WEEK 72!, December 14, 2015: I forgot how happy singing makes me!

Danish Word of the Week: Budbringerne (BOOL-bring-eh-neh) 

The Messengers. This is the name of our traveling music group. 

Week 2 of the Christmas tour has been so great. Every night I just sit back and think-this is amazing. We are 20 years old. There is so much talent in this group. Here's a list of all of the songs we do.

1. Bagpipe Medley of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Dejlig er den Himmel Blå

2. The Little Drummer Boy w/ a violin part (arranged by an Elder in the group) 

3. A Christmas Medley on the piano (John Schmidt's arrangement)

4. Let it Snow (me and Sister Lyman sing with Elder Geslison on the guitar. We made up this arrangement)

5. Et Barn Er Født i Bethlehem (A Child is born in Bethlehem)- We do this as a combined song with us and the audience. Every Dane knows and loves this song.

6. I'll be home for Christmas (whole group)

7. O Holy Night (solo)

8. Luk Julefreden Ind (Let Christmas Peace In) (sister song. I LOVE this one)

9. Hallelujah Chorus (piano and organ duet!! This one is SO IMPRESSIVE!)

10. Jingle Bells (we put some beatboxing in this one. It wakes up all the kids. :)

11. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (With choreography! Broadway anyone?)

12. Joy to the World (piano solo-another John Schmidt arrangement)

13. O Come O Come Emmanuel (this one is my fave. It's the Piano Guys' arrangement except instead of a piano and a cello, it's a piano and a classical guitar. I could literally listen to it all day.)

14. Silent Night

I love it so much! Members are loving it!

We are hoping that this year we will get all of the kinks worked out so that next year can be even more successful. We've been getting decent attendance this year-it gets bigger every performance because members hear about it from their friends and see our videos on Facebook, but I know that if the mission does this again next year that the churches will be packed from day one of the tour.

The ward mission leader in Esbjerg has a film studio. He's going to help us make higher quality videos of a couple of our songs! So excited for another week of firesides! 

I'm excited to talk with all of you next week! I can't even believe that's coming up so soon! I still don't know what our plans are for Christmas Day-I'll keep you posted. :)

Love you all so much! 

[Part of Letter To Mom from Amanda] 

            I'm scheduled to return to BYU Summer 2016. I sent my ecclesiastical endorsement to President O'Bryant today. Good to know that Shawna is still rocking the MDT office. Love that lady.

            The dumb computers we're emailing at don't have USB ports, so we can't upload any of the pictures from this week. But it's been a great one! I'm grateful to be a part of this. This is exactly what I needed. I still feel like a missionary, but I feel more like myself too. I forgot how happy singing makes me.

            I love you lots! Hope the one-acts and melodrama go well! And HUG DIANA FOR ME IF YOU SEE HER! I AM SO EXCITED FOR HER!

[FROM a Bishop in a Ward Amanda served and they held a fireside] 
Hello parents of missionaries in Denmark,
            We have had the great pleasure to see your young missionaries hold a Christmas concert here in Horsens.  They are some amazing young people, several of which have served their mission here in our ward. You can be proud of your young people. They are amazing with their music, song and spirit.  They have brought a wonderful Christmas spirit into our hearts.  Thank you so much.   You can see their performance in Horsens congregation facebook page : LDS Horsens menighed

Yours sincerely,

Bishop Ryan Kristensen
Horsens Ward
Denmark

[FROM Amanda's Mission President to me] 

Sister Van Orden,
We have been recording the musical numbers as we have had the opportunity. We don't have the whole fireside, but we have the musical numbers.  They are being posted on Sister O'Bryant's facebook page. By the way, your daughter is such a wonderful missionary.  And she sings like an angel.  We love her!
President O'Bryant