Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Heed the Kolding (pronounced "Calling")

Just so everyone can understand the joke, Kolding is pronounced like calling. That's why that's funny. Also for everyone who is still confused, I was transferred. I'm serving in a city called Kolding, which is in the South part of Jylland, near a city called Fredericia. It's pretty exciting down here, but I'll get to that later.

So on Tuesday, we didn't have much to do and because it's "Anden Juledag" (Second Christmas Day) we weren't supposed to go proselyting. We had one appointment at Knud and Bodil's house, and that was it. So we emailed, then drove almost to Herning to their house. They are such awesome people! The Sisters were there as well (just like all the eating appointments). But we got a ton of food, so that was good. We ate and talked for almost four hours! It was extremely Danish! It was pretty fun though. Then we basically went home and I tried to pack everything up. Tuesday seemed to disappear really fast.

Wednesday was extremely hectic. I finished packing that morning, then we drove to Aarhus for transfers! Ældste Haruch gave me the phone on the way there. Then Ældste Jared Smith, Ældste Pihl, and Ældste Hamp met us at the train station and helped me get all my stuff on the train. Then everyone left me... It was super weird! For the most part, on Transfer Day, Elders travel alone but Sisters always have to have someone else with them. I was a half hour through the train ride, and then the phone rang, which was way awkward, because I wasn't supposed to have the phone! So I hopped off at Horsens and the Skive trio came and picked it up from me. Then I rode the rest of the way to Kolding. Once I got there, Ældste Weaver and Ældste Saviano picked me up. But Ældste Saviano had to go and escort a Sister who missed her train and she couldn't ride alone! So we said goodbye to him and waited for Ældste Tyler Smith. Then the three of us brought our stuff to the apartment. It was a long walk and one of my piggy-back straps broke, but it was fun! The apartment was basically what someone would imagine with four teenage boys living there though... So we dropped our stuff in any open spot and then went back to the station to get Ældste Saviano. The rest of the night was unpacking and cleaning up as much as we can.

Thursday was a rough day. Because the apartment was so cluttered, we basically spent the whole day cleaning everything and reorganizing the furniture. After a really long time moving and cleaning, it looked significantly better! I was quite happy! We also had two eating appointments. The first was in Fredericia at a lady's house named Lise. She's just a super nice, spiritual grandma for all the missionaries. She already has my name down too, which impressed me! Then we met with Jens and Lone, who fed us dinner. They're way nice! That was in Kolding, so we basically just walked home and contacted a couple people on the street afterwards.

Friday was interesting as well. We did try having Weekly Planning, but the area is so new that we didn't even have an area book! So we did a lot of organization with records and such. We also went out and visited a couple investigators! It was awesome! We met a lady named Nille, who was the epitome of not-Skive. She was a young lady who joked with us, invited us to come back, and was happy to see us when we didn't have an appointment! It was crazy! She also calls us "The Boys" which I thought was funny.

Saturday was District Meeting in Fredericia. We rode the train and some buses up there. We have eight missionaries in the District, and all of us are in the same ward! There are Ældste Weaver and I (Kolding), Ældste Saviano and Ældste Smith (Kolding), Ældste Woodforth and Ældste Cannon (both just out of training and in Fredericia), and the STL's Søster Baird and Søster Peterson (in Vejle). We talked about organization in District Meeting, which was great! After District Meeting, we all left to catch the bus and train. Once home, we talked about how we wanted our Four-Man apartment to run and what needed to be decided. It was really helpful, but took a while. We basically just got studies in after that. That evening, we played a game called Munchkin, which took quite a while. It was fun though!

Sunday was amazing!! We woke up and got ready for church, but then our train was late. So we sang while waiting! That's been my favorite part of the Four-Man, we can all harmonize! It's amazing! On Sunday, our train was late so we were just waiting on the platform in this little glass room and I started singing O Lord My God, to which we all just broke out into song and made a beautiful arrangement! It was awesome! We keep joking that it needs to be a music video. And then right after we sang two hymns, a guy outside turned on some weird rap music on a speaker. That was also quite hilarious. 

We finally got to church 10 minutes late. And it's a WARD! It's so huge! It's only 60-80 people, but it's so big! It was amazing! There were kids to distract you, multiple speakers, and you could tell that people really sacrificed to come to church! It was incredible! After our hour meeting, I talked to so many people! It was amazing! I loved it! Everyone was way happy and nice! We also were invited to a New Year's party with a couple member families. So that evening we were with the Vestbo family (there's a Swedish letter in their name, but I don't have it on the keyboard.) There were so many awesome people there! Dad's are just hilarious, and teenagers are just way fun! It was fanastic! Ældste Smith also almost lit their house on fire. There were some confetti cannons on the table, but we didn't know what they were. So he lit one and it started sparking, so we all freaked out! It then just exploded into his stomach with little confetti pieces. It was hilarious and terrifying! They drove us home about 9 and then we played some games until 12:30 when we went to bed. (We were told it was ok to stay up, so it was alright) It was also very hard to sleep, there were TONS of fireworks!! It was basically like the 4th of July from 6-10, and then it tripled once it hit midnight! The sky was incredibly full of color and smoke! It was crazy!

Monday was pretty relaxed. Because a lot of people would be drunk, we weren't allowed to proselyte either. So we walked around a bunch of closed shops. The library was closed as well, so we couldn't email. Then we picked up a friend of Ældste Smith at the station. His name is Nicklas and he lives in Copenhagen. So we went to McDonalds with him and then sang under an arch at the Koldinghus. It was really fun! Then we deep cleaned the apartment! That was also fun, strangely. We were all really tired, so we went to sleep after that. It was a good day!

So my spiritual thought is also a logical thought. If something is not clean, it's not God-like. Cleanliness is a step towards Godliness. So find something to clean! It's always better when it's clean! Whether it's under your bed, the types of videos you're watching, the thoughts you have, or the words you speak. It doesn't matter what it is, it's better when it is clean.

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe New Year's! Keep working on any goals you may have set! They're quite helpful! Our Four-Man has started having some All Danish Days (Top Gun Tuesday and Throwdown Thursday) so that's what we're trying to do. Have a wonderful 2018!!

--
Ældste Bryant Jepsen


-Our apartment (while cleaning, so we had a bunch of extra stuff in that room)
-Some Fireworks outside our window
-I sat on the floor and Ældste Smith took a picture. Apparently that's exciting...
 






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