And the Thunder Rolls...

This picture is taken from our window where we shoot.  It was last week and there was an incredible storm coming in.  The sky was so black compared to the white apartment buildings.  If you look - you can see the 'silver' lining.  It is something the Danes tell you look for.  There is always silver in the sky during a rain storm - a promise it will not last forever. 

Last night the thunder and lightning were right on top of each other.  It was so close it actually shook the apartment building!  At church today, people were telling about their apartment cleanup from the water coming up the shower drains and the toilets!  The Thorvaldsen Museum and our public transportation systems suffered damage too.

Daniel and me.  Daniel stuck pretty close to me for  most of the trip.  I really enjoy talking with Daniel.  He loves all things American but especially American Sports.

Clyde and Helge sitting together.  Marianne (on the side of Helge) is a new intern at the archive at the Radhus.  This is all on the ferry going to Ven Island.

Our dear friend, Jeppe.  Jeppe had been sick all week and finally started on antibiotics on Wednesday.  He was so sick he lost 15 pounds.  He does not have the weight to lose.  He and I walked together up to the observatory.  He told me about his 'bonus' brother.  It turns out that in Danish you don't say 'step' son or mother but you say what is equivalent of 'bonus'.  I have been so lucky to have a 'bonus' grandfather.  I love that term so much more than 'step.'

Entering the harbor on Ven.  It was a beautiful island.

More of the ferry harbor.  It is the Iceland, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish flags in the picture.  More pictures tomorrow.

A busy and lazy day

You are probably asking how we can be busy and lazy.  We can.  For some reason, Clyde and I slept until almost 10:00 this morning.  We had 'brunch' and then went shopping for the week ahead.  We got that done (I pushed Clyde to get some winter shoes and he finally did, at very good price).  We got our stuff from the bakery and have been working on our talks for tomorrow the rest of the day.  When that is out of the way, I will write more.  Have a good Sabbath.

A Wonderful Day on the Island of Ven

We had our outing to the Island of Ven today.  I will post pictures in the future blogs but just wanted to thank everyone for prayers on my behalf.  I was able to walk and keep up with people with no pain and no problem.  A beautiful day until we got to the city limits of Copenhagen coming home.  It has rained ever since. 

We saw the Little Mermaid from the sea to shore.  I wished today for the first time since our arrival that I had my Canon camera.  It is not worth having here for 1 day but the place we went was so picturesque that I was snapping pictures in my mind all day long.  Hopefully the few that were taken will give you taste of our glorious day.

Not Already!

The temperatures are falling and the leaves are turning. I am not ready for Autumn but everyone around here accepts September (the beginning of Sept) as the start of Fall.  The sun is setting at just after 8 p.m. and not rising until after 6 a.m - a bit more than 13 hours a day.  I have loved the light, the warmth and the sunshine.  You will find me kicking and screaming into the next season.

I was not feeling well but had the strong impression that I should leave early.  I got out to the bus stop and Helena Maria, one of the women we met at the Radhus Arkiv, was walking out of the building.  She immediately recognized me (granted I had on my tag) and started talking to me like old friends.  Her husband has leukemia and has been in the hospital all week while they harvested stem cells to replant in his bone marrow.  She is very optimistic but asked me to please pray for her and her husband.  I am thinking now that that is the reason I felt so strongly to leave when I did.  She needed someone to talk too.  I am grateful I was an instrument in the Lord's hands today.

We are off to the Island of Ven in Sweden tomorrow.  Should be fun!

Finally!

We had over an hour of glitches today - cutting into our production time.  However when we went to download to the hard drive, everything went very smoothly.  What a blessing!

The guys at work are doing a 5 km run this evening.  There are five groups running - 1 each day - making it the largest public run.  It is for Danish charities.  Jeppe was supposed to run but has been out sick all week.  We miss him and hope he is back soon.

Fighting with books and the camera all day is hard work!  I am so ready to see the end of this day!

A SLOW day

Today everything at work went on SNAIL mode.  Things downloaded slowly and the camera stopped working several times in the middle of each book we did.  I left to go to the Apotek before it got too crowded.  Clyde finally just left the computer on to download.  He would still be there if he hadn't.

On Friday we are going to the Island of Hven (or Venn) to see the observatory of Tycho Brahe.  Elisabeth Bloch invited us along with everyone from the office.  We are actually leaving the mission (with the Mission President's approval) and going to Sweden.  I do ask for prayers that I can walk the over 4 kilometers (round trip) to get there from the ferry and back again.  I studied about him in my Astronomy class.  He actually mentored Kepler!  Very exciting.

Two things happened on the bus on the way home.  The two girls that were so enamored with my knitting were there again.  They very shyly said 'hi' to me.  I told them 'hi' back and they giggled.  Such cute young ladies.  Then when we got to my stop - the bus driver did not open the exit doors and started to drive off.  There were several of us to get off but we were in the back of the bus.  I finally yelled to stop the bus and open the doors (all in Danish of course).  He stopped and apologized.  Glad I didn't have to ride the bus forevermore!

A Very Frustrating Day

Today was one of those days that nothing seemed to go right.  We had so many computer glitches that I lost count!  We finally had to just shut down when every few pages  of shooting the last book of the day - the camera would shut down.  Don't know what is causing it but it is frustrating.  We came home so ready to have this day over.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

A Good Sabbath Day

We had a good day today.  We had a substitute accompanist for Sacrament Meeting.  Jerrn usually plays but had a meeting for work (he is operations manager for the Thorvaldsen museum).  He asked his grandson to play.  No one had any idea that Kasper could even play.  He did a beautiful job.  The Spirit was strong in the meeting.  So glad I had the opportunity to be there today.

Clyde and I will be the speakers next week.  I haven't used the talks and testimonies that Andreas Birk and Logan Wooden helped me with before I came.  I am going to use those next week.  I just need to polish pronunciation and I should be ready to go.

It has been a good week.  I am looking forward to a new one.  So glad that we are in Denmark to serve the Lord.

A Good August Saturday

We went shopping this morning and got our hair cut.  People are finally back from vacation.  We have decided we need to take the earlier bus into work because of all of the stops the bus now makes.  All week long, this past week, we would literally be speed walking from one bus to the next.  We missed the bus on Monday.  We want to be to work by 8 and because we missed transfers, have been coming in late.  We will remedy that now.

Life is good.  I am feeling better and looking forward to church tomorrow.  Clyde bought me a Primary Children Songbook.  Now I need to start working on a Christmas program that is simple, can be small and will be uplifting.  I wish I had my Christmas books with me!

Rough Night

I was up with a fever most of the night.  I am feeling some better today but this evening I am achy all over again.  That is never a good sign with me.

I forgot to tell about the bus ride home yesterday.  We got on and I was knitting.  (I am knitting a shawl for myself for the coming months.)  Two little girls got on and practically climbed into my lap to watch me knit.  They are about 7 or 8.  One of the girls looked at the other and said (in Danish) - "When I learn how to do that I will make you beautiful things."  Made me smile.  They stood right next to me and talked like I wasn't there.  I found it interesting that in a bus - they chose to stand by me (the bus was packed).  They worked their way and fixed it so they were right by me until their stop.  I must have looked safe to them.

Productive Day

It was a good day.  They didn't like the way we shot a book a couple of weeks ago and we had to redo it.  You cannot change formats in the middle of the book - so we had to figure out how to do that so that it would be accepted.

Someone brought Mikkel a 'dance pole'.  He is baffled how it appeared in his office but is trying to figure out how to get a 8+ foot pole to stay up in a room with 12 foot ceilings.  I love working with these guys.  He also said the AirHead raised his blood sugar for far longer than he thought it would.  He will never eat that again.

I am not feeling well.  I am achy all over and my head it splitting.  Love you- will write more tomorrow.

Partly Rainy

Once again, it has rained off and on all day.  It looks like it is clearing up - but Clyde is on his way to go out with the missionaries.  Hopefully it will go quickly  and well for him - with no rain.

We did well at work.  We are working on huge protokols.  So we are doing 4 or 5 - 800 page books again.  Today we had a strange glitch that has never happened before.  The computer checked out of the D-cam and froze.  We tried to evaluate the book at the end and it wouldn't let us.  Finally we deleted 10 pages before and 10 pages after the pages where the glitch happened and retook the pages.  It worked and downloaded onto the external hard drive without a problem.

Today, Mikkel ate one of the AirHeads I brought.  He has Type-1 diabetes.  I said he could go into sugar shock with all of the sugar.  He said, "Good - I need a couple of days off."  He was quite disappointed when nothing untoward happened.  There is no more candy left in the kitchen.  Mads is going to find us some genuine Danish candy to show us what he grew up on.  Last night as he and his son were eating the Wonka Laffy Taffy - he said they sat and made up scenes that would fit in the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Mad said that he was Mio's hero last night.

A Fun Day

We went to work today and had a good day.  When the Orgill's were here, they left us some Country Time Strawberry Lemonade. Sour Patch Kids (watermelon), Laffy Taffy and AirHeads.  I took them into work today and it was so funny to watch the reactions.  Lars loved the Country Time lemonade - except for the color.  It reminded him of his nieces birthday parties.  He said he would have to drink that in an opaque glass - but he enjoyed it.  He ate all of the Sour Patch Kids and then he said he had a sugar high and probably pickled from all of the chemicals.  Mads will be his son's hero this evening.  He noticed Wonka on the Laffy Taffy.  He took all of it home because Mio loves Charlie and Chocolate Factory.  Glad we can make life fun for so many people.

On the way home, the bus driver hit the accelerator or slammed on the brakes.  We were all being thrown all over the bus.  Little kids were losing their footing and their seats, landing on the floor.  Several people complained and one lady told me that she would complain to the bus company about this driver.  I wouldn't go that far but it was not my favorite ride we have ever had.

Chilly Monday

We never got out of the 50's today.  It has been raining all day and there is a touch of autumn in the air.  I hope this is not a preview of a rough winter.

Had a wonderful time with Terry and LaDell Orgill.  We literally just picked up where we left off.  LaDell has always felt like a sister.  We were so comfortable around each other that it was not trying at all.  In fact it was rejuvenating to be together.  It was like a vacation yesterday.

We had a good day at work.  So glad we figured out the bus route home.  It might take 10 minutes longer to ride but we get off practically at our front door.  So much better in inclement weather.

My dad and stepmother moved into their new home on Saturday.  Heidi will be staying in the 'family home' with her family until we get home.  I guess that my dream is coming true.  I have always wanted to live in that house - ever since I can remember.

So so Saturday

Today we cleaned, shopped and prepared for the Sabbath.  Not a lot to report.  Tomorrow, the Orgills are going to Church with us and then coming over here for dinner.  Looking forward to catching up with old friends.

Thanks to Mikkel...

Thanks to Mikkel, we are back on line.  Oh I do love working with those amazing young men.

Above is a picture of us with Sister Kelli Orgill.  We knew her parents in San Antonio.  We are hopefully going to have dinner with them on Sunday, here at the apartment and maybe show them a few sights while we are at it.  We will see how things go.

I have so much to say but don't want to overload one blog.  We spent Wednesday and Thursday with Elder Teixeira of the First Quorum of Seventy.  He and his wife addressed all of the missionaries on Wednesday and just the Seniors on Thursday.  One of things that really stands out to me is that Sister Teixeira is a painter.  She loves mixing her colors on a palette and seeing how they make new exciting colors with their combinations.  She knows if she mixes blue and yellow that she will get a beautiful shade of green.  Our marriages should be like that.  If we should make our marriages the unified color of green so that no single color of blue or yellow shows through.  There is a time to act independently in a healthy marriage.

I will write more on the conference tomorrow.  Just glad to be back.

They are all back!

There is a busy hum around the office now.  Everyone is back from vacation and life is starting to get back to normal.  I like having everyone where they should be.

On our way out this afternoon, a car pulled up and Kristian, (the head of cultural affairs for the city of Copenhagen, got out and greeted us.  Right behind him was the mayor of Copenhagen.  We met him several months ago.  He too stopped and asked us how we were doing and how the work was coming.  There were 2 other men and then one reached out his hand to shake ours.  I looked up and it was the city councilman that had come with the mayor.  He visited with us the longest of anyone.  I was startled they remembered us.

This morning, once again our bus took a different route.  He did not ask for help, he just went around the wrong side of the train station.  I don't know if this is a new route for the bus or a mistake.  It got us where we needed to be but we didn't dare wander around after work, trying to find the bus.  We took the sure thing and came home on the train.

Someone forgot to pay the bill!

We got to church today to find we had no electricity.  Someone on the Stake level, forgot to pay the bill.  It was cooler this way but we really didn't need the cool because we haven't made it out of the 60's yet and it is 4 p.m.  I somehow don't think it will get much warmer. 

We had a very spiritual meeting and I was really lifted up.  Both Sacrament Speakers spoke on the scriptures of the first and second greatest commandments - to love our God with all of our heart, might, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  I loved the interpretations today because Anna didn't have the scriptures quick enough to look them up and so she just did them using her words.  Instead of using the words, might, mind and strength, she said with strength of body and mind.  That little twist made me pause for a minute and analyze that.  We need strength of body and mind to serve effectively in the Gospel - or for that matter in any thing we do.  Don't we do everything in our lives for the Lord?  If we truly dedicate ourselves to the Lord then yes, all of our activities - even as mundane as doing the dishes, are for the Lord.  I am sure others have had this epiphany before - but it has made me ponder all day.

The Relief Society and Priesthood lessons were combined so that we could stay in the Chapel.  I learned the Family History activities are 'planted in our hearts' and there they take root.  What an amazing way to look at it.  I also learned that (and I quote) 'people that are attacked by the 'Spirit of Elijah - cannot stop, and will draw closer to the Lord."  I wouldn't have used attacked but it makes sense.  When you start doing Family History, you do it because it is what we are supposed to do.  Then we get to the point where we 'have' to do it.  We are attacked by the genealogy bug. 

The thing that also came out more in these lessons (it was lesson 17 and 18 in the RS/Priesthood manual) was that when we make our covenants with the Father, we must be true to them - otherwise they hold no promise.  We must be willing to give our lives to the Lord and do things in His time.  That is the hardest lesson to learn.  But no matter what we must be faithful to the covenants we have made.  President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "...we cannot be saved and exalted in the kingdom of God unless we have in our hearts the desire to so this work and perform it so far as it is within our power on behalf our dead."

I also learned that 'keeping the commandments is an expression of our love for the Lord.... When we turn from the commandments the Lord has given us for our guidance then we do not have a claim upon His blessings.... but if we do not draw near to Him, we have no promise in our rebellion.'  These are all quotes by Joseph Fielding Smith.  In one of his last General Conference addresses he said, "Keep the commandments.  Walk in the light.  Endure to the end.  Be true to every covenant and obligation, and the Lord will bless you beyond your fondest dreams."  (This is one of Clyde's favorite quotes and one of the many promises we hold dear).

I have a sacred obligation to be the best missionary that I can be.  I also have an obligation to the best wife, mother and grandmother that I can be.  I am a better person in total because I have made covenants and try very hard to keep them.

'Dangerous Dane'

Since Pam doesn't blog anymore, I will for her.  We have labeled our youngest grandson, Dangerous Dane.  He will not be potty trained because 'it is dangewous Aunt Heather!' yet he can walk out on the wrong side of the railing!  He is a pill and joy.  He spoke with me the other day and had quite a bit to tell me but it didn't really make sense.  Pam said that he had awakened at 6 a.m. and he would not stop talking.  Apparently this went on all day.  I have amazing grandchildren and I miss them so much.  I look forward to next summer, when we will have plenty of time to cuddle and just love each other. 

Not much to report.  Took 3 hours to do our grocery shopping today but it is done for the week.  We went to the Turkish Bazaar again and got bread and nuts, mostly.  I also got the only baking potatoes I have seen since we got here.  I bought two for tomorrow.  We will eat the leftovers as twice baked potatoes or hash browns during the week.  Instead of getting my favorite trail mix, I bought the nuts I like and just mixed my own.  I usually by 500 grams and I now have a 4 liter bag filled almost to the top of a mix I will enjoy more than the store bought mix.  I thought Clyde had bought unsalted cashews and he didn't.  That is the only nut I don't have in there that I enjoy mixed like this.  He bought salted cashews.  We got home just ahead of the rain.

I went into the bakery to get our 5 grain/seed bread.  It is one of our favorite employees manning the bakery.  I asked for the 'fem corn brood' and she laughed and said, "Like always."  Love that.  We are ready for the coming week.  We have Zone Conference on Wednesday and Thursday, so it will not be a full week at work.  Jeppe and Elisabeth are back on Monday too  I still ache all over but I decided that is because of the rain we are having.  Today it is raining harder than it has in quite some time.  We need the rain but I don't like the pain that comes with it.  I guess I just need to brace myself for the coming months.  I doubt it will go away with cooler temperatures coming.

Another Beautiful August Day

The highs today were in the mid 70's.  It is starting to cloud up and looks like we will have rain and cooler temperatures tonight.

I actually wrote the above lines yesterday.  But as I was writing, Heather and then Pam called, so instead of blogging I visited with two of my daughters.  It was wonderful.

Today is a carbon copy of yesterday.  A beautiful day outside.  I am still pretty much inside.  I have decided that what is ailing me is being worn out.  I have slept most all day and then all night.  I am slowly starting to feel better. 

Loving the Cooler Temperatures

The high today was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.  We are also getting shorter days.  We only have 15 hours of daylight.  I don't look forward the 18 hours of darkness coming this winter.  Every morning the sun streams in our window at 5:30 a.m. - I say a prayer of thanks.  I do live light.

I stayed home today with a sore throat and earache.  Clyde came home feeling exhausted like I did yesterday.  Hopefully we will both be up and ready for the day tomorrow.

When I don't go to work, I don't have much to report.

The Perfect Summer day

The high today was 72 perfect degrees.  It was a very pleasant day to work.  We did 7 books and almost 3,000 images.  That is a record for a days images.  I fell asleep doing the evaluation on our last book.  I have not felt wonderfully all day but I was surprised when I fell asleep during the evaluation process.  I am now getting a sore throat and earache.  Figures!

I wrote out a whole paragraph about today and lost it.  I give up.  Have a nice day.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Work!

Clyde and I got on the bus this morning and headed to work as usual.  There is a lot of major road construction and building renovation (and digging for the Metro) on the street we drive down from the Copenhagen Central Station, so the buses have been diverted to go to the station on Enghave Allee and come home on the original route.  This morning the 'visiting' bus driver started the old route and then didn't know where to go.  He turned around and asked if we could help him.  We are the only people on the bus.  Clyde went up and directed the bus driver to the Central Station.  When we got off, the bus driver nodded and waved.  We missed our connection and so we got into work 20 minutes behind our time.  We really don't have a time we HAVE to be there but we make it a practice to arrive at 8 a.m.   We got to work at 8:20 and there was not power.  Daniel and Sooren wandered around trying to get it back on.  Mads came back from vacation and stepped into a closet to check to see if the computers had switched the breaker.  He walked out of the closet and Lars said, "That's where you have been for the last 3 weeks!"  It turned out that because of the severe thunderstorm we had overnight, the computer breaker had switched, leaving us w/o power.  Frederick and Mads got it taken care of. 

Everyone was back today but Jeppe and Bo.  It just felt so right to have all my people in place.  We didn't listen to music today and didn't miss it because Mads is so loud and wonderful happy.  We only got 3 1/2 hours camera time but we did a good days work with our handicaps.  Not starting for over 1 1/2 hours didn't help our camera time.  It was a good day.

More Pictures

I imagine you are tired of our pictures of the Dragoor (did I say it was pronounce drowur).  It was just such a picturesque village on a gorgeous day.  It really meant a lot that Elisabeth would take time out of her schedule to be tour guide for us.

This is an old fishing boat.  There is another that is a bit newer but not much that is usually on display in conjunction with a little museum about Dragoor.  It was used to smuggle the Jews out of Scandinavia and Northern Germany during WWII.  It is now down in Normandy France where they are celebrating the anniversary of D-Day.

We stopped at a restaurant and while we were there a sudden gust took the umbrella out into the bay.  One of the waiter's went and rescued it (he was born in Dallas while his father and mother went to school there).

After walking for several hours, we stopped and got something to drink.  Elisabeth and I had sparkling mineral water with a slice of lemon and Clyde had sparking lemonade.  It was a great day.

More of our vacation day

This is pretty much the same shot as yesterday except you can see the houses around us and the beautiful sky. 

These 'birds' were perched on a fence.  Clyde and I thought they were cute.



One of the little streets we walked down.  I hate walking on cobblestone but that is the normal surface here.

This says it is open for lunch, coffee, cake in the garden.

Today was just was an easy going day.  We did our shopping, changed the sheets, etc.  When we were going for our weekly bread supply, I walked by the bus stop.  I was in fact just beyond it.  The bus stopped and I looked over to wave it on.  The bus driver waved at me and pulled out.  He was the same driver we usually have in the afternoons on our way home.  When we got to the bakery, I ordered our bread and then Clyde saw some meringues.  In Danish they are called 'kisses'.  It was a fun treat.

More Dragoor

We are working on the civil marriage records for Copenhagen right now.  At the back of the first few books we worked on, there was a string running through the whole book and then the seal on the string.  There is even an indent in the book for the seal to fit in.  We also notice that Kobenhavn is spelled Kjobenhavn.  I went in and asked they guys at lunch when the j was dropped.  Lars went into this elaborate explanation of how it was dropped March 22, 1911.  Then he started laughing and said, "I have no idea, just that it was there and now it isn't."  Bo said that most people with a name with kj in it like Kjar, have now dropped the j.  According to Wikipedia (they couldn't stand it until they knew) the j was dropped the beginning of the fiscal year of 1906.  We are to keep our eyes open and let them know when it disappears.

Elisabeth and me sitting on a bench in front of a yellow wall.  Dragoor is yellow - varying shades of the yellow behind us from very pale to dark mustard.  Forgive my shoes and socks.  These are the most unobtrusive socks I have here.  I wanted to try these Sketchers to see if they worked better than my gray tennis shoes.  I had absolutely no pain yesterday, the whole time we were in Dragoor - and we walked a lot!  I count that as a wonderful miracle.  Besides, Danes don't care what their footwear looks like - as long as they are comfortable.  Lars can't be more than 30.  He came in with short shorts and tennis shoes and socks today to work.  This has been his uniform for a couple of weeks.  I can't remember if I said this or not yet.  Hollyhocks are called stick rose in Danish.

Some of the houses in Dragoor with their tiny yards and quite small homes.  They are beautifully kept up considering these have been around almost 200 years now.

There were a lot of windows with these mirrors on them.  The person inside can see the foot traffic outside their living room.  They can also see who is at their front door and decide if they want to answer it or not.  Why didn't I know about this in RI!