The Happiest (Darkest) Season of All!

The darkness has fallen over Denmark. At least it has in my mind, but apparently it still gets darker... The sun basically comes up at 10 or 11 and then goes down about 4. It's quite weird and makes you feel a bit awkward knocking on people's doors at 5 when it's pitch black outside. But hey! What are missionaries for! 

This week has been pretty great, so I'll give a decent rundown.

Monday was pretty relaxed. We basically caught up on sleep and got our groceries. It wasn't too extensive.

Tuesday was quite an abnormal Skive mission day. The Viborg area is opening soon and the Forslunds (couple missionaries in Herning) needed help moving furniture into the apartment, so we went over to help them. Turns out, the Herning Elders were there as well! It was way fun! We basically used our extreme interior design skills and then the Forslunds took us out to lunch at Sunset Boulevard. It was awesome! We also had a lesson with Helle, who had cancelled her baptismal date (again). So we just reiterated the lessons we taught her to just rekindle the flame for her. We also had another appointment with Finn and Dorthe! Dorthe had gone to the hospital so we hadn't been able to visit, but she's feeling much better and it was a wonderful appointment. We might need to have some White Handbook thoughts with them though. Dorthe gave me a hug and kissed my cheek, so that was awkward... 

Wednesday was the most interesting District Meeting I've ever had. As we were driving down to Herning, Ældste Schaffer (the District Leader) explained that the Zone Leaders would be showing up halfway through the meeting, but they needed a ride. And then he and Ældste Danielsen-Jensen (the Ammo-man) had to leave literally an hour after the meeting begun, so they needed a ride too! So basically Skive is the District chauffeur. It's fun. So we missed the updates with most of the District, but then the Zone Leaders waited for us to train for the Christmas Initiative. 

Thursday was Thanksgiving!! It was quite anticlimactic for us, except we did get a ton of food! The Forslunds needed help putting together some desks for the apartment, so we switched around some things and got those thrown together. (They said they can't speak Ikean.) Then they took us to a Chinese Buffet! It was super nice and we had a way good discussion about how to build up the branch! Then we came back to Skive, went finding and were at the Family History Center. But then to our surprise, Bodil and Knud Christensen came and bought us pizza for dinner! They apologized that it was just pizza for Thanksgiving, but we were very thankful. It was great! We also made cookies that evening. So it was a good Thanksgiving!

Friday was great too. We had our Weekly Planning, which went considerably more smooth and quickly. Then we visited Helle and started setting up a baptismal calendar with her, and she got quite excited about it and was ready to keep pushing forward! She's just awesome when she's motivated! We then had an appointment with the Kvists where we actually sat down with Ana and Ray and just talked about the Plan of Salvation. It was awesome! Ray is a Catholic but he really liked what we talked about. We also got to talk with Jakob and Sten who are both just good friends with us, so that was awesome! After those great appointments, we dropped off cookies at Elna's house and for Rune's birthday! Sadly Rune wasn't home, so we just left them there.

Saturday was good too. We spent a couple hours calling previous and potential investigators. We got quite a few appointments and our Area Book is much more organized now, which I really like. One of the appointments we set was later that evening with Ali. He's the man who randomly came to church a couple times, but we couldn't ever get a hold of him otherwise. We basically just had the best How To Begin Teaching with him! Ældste Haruch and I totally backed each other up and just handed him pure truth that built off of his knowledge. It was sweet! Then he committed to come to church as well! We also met with Karsten after that. He's progressing along with the 12 step program, and he said he'd come to church as well.

Sunday was rough. It started going downhill when Helle texted us (again) and said she wasn't coming to church, and didn't want to be baptized. Then as we were going to pick up Karsten for church, he passed us on the side walk. He said he wasn't feeling well so he was going to a friend's for some coffee. But on the bright side, Ali did come to church! It was a bit awkward because he was asking for financial help with some debts (because he's a refugee), so we talked to Knud to see how we could help out. Then after that, we went finding again. It was pretty good!

Monday/Today was really weird. We basically spent our day trying to work out the few appointments we had. We went to Viborg and visited the Domkirke just before an appointment with Elna, but then she cancelled on the doorstep (again). And she said that she hadn't watched the Testaments like she said she would. After that, we tried visiting an old Mine, but it was closed for the winter. But it was a cool walk through the woods! Then we spent basically the rest of the day trying to get in contact with Ariath. We had an appointment with him, but we had to change the meeting place because it was in our red zone. Then he texted us and generically said that he wasn't interested enough to meet somewhere else. So we decided to go finding some more. 

We've really been focusing on finding more. We've also definitely seen the positive of that. We've found more new investigators this past week than I have for quite a while. I'm way happy and excited to keep working with those we've found and teach them about this incredible happiness and truth! 

As far as a spiritual thought, I've been reading in a talk called the Fourth Missionary. The subtitle explains that it shows the difference of missionary types and why we can become that. The fourth missionary is a complete disciple of Christ. It takes a lot about giving up all that we are to Christ so that He can make us the best version of us that we can be. I really like that! It talks about giving up all our good and bad desires to Christ so that He can guide us to becoming perfect! So I invite all of you to think of how you can more fully give yourself to Him.

Thank you for the support and the fun emails. I hope you all ate enough food to make up for me missing Thanksgiving! Have a fantabulous week!

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

-Because we had hats!
-The Viborg Domkirke museum! (It's really small!)
-The old mine that we walked too, but it's covered in leaves and closed...
 

 

The Swings of Life

"When the swing of life throws you off, you just need to get back on and start working again. Maybe you need a push or two, but you'll get the hang of it yourself to get just as high as you were before."

                -Anonymous (or at least if you don't know who I am...)

This week has been quite crazy. I was both excited and a little taken aback to be staying in Skive, but I'm very happy I have the opportunity to serve here with my new companion Ældste Haruch!! Just some quick background for him. Ældste Nate (or Nathaniel) Haruch hails from Layton, Utah. He is a choral singer (was in BYU Mens Chorus for a year before the mission), was a frequent cast member of musicals, and is the official Mr. Northridge of 2016. He's a super nice guy who is very dedicated to the work. 

Last Monday, like I reported before, I basically spent in Aarhus then came back and emailed before we went to bed again. I really like the Elders and the city of Aarhus though, so that was pretty fun! 

Tuesday was a day of make-up P-day activities and finding! We went grocery shopping and finding! It was a pretty good day and we found some good potentials who sounded quite positive and excited about the message!

Wednesday was the return of the apartment checks! We spent the morning deep cleaning the kitchen and bathroom because we didn't have time on Monday. Then we had a lunch appointment with Ingefred Bech, which was great! She and her husband have a talking parrot named Jacob! He's pretty cool! We raced back to meet the Ravns at our apartment, and they basically gave us a new dryer and said it was looking pretty good! There is talk of getting a new apartment for Skive, but it wouldn't be before the New Year, so it wouldn't be a big deal for us right now. We then had an awesome lesson with Helle!! We sang "Jeg er Guds Kære Barn" for her. (I am a child of God) The Spirit was way strong and she almost started to cry! (Hopefully a good time to make women cry, right?) But she committed to stop drinking coffee that night! We told her that we'd call to check up on her every night.

Thursday was weekly planning and finding. Ældste Haruch does weekly planning differently than I was used to, so it took longer and we had to break it up because we had some appointments and such as well. We ate with the Reuters again that evening! They're just an awesome couple who are such strong examples of living the gospel!!

Friday, we finished our weekly planning and did some visits. We then had District Meeting that evening in Herning. We had the Zone Leaders introduce our new transfer goals, which are focused on Becoming. I really like their focus on helping the new investigators we find really become baptized, where they don't just meet with us, but they do something because of it! They also taught about becoming along with our investigators! I loved that! We can all work on becoming at any stage in our spirituality! I've started focusing more on becoming submissive to God's will.

Saturday was a good day! We met with Karsten for some sandwiches and basically just talked about where he wants to get in life. He really does want to change and he sees that meeting with us is helping, he just needs some more motivation to actually take bigger steps towards the goal of a happy family that he really wants. We also went and followed up with some previous investigators in Struer. There was a man named Mouhmad who was really interested two years ago, but couldn't speak a ton of Danish. So we went back that day! He is still really interested but doesn't feel like he's fluent enough to discuss the things we talk about in the church. Luckily he has contact with some members and we're visiting later to give him time to read the Book of Mormon. We've only been able to get a hold of Helle once which was on Saturday, but she said that she was still going strong!! I'm so excited for her!! She's just amazing!

Sunday was super weird, but great! I was asked to be the pianist, kind of. (Yes Mom, you were right. I did play the piano on my mission.) But I basically told them I would play, but it was quite bad because I didn't have a ton of time to actually practice the songs, so I basically played the top hand for every song except We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet, which I already knew. To make things better, we had a ton of visitors that week! The branch was over twice as big just because of some family of the members! It was crazy! And only in Skive do the visitors give the Sacrament talks. ;)  It was great though! Later, Ældste Haruch and I went finding in the cold and dark hours of 5 pm. We also had some good time laying on the frozen ground, looking at the stars, and talking about our goals for the transfer. I really enjoyed that.

Today was also pretty good! We're trying out some new schedules and such, so my email is a little later than normal. But we're getting the hang of the new companionship, new district, and we're excited to see the miracles that this transfer will bring as we become more of the people that God wants us to be!

Have a wonderful week! I invite you to look for ways to become more Godlike. Especially by being grateful during Thanksgiving! Have a wonderful holiday and make sure your family knows you love them! Thanks for your support!

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

-The Thug Life of missionaries (on P-day, of course)
-My first Kinder Egg!
-When your investigators go to Iraq before you can visit them again....
(Mom and Google translation: "I have traveled to Iraq, I must apologize.") 

 

There and Back Again

This week seemed like a repetitive week, honestly. I had deja vu basically the entire week. But it was great! It was the last week of this transfer. I can barely believe that it's already over though. The timing of a mission still baffles me. I feel like I just got off the plane and yet I also feel like I've always lived in Skive, it's quite strange.

Monday was a pretty relaxed P-day for us. We didn't really want to do much, so we didn't. We got groceries, emailed, and then just kind of relaxed. Ældste Saviano got a free suit from the Korsgaards, so that was exciting. (Ragnhed and Verner Korsgaard are members who live about a half hour outside of Skive in Røsley) Then we visited some genbrus (a thrift shop, literally translates to "time-use" so like 'another use' basically) and we got some roller blades and little Danish Bibles. We also had a meeting with Rune again. He's such an awesome guy, and we accidentally let a stray cat into his apartment. It was hilarious though. He was super relaxed about it and basically watched the cat run in and said "That is not my cat..." Then we proceeded to have a lesson that really just changed our purpose of meeting with him from getting him to church towards getting him to the temple. He does want to receive the blessings of the temple, he just needs to want them enough in order to start making the changes in his life. He committed to call about a ride to church, which annoyingly fell through because the carpool was coming several hours earlier to Skive for some meetings. So that's just a weird problem we have to work out soon. We don't want people not coming to church simply because they can't drive there themselves.

Tuesday was an awesome day! We went finding and set an appointment with a previous investigator, then we had kind of a weirdly long and unproductive visit with Poul (who we contacted into a while ago, who is also a previous investigator). Then we had an awesome lesson with Helle!! She's just incredibly sensitive to the Spirit!! We talked to her about whether she wanted to get baptized and what that meant to her. She knows that baptism is a big step and doesn't want to overlook it by focusing on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. But we asked her to make a goal for baptism and she chose December 2nd! I was so excited for her!! It will be quite hard, but she can make it if she's willing to put in the work and trust in God. After that lesson, we ate with Birgit again. She's a way fun lady. We have quite the interesting conversations with her. We found out that she really likes motorcycles, which was quite unexpected.

Wednesday was a very slow day. We had our coordination meeting with Willy and then attempted stop by's and such with no avail the rest of the day. It was very hard for me. I just didn't feel like we were getting anything done that we were supposed to.

Thursday was much better though. We had a lesson with Karsten where we watched some of the 12 Step to Recovery videos from the church. He really like those and we heard some of the goals that he has, which are awesome! He really wants to change his life around, he just doesn't know how he can do that. (The Gospel does that all the time for people!) Then we were at the Family History Center where a man named Per came in. He asked for some technical help which I attempted to explain in Danish. Then we talked with him about a bunch of random things in English because he was excited to use it. He had quite a large knowledge about the music school in Skive, random Viking tidbits, and knows several languages! It was quite interesting.

Friday was our district meeting in Herning where all of us said goodbye to one another. It was actually quite sad. It was really good though! We discussed what we learned from Elder Sabin and how we can apply that. We also attempted to replace a chandelier for Helle, which had to be continued the next day because of quite a few complications. That evening, Ældste Saviano and I sat on our couches with tons of candles lit around us. We had quite the hyggeligt transfer review and basically just bonded. I loved it. We weren't sure what transfer calls the next morning would mean for us, but we enjoyed the time together.

Saturday was insane, mostly emotionally. I had started to think that Ældste Saviano and I would stay put, but I also prepared myself for leaving. And then neither happened. President called us and first told me that I was staying in Skive, but this time I would have Ældste Haruch as my companion. I was very surprised at that! Ældste Saviano would then be moved down to Kolding to be a Zone Leader in Southern Jylland! It was a shock to us both. He's definitely capable and willing and he'll do a wonderful job though, so I'm excited for him! Also that evening, Ældste Saviano played the guitar while we sang some hymns for the Korsgaards. They were kind enough to invite us over to eat, so it was great!

Sunday was Ældste Saviano's second mission farewell. He gave a talk, played a music number, and everyone in the ward said goodbye. We barely fit in time for him to pack before we left again. Minna was the first person we visited, where we also played and sang with her. She loved it, and I think was really good for her. Then we had an eating appointment with Carl and Helle. It was Ældste Saviano's last eating appointment in Skive, so Carl make some flaeskesteg (even though he always makes flaeskesteg). It was delicious! Along with the great food, we had an awesome discussion with Helle!! She asked us quite a few questions and we got ideas from Carl about how to help her quite drinking coffee. She then asked for a Priesthood blessing, and specifically if I would say it. I, to be short, was terrified. I was praying the rest of the evening that I would be able to hear what the Spirit told me to say. Then after cleaning up the dishes, we gave her a blessing. I don't remember too much, but I do know that I said things that I would have never known she needed to hear. I also had no problem with my Danish as I was giving her that blessing. It was a huge testimony to me that God really does work through his servants. There was no way that I could have helped her in a way that Heavenly Father knows she needs and how she needs to hear it. (That's my spiritual thought for the week) Ældste Saviano and I then slept out on our splits mats surrounded by candles for his last night in Skive. It was pretty great, I must say. 

Then today I spent most of the day in Aarhus after sending off Ældste Saviano and waiting for Ældste Haruch. Now we're just barely getting time to email and then we'll have to hit the sack. It was a pretty fun day with Ældste Bailey and the Zone Leaders though. (Ældste Bailey was also waiting for a new companion in Aarhus.) So that's why my title is There and Back Again. I've had such random days in Aarhus lately. I feel like I've been there quite a bit, and yet I always come back to Skive.

That was my crazy week though! Thanks for all of the emails and support! 

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

-Our district (the well defining photo)
-Top- Æ Jamison, Æ Saviano, Søsters Dietch, Esplin, Thorpe, Jex, and Æ og Søs. Forslund Bottom- Æ Schaffer, Æ Jepsen, Æ Throckmorton, Æ Bailey (fun fact, Søster Jex and Thorpe are wearing Ældste Saviano and my scarves! They wanted to match within the sisters)
-Ældste Saviano and his roller blades. We were going to the church for Sprog (language) Study
-Ældste Saviano's train ride from Skive 
-Day of transfers in Aarhus 
-Ældste Haruch! (new comp, pronounced "Ha roosh")