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.