies here.  You rarely see a stroller but the buggies are everywhere.  They keep the baby warm and you can carry other things in them.  Today a baby girl was smiling at us on the bus.  Her mother sat down behind us, so then the little girl started laughing.  She will definitely make the world a better place.

There are pigeons everywhere in the train station.  I think they have set up housekeeping there until Spring.  I think there were as many pigeons as people!

Our Nisse gave us some homemade candy today.  It is not very sweet but it is walnuts and some kind of nut and maple syrup filling in dark chocolate.  1 is very rich and so good.  It isn't a candy flavor I have ever been fond of before but I think that is because in the States you don't let the natural sugars shine through - we add corn syrup or sugar to make it overly sweet.

Jeppe brought us some sour dough buns again.  I asked him for a start so I can start making sour dough bread and pancakes. We will see how I do.  Have I said how much I am enjoying it here?  I do miss our family and would love to be with them for Christmas but most of the time, I am very content with what the Lord has presented to us in our lives.  Everyone asks if we are staying for the holidays or flying home.  We tell them we will stay put the full 18 months.  They seem quite flattered when we tell them that.  It is interesting.

We are learning!

This morning when the bus dumped us out in the middle of nowhere again - I realized it said it ended its route there on the front of the bus.  The Travel Plan for Copenhagen doesn't tell you that basically bus 250S has 2 travel plans.  We have been going to the plads instead of the Bella Center.   Tomorrow we will sit and wait for the Bella Center bus.  It isn't like we have a set time we need to be in for work.

We did 5 books today.  Our rate of books seems to be between 4 & 5 now.  We must be getting better at it or the books are getting easier to use.  We also had lunch with everyone on our floor.  You bring your own lunch and then eat what you brought with everyone else.  It is a time to visit and catch up.  The office workers now understand that we want to learn Danish.  They were impressed when we told them we had 11 grandchildren and 4 daughters in Danish.  That sent us onto other subjects - including how Americans and Europeans use a knife and fork when eating.  When we lived here before, I got very proficient at eating European style but my mother hated it.  I am still not sure why.  I need to pick it up again.  It makes so much more sense.  It is not an energy waster.  The other thing we discussed was Hans Christian Andersen.  I was the only one there that had read all of his original stories.  They were amazed.  I told them  I not only had but some of my daughters' had too.  They couldn't get over it.  That ended up leading to more discussions about Grimm and Andersen fairy tales.  Jeppe said that he had never had such stimulating lunch talk.  It was interesting.

There isn't much to write about today.  I am using this more and more as my journal.  I hope I am not boring anyone too much.

It happened again!

Today when we were going into work - the bus shut down again and asked us to get off!  Another 10 minute walk into the office.  We are looking into to taking the train all the way.  I think it would be a shorter walk from the train station.

Everyone smokes here.  You would think that such a health conscious society would be more savvy about smoking.  Every time we walk outside - we are breathing someones secondhand smoke.  I find it very irritating.  At least it is illegal to smoke inside a building - even if it is your own home.  Weird.

We put the order in to recover the 3 protocols that we have to redo.  We got 4 books done today but had to leave work 1/2 hour early because a guy from the bank was coming to look over the apartment.  Apparently the owner of the apartment wants to refinance.  He came at 4 and left at five after. 

Jeppe  came in and had us see what his 'naughty nisse' had done.  His desk and computer were all TP'd.  It was a masterful job and really quite pretty - with bows and knots in it.  It was very quiet at work today.  Just Jeppe, Bo and Stefan.  Frederick was in for a few hours with his son Tio (full name is Toben).  Frederick also hooked up our new computer screen.  It is long and twice and wide as our last one.  It was exactly what we needed.  Work went much easier today and we found out our first shuttle of records passed with flying colors.  There will be no rework on that one.  The guy from DHL is getting to know us and showing up in a timely fashion.  That was very important today.  It was a good day except that hadn't taken any pain meds when I went for our long walk this morning.  I have kind of been in a deficit all day.  It is the cobblestones that get me.  A sidewalk is wonderful around here but when we cross streets and courtyards - there are always cobblestones.  I will get used to eventually I am sure.

Pam asked me an interesting question last night.  She wanted to know if I can download books on my Kindle.  Yes I can with no problems.  It is the Prime movies that have licensing issues.  I have read some really fun books since our arrival.  I cannot believe we have been here a month!

We Made it to Church

It was a fun day today.  We started off our morning with Aebleskivers.  You don't make them from scratch here - you buy them in the freezer section of the grocery store.  They are spiced with apple pie spice and have apples in the middle.   They reminded me of an apple fritter or apple doughnut.  Really good but not what we are used too.  In Denmark you just put powdered sugar on them. 

For Church today we had Sacrament and 2 weeks of Sunday School (in an hour) and then we had SOS after Church.  It is Sandwiches og slaegst-history.  It is Sandwiches and family history.  Everyone brings something for lunch and then they work on the Family History with people that know what they are doing.  We didn't get to stay for that part- just a quick lunch because we are singing in the choir and they are getting ready for the Christmas Program next week. 

In Sacrament Meeting the Primary sang.  It was a quartet.  They sang "Jesus Once Was a Little Child" in Danish.  I had never considered that a Christmas Carol before but it was quite sweet and made me think about the life of Jesus.  For the closing hymn, we sang a carol penned by Hans Christian Andersen.  It was about Jesus in the manger and was really quite beautiful.  We had 33 people at Sacrament today.

Our wait for the bus was long and there is nowhere to sit down.  We walked out of the church and as we started down the street the bus passed us.  It was another 2 blocks until we reached the stop - so we waited for 20 minutes for the next one.  I am liking taking the train to work.

I am waiting for winter to hit with a vengeance - but so far it has been quite mild for around here.  Tomorrow we have to leave work early because the owner of the apartments needs to come and check out our apartment for a loan of some sort.  We need to be here between 3:30 and 5. 

It is time for me to go and start dinner.  Once I warm up from our travels today - life will be wonderful.

Prep Day

The mission's P-day (preparation day) is Tuesday.  Ours is obviously Saturday.  We had our shopping spree this morning (I have got to start buying a little  each day and not try and do all of our shopping once a week.  It is a hard mind set for me to get into.  I walked into the bakery and the girl that seems to always be there when we are - starting getting my order ready before I asked.  She also gave a chocolate cream bar that was wonderful.  It had melted chocolate on top of  a cream filling.  Not sure what the creation was called.

We got to talk to Pam last night with Dane.  It was great visit.  We are hoping Heidi will call tonight.  I know there is no way we can talk to family on Sunday.  Everyone is in church at the time to call us.

I did three loads of wash, which is in truth - one if I used a regular washer.  I am all caught up and ready for the Sabbath.  Hopefully we will make it tomorrow.  It will be interesting to ride bus 10 and 4a again after not riding it all week.

Oh No!

It turns out that the higher ups decided that we need to redo those 3 books from last Thursday.  It seems like we take two steps forward and one back.  I don't feel like we have been productive but then we have both been so sick this week -that could account for why.

Today when we got off the bus to come home, Clyde looked up and said, 'I think that is the train station'.  We walked in and sure enough we were at a side entrance.  The directions we had taken down from the Internet had us going to the front entrance which was like going around your elbow to get to your thumb.  We also had a weird commute to work.  All of the sudden our bus driver turned the bus off and check out of his shift.  We still had 2 more bus stops before we would be to work.  This is however the stop where our bus driver dumped us out the first day of work - instead of where we should have been let off - so we knew the way to the office.  Only problem was that is was foggy and misty - so we were pretty wet by the time we made it in.  No one thought it was in the least bit weird.  They just got off the bus and started walking. 

We only got 3 books done today.  The office employees were going to a Christmas Party downtown.  We were left all alone.  We were both feeling pretty crummy - so after we finished book 3 - we just headed home.  We have come pretty far in the trust department because originally they were not going to allow us in alone.  Now they have no problem with it.  Cool!  They even said if we wanted to - we could work over Christmas Break.

Yesterday, one of the employees from the national archives in downtown Copenhagen, offered to have Clyde and me come on a Friday - when the offices are closed - and she would help me find out more about my family.  I am not sure how far we will get since most of my family doesn't even come from Zealand.  But it was so sweet of her.  We will take her up on her offer after the first of the year.

One of the frustrating things about Danes is that they are very soft spoken.  I cannot hear them half the time.  Jeppe has learned to speak up around us.  Mads and Frederick are just boisterous people by nature - so we have no problem with them.  Mads is always whistling in the office and today he was whistling Mendelssohn's Wedding March from Midsummer's Night Dream.  Makes us laugh.  Lars and Steven come in to say G'morn to us when they get to work.  They are the only two that go out of their way to do that.  They are all such neat young men.  Jeppe told us today that he has Type1 Diabetes.  He was diagnosed when he was 16.  He handles it pretty well and says that he has injections down to 3 or 4 times a day instead of 7 (the rate for last year).  He tries very hard to eat well and eat small meals throughout the day.  Makes me admire him even more.

We renewed our bus passes and realized that she skipped the 14th of December.  We cannot go anywhere tomorrow.  We can walk over to the mall and do our grocery shopping, etc.  But public transportation is off limits tomorrow.  I am so glad.

Life is going well.  We are enjoying the beautiful city of Copenhagen and the Danish hospitality.

We made it back to work!

On Monday, our nisse left us the basket weave heart.  Today when we got to work, we found cd's of Danish Christmas Carols or Jul synge (pronounce Yule Soongah).  It was a good day at work.  We printed out 4 books and seem to be getting back on track again.  By 2:00 pm, I was wiped out and very ready to come home.  I went and had my hair cut at 'Hotten Tot'.  The woman that cut my hair has hair the same color as Heather's except it is over her natural brown color.  Where she had streaks of white before is now bright red.  We had a fun visit.  I look forward to going back.  It is quite short so I hopefully can go 10 weeks.

This is the office building we work in.  We take up all of the 4th row of windows but it is called the 3rd floor.  Those are not flower boxes along the bottoms of the windows.  They are braces.  The owner was told that because of deterioration, all the windows had to be replaced.  His way of fixing the problem was to run bars across the windows with netting.  We thought it was under construction and passed it by our first day.  It is such a fun atmosphere to work in the office.  Frederick always sings or whistles and today, Mads - the head of the group here, told us he is ordering us a BIG computer screen, so we can preview things better from the distance we are sitting.  He was willing to get  us a high end screen but we told him just the regular would be fine.  They also have ordered us some new computer chairs. 

 

Life is going well.  By evening we are both very ready for bed.  Hopefully these colds will end soon.

Imagine my surprise...

Imagine my surprise when I bit into a cinnamon roll and found apple filling in it.  Not what I expected at all but so good.  I finally decided to get a treat at the bakery instead of just bread.  It was a good one.

We ended up staying home today.  Hopefully tomorrow we will be up for work again.  It is getting boring being here but on the other hand the thought of having to take busses or trains is overwhelming.  I sure hope tomorrow we are up for it.

Because we haven't been out of the apartment much the last two days, we have nothing to say.  I do have to say that having your exhaust fan and stove light on one switch is dumb.  I hate the exhaust and don't use it unless I absolutely have too.  BUT you turn on one and you turn on the other here.

Hopefully we will have more to say tomorrow.

Another Sick Day!

We are both sick and ended up staying home for multiple reasons.  We felt so bad that we slept 12 hours and finally woke up because I had to eat.  I slept off and on all morning.  I was running a fever last night and knew we shouldn't go and share this more than we already have.  Clyde wasn't any better than I was.  It just seemed the best choice.  We ended up going downtown and paying our internet bill because we were not working anyway.  You can only pay using a debit card if you pay in person.  Otherwise we have to get a Danish bank account and that just isn't something we want to do.  We already have 2 accounts in the states!

I was laughing today about the toilet paper.  When we lived in Germany - 50 and 40 years ago, all of Europe had toilet paper about the softness of construction paper.  The toilet paper we have here now is like the states.  The other funny thing is that in the states  you choose from 15 different brands and with varying degrees of softness.  Here you have 2 to choose from.  Paper towels are like mini rolls compared to the states.  A sheet is 6x6.  It reminds me of playing house when I was little.

I took some pictures and will post them soon.  I just don't feel like hassling with it right now. 

Last night, we got to talk to Heather for almost 2 hours.  It was so wonderful to visit with her and the girls. 

Monday, Monday

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and cough again.  I have been running a fever off and on all day.  Not a good opening for the week.

We were having some issues with our pictures last week but got the situation resolved today.  We got 4 books done with about 26 hundred names in all today.  We kept getting interrupted and things went slower than we usually go.  Plus we had to download last weeks work when we left so abruptly on Thursday.  Tomorrow will be a better day, providing I can make it in.

We took the bus and train today and it seems the better way to go.  Clyde wants to ride bikes so bad but he doesn't realize the last thing I want to do is have to work to get home after work.  Besides, I hate riding bikes.  I have poor balance and my knees ache all the time as it is.  Just the thoughts of bending my knees that many times is mind numbing.  Maybe by Spring, I will feel differently.  Right now in the ice and snow, biking just seems like an accident waiting to happen.

I am going to go and drink some herbal tea and go to be.

A Sunday

Clyde is still feeling pretty crummy and was running a fever again last night.  We ended up staying home and doing our RS/Priesthood lessons this morning and listening to President Uchtdorfs message on 'Come Back'.  My most favorite line from that talk is when he says, 'Doubt your doubts, not your faith.'  It is such a simple message.

Our Branch is so small that we alternate Sunday School and Priesthood/RS lessons every week.  We only go 2 hours instead of 3.  This morning we did 2 of the lessons from Lorenzo Snow.  Next week will be 2 Sunday School lessons.  It is interesting.

I was thinking this evening about Mom.  I was peeling Danish potatoes.  The have a yellow flesh like Yukon Golds.  Mom was always complaining about the yellow potatoes.  She felt like a real potato was white and fluffy on the inside.  European potatoes are starchy and I have yet to see white flesh.  But they are yummy and very tender - even raw.  We are also eating more pork than ever.  It is the cheapest meat here.

We are going to try a new way to work tomorrow morning (if Clyde is well enough to go).  Right now we take 3 buses and have a lot of sitting in the weather waiting for the next bus to come.  We can take the train and take one bus.  The problem is the same either way.  The last bus we take and the only bus we take this new way is 250S.  It runs every 26 minutes - or there abouts.  All of our other buses run every 5 to 10 minutes so that wait is not too bad.  The train is every 10 minutes too.  We don't have a time when we have to be at work but it is nice to work from 8-3 and I think that will pretty much be our schedule from here on.

We finally found some maple syrup.  It is pure maple syrup so a little goes a long way.  I cannot seem to find any buttermilk though.  They do have yogurt milk.  I might try it to see if it works like buttermilk.  Can't hurt.  I am still afraid of the oven.  I am just going to have to break down and go for it.  Right now I don't feel we have the money to waste if I ruin something. 

I have been reading a lot since we got here.  I am getting annoyed with some of the newer books I am reading because they end so abruptly.  It is like a story ending with 'and then she woke up' or something equally dumb.  I have rambled enough now.

It is interesting

It is interesting that when we go to the bakery now, they get what I want before I even open my mouth.  Five hard rolls (a variety) and one loaf of crusty bread.  Clyde is getting a little tired of the crusty bread here.  Jeppe brought us some homemade sourdough rolls the other day that were soft and chewy.  It was a great change of pace.  He keeps offering me a start but I haven't gotten comfortable with the oven yet.

Speaking of Jeppe - there is a running club that the young men in the office have.  They run either during lunch or after work 3 or 4 days a week.  Because the storm was coming in on Thursday, they decided to run at lunch.  While Jeppe was running, he saw a dead deer.  He was so startled that he tripped and badly sprained his foot.  He had it elevated and had ice on it as we left work on Thursday.  The problem is that he had to ride his bike home from work at the end of the day!

We have had another easy going day.  Clyde needed that.  He had swollen eyes and a fever last night.  It was good to just have to do shopping today.  There was a guy singing in the mall.  He must have been quite a celebrity because the courtyard to the mall was packed and so was the second floor looking down.  He was dressed as a nisse or an elf.  The kids were singing with him and having a ball. 

Our big purchase of the day was a backpack for Clyde.  By the time we carry home 2 quarts of milk and a 6 pack of tonic water, things get pretty heavy.  It was much easier with a backpack today.  I also found a place where we could get reusable shopping bags.  They charge for grocery sacks here - so to get a good quality heavy duty shopping bag is a must.  It saves almost a dollar every time we shop.

I also got a Santa similar to the one Heather sent me from Italy.  It sits on the shelf and is ringing a bell and holding a Yule Tree (as they are called here).  He is very flashy in his gold vest and red plaid pants.  We also got  few things for our 'secret nisse' at work. 

We found out that because we are outside of the states, we cannot use Prime with Amazon to watch movies.  It makes me a bit sad.  We might have to keep the TV just so we can watch a movie periodically.  As I write this, Clyde is watching The Hobbit in English with Danish subtitles.  It is very educational.  We did watch the news last night and found that downtown Copenhagen was under 4 feet of water.  We don't know if affected where we worked or not.  We will see come Monday morning.  I also watched High Society this afternoon.  It was so much fun.  I learned quite a bit - most importantly that the Danish really don't have swear words.  I find that quite wonderful.

Easy Going Friday

We didn't go into work today for a variety of reasons.  The winds were still howling and there was sleet for most of the day.  The biggest reason we stayed home is the cold I had when we first got here is now plaguing Clyde.  We just read and took it easy.  He is feeling some better but doing the same thing tomorrow will be even better.  We do have to go to the grocery store and bakery.  We should probably run by the cheese and meat market too.  I just dread dragging all of those bags home.  Especially if tomorrow is like today.  We will see.  It is nice to have a free day once in a while.

We have decided that in order to go to the temple, we are going to take every other Friday off - just like we did in RI and attend here in Copenhagen.  It is not an easy trip and with it being an appointment only temple, we can only go at certain times.

Funny story, Sister Williams, the temple matron is Ruel Christiansons daughter.  She was born in the house we owned in Ephraim.  My grandma, Sarah Tuttle, taught her in 4-H.  She said she felt like we were related because our families were so important to each other.  I told her about her dad performing our temple ceremony and how grateful I was that he listened to the promptings of the Spirit.  She loved it and was going to write it down for her family.  We had a marvelous visit at Zone Conference. 

I must admit I have been quite homesick today.  Probably because it was the first day I could dwell on not being with family.  I will live and have a better day tomorrow.

O Come Emanuel

On Tuesday, our mission president showed this in Zone Conference.  I wanted to share it for two reason.  1.  It is beautiful.  2. It is piano and cello.  Since Nathanael plays cello, this is for him.  It is very beautiful.

Hold ON!

We were sent home from work early today because a big winter storm is hitting us.  Busses and trains do not run when the weather is bad, so they sent us home so we could simply get home.  Because of the storm though, we found another way to go to work.  We are going to try the train and then a bus and see how that goes.  We will hopefully be in the elements less that way and the train is WAY more comfortable.

I  saw a little girl about Evie Nordell's age, wearing a wonderful snow suit.  It wasn't an all in one set - but the pants were separate from the jacket.  It was BRIGHT pink and the little girl looked like Evie.  I want a snow suit like that.

Any and all of our grandchildren could get lost in a crowd here.  They all look like a typical Dane.  For that matter any of our daughters or son-in-laws could too.

There are flight, train and bus cancelations being posted now.  I am glad we are home.  I am also glad we have a gas stove because we can heat things even if the power goes out.  Don't know what to expect in that direction.

Another Day

We have had quite a week so far.  We did 5 books today and processed about 20,000 names for indexing in the future.  It was a bit of a record for us.  It started out miserable this morning with wind and rain but by afternoon the sun was shining.  Our ride home we quick and easy - in fact I think we made it home in record time today.

For my daughters - tomorrow is December 5.  It is when the shoes go out in the evening so on the morning of December 6, St. Nicholas will have arrived and filled the shoes.  Have fun.

We are plugging along here and doing fine.  I feel like I have so much to post and yet when I sit down, I forget.  I am enjoying working and spending my day with Clyde.

I do want to say - on every single page (there are 6 deaths per page) that we digitize, a baby or young child dies of things that can be prevented now.  Typhus, diphtheria, pertussis, measles and so many other things.  We have become afraid of inoculations because of the side affects - of which none have been proven.  Our bodies are no longer reacting to antibiotics they way they should.  Please inoculate your children.  It is heart breaking to see so many deaths for diseases that now can be wiped out - if we just are aware of the dangers.  I will now step off of my soapbox.  Besides, I know that I am preaching to the choir here.  I would say half of the deaths, easy are children and infants on these records.

Zone Conference

Today was Zone Conference for our island of Zealand (pronounced zjayland) Denmark.  We had a wonderful meeting and then a traditional pork dinner with caramelized potatoes and boiled cabbage.  It was fabulous!  For dessert we had traditional rice porridge with cherry sauce on it.  The thing about Danish rice pudding (or porridge) is that they have chopped almonds in it instead of raisins.  It is about the best thing I have every eaten!  I will try to find a recipe and post it - because I think this will be a new tradition in our home for Christmas.  The other tradition with the Rice Pudding is there is one whole almond in the bowl.  You cannot tell you have the almond until the dessert is over.  Then you reveal the almond and get a prize.  But if you reveal the almond before it is time  - you have to do all the dishes!  Most people cheek it and continue on with the conversation as though nothing happened until the head of the family or party asks who has it.  Fun tradition. 

They also fry the rind on the pork roast so it is crispy.  They carefully take the fat cap off and then cook it until is crispy and serve it along side the pork.  Makes quite a tasty dish.

We ended up taking 3 buses and walking 15 minutes to get to the church.  We did link up with the sisters that are in our area.  I have a feeling we will be seeing them quite a bit - especially since they are both terribly homesick right now.  It has been a wonderful day. 

A few Thoughts

I felt left out at church yesterday.  I was the only one that was using a hard copy.  Everyone else was using their phones or tablets.

When the sun shines here - even if it is windy, it is tolerable to sit in the freezing temperatures.  Yesterday was bright and beautiful.

People are impressed that Clyde and I would take 18 months out of our lives to serve a mission for the Church.  The normal work week for Danes is 35 hours.  However our co-workers are starting to work a bit longer because we do.  We can't decide if they are more industrious or don't want old people putting them to shame.  I love where we work.

Our co-workers also cannot comprehend how I have lived my whole life and not had coffee.  They are always fixing espresso's for themselves and their office mates.

Tomorrow we are going to go to Zone Conference.  It will take us 3 buses and a 15 minute walk to get where we are going.  Should be interesting.  We will have to travel for over an hour.  We will then help prepare a traditional Danish Christmas meal.  More about that tomorrow. 

Life is good and treating us well. 

Happy Birthday Heidi!

I tried to pick more flattering pictures of you, Heidi - but these are the only ones I have with you in them!  We miss you but hope you have a wonderful day.

The day at the pool with the Nordells was fun day.  We had such a great time in Las Vegas.  I hope that you have a wonderful next year.  You are in our prayers every day.  I am so glad and proud that you are our daughter.  I do  have 4 amazing daughters.

Er Nisse

In Denmark, instead of Santa's elves, etc. - they have Nisse (pronounced Knee - saw) - little Christmas Pixies.  These little elves live in your attic or basement and are pretty laid back all year until about this time of year.  Then they come out and cause mischief or sometimes bring little gifts.  They can cause mayhem or just have fun with you.  They move things, and even misplace them so you have to frantically look for something important.  They leave a gift for you to forgive them periodically.  We drew names in the office on Friday to see who would be the nisse to whom until December 20.  It would be a lot  more fun if we  just knew who our person was.  We will have to talk to Jeppe (pronounced Yep-ay) to see who it is even though we are to keep it to ourselves.  It is kind of  like secret Santa but with a teasing twist.  I am actually looking forward to this, but next year will be more fun when we know personalities better.  We will reveal all on the morning of December 20 and then we are off until Jan 2.  No one comes into the office during that time.

I cannot remember if I said anything about children in our office or not.  When one of the parents cannot take a child or they are too sick to go to the state funded daycare, then we have a child or two in the office quietly playing.  The first week we were there, Mateas came and then last week we had Maia.  Very well behaved and sweet children.  No one batted an eye.  Starting next week, one of the young men in the office will go on 'Maternity Leave' for 2 months to help his wife.  Family is everything to the Danish.

We took a little trip on the train and then walked home with our groceries - about 1/3 Km.  I of course forgot the essentials we were shopping for in the first place - so we had to run to the corner and the bakery in order to be read for Sunday.  The meat here is so wonderful.  No fillers in the sausage or ground meat.  The Pork has an amazing flavor.  Maybe it is because we are so hungry because of all of the walking and working we do - food just tastes better.  Their butter is almost the texture of cream cheese.  Very rich and satisfying.  We bought 3 kinds of cheese today, Havarti, Danish Gouda and baby Swiss.  All are amazing.  Plus, since it is Christmas, Clyde's favorite ginger cookies are everywhere.  We are discovering which brand we like best.  I haven't tried the Danish world famous Licorice yet, but plan to soon.   The only down side to all of this is that milk only comes in 1 liter containers.  And it is so good, we have to get milk every few days.

We are attending a very small branch of about 30 people.  I am looking forward to tomorrow.  I was too sick to go last week.  I like riding the bus and train.  It brings back such happy memories.  It was the only way I got around in Frankfurt a/M.  I hope everyone has a great day today and a wonderful Sabbath tomorrow.

Friday - November 29

This is our set-up.  The camera is on the pole, the computer obviously behind, on the table.  The cradle is covered with its protective cardboard - so it doesn't get scratched when we are not using it.

Here is the cradle with a book in it.  It was one of the largest ones we had last week but this week they have been even bigger and thicker!

Clyde with Andy - our application engineer.  He is the camera expert.  Can't remember what they were puzzling over.  It was probably the lens the Church wanted us to use and was impossible to focus or the one that went with the camera.  Fortunately we have the one that went with the camera for our work.

Sunrise as we waited for the bus this morning.  Just like the sky promised - it has rained all day.  But the sky was beautiful this morning.  This is at the third bus stop we wait at going to work.

Happy Birthday Luke!

This is a very blurry picture, but you work with what you have.  It was so fun to spend time with you this last summer.  We will be home in time for you baptism!  I can't believe how big you are getting.

Luke with Anneke and Mallory playing Webkinz.  I hope you have a wonderful birthday today (even if you do have to share you birthday dinner with everyone else!)  We will all be thankful for Luke today!

Ouch!

Today we spent all day doing retakes of the books we shot on Monday.  I wore a yellow top and it reflected off the books and onto the page.  We ended up shooting one book in its entirety and 3 others partially.  I am spent and very annoyed with myself for doing that.  Only dark colors from now on.  I am exhausted (but what else is new!)  Happy Thanksgiving to all tomorrow.  It is just another work day for  us.

We are settling in

 Our apartment is small but really about the size of the one in RI.  Our bathroom is the size of a shower stall with everything in the room together.

You can sit on the toilet and take a shower!  Our floor is always clean though.

Our kitchen is a galley kitchen with no dishwasher but we do have a tiny washing machine.  It does about 3 or 4 shirts or one sheet at a time.

 g

Both sides of the kitchen with our quirky window at the back.

Our jet we took to come here from Dallas.  Not a trip I want to take again soon!

We are loving being here.  Tomorrow I will post pictures of our camera equipment.  I just love that we are online and I can keep tabs on my family again.

Fun Saturday

We spent the day with Marianne and Frank along with Sara and Dallin.  We took Pam and Dane with us and they had a wonderful visit with the family.  We went to a fun restaurant called 'Rollups' that sells crepes and Panini.  We had a great time.  Dane and Pam slept most of the way home.

We spent last evening going through our luggage and making sure we were within weight limits.  I think we about have it.  Packing 3 coats is a lot of space and weight!  I am also taking 3 pair of shoes and that weighs things down.  18 months of meds is also bulky and a bit heavy.

We found out our visas were ready on September 28 but our equipment in Denmark was giving them fits.  They think they have the bugs worked out now.  We learned this week how to fix some on our own - so it is going to be exciting and fun.

 Clyde says I am pointing toward France.  I can't help I am a foot too short!

Clyde and Hyrum Smiths profiles.

A quick note

Today we went to the Draper Temple.  We have a goal to go to the Copenhagen temple next week.  It seems wild that we are heading over finally.  We are balancing suitcases and trying to find room for things.  I finally have my big suitcase down to 48 pounds.  Hopefully things will go without a glitch. 

Our sonicare toothbrush is dying and we are trying to find another 'e series' toothbrush to replace it because we have the toothbrushes for it already.  We don't need this.

I am very tired today.  I guess I am somewhat crashing after our whirlwind week.  Today has gone by quickly. 

Finished - Now Onto New Beginnings!

We just got home from our last day at the Church Office building.  We had so much fun!  I am going to love this mission!  We had lunch with my sister, Marianne at a beautiful restaurant in the Joseph Smith building.  We had a great time.  We will see the Dittmar family on Saturday, when I will retrieve our Danish guidebook and give Marianne some things to take to my parents for storage.

We digitized books and documents, learned about the auditing process of what we 'capture' and the paperwork that we need to take care of weekly.  We are both excited to get started on this a week from Monday.  I must say I am not looking forward to 22 hours of travel but I am looking forward to this mission.  It is going to be a blast!

One Day More!

Since Monday, we have been learning the ins and outs of Digital Photography on new equipment.  (Heather, they had been using Canon cameras but switched to Nikon.  There were multiple reasons why.)  Our trainer has never used the new equipment and so she is learning along with us.  The Canon cameras that are being used are set up for grayscale only.  The Nikon is color and picks up different variations than straight grayscale.  There have been several glitches that the head of the program has had to come and straighten out.  Our trainer said today that we must think her inept because of how little she knows.  She is very knowledgeable but needs to learn the new system - if that is the direction they choose.  Clyde and I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute we have spent in the Church Office building.  We are actually grateful to be learning this with problems because when we see these things pop up in  the field, we will know how to handle it.  Today something happened that our trainer had never seen happen in 8 years.  She was amazed about it.  Now we know that if the camera starts only shooting one page in a book instead of 2 - you reboot.  Tomorrow will be our last day and then we have a long weekend free to get ready for our trip on Tuesday.  We are very excited and getting more excited every day!

Capturing

Today we learned about capturing images and the new services offered on Family Search.  It was a very productive day.  I am so tired tonight.  I don't think I will have trouble sleeping.  Tomorrow we practice capturing all day.

Hurray!

Today we started at the Church Office building to learn how to run the digital photographic equipment.  Our visas are here!  We will be leaving on the 12th as planned.  We also found out we will be spending all of time working at the Danish National Archives for our whole mission.  We are excited and really looking forward to the mission more and more.

First week of our mission - only week in MTC

This is our 'District' for the MTC.  You can hardly see Clyde but it is nice picture of the other couples and our teacher, Sister Fillmore from Sandy, Utah.  On the left is the Rasmussen's from Payson - going to Norway, the Hawkins from San Diego - going to the Ukraine and on the far right is the Smyths from Rexburg and now St George - going to Florida.  We had a great time with them.  We are all love the gospel and had some wonderful discussions.

Clyde is pointing to Denmark in front of the MTC world map.  His name badge says Elder Bailey.  We had to wear that one when we  were in the MTC.  We now also have our Danish ones.  I will post more pictures tomorrow.

It's Official

We went to the MTC today, got our name badges and are busy learning "Preach My Gospel."  It was overwhelming and exciting all at the same time.  I tend to get over-stimulated and when I do, I zone out sometimes until I have assimilated everything.  I did that a couple of times today.  I will try and process quicker and be rejuvenated tonight.

A Very Fun Weekend

On Friday, Clyde and I went down to Ephraim for a Vocal Exchange 30 year reunion.  It was so much fun to be with such great friends again and make beautiful music together.  We sang several of our standbys and sounded just a good as ever.  We blended and fell into our old parts like we had never been apart.  Such fun!  Time just flew by.  Before anyone knew it, we had been together for 3 1/2 hours.  I have never had time go by so unnoticed before.

Saturday morning, we went to the Manti Tempel and saw Jay and Tawny Olsen and family.  Thomas was getting married.  John and Christian are already married!  We saw Darrel and Corinne, Chuck and Eileen Jeffs too.  We visited while Thomas and his wife were having pictures taken.  It was so much fun!

Today we went back to Manti to go to church with Popi and Doreen.  While I was in Relief Society, I was sitting by Doreen and Mary Wintch.  About halfway through RS, we realized were super close friends when I was at Manti High.  We had a blast visiting with each other and catching up.  I can't wait to see her next Sunday too.

I can't remember if told about our drive home from Manti, last week.  In the valley leading to Indianola, we saw a MOOSE!  It was a juvenile and seemed quite lost but it was funny to see all of the cars stopping to take pictures. 

Tomorrow we finally enter the MTC.  I am scared and excited.  Our next adventure begins NOW!