Influence of Scandinavian saints
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — President Gordon B. Hinckley traveled to Denmark in the company of others but, in a sense, he was on a solo journey.
"This is the first such trip I've made since my beloved companion passed away," he told a congregation of about 4,000 at a member meeting in Copenhagen, referring to the death on April 6 of his wife, Marjorie Pay Hinckley. "We'd been married for 67 years. That's a very long time, and we've had a rich and wonderful life together. We traveled on every continent of the world and bore testimony of this work in scores of nations. We were last in Ghana to dedicate a temple there (Jan. 11). On the way home, she suffered a collapse and never recovered. I have gained a new perspective. I have spoken in many, many funerals . . . but when you go through it yourself you come to a new and moving experience.
"I am so profoundly grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for a testimony of the Atonement of the Savior. I believe in it with all my heart and I live for it, and I bear witness of it this day that of all the events of human history none other approaches the Atonement of the Savior. . . . I thank Him for the gift of His precious Son to whom we all owe thanks, for His sacrifice in our behalf."
President Hinckley was the concluding speaker on a program that included Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve; Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy and president of Europe Central Area; Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the Seventy and first counselor in the area presidency; Elder Holger Rakow, an Area Authority Seventy and second counselor in the area presidency; and Sister Kathleen Jensen, Elder Jensen's wife.
President Hinckley spoke of the "tremendous influence of the Scandinavian saints on the history of this Church."
He told of being in a "very lonely place" in Wyoming and, while there, thinking of a little Danish girl, Bodil Mortensen, who emigrated from Denmark in 1856 and was a member of the Willie Handcart Company, which became stranded in a snowstorm en route to the Salt Lake Valley. Bodil "went out into the snow to collect a little brush with which to make a fire to keep herself warm. She gathered a little brush and brought it back to her handcart. She took hold of the wheel of the cart, and there she froze to death. There she was buried in a lonely grave. I can never forget Bodil Mortensen — all those who were with her who paid such a terrible price for their faith in God and in this great latter-day work.
"Now we don't have to suffer such privations any more. We thank the Lord for His blessings upon us. Thousands upon thousands of Latter-day Saints from Denmark and Sweden left these lands to go to their Zion in the mountains of the West. Great is their posterity. . . . Now we don't emigrate any more. Stay here to build Zion in Denmark, Sweden and Iceland. Let us be strong. Let us be men and women of great faith. Let us hold on to the truth. Let us do what is right."
Elder Nelson spoke of his great-grandparents, six of whom came from Denmark and Sweden. "Every time I set foot on Scandinavian soil I feel I'm home again," he said. After speaking of the contributions of Scandinavian converts who left their homelands to help build the Church, he said that he is thankful that "the need for immigration is behind us. We don't need to go anywhere anymore."
He told of having come to Denmark in the summer of 2000, at which time was unveiled in Rebild a statue representing a Danish family preparing to sail to America. "A mother and father and their children are facing the future; a grandmother is looking back to the land she loved."
He spoke of another statue that stands in a Copenhagen harbor, "Kristina," that bears the name of a grandmother of its LDS sculptor, Dennis Smith. Elder Nelson described the statue as portraying "hope in her heart, courage of her convictions" after she had been converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. She wanted to submit her life to His will.
Elder Nelson encouraged the members, now that they have a temple in Denmark, to do what they can for their ancestors, that which they cannot do for themselves. "Temples are part of the plan of Almighty God. With His priesthood authority restored to earth, families can be together forever."
After dedicating the Copenhagen Denmark Temple, President Gordon B. Hinckley traveled to England, France and Spain. Reports of member meetings and other events during his travels will be reported in the June 5 issue of Church News.
