Update On Our Temple Mission: The Art of the Blog

Painting of Møns Klint

Painting of Stevns Klint

This is somewhere around the 88th blog and in many respects I wish I could start over. I was new at writing a blog in the beginning and I fought with understanding the structure of the layout and visual appearance. I never did discover how I could achieve the “look” I wanted, so as I laid the foundation of the blog it became “set in stone”. Not only the look, but also the narrative style has, I think, been set in stone. Our friend Louise Paulsen who started her mission in London one month ago, has an inspirational blog. I like the simple “look” she has, but more importantly, the narrative style is just right. She is honestly passionate about her feelings toward the gospel and is talking to her family, her member friends, her university friends and her many non-member friends, and does it very effectively. I have twelve more blogs to write, and you should not expect them to be much different in look and style than the past eighty-eight. I hope you can enjoy what I have to offer.

Painting of Countryside

On one of our walks this week, though it was sunny with a cold wind, we decided to spend some time indoors. We went to the National Museum of Art. The last time we were there the galleries of Danish artists was closed for repairs. This time it was open. I thought the exhibit was very inspiring. The artists on exhibit were Denmark’s best. It covered the period from 1500s to the early 1900s. Much of the interest to me was seeing a glimpse of the people, the landscapes, and the urban life in those years.

While we were in the National Museum of Art we discovered around the corner in a smaller museum was an exhibition of Krøyer. He is an internationally famous Danish artist who spent time painting throughout Europe, but settled in Skagen on the northern tip of Denmark. We were interested in seeing his work for a couple of reasons. I spent much of my missionary time teaching a family in Skagen. It is interesting to visit there because the two seas of different colors on either side of the tip of Denmark come together and cause an interesting collision of waves. This is a place we want to show those of you who are coming to visit this month. We don’t own it, but there is a print of one of Krøyer’s Skagen paintings hanging in our apartment. This was also a very interesting exhibit.

Skagen by Krøyer

We are enjoying General Conference. This is a fascinating time to be living in. When I was on my Mission in the 50s we waited a week to broadcast, in the chapel, an audio of General Conference. Today we can see and hear it “live”. The time frames aren’t too bad. We get the morning session online at 6pm and the afternoon session at 10pm. Priesthood Meeting is watched on replay today because “live” was 2am this morning.

We are looking forward to a busy days at the Temple this week. As I mentioned in the last blog, the Icelandic Saints are coming for a four-day Temple Excursion. We will have four baptismal sessions. Norma has filled all the beds in the Guest Home.

Skagen by Krøyer

Time to close. Hope you enjoy the gallery this week. These are just a few of the paintings from the Danish artists on exhibit at the National Museum of Art and the smaller exhibit of Krøyer’s Skagen.