Ephriam's Rescue‏ - December 14, 2015

Our P-Day group.
(Note: Is that Elder Reed [son of Blaine Reed] in the front with his thumbs up?)

Everyone,

First off I want to thank all of the Francis family for sending me letters. This week I received one from each family, and it made things so much brighter. Sometimes it feels like you are all alone out here, but receiving mail is one of the best things.

Saturday Mail (Allen and Linda's letter came a few days earlier.
Thank you for the tree. I will send a picture of it next week.)

We have done lots of contacting this week. I met some people from England who were visiting there son. They knew a little about the church, and showed us a picture of the temple in England. They said it was twenty minutes from there home. This was a great contact because we spoke English, and they were very open to talking with us. I did meet a young man from Tennessee who is hear studying business. We didn't expect another American here when we talked with him. My favorite contact this week was with some teenagers. They came up to me, and started asking questions. They spoke english and I spoke danish. It was really fun, and they helped me with some Danish questions I had.

The teenagers I talked with.

We have a traveling missionary choir, and they came to perform for the ward. They stayed at our apartment for two nights which was really fun. My MTC companion Elder Baadsgaard is in it, so it was fun to talk with him. For two days we worked trying to invite all of our investigators and member referrals to the concert. In the end no one came which was a huge disappointment. The concert was wonderful though, and the ward members loved it.

The Missionary Choir

There was a really bad storm here a week or so ago. Familien Nielson asked us to help them move wood from some of the trees that had fallen over in their yard. We arrived at their station, and as we got of the train it started to rain. The heavens poured on us, and then the wind picked up. None of us felt like working as we walked there because we were all cold and wet. Sister Nielson gave us cake, and when we finished eating the rain had stopped. This was a blessing because none of us felt like working in the rain.

Building artwork in Helsingor.

I had splits with Elder Beck this week in Helsingør. We agreed that the best part was the food. Elder Beck is a really good cook, and everything was great. It wasn't fancy, but there was plenty of it which made it amazing. We had a referral which we visited, but they weren't interested. This was disappointing, so we knocked instead. The area we were in was very close to the beach, and because of how dark it is at night we could see all the lights from Sweden.

I spent P-day with Elder Perkins from my MTC group.

Saturday night was the ward party. They had Danish Christmas dinner which is really good: potatoes, pork, cabbage, and brown sauce. After the meal Julemanden came to see all the children. He gave all of the kids and missionaries a bag of candy. This is a bag of danish candy, and about fifty percent of it was salted black licorice. After 3 or 4 pieces I couldn't eat any more because the flavor is so strong.

Me in front of the entrance to Tovoli.
(Danish Amusement Park in Copenhagen with a famous carousel.)

Grandpa Joe asked me about Danish Christmas traditions. Christmas is a three day holiday starting on the 24th of December. The 24th is Christmas day in Denmark. They eat a Christmas dinner that night, and spend time with family and having fun.They sing and dance around the Christmas Tree. At some point during the night the children receive their gifts from Julemanden, and everyone opens presents. The 25th and 26th is eating leftovers and spending time with family members.

Grammy asked about how clothes are different here in Denmark. The dress pants and shirts are a better quality here. The fabric is different, and the dress pants use almost the same type of material as jeans. The biggest difference is in the shoes and jackets. Good shoes in Denmark last a really long time if you take care of them. Almost every Danish brand of shoes sells waterproof spray. The coats here are like the ones back home except they can be waterproofed. When I talk about the rain storm above We all had on several layers of clothing underneath our jackets. Even though it is winter here it still rains, and you have to be prepared for it. Those are the biggest things that I have noticed with Danish clothes.

I am so glad to hear that you want to have a Danish Christmas Eve dinner. Emma asked me about it last week, and I have a few ideas. Ham is the closest thing to what the Danes eat as the main course. Boiled and peeled potatoes with brown sauce. You can find a simple recipe online if you search something like Danish Brown Sauce. Part of the meal is red cabbage. I don't know if the kids will like it, but it is eaten with the meat and potatoes. I want to know how it turns out, and if you have any other questions about Danish food I would love to answer them.

We still have questions here about calling. They should be cleared up this week. As of now we are hoping that we can skype with the Andersons. They are the members above us, and they invited us for dinner on the 25th. We will know by next week what will be happening. I think that I already have an account, and if I don't I will make one. I am so excited to see everyone. The last time we talked was on August 31 when I called for a few minutes.

I have been in Denmark for over 100 days now. Thank you for all of the support.

Ældste Francis