#PitchGreen

That is a beautiful description of this whole week, even though it came from only one day. It was an awesome week full of randomness and splits.

So first off, Monday was our Essentials P-day (You have a shorter Pday to use that time on another day of the week) so we could have a District Activity on Thursday. So we had three hours less time to do things. We emailed and basically just went shopping. But I wanted to go see some Genbru stores, which are like DI type thrift stores. As we drove to find one, Ældste Brown told me about the Houston Astros (his favorite MLB team) "clinching" their division for the first time since he was 4. He had one of his Astros hats sent to him for Christmas, but the mission van was broken into and all the presents for the missionaries were stolen, so he didn't get it. Meanwhile, we walked into the Genbru. We turned towards the clothing and I instantly saw this hat. Interestingly, Ældste Brown did not see the hat. It was a Houston Astros Game Day hat with their new logo (apparently it changed a couple years ago). I casually pointed it out to him and his face basically exploded with surprise. It was a perfect fit for him and it was only 20 kr. (about 3 dollars). The entire rest of the day he was super excited to simply wear his new hat. That was a strange testimony builder for me that Heavenly Father cares about the small details in our lives. There is no reason that a MLB team from Texas would have a hat in a second hand store in a small Danish town, let alone the fact that it was his perfect size. That was simply a small miracle for him. 

We also ate with Finn, Dorte, and Niels again. They said they would try to come to church again, but they ended up not being able to, again. But they're super amazing people and we're going to keep working with them. We have another dinner appointment with them tonight! :) It's basically a missionary's dream. Eating appointments every week with an awesome family that you get to teach! They just need to actually come to church and then they'll be much closer to being baptized.

Tuesday was extremely busy!! We had five appointments all in Viborg. So we basically bounced between Elna (I), Minna (M), Helle (I), Birgit (M), and Rune (LA). Elna is doing awesome though! She said in our visit that she knows she wants to be baptized some day, we're just trying to help her testimony of Christ. But we are hoping to have a baptismal date for her by this Friday. Minna is a member who can't come to church because of her health. She's a super sweet Danish lady who we took the sacrament to and Ældste Brown gave her a blessing (in Danish!) It was a really cool experience to participate and feel the Spirit even when I couldn't totally understand what was being said. Helle, Carl's daughter, is hilarious and awkward. She's very nice, but just doesn't really understand social things. We met with her and read from the Book of Mormon and she committed to try and read every day! We then went to Birgit's house for dinner. She gave us some really good lasagna and I was very happy that I could understand the entire conversation with her!! It was fabulous! It was fun to see the progress from the first visit we had with her where I could only understand a bit, but I'm already getting so much better with Danish! Rune was our last visit of the night. We talked with him about the importance of building our foundation on Christ (Helaman 5:12) and how we can do that. He understands that he needs to pray, read the scriptures, and come to church, we're just trying to get him motivated to do so.

(Key: I- Investigator  M-Member   LA- Less Active Member  ZL- Zone Leader)

Wednesday was a super cool day that is quite hard to explain. We had splits with the Zone Leaders here in Skive, but we basically had a service activity for Jimmi and Vivi (LA couple) to help them with their new store, but then they cancelled. So we ended up baking cookies for Finn and Dorte as the ZL's had personal study. Then Ældste Erickson and I went tracting, but it was different! We began with a prayer to specifically find someone who would listen and needed our message. Then he opened up to a scripture and read it. I felt like we would find a 20-30 year old guy in a black jacket over by a park, so we headed over that way. We headed out and knocked on two houses with the same number as the verse we had read. The first didn't answer, but the second was an older man, Johannes, who had a really interesting experience with death that was supportive of what we believe in the Spirit World. We taught him for 15 minutes in his (super nice) camper and then he took a Book of Mormon. We then walked to the park and sent the experience as a Miracle text (part of our Zone Goal for the transfer). While we were there, I told Ældste Erickson about the guy I thought we should find. Then as we left, a man who was 20-30's in a black jacket, was walking his dog was going up another path. I told Ældste Erickson that we were going to talk to him, so speedwalked to intercept him at the park entrance. He listened to us and took a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and gave us his number. We then went home and just had our minds blown about the amazing miracles we had just been a part of. It was a crazy day full of awesome miracles!!

Thursday was quite fun! We had District Meeting and our District Activity. The Activity consisted of Ældste Jamison (the best cook in the mission) making us lunch and then all of us playing random games and/or playing with paracord. The food was super good and then we played Speed UNO. It was awesome!! Ældste Jamison and I both won twice. Then I found a soccer ball and so Ældste Christensen (JR.) messed around with me upstairs. We also climbed in the attic of our apartment, which was super dusty and had an old Danish church chair, so that was exciting.

Friday was a Viborg and splits day. We visited Elna and she was at the same point but she committed to come to church on Sunday! Then we stopped by the Kvist family, who have a much needed break from all the crazy stuff going on in their family. So Brian is not being deported yet and Steen has officially been diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia so he can get more help in school. Then we came home and picked up the Herning Ældster for dinner and the evening. We played Bakari with the four of us, which is a weird board game in our closet. It was way fun!

Saturday was strait Greenie Fire. I was super nervous about working with Ældste Bailey because we're both trainees and have only had a month(ish) experience with Danish. But we street contacted and tracted very well and knew what everyone was saying!! We had one lady who was very nice even compliment us on how much we already knew. It wasn't the most productive finding block, but we were able to give a lot of people the opportunity and really test our Danish. And we came up with #PitchGreen because we're both newbies roaming the streets of Skive. After the Herning Ældster took off, Ældste Brown and I visited Viborg again. We tried stopping by Jakob (LA) at his apartment but he wasn't home. But I thought it was super cool that he literally lived in the same building as the Viborg Soccer Stadium!!! (really exciting pictures below) We then had dinner with Carl and Helle, which was quite delicious and really good! Helle asked some interesting questions as we ate and neither her nor her dad really care for small talk, so it was hilariously fun. (Definitely reminded me of Sister Alison Jepsen's comment that missionaries do awkward things all the time.) We invited her to church again, but she sadly said she couldn't come.

Sunday was very stressful for me. It was the first talk I've ever given in Danish. Luckily our branch is literally the least intimidating branch ever. They're all just loving grandparents that are so proud of anything you do. (I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but we also bless the sacrament every week.) I had about a half page of scriptures and thoughts written down because I hadn't had much preparation time that week. I found out that I was the closing speaker... So that was terrifying. I had 25 minutes to fill at the end of the meeting with my half page of notes. And that was where it became like Christ feeding the 5,000. My meager preparation was what I was able to do in between the other missionary work I had that week. It wasn't very much, but I spoke for the full time I was given. It was a topic that I personally wanted to learn more about and that I wanted to share, and because I had that desire and I had done what I could, I was able to see the blessings of that. I spoke how about how Christ is our light when we are surrounded by darkness, and how we are called to be the light for those who are also overtaken by the darkness of the world. It was a powerful testimony to me that we will have our tongues loosed as we share the gospel, even if it's with members. I did have some problems with my Danish, but my message came across clearly and just how I wanted it to. Another blessing from Sunday was that Elna came to church!! She loved the meetings and stayed the full two hours!! (We only have two hours of church, by the way) She said she had a really good experience and even gave one of the members a ride home after! It was just a great day!!

Then after such a spiritually wonderful day, Ældste Brown and I began planning how to make a Danish Mission board game! It'll be super complicated and probably really difficult to make, but I'm super excited to work on it in the hour we have every evening. It'll be all the rage here in Skive for sure. ;)

Thanks for all your support and wonderful letters! Let me know if you have any question, comments, or random jokes! Look for ways that the Lord is a Light in your life and how you can be a light to others who don't have the same knowledge of this incredible gospel that you have! 

-- 

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

-Our District singing Primary songs
- Ældste Erickson posing as Captain Moroni (I think, I'm not actually sure at this point, it was just funny to see) 
-Greenie Splits Selfie (#GreenieFire #PitchGreen #NotBamboozeredByOldLadies) 
-Viborg Soccer Stadium (I was really excited, can you tell?) 
-A really dramatic dock in Viborg (You might see the Viborg Domekirke to the left, it looks a bit like Notre Dame)