Merry Chirstmas

2008 - A New Journey Begins

As this year draws to a close, we are looking back on this past year. Life has been very full and we have been blessed. We finished our mission to Denmark in April where we spent our previous two Christmases and came home to a great reception at the airport. We had 42 family members there. What a handsome group.









What a group, 42 in all.

The wonderful kindnesses that were shown to us in Denmark, and their wonderful traditions will never leave us. We are continuing the tradition of dancing around the tree with real candles on it, rice pudding with a hidden almond and Roast Pork with crackling. We will remember the laughter, friendships and the wonderful people that opened their hearts and homes to us. Life went on while serving our mission to Denmark. We added 2 babies just before we left and 3 while we were gone. Steve had extensive colon surgery and my loving mother died in April 2007. Our granddaughter, Elise was married to Jon VanOrman last fall. A lot happened in those 19 months we were gone. All my children lived in Utah until we came home and then . . .










Steve, Becky, Dan, Gary, Marilyn, Julie , Mark, Amber




Becky and Bishop Milt are doing great in Manti, Utah. Becky sent Natalie and Emily off to college along with Elise and Jon. Talk about an adjustment in her home. She now has only Peter (17), Dane (13), Isaac (7) Simeon (4) and Debbie (2) (named after our Debbie and her grandmother, Marilyn) left at home. They are all doing great.







Dr. Dan, Steph, and their four children moved to Dallas, Texas in August, where Dan accepted a position of President of Argosy University. McKall (14), Alec (11), Ryann (8) and Kayden (6) are adjusting to their new lives. We miss them.











Steve and Sally are living in Salt Lake where he is a programmer for OC Tanner. They have three children, Libby (7) Zack (5) and Tyler (born while we were gone). Steve has recovered pretty well after having his colon removed. We feel the problem started during his 16 months service in Iraq. He has been really blessed this year.






Mark and Jen moved to Omaha in June along with their 4 kids. He got a position with a consulting company using his Chinese. We visited them in October and enjoyed spending time with Cora (8), Garrett (5), Ammon (3) and Jorie Marie (18 mo, one of the twins), named after Marjorie, my mom. Jori was born while we were in Denmark. They are adjusting to their new life and leadership positions in our church.


Julie and Trent live about a mile down the street from us. It is fun when she drops in often. Trent is now a seminary teacher and loves it and his students love him. They still have DJ, Trent's brother living there along with their children, Jaxynn(9), Abe (7), Elijah (4) and Quinci (18 Mo, our other twin) and another little girl due in April. Quinci was born 59 min before Jorie on June 21, the day after my birthday in the same hospital. This was a surprise because they were due two weeks apart. That is why we call them our twins.


Amber and Walter lived in our home with their 2 children and four students while we were gone. We came home just after Grady, their 3rd child was born. We were able to join them in the delivery room by way of Skype. They just sat me or the computer on the table and I watched the comings and goings. Soon after that, Walter was deployed for three months. Amber, Winnie (3), Trae (2) and Grady lived with us until August, when they moved around the corner. We love having them drop in every day to see us. We are going to miss them when Walter graduates from the U of U College of Engineering and they move to ?

We have been truly blessed this year and are so grateful for this season of the year to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We know that He lives and that He loves all of us. We are grateful for each of you and the part you have played in our lives. We have enjoyed your Christmas letters and cards and wishes. We pray for peace in your hearts and in the world. We hope that this Christmas season finds you happy and in good health.

May you have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.








Love, Gary and Marilyn Peterson

Changing Time!!

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted. I have been rebelling. I need to change my look after all the Petersons are not in Denmark and there are no "Greetings from Copenhagen Denmark". Except we have been trying to go back and help the Kjars move home but I have been sick in bed for over 2 weeks. I am getting my energy back and I am trying to figure out how to get there by Wed this week before they leave. I am also scheduled to tend Mark and Jen's kids the week of the 15th. I lost too much time sleeping my life away. I am feeling a lot better but not ready to start a journey to Denmark. I think I will start with going to church today and seeing how long I last.

After noticing that two people checked my blog today, I decided that maybe someone cares about what we are doing.

If any of our Danish missionaries look at this blog, post a note as to if you like the idea of coming to our house for warm cookies on the last sunday of the month. Just a place to gather and talk. OK, if you are not a Danish missionary and want to come you can.

Loppe Market

We are back in Denmark and still sick. Not a fun way to visit Denmark. We are in our old apartment so we can look out the window and enjoy the view and relax. We did go to the loppe market this am, of course.

It looks like the show will go on or the meeting.  Our homecoming will be tomorrow, Sunday at 1:15 at our ward.  If you want directions, give us a call.

For those in Denmark, we will miss you.

Gary has been painting the kitchen yellow so that we can put up our Christmas and Mother's day plates for our guest to see.  He has been so bust fixing things up while I just direct the kids traffic.

Happy Birthday to:

  Tyler 1 yr old on April 5

   Mark (?)  on April 9

   Steve  (?) on April 10

   Natalie 23 on April 16

   Becky (?) on April 19

We plan to talk in church this Sunday, April 13th if I can get over my pneumonia. Sad.

Airport Welcome by Julie.  Click here.

Go to Becky's blog and see our welcome  CLICK .Here we come. 

Our Farewell dinner.

Rosenborg Slot, streets of Copenhagen and our friends.

Frederiksberg Park

Just up in the night.

We made it home by 7:00 pm in time for all the family to greet us at the airport. All but Dan who is in Texas for his new job. We came over to the house and just visited until everyone had to go home. We hated to see the evening come to an end. I will post pictures etc later.

Time to Come Home

Thanks to all for your hard work in getting the house and yard ready for us to come home. We can't believe it is time to come home. We are packing our bags, eating at friends houses and saying goodbye. The time is coming. Two more days. We are not ready to let go as everything isn't done, but "Oh well" it will have to do until next time.

Happy Birthday Julie today!!

and to the other March birthdays,

Isaac, AJ, Trent, Kayden, Debbie P, and Kaden.

We were invited to our dear friends for Benjamin's birthday party. It was great that he thought of us. They are now in SL visiting and took two suitcases of our stuff with them.

Winter finally came to Copenhagen. Yes, it has been cold and snow flurries everday. What a way to send us off. We were holding out for flowers and Spring. Guess we will have to come back.

Today was a great day. We made candy last Friday with our Danish friends, Knudsens and Warnsdorffs. We made pecan and almond roles and dipped fudge eggs. We also had a nice lunch of home made soap and salad. I served it on my Danish Bing and Grondale plates.

It was fun to have these two couples over to spend the day. They have been so nice to us, having us to dinner every month since we got here and also special dinners and teas when our family came to visit.

We packaged up our candy after giving the two couples all that they could use and put a card with our pictures and address on it so that our friends will know how to keep in contact. We gave these to people in the ward that have been extra nice to us. It was fun to have something to give back.

It looks like we are not going to speak in church because next week is Fast Sunday and then we leave. Of course we will bear our testimony. We can't believe it is time to come home. The time has gone by so quickly. In some ways it seems like we have only been here a few months and in others we feel like we have been here for many years. It is hard saying goodbye to these wonderful people who have taken a big part in so many memorable experiences for us.

So the winding down has come. We are training another wonderful couple who have extended their mission 6 more months for a total of 2yrs and 6 months. They did this because President Olauson asked them to. As of now, there are no senior missionaries called to replace the 4 that are going or have gone home since December.

We had a great time with Christine and Mary.

Well, we had our last Zone Conference for Sjaelland today. They realized that it was probably our last one so we got a little attention. We bore our testimonies and some bore theirs. They were so sweet and we all cried. I am going to miss these special missionaries. I love being with them. They "Built me up". What a great experience it has been to be with such strong, bold missionaries.

They remarked that they couldn't have had 54 baptisms last year if it weren't for our support. That made us feel real good as we sometimes wondered if we were making a difference here in Denmark. I think we have and I thank my Heaven Father for this opportunity every day we are here. But it was not a good by it was a see you later. Having been in Heaven here on our mission, we are headed back to earth to the real life. All missionaries have to go through this process of change and it is very emotional.

We didn't realize we were going for a photo shot. We walked for 2.5 hours, but it was fun.

This is a small town where I go to the dentist. It was settled by the Dutch.

RS Birtjdau Party with Sister Clark.

Checking out the apartments in Jylland, across the big bridge with the Clarks.

My faith is the most important thing in my life. That is why I am spending 19months of my life away from my family on a mission to Denmark assisting in sharing a special message. That message is that God has prophets on the earth today and he loves us. Yes, he wants to bring joy into our lives and has a "Plan of Happiness". There has been a lot of news around lately and a lot of misunderstandings about who we are and what we believe. I want to share this video on Myths and Reality on the link below.

Please take time to let it download, you will be glad you did. And when you see our missionaries on the street say "hello" and remember, they have a special message from our Heavenly Father for you.

http://www.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/media/mediaplayer.swf?media=http://broadcast.lds.org/newsroom/video/flv/12-10-2007_13_Million_Newsroom.flv&type=FLV

This is the street Great Grandpa Peterson from Birkerov, Denmark. He may have lived here or in the other house around the corner. He didn't own the house but worked for someone. We had fun driving around yesterday with the Clark after we went to church by there. Watch the slide show coming later.

Happy Birthday to our Grandchildren:

Simeon Feb 14
Jaxynn Feb 16
Garret Feb 20
Ryan Feb 22

Have a great day.

Check out my Slide Show!

We finally got our pictures of Grady and that special event.  As most of you know, I was there as a computer on the tray, trying to hear what they said and see everything.  It was great to be apart of this event clear over hear in Denmark.  We can't wait to get home and get our hugs.

Well, he finally came.. Grady Blaze Gunter, our 27th grandchild, a tie breaker (13 girls and 13 boys). Yes, Amber had her baby at 4:27 on the 5th of February weighing in at 9lb 4oz and 21.5 inches long. At least that is what I heard as I was a computer on the table hanging out. Yes, we Skyped me in to the room and I hung out for 3 hours. Couldn't hear much or see much, but I was there. Isn't technology great.

Small Miracles in our Mission II

By Søster Magstadt
Sister Bomgren and I have been praying to find the elect, as I am sure we are all doing. It was something I felt I wanted to do, but I wasn’t sure how to make it happen. This last Saturday, walking home from our weekly correlation meeting, we were stopped by our Ward Mission Leader and his family. In our meeting, we had just discussed a less active we could visit and our mission leader and his family offered to drop us off at her home. It wasn’t in our plan, but we both thought, ”why not”.
After our short visit with the less active in our ward, we started heading home for the second time and were contacting along the way. One of the last contacts before we reached our home is one we feel was ”placed in our path”. He is a younger Danish man, about 29 years old. We contacted him in the same way we would anyone else, we didn’t say anything profound, but received a different response, a ”YES!!!”
He was interested in coming to church. I would have normally felt it would be too much to SMS him, the same day we met him, but felt I should. I reminded him of church with the address and the time and, to our surprise, he wrote back, ”Vi ses imorgen!”
He ended up coming to church yesterday (Sunday). The ward was amazing at welcoming him. The bishop helped us teach him about the Restoration and then another member sat with him in Priesthood and gave him the Book of Mormon, the new Sunday school manual on Joseph Smith and a copy of True to the Faith. He walked out of Priesthood with a stack of books. I think they were excited he was a Dane!
I realized yesterday that I needed to be more patient. I had to do my part and show the Lord my faith, by praying to find “the elect”, studying to teach ”the elect” and contacting to talk to ”the elect”. The Lord has promised he will answer our prayers, but it is in his time and his way. We aren’t sure what will happen with our contact, but it is exciting to know we are the Lord’s instruments and are sharing His true Gospel. I know there are more elite to be found and prayers to be answered. Go get ’em.

Look fast Æ Dickison and Æ & Søs Fonnesbeck, this will not be up very long.





Some of you have heard about our Cinderella story about Christina and Sebastian, but now I am going to share it with my blogging world.


Christina is a very good member missionary. She activated a young man and sent him on a mission. While he was gone, she continued to further her career dancing with the Royal Copenhagen Ballet.

In Sweden, Sebastian was dancing and loving it. He had just received the part of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, the part he had always wanted to play. But there was something missing. He had applied to the Danish Royal Ballet and had been accepted. He felt that he should turn down his part and go dance in Denmark.

When he came, he met Christina and they became friends. I heard that he was her dancing partner but I am not sure. He became interested in hearing about the church and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. So Christina set it up for the missionaries to come to her home (apartment on the 6th floor of a downtown building by the Royal Copenhagen Ballet) and teach him. We were able to participate in a couple of lessons. One lesson we were sitting there listening to Elder Dickison talk to him in Danish and Sebastian responded in Swedish. There was complete understanding between the two. He was challenged for baptism and accepted. All this was done in our presence. I knew something was going on and felt the spirit, but wasn't sure what because I didn't understand Danish or Swedish. After we climbed down 6 flights of stairs to the street, I asked "What happened?" And then they told me he was going to be baptized. We were all so excited. That was just the beginning.

In October we had been invited to go see both of them dance in a ballet. We enjoyed it while tying to find them among the dancers. This year Christina received an award from the Queen for a lot of money to help her in her studies as a ballet dancer.

In December, Sebastian was baptized and Christina's missionary came home that same week. She was all tied up in knots. Which one did she truly love. She decided to choose Sebastian as she had fallen in love with him. The rejected missionary felt really bad. In sacrament meeting he bore his testimony and said that when he came home from his mission, he didn't have a place to stay, he had lost his job and now his girlfriend. But he didn't lose his testimony. He has since found a very beautiful, sweet Swedish girl and they will be married this year.

On December 29, 2007, Sebastian and Christina were married for time and all eternity in the Copenhagen Temple. Following the temple ceremony, they had a beautiful reception at the ward, just a block away.





On January 8, 2008, we were able to get tickets for the Nutcracker that Christina and Sebastian were dancing in. As we were waiting for it to start, the Queen appeared in her box just below us. So all the dancers would bow to us. (I really think it was for the queen).



This first video is of Christina and she is the front snowfake on the right.

We had been watching for Sebastian and couldn't find him. Then in the second half, he came out as the Snowflake Prince. We were really impressed. I hope you enjoy the video.













So that is the story. It could have only be better if Christina had been the Snowflake Princess. But she had to take time to have a princess wedding which was much more important as her temple marriage will last forever. This is another miracle story and it has now been recorded on my blog.

Hey, Did I tell you we went to the Nutcracker with the Queen? If you look closely you can see the queen's head below us. I think she might be reading the Book of Mormon. Do you? We went to the Royal Copenhagen Theater and watched our friends dance.






Dana Stewart is a young girl in our ward who dances. We went back stage to see her dressing room.


More of the story to come.

Here is a link to a slide show about Sunday night mourning for President Hinckley

http//www.deseretnews.com/photo/sslide/detail/1,5498,37,00.html

From my daughter Julie's blog. Thank you for standing a little taller, being a little better . . . . . and taking the time to share your feelings about our Prophet. Hope you don't mind me sharing.

From my daughter Julie's blog. Thank you for standing a little taller, being a little better . . . . . and taking the time to share your feelings about our Prophet. Hope you don't mind me sharing.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

Stand a little taller, be a little better, look to God and live.
2 Timothy 4:6-7
6. For I am now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand.
7. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the Righteous judge shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.

Enos 1:27
And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in Him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before Him; then shall I see His face with pleasure, and He will say unto me; Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen

Tonight I got a phone call from my sister Amber informing me that our Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away of old age. Although he was 97 years old, it broke my heart. I guess I just figured he would always be here. My heart is broken and I will miss him so much. Even though I didn't know him personally, I felt like I did. I know I am not alone in this. He was so loved. And he loved all of us so much. "I have a confession to make...I love you." He said that in one of his addresses. I love that. He had the most amazing personality and brought people from all over the world together. He loved people of all Faiths. He was such an example to me of love. He was compassionate about people. I will miss him. His passing is a sweet thing. He is reuniting with his wife. I am so thankful for my testimony of God's Plan. What a wonderful plan it is. We get to come to this earth, make choices, love, learn and progress. But then it doesn't end there. After this life the progression is not over....the love is not over, its more intense and can last forever. I love my prophet and I am happy for him and where he is now. I hope we can all remember the things he has taught us about how to live our lives. He loved this Gospel. He loved our Savior and our loving Father in Heaven. He said it so simply. Stand a little taller, be a little better, look to God and live.

Posted by Julie at 7:52 PM

Starting a Missionary Miracle Log

Just thought I would write a little about our mission. Whenever our missionaries talk to us they end with “Can I do anything for you?” Sometimes they are sorry they asked because I always have something for them to do if I am at work. Well, I have started saying, “Find me a miracle and then report back.” Now I am saying “Assist the Lord in creating a miracle and then report back.”

Since we are not out meeting people and creating our own missionary miracles I want some stories from them to put in our monthly mission paper, the “Banner.” I also want some to share with others and on my blog.

So last night one of my favorite Elders called all excited to tell me his miracle for the day. Remember these miracles are just small but very important. Well, they had been teaching a 75 yr old lady and it was progressing along and she has been very positive. Today they taught her about the Word of Wisdom which they thought could be a problem because she smoked a pipe, drank alcohol, and at the time of the lesson she was drinking a cup of coffee. They had her repeat back what they had taught and she fully understood. She went out to the kitchen and dumped her coffee into the sink, and committed to stop smoking and drinking. Their prayers of guidance on what to say and understanding and acceptance from their investigator had been answered. The spirit was so strong while they were teaching. They called me as soon as they left their appointment and they certainly were on a spiritual high. We sure love this work.

I am going to commit to them that when they call me with their miracles, I will take dictation and write it down for them. That is the least I can do. I love these missionaries and am very thankful for the opportunity to serve them and support them. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for the chance to be here with them and with my eternal company, Elder Gary D Peterson. We are having a delightful and faith promoting experience together.

Check out David Archulett, our friend from Murray on American Idol.
powered by

Amber - (others may also) look at this. Here is a link.
http://www.photoshow.com/watch/GY3Pc2MV

Hey everybody, the medical world here in Denmark can't find anything wrong with me so I guess I will come home perfect.  That is after I lose my 10# of Danish pastry, pork, and cream desserts.  

April is the month and we are not sure of the day as we are flying standby.  Don't want to think about that but we have to.  No one has been called to take our place.  A little scary and they say the mission can't run without the office couple. 

So do you know anyone who wants a neat experience.  They don't need Danish (we are getting desperate) but need to be real neat, sense of humor (like Dads) entertaining, love missionaries and will be a good grandma to them (can't compete with mission mother) and the list could go on and on.  So please pass the word around or we may be here for a long time.

Take a look at these picture on You Tube. This is our fireworks display that went on for hours.
Movie 1
Movie 2
Movie 3
Movie 4

Movie 1Movie 2Movie 3Movie 4

Hey, where is everyone. No comments on all my blogs. Did you like the fireworks? Anything else? Are you out there? Love Mom

We had a great time at Hans and Lis Andersons' home on New Years Day.  They sold their large  house when their children were grown and bought this small apartment and a summer home out in the country.  The apartment was nice however they have decided that it is too small so they now are looking for another place.  They are very strong members leaders here and both grew up in the Church.   He is on the High Council and she is in the Relief Society Presidency.  Up until recently she was running the Denmark Church Distribution Center which is on the third level above our ward.  They invited us for lunch ended up spending 5 hours with them.  This is what we did. 

When we came in she had the coffee table set for a typical after the holiday Danske frokost or smorbrod lunch.  We started out with  smaller plate on top where we put fish open face sandwiches.  You put several kinds of fish on heavy rye bread cut in quarters.  Also had a bowl of baby shrimp over a cream salad.  When finished with the fish that plate was taken away because fish doesn't mix with the other food.  Then there was cold slices of beef, pork and ham.  Along with that was different kinds of salads and sauces from a deli.   We were able to try a large variety of different tasty items on rye or white bread, eaten with a fork and knife.  You don't pick up the sandwich here.  We visited for a while and then she brought out a plate of different cheeses, grapes and crackers.  Most of the cheese were very light and one was exceptionally good with jam on a cracker. 

More visiting and getting acquainted and then after 4 hours I told them that we probably had outstayed our welcome.  They insisted that we try some of their left over home made choclate mousse from their New Years Eve party.   Of course we couldn't resist. So we stayed a little longer.  Finally, I told them we better go or they would have to put up a bed for us.  We were sitting on their bed/couch.  So we had a prayer and went home to spend the rest of New Years day enjoying our surroundings.  

 

We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed getting to know them better.  Thank you Hans and Lis Andersen for a memorable afternoon.  We love you and cherish your friendship.