We moved to Aalborg

 This is the famous statue entitled "The Thinker" by Rodin -it is in the garden of the Copenhagen art museum

Before we left Copenhagen we went to see "My Fair Lady" at the Det Kongelige Teater (the Royal Theater) - it was strange hearing everything in Danish, but it was well done.

When we arrived at our new apartment in Aalborg we received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from our Young Adults from Copenhagen - We miss them!

 This is a famous old buildling in Aalborg called Jens Bangs Stenhus

 Some quaint old houses in Aalborg

More quaint old houses in Aalborg

 The bridge and bay area of Aalborg

When we first came to Aalborg it was still very cold - this is some children skating on an ice rink in the center of town.  

I am standing by a Parish church in Harridslev - a place where some of my Danish ancestors came from.

This is a burial plot by the parish church - the Danes have their graves decorated both winter and summer with small hedges separating the graves - it is very lovely

The younger missionaries and us did service at a member's home - we cut down a large tree.

The center for young adults in Aalborg

Some young adults playing fooze ball at the center

More activity at the center for young adults in Aalborg

 We don't live right on a lake like we did in Copenhagen, but we did find a small lake on a walk not far from our apartment and these beautiful swans were there - now we will have to see if they have any babies this spring.

 The Danes have areas where they have what they call "summer homes" like the ones above.  They spend warm days and weekends at the summer homes which have the bare necessities - a little better than a tent.

Daffodils in spring are my favorite.  

New Years and January 2011

 You can't hear the noise of the New year's eve fireworks, but just so you will know, it sounded like a war zone.  We have never seen or heard so many fireworks exploding and it went on for hours.  You wouldn't even know there is a slow economy this year with all the money that was shot up into the air.  We have a patio on our apartment's sixth floor and we had a wonderful view of the fireworks.

 The elders and sisters from our zone spent New Years eve with us since the city isn't too safe with lots of people drinking and partying. The next two pictures are from New Years-missionary style!

 We went to a funeral of President Andersen's sister Anne at the Vor Fru Kirke.  It was a beautiful setting with the Kristus statue.  The Danish lay their flower bouquets on the floor and up the aisle and it was very impressive.

 This is at a family home evening at the center for young adults - we are having a contest to see who can build the tallest tower with spaghetti noodles, potato pieces and marshmellows.

 Our neighbor in St George sent us this picture of our house after a January 3rd snow storm.  It was reassuring to know that Copenhagen wasn't the only ones with snow this winter.

 Near the end of January we had a couple's conference for all of the couples serving in Denmark. Here we are with the Andersens, Rays, Jensens, Gronnestads and Merrys. Missing from the pictures are the Larsens who serve in the Copenhagen Temple.

 I couldn't resist putting in this picture of us in front of the Kristus - we love this place.

 Just so you won't think that we are always playing I had to include this picture of the elders and us with three young women from various countries in South/Central America.  They were all living in Denmark and we helped teach them English from September to December.  One of them went back to Guatamala and the other two are now too busy to come to class, but it was fun while it lasted.

This is all the missionaries in Denmark during an all zones conference with Elder Kopischke in December.

Christmas in Denmark

 The Danish people love to have Julefrokost or Christmas lunch - this Julefrokost was at our center and it was for the people who work for the church in translation, physical facilities and mission office.

 We were invited to share Christmas eve with the Andersen family (our Danish mission President) and here is the beautiful Christmas tree with real candles and the tree is lit below - it was like a fairyland Christmas tree.

 The Danish tradition is to join hands and dance around the tree singing Danish Christmas songs.  This is President and sister Andersen and their three daughters - Hanna, Elisabeth and Louise.  After we danced around the tree we continues dancing and singing throughout the house.  We ended up back by the tree where the presents were opened.  We really enjoyed our Danish Christmas with the Andersens.

 Christmas is the day the young missionaries can call home - this is Sister Reschke using our computer to call her family on Skype.  We also enjoyed calling our wonderful children and grandchildren on Christmas - but of course we don't have the same rules as the young missionaries and we get to call home anytime we want.

 This the the huge pile of snow outside the door to the mission office.  I don't think it would have ever melted if they hadn't come with a big truck and hauled the snow away.

 We are used to seeing cars covered with snow - but bikes!  Believe it or not, the Danes still ride their bikes to work and everywhere even with lots of snow.

 The mission had a Christmas get-together after Christmas and in this picture some elders and sisters are competing to see who can eat the sting of candy the fastest.

 This is also from the Christmas party - the missionaries are having a relay and they have to put a dune (Danish down comforters) cover on the quickest.

Here we are with President and Sister Andersen - we really enjoy working with the Andersens.

December in Copenhagen

 Tivoli gardens is all dressed up for Christmas - we are standing by the famous restaurant Nimb in Tivoli

 The snow is falling and we saw a horse and cart going down the street.

 Bakery shops are especially inviting during December - sometimes we just can't resist!

 Even on the darkest, coldest winter days you can still buy beautiful flowers on the streets.  I think this is the way the Danes keep up their spirits during the gray winter days.

 These are three lovely angels who are also some of the young adults that we work with - they are dressed for a ward Christmas play.

 Tivoli has a nice display of ice sculpture for their holiday celebration.

 This was the beautiful lights at Tivoli.  The Danes use hearts as the main theme for Christmas because it is a holiday of love.

 We are in front of the large Christmas tree in Tivoli

This is taken on our back porch - can you tell how cold the weather is?  We had continual snow on the ground from the end of November until the last week of January.  Someone told us that this was unusual for Denmark to have snow for that long.  Unusual or not, it has been co-o-o-o-ld!

Susan and Brent visit in November

 We are at the Nyhavn area of Copenhagen which is by the harbor - we took a harbor cruise even though the weather was freezing.

 We are next to the Hans Christian Andersen statue which is next to Copenhagen

 We took this for the grandchildren to see a very large lego Santa Claus

 Everyone who goes to Copenhagen has to see it's mascot - the Little Mermaid.  She (the statue) had just returned from a 10 month visit to China's world's fair

We were thrilled that Susan and Brent came to see us in November - they were only here for 3 days, but we had a wonderful time seeing the various sights and enjoying each other's company - thank you Susan and Brent for coming!