Linked Together
Yesterday we were excited to travel to Provo, where we shared a meal with Kasper, one of our YSAs from Copenhagen. He is a chef and was more than helpful and kind at our center in Denmark. He came in and cooked several meals, and helped me once in a while when I cooked.
We were able to attend his wedding in Provo a year or so ago, and to meet his bride and hear the story of how they met. He is still head over heels in love with her, he still loves cooking, he still has more energy and drive than any one person should have, and he is still an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He has several irons in the fire and is in the beginning stages of establishing a new business. We are excited and happy for him and feel quite confident that he will succeed.
He caught us up on all the news of many other of the YSAs from Copenhagen. We loved hearing what and how that are doing.
One of the most astounding revelations of the get-together was finding out that Kasper's mother was raised in Oxford!!!! We knew her in Denmark. She had been living there with her Danish husband for a quarter of a century. She is a lovely and proper Englishwoman. She spoke British English in their home, her husband spoke Danish. As a result, their children speak superb Danish and superb English. Kasper generally speaks like an Englishman but is quite capable of sounding as American as any other person born and raised here.
It was delightful to know that he is as comfortable and familiar with our new mission area as I am with Wellsville Utah - where I spent many happy summer days. We're hoping that we will be seeing his mother in Oxford in the next 18 months.
Today, we received our flu shots and hepatitis shots as the final lap of health care before entering the MTC. We answered our letter from the MTC requesting housing. Our training will last for 10 days, roughly from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. I am so looking forward to it. The last MTC experience was a spiritual feast and I loved it. SK not so much. At some point in the "Preach My Gospel" training, they pair us with someone who is either a non-member, someone who used to be, someone who is investigating, or someone who is a bona fide member of the church. We are then asked to teach them a lesson. SK HATES role playing!!!! But he did fine last time and will be just fine this time.
We believe that we have now completed all visa application forms and have an appointment for Monday to be fingerprinted and photographed and whatever else the British government deems appropriate before allowing us to enter that land. I hope we have crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's because we are actually getting close to the time to enter.
With all that is so exciting ahead of us, we are both kind of testy and short-tempered, and do more than a little grumbling at each other. We are getting older, getting more comfortable with being comfortable, and this is wildly outside of our comfort zone. It has been 6 years since we did this before, and it turned out to be one of the choicest experiences of our lives. The questions come nevertheless: "Can we really do this?" "Will we be adequate to the challenges?" "Can we love the YSAs as we have loved those tremendous young adults in Denmark?" "Will they accept us?" "Will I be able to cook anything they like?"
I guess we'll see!
We were able to attend his wedding in Provo a year or so ago, and to meet his bride and hear the story of how they met. He is still head over heels in love with her, he still loves cooking, he still has more energy and drive than any one person should have, and he is still an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He has several irons in the fire and is in the beginning stages of establishing a new business. We are excited and happy for him and feel quite confident that he will succeed.
He caught us up on all the news of many other of the YSAs from Copenhagen. We loved hearing what and how that are doing.
One of the most astounding revelations of the get-together was finding out that Kasper's mother was raised in Oxford!!!! We knew her in Denmark. She had been living there with her Danish husband for a quarter of a century. She is a lovely and proper Englishwoman. She spoke British English in their home, her husband spoke Danish. As a result, their children speak superb Danish and superb English. Kasper generally speaks like an Englishman but is quite capable of sounding as American as any other person born and raised here.
It was delightful to know that he is as comfortable and familiar with our new mission area as I am with Wellsville Utah - where I spent many happy summer days. We're hoping that we will be seeing his mother in Oxford in the next 18 months.
Today, we received our flu shots and hepatitis shots as the final lap of health care before entering the MTC. We answered our letter from the MTC requesting housing. Our training will last for 10 days, roughly from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. I am so looking forward to it. The last MTC experience was a spiritual feast and I loved it. SK not so much. At some point in the "Preach My Gospel" training, they pair us with someone who is either a non-member, someone who used to be, someone who is investigating, or someone who is a bona fide member of the church. We are then asked to teach them a lesson. SK HATES role playing!!!! But he did fine last time and will be just fine this time.
We believe that we have now completed all visa application forms and have an appointment for Monday to be fingerprinted and photographed and whatever else the British government deems appropriate before allowing us to enter that land. I hope we have crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's because we are actually getting close to the time to enter.
With all that is so exciting ahead of us, we are both kind of testy and short-tempered, and do more than a little grumbling at each other. We are getting older, getting more comfortable with being comfortable, and this is wildly outside of our comfort zone. It has been 6 years since we did this before, and it turned out to be one of the choicest experiences of our lives. The questions come nevertheless: "Can we really do this?" "Will we be adequate to the challenges?" "Can we love the YSAs as we have loved those tremendous young adults in Denmark?" "Will they accept us?" "Will I be able to cook anything they like?"
I guess we'll see!
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