60 års jubilæum - 60 years anniversary

Lørdag fejrede Evangelisk Børnemission, at det er 60 år siden, Minnie Eskelund landede med Amerikaner-båden i Danmark og startede EB. Dengang hed hun ikke dog ikke Eskelund - det kom året efter. De var hurtige i de gode gamle dage.
Men Minnie ligger på hospitalet, så vi kunne ikke fejre hende, men heldigvis kom hendes mand Henry forbi. Og han har jo da været med i 59 år, siden Minnie fik ham lokket til at skrive kartotekskort i 1948. (Åbenbart et scoretrick!)
Vi savnede Minnie, men vi fik en god dag alligevel.

Henry talte om at give stafetten videre, og så var det jo heldigt, at jeg havde fået lokket et par teenagere fra Teens To Children med. Og de kunne jo fortælle om årets påske-outreach og i øvrigt underholde med dukketeater m.m.

Det var hyggeligt at hilse på gamle venner og bekendte. Og så var mine små søskende også med - i daglig tale kaldet M&M, og de var begge i krammehumør, så alt i alt en rigtig hyggelig dag.

Saturday we celebrated that this year it is 60 years since Minnie Eskelund arrived in Denmark and began the work of CEF in Denmark. However - back then her last name was not Eskelund. That came the following year. They were fast in the good old days.
But Minnie was not with us today - she is in hospital. But fortunately her husband Henry joined us and it was very much his day too since he has been a part of CEF for 59 years since Minnie asked him to help filing addresses (aparently an ancient flirting trick).
We missed Minnie a lot but we had a good day.
And Henry talked about passing on the torch. (First picture.)
And that's what we had done by inviting some of the teens from Teens To Children. They shared about our Easter outreach and performed a bit. (Second and third picture.)
It was nice to meet old friends and chat a bit. And my youngest siblings whom we sometimes call M&M were there too and they were in a hugging mood so all together it was a very nice day. (last picture.)

Et nyt perspektiv - A new perspective

Oh ve og skræk. Igår har jeg trampet på to kolleger. Jeg har i bogstaveligste forstand ladet dem bide i støvet. Jeg har tværet dem ud i timevis.

Det drejer sig om Filip og Nikolaj, som er to af de dukker, vi tit har med os ud for at holde børnemøder.
Men hvorfor? Hvordan kunne jeg behandle dem sådan? Hvorfor fandt de sig i det? Og vigtigst af alt: Hvad førte mig ud i sådan en situation?

Det hele begyndte onsdag aften, hvor jeg inspireret af meteologerne lagde vintertøjet på loftet og fandt sommertøj og sko frem.

Torsdag morgen forløb således:
7:45 Solen skinner
8:00 Jeg tager fine høje hvide sandaler på
8:30 Mine fødder begynder at gøre ondt
9:30 Min far spørger mig, om jeg halter
9:31 Jeg tager sandaler af og opdager vabler.
9:32 Jeg indser, hvor koldt vores kontorgulv er.
9:40 Jeg kigger mig omkring for at finde noget, jeg kan tage på fødderne... og opdager Filip og Nikolaj
9:41 De indvilger (tror jeg nok).

Resten af dagen går godt for mig - det går faktisk i flyvende fart, da små tøjdyr og vores glatte gulv viser sig at være en utrolig effektiv kombination. Undtagen, når jeg skal op og ned af trapper, så må tempoet sættes drastisk ned.

Min far foreslog, at vi måske kunne udvide vores repetoire på Teens To Children og både have dukker på hænder og fødder for fremtiden. Han syntes, at det måtte give et nyt perspektiv på tingene - ihvertfald for dukkerne.
Det korte af det lange er, at jeg i dag havde mine gummisko på igen.

Sådan skulle mine fødder have set ud igår...

This is how my feet were supposed to look yesterday

Men de endte altså med at se sådan ud

But this is how they ended up looking

Ohhh noooo! Yesterday I have treated two colleagues very badly. I have stepped on them and literally let them bite the dust. I have crushed them for hours.

We are talking about Filip and Nikolaj who are two of the puppets we use in our children meetings.

But how? How could I treat them like this? What incident let me to behave in such a manner? To give the full picture I will rewind the story a few days.

On Wednesday evening I got inspired by the weather forecast to store away my winther clothe in the attic and sort out my summer clothe and shoes.

Then Thursday morning went like this:
7:45 Sun is shining
8:00 I put on my nice high white sandals
8:30 My feet start to hurt
9:30 My dad asks me if I am limping
9:31 I take off my sandals and realise the blisters.
9:32 I realise how cold the floor in our office is.
9:40 I look around to find something to put on my feet... and discovers Filip og Nikolaj
9:41 They agree (I think).
The rest of the day went very well - actually it was flying by - or I was flying since the combination of stuffed animals and our new wodden floor turned out to be an extremely effective combination. My dad even suggested that we expand our puppet shows and put puppets on both hands and feet in the future. He said it might give a new perspective on things - at least for the puppets.
But I must admit that today I put on my sneakers anyway.

En dejlig afslutning på et dejligt outreach - A wonderful end to a wonderful outreach

Iførge Alex, som var en af de 11 teenagere, der var med påskens Teens To Children-outreach, så havde vi lige været igennem Helvede. Selv ville jeg måske have brugt nogle andre ord... Men sandt er det, at dagen havde været lidt hård. Vi havde holdt børnemøde for 20 børn, som mildt sagt ikke opførte sig særlig pænt. Og nu sad vi så her i sofaen i Humlebæk og skulle holde det sidste børnemøde. Og vi var trætte. Vi bad for børnemødet, men kun to (kristne) børn dukkede op. Det tegnede til at vi ville slutte TTC med et antiklimaks ovenpå nogle fantastiske dage med dejlige børnemøder og hygge med teenagerne.

Men pludselig kom en mand cyklende på en ladcykel med 4 børn på ladet. "Det var jo dem, vi mødte forleden", udbrød Eva. Og ganske rigtigt. Eva havde stukket dem en indbydelse nogle dage tidligere, og den ældste datter havde virkelig glædet sig til dukketeater og bibelhistorier. Men da tidspunktet nærmede sig, var faderen ikke så begejstret, for han stod lige og repererede hus. Men datteren sagde: "Men se, far, der er også aftensmad!" Og det gjorde udslaget, for faderen var alene hjemme den dag med hans tre børn og en legekammerat. Og så cyklede de til børnemøde, og vi gav den hele armen med sang, dukketeater, bibelhistorier og lege. Og aftensmad! Og nøj, hvor vi hyggede os. Ja, og det gjorde børnene og faderen åbenbart også, for de blev til klokken 20 om aftenen (Mødet sluttede kl 18), og faderen kiggede på vores indbydelse, og sagde: "Hm... Og så skal jeg så lige finde ud af at få forklaret min datters legekammerats forældre, hvad det her lige var. Hun skulle have været hjemme kl 17."

(Bare lidt stemnigsbilleder fra mit teams pauser på vores outreach. Bemærk de våde bukseben: Havet + teenagere = våde bukseben)

(Just some pictures from my team at our cosy breaks between the Easter clubs.)

According to Alex, who was one of the 11 teenagers who attended our Easter club outreach, we had just been going through Hell. I guess, I would have put it differently. But it was true that the day had been rather rough with 20 roudy children at our first Easter club that day. And now we were sitting waiting for the last Easter club to begin. But only two (Christian) children showed up and I feared that our outreach would end with an anti-climax after several days of wonderful children meetings and fun fellowship with the teens.

But suddenly a man came riding a bike with 4 children seated on it as well. (This is Denmark!)

His daughter had got an invitation two days earlier and really wanted to hear the Bible stories and see the puppet shows. Her father had hesitated but the daughter had convinced by showing him the invitation and stating that there would be supper as well. And that convinced the father to go since he was alone with all the children that day and had to cook.

And we all had a really good time! And the family enjoyed themselves so much that the stayed two ours after the meeting had finished just hanging out with with us all. What a fun way to end a wonderful Easter outreach!