Throughout the month of June, members of the Church in Denmark celebrated its 160th anniversary with activities, Mormon Helping Hands projects, a birthday cake with 160 candles and a visit from Elder Erich W. Kopischke of the Seventy, president of the Europe Area.
Since the apostle Erastus Snow arrived in Copenhagen on June 14, 1850, to open and preside over the new Scandinavian Mission, more than 30,000 Danes have joined the Church. During the first 100 years, most of the Danish members emigrated from their homeland to Utah. After World War II, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, most members stayed in Denmark to strengthen the Church throughout the country.
Currently, Denmark is home to nearly 5,000 members of the Church.
"The history of the Danish Saints is both amazing and fantastic," said historian Jesper Stenholm Paulsen, second counselor in the Copenhagen Denmark Stake presidency. "I would like to thank every member and every missionary, past and present, who has contributed to help the Lord's work move forward here in Denmark and for all their sacrifices, however big or small.
"When we began our journey all those many years ago, missionaries were driven out of towns, persecuted and banished. Today, we have 22 wards and branches, two stakes and a beautiful temple in our midst. We have come a long way."
As part of the celebration, members from both Danish stakes participated in Mormon Helping Hands projects on June 12 and 19 as a big "thank you" for being treated well and having good relationships with local officials. The projects included serving the elderly and beautifying roads, woods, parks and lakes in seven Danish cities.
"We are doing this project to show that we are a part of a society, which has often been good to us," said President Finn Lykkegaard of the Nykøbing-Falster Branch in a local newspaper article. "We would like to give something back and, furthermore, we believe in serving."
Local civic leaders praised Church members for the contributions to their communities.
"We are pleased that we have a Mormon Church in Gladsaxe, which can and will enter into a dialogue with the citizens," said Gladsaxe mayor Karin Søjberg Holst. "I would like to congratulate the Mormon Church and its many members [on] the 160th anniversary."
President Paulsen also said the service projects showed the love of Latter-day Saints for their communities.
"We are just as much a part of Danish society as anyone else, and like most Danes, we would like to do our bit to help strengthen our various communities," he said.
Later on the 19th, Copenhagen stake members held a party at the Church building in Søborg. Each of the more than 400 in attendance donated bars of soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste or towels to the inhabitants of Haiti as their entrance ticket. In addition to the large cake and a comedic play, the Copenhagen stake choir and Danish Mormon Square Dancers performed.
At a fireside on June 20, President Kopischke said that Erastus Snow's teachings of the gospel still apply today.
