00:01
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I picked En bjergbestigerske, A Mountain Climber. It has been one of my favorite paintings for many years. Willumsen was this Renaissance man.

00:13
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
This is a painting of his second wife, and it is this wonderful manifestation and celebration of a woman. As a woman, I like that. She is standing there. She's confident. She has just conquered the mountain. She's up there, leaning a little bit and taking in the view, the wonderful nature, God's nature, that is around her in all the colors and splendor and majesty.

00:39
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
She's there alone. She made it on her own up there. History-wise, this is the time where women got their voices in politics, they could finally vote.

00:50
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
The notion of climbing mountains, that can be both physically when you're out hiking and you take in the world around you in a moment of silence and reflection, but also in a religious manner that you withdraw a little bit from your busy life and you see from a different perspective.

01:09
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
One of my favorite Danish poets is Benny Andersen. He has a wonderful poem where he says that we Danes need to train in vertigo and perspective. We need to climb some mountains from time to time, to go up and see how violent and different life can be. And then return again to the flatter country and figure out how practical it is that the mountains are lying down.

01:34
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I like that we need to train in vertigo and perspective. We need to have these moments of going higher, as a woman, as a pastor, as a society.

01:51
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
My name is Tina Jøhnk Christensen and I'm the host of Danish Originals, a podcast series created in partnership with the National Gallery of Denmark and the American Friends of the National Gallery of Denmark. Our goal is to celebrate Danish creatives who've made a significant mark in the U.S.

02:08
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Today, our guest is Pastor Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen, who works at the Danish Lutheran Church in Yorba Linda, California. Welcome, Anne-Grethe.

02:17
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Many, many, many thank yous. Yeah.

02:20
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
We are at the Danish Consulate here in Los Angeles. We have an honorary consulate here and I would say in spite of Los Angeles being a very important city in the US in so many ways, culturally and financially, that is what it is. What is your connection to this place where the Nordic countries have created a small community?

02:40
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Yeah, that is a good question. Of course, my bigger connection is that I'm the pastor at the Danish Lutheran Church where we have a large community of Danes, of expats, of immigrants, of everything that makes this fabric of Danes abroad. And then I have a good connection to the Consulate here because I'm married to the one who works here, Søren Finsen, who is the Consulate officer. So, yeah.

03:06
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Thank you for explaining that. As you said, you are the pastor at the Danish Lutheran Church. On the website of the church, it says, "The church is proud of its Danish heritage and continuing its rich church and cultural tradition." What does this mean, and how do you do this in practice?

03:24
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
That is a big question, but that is the mission and the vision of everything we do. We are a Danish immigrant church that was founded in 1906 by Danish immigrants coming to Los Angeles, and they wanted to maintain their specific Lutheran Danish traditions. And that is what we continue to do. But of course as the times have changed, the church has changed too, and especially here.

03:49
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
So we are a community of believers, but also of cultural believers. So it is a mix of church business and cultural business. And that is really significant at the building we have in Yorba Linda that was built in 1995, because we both have an entrance to the church and an entrance to the cultural center. And it is built together, so you can come for both things at the place.

04:15
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
But we really tend to have a Danish Lutheran Church, where we maintain the traditions we have. That means that we have Danish liturgy, most likely, like folkekirken in Denmark. But we also incorporate a lot of the American traditions, being a little bit more alive than a lot of the typical Danish folkekirken.

04:39
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And what do you mean by that, alive?

04:41
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
That we have built on membership and on volunteers. So the only one who's on the payroll is me. Everybody else who is working and helping at the church are volunteers and that makes a huge difference. Because if we do not do a good job, the church is not there and if you go to any folkekirken in Denmark, you are really supported by the tax dollars or kroner that is coming in and you have a budget from the very beginning.

05:11
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
We do not have a budget. We need to make our budget and make it balanced every year. And that means that everything we do as a church and as a cultural center has to work because if people do not come and support us, then we are simply not there. And that means our services have to be relevant.

05:29
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
They have to be speaking to the ones who come and sit in the pews, and that is both elderly people and young people. And then we have all the cultural events that are building on the traditions from Denmark, both church wise, but certainly also cultural.

05:46
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
What makes your job in the US special? You worked in the small village of Give in Ringive Sogn in Jutland, in Denmark. What is the difference between working in that community compared to the one you work in California?

06:02
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
One of the major differences is that the parish is so much bigger. It's Southern California. We are the only Danish church on the west coast. That means that we are a Danish church here and then there's one in Brooklyn, New York. That is what is left. There's a lot of churches that used to be Danish in the Midwest, but they are not anymore.

06:21
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
So we're the only two with a Danish speaking pastor and a Danish tradition in that way. And then I also have an international congregation. Instead of having a small parish in a specific place in Denmark, in rural Denmark, where I came from, you have a more international congregation that comes from everywhere.

06:42
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Of course, a lot of Danes. But they are also Danes that traveled out in order to broaden their perspective and see the world. So both the old generation, but certainly also all the expats and young families that come over here for a shorter time.

06:58
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Your church looks like a Danish church, even though it's located in California. What is the Americans' reaction to the church, which is quite different from anything else architecturally that you see here?

07:13
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Most of them, they say that it's cute.

07:16
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Haha, they are cute.

07:17
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
It is cute. And of course I would say, no, it's Danish. But I think that most of them think it looks exactly like the more romantic Hollywood way of looking at a rural church, but of course they don't know the specific Danish tradition behind the white building, the roof, and everything else that is inside the church.

07:38
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Most of them think it's a quite cute little romantic church. And also because we're small compared to a lot of the bigger churches that we're surrounded by. We can have 200 people. And many of the mega churches over here, they have thousands. In that way, we're different.

07:54
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
But I also think they are curious when they come. They are curious and ask questions about the history of the church and why it looks like it does. And why it is, this wonderful beaming white church, is in the middle of a suburban place like Yorba Linda. And I know every Dane who comes to the church every time, they just say immediately when they drive in, this feels like home. And it really does. It is a sentiment of a Danish church when you come to it.

08:25
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And one very fun story from some years ago. Our oldest son had his best friend with us to Denmark when we were visiting. And he has been used to coming to our church and just thought that was how my church looked. And then we landed in Kastrup and started driving through the landscape. And guess what? We saw a white church in the landscape. And Nick was saying, that looks like your church. And we didn't say anything.

08:52
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Then two minutes passed, then we passed another one, and then of course he got it. But that is funny explaining to Americans that we have this very streamlined image of churches in Denmark. Even there's a lot of modern churches, but we know how a church should look. It is this white village church. So that gives a lot of sentiment to Danes, but also to visitors coming.

09:15
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And if you would shortly describe what the church looks like for the listeners who don't know.

09:21
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
When you drive into Yorba Linda, which is a very suburban, affluent area, and there's wonderful, big mansions and houses and schools and palm trees on every corner. Then suddenly you see this beautiful building. It's a big white church and it looks like a village church and it has two parts. It has the sanctuary that is out at the street with a tower as well, just like in Denmark. We do not have a bell outside. We have a bell inside that is because of ordinances in the city, and then it's built directly together with the cultural center.

09:58
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Everything is in one building and it is designed by a Danish architect called Ebbe Videriksen who made this as one of his really hard projects and we can see that. And then inside we have a typical Danish village church as well, but the pews are softer, they're padded, so it's more like a little couch sitting there.

10:20
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And then we have all of these different artifacts that show that it's a Danish church as well. We have the pulpit where I give most of my sermons from. We have the altar rail, all of that is made by Danish carpenters that was shipped over to the old church that used to be downtown LA.

10:37
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Impressive. Do you have American visitors to the church and do you preach in Danish or in English so that they would understand you?

10:47
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I preach in English every Sunday at 11 o'clock. Every service at 11 o'clock is in English with a Danish accent. And then we gather for lunch after every service, and that is a way to greet people, because most of the congregants drive a long time to come to church. And then once a month we have a Danish service at 3 pm followed by a Danish evening where we have a program and where we have a wonderful Danish dinner.

11:14
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
But every Sunday is open for everybody. I also have to say that a lot of the Danes, they might be married to an American or somebody else, so it makes sense that our services are in English. And you can still be Danish in English.

11:29
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Yes, true. In the US, you have so many religious beliefs. So many religions are represented here. It is a multi-religious climate, if you will. What is that like for you and how has that affected the way that you believe and practice?

11:49
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
It affected me in many, many ways. And that is one of the reasons why I love being here and love being a pastor here. The sky is simply higher here. Where we are in Yorba Linda, we call it Church Row because Yorba Linda, that city of 80,000 people, there's over 75 different churches or temples or centers. So it's quite amazing.

12:12
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
There are so many different gathering places. So on our street, we have our church. Then we have a Mormon church, a Mormon temple being built, a Baptist church. We have a Buddhist temple and a Hindu temple further down, and then a Jewish temple. It's amazing. And what I really like and what I have been involved with the last couple of years in Yorba Linda, is to be a part of the interfaith community.

12:37
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
So we try to gather a couple of times during the year, to show respect for each other and to build community. It's really important in this time and age we have right now that we try to communicate instead of disagreeing on everything. And the motto of our Danish church is Grundtvig's quote, "Human first, then Christian." And it makes sense that that is how we meet people. We meet as humans first and then everything else comes afterwards.

13:05
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
That is actually my next question to you. It says so on the top of your website. It's a quote from Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig, who was an important figure in the Danish Lutheran Church. What does this mean to you personally? You just touched upon it, but maybe you can elaborate.

13:23
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
It says a lot about how I think we as a church should meet people. That you meet people in humanity first, and then religion comes second. It doesn't mean that religion isn't important to me. Of course it is. I'm a pastor. But humanity is where we are alike and where we can meet and start a conversation.

13:43
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And as I was saying before, when we have these interfaith events that I am a part of in Orange County. The last time we gathered was at the end of Ramadan. So it's coming up soon again. And I was asked to say something at the last time at the mosque. And that I take like a big honor that I'm able to as a woman, as a Christian, to be able to say something.

14:07
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And I did quote Grundtvig, and said, this is how we should meet. And I asked everybody sitting there, and that was from every religion. And I said, could you please say with me, "human first," then what you are. And that was wonderful because everybody played along and everybody said "human first" and then we had this wonderful choir of all religions and all political agendas coming afterwards.

14:32
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
But that was wonderful. And that is how I wish to be a pastor of the Danish church because I also think it's such a sentiment of what we are as Danes, that we meet people where they are.

14:47
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
That is indeed wonderful. How did you end up becoming a pastor? What was your past like?

14:54
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I grew up in a very common Danish family that attended church four times a year, at Christmas and Easter, and memorials and whatever. So in that way, a very typical Danish family. But my grandparents always had a big love for the church and for højskole sangbog and for all the traditions that are in Danish culture. So I got that from my grandparents, I think.

15:21
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And then when I went to confirmation classes in seventh grade in Denmark, I had the most amazing pastor. I can't remember a thing he taught me, but I can remember how he was with me. And that is exactly how I try to be for my confirmands, too. If they can just remember the feelings they had together with me and the room I gave them, then that is fine.

15:42
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Bent Nielsen, who was my pastor there, was significant to me, because he embodied Christianity in a way that I hadn't seen before. And he opened my mind to reading about religions and understanding ethics and morality in a different way. And that continued when I went to gymnasium, high school, in Denmark, because four of my best friends were pastor kids. So I came in parsonages and came to their churches with their families, and that really opened my eyes.

16:14
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
To my family's surprise, I chose to study theology after high school and after traveling a bit. And that I have never ever looked back on as a bad decision. It was wonderful because theology is a study that is so broad and one of those studies that are still broad. So that means that you of course dive into religious matters and New Testament, Old Testament ethics and morality, but also history and art. And there's so many facets because that is what life and religion is about.

16:49
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You were born on the island of Funen, just like I was. Where did you grow up and how did you first meet God? You mentioned your pastor, but was that through him or did you meet God before?

17:02
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I always change that question, "How do you meet God?" I actually change it to "How did Jesus meet you?" Because I'm not the center of this and I think that faith is something that is ingrained in you from the very beginning. It depends on how it's nurtured and what you experience. So it was there already.

17:22
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And of course, that is the point of baptism of children too, that you baptize them into a faith that we can grow into. And I think that my grandparents have been a big part of that in the beginning, again, taking us to church and singing with us and being there and praying Our Lord's Prayer at evening. That was the first embodiment of Christianity, I think. I wouldn't say I met God in that way, but I had a sense that there was something and that I was protected and safe.

17:53
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And that was built on later, especially with the confirmation class, because I think I was a very ordinary Danish girl growing up in that way that I had interest in handball and boys and everything else. And then, confirmation classes happened and there was this pastor who spoke to me in a different way and spoke to me deeper, and maybe in a way that I cannot really explain. He just saw me in a different way.

18:21
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You are a woman. How do you think of God? I personally think that my God would be female if I believed in God. But that's just me. And is it okay in your mind to have different ideas of who God is? How inclusive are you?

18:39
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I think I'm super inclusive. And I've just had my confirmation class this weekend and that is when we talked about creation and the creation story. And my focus always, when I talk to the confirmands about creation, is don't be stupid, don't think that you have to leave your mind outside the church door. Science and knowledge and faith belong together. It's different questions.

19:04
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
But it's the same purpose, to try to figure out why we are here, how we are here, where we are going. And the image of God, of course, we always have this childhood image of God sitting in the sky with a long beard. And that is definitely not the image I have now. My God is beyond gender, age, color, anything.

19:28
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
So it is more like a force, like a spirit, that is ever present. And that means that God is both beyond you, around you, and in you. And having more images and pictures of God doesn't really diminish any religion, but it grows it. And it makes it even more bigger and compelling, I think.

19:53
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
What do you appreciate the most about your job?

19:58
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I appreciate the fact that I meet people all the time, and that I'm invited to be with people in the most joyous moments in life — at baptism, at birth, at weddings, and at services and confirmation classes, but also when life is tough and when it hurts and when there's sorrow and grief where you have to have somebody who walks with you. And that is really what I try to do as a pastor, to be one that walks with people.

20:30
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And one of my favorite stories in the gospel is exactly that. When Jesus comes back after the resurrections and walks with his disciples, they recognize him only when he sits down with them and breaks bread and has dinner with them. And that is another part of it that is so important in our fellowship at the Danish church, that is that we sit a lot at tables and eat and drink and talk. Because that is part of being in a community and taking care of each other. So I like the fact that I can be a part of people's life and have a bigger perspective on it.

21:04
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I don't have all the answers and you don't even find all the answers in the Bible. You have to have an open mind. You have to listen. And then you also have to be able to sit quietly and listen to others.

21:19
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
What have you learned about yourself and your faith from working in California?

21:24
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I think that I've broadened quite a bit in my perspective, and been reassured in the fact that faith and religion is much bigger than we sometimes make it. We tend to put it into boxes and say that this is how it should be. And that is especially what you do with the folkekirken in Denmark. It is a very static organization, but of course there's a lot of changes going on right now, and that is good.

21:48
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
The freedom that the Danish church gives me here, because we are organized under the American Lutheran Church, which is a very liberal organization, gives us the opportunity to be who we are. In my synod there's over 28 different languages, so that means that we are not the only ones speaking a weird language from time to time.

22:10
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
There's also Taiwanese Christian, Chinese Christian, Dutch, everything, and that gives a sentiment that religion is not this nationalistic thing, but it is a universal thing. And I think that is what really has been brought to my being here and that I love that fact that you're reminded that religion is actually to broaden your mind, not to make it smaller.

22:36
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Do you see yourself as a missionary?

22:39
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Yes, in some way I do, but of course not as the old words say and the old stories go, but I do see myself a missionary. And I would also say as a visionary. Because that is one part of why it is so important we have the Danish church here and that we are not only for Danes, that we actually try to share what we have.

23:01
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And there's no point of being a Danish Lutheran Church if we said that it's only Danes that are welcome or if we only did the services in Danish. Because we think we have some good things that we would like to share, and how we worship we would like to share, and how we meet each other as a community as well. So I think that is very important that you are open in that way and that you say that you want to share what you have.

23:30
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How often do you speak Danish and do you pray in Danish or English now?

23:36
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
That is a very good question, because now it's only once a month I write a Danish sermon. And actually when I prepare that sermon, I think about it and prepare it in English first, and then I translate it. That was a shift that happened five years ago. Because before it was the other way. And I also think that when I pray now, silently in my head or in church or with somebody else, I'm most comfortable in English now.

24:07
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And I also think it's because a lot of the English religious words are easier. And we use them both in church and outside. In Danish, there's a big difference between when you talk about barmhjertighed or miskundhed. They are really church words. But if over here you talk about mercy and grace, you have them in your ordinary common language too. And it makes it easier in that way to pray too, I think.

24:35
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Could you explain what those two words mean to our listeners who are English speaking?

24:40
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Barmhjertighed is grace, or that is mercy. And that is that big word that is only used about God. Otherwise we would use the word of "being good" instead. But barmhjertighed is the divine mercy. And then miskundhed is the divine attendance to what happens in the future.

25:02
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You mentioned that five years ago you started translating from English into Danish, so I have to ask you, how long have you been here?

25:11
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
We came the first time in 2004 and then we were supposed just to be here for two years. That was how the Danish church employed pastors at that point and had been doing for many years. Because as a Danish Lutheran service pastor, you're a civil servant. So you could go on leave for two years. And that was how I came the first time on leave from my job in Jutland.

25:34
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And then coming over here for two years with my family. And my husband followed along and our two kids were very small at that point, three and five. So it was easy to just say, you follow us. And then we were here for two years, extended with one more half year because there was a centennial of the church that I would like to be a part of.

25:57
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And then we went back just the week after that centennial and wonderful celebration and went back to our same place in Denmark. And stayed there for two years, and came back again. And then in 2008 we came back and then we stayed. Yeah. So we have been here almost 20 years. Yeah, it's getting there.

26:15
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
That makes sense then. When you sing the Danish national anthem, "Der er et yndigt land," which could be translated into "There is a Lovely Country," how do you feel?

26:28
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I feel a sense of belonging and a sense of pride. Because I love the Danish anthem. I think it's beautiful. And I think it's a wonderful way of describing Denmark as well. With the ocean and the open landscape. So I do feel pride and a sense of belonging when I sing it. But I also feel the same a little bit with "Stars and Stripes" and "America the Beautiful," because that is the two places where I am now. And I don't love everything that goes on in the two countries, but I do have a deep love for both places.

27:06
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Do you have an American passport?

27:07
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
No, not yet.

27:10
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Which Danish hymns, then, do you love the most and why?

27:16
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
There are so many. There are so many hymns, but I would have to say Grundtvig, of course, and I have to say the one that is also translated and used in most American churches, "Den signede dag med fryd vi ser," which is "O Day Full of Grace," which is used in all American churches too. And most Americans do not know it's Danish, so I have to explain every time that this is actually a Grundtvig hymn.

27:42
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And that is a beautiful hymn and a very Danish hymn. Because it describes nature in Denmark in such a way that you almost feel like you're back in Denmark again. And there is this wonderful verse in it about the ocean, that I think any Dane who loves the ocean, most of us do, we get chills when we sing and read that. And then there's especially one verse in "Den signede dag," which is about our love for our family as well. And it's a beautiful hymn.

28:15
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And what is your favorite Danish word? And if you wouldn't mind spelling the word to our English listeners.

28:21
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
My favorite word in Danish? I think it would be f-a-m-i-l-i-e. Familie. Family. Because that is what Denmark is to me. Denmark is family to me. That is why I long for Denmark a lot of times and, and miss Denmark. That is because my parents are there, my siblings are there, and my extended family are there. It's not Denmark per se that I miss, but I miss the relations that are in Denmark.

28:52
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Which Danish values do you think you've taken along with you on your journey to the US? And which ones did you leave behind and are happy you left behind?

29:05
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
As we talked about earlier, the acceptance, the openness, that is quite unique for Denmark. How we meet the world and how we travel out in the world, that is something that I definitely took with me. And the acceptance of, and the respect for each individual. And the care for individuals, that you actually also think that it's not only your responsibility to find happiness, but the society also has a saying in that we have to support each other and be a respectful, equal society. That is what I really took with me, I think.

29:39
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
But I also left some of that small mindedness behind me. And it's not Janteloven. Yeah. Because Janteloven actually comes out of something very positive, that you looked at your own place and also looked at that we have to take care of each other and don't make yourself bigger on the expense of others. So I don't think Janteloven is only negative. It has something about putting us in place as humans as well.

30:06
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
But the small mindedness of Denmark, that is something that I would love to leave behind and I have tried to leave behind. And that is also what I think that I notice most when we go to Denmark, that sometimes, the pettiness that comes from being a small little country, where we are very alike in so many ways and used to being alike, and also think we are the world's greatest country. We are great, but we can also learn from other places.

30:34
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How do you see Denmark now that you've left the country and has an outsider's perspective on it?

30:41
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Maybe looking at some of the flaws that I didn't see before. Which is this pettiness. Sometimes I cannot really find a better word for that. But sometimes there is this mild or small-mindedness, where you are this very secluded little country and you are used to that how you do things is the best way. So if somebody comes from the outside and claims that you can do things in a different way, you are very skeptical.

31:08
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And I can just say that when we came home after the first two and a half years here, as a family, and I came back to my same parish and job, and my husband came back to his same job, it was an awful feeling coming home because you were greeted with this sentiment of, don't think that because you have been somewhere else that you are — then it was Janteloven — that you are something special, and don't change things.

31:35
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I tried to incorporate some of the things that I learned over here that I thought were very good in the services. One part of that is to greet one another physically, greet each other during the service. And we do that at the Danish church and sometimes to the extent that it's a little bit hard to continue the service because people, they talk a lot, but that is actually important because then you see each other.

31:57
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And when I tried to incorporate that in Denmark, then I was told from a lot of people, but why should we do that? We greet the ones we know. That is exactly it. If you only greet the ones you know, then you're never going to make anybody feel welcome. And most of the time when you go to a church in Denmark, you can go in and sit in the back, nobody notices you and you can leave again. And that is what we really try to do differently at the church here, that we greet people when they come.

32:27
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It sounds like you have a lot of people coming to the church here.

32:30
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I never have to worry that there's nobody in church. They are there because, again, that is how the church functions. The congregation is the backbone of the church. So there are people there. And of course we could always want and wish for more, but we do have a wonderful congregation and also a very diverse congregation. We have different groups coming for different things. Yeah.

32:54
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
What are the things that you emphasize when you tell your American friends or colleagues about Denmark?

33:01
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
The sense of community, I think that is it. And then the sense of food and fellowship. It always ends at the table, actually, because as Danes, we are very good at sitting at a table. We are very good at extending time at the table to have a conversation too. So I think that is also one of the things that I focus on as a Dane and tell my colleagues and friends here. Stay put, stay seated for a little while, don't be in a rush, but just sit and have time for a conversation as well.

33:31
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
My last question to you. Where would you like to grow old? And I know it's far too early because you are a young woman still, but if you were to say where you would like to be buried at this point in your life, which spot would you choose?

33:49
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
I would actually not be buried. I would be scattered at sea. I have told Søren and our boys already that they don't need to have a place for me. I would like to go in the Pacific Ocean. I love the Pacific Ocean, so I would love to go out there. And as a pastor, I have officiated at many scattering of the ashes on the sea, and it's a beautiful ceremony, and that is one of the things that I would never do in Denmark, but here, it's just beautiful.

34:17
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
And I've always loved the ocean, so I think going back to the ocean again would make sense to me. It's only if our sons would really like a place where they could go and remember me, but I don't really think they need that.

34:31
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Thank you very much, Anne-Grete, it has been a pleasure talking to you here at the Danish Consulate in Los Angeles.

34:38
Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen
Thank you.

34:42
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
For today's episode, Anne-Grethe Krogh-Nielsen chose J.F. Willumsen's En bjergbestigerske, or A Mountain Climber from 1912 from the collection of the National Gallery Of Denmark.