VISITORS, at last

The last two weeks have been hectic.  We started out with missionaries coming and going.  Bitter and sweet.  Most of the missionaries have been here much longer than we,  but it seems to take no time at all to get to know them and love them.   We are going to miss this group.

Sister Mann, Sister Soelberg., Elder Bateman, Elder Brady

Conference weekend was a nice change of pace.  Of course, we don't have any conference to watch until Saturday evening,  unless you want to kick start the whole thing with the women's conference. Sunday we can watch the Priesthood and the Saturday night sessions by satellite broadcast, and if you want to stay really late at the church,  the Sunday afternoon session, live.  We went to the stake center and watched the Saturday night session which was actually Sunday afternoon here. Confusing, I know.  We fed the missionaries around 2 and then stayed to watch.  I finally finished listening to all the sessions just yesterday.  Loved Elder Holland's talk especially.  I enjoy conference, but sometimes I feel a  little discouraged thinking of all the things I didn't do so well, then and now.  So, his talk was the perfect closer.  "So keep loving.  Keep trying.  Keep trusting.  Keep believing.  Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow and forever."

We had our first two visitors here in Denmark last week.  Both showed up unexpectedly at the same time.  What are the odds?  We plotted and planned our time to squeeze in the best sights for them.  I must say, they were real troopers.  Our biggest day out was chilly and quite windy and we had a hard time getting some good pictures.  One of our visitors is pretty thin and the wind really tugged him around. To introduce our visitors, I took a picture with the Elders, who were quite willing to help us out.

Elder Nielsen, and Elder Fairbanks (The hat?  Don't ask.)

Introducing Flat Stanley and Felix the Rabbit  ( uh, not the elders).  Both arrived the same day.  Flat Stanley came from Hooper, Utah and Felix from Ft. Collins, Colorado.  Both are travel projects - 2 grandaughter's school assignments.  Both seemed a little frazzled by their long flight,  so we took them downstairs for some Danish pastry to perk them up.  It worked.

Flat Stanley was all over those strawberry tarts and it was all over him.  Messy little guy.

We took both of them into the center of Copenhagen to see statues and steeples.  Common sights everywhere.  The green color has something to do with copper and oxidization, I think...........

We thought we would introduce them to the queen, but she was not available, so they had to settle for the Queen's Palace with her guards, and her church (it is called the Marble Church).

The inside is fabulous and you can actually go up into the dome on certain days.  On our list.

Even when Flat Stanley and Felix pulled faces at the guard, he would not move or talk. Good man.

The guys loved the inside of the churches, especially those with the ships hanging from the ceiling.The only trouble was they both wanted to climb in.  Good thing they were too high.  Kids!

There are actually many canals in Copenhagen.  The building is the background is the Danish Stock Exchange.  Built in the  17th century, it has an  unusual spire, the tails of four dragons twined together.  

Last stop, Nyhavn, the most famous street in all of Copenhagen.  A big tourist draw.  Why?  Haven't yet figured it out.  

We said good-bye to Flat Stanley and Felix, and dropped Flat Stanley in a big, red post box to head home.  Felix is staying and is taped to the door with our collection of cards and letters.  

It's like a game.  Where's Felix?

We are so excited to have more visitors soon.  If you have any travel/tourist questions, just call the boys.