Fest I Nord 2009- Goldfinger and Candlelight

On March 1, 1846 Brigham Young, the second latter-day prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, instructed the weary pioneers camped in the middle of Iowa, to build a large campfire and clear away the snow. He then told them, "I want you to sing and dance and forget your troubles." Everyone, old and young, danced to the music and calls of the fiddler. He later wrote, "If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving."

--D&C 136: 28



We have been dancing and singing ever since.



On July 31, 2009, the young single adults in Randers, Denmark gathered to celebrate their last night of Fest I Nord with a James Bond Extravaganza.


They dined and danced to the vintage 1950's tunes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

It was an International Grand Ball. That night we stepped into the world of James Bond.

The last night of Fest I Nord began in the afternoon. A beauty parlor appeared in one of the classrooms for make up and fancy hair do's.

Here is Jolene ready for the ball.

This was a night for formal attire--

gowns, bow ties, tuxedos,...

And lots of flowers.

Balls of light were hung accross the ceiling of the ballroom. Dates and party goers gathered in the halls.

A red carpet welcomed the honored guests... with large candleabras with tall tapered candles.

Hours were spent setting every table with porcelan plates, folded napkins, stem glasses and polished silverware. Diamonds and glitter were scattered down each table with candles lighting the room.

A James Bond car appeared and the guests followed the red carpet into the hall.

Everyone was given a cocktail of bubbly 7-up as they entered the dance. (in real glass cocktail glasses)

Lennie and Rene became a James Bond Poster.

The room was filled with beautiful gowns, lights and a line of James Bond Guests.

Anne Fredericksen arrives on the red carpet with her happy date..along with guest from Copenhagen.

If you look at the ribbons on everyone's wrists you will be able to tell where they all came from. (or at least where they are going to school) Remember red stands for Denmark, yellow for Sweden, Blue for Norway, orange for Finland, and green for all other countries. James Bond would have been proud of this international guest list. There must have been some spies among us... We know that there was royalty. All of the Fest I Nord guests were from a "Royal Generation" ...members of the House of Israel. It was an impressive gathering.

The dinner began with a shrimp, chicken salad. I am trying to track down the recipe. The dinner was presented by Martin,the chef- We dined on beef, turkey, and scalloped potatoes. Julie and Mark sat across from Sara and Benjamin.. long time friends from the Outreach center in Odense. Missie came with a new friend from the Philippines.

Rene and Jolene arrive with their dates for an evening of dining and swing dancing.

I think that this is Aske's first Fest I Nord. He arrived with his beautiful date from Greenland, Catrine. She is going to school in Aalborg (in northern Denmark). and is one of the leaders in our center.

Michael returned home from his Mission in England, just in time for Fest I Nord. Lasse, our official James Bond, is dining with special guest, and Stake President of Arhus Stake... Kurt Fredericksen. .

Dan came to Randers with us from Odense. He and his date are ready for the grand ball. James Bond squirt guns were found among the weapons and five giant icecream cakes were covered with James Bond Posters made of marzapan.

Lennie, Julie, Katrine, and Aske pose with their dangerous squirt guns, in the eye of the tiger. (I think that is the title).

James Bond was everywhere...Movies on the wall, danger on the icecream cakes, diamonds on the table, mysterious men in black and white, and glamorous women. The night ended well past midnight. I can still hear Frank Sinatra singing "I Did it My Way."

Fest I Nord - Under the Sea

After the classes, the sports, the Helping Hands Storm, and the firesides- Fest I Nord comes alive with wild and crazy parties. Mormons know how to party. This is an especially important week for Sara and Benjamin (from our Odense Outreach Center). They just became engaged. Congratulations to you both. Welcome to our first big party - Under the Sea.

Between the serious, inspiring firesides and the evening parties, we had some very professional entertainers. We began our under the sea extravaganza with our dryland syncronized swim team, performing behind blue sheets of shimmering water... Dancing and diving to beautiful classical music. Their graceful movements, lovely goggles, and daring dives (into the dry water) thrilled the crowd.

Then we were privileged to have a few "Deep Thoughts" and silly songs from Elder Scary (Lasse Ilskov) and his friends. He claims to be a major in "Righteousness" at BYU and called us daily to repent and find our eternal companions at Fest I Nord. He began the evening with this decree from heaven. (Click on the decree and you will want to share it with your friends).

There were many returned missionaries at Fest I Nord, and many who were about to go on missions. The following song, written by Elder Scary, is a reminder of what it is like to put romance on hold for 18 months or two years, while you serve an honorable mission.

Then the dance began "Under the Sea."

There were fish swimming on the walls..

Missie and her friend are sitting on the beach with a buried treasure and an old ship wrecked at sea.

There was a "Live" volcano erupting by the purple lights of the "Festibar."

You might not know that Mormons drink... 7-up, Fresca, Squash, virgin strawberry dacquiris and even water. This bar served a drink with blue ice that lit up. We love good drinks.

We all dressed up for the under water experience. Jolene painted fish gills on her face, Dan wore goggles and we wore what is fashionable for missionaries to wear under water.

It was a grand ball. The hall was full of music and erupting volcanoes.

The floor was covered with lights.

We were all under the sea, and no one got wet. Welcome to the world of good, clean, fun... Fest I Nord at its best.

Fest I Nord 2009 - 500 Helping Hands

On Thursday, July 30, 2009- five hundred young people, with a few older folks, went out to save the world from garbage.. in the cleanest town in Denmark. It was a "Helping Hands" project from the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. As we put on our yellow vests and new leather work gloves we were ready for the day. Kim Holst, our Fest I Nord leader, gave us final instructions and encouragement as we prepared to face a stormy day.

This was our schedule for the last part of Fest I Nord. What a week !
(click on the schedule for a bigger view of the events)

Rene (originally from Esbejerg) and Mark (from Greenland) are ready for the big day. We are the biggest Mormon Helping Hands project that they have ever had in Denmark, and the largest Helping Hands ever held in Europe at one place on a single day.

We gathered in our big hall with a false ceiling from our "Under the Sea" dance the night before. (I will write about the evening events in the next post) There were newsmen and city workers to hand out our gloves and orange road jackets ( a law in Denmark for road workers).

Everyone participated in some way. There were grave sites to clean (maybe some of Elder Wilberg's family sites- His Grandfather, Dines Peter Talboe, was born in Randers). There was play equipment to paint and garbage to collect.

It was a great day for friendship, fun, and working in the rain.

This would be one of our last dry pictures of the day.

Seven busses took us to roads all over the community of Randers.

The two girls on the left are from Estonia. They drove 30 hours from Estonia to Randers for this experience. What a cheerful part of our group. I think one of them just joined the church about four months ago. I'll show you a dry picture of them later.

As the clouds began to gather, two by two, we walked the streets of Randers. This was our street. Where is the garbage? Our charge was to walk two hours into the town on one side of the street, eat lunch, and then walk two hours back on the other side of the street..picking up anything that wasn't growing.

The trek was hard. We felt like pioneers blazing a trail through this treacherous weather. (Notice how much garbage Elder Wilberg has collected).

There were wild snap dragons along the way and little gardens of potatoes, beets, strawberries, and the smell of fresh dill.

The bag was heavy and we were tired and hungry but we had no time to rest. It was a dark and dreary day. The clouds were getting darker and we saw some lightning. But we kept moving down our path looking for garbage hiding somewhere in the bushes.

Four horses saw us from far off and came running to thank us for a job well done.

Twice, large rain clouds dumped buckets of water on us. The wind howled around us. I tried to find shelter in the bushes and Elder Wilberg created a black plastic bag rain coat...but we found no relief. We began to laugh in the rain. This was our mission...miles from home, hiding in the bushes against the trials of the day. Every day is a surprise when you are on a mission.

Many people saw us working on the road. Some asked us "What in the world are you doing?" Others invited the "soaking wet helping handers" to come into their barn out of the rain. The city workers commented on some of the young people singing "Singing in the Rain" as they cheerfully picked up McDonalds cups and straws. McDonalds was our biggest garbage offender. Next time we will invite them to put on the Helping Hands Vests and join us along the roads.

The day was done. The busses picked us up and took our bags. Later they weighed them. Together we picked up 1.2 tons of garbage in the cleanest town in Denmark. (according to Elder and Sister Wilberg). The world should remember 500 kids who spent the day giving a little service to the beautiful little city of Randers, Denmark.

If you click on each of these pages below, you can read the article that appeared in the Deseret News about our event. Now the world does know.

See you at the next post. It will describe the amazing evening events of Fest I Nord.