July- This is a three day meeting"30 days in the land" training

This is a much loved meeting.  The newest arrived missionaries and their trainers come into the mission home for a three day training to catch them up on the last several zone conferences.  The' re always eager to learn and much more awake than when they arrived.  President trains on "Becoming self-sufficient PMG" missionaries- Repentance, Epistles of the Lord,  finding, inspired questions, etc.

This particular missionary room has 14 beds.

Planning before snacks and relaxation.

Snacks of cereal and fruit before bed

Sister missionaries always first- breakfast of baked french toast.

More training from President O'Bryant

Training from the assistants

Role playing is very important...

Finding a quiet place for role playing...

Lunch at McDonald's

More training and then our traditional roast beef dinner.

A training break with games in the evening.

Early breakfast of breakfast burritos.

...and off to Copenhagen for more training...in three cars...

Training by the assistants

Our Family History mission expert

These missionaries are always prepared with their family Tree fan chart and they spend time becoming a FH consultant

Training on "Loving your mission"

Training from President O'Bryant on "Improved finding".

...And our traditional Dominos Pizza lunch.

Yes, Denmark has gorgeous skies!...

...But nothing is more gorgeous than these faithful, dedicated, hard-working and enthusiastic disciples.   We attend a session at the temple together before they travel back to their areas.  We love these missionaries and are humbled by their willingness to "become" all that their Heavenly Father wants them to become.  Denmark is truly blessed to have them here. 

Senior Missionary Conference

This is a photo of Kronborg Slot in Helsingor, Denmark.  It was taken from the Sweden side (East) of the castle.  This castle is immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.  It is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe.  During the summer, they perform scenes from the play "Hamlet" throughout the castle.

Here is the beautiful archway entering the castle ground.

This is the view of the castle as you enter from the west.

Another beautiful archway.

Who can resist the quaint sceney with cobble stone streets, and the colorful buildings- boutiques, restaurants, etc.

The archway into the castle courtyard.

The courtyard.

The "duel" scene from Hamlet.

Continuing with the duel scene.

We climbed the tower below with the green copper dome this beautiful day and discovered a gorgeous view.

A view of the entrance.

The ferry from Helsingor to Malmo, Sweden.

Sweden in the background.

Another view of Sweden.

This is the narrow and dark tunnel one must take to visit Olgier the Dane, better known as Holger Danske.  He dwells in the castle of Kronborg.  He remains there until the day when Denmark may be in peril, at which time he will rise up and save the nation.

And here is Holger Danske with his armor.

More towers around the castle.

We tried to get a picture by the tower with everyone.  It's not always easy to gather everyone when we have a volunteer to take the picture.  We are missing Elders Buxton and Ottley.  (Next time we better stand in the sun).

Better picture without the tower:-)  (I've never been a "proper" photographer)

This character was traveling the castle grounds and entertaining.  He is delightful.  He comes from England and  speaks "the Queens" English.  He loves to educate Americans regarding their English pronunciation.  He and President were discussing the word "around".  I rescued them with another wonderful picture.

We enjoyed this man.  Does anyone know which character he plays?  I assume he comes from the play "Hamlet".  Look for him when you visit for a good laugh:-D

Just a few kilometers walk away, we enjoyed dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

The next day, we gathered for a day of training on "Doing our part as missionaries, as well as the best ways to interact with and support the younger missionaries".  The Seniors made a delicious breakfast and lunch.

What better way to end the conference than with a visit to the temple together.  This mission would not be the same without the dedication, service and love of all these senior missionaries.  They come at their own expense to provide their time, talents, experience and hard-work in building up the Lord's Kingdom.  Many of them learned the Danish language years ago when they served as young missionaries, while others are dutifully learning the language today to be more effective. They all have the great desire to serve because of the love they have for Denmark/Iceland, the people and especially the Lord. Words cannot express the gratitude and love we and our young missionaries feel for each of these senior full-time missionaries.  We love Denmark and Iceland!  (Missing from photo:  Elder Warnsdorf-Copenhagen, Elder Johnson-Bornholm, and Elder and Sister Shephard-Iceland)