Who comes to the Center ?

The Center for Young Adults is designed to provide a comfortable place where people can relax, study, teach each other, eat, and feel the spirit of the Gospel. Our purpose is to “bring young adults to Christ.” We have discovered that all kinds of people gather here. Some are young at heart.. there is no age limit for that. When the young single adults are not involved in activities here.. anyone is invited to stir a pot of soup or learn a thing or two with us.

These sweet little ladies have been coming to the center for about three years. They come in the middle of the day on Wednesdays to study the Old Testament (this year). They have some little chocolate cookies, have a cup of tea (hopefully herbal tea- although we don't ask questions) and study about prophets that lived thousands of years ago. When we took this picture they were all upset about the wickedness of Babylon and then went on to offer us some tea and cookies. What a group.

This is Ette. She comes from Sweden and speaks Danish with an accent that many can't understand. I can not tell that she has an accent because I can't understand her Swedish or her Danish. She is about 85 years old. Our first Sunday in Odense, I sat next to her in Relief Society. She shared with me her cloth covered hymn book and we sang together in Danish. She was thrilled when I began to sing alto- as we sang the opening song acapella. She only knows a few words in English, but at the end of our last song she gave me a big hug and said, "I love to hear you." What a sweetie. Now she is learning about Babylon in our center. I hope that it does not lead her astray. (just kidding for those new to the blog).

This is Mark, one of our very able young single adult leaders at the center. He is always here. He is a great returned Missionary, who works with the full time missionaries and the young single adults in our presidency. He is also a councelor in the Young Men's program in the Odense 2 ward. Here he is helping the young men (ages 13-17) to write their life histories. On Wednesdays he comes early to go to Institute to study the New Testament, goes upstairs to teach the Young Men in Mutual, and often brings them down to the center for a game of pool or use to the computers. He is a full time student of Medicine at the University here in Odense. He loves life and is a great example of service to all of us.

This young man comes on Wednesday nights directly from school. He goes to seminary here upstairs, then to Young Men's for activities and lessons, and fits in a quick meal while he is writing the history of his short life -down stairs in our computer room. In the Outreach Center, everyone is invited to grow- especially the new missionary couple (us) who are just learning how to help this busy place to continue to grow. It is an awesome responsibility. We welcome any suggestions or ideas. We are a collector of games, recipes for big hungry groups, and ideas for successful events for our young friends here. Welcome to our busy, surprising life here in Odense..come and see us !