Happy Thanksgiving.

Well today is Thanksgiving.  Although this will be a very different Thanksgiving for me, since it is the first time I have been away from home or family, I have a family of a different kind this year.  One of the teachers here is American. So every year she invites the American student missionaries to her home for dinner.  And our boss, Flemming, is understanding of its importance so he gives the American's the night off (as long as we find someone to cover for us...).
This year I am so thankful that I have been plunged into the lives of these kids.  They have redefined mission work for me. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to come over here and share God's love with them.  I am thankful I have connected with the other missionaries so that we are our own family, especially during the holidays. I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to travel a little bit and see the rest of this amazing world that has been created just for us. And I'm thankful that I can feel the love from home in various packages and letters.
Last night we had Thanksgiving number one.  We decided that we were going to have a Thanksgiving dinner for the high school boys.  On Tuesday I spent about 6 hours planning out what we were going to make and how I was going to pull off enough turkey for 40 people...having never made turkey before in my life.  I figured out all the recipes and finally went to bed Tuesday night.  Wednesday morning I woke up at 9 and started the three 12lb. turkeys.  Now even though the school is ok with kids eating meat. They won't allow us to prepare it in the main kitchen, for understandable reasons.  So I had to use the teaching kitchen upstairs. But of course since this was a school day, that kitchen was being used.  So we had to defrost them in three different sinks of three different kitchens in two different buildings. So every 30 minutes I was running around changing the water on these turkeys.  At 1:30 we were allowed into the main kitchen to start our other dishes. At 2:15 the classes were finally done in the school kitchen. So I went up stuffed, seasoned and prepared the turkeys for roasting.  Dinner was at 6:00 and I lost all my missionary kitchen staff at 5:00 do to required chores they have to oversee every day here at school.  So I was running around like a headless chic...um...turkey trying to get everything done.  At a quarter to 6 the turkeys were done. And so was everything else, but in two different kitchens. So I was running back and for between the two, mashing potatoes, dishing out green beans, getting the rolls warmed, serving the vegetarian stuffing, and carving a turkey.  Luckily one of the other Danish missionaries who has at least carved a roast chicken came in to relieve me with that part...his half looked carved, my half looked murdered.  So I let him do the other two.  We served dinner to and desert to the guys a little late but it all came together wonderfully and they seemed to really appreciate being about to share in a big tradition of America.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Pictures

Some of you have had a problem getting to my pictures so this is what I have done. Some are here, and the rest are on another website called flickr.  Click here to see more pictures.

The Long Awaited Photos...

...are here!!!

However there are certainly too many to post here, so check out my Facebook album.

Or click HERE

I've Been Thinking...

Ever since I can remember I have been taught that before Jesus can return to this Earth and take us to eternity with Him things have to get much worse here.  With some of the things I see I on the news sometimes I wonder if that is possible.  But I remember many people I have talked to through the course of my life believe that a world church will rise up, condemning all other religions and declaring it criminal to worship on a different day. As Adventists we are the minority and have something to fear in losing our day of worship.  I don't claim to have the knowledge or wisdom to say whether a world church will happen or not, but none the less a news link that was recently shared on my Facebook wall told me about a proposal by the Catholic church for a world bank. (If you haven't seen this news report click here.) Now, I don't know how skewed this report is, or if it is even true, but it got me thinking; what happens if a world church is created.  What are we supposed to do, I remember hearing the stories of running to the hills, but I'd rather not.  I don't know about you, but I have come to rather like my friends around me. Adventist or not.  And I don't believe that Adventists will be the only ones in Heaven.  So why should I run? I listened to a song recently that gave me the answer. DON'T! We are more than a building, more than a pulpit, more than just a bunch of people. We a church, God's church. As it says in Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can stand against us."  If you are taking the time to read this, please take the time and listen to this song by a group called Downhere.  The song is called Cathedral Made of People. You will find the link to the song to the right of this post, it is under the title Song for Today. I have also put the lyrics below, I encourage you to read along to let the words really sink in.
Remember to turn on your speakers :)

If they shut down the churches,
Where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo
Where would you go?
Where would you go?

We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever can stand against her

If they burned every Bible
What would you know?
If they tore your marked-up pages
How would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal
What would you know?
What would you know?

When they throw you in prison
What will you do?
When they hate you for the things that you know are true
They can tear down this temple,
But they can't touch you.

Just a small tease...

More to come of course...

Stuck between a train door and another train door

Our last day in Madrid was a great day. We had planned on going to the city of Avila, but since we had been going non-stop since Tuesday we decided to have our last day in Madrid be a lazy day. We woke up late and the girls did a little last minute shopping ( ok I did too) then went out to our last night on the town with tapas and boardgames. Yes, boardgames! While searching for a place to eat we came across a place called Cafe Manuela. We noticed the wall of games in the back and a menu of good looking croissant sandwiches. Two big pluses in my book.

Then we were off to the airport, no not the next morning, right after our croissants. Our flight left at 7:10am and we were planning on taking a train to the airport at 4:30, until we were informed that the trains don't start until 6 and the only bus was quite a trek from our hostel, and we weren't doing that again. So Elmer and I decided to spend the night at the airport. The girls again had a different flight, so they got to enjoy one last night in a bed while we "slept" in the airport.
Since we are spending the night in København we contacted an Adventist church a little ways outside the city with free guest rooms. In order to get the key to our room we were supposed to meet up with someone named Josefine. But, we weren't meeting her at the airport, or at the church. We were meeting her at a station somewhere in the middle. As we were approaching the station I called her and told her we were in car 14 and I would wave my hand when I got off the train. We found each other and exchanged pleasantries and a key just as I heard the train whistle scream, "get on or I'm leaving you!" I headed towards the doors as they started shutting. Elmer made it on ok, but with a backpack in front and a backpack behind I am a little thicker than usual. I got caught in the train doors. I have seen enough of Hollywood to know that train doors are like elevators. It your in them when they start closing they open back up. False. These doors close and continue to do so for a good 30 seconds. Here I am half in, and half out. Probably a hilarious sight. When finally the doors did surrender I decided to go ahead and continue inside so as not to delay the train any further.

Now we are in our rather large guest room in Nærum . We will meet the girls tomorrow morning for church at the cafe church. Then its back to Vejlefjord.

This was a great trip.

Vi ses

Again, only this time in Spain...

Our second to last day on our Spain trip were going to take a morning train to Segovia. But when the alarm went off, we didn't listen. So we slept in. When we finally got up and ready it was 12:30. Luckily there are more trains in the afternoon for the lazy tourist bunch.
Segovia is a charming little Spanish city with an interetesting twist; one of the most well preserved Roman aqueducts runs right through the middle of the city.

We had a good time exploring the little streets and emerging into the main plaza where massive cathedral commands respect. The girls did a little shopping then we explored the ruins. On top of the wall on one end of the ruins there was an old man. Not just any old man, National Geographic-cover-status old man. I had to get his picture. Of all the times Elmer, our spanish speaker, came in handy on this trip, this was the time I appreciated his skills most. He translated for me that I was a photographer and wanted his picture to capture the essence of Segovia. He didn't buy it. I don't remember a lot of Spanish but I still pick up words. He wasn't going to get in front of my "machine." So my epic picture didn't happen. Instead I took more pictures of the aqueduct with evening sun on it until it was time to head out. But before we went back Madrid I really wanted a picture of this great Roman artifact at night. The problem was: no tripod. So we took a bus to the commercial center of Segovia looking for a camera store. We got off when we saw a large sports store. No luck. But by the time we were done looking around it was time to head back to the train station for our trip back to Madrid. I wasn't going to have time for my night shot. We were told to take bus 'x' to the station. But when we looked at the time table, such a bus didn't exist. So we started walking. I don't know why this trip involved so much walking. We asked a gas station attendant for directions. She laughed and pointed us down a dark roadway that looked like a freeway offramp. With no other option we headed on (sorry mom). There was nothing here. Literally no civilization. When we were sure we were going to miss our train we came around a corner and saw lights. Lots of them. You could say we all shouted for joy, yes you could say that. We made it just in time, the last train anywhere near our price range left in fifteen minutes.

Another adventurous day exploring the world.
This is why I love traveling.