Update On Our Temple Mission: Darkness at Noon

Vallø Castle

Gefion Fountain

Darkness at Noon

Well, it isn’t dark at noon, but we can sense it moving in that direction. This has been the first week of Winter Time. It is now dark at 5:00 pm (17:00 Danish Time). We should get the candles out and “Hygge os” (hooga us), which means something like “get cozy”. During the long dark Winter evenings it is common to gather with friends and enjoy conversation, food, games and candle light. I don’t want to “jump the gun” because there will be enough to say in a month or so; so for now it’s just an introduction to what we can expect down the road.

Gefion Fountain

You may recall that I mentioned last week the major language needs in the Copenhagen Temple are Danish, Swedish, English and German. This week we had two visitors from Iceland. Iceland is in our Temple District. They can’t afford to come very often, but this week it was a privilege to have them here. Iceland has belonged to Denmark, in some way or another, so I have always understood that their languages were similar. Not so. We couldn’t understand them. It was necessary to speak English. We have language cards and audio recordings in the Temple so the ordinances were performed in Icelandic. Their alphabet has some new symbols that I have never seen before. We are Coordinators in the Baptistery and one of the Icelandic members has only been in the Church for three months, so he came primarily to do baptisms.

Gefion Fountain

The second week we were here in Denmark we were invited to the Knudsen family for dinner. When we got there, we found they were feeding ten missionaries. We didn’t feel we should be included in their invitation because we were Seniors and could manage for ourselves. Sister Knudsen said we would be depriving them of blessings. They have fed the missionaries every third Tuesday for years and we shouldn’t spoil it. Brother Knudsen is the cook and he prepares authentic Danish food. We have been there twice.

Last week we invited them to our place for dinner (so we could feel good about coming to their house). We enjoyed the evening very much. During the course of the visit we mentioned that we had lived here in 1966. Suddenly Sister Knudsen started laughing and said she remembered us teaching square dancing. She was a teenager then, and we were preparing the youth for the “Festa Nord” (Scandinavian Youth Conference which is still held after 45 years). There was no way we could have recognized her, nor could she have recognized us after so many years. The past comes to the surface again.

Gefion Fountain

We mentioned a few weeks ago that while we were on our trip around Denmark the sun always seemed to come out of the clouds just when we need it. The photo of Vallø Castle was an example. We had a similar experience a couple of days ago. Gefion, Norma’s great example of womanhood, turned her four sons into bulls and plowed Denmark out of Sweden. The Gefion fountain is a well known attraction in Copenhagen. For our morning excursion in the sun on Thursday, Norma wanted to get a photo of the fountain. By the time we pulled things together and got on the bus the clouds had moved in. When we arrived at the fountain the sky was black. I mean really black. When the camera was ready and it was time to take the photos the sun peeked through a couple of holes in the clouds and the attached photos tell the rest.

A Corner Bakery

The Danes support their local bakery, and there is a bakery on about every third corner. A bakery must be located within walking distance from wherever anyone lives so it is possible to run down before breakfast and get the daily bread and whatever other goodies are needed. No, we are not that Danish. We are too frugal and too “carbohydrate conscious” to allow that Danish tradition to be part of our lives. We do window shop. One of us does eat ice cream very

regularly; the other eats oats (mares eat oats also). Who eats ivy?

In addition to the daily spiritual experiences we are having in the Temple, we had the spiritual experience of hearing from Kae and Kerry that the new baby is a healthy boy. He will join the other young men of the Larsen family: McAllister, Jake, Ben, Quentin, Toby, Simon and Case. His sisters, Dakota and Emerson and the other cousins, Ali and Kyton will all be excited to welcome him in March.