November

Alright I have not done a very good job of keeping this blog updated. I'll catch up on what has happened since our last post.
Jarom traveled to Amsterdam, on the 7th, to play in the playoffs for his soccer team. His team did well, they took 4th place. I got a message from him on the 10th that said, "Hey mom, its Jarom. I'm fine but they had to call an ambulance to look at me cause they thought I might have a concussion. If you want you can call one of my coaches they said that would be fine." Of course I immediately picked up the phone and called his coach. I guess he was going for a ball and so was a kid from the other team. The ball was quite high, the other kid lifted his leg up high and kicked it right in Jarom's face. His nose started to bleed, the coach pulled him out and noticed that his eyes looked funny. The expression his coach used was, "his eyes were swimming." They called first aid who called the ambulance and they came to check him out. Everything ended up being alright, other then Jarom had a head ache for a couple of days. I guess he really does have a hard head, we thought so.
On November 9 Elder Olsen, from Sweden, traveled to here to attended the Zone Leader Council. It was nice to have him in our home for the meeting and lunch, we had a nice visit with him. At this Zone council half the people that attended were there for the first time. With missionaries going home and transfers, it changes things a bit.
On November 10, two couples arrived, Elder and Sister Ivie and Elder and Sister Garriott. We went to the airport to welcome them here and then had lunch with them. It's always nice to have more missionaries arrive.
On the 15th, Shawn and I traveled to Århus for a Jylland zone activity. The missionaries had a Turkey Bowl, talent show and a nice Thanksgiving Dinner. It was fun to see their different personality as they participated in the talent show. The next day we attended a Zone training in Århus also.
On the 17th we attended a baptism for Ann Jacobsen. She has been an investigator on and off for about 30 years. It was great to see her get baptized and see the great change in her life.
For Thanksgiving we were invited to Travis and Lindsey Sivey's. He works for the US embassy here in Copenhagen. There were 5 families that had dinner together. We had a nice time visiting and of course eating.
On the 23rd, the Sjælland Zone had their zone activity. They also had a turkey bowl, talent show and dinner. We are very thankful that there were no injuries at either turkey bowl only some very sore bodies the next day. The mission couples fixed the dinners for both zones and did a wonderful job. Some of the food that we are use to eating on Thanksgiving is a little hard to find here, they seemed to be able to find everything they needed. After eating 3 fabulous Thanksgiving dinners we are having to adjust our belts a little bit bigger and I can be thankful for elastic.
What a wonderful month we have had, we have a lot to be thankful for. We are now looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior; and to help us celebrate our children will be here. Yay!!!

Jylland Zone training

Ann Jakobsen's Baptism

Shælland Zone Turkey Bowl

October 23-November 6

Okay, where do I start. This last couple of weeks have been crazy busy. On the 23rd of October we received 11 new missionaries to the mission. We were very glad to get them here. We found out on the Thursday before they got here that their visas had finally been approved. It takes about 4 months after the missionaries have had their fingerprints done to receive their visas to come to Denmark. We were excited to see that all 11 would be here as scheduled. 3 of the Elders will be serving in Iceland for their whole mission. They arrived in Denmark about 9:30 a.m., were brought to the mission office for some paperwork and interviews and had their 1st opportunity to go contacting. That evening they came to the mission home for dinner and a good nights sleep. The next day they found out who their companions were and were off to their new areas except for the Iceland Elders who had to wait until Thursday to go to Iceland.
On Wednesday we had a dinner at the mission home for the 6 missionaries in Denmark that were on their way home, one senior couple, the Bowlers, 1 sister, Sister Johnson, and 3 Elders, Elders Bailey, Veach and Sandstrom.
On Thursday Shawn flew to Iceland with 3 new missionaries to replace the Elders going home. On Saturday he took the 3 missionaries that had completed their mission in Iceland to the airport to return home. He returned home on Monday the 29th about noon and then about 4:00pm, he was off to the airport to pick up a senior couple, the Hansen's, that had arrived. He brought them to the mission home where we had a dinner prepared for them.
On Tuesday Shawn and I flew to Madrid Spain to a mission presidents seminar for the Europe missions. There were 30 mission presidents and wives, the Area Presidency and wives in attendance. What a wonderful conference! We left Jarom and Heather at home to fend for themselves. In the mornings they would ride their bikes to the train station to get school. There was only one accident, Heather hit the curb with her bike causing her to tip over, scrap her leg up and have the chain of her bike come off. Jarom was kind enough to help her fix her chain so she could ride her bike home. It's nice to see that they are willing to take care of each other. After a couple of days of being alone, Elder Bailey, one of the elders that was on his way home, and his parents stayed a couple of nights at the mission home with them.
Friday night we returned from Spain and attended Stake conference on Saturday where Shawn spoke to the bishops in leadership meeting and Shawn and I both spoke in the Sunday session. And by the way I'm still not a fan of speaking in church.
On Monday we had parent teacher conferences where we talked to Jarom and Heather's teachers, it was great to hear that they are doing well in school. On Tuesday we had more parent teachers conferences and Shawn made another trip to the airport to pick up a senior couple, the Johansen's, that will be serving here in Denmark. That evening we had a dinner at the mission home for 4 of the senior couples to welcome the new comers. So in the last couple of weeks we have hardly had time to breath. Shawn has made about 9 trips to the airport, 23 beds have been changed and bedding washed, and 5 dinners for different groups have been fixed. Isn't there a saying that says something like "no rest for the wicked." Haha! We love being with the wonderful missionaries here in the Denmark Copenhagen mission. They are the best!

Mission Presidents standing in front of. Peter holding the keys

Europe Area Presidency, Mission Presidents and wives.

3 Iceland Elders completed their missions

6 Denmark Missionaries completed their missions.

11 new missionaries ready to serve.